From 31 October to 12 November the UK is hosting a major UN climate summit, known as COP26.  The event will bring over 190 world leaders together in Glasgow with the aim of agreeing urgent action to tackle climate change and will provide the UK with a huge opportunity to raise the ambition of plans to tackle climate change both at home and abroad.  The event will be incredibly important in helping us to achieve our climate reduction targets, globally, nationally and at a more local level, such as in our communities in South Oxfordshire and the Vale.  To mark the occasion, and its importance, while the COP26 is taking place, we will be looking to highlight want it means for people here in South Oxfordshire. 

Keep an eye out on our social media and join in the discussion – we’ll be highlighting climate community work taking place locally. To find out more about the summit, head to ukcop26.org.

From 1 November, officers from a new team at Oxfordshire County Council will begin patrolling the streets of South Oxfordshire and the Vale of White Horse to help prevent illegal parking.   The county council is taking on this responsibility for on-street parking from Thames Valley Police in a move aimed at helping to ease congestion and cutting down on pollution. 

For more information see the county council’s website. 

The SO Charitable lottery has been running for over three years now and has raised £85,000 for local good causes so far. Over 70 organisations benefit from the money raised and work directly in the district to support residents.

Players have a chance of winning one of the prizes, which range from a weekly £25,000 jackpot, £250 to three extra tickets. They can choose which ‘good cause’ they want to support. Tickets cost £1 each, of which 50p goes directly to their good cause and 10p to the central community fund.

We welcome more local groups and charities to register as ‘good causes’ so please spread the word. Or why not support ‘your’ local charity and purchase a ticket to help them raise more funds to deliver vital services to our residents.

For more information please visit our website.

Organisations that want to register for the lottery please visit - socharitable.co.uk/good-causes/apply.

Contact: communityenablement@southandvale.gov.uk for further information.

We are excited to announce the launch of our South Capital Grants Scheme early November. This scheme will be open for applications from voluntary and community sector organisations and town and parish councils until mid-December. 

This vital funding offers capital grants to improve community facilities to help build and support thriving communities and improve the quality of life for the residents of South Oxfordshire. The total budget is £320,000 and organisations can apply for up to £75,000, and a maximum of 50 per cent of their total project cost. 

For further information about the grants scheme and scoring criteria please take a look at our website southoxon.gov.uk/grants. We would also welcome enquiries directly to the Community Enablement Team on communityenablement@southandvale.gov.uk for help and advice as we expect this to be a very competitive funding round.  

We also have a revenue grant scheme opening 18 October for local voluntary and community organisations only (not town and parish councils) so please do share this news with groups in your area and encourage them to visit the website above for further details.