WELCOME TO OSPRINGE

Welcome to the Ospringe parish website. Ospringe valley runs through an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty to the south of the historic market town of Faversham in rural Kent, south east England.

Our website offers you details and updates from the parish council, together with news and events from the parish, details of clubs and organisations within it, local history, local info and contact details for local government representatives.

VILLAGE HALL VACANCY

Painters Forstal Community Association are seeking to recruit a community mobiliser. This is a new role to promote the use of the village’s new hall, which is currently under construction.

Details including salary, hours per week, term of contract and job description are available via: https://www.paintersforstal.co.uk/news.

Closing date: 1 February 2023

This is a national, community run initiative, designed to reduce the number of speeding vehicles through the Parish.  As a volunteer you will be standing at the side of the road as part of a community team, with a police authorised speed measuring device recording vehicle details.  These details are passed to the police, who then do all the follow-up action.  You will not have any direct engagement with the motorists.

Sessions will run for 90 minutes, initially early in the morning or late afternoon.  Sessions will be once a month, or more frequently if there are lots of volunteers.

All equipment is provided by Kent Police.  Training is an online module that takes about 30 minutes.  If you are interested and would like to know more, please contact Chris Elworthy: chris.elworthy@osprringepc.org. Or, simply go straight to the website and self register your interest and complete your online training here. 

SWALE LITTER SQUAD

SWALE Litter Squad has been set up to help and coordinate the growing army of volunteers who are taking to our streets and lanes to keep our community clean.

We know a number of community-minded residents in Ospringe already walk our streets and lanes informally on litter picks, and would encourage more to get involved.

With funding from Swale Borough Council, SLS have acquired 30 litter pickers and 30 bag hoops to loan out to people across the local area.

You can join the drive and find out more on the Facebook page here, or simply search Swale Litter Squad on Facebook.

If you would like to get involved, join a group litter pick in the future or borrow some gear to help clean up the streets near you, please contact SLS via the Facebook page.

SAVE OUR FOOTPATHS!

HISTORIC footpaths face being extinguished from the map if they have not been registered by a 2026 deadline.

Any pre-1949 rights of way in England and Wales which have not been claimed by that date can no longer be added to the official record and protected.

The walkers group Ramblers is calling on walkers, historians and map enthusiasts to help identify missing footpaths in our parish and beyond.

They have created a new mapping site to identify missing footpaths which divides the official map into 150,000 1km squares so that users can compare historic and current maps side by side, spot differences and submit missing paths.

Once mapped, Ramblers will recruits volunteers to make the necessary applications to local authorities get paths restored before the deadline.

The parish council is urging anyone who wants to help protect our footpaths to take part by following the link here.

Information on how to research and reclaim a right of way before the deadline can also be found here.

FLY TIPPING

The parish council is concerned about a rise in fly-tipping in the country lanes. We encourage parishioners to download the Country Eye mobile phone app, which allows the convenient instant reporting of fly-tipping to Swale Borough Council for action, including the precise location and photographs.

For information on how to download the app, click here or go to countryeye.co.uk.