Christmas FREE car parking

We’re providing FREE parking in our district council owned car parks in the run up to Christmas. Take advantage of this offer up to Christmas Eve and enjoy shopping locally to buy the perfect gift in the wide range of independent shops we have in our towns.

You can park for free at the following locations and dates:

• Didcot – every Monday from 3 December
• Goring – every Saturday from 1 December
• Henley – every Tuesday from 4 December
• Thame – every Saturday from 1 December
• Wallingford – every Thursday from 6 December

You can find out the list of our car parks on our website.

Christmas waste collections

Don’t forget that your waste collections will change over Christmas and New Year – to find out when your bins will be emptied please see our Christmas collection dates.

You can also get this information at your fingertips with our Smartphone app, Binzone. Just search for Binzone on your phone’s appstore. It is also on the back page of our residents’ newsletter Outlook which you should have received through your door last week – you can also read the latest edition of Outlook online here.

What to do with your extra waste

You’ll probably have extra waste over Christmas and most of this can be recycled. You can put out extra recycling in a cardboard box or clear sack next to your green wheelie bin. Extra food waste can be put into a thin plastic or compostable bag and left on top of your food bin. See our website for information.

Christmas tree recycling

If you are signed up to our garden waste service, you can put your real Christmas tree out next to your brown bin on your scheduled garden waste collection days in January.

The maximum size of tree for collection is 6ft. If it is bigger than that then please cut it to pieces which are less than 6ft before putting out for collection.

If you’re not a garden waste customer please see southoxon.gov.uk/christmastrees to find out where your nearest Christmas tree collection point is.

Be prepared for winter weather

To make sure you are not caught out by the weather this winter visit southoxon.gov.uk/winter for some advice on what to do if conditions take a turn for the worse..

Ask for Angela provides reassurance for pub goers

If you’re on a date or out celebrating Christmas or the New Year in one of the many pubs or bars in our town centres this Christmas, help will be at hand if things take a turn for the worse.

In many licensed venues in South Oxfordshire, if you feel uncomfortable you can now go to the bar and ask; “Is Angela in?”. Staff will then offer discreet help, such as keeping an eye on you, calling a friend, relative or taxi, or the police – or simply help you to leave the building via an alternative exit.

To find out which venues are signed up to Ask for Angela visit southoxon.gov.uk/askforangela.

A Safe Place to go

Being in a town centre can be quite a daunting experience, this can be especially true in the run up to Christmas when it’s a lot busier with people trying to find that all important present.

If someone does feel vulnerable it’s therefore important that they have someone to go to for help.

That’s why many of our town centre locations are now registered as Safe Places. This means that if someone does need help then trained staff will be available to offer support and will contact a family member, adult social care, or the police, for assistance and keep them safe until they arrive.

Safe Place locations are identified by a distinctive orange and yellow Safe Place window sticker, you can also find out where they are by visiting safeplaces.org.uk.

Local Plan update

In December, councillors will vote on updated proposals for housing sites to be included in our new Local Plan. You will be able to view these on our website in the next few weeks – head to southoxon.gov.uk/LocalPlan.

Early next year you will then get a chance to comment on the proposals as part of a formal consultation before we submit the plan to the government in March.

Local Plan schedule:

• Scrutiny committee will review the plan – 13 December
• Cabinet will vote and make a recommendation to put to full Council meeting – 18 December
• Council will vote on the Cabinet’s recommendation – 20 December
• Public consultation – January and February
• Submission to the government – March

(cross-posted from the village Facebook group)

If you would like to spread a little happiness this Christmas, pop in to Hair of Dorchester, High Street, and pick up a box to fill for one of the categories shown in the picture. Each box contains an information sheet with suggestions to help you.

More information about the charity is at www.rotaryshoebox.org. Your filled box needs to be back at Hair of Dorchester by 7 December. Just pop in and pick up a box during trading hours: Tuesday-Friday and Saturday mornings.

More info about what the scheme does, and how, can be read here: https://www.rotaryshoebox.org/about-us/

The new December/January edition of the Dorchester News has now been uploaded to the website

The “Dorchester News” newsletter