Little Milton Parish Council
Minutes of the Annual Parish Meeting held on 11th May 2011
Present: Cllr. Stuart McGill (Chairman) Cllr. Bertie Bright
Cllr. Mabel Wood Cllr. Alison Shelton
Cllr. David Wakeling Cllr. Kate Daunt
Mr R Fergusson (Clerk)
Mr David Turner (County Councillor)
Mr John Nowell – Smith
Five members of the public
1/05/11 Chairman’s Report
Cllr. Stuart McGill stated that he wished to thank all the members of the Council for all their support to him as Chairman over the past four years and intimated that he had not put himself forward at the recent election. He stated that he had enjoyed serving on the Council and believed that a lot had been achieved. The Chairman took the opportunity of thanking each individual member and commented upon their particular attributes that he had found helpful and supportive.
The Chairman went on to present his report that embraced the key activities and achievements of the Council during the past year. The Annual Report will be distributed to all village households.
2/05/11 Financial Report
The Clerk presented the key aspects of the Council finances for the year ended 31st March 2011 and a summary of the financial statement will be included in the Annual Report. A copy of the Council’s finances was provided to all in attendance. There were no questions from the floor.
3/05/11 District Councillor’s Report
Mr John Nowell Smith took the opportunity of thanking the Parish Council for all the help and courtesy that they had afforded to him during his period of office as their District Councillor. He reported that he had not offered himself for re-election at the recent election. He stated that if the Council had the need to ascertain information on prior District Council matters then he would be happy to provide his support until the new District Councillor Mr Steven Harrod is embedded into the role.
The Chairman thanked Mr John Nowell-Smith for his support of the Council.
4/05/11 County Councillor’s Report
Mr David Turner reported to the meeting the committees that he had served on with Oxfordshire County Council during the past twelve months. He stated that the year had been dominated by the national economic climate and the cuts that have been made in Central Government grants to Local Authorities. He reported that the County Council had not increased the Council tax for 2011-12. David then went on to cover a number of specific issues that included, Highway & Pavement maintenance, Education, Children’s Centre for Great Milton, Bus Services, County Council review of speed limits & speed cameras, Youth Service, Libraries and Waste Collection sites.
He concluded by thanking the Parish Council for the positive way in which they had worked with him during the last year and he looked forward to working with them in the forthcoming year.
The Chairman expressed the Council’s thanks for all his support.
5/05/11 Report by Chairman of Village Hall
Mrs Teresa Quested, Chairman of the Village Hall started her report by thanking all the committee who give so much of their time to keeping the hall in good order and for putting on a selection of different events throughout the year. She also thanked all the volunteers who help the committee in running events.
Teresa commented upon a number of events that the Village Hall Committee had put on during the year but a made special mention of the very successful production of Alice in Wonderland by the Oxford Touring Company as well as the very successful Royal wedding Party that attracted over two hundred people.
She stated that the Committee had three main aims
· To provide a meeting place and venue for social events
· To support village life with a variety of events
· To support other charities by fundraising and subsidised rates for letting
Teresa explained the role of letting to “outsiders” was necessary to help defray the running costs of the hall as well as to allow a reduced letting rate for villagers but the committee tried to ensure that the level of outside hire did not impinge on the needs of the village. She hoped that the committee listened to the needs of the village and that they responded appropriately.
Teresa concluded her report by raising the issue of storage of equipment not only for the village hall but also other organisations and raised the question of the provision of a general storage area as a future project for the village.
The Chairman expressed the Council’s thanks for the work done by the Village Hall Committee with a special thank you to Teresa for the positive and energetic way she had chaired the Village Hall Management Committee.
6/05/11 Report by Little Milton Village Shop
Mr Mike Erwood, Chairman of Little Milton Shop Ltd, began his report by reflecting on the loss of vital community facilities over the last twenty eight years and how members of the community had fought hard to retain the Post Office in 1999-2000. He said it was a credit to the tremendous hard work and commitment of all those who planned and built a new larger shop and post office in 2009. The community shop (an Industrial and Provident Society run and owned by the community) and Post Office is jointly managed by Alison and Annie. He stated that there were around 250 community shops in the country and that we are one of the smaller communities and that means that we draw on our smaller population for the vital team of volunteer helpers and that made our task more challenging. He thanked the Team for all their support and asked for more support from the village.
He reported that the shop serves two markets: Little Milton and the surrounding area and passing trade from the A329. Both of these are vital to the success of the shop and post office. The turnover was around £120,000 for the year ending 31st March 2011and growing the business was a major task for the shop committee and shop management. Mike stated that coffee shop was an outstanding success, performing much better than had been expected. The passing trade continues to grow and the Post Office has seen significant growth since its move with increased custom from local businesses.
He concluded his report by thanking the village for its continued support as customers and helpers but pleaded that the shop really does need more helpers.
7/05/11 Report on Little Milton School
A report from the Governing Body of Little Milton School was read out by Cllr David Wakeling. The report highlighted the successful Ofsted inspection in February where the school was judges to be good with outstanding features with particular praise for the children’s behaviour, the standards of teaching and pastoral care. Although this was the same rating as the last Ofsted report it was in fact an improvement as Ofsted had “raised the bar” when making their judgements. The report stated that the 2010 SATS had achieved excellent results with every child achieving or exceeding their predicted levels/grades.
The report commented upon a number of events including the Maypole where the children gave a delightful performance and was well supported by the wider village community, families and friends and a number of past pupils.
The governors are grateful to the Reverend Victor Story for his weekly assemblies at school, his presence on the governing body and the services that he holds at St James’ throughout the year.
The report highlighted the work of The Friends Committee and the school were very appreciative of the essential funds that they raised to provide additional resources that are required to support the children.
The report concluded the numbers continue to grow as fourteen new children were joining the reception class in the next academic year.
8/05/11 Report by Chair of Orchard Pre School
Mrs Davina Guinness, Chair of Orchard Pre School, began her report by stating that “the last year at the Orchard had been a busy but successful one!”
Davina reported that he school had been awarded a rating of “Good”, with the unofficial feedback that the school was performing at the top end of the “good” category. The inspectors noted that the staff treat all the children as individuals, taking into account their particular needs and capabilities when lesson planning; and that the Orchard offers a wide range of interesting and stimulating activities covering all areas of learning.
Davina was delighted to report on the promotion of Clair Akers to the role of Deputy Supervisor who has recently completed her NVQ Level 3.
Davina went on to report that the Orchard is managed and supported by a team of volunteer parents and as result of Leslie McCaig’s departure as Chair after two years saw herself and Rachael Lane stepping into the roles of Chair and Deputy Chair respectively.
Davina reported on the healthy state of the finances and highlighted a number of fund-raising events including a hugely successful Pamper Evening, Dog Show and Barn Dance. In addition to the fund-raising the Orchard benefited from substantial grants that went towards funding the outdoor play-area as well as the purchase of general equipment. She then went on to comment on the challenges of fluctuating numbers and a tendency for the children generally to be much younger as parents take advantage of the government’s extension of funded places for three year olds.
She concluded her report by thanking the staff of Rose Walker, Clair Akers, Helen Lovegrove and Sarah Green as well as to Linda and Jim Lovegrove for their generous support and continuing help.
The Chairman thanked Davina and the staff of the Orchard Pre-School for all their hard work in helping to maintain this long established Pre-School in the village
9/05/11 St James Church
Mr Raymond Fergusson, the churchwarden, gave a brief report on the “health” of St James’ Church.
He posed the question “Is the church needed?” in today’s society of falling church attendances and where less than 2% of the population attend regular church service. He put forward the view that in a small rural community the church was an essential part of the village fabric. The church served the community in ways that it is expected to do for weddings, baptisms and funerals but many of its members also played a role in all the village organisations. He thought that the church was a good example of Localism in practice as it depended upon a number of volunteers to carry out tasks such as grass cutting, flower rota, cleaning, and the management of the fabric.
He concluded his brief report by stating, that despite what is reported about churches and religion, the good work of many churchgoing people is helping to maintain St James’ as an important part of our village and equally as important helping to sustain our community.
10/05/11 Parish Forum
Cllr Barry Coward expressed a vote of thanks to Mr Stuart McGill for his major contribution to the village and his service on the Parish Council over the past eight years.
The meeting closed at 8.10 pm
Signed by
Chairman…………………………………………………Date…………………………………………