If  you have noticed machinery on the Milton Road land between the Henge Close estate and Ball-Colegrave, you are probably wondering what is happening.  This is the archaeological digging that is required by Cherwell District Council and Oxfordshire County Council as a condition for granting planning permission for the field to be used for sporting and community uses.  The work will take a few days and the results will then be examined by the county archaeologists.  If nothing of significance is found, work can then proceed with the necessary drainage works for the field to be suitable for sports activities such as badminton, cricket, football, netball and running (all in alphabetical order to deny any precedence or priority!).  If an ancient Roman fortress or something similar is thought to lie beneath, further exploration will be required.  Of course, certain individuals living not a million miles from Milton Road might be hoping for this but we shall have to wait and see!

At the same time, I hope the parish council will agree to commission architects to examine the evidence of need found through village surveys and start the work of designing a community centre that will meet the growing needs of Adderbury for indoor sporting and community facilities and also satisfy the exacting stylistic requirements expected of an ironstone village of this quality.  Needless to say, access to the site will need to be considered together with the traffic implications of a sports and community facility in this location.