South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse District Councils will be closed on Monday 19 September – the public holiday to mark the occasion of the funeral of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.  

As the councils’ offices at Milton Park will be closed, the books of condolence will not be available to sign on the day of the funeral but will be open again on Tuesday 20 September. 

Waste collections in the two districts will not be taking place on 19 September. Collections next week will therefore take place a day later than scheduled, with an extra collection on the Saturday to catch up – this is the usual process the councils follow after a bank holiday. See the table below for more details. 

Leisure centres and facilities owned by the councils will also be closed on 19 September, as will Cornerstone in Didcot and The Beacon in Wantage, the arts centres owned by the councils. 

Waste collection dates: 

Residents across South Oxfordshire and the Vale of White Horse are being urged to check the details on a letter they will receive from their district council from the end of July.

South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse District Councils will be sending a ‘Canvass Communication Form’ to all homes which requires the occupants to check the details of everyone over the age of 16 living there.  Local authorities need to do this each year to ensure the electoral register is up to date.  

The letter people receive in July/August will depend on whether or not records indicate that there has been a change in the registered voters at their property – for instance, if a registered voter recently moved in then that address will receive a yellow letter, but if the occupants have remained the same since the last election, they will receive a green letter.

What you need to do:

If your household receives a yellow letter:

Once you have checked the details, please visit householdresponse.com/southandvale to either confirm that everything is correct, or to update the information for your property.  You will need the two-part code on the letter to do this.  

If your household receives a green letter:

• if the details are correct – you don’t need to do anything, you can simply keep the letter for your records or shred it and put it in your recycling bin. 
• if the information is not correct – please visit householdresponse.com/southandvale to update the details for your property, you will need the two-part code on the letter to do this.  

In either case, the letter will explain exactly what you need to do – it is very important that you read it carefully. 

If you are required to either confirm or update your details, please do so as quickly as possible – this helps to ensure that the councils will not need to contact you again to confirm the information.

Mark Stone, Electoral Registration Officer for South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse District Councils, said: “When you receive your letter, if you need to update your details, please do this as soon as possible.  It’s very easy to do and only takes a couple of minutes, and it is also helps to ensure that people in your household will be registered to vote in next year’s local elections.”

For information about how our Elections team holds, uses and stores personal data please visit southoxon.gov.uk/electionsdata or whitehorsedc.gov.uk/electionsdata