News

For the first time in their separate histories, the councils of the two Sibford parishes, Ferris and Gower came together last Thursday (9th) to host the Annual Parish Meeting as a shared celebration of our extra-ordinary vibrant community. And what a celebration it was! Over 50 people representing dozens of organisations, clubs, societies and other village institutions, and more like 150 people overall in one glorious upsurge of shared interest, mutual curiosity and animated conversations! As one of these wrote to me afterwards, “it was a wonderfully convivial meeting, showcasing the best of what the Sibfords is all about”.

I am writing on behalf of both Councils – of Ginny Bennett and John Wass for the Ferris, and myself – to express our sincere thanks to all the many people who contributed to making this such a success. As Ginny herself put it to me in a note afterwards: “So many people helped on the night – real community spirit!”

I was particularly grateful to the pupils from both Sibford schools who came to play and sing for us, and their music teachers, Fiona Hudson and Valerie Vet. Having the children there for me was a key part of the whole evening. Along with all the other children who came with their families, they are the community’s future, and I was delighted these young musicians could remind us of this so very beautifully!

Hugh Pidgeon
Chair, Sibford Gower Parish Council

Welcome to a new look for The Sibfords website, more suited to viewing on phones and tablets as well as on laptop and desktop computers.

If you have any views on the new look, or suggestions for improvement, please let me know. I was recently informed of problems with viewing the website on an iPhone, which I think I have now rectified. I can’t test on every device, so please do get in touch if something seems wrong – I can’t fix it if I don’t know about it!

Tim Huckvale
Webmaster

There are several Oxfordshire Artweeks venues in and around the Sibfords this year, Sat 18 – Mon 27 May, featuring works by Ginny Bennett, Nigel Fletcher, Ronny Loxton and many others. Check the links for locations, opening dates and times (Nigel’s exhibition is open from 12 May).

The Conservative candidate, Douglas Webb, was re-elected on 2 May as District Councillor for the Cropredy, Sibfords and Wroxton ward, with 1503 votes. The LibDem candidate Julian Ward polled 653 votes, the Labour candidate Anne Cullen 398. Turnout was 41%. See the CDC website for full details. Douglas Webb’s term of office is for 4 years.

The other two councillors for our ward are George Reynolds, whose term of office expires in May 2020 and Phil Chapman (May 2022).

23 April: There is a report on the meeting of the CDC Planning Committee in the Banbury Guardian. Note that it incorrectly states that CDC’s Local Plan proposes 750 new houses in Sibford alone by 2031. In fact the 750 is a total across all of the more than 20 “Category A” villages in the Cherwell District. The report also mis-identifies Burdrop as Burford.

18 April: At its meeting today, the CDC Planning Committee voted by 14 to 0, with 4 abstentions, to reject the outline planning application for a development of 25 houses on the edge of the Ferris in Hook Norton Road.

Ferris hero Naomi Spencer is taking part in the London Marathon on 28 April to raise funds for Dementia Revolution. So far she has sponsorship for 60% of her target of £2000. Please read her story on her fund-raising page, and help her get to 100%.

10 April: The agenda and reports pack for the forthcoming CDC Planning Committee meeting have just been published on the CDC website. The HN Road development is the first planning application on the agenda. Officers are recommending acceptance. Planning Committee Members are undertaking a visit to the site on 18 April, before the Planning Committee meeting. The Planning Committee meeting will be at 4pm on Thursday 18 April at Bodicote House in Banbury, and open to the public. Representatives of the Sibford Action Group and others will have the chance to speak at the meeting. For more information about the meeting and the Sibford Action Group’s participation in it, please contact the Group at sibfordactiongroup@gmail.com. If you are unable to attend the meeting you can watch it live, or as a recording afterwards, via the CDC website page for the meeting. You can also familiarise yourself with all the background documents, letters of objection, etc, via the planning application page.

31 Jan: There is further delay in progressing the planning application to allow time for a thorough archaeological survey. The application will come before the CDC Planning Committee on 18 April at the earliest. Comments may continue to be submitted at least until that date.

22 Jan: The CDC website currently indicates that consultation on this planning application is continuing up to Friday 8th February. So it’s not too late to send in your comments.

21 Nov: about 50 people attended the Parish Council meeting on Monday. Many people spoke against the development, and none in favour. The Parish Council decided to object to the outline planning application and will be sending their comments to Cherwell District Council. The Chair encouraged everyone to send in their own comments. The Sibford Action Group has produced a briefing note with a thorough analysis of the planning application; contact the Group at sibfordactiongroup@gmail.com to obtain a copy.

14 Nov: Sibford Ferris Parish Council will discuss the outline planning application on Monday 19 November at 7.45pm in the upstairs Sports Hall classroom of Sibford School. Click on the satellite image below for a pointer to the classroom entrance.

10 Nov: The CDC website says that consultation on this application will end on Friday 30 November. Until that time, you may submit comments on the application; you can find out how to do that on this CDC webpage.

9 Nov: The outline planning application has just been published on the CDC website.

Welcome to our new Sibford Gower Parish Council (SGPC) Notice Board.

Our old SGPC Notice Board has now been pensioned off, and permanently removed from its location at the Main Street / Pound Lane crossroads.

We hope you will like our new SGPC Notice Board in its new location, and would like to offer our grateful thanks to:

• The Sibford Village Hall Trustees, for allowing us to install our new Notice Board in the Village Hall grounds at the heart of the Sibford Gower & Burdrop parish
• The Town Estate Charity Trustees, for donating 50% of the total funding needed to provide our new Notice Board
• Michael Spring at Lettercarve, for kindly offering to provide us with a new carved wooden signboard in the near future (we hope you will excuse our temporary signboard in the meantime)
• Alan, Catherine and the team at Opus Property Services, for expertly installing our new Notice Board, and for realigning the Sibford Village Hall notice board.