Clifton Hampden Parish Council Bridge article - Download as pdf 

Clifton Hampden and Burcot Parish Council is in abeyance.

An emergency meeting of the Parish Council was held on 18 April to hear of the resignations of the Parish Clerk: Charlotte Ray or Burls; Councillors Dougie Anscombe- Stephen, Rory Maxwell, Suzanne Neave and Paul Schenk. Councillors Nick Fielding, Marc Juffkins and I stated that each intended to resign in the near future because of the difficulty in gaining a quorum. The full minutes of this meeting are in this edition of the Bridge and may be viewed on the Parish Council website.

The Clifton Hampden and Burcot Parish Council, elected in May 2023, achieved a great deal in its short, two-year life.

The Parish Council inherited, from its predecessor, a Neighbourhood Development Order application and a draft Neighbourhood Plan.

The Council scrutinised the details of the NDO submission, considered its implications for the village in the long-term and proposed to the Steering Group, the landowner and developer, several improvements. These were not accepted, and the unaltered application was assessed by an independent Examiner, who determined that the proposal failed on three basic conditions. The SODC accepted his recommendation and the NDO application was turned down.

The Neighbourhood Plan was put to referendum and achieved a majority in favour of its adoption. This means that the Parish will have a guide for future planning decisions and will receive a higher proportion of Community Infrastructure Levy funds.

The Council’s opposition to the construction of a solar farm and a battery energy storage facility at Burcot Farm was upheld by the SODC and the scheme was turned down on two occasions. However, a new Government stressed the importance of more investment in renewable energy and the Burcot Farm solar farm was granted planning permission after a long and expensive Public Inquiry, to which two Councillors and a parishioner gave evidence in person.

The Council also supported neighbouring parishes in objecting to aspects of the HIF scheme, involving a new bridge over the Thames and a road by-passing Clifton Hampden and ending on the Oxford Road. Our Councillor made local headlines by dubbing it “a road to nowhere”. Our objections were not heeded, and the scheme has been approved because of its importance to the development of the Culham Campus and proposed new village.

A 20mph scheme has been installed in Clifton Hampden, bollards replaced and the traffic speed indicator in Burcot was repaired but failed again. The Oxford County Council has agreed to meet with parishioners to discuss traffic calming in Burcot and to record current traffic movements.

The wooden bus shelters and seats in Clifton Hampden and Burcot have been restored. The Clifton Hampden bus shelter has been rebuilt by a skilled carpenter, Mike Gibbons, with an SODC grant.

A further grant was awarded by the OCC for purchase pf flood mitigation equipment but a grant application for rebuilding the play equipment on the Recreation Field was not successful. Grants have been awarded for a fitness programme and defibrillator training.

A permissive footpath scheme was negotiated with a local farmer but, unfortunately, the Sustainable Farming Incentive scheme, which would have funded the signage and upkeep of the paths, was cut by the Government.

A Nature Recovery survey of the parish was carried out and various actions have been identified to improve our natural environment. An online Parish Newsletter has been created.

During my time on the Council, I have endeavoured to conserve the beauty, interest and rare individuality of our villages. I hope that this brief account of the varied and interesting work of the Parish Council will encourage readers to come forward to create a new Parish Council.

A locum Parish Clerk has been appointed to continue essential transactions until a replacement has been found. She may be reached at gill.bailey08@outlook.com

Unfortunately. the Parish Council meeting scheduled for 19 May, and the Annual Parish Meeting scheduled for the 21 or 23 May are now postponed.

Christine McCulloch. chris-mcc@outlook.com

From David Corney on behalf of Long Wittenham Parish Council.

I thought you and the other Clifton Hampden Parish Councillors would be pleased to know that we are planning to open a new permissive footpath between Long Wittenham and Clifton Hampden.  The opening will take place in the spring/summer, and we would like to invite you and any of the other Clifton Hampden Councillors to the opening, together with anyone from Clifton Hampden village who wants to.  We are still pulling together details for the opening, and I will be in touch with you later when things are a little clearer, and the date/time and location have been finalised.  An article about this will be appearing in an edition of The Bridge, likely in March.

The path has come about thanks to the idea and perseverance of Mark Thompson, a Long Wittenham Parish Councillor.  Establishing the permissive footpath would not have been possible without the generosity of Robin Buxton and The Gibbs’ Estate, who have allowed the permissive path to cross their land, and to whom we are very grateful.

Although most of the footpath crosses agricultural land, due to landowners’ constraints, the start of the path from Long Wittenham runs along the roadside verge for a few hundred yards before entering Robin Buxton’s land a hundred yards or so past Lower Farm.  The remainder of the path is “off-road”, and the footpath eventually emerges into the car park of the Barley Mow.

A short opening ceremony will take place later in the year to formally open the footpath, and people from Long Wittenham and Clifton Hampden are warmly invited to attend the ceremony.  Details including the day, time and location will be published nearer the time.

UKAEA holds a Permit issued by the Environment Agency (EPR/LB3330DP) which enables specified activities at Culham to be undertaken using tritium and other fusion relevant material and for the management of waste generated from these activities. As you would expect, there are strict limits and controls required for this work and we are regulated by the Environment Agency for compliance.

The permit contains a map which defines the permit boundary, and for some historic reason, it includes land which is outside the existing security fence on the south side of site. This area has never been used by UKAEA for operational activities nor does it appear to have been used operationally in that way by RNAS Hornbill (the naval air station that was located on the site in the 1940s and 1950s)

In preparation for ownership of some of this land transferring to Oxfordshire County Council for the Housing Infrastructure Fund scheme implementation, UKAEA is preparing to surrender the Permit for the land outside the new security boundary and we have had discussions with the Environment Agency Inspector and other sites who have undertaken similar activities. In such cases it would appear to be good practice, and support the surrender case, for checks to be undertaken which could identify legacy issues, for example from aircraft dials which had a component that was slightly radioactive to enable them to be seen in the dark.

Therefore, the UKAEA Health Physics Group will be undertaking a survey of this area over the next few weekends which will be seeking to confirm that there is no evidence of liabilities predating UKAEA ownership.

As key local stakeholders we wanted to inform you of an activity, which could be viewed as unusual, so that you are aware of the reason for it; we are also informing our immediate neighbours.

Following the Parish Council meeting of 9th December 2024, which allowed only limited time for public participation, several residents have proposed holding a separate and full public Parish Meeting.

This meeting will be held on Thursday 2nd of January at 19:30 at the Village Hall. All are welcome to attend.

This full Parish Meeting will allow sufficient time to discuss issues relevant to the Parish, including two recent government announcements (links below), which have added urgency to ensuring we come together as a community with a democratic voice.

1. Hif1 being approved, unblocking 3k homes in Culham
2. Reduction of protection for greenbelt to build more houses

Proposed Agenda

• 1. NDO – a chance for those who did not get to speak at the PC meeting on the 9th to be able to ask questions & share views
• 2. Discuss if this Parish Council can support the community on the issues facing us, namely:
  • Being able to represent and lead the community through the complexities of the HIF1 Road (By-Pass) that has just been approved
  • Protecting our community from unwanted development considering new government pressure if we have no NDO to protect us
  • Being able to represent and lead the community through the complexities of the Culham Housing Development that was dependant on the HIF1 Road
  • Prioritising their focus for community value
  • Should the NDO fall through, can they achieve the same level of benefit for our community – funding for the school; village hall; surgery; allotments; burial ground; post office/shop – whilst balancing that with securing a charitable contractor and benevolent land-owner

The Clifton Hampden Neighbourhood Plan has been signed off and adopted by SODC.
For more information please see below the correspondence received.

Congratulations to everyone involved!!

SODC Correspondence:

The Clifton Hampden Neighbourhood Plan was made by the district council on 24 October 2024.

The final decision report and the made Clifton Hampden Neighbourhood Plan have now been published on the Council’s website.

The Decision Statement and the Clifton Hampden Neighbourhood Plan can also be inspected at:

An Appeal has been lodged by Ethical Power against South Oxfordshire District Council’s decision to reject their proposals for a massive Solar Installation at Burcot Farm. Their applications have been rejected three times, but their appeal directly to the Secretary of State could overturn SODC’s decision, the objections of the vast majority of local residents and the workings of our local democracy.

We need to act NOW to prevent Ethical Power and their team of lawyers winning their appeal and SAVE OUR GREENBELT.

Please send your objections ASAP to the Appeals Casework Portal at SODC – click on ‘Make Representation’ once through to the website:

https://acp.planninginspectorate.gov.uk/ViewCase.aspx?caseid=3350890

You can also send your comments to:

Alison Bell, The Planning Inspectorate Room, Temple Quay House, 2 The Square, Bristol BS1 6PN

We need to do more to generate clean electricity and contribute to the fight against global warming and the use of fossil fuels, but this need not come at the expense of our Greenbelt and high-grade agricultural land when there are much more suitable ‘grey belt’ and brown field sites available.

THE DEADLINE FOR OBJECTIONS IS 5^thNOVEMBER SO PLEASE SEND YOUR COMMENTS NOW!

Here are some of the reasons why this development has already been rejected:

• Inappropriate development directly affecting the openness of the Greenbelt, in contravention of SODC’s DES9 policy for renewable energy.

• The existing agricultural land is classified as Best and Most Versatile for food production. DES7 states use of such valuable land for development should be avoided in favour of poorer quality land or brownfield sites.

• The National Planning Policy Framework states that Local Planning Authorities should protect and enhance the landscape - the proposed Solar Farm is in direct conflict with this policy.

• Industrialisation of the landscape in direct view from an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (Wittenham Clumps) - also in contravention of DES9.

• The cumulative impact of the destruction of the Greenbelt from Abingdon to Berinsfield. With the Activity centre, new housing in Culham, the Clifton Hampden bypass, a Burcot Solar farm and expansion of Berinsfield forming a continuous stream of development on greenbelt land.

• Compromising locally valued biodiversity.

•  Endangering the safe movement of traffic and pedestrians during the construction phase - again in contravention of DES9.

•  The effects of noise pollution, the intrusive visual impact and the use and storage of hazardous substances are all in contravention of SODC’s DES6 policy covering Residential Amenity.

•  A complete lack of community consultation for this application.

Site Address : Burcot Farm Burcot OX14 3GW Description of development: Installation of a ground mounted solar photovoltaic array, co-located battery energy storage scheme (BES) together with associated infrastructure; security fencing; CCTV; access gate; on-site biodiversity net gain. Application reference: P23/S4132/FUL Appellants name : Burcot Solar Farm Limited Appeal reference : APP/Q3115/W/24/3350890 Appeal start date: 1st October 2024

Many of you know Peter Massam who lived in Clifton Hampden until a few years ago.

He is still an active member of the Wildlife Club, and regularly visits to enjoy the river and woodlands.

Together with Peter, we had a visit from Wild Oxfordshire who have offered their support to the Parish as part of the South Oxfordshire Nature Recovery activities. Peter has kindly written a proposal which can be read below.

A landowner in Burcot has kindly agreed to allow the permissive footpaths across his land to address existing gaps and provide more circular routes within the parish for pedestrians. Parishioners are invited to try out these paths.

Any feedback to on the route can be sent to christine.mcculloch@cliftonhampden.org.uk, before April 2025 when these permissive footpaths will be officially recognised.

Click here to download PDF.

We are through the first stage, the OCC have drafted the plans for the areas proposed for 20MPH.

See proposal map is below.

Click here to download PDF.

Burcot and Clifton Hampden Parish Council is looking for a Parish Clerk and Responsible Finance Officer to support its activities.

The Parish Council has a precept of £ 15k per year and serves a population of around 660 people.

This is primarily a home-based position of 6 hours per week but also requires attendance at Parish Council meetings (typically up to 11 per year), and Annual Parish Meetings.

Salary will be commensurate with qualifications and experience. SCP 13 -23 (£13.97 - £16.67 per hour).

The Council seeks an existing Clerk or someone who is interested to learn. Training and support will be provided.

Key skills include excellent communication, a high standard of accuracy and numeracy, good administrative organisation, tact and diplomacy.

A full range of IT skills including the use of Word, Excel, PAYE and online banking is also required.

Experience of local government or Parish Council work would be an advantage.

The key duties of the Clerk are:

• Supporting the council in carrying out its duties and implementing its decisions.
• Providing independent advice and support, including managing the Council's website.
• Preparing the agenda for and taking minutes at council meetings.
• Dealing with correspondence and enquiries from the public.
• Managing the council’s finances preparing its annual accounts and managing the annual audit process.
• Ensuring Insurances are up to date and any identified damage / risk to PC land / equipment or any potential insurance claim is dealt with quickly.
• Booking ROSPA Playground Inspections and any required playground repairs.
• In collaboration with the Chair, developing a set of standard operating procedures to assist the day to day running of Council business.
• Managing all Council contracts (such as grass cutting and tree management)
• Managing all Council contracts (such as grass cutting and tree management)

Application deadline: 30th May 2024

Interview date to be agreed at a mutually convenient time.

Starting date: As soon as possible.