Dear Friends,
It is a rare and joyous thing to bring you good news in a year of unprecedented turmoil; we hope and your families have stayed well.
The open spaces, footpaths and public spaces have been appreciated more than ever during the pandemic, and it has been wonderful to live in such a beautiful area with so many opportunities to get outside.
A much anticipated update from FODLWOS which started its life almost four years to the day – a small group gathered at the White Hart in Dorchester, to achieve what seemed almost impossible – the securing of the open spaces and wide footpaths which villagers had enjoyed for years and then lost (almost overnight) as a new owner of Bishop’s Court Farm began his fencing regime which would see the public excluded from Days Lock Meadow and the Dyke Hills, and fences reducing footpaths to the statutory minimum width – and resulting in suffocating muddy barbed wire corridors.
Many of you came to the Open Meeting in the village hall in January 2017, and filled in questionnaires – over 250 in total – the largest Village green application ever seen by OCC. Not only that, there were footpath forms and applications to register the true widths of paths walked – although the gloomy prediction at the time was that these would take 12 years to resolve.
Fast forward to March 2019 and the farm is sold to a local man Keith Ives, and discussions start in earnest.
The village greens are being registered, the spaces are open for public access and the fences have been moved back to accommodate wide pathways – in some areas fences have been removed entirely, the Thame/Thames confluence has been opened up. The public will have access to the areas denoted as Village Greens for the purposes of recreation in perpetuity, and the footpaths widths have been recorded on the Definitive Map.
The Parish council has generously contributed £10 000 toward the costs of fencing contractors – our commitment to Keith is that the changes in fencing will be at no cost to him or the farm.
I’m so grateful to those local families who have contributed. Those who live locally will know what a difference it has made – so many lovely comments and offers of help. Our goal is £25000 which covers the work completed to date. At your request we have opened an account and contributions would be appreciated.
John J Taylor Pathways
sort code 60 70 03
account number 52389472
Thank you for getting on board and supporting us, we couldn’t have done it without a mandate from our two villages and the community beyond. Please come and walk this way soon, you will appreciate the difference,
Kind regards,
Becky Waller
on behalf of FODLWOS
