Village keeps 'wrong' code (From Tewkesbury Admag)

Village keeps 'wrong' code

RESIDENTS of Church Westcote have been told they will have to keep their Oxfordshire postcodes, even though they live in Gloucestershire.

The Post Office has written to Westcote Parish Meeting saying it will not change the postcode for the village, which is on the border of Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire but comes under Gloucestershire County Council and Cotswold District Council.

Postal addresses will also continue to include the name of Chipping Norton, which is 10 miles away.

Pamela Rouse, editor of the village newsletter, said that the address and postcode often caused confusion, especially for businesses in the area.

She said that deliverymen had often ended up in Chipping Norton and calls to the police were regularly put through to Thames Valley, which is miles away, rather than to Stow, which is just down the road.

A few years ago an elderly woman who was ill was put through to Oxfordshire Ambulance Service instead of Gloucestershire, she added.

"In the last year or two we've asked if it's possible to change it. Parish meeting chairman Trevor Bigg has had a letter from the Post Office in which they said very strongly they won't consider changing it," said Mrs Rouse.

Local artist Irene George of the Yellow Hat Tribe at Brookfield Farm said customers often ended up looking for her gallery in Chipping Norton.

"One American couple who had come to see me in September spent two or three hours looking for me in Chipping Norton. When they did get to us at 5.30pm the woman was almost in tears. I sat them down and made them a cup of tea," said Mrs George.

She added that not everyone in the village supported the change because they argued that the average property price for an Oxfordshire address was higher than Gloucestershire.