Summer in the Vale
A guide to services and advice from the council, as well as local and national organisations, to help during the summer months.
Outdoors
Taking a dip
See our leisure centres page for links to opening times for the swimming pools at our leisure centres in Abingdon, Faringdon and Wantage as well as our outdoor pool in Abingdon.
For young children, there are splash pads at Abbey Meadow (next to the outdoor pool in Abingdon) and at Manor Park Memorial Gardens in Wantage. During the summer season (25 May – early September) the Manor Park Memorial Gardens splash pad is open from 10.30am-7pm. The play area and interactive water feature are dog-free areas.
The Abbey Meadow splash pad, managed by Better UK on behalf of the council, will be open daily from 9am to 6pm each day.
Until 19 July, the open-air pool at Abbey Meadow will open when the weather and staffing allow. Decisions will be taken around four days prior to opening and advertised on the pool’s Facebook page with booking available on the Better website.
If you are looking to use the rivers or lakes to cool off please check the water safety page which has practical tips on how to stay safe.
Summer holiday activities
Our Active Communities team offer a range of free and low-cost activities throughout the summer holiday for young children, teenagers and families to enjoy at locations across South Oxfordshire and the Vale of White Horse.
To find out what’s on and to book, visit our holiday activities page and make sure you follow the Active Communities Facebook page.
Out and about – please take your litter home!
If you are taking food or drink to a park or public area, please don’t leave any litter. If it’s recyclable, take it home and put it in your green bin, if it’s not recyclable you can use public litter bins or take it home and put in in your general rubbish bin. This will help keep our parks and public spaces clean for everyone!
Health advice for everyone – including those vulnerable to heat
The NHS has a dedicated page for heatwave advice including tips for coping with the heat.
There is also a section on who are most at risk which as well as the old, ill and young babies, includes people who spend a lot of time outside or in hot places – those who live in top-floor flats, those whose jobs are outside and the homeless (see below).
Rough sleepers
We actively work with people who are homeless, or at risk of becoming homeless, the whole year round. Every effort is made to help people move into long term accommodation.
In the hot weather we check on anyone who may be sleeping rough to offer support and any help we can, including handing out water and sunscreen.
When high temperatures are expected, emergency beds are made available for rough sleepers while these conditions persist. This is part of our severe weather emergency protocol which is an additional layer of support.
If you see someone sleeping rough please, or you are homeless and in an emergency situation you can call us on 01235 422420 or go to Streetlink’s website thestreetlink.org.uk
Air Quality
Those with underlying health issues can be susceptible to changes in air quality caused by the weather. Air quality throughout the districts is monitored by the council Environmental Protection Team and the results are available on the Oxfordshire-wide air quality website oxonair.uk. This website contains a large amount of information about local air quality – down to specific streets and sites. Residents can sign up to the alert system which warns about poor air quality, which tends to worsen with changes in weather.
Food Safety advice in hot weather
If you are going for a meal out or grabbing a takeaway this summer, remember to check the hygiene rating first by visiting ratings.food.gov.uk/ – this site holds the most recent details for all food premises across the UK.
Having a BBQ or picnic?
There’s lots of good advice on the Food Standards Agency website about preparing and cooking your food to help ensure food poisoning doesn’t become an unwelcome guest.
Remember – empty gas cannisters don’t go in any bin – please take them back to your retailer or to the local HWRC. Let BBQ coals cool before putting them in your general rubbish bin or put them on your garden.
At home
Hot homes
If your home is very hot there is advice from the Government’s Beat the Heat at home checklist – which includes measures you can take immediately and also longer-term improvements to keep your home cool in the future such as insulation (it keeps the cold out in winter and heat out in summer) and growing plants outside which can provide shade, while putting plants inside can help cool air.
Waste collections
In the event of extreme heat, there may be delays to our bin collections.
When this happens, we’ll post the latest information on our website –
Get instant collection updates during adverse conditions – follow our new Binfluencers WhatsApp channel and then keep your community in the loop by sharing the messages. Just remember to turn your channel notifications on!
Vale of White Horse Binfluencers!
Food waste
If you’re having a BBQ or summer get together, please don’t cook or buy more than needed, you don’t want good food going to waste!
- try to buy your salad, fruit and veggies loose
- If you have food left over – make sure you store it properly so it doesn’t go off overnight – you can then have it for a future meal, such as a pie or smoothie – for lots of great ideas, check the Love Food Hate Waste website.
- If you have food waste – it should always go in your food waste bin and not in your rubbish or recycling bins
- please make sure you give your empty drink containers / takeaway trays a quick rinse before putting them in the recycling
Water saving during dry weather
See our page on how to save water at home. As well as advice on how to help reduce wasted water by installing water butts, using ‘grey’ water and making your garden more drought-proof, there is also a link to report water leaks to Thames Water.
