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Following 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.
The 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.
SODC 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.
All household waste recycling centres are remaining open during the national lockdown announced for January 2020 onwards.
When visiting you can expect:
Sites are open 8am – 5pm every day (booking is not required).
When there are long waiting times to enter the centre, staff may close the queue earlier than the advertised closing time based on an assessment of the queue time.
Our nearest centre in Oxfordshire is 9 miles away – Oakley Wood, Henley Road, Crowmarsh, Near Wallingford, OX10 6PW
A request from the parish council regarding the new path from Kingston Blount to Crowell.
For obvious reasons residents are using the path – which is welcomed. But the parish council is asking walkers to use the full width of the path as the centre is now becoming churned up and muddy. Using the full width will spread the wear and give the path a chance to recover.
The New Year’s Parish Walk planned for 3 January has been cancelled; group walks aren’t permitted in Tier 4.
With food banks and other support organisations running reduced or limited services over the Christmas period, South Oxfordshire District Council is urging residents to think ahead and get in touch now if they’ll need help with food or essential supplies.
The councils’ own Community Hub service will be running a limited service and wants to make sure families do not suffer this Christmas.
The Hub provides support to people who are in crisis as a result of the pandemic. Since April the team has received 1,300 requests for help and sent out 806 food parcels. A team of specially trained call-handlers can also signpost people to foodbanks, community support groups, NHS services and other agencies who can help.
The Hub will be running an emergency service for residents that need urgent food support from 24 December. The service will be available on Thursday 24, Tuesday 29, Wednesday 30 and Thursday 31 December, from 9am-5pm, by calling 07919 381 605.
From 4 January the hub will be operating as normal and will be available between 8.30am – 5.30pm Monday to Thursday and 8.30am to 4.30pm on Fridays. In an emergency it’s best to call the hub on 01235 422600 but it can be emailed via .
Residents who are signed up to the garden waste service, can put their real Christmas tree out next to the brown bin on their scheduled garden waste collection days in January. Trees must be cut to less than 6ft.
Please remember there are no garden waste collections week commencing 29th December 2020.
SODC has a new page on its website that seeks to help residents deal with their waste over the Christmas and New Year period – including information on changes to collection days, what to do with extra waste, Christmas trees and some videos on how to reduce waste by reusing and recycling items.
See more at www.southoxon.gov.uk/christmaswaste
The council also has a Christmas-themed recycling quiz which tests knowledge on what to do with festive junk and Christmas leftovers.
The parish, did a few years ago, have a rough sleeper. This makes the advice on the subject from SODC quite pertinent.
In essence, if a rough sleeper is found, SODC asks for calls, during office hours, to be made to the housing needs team on 01235 422 452. This is a direct line to a housing needs officer. If the person is in immediate danger, call an ambulance or the police on 999. Don’t put yourself in danger or approach someone acting strangely, even to help.
Outside office hours, please report to the non-profit homelessness organisation Streetlink which is funded by the government. You can report someone rough sleeping via its website www.streetlink.org.uk or by calling 0300 5000 914. Streetlink is the national scheme for reporting rough sleeping and connects rough sleepers to local support services. Please be aware that these reports will be dealt with next working day.
If necessary, the out of hours housing needs officer can be called on 01235 422 420.