Front Page Post

Kirtlington Community Shop – Manager (expressions of interest)

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A small steering group is exploring the possibility of opening a community shop in Kirtlington which, if it goes ahead, would provide a part-time PAID role for a shop manager (approx. 30 hrs per week including some weekend work). We’re currently looking for expressions of interest from potential candidates and would love to hear from you if you think you’re the person for the job.

Retail experience would be beneficial, but not essential. However, good organisational and people skills, a bit of IT know-how, basic accounting abilities and a cheerful disposition are a must!

If you think this could be the role for you and you’d like to join us in this new venture for the village please use the form below giving your contact details and attach a brief CV.

We’ll be distributing leaflets around Kirtlington in the next week with more information about the new community shop so do look out for that.

Kirtlington Hedgehog Street

Kirtlington Hedgehog Street is connecting gardens in the village to give hedgehogs enough space to breed and to help keep them off the roads. This is part of the national Hedgehog Street campaign. To learn more see this article that was published in the national press.

60 properties in the village are connected
c. 16 acres of gardens are included
The village pub, school and church are all connected.

The national Hedgehog Street organisation has told KWACS that Kirtlington has one of the biggest volunteer-run Hedgehog Streets in the country! See the map in green. To join, please make sure hedgehogs can pass from your garden to your neighbours’ gardens. All it needs is a CD sized hole in your fence or wall.

In Spring 2020, there was a rapid and significant decline in Kirtlington’s hedgehog population. We have written up the evidence for the decline which is very clear and the possible reasons for it. Click here for that article and here for another article by Professor Patrick Doncaster who researched into hedgehogs in Kirtlington Park in 1992. Click here for coverage of the loss of our hedgehogs on local BBC news.

As hedgehogs have yet to evolve the ability to fly, where there is a ground difference between gardens we have to resort to innovative structures like this stone staircase and oak ramp:

As part of the project, we use foot print recording tunnels and camera traps to check on the presence of hedgehogs. A camera trap video of a hedgehog on the ramp posted to KWACS’ twitter feed went viral with over 33,000 views!

Traffic Calming Subcommittee – working for both the shorter and the longer term

Over the past few years there has been a substantial increase in traffic throughout the county including our village. The majority of parishioners are enthusiastic for actions to slow down the present traffic through Kirtlington, deter motorists as much as possible, and try to tackle access for HGVs. This is a tricky issue as the road through the village is an A road and this is unlikely to change soon.

The traffic calming subcommittee, set up by your Parish Council last year and including non-Parish Council residents and experts, has proposed a two-part approach to traffic calming involving both short-term and long-term targets. Both stages will offer a combination of traditional and progressive solutions to engage the motorist throughout their journey through the village.

The Full Document can be downloaded here.

John Howell MP – COVID-19

Dear All

I am making contact via all Town and Parish Councils and Parish Meetings in the constituency in the light of the national situation due to COVID-19.

I know that you are all working hard on your own community response to the situation and thank you for all that you are doing on this. With much negative news in the media it is so encouraging to know that on the ground people are working together to support one another.

As the situation unfolds more and more questions are being asked as the implications for different people, different groups, and different businesses come to light. As new questions arise please do feel free to email me with the concerns (contact link below). If you are asking the questions it is quite likely that others are asking them too. I may not be able to get immediate replies for you, but I can do my best to make sure that your questions are raised with those who can provide an answer.

I fully appreciate the alarm that this situation is causing for many. I share with others the concern at the fake news circulating together with the part that social media can play in inducing fear and panic. All of the information that is available from Government is in the public domain, MPs are not privy to other information. The two key links for up to date information are:

On the Government website at https://www.gov.uk/government/topical-events/coronavirus-covid-19-uk-government-response

On the NHS website at https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/

Anyone can sign up for email alerts when there is any new information at this link: https://www.gov.uk/email-signup/confirm?link=%2Fgovernment%2Ftopical-events%2Fcoronavirus-covid-19-uk-government-response

With thanks again and my best wishes

John

John Howell OBE MP FSA
Member of Parliament for the Henley Constituency

Prime Minister’s Trade Envoy to Nigeria | Member of the Council of Europe | Deputy Chairman Industry and Parliament Trust | Government Neighbourhood Planning Champion | Chairman Communities and Local Government Conservative Backbench Committee

House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA

To find out more about my work and to sign up to my email newsletter visit www.johnhowell.org.uk

Kirtlington Park Festival Licence granted

Cherwell District Council Licencing Sub-committee met on 21st January 2020 to hear the application of the KITE Festival in Kirtlington in June. The Licencing Authority decided to withdraw their objection following representation from the event organisers and the Committee resolved to grant the licence. http://modgov.cherwell.gov.uk/documents/s43173/Determination%20Letter%20U%20Live%2027%201%2020%202.pdf
The conditions to the granting of the license are set out in the Promoting Licensing Objectives: http://modgov.cherwell.gov.uk/documents/s43095/Promoting%20Licensing%20Objectives%20V3.pdf

The Parish Council is pleased to note the following:
Condition 4. The Licensee will attend a Parish Council meeting prior to each Event and will provide a monthly update to the Parish Council upon the plans for delivery of the Event for each of the three months prior to the event and will attend a Parish Council meeting after each Event to share information and receive local community feedback.
Condition 6. The Event Management Plan (EMP) shall be subject to scrutiny by the Safety Advisory Group (SAG) and shall be discussed with and approved by the Licensing Authority at least one month prior to each Event.
Kirtlington Parish Council is looking forward to meeting the U-Live (Promotor) representatives who have confirmed their attendance at the next Parish Council meeting on 18th February 2020 at 7pm when they will outline their plans for the Kite Festival in more detail. Members of the public are encouraged to attend.

Dog Mess Update

Since our announcement in January via the Village News and Website regarding the dogs walked in this village, we are pleased that the feedback has been so positive. Our campaign to try to stop irresponsible dog walkers from allowing their dogs to leave their messes around the Village is ongoing, not only as regards the pavements but also the footpaths, the open spaces, the quarry, other people’s front gardens and the verges by roads and bridleways, as well as the churchyard and the playing field.

It is worth repeating that dog poo bags are available free from the village shop (supplied by Cherwell District Council). There are five poo bag bins in the village which are collected regularly by Cherwell District Council, and that Council advises that where there is no specific dog poo bin nearby such bags with their contents should be placed in your GREEN bin.

So there is no excuse for bags to be thrown up into trees, hung on farmers’ gates or left in verges. Please do be considerate of others’ property Of course, our village has no 24 -hour dog warden to police inconsiderate behaviour, day and night, but we rely on our villagers to act responsibly and we are grateful to community-minded villagers who take the trouble to talk to those who do not act responsibly.

KIRTLINGTON PARISH COUNCIL

KWACS Talk: The History and Wildlife of RSPB Otmoor – 4th October

The History and Wildlife of RSPB Otmoor, presented by Gary Smith
Wednesday 4^th October at 7.45pm
St Mary’s Church, Kirtlington

We hope this message finds you well after a fun-filled summer and now that the nights are drawing in, the leaves are falling off the trees and our hedgehogs are curling up into tight little balls we welcome you to KWACS 2017 – 2018 winter lecture programme.

Otmoor is a truly special place for wildlife and particularly birds with nearly 200 different species recorded this century, including the spectacular starling murmurations, but Otmoor has a varied and very interesting history from a huge expanse of marshland that villagers used as common land in the 1300s to the SSSI classified nature reserve we know today.

The talk will be followed up with a visit to the RSPB reserve on Sunday 19^th November at 1pm to hopefully experience the starling’s breathtaking ballet of the sky.

We look forward to seeing you soon.