Parish Councillors
- Philippa Carter
- Sandy Timms
- Peter Rance
- Graham Ranson
Members of the Public:
- No members of the public
1. Apologies
Apologies received from DCllr Tom Simcox and Cllr Mark Tribe.
2. Minutes of the Last Meeting
The Minutes recorded from the January meeting were approved as a true record, duly signed, dated and filed.
3. Declarations of interest
There were no declarations of interest to record.
4. Financial Report
Income
£527.75 OCC Grass cutting fee
Payments
£500.00 Wychwood Day Centre donation Chq. No. 101102
£200.00 Sports Pavilion (part payment water bill) Chq. No. 101103
£217.56 Patrick Edwards 50% of replacement parts Chq. No. 101104
£83.82 WEL Medical Defibrillator pads Chq. No. 101015
5. Reports from County and District Councillors
County Cllr Liz Leffman
CCllr Leffman reported on the WOCT bus and its success – please refer to Item No. 12 Transport. Cllr Leffman reported on the OCC’s budget for road repairs and that it was deemed unsustainable and there were talks about OCC borrowing funds to repair the roads on a much more comprehensive scale.
Cllr Carter reported to CCllr Leffman on the amount of S.137 expenditure that Ascott had had to allocate to support OCC budgets for certain services of importance to the village. This included annual contributions to the Wychwood Library, the Villager bus, the Wychwood Day Centre and now a one-off payment to the WOCT bus. Cllr Carter reported that all of these were very important services to the village and the PC had felt they had no choice but to contribute so that they could stay open.
A promise had been made that S137 funds would not be used when joint funding of the Library was proposed by OCC (the alternative being closure). Cllr Carter asked CCllr Leffman to find out if all our contributions to those services originally fully funded by OCC could be paid for outside the PC’s S137 budget as these are meant to be funds to be donated at the discretion of PCs and not donated to vital services under threat of closure.
District Cllr Tom Simcox – no report
6. Parish Council Elections
The Clerk reported on the procedures for the forthcoming parish council elections and the timetable. She was asked to carry this forward to the March meeting. All councillors to give some thought about dates for the Annual General Meeting, (election of officers), which must take place between Tuesday 8 May and Tuesday 22nd May 2018. NB. the Annual General Meeting of the Council should not be confused with the Annual Parish Meeting, which by law has to take place between 1 March and 1 June, inclusive.
7. Public Time
No public time to record.
8. Planning
New
18/00350/HHD Reduce the depth of existing first floor balcony (part retrospective) at Chaundy Barn, 45 High Street, Ascott-under-Wychwood. (PC comments by 23 February 2018).
Oxfordshire County Council
LL.0088/17 Local List of Information Requirements for validation for planning and related applications
Ongoing
17/04090/HHD Alterations and erection of single and first floor extensions at 38 Shipton Road, Ascott-under-Wychwood – PC’s objections submitted.
17/04060/FUL Demolition of existing structures and erection of new buildings to accommodate an education facility, microprocessing space and farm machinery, two new family dwellings, new access and parking at Honeydale Farm, Station Road, Shipton-under-Wychwood – PC’s no objections submitted.
Meeting with Phil Shaw, Head of Planning from WODC – Wednesday 21 February in the Tiddy Hall
Appeal Ref: APP/D3125/W/17/3179654 – Allowed 15 December 2017: London Lane, Ascott-under-Wychwood, OX7 6AN Application Ref 17/01067/FUL, dated 30 March 2017, was refused by notice dated 10 July 2017. Development proposed on the application form is the “Construction of 5 dwellings”.
9. Matters Arising
(a) County, District & Parish joint surgery – P Councillors suggested that these surgeries should be suspended as there were rarely any attendees and District Cllr Simcox would be very busy with a first baby in the family.
(b) Wychwoods Working Together – Cllr Carter reported that Ascott’s Emergency Plan had been updated and sent to both Shipton under Wychwood PC and Milton-under-Wychwood Parish Councils. All councillors agreed that the next joint meeting should be hosted by Ascott. A date would be confirmed at the March meeting.
(c) OCC Grasscutting contract – Cllr Carter reported to CCllr Leffman again about the content of the contract and how it is not appropriate to Ascott. CCllr Leffman agreed to speak to Belinda Davies and report back – Ongoing
(d) Sign at the Ascott Earl Sheepwash – Cllr Carter agreed to speak to Pete Moss – Ongoing
(e) Annual Litter Pick – scheduled for Saturday 24 February, meet on the Village Green at 10am. Posters to be printed and displayed on the three Notice Boards and in the Village Shop.
(f) Martyrs Seats – the cleaning and possible re-siting of the seats was discussed at length again and all agreed that there would need to be a Village Consultation before any decision was taken on this. Ongoing
(g) Defibrillator (replacement pads and possible re-siting) – Cllr Timms reported that she had replaced the pads, but the Defibrillator still did not seem to be working, despite having a power supply to it. She agreed to discuss this and the dates on the existing pads with SCAS. Ongoing
10. Risk Assessment & Ground Maintenance
(a) Playing Field -Cllr Carter reported that a resident in the Village, Rob Lane would be carrying out some minor work on the trees in the playing field.
(b) 5 Shilling Corner – Ongoing
(c) Notice Boards – Ongoing
11. Community Emergency Plan
– as reported above, the updated plan had been sent to both Shipton-under-Wychwood and Milton-under-Wychwood parish councils. Nothing further to report.
12. Transport
Buses:
On 23rd January, Cllr Rance attended the West Oxfordshire Community Transport (WOCT) event celebrating its first highly successful year serving the Witney community. Shipton PC reps also attended. The new WOCT service 210 for the Wychwoods had a dry run pausing for engagement with potential users along its route, inc Ascott, on 3rd Feb. It began service on 12th February. The next Grapevine Journal will include a timetable insert.
WOCT have sought, from all PCs affected, a one-off grant towards their purchase of a new 16 seater bus, which has been positively awarded by Milton and Shipton and other PCs. Ascott PC must now decide whether to make a grant, the request being for £500. From initial discussions, it appears this new service will be a very welcome complimentary one to the more limited Villager service, but not in competition with them, to which the PC has given Villager an annual grant to date.
Cllr Carter proposed that the PC give the £500 grant, this was seconded by Cllr Timms and agreed unanimously.
Trains:
Cllr Rance detailed the unacceptably sub-standard service provided by GWR franchise for the only train service serving Ascott and Halts on weekdays since before Christmas. In fact, on the new timetable with increased fares from 2nd January, it became worse, the evening return train was regularly cancelled, didn’t stop at Combe or Finstock, or became a two car train filled with five cars worth of passengers! Consequently, a number of regular users dependent upon the service created a petition designed to cover the impact on all those individuals inc Cllr Rance, and sent it to Robert Courts our MP. He promptly invited them to an “Ask the GWR” public meeting in Charlbury on 8th February, he had called, for public consultation on the proposal by HMG to extend the duration of the existing GWR franchise period. However it was the opportunity to express any dissatisfaction and any other issues. Cllr Rance and a number of residents attended a packed forum, where GWR were robustly criticised, and they in turn expressed their sincere regrets that their service, especially the Halts train was wholly underperforming. Many reasons given, and a promise made that from 12th Feb it would be far better! Time will tell. Though yet again GWR gave every impression that our Halt service was all we would ever get, Courts and the CLPG Chairman called upon as many as possible to respond to the DFT website GWR Franchise extension consultation questionnaire, which closes on 21st Feb, to express their views and give DFT the strongest evidence of any additional services or facilities, ticketing issues etc that users wanted. Numbers counted!
12. Roads
(a) Potholes and Grips – Cllr Carter updated CCllr Leffman that there was still no progress on the red paint. She reported that the potholes, painted white, at the top of London Lane had not been repaired despite being reported by Cllr Ranson several months ago and again recently. Cllr Ranson did report that the Charlbury road appeared to have had some pothole repairs done. He also reported that several potholes on Chipping Norton hill had been painted with white lines around them. Cllr Carter reported that no grip work within the village had been carried out by OCC. Some work had been carried out by landowners but this would not be effective as running water bypasses the grips. CCllr Liz Leffman agreed to chase again – or to find out if OCC would contribute towards the cost of the PC organising this work – and report back.
(b) Cllr Rance agreed to erect the speed signs provided by OCC on all approaches to the Village.
13. Reports from Organisations
(a) Ascott-under-Wychwood Sports Club – Cllr Carter reported that Nick Carter had been appointed as the Treasurer and both had met with Mr Alan Wood from Windrush Valley School to discuss payment and use of the playing field facilities for this year.
(b) Wychwood Library – Cllr Timms had attended a meeting last week and reported that numbers had dropped and the librarian was retiring. They were advertising for a replacement.
(c) Helpers of Ascott-under-Wychwood – nothing to report
14. Correspondence
Post
WODC Planning
Patrick Edwards invoice
OCC Grasscutting cheque
Letter from Lawrence Home Nursing Team thanking the PC for their donation
Robert Courts MP
Alan Woods & Stuart Fox advising they do not wish to renew their Allotment tenancy
OALC January update
OCC Planning – Local List of Information Requirements
15. Any Other Business
There was no AOB.
There being no further business, Cllr Carter declared the meeting closed at 9.30pm and confirmed the next meeting will be on Monday 12 March 2018.
Cllr Philippa Carter (Chairman)
Date: 12th March 2018