News from Watlington Parish Council
1 Old School Place, Gorwell,
Watlington OX49 5QH
Telephone: 01491613867
e-mail:
website: www.watlington-oxon-pc.gov.uk
Below are some notes from the Parish Council about issues that members of the public have been asking us about recently.
Twinning
The people of Mansle have written to express an interest in reviving the Twining link with us. Experience has shown that to enable the link to be well maintained a Twining Committee is required. If anyone in interested in working on this please contact the Parish Office.
2 Hour Parking in the Car Park
As from 1st July a number of spaces in the Hill Road car park have been reserved for a maximum waiting period of 2 hours during business hours. These spaces are clearly marked. The rest of the car park remains unlimited waiting.
The limited waiting is in response to a number of comments and indeed complaints that people are unable to park for a short time to access the shops and services and this is having a detrimental effect on the High Street. It is hoped that the few spaces with limited waiting will improve turn around. We are dependent on the support of people from the surrounding villages to sustain the High Street which is important to us all.
Grants
Watlington Parish Council will be considering Grants at its Strategy Committee meeting in September. Watlington PC only gives grants to organisations.Applications need to be in by7th September at the latest.For an application look on our website or contact us on 613867 to request a form.
Grants given last year
CAB £1000
Youth Club £720
Air Ambulance £150
Watlington Concert Band £200
OPFA £80
Watlington Pre-School £1000
Watlington British Legion £125
Environment Group £256
The Samaritans £150
St Leonard’s Church £500
Dental Consultation
The Parish Council was asked for comments on this by the NHS. The Parish Council had the following remarks to make:
In the report Watlington is regarded as being one of the least deprived (i.e. best served) areas for NHS dental care, despite the local NHS dental practice only accepting new patients under age 18. We believe this priority assessment should be reviewed. With so many elderly people and children we think we are not well served. It can take months (not just weeks) to get a non urgent appointment with the Watlington dentist. They do not have the resources to cope with the demand. The next nearest NHS dental practice is in Stokenchurch and is not accepting any new patients. The second next nearest is in Wallingford, over ten miles away, which is accepting new patients. Insufficient public transport is available to either destination.
We have suggested that a mobile dental screening unit would be a beneficial and practical step forward. We believe that such units go to local schools, but feel it would be of great value if they could be accessed by everyone. Such a service would be of huge benefit to Watlington: itcould be made available to more vulnerable sections of the community, and would help to encourage those who have simply fallen out of the system to at least have regular checkups. Another suggestion would be for a more frequent part-time dental surgery based at the doctors’ surgery. We are aware that in a in a number of doctors’ surgeries in other areas, a visiting dentist holds regular clinics one or two days a week. This has provided a very beneficial and effective service.
Cuxham Field – 1 Acre Field to rent
If you have any interest in renting this field and have not yet contacted us please phone or email the address above to register your interest.
Play Equipment
The project to replace the play equipment in the Recreation Ground and revitalise the whole area is moving forward. At the time of writing we are awaiting the outcome of our major application for funds to SODC.
In the meantime it is important to get our own fund-raising efforts underway. If anyone would like to help with this please contact the Parish Office.
Dates of forthcoming meetings:
Strategy Committee: 15th July
Operations Committee:23rd July
Planning Committee:5thAugust
Full Council: 9th September
Residents are welcome to attend any of these meetings as observers. If people wish to speak on a particular issue please discuss the Parish Clerk during office hours in advance of the meeting.
Minutes of all Parish Council meetings are available to members of the public and can be viewed on our website or in the Parish Office during opening hours.
The Parish Office is open:
9.30am-12.30pm Mon, Tues, Weds, Fri
10-12.30pm on Thurs when the Citizens Advice Bureau is also open.
Collated by Angie Paterson, Chairman and Kristina Tynan, Clerk to the Parish Council.
Watlington Neighbourhood Action Group
(covering Watlington, Britwell, Pyrton, Stoke Talmage, Wheatfield, Adwell, Shirburn, Lewknor and Cuxham with Easington)
Priority Problems Update
A Neighbourhood Action Group (NAG) was formed in September 2007. The group was chosen to look at problems identified by the community, within the Watlington, Thame and Chinnor neighbourhoods.
The main concern expressed by the people of Watlington neighbourhood, concerned speeding on the B4009 and the use of the road by HGV’s as a short-cut through the town.
Our Actions :
Traffic calming – The Parish Council was already aware of and addressing this issue. We recommended additional traffic calming measures and this will be reviewed by the parish council, as part of the ongoing village traffic plan.
Speed limits - Through the County Council we asked the Speed Management Task Group to review the varying speed limits on the B4009 between the M40 motorway and Watlington. They concluded that all limits were suitable for each stretch of the road, and there were no grounds for changing them.
HGV Operations - We requested that Police and Trading Standards conduct HGV weight restriction operations – a number have been carried out and more are planned. Evidence to date suggests the issue may be more one of perception than reality: the weight restriction allows some access by HGVs (for example for deliveries etc) and operations are revealing a low number of offenders. There has been a considerable drop in offences - in the last operation in July all thelorries that were stopped had a legitimate reason to be there. SODC have updated
restrictions on their web site, which is used by regional haulage companies.
‘Lorry Watch’ - Trading Standards have set up a scheme where the public can complete forms held at the local Parish Council office. These will be investigated by Trading Standards and the police.
Speed Enforcement-We worked with the police and the Safer Roads Partnership to ensure that the B4009 is identified as a “Community Concern “site so the speed enforcement van will now be placed at additional sites along this road. Targeted traffic operations have resulted in the issue of a number of penalty notices for a variety of traffic offences. The Speed Indication Device (SID) has also been used to educate road users about their speed.
The NAG will be conducting further consultation in Watlington and the surrounding villages over coming months, to identify current community problems and concerns.
Graham Choldcroft
Watlington NAG Chairman