Latest News Pages from Bourton on the Water Parish Council and surrounding areas

News

Road Works
There have been many comments from residents and local businesses about the timing and disruption caused by recent road works Glos. Highways had originally scheduled the re-surfacing works for late winter, but these had to be deferred due to the late scheduling of the separate gas contractor works to install pipes under the same roads in order to join the proposed development at Upper Rissington to the main gas network in Bourton.

Once it was known that those works would take place in Spring Highways had the choice of deferring their works to much later in the year, or following on behind the gas contractor works as soon as possible. The reality of the recent budget cuts mean that had the works been deferred, these monies would simply have been re-allocated to other re-surfacing works elsewhere during the current financial year. Bourton is not alone is needing re-surfacing of its roads and it was not feasible for Highways to "ring-fence" these monies for Bourton for several months when many other communities have the same urgent needs. In order not to lose these monies to other communities Glos. Highways made the decision to do the re-surfacing works as soon as possible, and also agreed that these would complete by the May bank holiday weekend in order to leave the village with a two-way traffic flow during that busy period.

Whilst we appreciate that the quality of finish in some areas required further attention, and that better communication and customer relations could in some instances have been improved, the decision taken by Highways was felt to be in the best interest of delivering the works that the community has been calling for for some time now. The Council meets regularly with Highways and will discuss ways to improve communication with residents and businesses in future, particularly during the period of any works. However, Highways has been very pro-active in allocating funds to Bourton at a time when there are many similar demands on its ever reducing budget from communities across the county, and we thought it would be helpful if the community were aware of Highways general commitment to and support of the village.

Separately, Highways will undertake a survey of the bridges in the village centre to establish the appropriate weight loading before any re-surfacing of the bridges can take place. Any weight restrictions may also impact on the type of vehicle that will be allowed to travel over the bridges in future, and could lead to banning the heaviest lorries from using that route. We will keep residents advised once these surveys have taken place.

Weather-related issues

Flooding
Residents are reminded that neither the Parish nor District Councils have the resources to provide provide sandbags for private, domestic or commercial use. Both councils retain a small stock of sandbags for strategic deployment only, to protect large areas as and where necessary. Residents living in Flood Zones or in areas where there is a risk of flooding are therefore strongly encouraged to ensure they have their own stocks of sandbags to use on their own land, if needed. In times of heavy rainfall it is likely that suppliers may run short of these items so residents are again asked to make arrangements well in advance. Sandbags can be purchased from most local builders merchants

Residents in areas at risk of flooding are also reminded that they can sign up to receive individual Flood Alerts and Warnings. To receive this service, please refer to the Environment Agency web-site on www.environment-agency.gov.uk or call the EA Floodline on 0845 988 1188. The Environment Agency also publishes details of river levels on its web-site. You can access this via the web-site by selecting River & Sea Levels under the Homes & Leisure tab, and then clicking on the appropriate region and village location to see river levels established at our two local stations.

Cotswold District Council’s website (www.cotswold.gov.uk) also provides up to date information on what to do in the event of flooding and how to protect properties from flooding. We advise the public to utilise this information and to sign up to the information provided by the Environment Agency (www.environment-agency.gov.uk).

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Summary of Most Recent Council Meeting

A summary of decisions taken at the most recent Council meeting, together with other information that is of interest to the community are published in the latest edition of the Bourton Browser, the parish magazine which is produced and distributed by local volunteers. Unfortunately, this magazine is not available online but can be obtained in various local shops and outlets. The Bourton Times magazine, distributed locally, also includes a report on the latest meeting.

Click the link below to download a copy of the notes appearing in the Browser for:

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Sale of green waste and non-recyclable beige refuse sacks

In addition to the sale of beige non-recyclable refuse sacks, we've recently been given permission by CDC to also sell extra green waste sacks to residents who have already signed up for this service. Unfortunately, due to administrative difficulties we're unable to sell this type of sack to residents who have not already signed up for the service.

Both types of sacks are now therefore available from the Council office during the usual office opening hours of 12.30-3.30pm Tues-Thurs. We hope this will save residents having to travel to CDC's offices in Moreton or Cirencester.

The sacks can be purchased either in rolls of 15, or individually.

We will also have a very small stock of recyclable paper boxes and blue cardboard sacks for residents who lose their original stocks or who need additional items.

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Cotswolds Discoverer - new travel initiative for the Cotswolds

This integrated bus/rail ticket provides unlimited rail travel (but not valid before 08.50am, Mondays to Fridays) within the following area:
Swindon - Kemble - Stroud - Gloucester - Cheltenham - Ashchurch (for Tewkesbury) and the North Cotswold Line between Oxford and Moreton-in-Marsh.

It also provides unlimited bus travel with the following participating operators: Cotswold Green, Johnsons Excelbus, Pulhams Coaches, RH Transport and Swanbrook. The Discoverer ticket can be bought at any UK rail station and on the participating bus services - costs are as follows:-

• One day - adult = £10 (£8.30 with Railcard)
• Three day - adult = £25 (£20 with Railcard)
• Half price for children under 16
(Railcard fares available with a valid 16-25, Senior, Forces or Disabled Persons Railcard)

Links to timetables and a down-loadable leaflet, can be viewed here

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Villager Community Bus Service

The Volunteer Villager Bus Service drives over 32,000 miles per year, providing essential transport for over 200 people per week living in the villages of West Oxfordshire, North Gloucestershire and South Warwickshire.

The service recently took delivery of a new 16-seater bus which is a great addition to the service as it has low access, making boarding very easy for those who need it.

These smaller buses can easily get to the more remote and prettier villages, pick up passengers and take them to local markets, shopping centres, hospitals - you name it. There are ten regular scheduled timetable routes to choose from and the fares, which are very reasonable, can be paid in cash or by bus pass.

Please click this link for more details of the service and how you can access this.

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CDC

Cotswold District Council (CDC) provides a number of important local services and keeps the Parish Council informed about a wide range of issues.

Leader's Update

Please click the link below for Cllr Lynden Stowe's latest bulletin.

March 2013

Rissington Rd Recycling Bank - withdrawal of cardboard recycling container

The Parish Council has been receiving persistent complaints for some time about the state of the recycling area in the Rissington Rd car park. Cardboard and other unrecyclable items are frequently left on top of the containers and this inevitably leads to a lot of mess and the rubbish can also be blown over a much wider area. This isn't nice for residents to look at, and also causes an unwelcome first impression of Bourton for the many visitors using the car park.

As the situation hasn't improved and most of the items are left on, and not in, the containers, weekly collections have become financially unviable for the contractor and we've recently been advised that the cardboard recycling container will be removed at the end of May.

Residents are still able to recycle cardboard via the fortnightly kerb-side collections. If residents have additional volumes of cardboard to recycle they can request an additional blue recycling sack; alternatively the collection team will collect additional cardboard left by the sack, provided this is flattened, is no more than 1m square in size and is left neatly and securely by the sack . For enquiries regarding cardboard or other waste issues, please contact CDC's Waste Enquiries team on 01285 623123.

Click here to open a new window to CDC's Home Page.

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GCC

Click this link to visit GCC's Home Page
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