SERVICES TO THE VILLAGE
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A modern village cannot exist without access to services provided by many organisations most of which are based outside its boundaries. The Parish of Sulgrave is situated in the geographic county of Northamptonshire, which is also the administrative county and within which the district local authority has its headquarters. Bothe the County and District were defined under the Local Government Act of 1972 but it is probably that further legislation will change the boundaries and the services for which these authorities are responsible within the next few years. It is possible that a regional tier of govenment might replace the present administrative county whilst restoring the geographical counties, e.g. Rutland and Huntingdonshire, which disappeared as a result of the 1972 Act.
The proximity of Sulgrave to the south-western boundary of Northamptonshire means that two of its main services lie across the Oxfordshire border, viz. it is the farthest east of the postal districts administered by the Oxford area from its local office in Banbury and bear the post code OX17. This post code determines almost all insurance premiums which have a geographical basis.
Banbury is also the focus of the National Health Service through the Horton District hospital.
The district offices of other regional and national services lie in adjacent counties and their telephone numbers can be found in the local telephone directory.
Sulgrave is fortunate in lying within 7-8 miles of two sizeable towns, Banbury in Oxfordshire and Brackley in Northamptonshire in both of which are facilities complementing the village store. In Banbury particularly are branches of large national chain stores, building societies and banks.
Farther afield, but still within 20-30 miles, evn larger branches of these same national and other stores can be found in Oxford, Milton Keynes in Buckinghamshire, Leamington Spa in Warwickshire and in Northampton itself. Farther still and using the first-class system of communications available to us is Birmingham, about 1 hour north, and London, about 1.5 hours south on the M40 or by British Rail from Banbury station. The north and east of London can more conveniently be reached in the same time by the M1.
Note: The list of services, addresses and telephone numbers compiled in 1993 is naturally well out-of-date and is therefore not reproduced here.