Do you have events coming up which you’d like publicised?
Share all your information and it will be considered for addition to Live Well Oxfordshire, a directory developed by Oxfordshire County Council in partnership with Age UK Oxfordshire.
The directory has been designed to bring together information in one place about groups and organisations offering services for adults with a variety of needs.
As a provider, you can advertise your services free of charge on the site to members of the public, local authority practitioners and other professionals.
For more details contact:
Visit https://livewell.oxfordshire.gov.uk (‘Suggest a service’), email: livewell@ageukoxfordshire.org.uk or call us on 01235 849410.
Smoke free Oxfordshire by 2025 – grants available
Stopping smoking is the single best thing an individual can do for their health and wellbeing.
As part of the delivery of the County’s Tobacco Control Strategy (pdf format, 3Mb) and the ambition to become a smoke free county by 2025 (five years ahead of the national 2030 target), we are supporting smokefree initiatives including smokefree homes, cars, play parks and school gates.
What’s a smoke free county?
For a county to be classed as smokefree, the smoking prevalence for the population must be below 5%. Currently it is 10.2% in Oxfordshire so there is still a lot of work to be done. Town and parish councils are uniquely placed to support this vital work by partnering with Oxfordshire County Council to help us work across local communities to promote smokefree environments, particularly the smokefree playparks initiative and the smokefree community fund.
Smokefree Parks
Playparks/playgrounds in Oxfordshire are priority areas we’d like to become smokefree as our recent Smokefree Survey found that around 90% of 300 smokers surveyed in the 10 most deprived LSOA wards in Oxfordshire agreed to these areas becoming smokefree. We would like to work with District, parish and town councils to create smokefree playparks/playgrounds.
The County will provide free signage and implementation support for any Parish or Town council owned park/playground to create a smokefree environment for local children playing in the area. Some examples of proposed signage include -
Smokefree Community Fund
The Smokefree Community Fund aims to provide financial support, with funding of £150-£1000 available, to town/ parish councils and voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) sector organisations who want to create smokefree spaces and/or hold smokefree events. You could create a smokefree policy for your premises, remove ashtrays or smoking shelters, or get your community to create some smokefree signage! If you’re having an event that children and young people will be attending, you may want to consider making your event smokefree to protect children from the harms of second-hand smoke. More information can be found in the attached flyer.
More information on the Fund can be found in the link below:
If you are interested in applying to the Smokefree Community Fund, please email smokefreeoxon@oxfordshire.gov.uk for more details and to start the application process.
Smokefree School Gates
Another initiative the Public Team at Oxfordshire County Council have recently launched is Smokefree School Gates. Smokefree School Gates aims to protect children from the harms of second-hand smoke during drop-off and pick-up at school and to de-normalise smoking to create a smokefree generation.
Oxfordshire County Council's Public Health team is willing to support schools in creating smokefree policies for their premises and provide financial support in creating and printing signage to be placed at school gates and/or entrances.
Some examples of smokefree school gates signage created by our pilot school, Wood Farm Primary School, are below:
More information can be found in the following links
To implement smokefree parks, smokefree school gates and/or apply for the smokefree funding, please email smokefreeoxon@oxfordshire.gov.uk
Useful links;
1. New model councillor-officer protocol
In partnership with Hoey Ainscough Associates, the Civility and Respect Project has published a new model councillor-officer protocol. The protocol's purpose is to guide councillors and officers in their relations with one another and help build and maintain good working relationships. It covers respective roles, relationships, handling concerns and decision-making.
2. New roles & responsibilities guidance
Local (parish and town) councillors and local council officers have different but complementary roles. Councillors, as the democratically-elected representatives of their areas, are there to set the budget and strategic direction of the council and ensure that the community’s priorities are identified and delivered.
The role of officers is to advise councillors, ensure that the council’s strategy is delivered on a day-to-day basis and manage the operational and organisational side of the council.
This document briefly summarises those different roles and responsibilities, it should be read alongside ‘The Good Councillors Guide’ and the Good Councillors series of publications published by NALC (https://www.nalc.gov.uk/publications#the-goodcouncillor-s-guide) and Model Councillor Officer Protocol. (All in the Members Area of our website)
The County Council has sent out campaign literature to you all for your council to use to promote their 20mph campaign. See below -
We all want safer roads, cleaner air, and less pollution – so we’ve made a commitment to help our communities who want to change the pace to 20mph.
We are starting a three-year programme to support the roll out of 20mph roads across the county.
Upcoming changes you will notice:
If you’d like to find out more about the difference this could make for your community, there is lots of information on: www.Oxfordshire.gov.uk/20mph
Please send queries, questions, and feedback to: 20restrictions@oxfordshire.gov.uk
Look at our animation which explains it all!
A media toolkit is available, contact OALC to obtain it or OCC marketingnetwork@oxfordshire.gov.uk
Published: Wednesday, 3rd August 2022
A joint statement from the leaders of Cherwell District Council, Oxford City Council, South Oxfordshire District Council, Vale of White Horse District Council, West Oxfordshire District Council:
"The five Local Planning authorities in Oxfordshire have been working together on a joint plan for Oxfordshire to 2050. It is with regret that we were unable to reach agreement on the approach to planning for future housing needs within the framework of the Oxfordshire Plan.
"Local Plans for the City and Districts will now provide the framework for the long term planning of Oxfordshire. The Oxfordshire Plan 2050 work programme will end and we will now transition to a process focused on Local Plans. The issues of housing needs will now be addressed through individual Local Plans for each of the City and Districts. The Councils will cooperate with each other and with other key bodies as they prepare their Local Plans."
Update from Future Oxfordshire Partnership papers 27th September:
The Oxfordshire Plan was a Joint Statutory Spatial Plan that was being jointly prepared by the City and District Councils in their roles as local planning authorities. It was intended to focus on strategic issues leaving local matters for individual Local Plans.
Formal decision making on the Oxfordshire Plan lay with the City and Districts Councils as the relevant local planning authorities, and the final plan would have needed to be adopted by each of them.
Aspects that the plan needed to cover, in order to be consistent with the National Planning Policy Framework, included identifying Oxfordshire’s future housing need, and the setting of the future housing requirements for the City and the Districts. These housing provisions would have needed to
be agreed by all of the local planning authorities. Individual Local Plans would then set out how these housing requirements would be met andwould allocate development sites.
During 2022 there have been a sequence of discussions and workshops to try and identify a commonly accepted approach between the local planning authorities to the evidence base needed to inform discussion on strategic housing issues. Unfortunately the local planning authorities were unable to
reach agreement on the best approach to this. In the absence of an agreed approach to these central questions it was accepted that the Oxfordshire Plan programme will need to come to an end. Instead these issues will now be considered during the development of new Local Plans for the City and Districts.
Work on the Oxfordshire Plan was guided by input from the Oxfordshire Plan 2050 Advisory Group. This group included the relevant Cabinet Members from each of the Councils and provided a valuable forum to discuss all aspects of the plan. While the group identified a wide range of issues on which there was common agreement it was not possible to reach an agreed approach on the evidence to inform strategic housing issues.
The City Council and all of the District Councils have adopted Local Plans currently in place, and the growth committed to in these plans is set. Oxfordshire’s local planning authorities are all in the process of developing new Local Plans. These new plans will need to cover the housing questions and other matters that would have been addressed through the Oxfordshire Plan. There is a requirement on the local planning authorities in preparing these Local Plans to satisfy the Duty to Cooperate. The Duty to Cooperate is a legal test that requires cooperation between local planning authorities and other public bodies to maximise the effectiveness of policies for strategic matters in Local Plans. Discussions on strategic housing issues between relevant partners will be an important aspect of the Duty to Cooperate in Oxfordshire. Local Plan examinations will test whether the Duty has been satisfied and consider the soundness of submitted plans.
Let’s S.C.R.A.P Fly-tipping Campaign
What is fly-tipping?
Fly-tipping is the illegal dumping of items. Many incidents of fly-tipping can be prevented by following the S.C.R.A.P code.
S.C.R.A.P stands for:
S - Suspect
C - Check
R - Refuse
A - Ask
P – Paperwork
Everyone has a legal duty of care to ensure their household or business waste is disposed of correctly and we each have a role to play in preventing fly-tipping.
The rubbish you’ve passed onto someone else is still your legal responsibility until it’s correctly disposed of. This means you can be prosecuted even if your waste is fly-tipped by someone else who’s dealing with it on your behalf.
For example, if you hire an unlicensed individual or company and they were to fly-tip that waste, you could end up paying a fine or being taken to court.
What are some alternatives?
We have a handy search tool in Oxfordshire called the Waste Wizard which provides different ideas and places for an item you may no longer need.
Different choices it will provide include:
More information can be found at:
S.C.R.A.P Fly-tipping: www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/flytipping
Waste Wizard search tool: www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/wastewizard
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We have learnt from Tim Cann, Clerk to Old Marston Parish Council that it has been accredited with the Foundation award from the NALC Local Council Award Scheme. Congratulations! Tim Cann Clerk to Old Marston Parish Council obtained the Certificate in Local Council Administration (CiLCA) in 2017. He has now encouraged and facilitated his council to attain the first level Foundation Award in the Local Council Award Scheme.
Tim Cann, the Clerk said " I would say that the most beneficial part of this award is the actual process in achieving the award. Working through the various criteria enables the council, clerk/RFO to ‘audit’ itself. From the core documents of Standing Orders and Financial Regulations to disciplinary & grievance procedures to publicity in advertising the councils’ activities. The process makes you stop and think – · have we got that document? · Is it up to date? · What is the purpose of it? · Does it achieve that?"
OALC would like to think that ALL councils can obtain the Foundation level award. This is what do you have to do to get this award… The council confirms by resolution at a full council meeting that it recognises its duties in relation to bio-diversity and crime and disorder, and that it also has: GOVERNANCE : demonstrating good governance in managing the business and finances of a council · Standing orders · Financial regulations · Its Code of Conduct and a link to councillors’ registers of interests · Its publication scheme · Its last annual return - AGAR · Transparent information about council payments · A calendar of all meetings including the annual meeting of electors · Minutes for at least one year of full council meetings and (if relevant) all committee and sub-committee meetings · Current agendas · The budget and precept information for the current or next financial year · Its complaints procedure · Its accessibility statement · Its privacy notice · A risk management policy · A register of assets COMMUNITY : representing a council’s role in the community and how it engages with the community · Council contact details and councillor information in line with the Transparency Code · Its action plan for the current year · Evidence of consulting the community · Publicity advertising council activities · Evidence of participating in town and country planning DEVELOPMENT: representing council improvement through the management and development of staff and councillors · Disciplinary and grievance procedures · A policy for training and development of staff and councillors Contracts for all members of staff · A record of all training undertaken by staff and councillors in the last year Up-to-date insurance policies that mitigate risks to public money · A clerk who has achieved 12 Continuing Professional Development (CPD) points in the last year The council notifies the NALC accreditation panel co-ordinator when the resolution has been agreed and provides a completed application form, including webpage addresses to where the information can be found online. |
The Low Carbon Hub has been holding a series of virtual meetings on topical subjects, the latest (15th July) was on Electric Vehicles and Charging points.
There is an agreed and adopted Oxfordshire wide EV Infrastructure Strategy which can be read here -
Executive summary
All six of Oxfordshire’s councils have declared climate emergencies. Supporting a transition to zero emission road transport is a key component in Oxfordshire’s councils achieving their net zero carbon targets, and this has been reinforced by Oxfordshire County Council and Oxford City Councils’ commitment to delivering the UK’s first ZEZ in Oxford to reduce air pollution levels, tackle the climate emergency, and improve the health of residents, workers and visitors in Oxford and beyond.
Comprehensive, accessible and efficient charging infrastructure is essential in enabling the rapid adoption of electric vehicles, accelerated by the 2030 date for the end of petrol and diesel car sales in the UK.
In keeping with Oxfordshire’s status as a centre of innovation, the Councils are at the forefront of delivering new solutions and sustainable models for EV charging across the county. Drawing on partnerships with Oxford’s academic institutions and technology firms Oxfordshire is delivering projects at the cutting edge of zero emissions mobilities. The Energy Superhub Oxford project will see large scale battery storage technology supporting a super-rapid EV charging hub in Oxford, while Local Energy Oxfordshire is exploring how local renewable energy generation can support decentralisation of the grid, and how EVs can play a part in new energy systems. Oxfordshire’s V2GO project has examined the potential for EV fleets to support the grid through acting as energy storage units, and the ongoing Go Ultra Low Oxford and Park and Charge projects are examining new technologies and models to support EV drivers without access to off-road parking and charging.
This pipeline of projects across the county is delivering up to 432 charging points by June 2022 in partnership with Government and the private sector.
The Oxfordshire Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Strategy (OEVIS) sets out the policies and plans to realise our vision for EV charging in Oxfordshire, whereby:
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There are a number of projects across the county ranging from EV car clubs to the installation of EV charging points at Village Halls (Kirtlington) , some have arisen through the transition towns initiative; enthusiasm is patchy often depending on individuals and often dependent on community groups associated with the Community Action Group network https://cagoxfordshire.org.uk/ To be economic large scale introduction of charging points is unlikely to happen in sparse rural areas, concentration will tend to be in the towns. Although as 2030 and the phasing out of petrol and diesel cars comes closer, the roll out of EV charging and its necessary infrastructure will have to be addressed. At present there are 280 EV points in 22 car parks across the county.
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In October 2020 Oxfordshire County Council (OCC) approved its Climate Action Framework setting out how they’re going to tackle the Climate Emergency through:
OCC seek to transform their organisation, support schools, and work with suppliers and partners – building climate action into every decision.
Find out more about how they’re working to reduce carbon emissions in their own organisation and across the county at www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/residents/environment-and-planning/energy-and-climate-change/what-we-are-doing
Their vision is to shape a thriving Oxfordshire - achieving livable, healthy places. It is a vision for prosperity in an enhanced natural environment and within global carbon limits. Together with the leaders and chief executives of all local authorities across Oxfordshire, they have committed to tackling the Climate Emergency. With wider Oxfordshire partners they are signatories to Oxfordshire’s Energy Strategy, setting out a pathway to reduce carbon emissions by 50% by 2030, as an ambitious step on the road to net zero by 2050.
Find out more about how OCC are working in partnership to reduce emissions across the county at www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/residents/environment-and-planning/energy-and-climate-change/climate-action-oxfordshire
OCC wish to further develop partnerships with Parish Councils in building capacity of local communities to take climate action by:
Additionally, the following schemes are currently available to local communities through OCC partnerships:
To discuss opportunities to work with OCC in delivering their climate agenda, email climate.action@oxfordshire.gov.uk
Oxfordshire Friends of the Earth has produced a booklet, Fast Forward Oxfordshire, copies can be down loaded here https://www.oxfoe.co.uk/fastforward/ The Fast Forward relates to how to get to zero carbon by 2040. Their policy goals are set out below, although when they use the term ‘Oxfordshire Councils must’ the booklet appears to be referring to principal authorities not town and parish councils.
We need to ensure all existing homes are well insulated to at least ‘EPC C’ level by 2035 at the latest, and to have eradicated fuel poverty by the same date. Sooner than that, all new buildings need to be zero carbon and this must be a planning condition.
Oxfordshire Councils must:
National government must:
We need a transport system that works for everyone – that delivers better public health, a zero carbon economy and fair access to services for both urban and rural communities.
Oxfordshire councils must:
National government must fund upgrade of rail infrastructure to include increased capacity and electrification between Didcot and Oxford, completion of the East–West Rail link to Cambridge (incorporating electrification), re-opening of the Cowley line, and new stations to service new growth / employment areas.
We need to create and maintain high quality green jobs for unskilled, semi-skilled and knowledge workers as part of the transition to a fair zero carbon future.
Oxfordshire councils must:
National government must develop a ‘Green New Deal’ strategy to decarbonise the economy and eradicate inequality via public investment in clean energy, warm homes and affordable public transport that creates decent jobs and benefits for all.
A clean fossil-free energy system will be an essential part of the transition to a zero-carbon economy. Some progress has been made in recent years, but faster action is needed. Fossil fuel power generation should be phased out by 2030.
Oxfordshire councils must:
National government must:
Changing what we eat and how it is produced will help achieve our zero-carbon target. Eating more locally grown food, fruit, vegetables, grains and pulses, and less meat, will also benefit our health, our economy and our countryside.
Oxfordshire councils should:
National government must:
By 2040 we need people and nature to be thriving together. People will feel healthier and happier. Oxfordshire’s next generation will understand that the natural world is the foundation of our wellbeing and prosperity: that we depend on it, and it depends on us.
Oxfordshire councils must:
National government must:
Community First Oxfordshire is hosting, together with a number of partner organisations (Oxfordshire Community Land Trust, Community Impact Bucks, Oxfordshire Community Foundation and Connecting Communities Berkshire) a community led housing support service.
The partners who make up Collaborative Housing provide information, advice and technical support to those who wish to deliver community-led housing projects. The partnership is new, funded by Government and is still developing. The aim is that local experts from across the Thames Valley will offer packages tailored to your needs. Collaborative Housing aims to take you from initial concept to homes on the ground. Collaborative Housing will be working with existing and new Community Land Trusts, cooperative and cohousing groups in both towns and villages to deliver small scale affordable housing developments. It’s a different kind of approach to housing development, grassroots led and collaborative.
For more information go to either Community First Oxfordshire www.communityfirstoxon.org or Collaborative Housing https://collaborativehousing.org.uk/contact.html
Trust for Oxfordshire’s Environment – supporting nature’s recovery and reducing Oxfordshire’s carbon footprint through natural climate solutions
TOE applauds and encourages the excellent intentions already stated by Parish Councils throughout Oxfordshire, to consider how they can help reduce their community’s impact on climate change in their own small part of the county. The work already underway to make homes more energy efficient, to explore shared energy schemes, cycle ways and low energy transport schemes will all help towards achieving our joint goal to reduce our carbon footprint.
TOE also urges Parish Councils to consider how they can support and enable a range of environmental projects that will result in greater levels of biodiversity and richer habitats which help to restore nature, and reduce carbon emissions.
Each individual in the UK emits approximately 10 tonnes of carbon per year, from activities such as energy use, travel, food etc.
Tree planting, hedgerows, orchards, grasslands and better managed soils all act as a vast carbon sink, absorbing the carbon in our atmosphere and helping to reduce greenhouse gases.
TOE is raising funds to support a wide range of projects that will lock up carbon in Oxfordshire. We are establishing a fund where individuals or organisations can donate through our website to offset their carbon by directly supporting habitat improvement projects which will sequester carbon. We can only support as many projects as our funds allow, so the more we raise, the more projects we can support.
By working together, we can turn this around.
This is a FREE service for town and parish councils!
Oxfordshire County Council Gypsy and Traveller service is based at Bicester Fire Station, the service manages the six County Council owned Gypsy sites at Standlake, Benson, Wheatley, East Challow, Sandford on Thames and Redbridge Hollow, with 88 plots in total.
The service also deals with unauthorised encampments on land that is owned by parish and town councils, also District Councils and the County Council.
More information is on their website here https://www2.oxfordshire.gov.uk/cms/public-site/gypsies-and-travellers
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Ewa Fras Traveller Site Officer 07554 115 677
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Andy Rymer Traveller Support Officer 07551 680 637 Working days - Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
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Our office number 01865 815569.
Our office email: Travellers@oxfordshire.gov.uk
Postal address: Oxfordshire Gypsy and Traveller Services, 1st Floor, Bicester Fire Station, Queens Avenue, Bicester. OXON. OX26 2NR.
We are here to help and will also give advice, we have no control or influence over the private sites within the County but do visit them all twice a year.
On 20 December 2022, the County Council Cabinet approved an updated Minerals and Waste Development Scheme. The Scheme sets out the decision and timetable to pursue a Minerals and Waste Plan, combining parts 1 and 2 into a new Minerals and Waste Plan.
In light of this decision, work has now stopped on the Oxfordshire Minerals and Waste Local Plan Part 2: (Site Allocations Document). It will cease its progress through the plan-making process and will consequently be given no weight in future planning decisions.
The Oxfordshire Minerals and Waste Local Plan Part 1 (Core Strategy) remains in place as part of the Development Plan until it is replaced by the New Minerals and Waste Plan.
An online “toolkit” has been launched by Oxfordshire County Council which provides a “one-stop-shop” for flooding information and advice.
The new website, which can be found at http://www.oxfordshirefloodtoolkit.com brings together all you need to take action against the potential menace posed by flooding.
It is the first resource of its kind in Oxfordshire and builds on the success of the approach in Northamptonshire. The site is also supported financially by Oxford City Council, South Oxfordshire District Council, Vale of White Horse District Council, West Oxfordshire District Council and Thames Water.
Visitors can browse through information helpfully organised under headings such as “Am I at Risk?” and learn how best to help themselves through a series of “How to” guides.
For parish councils go to the How to guides…. Tab and click on it, from the three choices on the drop down menu select ‘How to become a flood resilient community’. If you click on the How to …. Create a Community Emergency Plan you will find a useful template. If you click on How to … work with landowners in your community you will find template letters the council can adapt and send to riparian owners to encourage them to clear ditches and watercourses.
The toolkit also explains the different types of flooding with bespoke guides on how to deal with them and, for those responsible for things such as drains and streams running across their land, instructions on how to carry out preventative maintenance.
Interactive illustrations give visual inspiration for ways people can protect their properties and highlight some of the areas that would not instantly spring to mind, such as the garage, air bricks and cable holes.
County Councillor Rodney Rose, Deputy Leader of Oxfordshire County Council, said: “Knowledge and preparation is the key to preventing the worst effects of flooding.
“The county council is the lead local flood authority for Oxfordshire which means that we have taken the idea of the flood toolkit seriously, and we are delighted with the support we have had from our partners.
“There is much that can be done to plan for and deal with flooding so that it affects you as little as possible. Doing your research acting now is far more effective and preferable to clearing up afterwards.
“Even just doing one or two of the things shown on the site such as signing up to a flood alert could make a big difference, but I would suggest people sit down and take some time to go through the toolkit and see just how much they could do to help themselves.
“The county council and partner agencies are playing their part to reduce the impact of flooding through developing and maintaining new and existing infrastructure. But that is only part of the picture – self-help is also needed.”
Other useful features on the toolkit site include links that could help secure funding for flood related projects and an educational pack for schools.
If you have any questions or queries Chris Brown, Oxfordshire Strategic Flood Risk Management Officer is happy to talk to you, his contact details are:
Mobile: 07775 025 240
email: chris.brown@oxfordshire.gov.uk
Oxfordshire County Council, Environment and Economy,
County Hall, New Road,
Oxford, Oxfordshire OX1 1ND
With the disapperance of bus subsidies from the county council, communities are investigating alternatives. Oxfordshire County Council Comet Bus has been very successful.
The Community Transport Association is a charity which exists to support its members and to act as the lead UK body for voluntary and community transport. In developing local solutions to national concerns, operators of community transport can respond to both individual and collective needs and drive forward social regeneration in their communities.
If you operate a minibus, a volunteer car scheme, a shopmobility project or a wheels to work project CTA can provide you with advice and support to ensure your transport is operated safely and legally.
The CTA website has useful information on it.
Community First Oxfordshire also assists communities with community transport schemes more information here
Golden Hill Country Park, Isle of Wight
As part of our campaign to save England’s much-loved open spaces, we have published an open spaces tool-kit for communities to protect their green spaces, and have called on planning authorities to respond positively to requests to save local spaces.
Our tool-kit consists of three handbooks:
How to win local green space through neighbourhood plans;
Community assets and protecting open space and
Local Green Space Designation
Community First Oxfordshire and Oxfordshire County Council established a network of Parish Transport Representatives (PTRs) in 1986 to give communities in wards, towns and villages a means of voicing their needs and concerns about local transport in their patches.
The administration of the PTR network is undertaken by the County Council and PTR meetings are held three times a year. The meetings provide an opportunity for officers to keep PTRs up to date on issues of which they need to be aware in fulfilling their roles. The meetings also provide an opportunity for officers to gain feedback from PTRs in relation to general issues of policy and practice.
There are PTRs in approx. 188 parishes and towns, leaving a large number of parishes, towns and wards without a PTR, which means that it is unlikely that transport issues are being represented in your community. One of the roles of the PTR is to publicise existing local public transport services and support any community transport scheme in their area or even to initiate suitable community transport services in the wake of changing public transport provision.
If you are aware that your community does not have a PTR then it would be great if you could step up to be that person or help to drum up a volunteer that can take the role on for the community.
If you would like further information on the role of the PTR then please get in touch with CFO by emailing emily.lewis-edwards@communityfirstoxon.org or call 01865 883488
Safeguarding children means taking steps to promote their welfare and to protect them from harm such as abuse and neglect. It is the responsibility of everyone to ensure that children are kept safe. Oxfordshire communities are a key resource for raising awareness of safeguarding and protecting children and young people. The more informed local members of the community are on safeguarding issues, the more they can help the prevention agenda and help to identify when there are possible risks to our children.
Oxfordshire Safeguarding Children Board (OSCB)
Children can only be kept safe properly if services and organisations work together. Local Safeguarding Children Boards were established by the Children Act 2004 to help make sure this happens.
Known locally as the Oxfordshire Safeguarding Children Board (OSCB), the Board is the means by which organisations come together to agree on how they will cooperate with one another to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. Its remit is to scrutinise and monitor this co-operation, and to ensure that local agencies co-operate and work well to achieve this.
Contact the Oxfordshire Safeguarding Board https://www.oscb.org.uk for more information, oscb@oxfordshire.gov.uk or 01865 815834
Expectations for your organisation
Your local parish council should consider, if appropriate, having in place:-
How to report a concern about a child
Oxfordshire County Council, Thames Valley Police and other partners have recently opened a new Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH). This is the main ‘front door’ for children’s social care, and is made up of professionals from social care, the police, health, early intervention and others.
To make a new referral or report a new safeguarding concern, contact the MASH on 0845 050 7666. Referrals to the MASH can also be made using the MASH Enquiry Online Referral Form.
For children who are already open to social care:
No Names Consultation
If you are a safeguarding lead and you are unsure whether you should make a referral, or you just want some advice, you can call the assessment team numbers above and ask for a No Names Consultation. A social worker will be able to advise you if you need to make a referral or not, based on the information you give them, without having to divulge a name. If you are advised to make a referral, the social worker will talk you through the process.
Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE)
The sexual exploitation of children and young people has been identified throughout the UK, in both rural and urban areas, and in all parts of the world. It affects boys and young men, as well as girls and young women. It can have a serious long term impact on every aspect of their lives, health and education. It damages the lives of their families and carers, and can lead to family break ups.
Signs that may indicate child sexual exploitation;
Oxfordshire has a multi-agency strategy in place to protect young people from CSE. If you are concerned about a child and think they may be involved in, or at risk of, sexual exploitation, please contact the Kingfisher Team on 01865 335276. They offer confidential support and advice on sexual exploitation. The team is made up of police, the NHS and Members of Oxfordshire County Councils; Childrens Social Services.
Find out more
Community members can become more involved through:
Please visit our website for information about safeguarding training, policies and procedures, and to find useful resources and information to help protect children and young people: www.oscb.org.uk.
Oxfordshire County Council have developed a template Parish Council Safeguarding Policy it is in the Members Area of this website in the OALC Briefings, other guidance etc section
Oxfordshire Association of Local Councils has an employment advice service available for member councils. Queries regarding staff issues within the council such as terms and conditions, employment rights, sickness absence, annual leave, maternity etc can be answered by our Employment Advisor.
This service, which is available free of charge to all members councils, is provided by Chris Moses, Personnel Advice and Solutions Ltd.
Chris writes a monthly employment briefing which goes in the Members Update and is placed in the Members Area of the website too.
In addition a consultancy service for more complex issues relating to employment disputes, restructuring, organisational change, recruitment and selection will be available through OALC at competitive rates.
Chris Moses holds a Masters Degree in Employment Law, with Distinction, from Leicester University. He is also a Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development and has over twenty years front line HR experience.
His website is here
The Chilterns AONB Management Plan 2019 – 2024: Caring for the Chilterns forever and for everyone was produced by the Chilterns Conservation Board following a review of the 2014 – 2019 Plan and wide public consultation. It contains a comprehensive summary of the key issues facing the AONB and the management policies and actions needed to conserve this special place.
The delivery of the actions highlighted in the Management Plan is not the responsibility of the Conservation Board alone. The involvement of a wide range of organisations is essential in achieving the Plan’s aims over the next five years.
More details here
The County Councils 'Fix my Street' is the best way of reporting pot holes on line.
People can take photographs of potholes and upload them online with location details.
The council's contractor pledges to fix potholes within 28 days, 24 hours in an emergency or four hours for the most severe category once reports have been verified.
Oxfordshire County Council has produced Community Emergency Planning guidance, together with a plan template and an example for guidance. More information here
Simple community emergency plans are designed to achieve the following:
A number of communities have already produced their own plans for specific emergencies; flood plans developed with the Environment Agency being the most notable example.
In most cases the information compiled in the development of these plans would be useful in a number of different emergency scenarios and we recommend that you consider the production of a general emergency plan.
Where communities have particular vulnerabilities, for example, flooding or are cut off in snow, additional information may be useful in the form of an annex to the plan.
Oxfordshire County Council follows the UK Government guidance, toolkit and templates for Community Emergency Plans, which can be found on gov.uk.
