Spelsbury Parish Council

Parish Councils have an overall responsibility for the well-being of their local community and are a vital link to district and county councils and other agencies on local issues. The Parish Council’s work falls into three main categories:

• representing the local community
• delivering services to meet local needs
• striving to improve the quality of life in the parish

Parish Councils funding comes primarily through the precept, a local rate which is collected here in Spelsbury by West Oxfordshire District Council as part of the council tax.

Councillors

Spelsbury Parish Council has six elected members, the next election will occur in May 2024.

Graham Beacham
Jack Blackwell (Vice-Chairman)
Hugh Datson
Rick Leyland (Chairman)
Hugo Pickering
Vacancy

Councillor Code of Conduct

The Council holds a Gifts and Hospitality Register for councillors.

Responsibilities

Cllr Blackwell – Vice-Chairman; Parish Plan working group member
Cllr Leyland – Chairman; Spelsbury Memorial Hall rep
Cllr Pickering – Charlbury Town Council climate action rep; Climate Action working group member, Parish Plan working group member

Working Groups

Climate Action Working Group – Cllr Pickering
Parish Plan Working Group – Cllr Blackwell, Cllr Pickering

Vacancies

There is one councillor vacancy.

Clerk

The Clerk is Anne Ogilvie.

Contact: clerk@spelsbury.org
Telephone: 01608 676768
Address: 6 Manor Court, Chadlington, Oxon  OX7 3LW.

The Clerk works part-time, 24 hours flexibly per month.

Meetings

The council usually meets at Spelsbury Memorial Hall at 7.30pm on the first Tuesday of alternate months (January, March, May, July, September, November); agendas and minutes are posted on this website as well as on Parish noticeboards. Meetings are open to the public, who are always welcome to attend.

Spelsbury Parish Council Action Plan

2021-2022 Action Plan
2022-2023 Action Plan
2023-2024 Action Plan

Members’ interests

Details of members interests can be found by contacting West Oxfordshire District Council (WODC)
https://www.westoxon.gov.uk/contact-us
enquiries@westoxon.gov.uk
01993 861000

Members’ allowances taken

2020 – none
2021 – none
2022 – none
January 2023 – none
February 2023 – none
March 2023 – none
April 2023 – none
May 2023 – none
June 2023 – none
July 2023 – none
August 2023 – none

Spelsbury Parish Council has responsibilities for various local amenities, which include:

• • the children’s playground at Chadlington Road, Spelsbury
  • public benches
  • public notice boards
  • keeping grit bins filled for winter road safety
  • parish funds

Two Councillors are also trustees of the Memorial Hall and Fountain (Rick Leyland & Hugo Pickering).

The Parish Council is a statutory consultee on planning matters – it does not have decision making powers and does not offer advice on planning issues.

The Parish Council also reports to the relevant organisations any issues and problems that Councillors or residents have concerns about, such as:

• potholes, road markings or street signage issues, overgrown vegetation obstructing highways – responsibility of Oxfordshire County Council (OCC) and its Highways Dept.
  Residents can also report directly to OCC Highways via email highway.enquiries@oxfordshire.gov.uk or by telephone on 0845 310 1111.  Problems that are the responsibility of OCC can also be reported via http://fixmystreet.oxfordshire.gov.uk/
• footpath matters, such as broken stiles, obstructed footpaths. Local footpaths – responsibility of Oxfordshire County Council Countryside Dept. Details of all Spelsbury footpaths can be found on OCC Definite Statement footpaths
• road name signs, household waste and recycling collections – responsibility of West Oxfordshire District Council
• housing – to either Cottsway Housing Association who manage social housing in Spelsbury or West Oxfordshire District Council who are responsible for housing development through the Local Development Framework and its Local Plan
• with Thames Valley Police on matters such as speeding, anti-social behaviour and crime prevention
• with the local churches and the Diocese of Oxford
• with local landowners and residents over individual matters

Spelsbury Parish is within the District of  West Oxfordshire  (WODC)

Our District Councillor is Dean Temple

email: dean.temple@westoxon.gov.uk

Spelsbury Parish is within the Parliamentary constituency of Witney

Our MP is Robert Courts