| Theft of lead from buildings – Vale of White Horse
Thames Valley Police is appealing for witnesses following a spate of lead thefts from buildings in the Vale of White Horse. In the last week offender(s) have stolen lead from church and school roofs in Abingdon, Kingston Bagpuize and Harwell.
SmartWater Property Marking
We recommend that SmartWater is used to help deter metal theft and also to help identify any recovered stolen property. SmartWater is a traceable liquid that carries a unique forensic 'code' that is registered to your address. It is almost impossible to remove and can only be seen using UV light. If you would like more information on SmartWater please contact Lisa Butler (Community Relations Officer) by emailing Lisa.Butler@thamevalley.pnn.police.uk or visit www.smartwater.com
Please be extra vigilant. If you have seen any suspicious looking people or vehicles in these areas or have any information relating to this message please call the Police via the 24 hour non-emergency telephone number 101. Alternatively, if you have information but wish to remain anonymous, please call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 or online by visiting www.crimestoppers-org.uk. No personal details are taken, information is not traced or recorded and you will not go to court.
Cyber Safety Event – Didcot
Thames Valley Police will be holding a Cyber Safety Event in Didcot Wednesday 21st September 10.00am-12.30pm.
We will be discussing how to stay safe on line, avoid scams and fraud with tips on security and what to look out for. We will have exhibitors from external agencies and Neighbourhood Watch.
Prevention through awareness is a vital strand in combating scammers. Cyber safety is a concern for many people as anyone can become a victim of Cybercrime, scam emails, on line fraud, scams, mobile phone scams and identity fraud, the list is endless. We have a limited amount of a very useful guide "the little book of BIG scams". Please call in to collect your free copy on the day.
Scams do not discriminate.
Scams target people of all backgrounds, ages and income levels. We can provide you with the tools to help protect yourself and reduce the risk of becoming a victim of cybercrime and scams.
The event will be held at:
Cornerstone Arts, 25 Station Road, Didcot, OX11 7NE
(There is parking in the Orchard Centre, or behind the Wilkinson's store)
If you are interested in attending the event, and would like to know more, please contact Lisa Butler - lisa.butler@thamesvalley.pnn.police.uk or 01235 556611 by Monday 12th September.
If you are unable to attend and would like fraud and scam crime prevention advice please click on the following links:
http://www.actionfraud.police.uk/
http://www.thamesvalley.police.uk/identity-theft-and-fraud
http://www.thamesvalley.police.uk/cybercrime
Changes to the Vale District Council Planning System | The Vale District Council has with effect from 1 August made some changes to the way in which planning decisions are made by district councillors and officers of the Council. The intention is to strengthen links between the District Council (DC) and parish councils *, to make sure that people at the heart of the community can help the DC make informed decisions on planning applications.
*It is understood that these changes will apply to parish meetings as much as to parish councils.
The DC also wishes to cut the costs involved in taking planning applications to the planning committee as a result of a parish council objection; in the majority of these cases the decision goes with the officer's original recommendation, but on average, a planning application considered at committee takes three times the officer's time and three times the cost of an application delegated for decision.
The changes they have made and an abbreviated list of Material and Non-material planning considerations are available on the Parish Council notice board and on the village website here: http://www.uffington.net/parish-council/planning/vale-changes/
Pre-application discussions.
There is no change to the way in which individual applicants may request a preliminary discussion with planning officers; this has the potential to sort out problems and errors before an application is formally submitted. All planning applications within the parish of Uffington are referred to the Parish Council for comment, and are usually discussed at the next monthly meeting; it would therefore be helpful to us if we could be included in any pre-application discussions.
Neighbourhood Plan update | From Robert Hart
Chairman, Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group:
There has been a quite a lot of activity on the Neighbourhood Plan (NP) recently and I thought it might be appropriate if I provided an update.
You will be aware that we worked towards a public meeting in July where we reminded the villages on the mission and objectives for the NP, updated them on the finances, our progress on the process roadmap and culminated with a focus on the call for sites and the site selection criteria we had developed to assess them. Following this we submitted the selection criteria to the District Council (DC) for comment and received their feedback at our most recent meeting on 12 August.
The DC feedback, while commenting on the selection criteria, gave much more feedback regarding our approach to the NP process, which they advised had not been thorough enough so far. They recommended we conduct a formal Housing Needs Assessment to arrive at the number of houses we need to allocate, a Strategic Environmental Assessment to assess the impact any housing allocation may have on the local environment and a wider land availability assessment to consider all land in the NP designated area, not just that put forward by land owners.
As you can imagine, this is a more detailed process than we had anticipated or were initially led to believe by the DC. However, it does set out a robust and logical approach which will give us a better plan when we finish. I have therefore asked our consultant to look into these activities for us and ascertain costs and timescales such that we might move forward. This increase in scope will undoubtedly delay our progress, potentially by as much as 6-12 months meaning the plan may complete in late 2017, as opposed to later this year, but it will make the end result more sound from a legal perspective and better able to withstand challenge from developers in the future, therefore protecting what it is that we the villagers want for our local area.
The work we have done to date, far from being wasted effort, will form an important part of this more detailed exercise as we move forward. The suggested site information must remain confidential within the NP Steering Group (SG) for the next few months as we divert attention to getting these additional activities undertaken, and will be assessed in due course when we have completed the extra steps to ensure we consider them on a sounder footing. Would you like to assist?
The extra work the DC has set out for us will need horsepower to deliver it. Volunteers from Uffington, Baulking or Woolstone would be welcome, so if you would like to find out more, please use any of the methods described in the Contact page of the UBW NP website, here: http://www.ubwnp.net/contact/
Local News - 13 August 2016 | News from the Vale
Free Exercise Classes and new courses on offer for women this August and September; women across South Oxfordshire and the Vale can sign up to take part in free exercise sessions; more information is available here:
http://www.whitehorsedc.gov.uk/news/2016/2016-08/free-exercise-classes-and-new-courses-offer-women-august-and-september
Help for Landlords and Tenants
The District Council's White Horse Lettings scheme offers services to both tenants and landlords to help those on low income find good quality, secure rental accommodation in the local area. For eligible tenants the Council offers a deposit guarantee scheme and also offers a referral reward of £250 for referring a landlord who goes on to let properties through White Horse Lettings.
For further information, please contact the Vale's housing team on 01235 422422 or visit the website www.whitehorsedc.gov.uk/housing
Business Workshops
As part of their ongoing work to support the local economy Vale4Business have organised another round of FREE business workshops. In the past we have held events on everything from HR to social media, marketing, and apprenticeships, as Vale4Business is committed to providing Vale businesses with the tools to grow and succeed. The upcoming free workshops include – Throughout the year Vale4Business will also be running a range of evening networking tours of Vale businesses as a way of encouraging useful networking for our members and as an alternative to other breakfast networking groups. The autumn/winter programme will be announced shortly and includes businesses such as Miele, UTC Oxfordshire, Diamond.
Thames Valley Police Alerts
Advance fee fraud
People selling their items on online platforms are falling victim to a new type of advance fee fraud. This involves a fraudster, posing as a buyer, sending an email to the seller (victim), agreeing to the full asking price of the item. They state that they are unable to collect the item themselves and will arrange for a courier to pick it up instead.
The fraudster then sends a fake payment confirmation email from a different email address, one which falsely purports to be from a payment platform. In the course of the email exchange, the seller/victim is requested to pay the courier fee. Once the payment is made the contact is broken, the item is not picked up and the money paid for the 'courier' is gone. An example of the most recent emails received by the victim/seller, from the 'Buyer', read: "I want you to consider this a deal as i am willing to pay your full asking price! i actually want to buy it for a family member who is urgently in need of it, i have checked through your posting and i'm fully satisfied with it. Unfortunately, i would not be able to come personally to view/collect, i work offshore as an instructor on a oil rig so i dont have time at all, but like i said i am 100% OK with the advert" If you have been affected by this, or any other scam, report it to Action Fraud by calling 0300 123 2040, or visiting www.actionfraud.police.uk
White Horse Show - 28 and 29 August 2016 | This is a reminder of the forthcoming White Horse Show on 28 and 29 August. Here is the link to the website: www.whitehorseshow.co.uk which now includes a detailed and informative Show Preview. Please also go onto the WHS Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/uffingtonwhitehorseshow and "share" with your own groups to spread the news! And pray for good weather!
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