Caversfield Parish Council

Working for the village of Caversfield

Parish Council Meetings

Dymocks Farm Planning Application – 26/00452/OUT

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The Parish Council considered planning application reference 26/00452/OUT at its meeting on 18 March and has resolved to agree to object to the application on the following grounds:

  • beyond the current boundaries of the village and is contrary to local planning policies, particularly the settlement hierarchy contained in both the current and emerging Local Plans;
  • adverse impact of local services and infrastructure, including power and water supply and the effect on surrounding properties which rely on bore holes;
  • adverse impact on the landscape;
  • does not represent sustainable development;
  • highway safety considerations.

It is also contrary to both CDC and the Parish Council’s Biodiversity and Climate Emergency stance.

The planning application is available on CDC’s planning portal at https://planningregister.cherwell.gov.uk/Planning/Display/26/00452/OUT

More information about Cherwell’s Local Plans can be found on their website at https://www.cherwell.gov.uk/info/83/local-plans

The current, adopted, Local Plan (to 2031) is available on the CDC website at https://www.cherwell.gov.uk/downloads/download/45/adopted-cherwell-local-plan-2011-2031-part-1

The emerging Local Plan, which has been submitted to the Planning Inspector for examination, is available within the Core Documents section of https://www.cherwell.gov.uk/local-plan-review-2042-submission – see the Cherwell Local Plan Review 2042 Proposed Submission (December 2024)

The Village Categorisation information is available on

  • page 246 in the Policy Villages 1 section of the current Plan and
  • pages 24 and 25 in Policy SP 1 of the emerging plan (the Settlement Hierarchy section)

There are also many other policies about sustainable development and infrastructure for consideration.

It is worth noting that a previous application for the site 07/00225/OUT was withdrawn, but much of the Officer Report to the Committee, which can be found in the Supporting Documents section, is relevant to this current application.

Anyone wishing to submit a response can use the points above as a basis for a response, but it is strongly encouraged to write things from a personal perspective as the responses which are a ‘carbon copy’ are likely to carry less weight.

The planning portal deadline for responses to this application is 18 April.  It will be considered at a future CDC Planning Committee in due course.

Council Tax and Parish Council Precept 2026 / 27

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The Parish Council considered the detailed budget and the Precept request (the amount the Parish Council requires for meeting the expenses of running the Council) for the year 2026 / 27 at the meeting on 21 January.

The budget of £14,622 for the year 2026/27 was agreed.  This took into account the range of Parish responsibilities including grass cutting on Skimmingdish Lane, Fringford Road and Old School Close, the Fringford Road weed spraying, the dog bin emptying, meeting costs, saving for replacement street furniture,  potential election costs, paying the Clerk, a road safety fund and reserves.

The Parish had been given the Tax Base figure (broadly, the number of Band D equivalent dwellings in the village) by CDC which was estimated at 595.5; this was an increase from 592.5 the previous year.

Following the calculations, it was agreed to increase the Precept to £11,900 which was an increase of £1,900.  The annual cost to a Band D household would be approximately £19.98 – an increase of £3.14 over the whole year.

However, it is worth noting that the Band D equivalent for a resident of Bicester for 25/26 was scheduled to be around £139.

More information about how the Tax Base figure is calculated is available at Financing the Parish Council

For anyone interested, the draft budget and precept calculations can be found under the January Items for Information at 2025 – 2026 – Agenda and Minutes of Meetings

2025 May Meetings

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We will be holding two meetings on Wednesday 21 May starting at 7.30pm in the Main Hall of Fringford Village Hall, Fringford, OX27 8DY.

The Annual Parish Meeting will be first – at 7.30pm – and the Parish Council Meeting will follow on.

The Agenda for the Annual Parish Meeting is available together with the Minutes of last year’s meeting on the Annual Parish Meeting page

The Agenda and meeting papers for the Parish Council meeting are also available on the Parish website.

We still have Councillor vacancies. More information about how you can join in is available on the Becoming a Councillor page – do come along to the meeting to find out what the Parish Council is all about.

We look forward to seeing you next week at Fringford Village Hall.

Council Tax and Parish Council Precept 2025 / 26

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The Parish Council considered the detailed budget and the Precept request (the amount the Parish Council requires for meeting the expenses of running the Council) for the year 2025 / 26 at the meeting on 15 January.

The budget of £13,115 for the year 2025/26 was agreed.  This took into account the range of Parish responsibilities including grass cutting on Skimmingdish Lane, Fringford Road and Old School Close, the Fringford Road weed spraying, the dog bin emptying, meeting costs, saving for replacement street furniture, paying the Clerk, a road safety fund and reserves.

The Parish had been given the Tax Base figure (broadly, the number of Band D equivalent dwellings in the village) by CDC which was estimated at 592.5; this was an increase from 565.4 the previous year.

Following the calculations, it was agreed to increase the Precept to £10,000 which was an increase of £476.  The annual cost to a Band D household would be approximately £16.88 – an increase of just 4p over the whole year.

However, it is worth noting that the Band D equivalent for a resident of Bicester for 25/26 was scheduled to be around £139.

More information about how the Tax Base figure is calculated is available at Financing the Parish Council

For anyone interested, the draft budget and precept calculations can be found under the January Items for Information at 2024 – 2025 – Agenda and Minutes of Meetings

Join the Council and become a Councillor

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There are now two vacant seats on the Parish Council, leaving us with just five Councillors.

The Parish Council needs Councillors in order to function.

The Parish Council is often the place that people in the community come to for guidance. By becoming a Parish Councillor, you become someone your community may look to for help, guidance and support. You will also have the support of an experienced professional Clerk.

Parish Councils make all kinds of decisions on issues that affect the local community. Among a variety of things, we are the village’s voice on planning matters, we have a liaison role with the MoD and the various management companies and groups around the village.

With fewer Councillors, it is much harder to make the village’s voice heard.

The District Council will be undertaking a review of all Parishes in the area in due course and if villagers are not interested in putting themselves forward, the Parish Council may have no option but to ask for a merger with another area. This might be with one of the neighbouring villages (if they are happy with this) or even with Bicester (which, of course would put up the Council Tax), but either option will leave the village with much less of a voice.

Please think about whether you can help. See the information on the becoming a Councillor page at https://caversfield-pc.gov.uk/parish-council/becoming-a-councillor/ and join us on 18 September.