Brief Description of Didcot
With
more than 22,000 inhabitants, Didcot
is still a growing community and is the main expansion town in
South
Oxfordshire. Didcot is set in the rolling Oxfordshire countryside close
to the Thames Valley, the Vale of White Horse, the Berkshire Downs and
the Historic City of Oxford. Although Didcot has been in existence since
the earliest times, it was the arrival of the railways that put Didcot
on the map. Today, the town's excellent and strategic transport links have
led to its economic and population growth. Didcot is within easy reach
of the M4 and M40 motorways. Heathrow airport is just one hour away to
the east and Southampton and Portsmouth ports are just 90 minutes away
to the south. London is just 45 minutes and Birmingham is 90 minutes, by
train. Didcot is in the midst of the M4 high technology corridor that stretches
out from London to Wales.
Didcot is a pleasant place to live, work and enjoy leisure time. Both
within Didcot and in the surrounding areas are Many residents work in the
numerous industrial and commercial organisations located at the MEPC
Milton and Southmead business parks, the Harwell
Business Centre, the Rutherford Appleton
Laboratory, the Culham Science Centre
and
the Innogy (formerly National Power)
Generating Stations. The town also boast the headquarters of the
Baptist
Union of Great Britain, the
Baptist
Missionary Society, the
Girls
Brigade and the WRVS.
In recent years, the expansion of Didcot has been to the north of the
town in an area known as Ladygrove.
Such expansion of new housing developments have gone hand-in-hand with
the provisions of schools, community centres, shops and leisure facilities.
The Didcot Wave swimming pool and the Ladygrove Park are excellent examples
of the provisions of new leisure facilities. The town has many sports and
leisure clubs catering for a wide range of indoor and outdoor activities.
There are children's play areas in all the recreation grounds.
The next stage of Didcot's development is the provision of a new town
centre and some 3000 new residential properties. The new
town centre shopping development (Orchard Centre) and internal relief road are virtually
complete while the plans for the new housing development are currently under discussion.
Some photographs showing the Orchard Centre progress
and nearing completion are available By the year 2011, the population of Didcot would have grown to
some 33,000. Didcot is therefore set for continuing growth in the new millennium
which will see it firmly established as an important residential and employment
centre in South Oxfordshire.
Each year a number of events take place in the town including the Didcot
Festival, Christmas Street Fair, the Hospital Fete and the Brasenose Fireworks.