News

Council lifts restrictions on Witney town centre road

Council lifts restrictions on Witney town centre road: Huffkins pavement seating

Following feedback from residents, shoppers and businesses, Welch Way and the lower High Street in Witney will be reopened to traffic.

The closure was made as part of changes to the town centre to make social distancing easier during Covid-19.

But analysis has revealed that footfall in the lower High Street remains too low to justify the closure and businesses such as Huffkins cafe as well as shoppers will now benefit from the easier access.

Cllr James Mills, Leader of West Oxfordshire District Council, said: “We have always made it clear that we will adapt these temporary measures in the light of experience.

“We have listened to residents and businesses, looked at the number of people in the lower High Street and decided to lift the restrictions. We will continue to monitor the situation and adapt accordingly.”

Changes made to the upper High Street and Market Square are working well with pedestrian flows recovering, justifying the measures introduced to aid social distancing.

July 22, 2020 in Community

Shipton Playground is re-opening

GOOD NEWS

Following the easing of the lockdown restrictions by the Government, Shipton Playground re-opens on Saturday 4th July.

Please see below the notice explaining how to keep yourselves safe whilst using the playground

  • Poster displaying Covid-19 rules at Shipton playground
    Covid-19 rules for the Playground
  • Bench showing Keep Your Distance poster
    Social Distancing
  • Play tractor showing Keep Your Distance poster
    Social Distancing

July 3, 2020 in Uncategorized

Covid Symptom Study from Wychwood Surgery

Logging your health daily is more important than ever With lockdown measures easing, there are plenty of new opportunities for ‘R’ to increase. As the weather improves and children and teachers head back to school, more people will come into contact with one another. The risk of new COVID hotspots emerging is also likely to increase without adequate monitoring. Our app is a crucial early detection tool to understand if there is a risk of a second wave of the virus. It’s is more important than ever that you keep logging daily using our app to help us to detect new COVID hotspots earlier. Protect your community as lockdown lifts by reporting for yourself and behalf of your children to stop the spread of new infections quicker. We would also like to encourage you to share the app with schools, parent’s associations, and other organisations within your community. The more of us there are using the app daily, the more accurately and quickly we will be able to identify potential hotspots. How might I keep my kids safe as they return to school?

As children return to school, we know that parents may be wondering how they can protect their children from COVID. We’ve made sure to cover this topic in one of our latest blog posts. Read our six tips for keeping your children safe as they go back to school. We encourage all parents to take just 1 minute each day to keep using our app to log on behalf of their children. This data will help us better understand how the virus might affect kids and identify potential COVID hotspots as schools reopen. New incidence data: are the numbers falling? Last week we published insights into the number of daily new COVID cases are occurring in England. We have now added daily case estimates for Northern Ireland, Wales, and Scotland, which you can find on our website. Stay well,

Professor Tim Spector
On behalf of ZOE
June 2, 2020 in Lifestyle

Temporary Road Closure Trots Lane, Shipton

Temporary Traffic Regulation Notice – S14 Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984

Temporary Emergency **Road Closure at Shipton under Wychwood, Trots Lane

Oxfordshire County Council has been informed of a temporary emergency road closure on Trots Lane whilst water main service pipe repairs are carried out for public safety reasons.  

A temporary Emergency Notice is being made to implement the temporary closure and will operate from 31 May 2020.

The anticipated completion date is 3 June 2020. This is a 24 hour per day closure.

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 emergency works may be obtained by contacting Dimitar Gyudyulev at Thames Water on 0203 577 8344 or email Dimitar.gyudyulev@thameswater.co.uk

June 2, 2020 in Community

Dix Pit to re-open next Monday

Dix Pit to re-open next Monday
The Dix Pit household waste recycling centre will reopen on Monday 18 May but residents are being urged to hold their visit unless it is absolutely essential.
Long tailbacks are expected at the site run by Oxfordshire County Council. These are set to be exacerbated by reduced opening hours and the number of vehicles accessing the site being reduced by 50 per cent to allow for social distancing.

Government guidance says that trips to a recycling centre should only be made if ‘essential’ – that is if the waste cannot be stored safely without harm to health.  It adds: “It would be reasonable for residents to undertake a journey to a HWRC if the waste or recycling could not be stored safely at home or disposed of through other legitimate routes such as a dedicated collection.
“By this we mean that the waste/recycling could not be stored on their property without causing a risk of injury, health or harm to the resident or other members of their household or harm to public health and amenity.” Cllr Norman MacRae, Cabinet Member for the Environment at West Oxfordshire District Council, said: “We know there has been considerable frustration with the site being closed but hopefully this decision will help ease the situation and help prevent fly-tipping. “I would urge residents not to react too hastily though as we don’t want to see the site overwhelmed. If you can delay for a while longer, this would help everyone concerned.”

Residents are also reminded that the full bulky waste service will be available again from Thursday 14 May. For more information, see: https://www.westoxon.gov.uk/bins-and-recycling/getting-rid-of-large-items/

Things to remember when visiting the reopened centres:
  You should only visit the site if you cannot safely store your waste at home.
Revised opening hours: All sites will open at 8am and close at 4pm to allow them to be cleaned for the following day.
The summer evening opening hours are suspended.
Vehicle numbers and parking bays will be reduced on site, and once the maximum is reached the site will operate on a one-out one-in basis.

PLEASE NOTE the potential for long delays and queues. Please follow any instructions given by traffic marshals to ensure queues are managed safely
Charges for non-household waste brought to sites will continue and this will be by contactless card payment only.
Residents are expected to self-police and abide by social distancing of two metres from site teams and other residents at all times.
For an initial period, no hire vans or trailers will be permitted onto sites. Site teams will be there for guidance only and will not be able to assist residents in unloading their waste.
Only one resident will be permitted out of the vehicle, unless it is to unload a heavy load which would otherwise be unsafe to remove.
Visits are best made by just one person per vehicle.
In line with Public Health England guidance, residents who are vulnerable, or who are showing symptoms which may indicate coronavirus, should not visit household recycling centres.
Residents are requested to ensure all waste is pre-sorted before arriving at site to ensure minimum time on site.
Please refer to the Oxfordshire County Council website before leaving home to familiarise yourself with these and to avoid frustration and delay:
www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/wastereopenquestions

May 13, 2020 in Lifestyle

News and Updates from Oxfordshire County Council

Please see below for stories and information that we would like to share with you and your residents regarding health and adult social care:

New coronavirus clinics to help patients across Oxfordshire:

https://news.oxfordshire.gov.uk/new-coronavirus-clinics-to-help-patients-across-oxfordshire/

Praise for Oxfordshire’s inspirational care teams:

https://news.oxfordshire.gov.uk/praise-for-oxfordshires-inspirational-care-teams/

New hotline for diabetes patients during COVID-19

https://www.ouh.nhs.uk/news/article.aspx?id=1225

 

Health and well-being services affected during the coronavirus:

There are a range of well-being and health services that are affected during this period. If you need to find out about services such as: support to quit smoking, sexual health clinics and weight management sessions, please click here.

 

Local information about services affected during the Coronavirus:

Updates about critical frontline services such as fire and rescue, waste collections, highways and children’s social care:

https://news.oxfordshire.gov.uk/coronavirus-information-from-the-government/

For information and updates about other services, please go to: https://news.oxfordshire.gov.uk/?h=1&all=1

April 16, 2020 in Uncategorized

Remote Parish Council meetings

The Government have recently introduced new temporary legislation enabling PCs to hold remote meetings.

The public are still invited to these meetings. If you would like to join then please email the clerk by 6pm of the day of the meeting and she will send you the link to access it.

clerk@shiptonunderwychwood.org

There will still be a public time item for your views to be heard. The rest of the time, the PC asks that you mute yourself so there is no extra background disturbance.

April 8, 2020 in Community

Scam advice for residents (charity worker scams)

Oxfordshire residents have been warned to be on their guard against criminals and scammers exploiting the coronavirus situation.

Some scammers are claiming to be charity workers, offering assistance with shopping, or requesting donations.

Here are some tips from our Trading Standards team on how to check charity workers are genuine (graphic attached for social media and websites):

How to check if they are genuine:

  • Check the charity’s name and registration number at gov.uk/checkcharity. Most charities with an annual income of £5,000 or more must be registered.
  • Make sure the charity is genuine before giving any financial information – it’s ok to decide not to give on the spot. Be wary of unsolicited emails from charities you have never heard of and be careful when responding to emails or clicking on links within them.
  • Exercise the same caution as with any other internet transaction, for example, to donate online. Visit the charity’s own website and always type the website address into the browser yourself.
  • Contact or find out more online about the charity that you’re seeking to donate to or work with, to find out more about their spending. Ask a trusted friend, neighbour or relative if you are unable to research this or need a second opinion.
  • Ignore requests to donate through a money transfer company.

Full details and advice from our Trading Standards team here:

https://news.oxfordshire.gov.uk/oxfordshire-residents-warned-against-coronavirus-scams/

April 7, 2020 in Community, Lifestyle