I hope everyone is well. Lots to report this month, starting with the sad news that our new Parish Clerk is stepping down.
Dee has agreed to continue to help with payments while we look for somebody to fill the role. If you would like to apply for this, please use the Parish Council email address below. This is a paid role.
We are also looking for a new councillor to join the team which will be done by co-option after no election was triggered. We are hoping to do this at the April meeting and so if you’re interested in helping the community then please apply in writing by 24th March to the Parish Council email address. This is a voluntary role.
Parish Council email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
In the meantime, we’re all concerned about the worrying amount of power cuts we’ve been experiencing and we’ll discuss this at the next meeting. We’ll see whether our MP or our elected County and District Councillors can bring any weight to bear too.
At the last Parish Council meeting, a number of issues raised by members of the community were discussed and you will be able to read the outcomes in the Parish Council minutes, which will be put on the parish website. With no clerk, this may take a little longer than normal. So here is a precis:
DISABLED PARKING ON THE HIGH STREET
We are very sympathetic to those who need this but we can’t see that it’s wise to sacrifice two regular spaces at the moment. We will however look to ensure that the parking authorities do pass our way to check that nobody without a Blue Badge uses the existing space outside the Village Hall. They do have the power to issue tickets. We also hope that everyone organising events encourages people to give lifts to those who need it, so that they don’t have to miss events due to parking worries.
SPEEDING
We conducted a traffic survey last year at the Wheatley entrance to the village which showed that the vast majority of drivers were not speeding, and a small number of very irresponsible drivers ignore any limits. We will initially look into adding “countdown” strips on the approach to Parkside after other ideas such as white village gates and electronic signs were found to be prohibitively expensive.
POTHOLES
Unfortunately, as far as Highways are concerned there are no ‘official’ lay-bys on the Mill Road and so they won’t help. David Keene has kindly put scalpings into the passing places a number of months ago and we’ll need to do this again at some point. And, in terms of other potholes, please do report them on fixmystreet.oxfordshire.gov.uk as the more reports the better.
DOG FOULING
We discussed parishioners concerns about dog fouling on the Recreation Ground and it was decided that we would start with signage to remind people to pick up after their dogs. We are concerned about the expense and practicality of fencing, given the extent of the play area. There was also a thought, from some, that much of the mess was likely to be foxes, which would jump the fence anyway. We do ask that all dog owners act responsibly so that we don’t have to revert to dogs on leads on the Recreation Ground. We will keep an eye on this issue.
Apologies that this report isn’t filled with much cheery news but I do hope that we head into the spring with more positivity.
Ohana,
Chris
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