Useful link to services offered by County Council WCC website.
The Warwickshire Local Welfare Scheme helps the most vulnerable residents at times of unavoidable crisis when they have no other means of help.
The COVID Winter Grant Scheme provides one-off financial support for people in need over the winter months.
It can help families with children, other vulnerable households and individuals who have been particularly affected by the pandemic
to ensure that they have the support they need to afford food, energy, water bills and associated costs. To enquire or apply call the Local Welfare Scheme..
Full details are available here and elsewhere
AbilityNet helps disabled and older people get the most from their computer, smartphone or tablet.
CALL FREE 0800 048 7642.
More details are available elsewhere
Full details of the service appear on WCC website. search for Sambourne
Please note that the free Sambourne Trust bus service has been suspended until further notice.
It is planned to resume after the current lock-down
[0710 21:00]
Due to limited space in the Middletown notice board, today the clerk had to remove notices relating to the Warwickshire County Council Gateway Scheme for Sambourne Parish.
The minutes can be accessed via the Minutes Archive subtab in the Parish Council tab above.
The full details of the scheme are available under the next item
[041020 11:50] The final drawings are linked as below:
Site location plan - seven sites
Site location plan - two sites
HGV sign locations
Sign design PS01 (Middletown Lane)
Sign design PS02 (Sambourne Lane)
There appears to be developing a lot of misunderstanding regarding the way Sambourne Parish Council (SPC) regards and treats Middletown.
The pending gateway traffic calming scheme also seems to have caused misdirected and ill-founded criticism and comments .
The scheme, first raised as a candidate for funding from delegated budget at SPC meeting in September 2019, was designed by the consultants at Traffic Group at Warwick County Council.
There are numerous rules and regulation which apply to, for example, the location of the gateway signs which must be at least 500mm from the edge of the road plus 900mm for the sign - a total of 1.4m This condition means that at two sites where it would be appropriate to position gateway signs, the verge is too narrow to satisfy the 1.4m ruling. There are two locations in the scheme where this is the case: site 3 (Sambourne Lane) and site 7 (Middletown Lane).
The latter site has been the cause of much controversy and misunderstanding. After a requested visit to site to assess the verge, WCC have clearly demonstrated that this verge is too narrow to accommodate a gateway sign. This fact has sparked off comments regarding the treatment of Middletown and the clandestine administration of the delegated budget.
The delegated budget operates as follows. Each year every WCC county councillor is allocated a sum - the same for each person. No money changes hands. It is loosely earmarked for road safety improvements and a proposal from a PC or (with PC backing) from an individual is evaluated as to its merits and may (or may not) be funded from the councillor's delegated budget.
Essentially when the proposal is made reality the required sum is taken from the councillor's delegated budget. No more and no less. The monies are never in the parish council's account and never appear in the accounts; all funding is exclusively within WCC.
This misunderstanding has produced a series of vexatious comments especially on social media.
This has resulted in extra work for the council clerk at a busy time producing documents to comply with good practice of the accounts and aggravated by the consequence of COVID-19.
If anyone has any serious comments or questions please email with details.
Flag flying on the Green, Sambourne
The Sambourne and Middletown Matters FaceBook page are organising The Sambourne Good Neighbour Scheme.
Those who are unable to access this closed group and who need help (or want to volunteer or comment), please read on...
Anyone in the parish who cannot arrange with family, friends or neighbours to help them is welcome to get in touch with the scheme. If you can offer your help or need help, please email with details. Your contact will be passed to the organisation.
If you already help a neighbour out and have to self isolate, this could be a good place to find someone to replace you.
There is plenty of advice available on the internet.
One example is
Royal College of Occupational Therapists
With restrictions on movement, the usual distribution of The Link could not take place.
Instead, it had been made available as a download from The Link June 2020
To report issues like flooding, potholes, crumbling road edges or blocked drains use the website
FixMyStreet .
The accompanying image shows the dedication of the memorial, which is now a listed monument.
This took place 100 years ago on Christmas Day 1919.
These are caused by high voltage supplies tripping and being automatically re-routed from elsewhere - hence the short outage.
The problems are almost certainly caused by tree branches being blown into power lines by the blustery winds.
Western Power would be grateful if anyone seeing a possible issue reports it.
If you are concerned that a branch may be close to a power line, please call 0800 096 3080
If there are definite signs of a problem - sparking, burning or smoking please use the emergency number 0800 6783 105 .
From Middletown to The Bromsgrove Road can now be connected to Superfast Broadband.
The service is called Fibre To The Premises (FTTP) which means no copper wire in the route - fibre the whole way.
CSW have provided a couple of links which may help residents.
The CSW website .
There is also the diary entry by someone who had FTTP installed .
This is very detailed and describes the installation, mentions possible issues and gives advice about shopping around for a service provider deal.
A resident in Sambourne has recently had FTTP broadband installed with no problems.
What speed is the service providing? A breathtaking 100+ Mbps!
An interesting list of alternative walks in the area is available on Walking in England website.
YOU MUST PRODUCE A VALID PERMIT TO USE THIS SERVICE
As from December 2018 anyone wishing to use this service will be required to show a permit. This will be the only proof of entitlement that will be accepted.
The permit will be in the December edition of The Link in an enclosure titled Studley Voice. This will be distributed in late November.
The permit is printed on the inside back page of The Studley Voice. It has an embossed foil symbol - to prevent photocopying.
Please keep this safe as the issue is a one-off and no spares will be available.
Details of the progress achieved by Sambourne Broadband Action Group can be seen following the "Organisations" tab at the head of this page.
A red letter event!
Middletown Lane and Middletown - from The White House to Five Trees are connected to Superfast Broadband.
You can check to see if it's available on your phone number using
the link to the dsl checker .
Alternatively, your ISP can tell you and what packages they have.
Details of UBUS and all other public transport schemes are listed here.
If you would like to receive regular emails with details please contact Village Association