New issue of the Parish Notes
The February / March issue of the Parish Notes is now out. It can be found under Your Community > Parish Notes.
A copy should be posted through letterboxes any day now.
Reminder: A40 closed
/in News/by Adam BernsteinTemporary Traffic Regulation Notice – S14 Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984
Temporary Emergency Road Closure at Aston Rowant, A40 Between Junction of Kingston Hill heading North to bottom of Aston Hill
In the interests of public safety it will be necessary for Oxfordshire County Council to temporarily close the A40 whilst tree felling works are carried out for public safety reasons.
A temporary Emergency Notice is being made to implement the temporary closure and will operate from 1 February 2021.
The anticipated completion date is 18 February 2021. The closure will operate between 08:00 and 16:00 each day.
A single Temporary Emergency Notice can last for 21 consecutive days maximum.
Access will be maintained for emergency service vehicles and for those frontages within the closure area, subject to the progress of the works and liaison with the works supervisor.
Further information regarding the works may be obtained by contacting Andy Lederer ,Oxfordshire County Council on 0345 310 11 11 or 07860453603. Email:
Emergency Temporary Road Closure in Aston Rowant on A40
/in News/by Adam BernsteinTemporary Traffic Regulation Notice – S14 Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984
Temporary Emergency Road Closure at Aston Rowant, A40 Between Junction of Kingston Hill heading North to bottom of Aston Hill
In the interests of public safety it will be necessary for Oxfordshire County Council to temporarily close the A40 whilst tree felling works are carried out for public safety reasons.
A temporary Emergency Notice is being made to implement the temporary closure and will operate from 1 February 2021.
The anticipated completion date is 18 February 2021. The closure will operate between 08:00 and 16:00 each day.
A single Temporary Emergency Notice can last for 21 consecutive days maximum.
Access will be maintained for emergency service vehicles and for those frontages within the closure area, subject to the progress of the works and liaison with the works supervisor.
Further information regarding the works may be obtained by contacting Andy Lederer ,Oxfordshire County Council on 0345 310 11 11 or 07860453603. Email:
Coronavirus vaccine scams
/in News/by Adam BernsteinAction Fraud is raising awareness of another coronavirus vaccine scam after it received a high volume of reports relating to a phishing email on Monday 25 January.
The email, which attempts to trick people into handing over their bank details, was reported more than 1,000 times in 24 hours. It appears to come from the NHS and asks the recipient to click on a link to accept or decline an invitation to receive the coronavirus vaccine. If they click accept, they are asked to input personal information and their bank card details.
The national reporting centre for fraud and cyber crime has previously warned about coronavirus vaccine scams, with many people reporting receiving fake text messages purporting to be from the NHS.
In the UK, coronavirus vaccines will only be available via the National Health Services of England, Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland. You can be contacted by the NHS, your employer, a GP surgery or pharmacy local to you, to receive your vaccine. Remember, the vaccine is free of charge. At no point will you be asked to pay.
The NHS will never:
- ask you for your bank account or card details.
- ask you for your PIN or banking password.
- arrive unannounced at your home to administer the vaccine.
- ask you to prove your identity by sending copies of personal documents such as your passport, driving licence, bills or pay slips.
If you receive a call you believe to be fraudulent, hang up. If you are suspicious about an email you have received, forward it to . Suspicious text messages should be forwarded to the number 7726 which is free of charge.
Winter Support Grant Scheme
/in News/by Adam BernsteinSouth Oxfordshire District Council is able to help those who are struggling to afford food and stay warm this winter. The Winter Support Grant scheme is available for households who have been hardest hit by the coronavirus pandemic.
Support is available in the form of advice, supermarket and fuel vouchers or through the direct payment of energy or water bills.
If you are a South Oxfordshire resident and you are struggling to afford food or pay your fuel bills, you may be eligible to receive help. Get in touch with your nearest advice centre for further guidance or if you know of someone who is struggling please tell them to get in touch: Citizens Advice – 0300 3309042
Note: Only one member (over the age of 18) per household can apply, and they must live in South Oxfordshire. The Winter Support grant will be available from 11 January until the end of March 2021. To find out more about the Government’s COVID Winter Grant Scheme, visit www.gov.uk
Airband broadband – an update
/in News/by Adam BernsteinFollowing the promotion, but not endorsement, by the parish council of internet service provider Airband to provide cost-effective fibre broadband to the premises, it’s troubling to find that the suggested install date of autumn seems stuck in a perpetual loop of slippage.
Autumn slipped to December, December to February and now, despite prompting there is now no date for the install. Further, the company, at the end of November, sent an email suggesting that more subscribers were required in the parish before the install could take place.
Airband have repeatedly promised confirmation that the install would go ahead regardless, as well as a projected install date.
However, on making contact with the original project manager, it appears that there are several issues that the company is contending with. Coronavirus hasn’t been helpful; more people are working from home and it’s putting a strain on their network requiring more investment as well as delaying rollouts. Also, the company says its contract work has become very burdensome and is causing knock-on delays.
The manager was blunt and upfront. At this point, there is no guarantee that FTTP will come to the parish – it’s not yet been signed off by the board. It’s probable, but not certain. However, some will have noticed Airband vehicles in the area laying fibre; they’re connecting council contract premises from the Thame exchange in the Chinnor area.
According to the manager, those who are less than 70 metres from this fibre can seek a connection. But it won’t be under the rural broadband voucher scheme that will apply to everyone else in the parish.
While the parish council did not endorse Airband, it is nevertheless necessary to make the current situation known to each subscriber so that they can make their own mind up as to whether to stay on board.
Business support
/in News/by Adam BernsteinBusinesses are being urged to sign up to the South and Vale Business Support mailing list to ensure they keep up to date with the latest news about the financial support available to them during the ongoing restrictions.
South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse District Councils are currently administering a number of government-funded support grants which cover the periods during national lockdowns and localised tier restrictions, as well as further support for pubs.
Each time the government announces a new grant it can take several weeks before they provide councils with the specific details they need in order to open the scheme for applications.
Visit svbs.co.uk to sign up to the Business Support mailing list.
Leak on Coffin Path cleared
/in News/by Adam BernsteinFollowing the parish council calling out Thames Water – for a second time – the blockage causing the sewage leak on the Coffin Path in Aston Rowant has now been cleared.
Thames Water note that the pipe is their asset.
The path has been sprayed with disinfectant and is now safe to cross.
Sewage leak on Coffin Path in Aston Rowant
/in News/by Adam BernsteinThe parish council is aware of, and has been trying to deal with for a few weeks now, a manhole cover on the Coffin Path in Aston Rowant that is progressively leaking greater volumes of sewage. The manhole cover in question is around 20m from the church end of the path.
Thames Water, after a visit before Christmas, has denied responsibility for the leak as has the owner of the green, James Williams. The parish council is trying to engage with Oxfordshire County Council’s environmental health department; that is proving difficult as coronavirus has meant that staff are working from home and are not contactable other than by voicemail.
In the meantime, Thames Water has agreed to visit for a second time, but until responsibility for the leak can be established can villagers please walk *around* the leak and avoid the first 50m of the path. It is a health hazard.
Garden waste collections suspended
/in News/by Adam BernsteinSODC has suspended garden waste collections with immediate effect and is not taking on new garden waste customers until further notice.
The move seeks to allow crews to focus on essential services including household collections while “building resilience in our workforce to allow for increased staff shortages due to illness.”
This means that you cannot now leave your Christmas tree alongside a brown bin for collection in January, as this service is suspended – one option is to take a tree to White’s Field Car Park, Mill Lane, Chinnor, before the evening of Friday 8 January, and place it in the communal pile for disposal of over the weekend.
SODC has yet not given information regarding refunds of this paid service.