The Parish Council carries out regular door drops as well as constantly updating the noticeboard and this website plus the Facebook page. We do this to encourage involvement in the community and appreciate feed back.
| Village Improvement Fund |
As many will be aware we have set up a Village Improvement Fund and allocated an initial £5000 raised from the Street Festival. The first investment is to purchase six new smart litter bins and one additional large dog waste bin to replace the old rusting ones. These will be delivered by the end of August. Next under consideration is the purchase of some new benches and a little further down the line will be improvements to the look of the entrances to the village. These are ideas that have been mentioned by many people so far.
If you have suggestions on improving our village communal areas, or a specific idea you think would be good and are prepared to help make it happen by committing some time to the project, please speak to one of the parish councillors or contact the clerk by email at strattonaudley.parishclerk@gmail.com (all contact details are on the notice board and the Stratton Audley website).
| Reporting Pot Holes |
Pot holes are the number one bug bear for most road users and the subject of most complaints. Oxfordshire County Council is responsible for roads and has just agreed to double its roads maintenance budget in an effort to address the situation. Whilst the Parish Council regularly reports pot holes we would encourage everyone to take the simple step of going on-line and reporting problems. All it requires is for you to go to www.fixmystreet.com and put in the location and other details requested. You can also report fly-tipping and other unsightly matters.
| Planning Matters |
All planning applications are sent to the Parish Council by Cherwell District Council for review at the next meeting of the Council (first Wednesday of every month) where applicants and any members of the community with views on the subject, will be allocated time at the beginning of the meeting to explain their point of view. The Parish Council will at all times remain impartial and should not be expected to act as an arbitrator for neighbour differences. However the monthly PC meeting does present a forum for discussion in an open and transparent way.
| First Aid Training |
When we launched our Community Emergency Plan in 2016, part of the process was to ensure that we have a sufficient number of First Aid Aware individuals who regularly have refresher sessions. A number of people have moved on since the first training sessions and additional volunteers are required to participate in a 2 hour session of basic first aid training. Likely timing to be a Saturday morning. It is actually really interesting, a useful skill to acquire and a fun group activity where you get to practice on the dummy! Additionally a ‘heart-starting’ defibrillator is located in the church porch. It is permanently charged up and in the event of an emergency, there is a telephone number on the machine to ring for the code to release the lock. Although simple to use there is no substitute for being shown how to use it. So this will form part of the training. To find out more please contact Stewart Hopkins 277 937 or John Honsinger on 278 000.
| Footpaths & Bridleways |
The official footpath warden for this area is Stewart Hopkins and the work involves walking the public rights of way from time to time and reporting any damage or unpassable footpaths. However we need a number of volunteers to come forward and offer to help feed information back. If you have a dog and/or go for regular walks then you are the ideal person to join this loose network of people. Please call Stewart on 277 937 to discuss.
| Bicester Heritage Hotel Development |
Bicester Heritage have recently published details of their proposals to build a large luxury hotel on-site. These plans have been developed over the last two years in consultation with the planners at Cherwell District Council through the pre-application planning process. The closing date for comments is 16th October and the Parish Council will be reviewing the proposals at the next meeting on 5th September. The Parish Council will listen to views from residents and form an opinion but those wishing to make individual representations should write to CDC or upload comments to their website. The detailed plans are available on the Cherwell District Council site and the reference number is 18/01253/F. There is a link to this on the Stratton Audley website and also a link to the overall schematic for the hotel.
| East West Rail |
The Plans are now with the Secretary of State and assuming they are approved, work is scheduled to begin in 2019 (see www.networkrail.co.uk/east-west-rail ) A liaison meeting has been set up for the Parish representatives of Stoke Lyne, Fringford and Stratton Audley to meet with EWR on a quarterly basis. The first meeting is in September and a follow-up report will be circulated.
| Vehicle Activated Road Sign |
The vehicle activated sign on the Bicester Road has been in place for nearly four months and has helped to reduce the speed of vehicles coming into the village. Full data analysis will be available shortly. The intention is to relocate it from time to time to other roads but Bicester Road sustains the greatest volume of traffic. In time we hope to acquire a second unit.
We continue to attend quarterly meetings with the local police on your behalf so do let us know if you have matters that you would like us to raise with them.
| The Quarry |
We understand that Oxford County Council have not received an update from Bicester Heritage (the new owners) but have conducted the last part of the ecological assessment. This data will be used to prepare a pre-enforcement “expediency” report. This will go back to OCC Planning in the autumn and an enforcement notice to restore the quarry will be issued before the end of the year. The Parish Council is seeking to ensure unhindered public access to the quarry and will continue to be ever vigilant on behalf of the community.