Paul Cunningham

Parish Councillors

• Philippa Carter
• Peter Rance
• Brian Leach
• Pauline Plant

County Councillor

• Liz Leffman

District Councillor

• Jake Acock

Parish Clerk

• Angela Barnes

Members of the Public

• Mr Laurence Mellor
• Ms Sue Richards

1. Apologies

Received from Cllr Sandy Timms

2. Minutes of the Last Meeting

The Minutes recorded from the Annual General Meeting, held on Monday 13 May 2019 were approved as a true record, duly signed, dated and filed.

3. Declarations of interest

Cllr Carter declared that she would decline to comment on any discussions on AMET.

4. Financial Report

Income

No Income

Expenditure

200045	£236.91	May A Barnes Salary
200046	£59.20	31st May HMRC PAYE
200047	£300	Rotherwick 3 years allotment rent to 31/03/2020
200048	£34.20	A Barnes May expenses
200049	£1100	OCC Traffic calming consultation £500 and signs and lining (We accrued £800 in last year’s accounts and allowed £1,800 in the forecast for the work).
200050	£43.68	P Carter tiles & paint
200051	£475	P Carter Darren Elliott Plastering
200052	£17.68	A Barnes print cartridge

NB

Chq No. 200027 for £11.05 made payable to A Barnes has been lost and so cancelled and a replacement one to be issued.

Chq No. 200049, noted above was not posted and will be cancelled due to an issue with the amount and being charged for works not yet carried out. The Clerk was asked to contact OCC and ask for a replacement invoice for the amount of £500. Stuart Fox was advised accordingly and the cheque returned to him.

Bank balance £70,205.37

Financial Regulations

These were reviewed and adopted, proposed by Cllr Carter and seconded by Cllr Leach.

5. Reports from County and District Councillors

CCllr Leffman reported on general council work and the merging of Cherwell and Oxfordshire which was going smoothly in combining services. She reported on a change in plan / re-evaluation with regards to new build and a shift in managing things in the future. Cllr Leffman reported on a debate at county; more work on roads needed and the issue around Adult social & children care and the lack of money.

DCllr Acock reported that he had been working with CCllr Leffman on a zebra crossing outside Wychwood School. He reported on the 44 new homes development in Shipton and 66 in Milton and the possibility of a Lollypop person. He advised the PC that he had supported AMET with a letter to support their application for £4k from WODC. Cllr Acock reported that there had been a lot of applications received for this. He then reported on 2 motions on consultations for better transport and the Gigaclear contracts which had been negotiated by WODC.

6. Public Time

Cllr Carter welcomed Laurence Mellor and Sue Richards and offered them the opportunity to address the meeting. Both said they had nothing in particular to raise and had come to listen and support the PC.

7. Planning

No new planning applications received.

A resident advised that after contacting the developers, Bloombridge, regarding the potential cow shed development in High Street, Bloombridge advised that they were in the final stages of putting together a planning application to submit. C Cllr Leffman reported on the clauses in the Local Plan which give added protection for Ascott-under-Wychwood and also on the fact that new homes are not selling in some areas. This means that the urgency to build is slowing down.

8. Matters Arising

(a) Gigaclear

Cllr Carter reported that Gigaclear/Lite Access have been working along the Shipton Rd from Vine House to No 55, Maple Way, High St between the shop and London Lane and have begun to work along London Lane from the 30mph sign to the school. They state that their aim is to finish laying the main cable as soon as possible so that it can ‘go live’. Consequently, there are small areas which are outstanding as they will be served by a secondary cable, such as Gypsy Lane, Andrews Yard, Meadowbank Close, from the Swan to the station and from the station to the Green and the Yew Tree Farm barns and cottages. Also there are many stretches of tarmac which are course and temporary and marked with red paint for replacement. Cllr Carter has arranged a site meeting with the Build Supervisor of Gigaclear, Karl Whittaker, on 14 June to establish a list of outstanding works. In general residents have reported better working practices but there has been another incident of the main BT phone cable being accidentally cut and which took 5 working days to repair.

(b) OCC Grasscutting Contract

Ongoing

(c) Footpaths

Cllr Carter has been working on this issue up to date. She recently contacted the latest OCC officer who can advise on Footpath Deregulation and how to register a footpath. Cllr Carter presented her up to date report to the Parish Council for discussion on the next step. P Cllr Plant has agreed to take the lead on this issue from now on. The way forward was discussed amongst P Cllrs and residents who attended the meeting and it was agreed that P Cllrs Plant and Carter and resident, Sue Richards, will meet to make plans.

(d) Ascott Martyrs Educational Trust (AMET)

Paul Jackson had sent an invitation, on behalf of AMET, to the PC inviting them to celebrate the production of a 6 minute video which includes a song written by Mark Pidgeon of the Martyrs story. This is going to be held at The Swan on Sunday 16 June between 4pm and 6pm – the councillors will reply individually.

(e) Dropped kerbs – Dawls Close

Ongoing

(f) Public access to meetings

The Clerk was asked to book the main Tiddy Hall for the PC meetings from September to enable ground access to the meetings.

(g) Tiddy Hall

The Clerk had circulated by email advice from NALC which allows Parish Councils to donate towards the maintenance and improvement of Village Halls without using S137 monies. Tiddy Hall trustees are waiting for grant decisions from other organisations. Following the presentation from Simon Gidman last month the PC agreed to grant a maximum of 10% towards the project, depending on the shortfall when all other grants are decided. This was proposed by Cllr Leach and seconded by Cllr Rance.

(h) Inconsiderate Parking – this issue had been reported, in particular outside the Swan pub. It was agreed to monitor this and Cllr Carter would ask PC Rob Webb about notices.

9. Risk Assessment & Ground Maintenance

• The Pavilion kitchen has been renovated, plaster repaired, all tiles replaced, repair to the back door and full decoration.
  The guttering at the front of the Pavilion has been repaired thanks to the footballers.
• Cllr Leach has strimmed the undergrowth to allow emergency access from the Pavilion kitchen back door.
• Cllr Carter has met with 2 Playground equipment suppliers to discuss renovation or replacement of equipment. 1 more supplier is booked. She has also met with one contractor about renovating the roadway and laying grass matting. Cllr Carter explained the latest ideas regarding both projects.
• Cllr Carter met with Laurence Mellor to take his advice about renovating the village Notice Boards.
• Thanks to be recorded to Simon Gidman and Nick Carter who have topped up the main French drainage lines in the Playing Field with gravel.

10. Community Emergency Plan

Cllr Carter asked the Clerk to reply and book her a place on the WODC Emergency Planning, to be held on 13 June 2019.

11. Transport

Buses

Nothing to report

Trains

Cotswold Line Promotion Group (CLPG) Chairman, confirmed that the Cotswold Line Task Force initiative recommendations for the future development of the line and its services had included the focus upon Hanborough at some impact upon services to Kingham and Charlbury, because of very strong push for this by both Oxford CC and WODC.

12. Roads

Chipping Norton River Bridge:

Cllr Rance reported that no information had been received yet from OCC regarding a target implementation date

13. Reports from Organisations

(a) Ascott-under-Wychwood Sports Club – nothing to report
(b) Wychwood Library – Nothing to report.
(c) Helpers of Ascott-under-Wychwood – Nothing to report.

14. Correspondence

Email

OCC Traffic Sensitive Street Consultation
WODC Planning Policy Consultations re East Witney Issues Paper Consultation
Invitation from AMET 16 June 2019 at the Swan Pub

Post

Clerks & Councils Direct
Cotswold & Malvern Line Newlsetter

15. Any Other Business

Cllr Rance reported on the following items:

Playing fields, dog fouling. Evidence exists of supporters and helpers at Football matches are bringing dogs, some of which are let free to roam and then foul.

High Street – the physical state of the High St and London Lane notice boards are now embarrassing, and a villager thinks it an eyesore. Shall we simply remove the decaying covering board as an interim measure?

Holy Trinity Church – the church has had a series of mindless vandal incidents, and on behalf of the Rector, Cllr Rance and Mary Barnes met PC Rob Webb to report details. Meanwhile sadly, the church was kept locked except for services to attempt to stem this behaviour by a local group of youngsters

There being no further business, Cllr Carter declared the meeting closed at 10.00pm

Cllr Philippa Carter (Chairman)
Date: Monday 8 July 2019