Category: Village News

A4421 Road Closure – Newton Purcell to Finmere

As advertised in Launton Lines the A4421 will be closed from Newton Purcell to the Finmere roundabout over two weekends in July.

Firstly:

Between 8pm on Friday 9 and 6am on Monday 12 July

for the demolition of Finmere bridge

and secondly

Between 8pm on Friday 23 and 6am on Monday 26 July

for the installation of a new temporary bridge for the HS2 haul road

Friday 6th August 8.00pm to 6.00am Monday 9th August is a contingency if either of the earlier weekend closures are unable to take place.

More information is available on the HS2 sheet

New Vaccination Centre

As you may have seen, there have been a high number of vehicle movements up to the Sports and Social Club in the last week or so.
 
The Sports and Social Club has been hired by Jardines Pharmacy which has taken on an NHS contract to provide a vaccination clinic. This clinic is in addition to the Vaccination Centre at Bicester Heritage run by the three Bicester surgeries.
 
There have been some teething problems with traffic coming into and out of the site between the Parish Hall and the School, but we hope that these have now been mitigated by the organisers.
 
The main concern raised was the conflict between the high number of vehicles and the school pickup and drop off, particularly at the end of the school day.
 
We have been assured by the organisers that additional marshals will be available to help with the traffic management when the clinics are in progress.
 
The next two clinics (on Tuesdays) have already been arranged and bookings taken, but all new clinics will ensure that appointments are not scheduled for the hour around the end of the school day in order that the children can leave school safely.
 
Parents of the school children have been asked not to park in the lane beyond the Parish Hall car park (which is owned and managed by the Sports and Social Club) and to walk to school if at all possible.

Bicester Road Closure – Saturday 8 May

The East West Rail team have had to put in an urgent over night road closure of the Bicester Road for Saturday – 8 May.

They will be working from 7pm Saturday evening until 5am Sunday morning.

Bicester Road, Launton will be closed whilst they carry out the resurfacing of the new allotment access.  East West Rail apologises for any inconvenience this causes and for the late notice of the work. Regrettably, they were unable to carry out the works earlier due to a machine breaking down.

There will be noisy activity early in the night for around an hour where they are planning the joints, after which there will be lorries and the paving machine at the site.

If there are any queries or concerns, please email publicinformation@ewralliance.co.uk or call the 24 hr helpline on 03457 11 41 41

HRH The Duke of Edinburgh

10 June 1921 – 09 April 2021

The Parish Council was deeply saddened to learn of the death of The Duke of Edinburgh and would like to express its deepest condolences to all members of the Royal Family.

An online Book of Condolence will be available at www.royal.uk.

Banbury Road Roundabout Improvements

Have your say on Banbury Road Roundabout Improvements.

Oxfordshire County Council are holding an online public consultation to share the design proposals for the Banbury Road Roundabout improvements (at the junction with Bure Park / Southwold Lane / Banbury Road) from today, Friday 19 March, until Friday 9 April at: www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/banburyroadroundabout

During this time, you will have the opportunity to find out more information about the proposals, provide feedback and ask questions to the project team via email and telephone.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to get in touch by emailing: BanburyRoadRoundabout@oxfordshire.gov.uk or calling 01865 792422.

Bicester Heritage June Scramble

Bicester Heritage is delighted to announce the return of the Bicester Heritage Scramble on Saturday 5 and Sunday 6 June.

Passes from January and April are still valid.

There are still a few neighbour discount tickets available for Sunday 6 June with the FlyingBrevets promo code which needs to be entered in the box at the top of the Eventbrite ticket page and which will immediately allocate a 50% discount.  You will be required to enter your postcode and this will be checked.  Postcodes OX27 and OX26 are the only valid postcodes applicable for the discount.

https://bicesterheritage.co.uk/whaton/junescramble/ which will unlock the promo code.

Roadworks outside Bicester Heritage

Bicester Heritage has now got all the permissions in place to do the works on the A4421 as agreed in the planning permission for their Command Works development.

The works will start on 15 March and will include:

  • the New Toucan crossing on Buckingham Rd (close to Skimmingdish Lane turning);
  • a resurfaced carriageway either side of toucan crossing (to provide high friction anti-skid surface on crossing approach);
  • new uncontrolled road crossing points at the roundabout from Bicester Motion across Buckingham Rd to The Garden Quarter and from Bicester Motion across Skimmingdish Lane to the Bicester side of road, and across the main entrance bell mouth;
  • enhancements to street lighting, signage and carriageway drainage;
  • new section of shared pedestrian footpath / cycleway to provide proper access to the bus stop and Toucan crossing on the Bicester Motion side of Buckingham Rd and the corner of Skimmingdish Lane.

The Strategic transport contributions that they are also making to OCC as part of these works will be used to upgrade the existing bus shelters and real time bus information displays and the cycle shelters adjacent to bus stops.

Bicester Heritage has provided an illustrated map of the works.

The works will take approximately 12 weeks.

Are you interested in becoming a Councillor?

As you’ll have seen, the Parish Council election will be taking place on 6 May.

If you’ve been thinking about putting yourself forward as a Councillor, but aren’t quite sure what’s involved, the National Association of Local Councils (NALC) is organising a short, free, webinar.

It’s on Monday 2 March at 6pm.

For more information and to book a place go to the NALC website

Also, have a look at the Job Description and read The Good Councillors Guide – a really useful publication.

The elections are your chance to make a difference to your village.

Grant Funding for Village Groups

Cherwell District Council has received a share of the government’s Containing Outbreak Management Fund (‘COMF’) to contain and mitigate the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic and have allocated £3,625 for the parish to “undertake and facilitate local action”.

They are suggesting that this local action could include:

– targeted communication about local support and assistance;
– support for vulnerable and self-isolating residents;
– measures to encourage and assist compliance with restrictions and guidance.

In this instance, the Parish Council can make the application on behalf of local voluntary community groups (although sadly this does not include businesses).

So, we’d love to be able to apply for some of this funding and would welcome villagers’ thoughts and proposals, with a reasonable estimate of costs, on projects which would qualify.

Please email your proposals to clerk@launton-pc.gov.uk by Friday 12 March.