Streets and parking

School Streets

Iffley Fields has become part of the School Street scheme in 2025. 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

Car sharing

Many local people borrow car club cars instead of owning one, or use car club cars when they need a second car. Co-Wheels is the most popular in Iffley Fields, with cars on Bedford St, Stratford St, Fairacres Road and other vehicles just over the Iffley Road. www.co-wheels.org.uk

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).

Meadow Lane Car park

The public car park in Meadow Lane has been closed and is now managed as a private car park for the Falcon Club. TThe picnic area by Donnington Bridge is now a carpark, preventing enjoyment of the river.

IFRA had objected to an arrangement in which Falcon had obtained exclusive use of the parking spaces following a refurbishment at public expense in 2018, leaving the car park locked and empty at times, while excluding residents from using an amenity they had accessed for many decades. This deal had hampered mobility impaired access to the riverside for the last 5 years.

After years of lobbying, IFRA was delighted to learn on 10 August in a call with Oxford City Council and other stakeholders that the Council is considering two options for the Meadow Lane Car Park both of which bring it back into use as a public car park. In one option the car park will return to 100% public use, and in another option, it will be split between public use and for use by the Falcon Boat Club. The first hour of the day will be free so that it can be once again used by parents dropping off children at the school

See IFRA's feedback on this to the Council here