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Iffley Fields Residents Association
Our streets
School Streets
Iffley Fields is to become part of the School Street scheme from the Autumn 2023. This means that streets around the school will have a temporary restriction on motorised traffic at school drop-off and pick-up times during term time. The restriction applies to school traffic and through traffic. It will not affect residents cars or deliveries. Oxford County Council will impose a traffic order and infringements will incur penalties.
The result will be a safer, healthier and pleasant environment for everyone.
More information can be found from Oxfordshire County Council link here
IFCAR - car sharing
IFCAR is car sharing scheme. Neighbours made their cars available to registered and approved drivers to borrow for an hourly fee when the cars weren’t being used. Only people who live in Iffley Fields can borrow the cars. It’s supported by a commercial firm called Hiyacar who sort out the insurance, the scheduling (via their app) and checking and verifying all the registered drivers.
The idea was to make it easier for people living locally to not own their own car, if they could always find another one available, and through doing that to reduce climate emissions and the space cars take up on our streets.
Many of the registered drivers are also registered with Co-wheels which is great – the idea is to make more very local cars available, not to get them used really frequently. The idea has spread to Florence Park, Oatlands, Cumnor and Kennington.
Your car has to be less than 15 years old, and to borrow one you have to be age 23-75.
More information can be found at www.shareourcars.com, or you can email shareourcars@gmail.com
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Parking
Iffley Fields is Controlled Parking Zone (CPZ) that was introduced in October 2018, after a campaign by IFRA, Additional visitors permit can be obtained from the Council.
If you are concerned about persistent illegal parking, you can report the car to Parking Control 0345 3371138, Option 4, stating the make, colour and registration number. In 2023 the County Council introduced a paperless system.
Residents can check whether a vehicle has a permit via this link: If it is found that a vehicle does not have a permit you can contact the enforcement team
Planning
The planning subgroup monitors new applications submitted to the Council that affect the area and picks up problems where planning regulations are broken.
Houses in multiple occupation
For many young people renting a room in a shared house is their only option and we welcome them to our community. Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs) require planning consent and a renewable license from the Council, though there are few realistic grounds to oppose the license or its renewal.
Each application for HMO status is considered by IFRA on its merits. Our main concerns are to:
Ensure that change of use has been granted
Ensure the accommodation is an acceptable standard, in particular we have concerns about overcrowding and lack of shared space.
Take account of the impact on the area if too many houses become HMOs. The City Council has a policy that no area should have more than 20% of houses as HMOs and we support this.
Frequently planning applications for change of status are sought retrospectively, which may be a way of forcing the Council's hand. IFRA will oppose such retrospective applications and has urged the Council to introduce sanctions to discourage this behaviour. A recent trend is for landlords to apply retrospectively to change HMOs to small independent units, avoiding the regulations attached to HMOs. We will monitor this to see the impact it has.
Cold Callers
Thames Valley Police and Neighbourhood Watch receive many reports of dubious and occasionally threatening salespeople, known as Nottingham Knockers. They seem to target vulnerable people living alone. After a discussion on Facebook, most people welcomed the idea of Iffley Fields becoming a No Cold Calling Zone, though there were concerns that this might affect legitimate fundraising by charities.
IFRA’s application for Iffley Fields to be a No Cold Calling Zone was refused as the Council and Trading Standards had not received many complaints from Iffley Fields. Before introducing the zone, they would have looked at the scale of the problem and canvassed residents’ views.
If you have any concerns about a caller, report them to Citizens Advice on 0808 223 1133 or in an emergency the Police on 999.
If you would like a sticker saying you do not buy at the door, please email iffleyfields@gmail.com.
Air quality
Many residents have reported breathing difficulties as a result of wood burning stoves and domestic fires in our streets. Recent research has shown the damage to health of pollutants, such as particulate matter. In the UK, the single biggest source of this type of air pollution is domestic coal and wood-burning.
Iffley Fields is in a Smoke Control Area. This means that only authorised fuel can be used, except in some wood burning stoves which meet Government standards and are exempt. Contravention can lead to a maximum fine of £1000.
There are ways of using wood burning stoves more safely. Such as ensuring ventilation, regular servicing and making sure wood has less than 20% moisture. You can buy moisture monitors for less than £20. DEFRA has produced a practical guide on the use of open fires and wood burning stoves, see here.
If you would like to check your indoor PM levels, we may be able to lend a monitor (email iffleyfields@gmail.com).
The Iffley Pickers
We welcome people to our area to enjoy the green spaces and the river. However, this can cause a litter problem. Unfortunately. some people don't take their litter home with them. We hope providing new bins in Meadow Lane will encourage people to take their litter home.
The Iffley Pickers are a group of residents who organise litter picks around Iffley Fields. The group is supported by OxClean by providing litter pickers and high vis jackets. Since then the group has collected regularly collected bags of rubbish with just a few volunteers.
If you would like to volunteer, email iffleypick@gmail.com