Little Milton Parish Council
Minutes of Council Meeting held on Wednesday 12th July 2006
Present:
Mr Stuart McGill (Chairman)
Mr Simon Oddie
Mr
Tim Robinson
Mr
Barry Coward
Mrs Mabel Wood
Mrs Alison Shelton
Mr Raymond Fergusson (Parish Clerk)
Mr
John Nowell-Smith (District Council
Member)
Mr David Turner (County Councillor)
No
members of the public
01/07/06
Apologies for Absence: None
02/07/06
Declaration of any personal or
prejudicial interests of members
Mr
Stuart McGill declared a personal interest in the Village Hall, Orchard Pre
School and Post Office agenda items.
03/07/06
Approval of Minutes
The
Parish Council approved the minutes of the Parish Council Meeting held on 14th
June 2006 as a true record of the meeting and the Chairman signed them.
04/07/06
Matters Arising
Triangle
of land adjacent to Wells Farmhouse
The
Clerk informed the meeting that he had spoken with Howard Perkins at OCC who had
agreed that there was a need for a separate locality map that identified the
location of the land that required to be registered as a village green. The
Clerk also reported that he had arranged a meeting with Mrs Victoria Robinson
who had offered her professional services to assist in the resubmission of the
application to register the land as a village green. (Action
Clerk)
Footpath
in front of Cremar Cottages
The
Clerk stated that OCC had inspected the footpath and did not deem it to be an
immediate hazard. However they indicated that they would have the suggested
improvements to widen the path assessed by the Highway Assessment of Maintenance
Priorities (HAMP). This matter will be kept under review. (Action
Clerk)
Site plans for lease documents
The
Council agreed that the location plan that supported the extension to the
Village Hall was not suitable to be used as a substitute within the lease
documents for the Village Hall and Orchard. The Council accepted that it would
be better to wait until the extension to the Village Hall has been completed
before a final set of drawings are produced.
Conditions
of Service for Parish Clerk
Mr
Barry Coward reported that a draft contract of employment and job description
had been prepared and that it had been circulated to the Council members. The
Council accepted the documents and the contract of employment was signed by Mr
Stuart McGill on behalf of the Council and by the Clerk.
Parish Plan
The
Clerk reported that he had extracted relevant information from the Oxfordshire
Rural Community web site and it was agreed that the papers would be circulated
to Council members to allow an informed discussion at the September Council
meeting. (Action All)
The Lamb
The
Clerk stated that he had spoken with Mr Paul Thomas of Punch Taverns who had
informed him that a full planning application for the modifications to the Lamb
was being submitted to SODC.
05/07/06
A329 Advisory Group
The
Chairman welcomed Mr Peter Ronald from OCC Highways to the Council meeting. Mr
Ronald was invited to the meeting to brief the Council on the changes to the
funding of transport schemes in 2006-2011.
In
the past the County Council has had a programme of Community Safety Schemes i.e.
pedestrian crossings, traffic calming, new footways or cycle tracks and low cost
junction improvements. However these schemes no longer produce sufficient
benefits to meet the objectives of the Local Transport Plan (LTP). In view of
this any schemes outside the LTP can only be progressed if there is an
alternative source of funding. Other than through the Parish Council precept
there are two important sources of potential funding available through Accident
Remedial Measures and Better Ways to School.
Mr
Ronald emphasised that he could only address real problems and not perceived
ones. However he was happy to work with the Council to establish if there was a
traffic speeding issue within the village. Mrs Alison Shelton agreed to advise
Mr Ronald of where he should conduct the survey within the village.
There
was a brief discussion on the number of traffic signs as you approached the
village and Mr Ronald stated that he had an objective to reduce the clutter.
However a large number of the signs were required to meet the traffic
regulations in respect of the pre-warning of the build-outs.
Mrs
Alison Shelton reported that there had been a meeting of the A329 Committee. The
Committee were looking to re-focus and establish a list of priority actions as
well as developing a closer link with the school. She stated that a presentation
will be made by the committee at the September meeting. (Action
Mrs Alison Shelton)
06/07/06
Recreation Ground
The
Chairman informed the Council on the current maintenance programme and reported
that although there had been improvements made there was still a question over
the overall quality of the surface for playing sports.
07/07/06
Finance
The Council
approved the following expenditure:
Colourplus –
July Newsletter
£219.08
Spadework UK Ltd
– grass cutting June
£401.57
Mrs Hue Williams
(Section 137) – Post Office Rent
£75.00
The
Chairman informed the meeting of the new payment arrangements for the Three
Villages Car Service that had been produced by the Clerk after discussion with
Miss Thelma Blake. As a result the payment was on an actual basis six months in
arrears. The Clerk informed the meeting that the cheques issued for £26 and £100
had not been banked by the scheme and that these cheques would be cancelled. The
Council agreed the following payments.
Three Villages
Car Service
Thelma Blake
£28.50
Sylvia Kirby
£5.00
John Buckingham
£8.00
The
Chairman read out a letter from Mr Ian Dennis in respect of his work as Internal
Auditor on behalf of the Council. He reported that for the financial year
2005-06 there were no matters that required the attention of the Council
08/07/06
Planning
P05/W0736
– Alteration to vehicle access and erection of double garage
The
Chairman informed the meeting that the appeal against a refusal to grant
planning permission by SODC had been dismissed by an inspector appointed by the
Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government.
09/07/06
Correspondence
OCC
Highways –Stone Wall Haseley Road
The
Chairman advised the Council that the damage to the wall had now been repaired.
The Clerk expressed his appreciation for the prompt action.
Letter from Boris Johnson M.P.
The
Chairman reads out a letter from Boris Johnson in response to a letter sent by
the Council asking him to support the Sustainable Communities Bill. He shared
the concerns behind the Bill but stated that the promoters of the Bill were
being encouraged to work on a pilot scheme to assess the feasibility of their
current plans.
Oxford Green Belt
A letter has been received thanking the Council for their annual
subscription of £15
Oxfordshire
Car Crime Campaign
A
letter has been received from the organisers of the South Oxfordshire Car Crime
Campaign thanking them for their £25 contribution.
Oxford Inspires
The
Chairman informed the Council members of an invitation to attend a Special
Events Forum at Crowmarsh Gifford Council Chamber on Monday 17 July 2006. The
forum is in preparation for the 1000th birthday of the County in
2007.
Letter from Little Milton School Children
The
Chairman read out a letter that had been sent to the Clerk by a group of
children from Little Milton School in which they were asking for dog owners to
clean up after their dogs in the recreation ground and adjacent footpaths. The
Clerk informed the meeting that he would print the letter in the newsletter.
Letter from Department of Trade & Industry
The
Chairman informed the meeting that the Council had received a reply from the
Department of Trade and Industry in response to their letter concerning the
withdrawal of the Post Office card account in 2010.
10/07/06 Village
Hall
Mr Stuart McGill gave a brief report on the activities of the Village Hall. He highlighted a recent booking for the hall that resulted in damage to the play area and the MUGA. As a result the Village Hall Committee has now reviewed their policy in allowing the hall to be booked for teenage events by people out-with the village.
11/07/06
Village Shop/Post Office
The
Chairman invited Council members to attend a meeting that he had set up with
Jane Barker of ORCC and Tessa Hennessy of Cooperative Futures to discuss legal
structures and share issues in respect of the proposed new Post Office/Village
Shop. He also circulated a schedule that detailed the volunteers who are
prepared to perform various tasks or are prepared to support the set up of the
new Post Office/Village Shop.
12/07/06
Any Other Business
Mr
Barry Coward stated that the land for sale adjacent to Parish Council land was
being advertised as suitable as a pony paddock. However there was a clause
within the sale prospectus that protected the buyer if the land was subsequently
developed by a purchaser.
13/07/06
Date of Next Meeting
The
Parish Council will meet on Wednesday
13th September 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 9.42 p.m.
Parish Forum
No matters
were raised