Happy Christmas from the Parish Council

The Parish Council would like to take the opportunity to wish all residents of Stratton Audley Parish a very happy Christmas and to say how much we look forward to serving the local community in 2018.

With best wishes from Anthony Flack, Stewart Hopkins, George Nicholson, Mike Hedgecox, Anne Davies & John Honsinger.

Village Carol Singers Hit the Right Note

On Tuesday the 18th December a band of twelve villagers carol sung around Stratton Audley.

The weather was kind and with a refuelling stop at Annette Jones we raised the grand sum of £258.37!! This is a fantastic amount and this money is going to the Homeless Hostal in Oxford.

Many thanks to all who participated and the people who donated.

Maybe same time next year?

Becky Adams

Christmas Bin Collection

BLUE & BROWN BIN COLLECTION OVER CHRISTMAS.

PLEASE NOTE THAT ON TUESDAY 26TH DECEMBER THERE WILL BE NO BIN COLLECTION.

CHERWELL DISTRICT COUNCIL HAVE RESCHEDULED THIS COLLECTION FOR SATURDAY 30TH DECEMBER. I AM SURE YOU WILL AGREE THAT THE TEAMS WHO COLLECT OUR RUBBISH DO A GREAT JOB AND YOU WILL BE PLEASED TO KNOW THAT THE PARISH COUNCIL REGULARLY THANK THEM FOR THEIR SERVICE AND WOULD LIKE TO TAKE THIS OPPORTUNITY TO WISH THEM A VERY HAPPY CHRISTMAS.

A big thank you from the PCC, St Mary & St Edburga Church

THANK YOU

The PCC would like to thank all those who take their place on the many rotas which keep the Churches so well maintained and such a welcoming place to visit; the cleaners, flower arrangers, providers of refreshments for services, readers, organists, meeters and greeters and those helping to keep the Churchyards in such good order by taking part in the mowing.   Many, many thanks.

But how can YOU help?   In Stratton Audley we have a goodly number of people who are prepared to help on the rotas but, inevitably, numbers are reducing as people move away.   If you would be able to assist – probably around once every 6-8 weeks – we would be very grateful.   If you are not currently a member of the congregation then you might like to help with the flowers, cleaning or mowing of the Churchyard which helps to keep the Church such a vibrant feature of YOUR village, but if you are a member (or are likely to become a member) of the congregation then an offer of help with the additional elements of refreshments after the service or meeting and greeting before the start of the service (or even occasionally reading a lesson!!) would be much appreciated.   If this appeals to you please contact Becky on 01869 277471.

In addition to the above, the PCC and the whole congregation, would like to thank the bell-ringers, who give up their time – usually twice a week – to rehearse and then ring for services.   The pealing of bells is a uniquely English tradition and really helps to lift the spirit prior to a service.

ANOTHER THANK YOU

This time to Stratton Audley Parish Council.   During the heavy snow and the 15-hour power cut members of the PC checked out all the vulnerable – or potentially vulnerable – villagers to see if any practical help was required.   In particular Stewart spent the day covering the village from end to end and, with the help of others, made sure that supplies of hot water and hot water bottles (where needed) were available and that immediate neighbours would be able to help if required.   Many thanks and congratulations to all of you.

UPDATE FOLLOWING POWER CUT IN DECEMBER

The power cut that affected the village and surrounding area was due to a pole cracking in a field next to the Old Huntsman House. The Parish Council asked Scottish and Southern to carry out an urgent review and they promptly sent a team out to inspect all local network and main network poles in the Stratton Audley area. Any poles considered to be dangerous have been identified and arrangements will be made for actions to be taken at the earliest opportunity. Any poles that need attention but are not considered to be dangerous will be put in to the schedule to be dealt with in due course.

The whole village and some of the surrounding area suffered a power cut starting just after 8.30am and lasted 15 hours, with the power coming back on at around 11.30pm.

Resilience team leader, Stewart Hopkins, did a great job visiting those we know potentially fall into the ‘priority service’ category together with support from other councillors. A number of weaknesses were identified which will be addressed such as the need to have a reserve of torches, hot water bottles and flasks that can be loaned to people who do not or cannot leave their homes.

At lunchtime the four main roads through Stratton Audley were snow ploughed by local farmer Richard Wise who has a contract with the Parish Council to undertake such work when required.

The reason why the village was particularly badly affected was due to a rotten wooden utility pole which collapsed in the field next to the Old Huntsman House (see photo below of new pole). It was fortunate that it fell in a direction away from the house! Scottish & Southern were not able to get a crew on site until mid-afternoon and they then had to bring in heavy lifting equipment and a new telegraph pole which meant the work went on into the evening.

We will be discussing this matter at the next PC meeting  and proposing that we ask Scottish & Southern to carry out an urgent audit of all their wooden utility poles in the Parish, particularly where they are located close to buildings, as they present a clear and present danger if they are not fit for purpose.

Do let the Parish Council know if you have anything to add or contribute to this matter.

     

Christmas Services & Carol Singing

Christmas services at St. Mary & St. Edburga

“Carols by Candlelight” Service – Sunday 17th December at 6 pm

Crib Service – 4pm Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve Midnight Communion at 11.30 pm

Christmas Day Family Service at 11 am

 GODINGTON

 “Carols by Candlelight” – Friday 22nd December at 7pm

It is hoped that anyone in Godington who would like to attend a service on Christmas Day will join the congregation in Stratton Audley 

CAROL SINGING

For one night only!! 

Villagers of all ages are invited to join in carol singing around Stratton Audley in Tuesday 19th December.   We will be meeting at 7.00pm at The Red Lion.

For many years over a couple of nights we used to sing carols but were slightly put off because of the extremely cold weather – which in itself was a bit sad because we were collecting for the night shelter.   So with more determination and a couple of extra thermal layers we are going to do this again FOR ONE NIGHT ONLY and the collection will go towards the work of the Homeless in Oxfordshire.

Please come and join us.   We look forward to seeing you

Testing Times in the Church!

Even though we may never need it, it’s good to know we’ve got it.

The new generator installed in the church earlier this year was put through it’s paces by the Parish Council in order to ensure that in the event of a major power cut, the Church will be able to act as a refuge for the community.

The generator was switched on and the test was a success. It means that we can be confident there is somewhere to go to keep warm and have a cup of tea with the lights on in the event of an emergency.

The generator was purchased as a result of the Parish Council obtaining a resilience grant from Scottish & Southern in 2016 which  also paid for a defibrillator to be installed inside the church porch and various other emergency and first aid equipment.

   

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Another Clean Sweep for the Village

Thanks go to Cherwell District Council for sending Harry in his sweeper backed up by Paul with the blower, to clear our streets of Autumn debris. There’s nothing like a clean sweep and thanks to everyone who moved their cars that is precisely what was achieved. We are one of the few villages who co-ordinate the timings with the District Council in this way three times a year.

Once again thanks to all involved.

 

Planning Approval to rebuild wall on Church St

Planning approval to rebuild the wall of the Mallories property on Church street to erect two small cottages has been granted by Cherwell District Council. The wall is to be taken down stone by stone to enable new foots to be put in and then all the old stone is to be reused and assembled in the same order so as to go some way to preserve the look and feel of the current wall.

The Parish Council agreed at the last meeting, that because of the interest shown  by the community in this application, that the details of the approval would be posted onto the website for all to read. However, rather than scan in the whole document, if you follow the detailed instructions below you will be able to view the full report on the District website very easily.

Planning Application no 17/01710/F – Removal of condition 7 (plan of wall, method of joining stonework) of 16/02631/F | Plot 2 Mallories Cherry Street Stratton Audley

Details of applications are available to view through the Councils Online Planning Service, just enter the following into your internet browser:

http://www.publicaccess.cherwell.gov.uk/online-applications

This should take you through to the planning page of Cherwell Council. Copy and paste the Planning Application no: 17/01710/F into the box where it says Enter a key word

Click and this will take you through to the Planning Application summary page and you will notice a number of sub folders across the page and you should click on Documents.

This will bring up another page which has in the box the words View Associated Documents. Click on this and you will arrive at the page with all the relevant reports.

Click on the left hand side of any one of them. At the top of the list is the latest document but it is very important to click on the blue highlighted number on the left of the page to open the actual report.

If these instructions don’t work for you then you can try the Cherwell District Council Instructions on how to use the Public Access service to view, comment on and keep track of applications which  can be found at: http://www.cherwell.gov.uk/viewplanningapp

Boundary Changes to affect Stratton Audley

Stratton Audley is to become part of East Oxfordshire and in the future our parliamentary representative will be the MP for Henley-on-Thames, not Banbury MP Victoria Prentis.  As a result we will have even less connection with Bicester which must be of some concern.

Everyone is encouraged to have their say and decide whether or not they wish to object to this very significant change.

See the latest Government proposals by clicking on this link:

https://www.bce2018.org.uk/node/6488?postcode=OX279AT 

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The proposal  that the Parish Council was consulted on in December 2016 is still going ahead. See below for Parish Council submission

Stratton Audley Parish Council response to Boundary Commission consultation

Stratton Audley Parish Council objects most strongly to the proposed boundary changes, which would see Stratton Audley – a village immediately adjacent to Bicester, and whose future is inextricably tied to that of the rapidly-growing town – being represented by an MP whose South Oxfordshire constituency base is the town of Henley – some 35 miles away, in a different district council area, and difficult to reach by public transport.  This would shatter strong local ties and do a grave electoral disservice to the residents of Stratton Audley, who would effectively be robbed of proper local representation, because their MP would have little, if any, knowledge or understanding of the local problems that they face. The Parish is part of the Bicester hinterland. Bicester is a rapidly developing area, with a substantial amount of residential development planned, and is also likely to be significantly affected by the proposals to create a strategic road link between Oxford and Cambridge. The issues of Cherwell District, both strategic, and local planning will be alien to an MP whose constituency base is some 35 miles away.

The Parish Council has noted that this review is being undertaken using old and out of date data.  By using the old Cherwell district wards, which have been completely replaced by new larger wards (approximately three times the size of the old ones), the Boundary Commission is – amongst other things – failing to take into account the existence of developments that are part of Bicester, but which are being built on fields that used to be part of rural wards that were distinct from Bicester.   The Boundary Commission has a statutory remit to consider “local ties that would be broken by changes in constituencies” in its deliberations; and it acknowledges that it might propose splitting a district ward “where all the possible ‘whole ward’ options in an area would significantly cut across local ties”, which is the case for Stratton Audley and its relationship with Bicester where the residents have access to health facilities ( Community hospital and doctors’ surgeries) leisure facilities and major shopping outlets.

The Parish Council would also observe that the district has planned growth much faster than the national average, meaning that the Banbury & Bicester constituency – currently only 257 electors below the absolute upper limit – will be too large at the next review (the same is true for Witney, which currently has a margin of only 52 electors); • the whole-ward view will be unable to cope with the new, much larger, Cherwell district wards now in place. The above-national-average planned growth of Oxfordshire also means that, at the next review, it will no longer be possible to have constituencies that fall entirely within county boundaries: Oxfordshire is almost certain to need a new constituency – most of the current ones are near bursting point even now – but the growth is probably not fast enough to allow a new constituency that lies entirely within Oxfordshire, so it will need to be combined with areas from another county. Since it is clear that both the whole-ward and county-boundary approaches are no longer viable even in the short term, it is the Parish Council’s view that they should be abandoned now, rather than forcing villages with strong local ties to their nearby towns – and residents of new developments within those towns – to be incorrectly represented for five years due solely to the Boundary Commission’s continued use of an outdated and inappropriate methodology.

Finally the parish Council would wish to point out that the current proposals will actively harm democracy and parliamentary accountability for the electors in Stratton Audley.

December 5th 2016