District Councillors Report for July 2020 now available online

Playgrounds and outdoor gyms advice

The government has just published this guidance and practical advice on how outdoor gym and playgrounds can be reopened and managed effectively to enable their use while minimising risk of transmitting COVID-19.

We are currently considering how and if we can re-open each of our own play areas safely, including any new signage we may need to put in place.  Where we can re-open a play area, we will encourage people to wash their hands before and after they visit, maintain social distancing, and to come back at a quieter time if the area looks busy.  

We will only re-open play areas when we have done our safety checks and put clear signage in place.  We continue to urge people not to use any play area equipment or enter play areas that are out of use or closed off.

Leisure centres update

 As things stand, indoor gyms and swimming pools must remain closed and we are still waiting for the government to confirm the timetable for them to reopen.  In the meantime, we are continuing to work on potential reopening plans to ensure we are ready once we’ve been given the go-ahead. 

New signage

Over the coming days we will be placing new signs around our public toilets to remind people to maintain social distancing and to wash their hands.  Our ‘Stay Safe, Give Space’ message will also be stencilled at key locations in our car parks, parks and mobile home parks.

Shielding guidance relaxed

You may have seen the government is relaxing the guidance for residents who are currently shielding from today (Monday 6 July).

We want all of our shielding residents to be aware that even after the guidance has been relaxed, we’re still available to provide support and advice – they can continue to call 01235 422600 or email communitysupport@southandvale.gov.uk.  Lines are open 9am to 6pm Monday to Saturday.

If you weren’t aware – the changes that come into place on 6 July state that people who are shielding:

• can meet in a group of up to 6 people outdoors, including people from different households, while maintaining strict social distancing

• no longer need to observe social distancing with other members of their household

• can form a ‘support bubble’ with one other household – all those in a support bubble will be able to spend time together inside each other’s homes, including overnight, without needing to socially distance.

  You can find the full details about how shielding arrangements are changing on the government’s website.

   

Virtual meetings update

We are currently testing a system to allow you, the general public and other organisations to take part directly in our online committee meetings.

The meetings are currently working well, and many town and parish councils and members of the public have contributed by providing a written statement, although 

officers hope to have the new system up and running very soon.

Cabinet takes place online this Thursday (9^th July) followed by full council on 16^th July. All meetings can be streamed via meeting links on the SODC website.

The Examination in Public of the Local Plan is also due to be streamed live, starting on 14^th July. Berinsfield issues are due to be discussed at 2pm on 30^th July.

New Thames Champion for South Oxfordshire

Cllr Jo Robb, ward councillor for Woodcote and Rotherfield, is taking on the newly created role of Thames Champion.  The River Thames is one of our most precious natural assets and Cllr Robb will be networking with river users, councillors and neighbouring councils to improve access to the river, and to protect and enhance its biodiversity and cleanliness. 

Open for Business

Through our various social media profiles, following work from SODC licensing, environmental health and business support teamns, we’re helping to spread the word that town centres, shops and businesses are now open, and how shoppers can get involved while – importantly – staying safe. We’re joining the national social media campaign #OpenForBusiness to show the extra hard work staff in the shops and parishes have put in to reopen and protect their customers and staff.

Local shops and businesses can join in using the hashtags #OpenForBusiness #ShopLocalStaySafe and tagging @southoxon.

We’ll retweet or share your post to help spread the word that the shop has opened and is ready for customers.

Robin Bennett

District Councillor’s Report

Minutes for Junes Parish Council meeting are now online for you to read through

Council Minutes

There have been comments and complaints online about work done to a tree in the recreation ground following a large limb loss.

The Parish Council uses a pool of tree tree surgeons depending upon availability, price and complexity of the work involved. On this occasion, work was carried out by Jenks Oxford, who have been carrying out tree works for the Council for several years now and had recently been awarded the contract to manage all the councils trees in the village per a tree survey carried out in November 2018. Jenks are Arboricultural Association Approved and carry out work for the County Council as well as a variety of major companies.

As a result of the complaints, the Parish Council asked the company it uses for tree surveys to visit and assess the work. Sarah Venners is not connected to any of the tree surgeons that we use – it is standard practice to employ one firm to carry out surveys and another to carry out the work – and her report is as follows. Given Sarah’s conclusions, the council is happy that the work has been carried out to standard.

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Given the urgent nature of this case, I popped out earlier this afternoon to see the tree. I have the following comments to make which I would like you to relay to the concerned residents and to the Parish Council on Wednesday evening:

T11 is a mature Horse Chestnut. The survey carried out in November 2018 recorded the tree as having a crown break at 2m with multiple large limbs from this point with good unions. Deadwood was observed throughout, but the crown was in good form and vigour (despite previous pruning to reduce limbs overhanging the field). Given its form of multiple branching habit from 2m, it is highly likely that this tree was once historically managed as a pollard – where the branches are cut back to a knuckle every 5 – 8 years to promote the grown of a dense regrowth of foliage and branches. The branch attachments from the pollard knuckle are much weaker than if the tree is left to grow in a natural form and therefore pollarding needs to be done on a cyclical basis in order to minimise the risk of branch failure. Horse Chestnut timber is not very dense, is structurally quite brittle and degrades quickly, so it is likely that this management practice on Chestnuts was only really done for amenity purposes and to keep the tree small and manageable.

T11 is what is known as a ‘neglected pollard’. These are commonly seen in urban environments and the risk associated with these types of trees is high, given the targets around them. The canopy of this tree overhangs the Recreation Ground and a road and as typical of neglected pollards, its branches were very heavy around the edge of the pollard knuckle. Failure in pollards often involves snapping of top-heavy new branches and splitting at the pollard point – and it is the latter that has happened to T11. The failure to keep the tree re-pollarded has enabled it to develop larger and heavier scaffold limbs from the pollard point, one of which has catastrophically failed – causing the limb loss that can be seen today.

Management recommendations in November 2018 for this tree were to have the entire crown reduced by 2-3 metres within 24 months of the date of the report, because the wood of a Chestnut is very brittle and suffers readily from summer branch drop and wind loading failure. A crown reduction (like Jenks have now done) would have reduced the weight of the scaffold limbs and relieved the loading on the unions at the pollard point, potentially preventing the failure that has now happened. The recommended work would have been scheduled in by Dorchester Parish Council for the next tranche of tree works this autumn (2020).

Unfortunately, we have had some periods of unusually high, prolonged winds this year and it is therefore likely that in conjunction with the very dry spring period of April and May, the tree became drought stressed at a time when it would have been building up its carbohydrate reserves for the year and this has resulted in a phenomenon known as Summer Branch Drop – where the heaviest and weakest limbs simply drop without warning.

Given the failure that has occurred, Jenks Tree Surgeons were called in to make the tree safe. Jenks are an established and reputable tree survey company that are qualified and knowledgeable when it comes to tree science. They understood that this tree needed to be made safe and by only tidying up the limb that failed would have left the other limbs exposed to an altered wind loading which would likely see the same failure happen again to another large branch in the next period of high winds. By removing the weight from the whole crown, Jenks have likely prevented the same failure happening on other scaffold limbs and thereby enabled the crown to still retain some of its form in the landscape. As they have left enough leaf area where they were able to, the tree still has some reserves to enable it to respond well to this work and we will see over the next few years, the sprouting of prolific new growth from the cut points. This re-growth will need to be managed going forward as a pollard on a cyclical bases. I can assure you that the work that has been carried out is entirely appropriate and correct and in accordance with British Standards 3998:2010. The work they have done has in fact saved the tree from having to be reduced completely to a monolith and has likely extended its life cycle by another 20 years or so. If they hadn’t reduced the whole crown, other limbs would have failed like the one that did last week. The work that has been done was the only sound arboricultural management option to make the tree safe whilst giving it a chance to be retained and recover.

July/August edition of the Dorchester News now available to read.  This is the last one until September (the standard summer break), so make it last.

The “Dorchester News” newsletter