News

From Sunday 28th June 2020, Holy Trinity Church is open for private prayer on Sundays and Wednesdays, 9.30am to 3.30pm.

Hugh Pidgeon writes: I received the following letter yesterday from Alexander Ledger on the activities of his small flying school on which I know there has been some controversy in the villages.  I found him to be meticulous in his attention to the exacting standards to which the school is bound by law and I felt it went a long way to explaining both what had led to their flying in the area and the provision Alex himself has been making to minimize the disturbance.

Hugh Pidgeon

Chair, Sibford Gower Parish Council

_______________________________________

For the attention of Hugh Pidgeon, SGPC, 22.6.’20  

Thank you for contacting me yesterday, Hugh.

I am concerned to hear that the recent flying activities of my small powered paragliding school have been the cause of some complaint in the village. The last thing we wish to do is to create a disturbance.  Perhaps I should explain how we come to be flying locally.  In the summer, but for the impact of the Coronavirus epidemic, we would normally be operating in various locations in Europe. The recent lockdowns meant that we had to find an alternative solution if we were to stay in business. 

I live in the village, and to provide us different options, we secured permission from a number of local land owners locally to fly at different times from several of their fields.  We have taken a lot of care to brief all pilots to adhere to the flying height of 500ft, which is one of the  rules governing our sport.  The rule states that we must remain 500ft from any person, vessel, structure or object unless taking off and landing. 

We are meanwhile taking a number of steps to reduce the noise impact in the local area as best we can during this unprecedented period. On the maps we use, we have also marked out the villages and areas with livestock as no-fly zones, and as trainers we are always in radio contact with our pupils, and fly with them.

While we can control pilots under our care in this way, we do not have the same control over local pilots, of whom there are several. I believe some of the pilots who have been seen flying over the village are those who live and fly locally and visited us once they heard we were in the area. I have now requested they avoid the village and other sensitive areas in the future.

I have also made provision to relocate to more remote fields to fly from, the moment the crops have been harvested.

Due to the nature of the sport we can anyway only operate when the wind is calm, usually at the beginning and end of the day.  We are limited to the number of days we can fly from any one location, and we ourselves intend to operate in the North Oxfordshire area only until 10th September when we plan to return to mainland Europe, and in some instances beyond that.

If you have any further questions, do not hesitate to contact me.

Alex Ledger

CEO SkyOps,

Secretary, The Association of Paragliding Pilots and Instructors

At the Cherwell DC Planning Committee meeting on 21st May it was made known that a judge has upheld the Planning Inspector’s decision to approve the proposed Hook Norton Road development. Cherwell DC had appealed the Inspector’s decision on the outline planning application 18/01894/OUT.

The Sibford Action Group is continuing to monitor the progress of the development.

Summer must be coming – the swifts have returned to Sibford from their winter holidays in Africa.

Follow their progress on our Swifts 2020 page.

Robbed of their annual trip to Chelsea for the Flower Show, members of the Horti are organising their own Virtual Chelsea in Sibford Flower Show right here in Sibford. Anyone may enter – no fees (and no prizes ☹️).

All flowers are beautiful, but please choose a favourite, spectacular or unusual one in your garden in the next couple of weeks and email a photo of it to flowers@thesibfords.uk before midnight on Sunday 17th May, along with the name of the flower.

On Monday 18th May, (the same day as the Virtual Chelsea Flower Show) our flower show will open in the form of a webpage at thesibfords.uk/chelsea showing a montage of all the photos submitted, for the whole village to enjoy.

Other rules:

• maximum 3 photos per person
• only fresh photos please (snapped during May 2020)
• you will not be identified on the website
• we may crop photos to better fit the montage
• unless you request otherwise, photos may be retained for use in Horti Society publications.

Cherwell District Council have refused the planning application for the development of Mawles Farm at the crossroads in Sibford Gower. Read the decision notice.

• Visit our Sibford Support Group page to read about how its volunteers are available to help and support neighbours who are self-isolating or are vulnerable to COVID-19 (Coronavirus) infection.
• Beware rogues and villains – see our new page about coronavirus-related scams.
• We have a growing list of things to do to help pass the time in self-isolation.

8 Nov: The Planning Inspector has allowed the developers’ appeal against CDC’s refusal of outline planning permission. Download the Inspector’s report.

9 Sep: The appeal hearing will be held in the Council Chamber at Bodicote House on 25 September 2019, from 10am until about 5pm. You may attend for part of the time if unable to be there all day. The Sibford Action Group is coordinating speakers against the development, and may also be able to help with transport.

7 Aug: The PI website is now showing an “Event Date” of Wednesday 25 September – presumably the date of the hearing. The Sibford Action Group is meeting next week to coordinate their response; contact the Group at sibfordactiongroup@gmail.com for more information or to be added to their mailing list.

1 Aug: The developers are appealing the CDC refusal of their outline planning application 18/01894/OUT in April. You can find documents relating to the appeal on the CDC website under reference 19/00036/REF. You have until 27 August to submit comments to the Planning Inspector, via the Inspectorate website, under reference 3229631. There will be a hearing; keep an eye on the Inspectorate website for the date, not yet set.

Who would do this to the Tots & Babes Wendy House at the Village Hall?

If you have any information about this vandalism, please contact either Keith on 780 259 or Ginny on 780 373.

The Planning Inspector has dismissed the most recent appeal against CDC’s refusal to allow a change to residential use of the Pheasant Pluckers Inn (formerly Bishop Blaize). You can find details of the Appeal Decision on the PI website.

(The link should take you to the PI’s webpage for the case, but if instead you get a notice about a “New beta service”, click on “Search for a case – current service”, which should then get you there; if not, you’ll have to use their search, for case number 3216818.)

See July newsletter.

Our community is typical of small villages across the country having a mix of narrow twisting roads with limited footpaths (to keep pedestrians safe). Traffic volumes and speeds moving around and through the Sibfords vary dependent on time of day, and drivers range from the courteous and safe to potentially dangerous. We also have two schools and safety of our children is so important. A group has been formed to look at what can be done to improve overall road safety and raise awareness of motorists who drive in our community.

Do you believe this is an issue that needs to be investigated? Would you like to be involved? Contact Richard Irons or Simon Rayner, who would welcome your thoughts on this subject.