Sibford Ferris Parish Council

Welcome to the SFPC home page! Here you should find all you need to know about the parish council, under the following headings:

1. Who we are and what we do
2. What we spend and how we spend it
3. How we make decisions
4. The services we offer

1. Who we are and what we do

Sibford Ferris Parish Council consists of five members from our community who each serve for a period of four years. The next election of the full council will be in May 2026. If, for any reason, a councillor cannot serve their full term the remaining councillors have the power to co-opt a replacement councillor to serve until the next full election. Parish councillors are non-party political and are not paid for parish council work. The parish council employs a Parish Clerk to carry out the day to day business of the council. The clerk advises the council on correct procedures but has no vote at council meetings.

The current members of the parish council are:

• Chairman: Katherine Roussel, katherine.roussel@thesibfords.org.uk
• Vice Chairman: Ginny Bennett, ginny.bennett@thesibfords.org.uk
• John Wass, john.wass@thesibfords.org.uk
• Andrew Meyler, andrew.meyler@thesibfords.org.uk 
• Michael Gordon, michael.gordon@thesibfords.org.uk

The Parish Clerk  – Kirsty Buttle – can be contacted on 07419 126 206 or e-mail sfpc@thesibfords.org.uk

The Responsible Financial Officer (RFO), appointed by the council to administer the council’s finances, is the Clerk.

The Chairman and Vice Chairman are re-appointed annually at the May Parish Council Meeting.

2. What we spend and how we spend it

The parish council is financed by a precept which is a tax on the residents of the parish, collected by Cherwell District Council as part of Council Tax. The amount of the precept is decided annually by the parish council.

At its January meeting (usually), the parish council approves its budget for the coming financial year and publishes it in the meeting archive. The council publishes all documents relating to the year end accounting and audit procedures along with the approved budget for the next financial year (when available) in the Financial Documents section of the website.

3. How we make decisions

As far as possible, all parish council decision-making is carried out in public, at parish council meetings. These are advertised on the village notice board and on this web site and are held approximately every two months.

Members of the public are welcome to attend parish council meetings. Members of the public have no legal right to speak at meetings, but in practice the Chairman usually encourages questions and discussion, subject only to maintaining order and reasonable timekeeping.

By law, the parish council may only make decisions (especially if they involve expenditure) on matters that have been itemised in the meeting agenda, which must be published on the village notice board and website three clear days before the meeting. To propose a topic for the agenda, please contact the Parish Clerk or a councillor in good time.

Agendas, reports and minutes of meetings are published in the Agendas and Minutes section of the website.

Due to the short timescales for responding to planning application consultations the deadlines sometimes fall before the next meeting of the parish council. In cases where the application is not contentious the parish council has delegated powers to the Clerk to respond on their behalf. The detail of the response submitted is included in the minutes of the next parish council meeting and can also be found on the Cherwell District Council website under planning.

4. The services we offer

The parish council owns and maintains, for public use:

• several roadside benches and dog waste bins
• the village notice board at Lanes End
• playground equipment in Cotswolds Close play area
• fitness equipment next to the Multi-Use Games Area.

The Multi-Use Games Area (MUGA) in the grounds of Sibford School was opened in 2011, jointly funded by the school and the parish council. It is available for public use from 4.15pm every evening, until 9pm October to March, 10pm April to September.

Volunteers perform weekly and monthly inspections of the Cotswold Close playground equipment. The equipment is also checked annually by a professional inspector. Sibford School takes responsibility for similar inspections of the MUGA and fitness equipment.

The parish council owns Pitch Hill Field, an area of 0.409 acres located north of the telephone exchange. It is one of five former public stone quarries. The cost and date of acquisition by the parish council is unknown.