Little Milton Parish Council
Minutes of Council Meeting held on Wednesday 11th January 2006
Present:
Mr Stuart McGill (Chairman)
Mr
Simon Oddie
Mrs Isabel Fox
Mr Barry Coward
Mrs Mabel Wood
Mrs Alison Shelton
Mr Raymond Fergusson (Parish Clerk)
Mr
John Nowell-Smith District Council member
4
member of the public
01/01/06
Apologies for Absence: Mr David Turner (County
Councillor)
02/01/06
Declaration of any personal or
prejudicial interests of members
Mr Stuart
McGill declared a prejudicial interest in the item relating to Little Milton
School and a prejudicial personal interest in the Orchard Pre-School agenda
item. Mrs Alison Shelton declared a prejudicial interest in the item relating to
Little Milton School.
03/01/06
Approval of Minutes
The
Parish Council approved the minutes of the Parish Council meeting held on 14th
December 2005 as a true record of the meeting and the Chairman signed them.
04/01/06
Matters Arising
Triangle
of land adjacent to Wells Farmhouse
The Clerk
informed the meeting that the application to register the land as a Village
Green had been submitted to OCC and that he had received an acknowledgment. This
matter will be kept under review. (Action Clerk)
Hedgerow
at the top of the Wheatley Road. (Windmill Hill)
The Clerk
reported that he had been informed by OCC Highways that they would white lining
the side of the road as an initial step to reduce the speed on the sharp bend.
The Highway authority considers that line marking the centre of the road
encourages drivers to increase their speed. The Chairman read out a letter from
Mr Charles Peers that expressed his concern on the dangers of the road. This
matter will be kept under review. (Action Clerk)
Invite
to Punch Taverns re the Lamb
The Clerk
informed the meeting that Punch Tavern hope to attend the February meeting to
share their plans for the re-development of the Lamb. This matter will be kept
under review. (Action Clerk)
Little
Milton School use of the Recreation Ground
Mr
Stuart McGill and Mrs Alison Shelton left the meeting as they had declared a
prejudicial interest and the item was chaired by Mr Simon Oddie.
There
was no further information for the Council to consider.
Path
adjoining Chiltern View/Old Field/Thame Road
This matter will be kept under review.
Listing
of Telephone Box
This
matter will be kept under review
05/01/06
The Orchard Pre School
Mr
Stuart McGill left the meeting as he had declared a prejudicial interest and the
item was chaired by Mr Simon Oddie.
Miss
Yvonne Brammer presented a schematic plan of the proposed area for a fenced hard
standing surface adjoining the Orchard Pre-School. She stated that the Village
Hall committee had no objections to the proposal. However she stated that the
Pre-School would liaise with the Village Hall Committee to ensure that its use
did not adversely affect any specific hiring of the hall. The Council agreed
that the Pre-School could proceed with the implementation of the plans. The
clerk emphasised the need to have the lease document amended to reflect the
amended designated area. He proposed that the amended drawing could be done at
the same time as the one to reflect the actual area of the village hall as that
lease document also required an amendment. In both cases there was no need to
draw up a new lease but only a need for an amended site plan. (Action
Mr Stuart McGill)
06/01/06
A329 Advisory Group
(This item was considered within Matters Arising as Mr Platts had
another engagement)
Mr
Mark Platts gave a brief resume of the information that had been published in
the January 2006 Newsletter. The general message was a positive one and there
would appear to be a reduced level of heavy goods vehicles through the village.
07/01/06
Recreation Ground
(This item was considered within Matters Arising as Mr Willis had
another engagement)
Mr
Mark Willis reported that the Millennium bench in the Recreation Ground had been
vandalised as well as damage to the gate leading into the Play Area. Although we
have relatively little vandalism within the village he asked that villagers
report any that they witness to the Recreation Ground Committee. An article will
be placed in the February Newsletter.
Mr
Willis also reported on the meeting between Mr Steve Foster of the LEA and the
Recreation Ground Committee. The recommendation is that the Parish Council
should consider using a more suitable mower. This likely to be contracted out
and the cost of mowing is likely to be around £130-£140 a cut for the total
recreation ground. There is an option to maintain a higher level of maintenance
for the area used by the school. There was also a discussion of the possibility
of re-seeding the recreation ground as the quality of the surface was such that
better quality cutting would not address the underlying quality of the surface.
The chairman thanked Mr Willis for the information and said that Council would
consider it when setting the precept for 2006-07.
09/01/06
Finance
The Council
approved the following expenditure:
Colourplus –
January 2006 Newsletter
£238.36
Gainey Erwood – Domain name registration renewal
£116.33
SOSC –
emptying of dog bin
£38.03
Mrs Hue
Williams – Post Office rent to 31st March 2006
£75.00
Three Villages
Hospital Car Service
£26.00
The
Council agreed to increase the clerk’s salary to reflect the 2006/07 National
salary award for Local Council Clerks. It was agreed to pay the hourly rate of
£8.387. The hours for the duties performed by the clerk were not changed.
The
Chairman read out a letter from H M Revenue & Customs that gave the Council
permission not to operate PAYE in respect of the clerk’s salary as any tax due
on the income was collected through the clerk’s tax code.
The clerk outlined the structure that the Council required to consider in setting the precept. The Council accepted the underlying revenue and expenditure of a net £8,307 but agreed to make a further investment of £2,500 in respect of the Recreation Ground as result of the earlier discussions under the Recreation Ground agenda item. They also agreed to maintain the precept at £10,000 for 2006-07 and as result the Council reserves were budgeted to reduce by £807.
10/01/06
Planning
The
Chairman read out a letter from SODC that gave information in which residents
can report a suspected unauthorised development. The Clerk stated that he would
put an article in the Newsletter (Action
Clerk)
11/01/06
Correspondence
Oxfordshire Youth Service Funding
The
Chairman informed the meeting that the Council had received a letter from Mr
Boris Johnson MP and Mr Keith Mitchell, Leader of Oxfordshire County Council, in
respect of the Council’s concern about the current level of funding of
Oxfordshire Youth Service.
Victim Support
The
Chairman reported that the Council had received a letter from Victim Support
expressing their appreciation of Council’s financial donation.
12/01/06 Village
Hall
The Chairman gave a brief report on the current activities within the Village Hall.
13/01/06
Village Shop/Post Office
The
Chairman reported that a Planning Application for the new facilities had been
submitted to SODC and that there was now a need to carry out an evaluation of
the full costing in order to seek sources of funding. There is also a need to
develop a business plan. (Action Mr Stuart McGill)
14/01/06
Any Other Business
Mr
Barry Coward highlighted the recent article about “buying” your own
Community Policeman. The Council did not believe that this was something that
they would consider.
Mr
Barry Coward asked the Council to consider identifying no-go areas for dogs in
an attempt to reduce the amount of dog fouling. The recreation ground was
identified as a possible area. The Council agreed not to pursue the idea but did
accept that dog owners required being more responsible in picking up after their
pets.
15/01/06
Date of Next Meeting
The
Parish Council will meet on Wednesday 8th
February 2006 at 8.00 p.m. in The
Pine Lodge Little Milton unless
there is a need to convene any planning or other meetings.
The
meeting finished at 9.35 p.m.
Parish Forum
No matters
were raised