Parish Councillors
- Brian Leach
- Pauline Plant
- Keith Ravenhill
- Sue Richards
District Councillor
- David Cooper
Parish Clerk
- Angela Barnes
Members of the Public
- None
1. Apologies
Received from CCllr Leffman and Cllr Russell.
2. Minutes of the Last Meeting
The Minutes recorded from the meeting held on 13 September 2022 were approved as a true record, duly signed, dated and filed.
3. Declarations of interest
None
4. Financial Report
Bank Balance £57,429.86
Income:
2nd September Interest £12.50
22nd September 2022 Precept 2nd Instalment £10,000
Expenditure:
September
Moore Audit Fee (BACS) £240.00
Edenvale Young Final Instalment (BACS) £3,600.00
Bank Charges £9.00
October
S Barnes (Grasscutting) (Chq 200246) £5,414.00
HMRCPAYE (Chq 200247) £59.80
A Barnes Salary (BACS) £239.22
The Bank reconciliation and financial reports were emailed separately. The Clerk reminded the council that they needed to start to plan for setting the Precept for 2023/2024.
Please refer to Item No.17. Correspondence. A request for a donation from the Wychwood Day Centre. The Clerk reminded the council that an annual donation had been given in the past, pre-COVID-19. Cllr Leach proposed a donation of £500 to the Wychwood Day Centre, this was seconded by Cllr Plant and agreed unanimously.
5. Reports from County and District Councillors
DCCllr Cooper reported that there would be a full council meeting next week where discussions would be held on the cost of living crisis. The council and Publica would will be offering support on their website with a link available for people to contact them and access support.
6. Public Time
No public time.
7. Planning
GRANTED (for reference)
12-18 London Lane 17/01067/FUL Appeal Ref: APP/D3125/W/17/3179654
Construction of four dwellings and associated works at Land North West of 18 London Lane
WODC Address Management have received an application to address 4 properties at site on London Lane. Planning Application 17/01067/FUL
SNN2022001 Development London Lane
The plan is to allocate a new court name to the development and number the properties onto the court. The developer has proposed the following name: “Gamekeepers Court”
8. Neighbourhood Plan
Cllr Leach reported that the Parish Council has posted a second response to the Communities section of WODC Local Plan consultation. The text of the response had been circulated to the PC members by email for comment prior to submission and is included at Appendix A of these minutes. The PC agreed no further responses were required.
Edenvale Young have been paid and Pippa Carter is arranging a meeting (meal) between Chris Witlow and the Evenlode Catchment Partnership. If possible, Cllr Leach will also attend.
Cllr Leach and Pippa Carter had met and ran through the current state of the Amenities, Services and Employment section. This is all but complete for the main section, awaiting additional materials from other contributors focussing on old and young residents.
It was decided that we need someone to run with Environment and to step up to the Steering Group. Cllr Richards raised the question of footpaths, and it was agreed that this should be discussed at the next meeting and that Cllr Richards will bring along the maps.
9. Matters Arising
(a) 5 Shipton Road – Ongoing
(b) Road signage; – Cllr Leach presented a wooden sign for the Pound to be put on the entrance gate. The Clerk would organise for this to be done.
(c) OALC 2050 Consultation
(d) Christmas shopping Train service – Ongoing
(e) Tree – replacement & where to plant – Ongoing
(f) Parking outside The Swan & vandalism – Cllr Leach would erect a sign “No Parking” by the Postbox
(g) WODC amended Code of Conduct (please refer to correspondence received)
(h) West Oxfordshire Local Plan – see (8) above.
(i) Electric Vehicle Charging points – Ongoing
(j) Footpaths – Ongoing
10. Risk Assessment and Ground Maintenance
Cllr Leach reported that he had carried out some strimming by Manor Farm. He reported on the ongoing garden work at Station Place and that the gated posts would need to be reset. He reported that a Walkabout was due again which he would organise.
11. Community Emergency Plan
Cllr Leach reported that the Contact List would need to be updated.
12. Transport
Nothing to report.
13. Roads
Cllr Richards reported that lines down the Chipping Norton hill had still not been repainted after the road surface works carried out. Cllr Richards would speak with CCllr Leffman.
14. Allotments
Nothing to report.
15. Reports from Organisations
(a) Sports Clubs – nothing to report.
(b) Village Charity – Cllr Ravenhill reported that the Charity had carried out a leaflet drop to all parishioners regarding the “cost of living” and support.
16. Christmas
The preparations were briefly discussed. All agreed to erect and light a Christmas Tree on the Village Green and carols round the tree would be held on Christmas Eve. To discuss further at the November meeting.
17. Correspondence
Email (forwarded)
OALC
Monthly Update
WODC
Waste Bin Information
OCC
National Highways & Transport online survey
WOCT Margaret Burden advising her stepping down
Wychwood Day Centre – requesting donation
Network Rail
Post
WODC
Sharon Ellison (Monitoring Officer) Register of Interests and Code of Conduct
17. Any Other Business.
1. Cost of Living
Cllr Leach reported on an event held at Chipping Norton Town Hall hosted by the Town Council, and including local charities, Mind and CAB. This had been attended by Cllr Richards. He reported that he had met with representatives from the Village Charity and that he and Cllr Richard will be meeting with Chris Trotman, Chair of Milton Parish Council, to discuss how we can jointly take this forward.
The Clerk was asked to add this as an agenda item for the November meeting.
2. Cllr Leach reported that the Defibrillator had still not been collected for the upgrade to be carried out.
There being no further business, Cllr Leach declared the meeting closed at 8.45pm. The next PC meeting will be held on Tuesday 8 November.
Cllr Brian Leach (Chairman)
Date: Tuesday 8 November 2022
Appendix A
Response to the WODC Local Plan Consultation section ‘Communities’.
We support the response to the consultation drawn up by the CPRE.
There has been a historic failure to address infrastructure and to partner efficiently with utility providers; of under-funding and limited understanding of flood management; of over stretched council resources; and reversals of public transport policies. As a result we have seen a steady decline in services in rural areas despite ever increasing development. We know that there is a constant drive to deliver more housing. It is self-perpetuating, since houses will draw more people into the area which in turn will lead to more future demand. The question being asked is unfortunately never ‘do we need more housing’ but ‘where and how’. In a very real sense, that is what Neighbourhood Planning is all about.
The Garden Village concept has the potential to address this, so long as it is applied for the right reasons and these are maintained adequately into the future. As a predominantly rural county the biggest problems we face are environment and infrastructure. Whilst the immediate reaction to the idea of a garden village is – oh no, that’s taking out another slice of countryside – we have to ask whether it is really taking more than trying to shoehorn ever more housing into the existing villages, encroaching on green space as developers have tried to do throughout West Oxfordshire and often succeeded, without the infrastructure to support it? A garden village, in concept, has the opportunity to get the infrastructure right, and a balance of local services. Unconstrained, piecemeal development of the type we have seen, on the other hand, does not deliver on either as our village and many others know to their cost. We also know that lots of small developments go under the radar as far as utilities are concerned, where a new village also comes under far more scrutiny.
Transport is the other factor and again, in concept, there is the opportunity for that to be revisited in a more intelligent way in a new site, rather than trying to add ever more access into a road infrastructure that cannot manage it and will never see the level of investment necessary. So again, a new village with funding to get a viable transport solution over the situation we have now, where public services are raised and then terminated such that nobody trusts them and will look to other options; and roads that are equally friable under the Highways budget constraints, may be able to approach this more sensibly. Some of the ideas put forward for Salt Cross, though, appear hopelessly naïve: if this is aimed at young families they will use cars – there is no other choice outside urban centres. Rural Oxfordshire has a very high level of private car ownership out of necessity. This is not about a choice between new villages or no new houses; it is about the same number of houses (and cars, traffic miles etc.) being placed together with the potential to create the necessary infrastructure or scattered around the existing locations with ever declining services.
The problem, of course, is that this has the potential to further draw the limited resources of WODC in terms of manpower away from what management there is for the existing infrastructure and to slice into the existing budgets for maintenance, especially in regard to fragile rural settlements. It must not come at the price of neglecting the existing villages.