Transition of Highway Services

As is well known Oxfordshire County Council is under considerable funding pressure and has indicated that its spending priority is on social care and protecting the vulnerable. This means that the other services provided by the County Council are likely to suffer.

Of particular interest to parishes is the impact on highway services. The policy adopted by the County Council to address this is to make a proposal to town and parish councils under the esoteric title “Transition of Highway Services”. This envisages that a parish council will take over responsibility for providing services such as grass cutting under a three year legal agreement in return for a grant.

The agreement expects a parish council to take over Oxfordshire Highways’ statutory responsibility for cutting visibility splays to ensure road safety at road junctions; this would leave the parish council vulnerable to being sued in the event of an accident even if it were due to the negligence of the contractor. Furthermore, the level of the grant is only guaranteed for the first year of the contract.

The Parish Council has entered into a contract with Aspire for grass cutting. Please contact the Parish Clerk if you wish to report any issues.