Diary Date Next Parish Council Meeting, Thursday 14Thjanuary at 7Pm in the Village Hall

Diary Date–next Parish Council Meeting, Thursday 14thJanuary at 7pm in the Village Hall.

Parish Council Report - December 2015

Ladygrove North East Development–Consultation Update

Members of the PC will meet the team from the North East Didcot Partnership on Wednesday 25th November where we will discuss the impacts of the development on the village and what we can do to minimise these.

To remind you, the North East Didcot Partnership has submittedproposalsfor a large new neighbourhood at North East Didcot, just south of Appleford at Appleford Road. The application is for up to 1,880 new homes and associated supporting facilities.

The Council have already submitted comments; we would urge Appleford residents to view the outline application & if they wish to comment to do so via

Increase in Traffic/ Appleford Station Access

Closely linked to the increase of high speed traffic through the village, we have raised concerns with both Oxfordshire Highways and our County Councillor, Richard Webber about crossing the railway bridge and access to the station itself and we hope to be able to update you further in our first 2016 edition of the Pressings.

The Appleford Rail Group - ARG

You will see an update article submitted to us by Greg O’Broin, Chair of The Appleford Rail Group, within this ed. of The Pressings.

The PC would like to thank all those that attended the meeting in October again for their support.

Speedwatch

As mentioned in the last ed., due to an increase in traffic, the Council have asked OCC highways for a speed monitor to be placed in the village so that we can complete a traffic count. This will be useful information which will benchmark the current rate of traffic that uses the B4016 through Appleford prior to any increase in traffic from developments in the area (Sutton Courtenay housing, housing developments in Culham, the North East Didcot expansion etc)

To discuss ways to address the speed at which vehicles are travelling through the village, we willinvite the local PCSO to attend a meeting to discuss Community Speedwatchiniatives early in the New Year.

FCC & Hanson Liaison Committee

The committee met on 12th October. FCC are being very co-operative, there has been a change in their local and area management team and they now appreciate that they need to be aware of the local community as well as their own commercial interests.

Concerns were raised about the amount of waste that had accumulated in the new drainage channel running into the large lake and three days later a team from FCC had cleared it all away.

Also brought to their attention were the concerns about the number of vehicles using the bridleway that connects the B4016 to the A4130 via the level crossing. It is a designated bridleway but vehicles are being driven at excessive speed along it and HGV's are using the northern section of the bridleway as well. To make matters worse, it does show up as an advised route on satnavs. FCC appreciated this problem and is in the process of installing ‘No Access’ signs at the relevant locations.

Next spring or summer FCC intends to invite the residents of Appleford to an open day and explain their operations at the recycling unit and the compost unit; this will be in The Pressings as soon as a date is chosen.

Motor Cyclists Using Hanson’s Land

Hanson have taken steps to stop the motor cyclists using part of their ground opposite the chippings plant, they have erected a gate but more importantly they graded the area so it is no longer an attractive place to use for scrambling, so this has now resolved the noise problem to both Appleford and Sutton Courtenay.

I have thanked both FCC and Hanson's for their help on the matters mentioned above and it seems to have opened a new era of mutual appreciation.

Network Rail

Network Rail are also concerned about the increased traffic on the bridleway by the level crossing and the fact that these users are not authorised to use their level crossing. They say that they are going to change their signage on the B4016 side of the crossing, but they did add ‘When we have the funds’.

There are 3 points in Appleford Parish where the electricity supply crosses the railway line, and because of the railway electrification work these supply cables need to be underground. The initial groundwork investigations are now underway.

Liaison with Neighbouring Parishes

There is now good liaison between Appleford and Clifton Hampden, Culham and Long Wittenhamparish councils. Correspondence from Sutton Courtney regarding planning applications was noted and it was agreed that Cllrs L Guinn and P Walker would attend a meeting Sutton Courtney parish Council as soon as possible.

The BACHPORT (Burcot, Clifton Hampden for the protection of the River Thames) Campaign

If you have not already done so, we urge you sign up to the BACHPORT campaign online at bachport.uk.

You will see the autumn update from the committee in this ed.

We do have a few Bachport ‘No Quarry’ signs left. If you would like to put one of these up please contact Lucy & Andy Guinn at St Peters House, Main Road.

Village Website - A Plea for Information and Photographs

We have successfully engaged Jennie Routley of Creative Badger to put together a new format for a village website.

The web site will have various tabs for each of our community groups and our hope is that it quickly becomes a ‘one stop shop’ for village information including train information, Church information including service times, village event information and local news.

The PC will ensure that the websitecontains links to facilitate easy reporting of issues, for example, smells from the FCC facility, reporting HGVs via trading standards and highways issues to Oxfordshire Highways.

There is of course, a large amount of information on the existing web pages and we will move this across to the new format. However we would like to ask for any additional information that you think we could include, especially any photographs that you may have new or old. If you could please get these over to me at St Peters House or via our e-mail address;

We would like a special mention to go to David Ashby who has volunteered to update the new website for us once up and running.

Applefordon Thames Scheduled Ancient Momument (SAM)

The area of Applefordprotected SAM

Whilst we are subject to so many development applications from housing to quarrying, it is worth noting the amount of protect sites in our immediate area. This includes the scheduled ancient monument (SAM) that is located in our Parish, just south of St Peter and St Paul Church.

In 1968, gravel extraction in a pit at Appleford brought to light a hoard of pewter which had lain hidden since the fourth or fifth century AD. Applefordlies in a densely populated region of Roman rural occupation, clearly seen through the extensive cropmarks along this part of the river.

The area immediately around the hoard was destroyed by gravel extraction, but earlier aerial photographs show clear evidence of occupation, and Roman coins and pottery had been found in the field at least since the nineteenth century.

The hoard itself consisted of 24 pieces of pewter tableware, making it the third largest hoard of Roman pewter found in this country to date. It was deposited in some sort of pit or shaft, probably a well given the preservation of organic remains, such as leather and a fruit stone, indicating a waterlogged position.

Associated iron objects include a uniquely Romano-British cauldron chain (Great Chesterford type), a scythe blade, a chisel and a pan with a folding handle. Also found were pottery, shoe leather, quernstone fragments and vegetable and animal remains, including fragments of a human skull.

The Appleford hoard is on display in the 'Rome' gallery on the ground floor of the Ashmolean Museum, Beaumont Street, Oxford.

Sensible Use of the Play Equipment/ Respectful Use of the Recreation Ground

We would ask that those using the play equipment, specifically the zip wire, do so in a sensible way. Misuse and abuse of the equipment will result in it becoming unsafe and may cause injury.

There have been reports of damage to trees on the recreation ground. We would ask that you please use the recreation ground respectfully and report anyone causing damage to the relevant authority.

Chinooks Come to RAF Benson

6 Chinook helicopters will be based at RAF Benson from autumn 2015 confirms Public Relations Officer, Ms Nikki Hamilton.

They will be part of the Chinook Operational Conversion Flight, training new aircrew in the specifics of operating the Chinook helicopter before they move to a front line Squadron at RAF Odiham. The Chinooks will operate in our local area, much as they and the Puma and Merlin helicopters already do.

Steps being taken to minimise the impact and noise disturbance on local residents have already been taken for the aircraft that currently operate here and will also be adhered to by the Chinooks. These steps include but are not limited to the varying of flight paths, routinely flying at a minimum height of 500 feet unless absolutely necessary for training purposes, not flying lower than 500 feet over any built up area and utilising Defence training areas wherever possible to undertake training. The crews also make the best use of the simulators here at RAF Benson, which reduces the amount of flying they undertake in an aircraft.

One Squadron of Merlin helicopters has already departed RAF Benson for RNAS Yeovilton in Somerset and the second and final Squadron of Merlins is expected to depart in summer 2016. This will dramatically reduce the number of aircraft based at RAF Benson and therefore the amount of flying in the local area. Thus, they expect that the move of the Chinook helicopters accompanied by the move of the Merlin helicopters will reduce the noise disturbance for the local community overall. However, it is recognised that the noise that emanates from a Chinook is more distinct and may be heard more on occasion than that of a Merlin or Puma when operating at lower heights. Therefore, RAF Benson will be continually reviewing the regulations that they impose voluntarily on our aircrew to ensure that they are reducing our impact on the local community as much as possible without affecting the essential training for aircrew and the operational output of the Station.

If the Parish has any further questions that need addressing, please feel free to get in contact with Nikki and she will do her best to help.

Facebook & Twitter

Don’t forget that ApplefordPC is operatingFacebook & Twitter. Please do feel free to join us and to use the pages to stay informed/ post updates, view/ post pertinent village information, events, photographs etc.

Appleford on Thames Parish Council

@ApplefordPc

Lastly, members of Appleford PC would like to wish you and your families a very Happy Christmas and a happy and healthy New Year.

Lucy Guinn – 23/11/15