Parish Councillors:
- Philippa Carter (Chair)
- Sandy Timms (Vice)
- Mark Tribe
- Peter Rance
District Councillor:
- Tom Simcox
Parish Clerk:
- Angela Barnes
1. APOLOGIES:
CCllr Rodney Rose.
2. MINUTES OF THE LAST MEETING
The recorded Minutes from the Meeting held on January 2016 were agreed, duly signed, dated and filed.
3. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST
There were no declarations of interest to be recorded.
4. CO-OPTION
Ongoing.
5. FINANCIAL REPORT:
Authorisation of payments
INCOME
The Clerk reported that there was no income to minute.
PAYMENTS
The Clerk reported that there were no payments to minute.
6. COUNTY COUNCILLORS REPORT:
No report, please refer to Item No. 9 (d) Oxfordshire Together.
7. DISTRICT COUNCILLORS REPORT:
DCllr Simcox reported that WODC are working on drawing up their Budget, with a possibility of £1m of cuts. He reported on the issue of free parking and that WODC were looking to continue and even increase this facility. DCllr Simcox reported that the Local Plan was with the Inspectorate and that provision needed to be made to accommodate between 525 and 660 new houses per annum. He reported that Oxford City Council were being asked to provide 15,000 new homes between the
4 districts by 2030.
8. PUBLIC TIME:
There were no members of the public present.
9. MATTERS ARISING
(a) Wychwoods Working Together – ongoing
(b) County, District and Parish Council Surgery – next meeting Saturday 27 February.
(c) Church Lime Tree Project – ongoing
(d) Oxfordshire Together (OCC)
CCllr Rose will be holding a follow up meeting to that held on 17 December 2015. This will be on Monday 22 February. Cllrs Carter and Rance have confirmed that they will be attending.
(e) The Pound – it was reported that 8 volunteers have offered their help to re-build the wall. Cllr Timms reported that she would be following this up with the Cotswold Warden, Gerald Simper. Cllr Timms reported that the original artwork for the Sign in the Pound had been found – Ongoing
(f) Grass Cutting Contract (revised) – ongoing
(g) Verge damage on London Lane – The Clerk agreed to contact Heyfordian again – Ongoing
10. PLANNING:
15/04239/HHD Yew Tree Cottage, 31 High Street Ascott-under-Wychwood – WAITING DECISION
15/04145/HHD – Meadowbank Barn House, 1 Meadowbank Close – WAITING DECSION
11. MEMORIAL PLAYING FIELD – RECREATION & PLAYGROUND
(a) Replacement Sign – ongoing
(b) Trellis – ongoing
(c) Handrail – ongoing
(d) Hedgecutting – ongoing
Cllr Carter explained that progress on a) b) and c) is pending a decision on the drainage project.
12. SPORT ENGLAND:
Cllr Carter reported that an application had been made to the Playing Fields Legacy Fund.
Laurence Mellor sent the following Progress Report on the Project:
Drainage Project.
Award level from Sport England £45k with informal indications during recent months of increases to £65k and then an absolute max of £75k. Tender bids between £89k and £164k; budget shortfall (given highest grant award of £75k) between £14k and £89k.
REWORKED VALUE ENGINEERED SCHEME, which in short means
- spoil disposed of on site
- nothing done to deal with the springs around the cricket area
- no soakaway in front of the pavilion but pipework taken from that point to outflow which would facilitate the springs
- Reduced expenditure on maintenance with costs reduced to £5k for the first year
COST OF REVISED SCHEME £80K
Following a meeting on Friday morning Philippa reiterated her concerns about the on-site spoil solution, lack of action on springs in the cricket area and lack of soakaway in front of the pavilion. Given that the scheme has generally been presented as a package of work it is not possible for us to separate out all of the costs/savings of the VE proposal. On that basis and bearing in mind other issues that may emerge from detailed discussions, we have agreed that Philippa will speak directly to Iain James who is dealing with the technical issues.
Sport England recently asked for an update on the level of financial support from the village, which in the original application was £500. I undertook to update our Application Manager Thomas Andrews of the figure, which now stands at £8k from various sources. Late on Friday afternoon I received notification that due to internal changes Thomas Andrews had been replaced by Eve Hawketts, who would be in charge of our application.
I have written to Ms Hawketts giving her a very brief overview of our scheme, especially the hoped-for levels of funding and of course the latest costs. I told her of the significant increase in local funding and that we had also applied to other funding providers for more money. Her out-of-office indicates that she is away until tomorrow, so no chance of a reply today.
I suspect that the fate of the scheme will be decided in the next few weeks and I will do my best to achieve a satisfactory outcome.
Participation Levels
Sport England have asked that, in view of the time delay and changes to this project, I review our estimate of what use will be made of the sports field following completion of the scheme. I have reviewed our estimate for a 3 year period but not yet shared it with SE. I also have year 4 and 5 in draft form should it be asked for. I anticipate that if we are awarded the funds we need, then the details will be asked for at that time if not before.
13. ROADS:
(a) London Road South (Charlbury) private garden pond Mrs Beveridge
This will continue to be monitored.
(b) Standing water on the Shipton Road between Melplash Farm & Coldwell Brook
The drain below Melplash Farm drive continues to be blocked.
(c) Pot-holes – Ongoing
(d) Kerbstones by Station Place
(e) Pavement outside Ascott Earl House – reported to CCllr Rodney Rose at OCC
(f) Tarmacked manhole on Shipton Road
14. ASCOTT-UNDER-WYCHWOOD SPORTS CLUB:
Cllr Carter reported that the School and the Footballers continued to use the facility when dry enough. The Football teams were doing well. Youngsters are training on a Sunday morning, which is very popular with 25+ attending despite the weather.
15. COMMUNITY EMERGENCY PLAN:
Winter Resilience (Report from Laurence Mellor)
Volunteers meeting held in January. Alan Chubb has agreed to share the on-call duties and as I am away from the 13th to 20th Feb. I will provide him with contact numbers and brief him on liaising with the PC.
Pull cord on machine replaced!! As Chris Badger is retiring later this year we will need to find a new home for our stocks of salt/grit and road clearing machinery, plus a vehicle to pull/push it and drivers. Annual funding costs could increase with these changes
16. HELPERS OF ASCOTT-UNDER-WYCHWOOD:
Cllr Carter reported that the Litter Pick was very well attended. Volunteers were angry at the hundreds of lager and cider cans thrown onto the verges along Shipton Rd and the Chipping Norton Hill. Discussions are taking place about how to tackle this problem which has been ongoing for 2-3 years.
A manhole cover has been removed completely and another moved sideways in the grass verge north of the Chipping Norton bridge. This has been reported to OCC Highways.
Cllr Carter reported that Network Rail have apologised for not sending their funding for landscaping materials for the culvert bank, but confirmed that it was on the way.
Culvert on Chippy Road
In the recent very windy and wet weather, Councillor Rance has checked this culvert every week mainly for clearance of small branch debris. On Sunday 7th February after the extreme weather on Saturday, the culvert was not blocked, but close to full due to the backlog of water on the river side of the culvert, which is to be expected. The in-feed culverts from the village side of the Shipton Road however were clear and flowing. The river itself is over its banks into the flood plain. Regular checking of the situation is now vital.
Angela and Peter – I hope you agree that the above report on the culvert makes more sense placed with all the volunteer work under Helpers rather than Transport.
17. RISK ASSESSMENT:
Cllr Rance reported that Treetech had now completed their works. The rebuilding of the dry stone wall on the Pound and signage will now be noted under Item 9 Matters Arising.
18. TRANSPORT:
Cllr Rance reported;
Trains
Despite continued pressure from the CLPG upon the “GWR” franchise train timetable team it is clear that they are not going to improve our service, however modestly anytime soon. CLPG have asked for more justification evidence from them, and meanwhile have suggested that with their assistance, we in the PC complain to our local MP who is also a Vice President of the CLPG and on record to want the line better used.
Buses
Councillor Rance attended an OCC facilitated one-to-one dialogue with both the volunteer-run Villager and the commercial Pulhams bus providers at St Aldates in Oxford on 19th January. This was very useful in allaying some fears of rapid demise of services when OCC are expected to withdraw all subsidies to them. On their part, Villager don’t plan for any reduction before 2017, and Pulhams before May 2016. Meanwhile, it is agreed that both providers will work together and then approach affected PCs to discuss their proposed revised services that could indeed mean new ones if the case for them is sound.
19. WYCHWOOD LIBRARY:
Nothing to report.
20. VILLAGE CHARITY
Cllr Timms reported that the Charity had agreed to support the Playing Field Drainage and Pound Projects. She also confirmed that the annual Fun Run would happen again this year.
21. ALLOTMENTS
The Clerk reported that she would send out the annual rent requests, together with a fresh set of Rules & Regulations and would copy Stuart Fox (RFO) in to enable him to keep a check on who had paid and bank the rent when received.
22. CORRESPONDENCE:
OALC January Update
Oxfordshire Minerals and Waste Local Plan
Verge damage on London Lane by Bus (please refer to Item No. 9 Matters Arising)
23. ANY OTHER BUSINESS
There was no AOB to record.
There being no further business, Cllr Carter declared the meeting closed at 9.40pm and confirmed the next meeting will be Monday 14 March.
Cllr Philippa Carter (Chairman)