Little Milton Parish Council
Minutes of Council Meeting held on Wednesday 13th Dec 2006
Present:
Mr Stuart McGill (Chairman)
Mr Simon Oddie (Vice Chair)
Mrs Mabel Wood
Mrs Alison Shelton
Mr Tim Robinson
Mr Barry Coward
Mr Raymond Fergusson (Parish Clerk)
Mr
David Turner (County Councillor)
Mr
John Nowell-Smith (District Council
Member)
No
members of the public
01/12/06
Apologies for Absence: None
02/12/06
Declaration of any personal or
prejudicial interests of members
Mr
Stuart McGill declared a personal interest in the Recreation Ground, Village
Hall and Village Shop/Post Office agenda items. Mrs Alison Shelton declared
personal interest in the Village Shop/Post Office agenda item
03/12/06
Approval of Minutes
The
Parish Council approved the minutes of the Parish Council Meeting held on 8th
November 2006 as a true record of the meeting and the Chairman signed them.
04/12/06
Matters Arising
OALC:
Winter Meeting
The Clerk circulated a paper issued by the National Association of Local
Councils on the Local Government White Paper Strong and Prosperous
Communities.
Triangle
of land adjacent to Wells Farm Cottage
There was nothing further to report under this item
OCC Highways
Mr David Turner informed the meeting that he had spoken to Mr Peter
Ronald who had informed him that the lining on the build-outs will be redone.
Installation
of CCTV camera
Mr Stuart McGill reported that Leslie Nesbitt, the local Crime Prevention
Officer, had reviewed the security on the
site and would submit a report in due course.
05/12/06
A329 Advisory Group
Mrs Alison Shelton informed the meeting that she had organised a meeting
on January 22 with Mrs Eve Hunter to discuss the schools travel plans. The
meeting will also be attended by Mr David Turner and
hopefully Mr Mark Platts who will be advised of the meeting by Mrs Alison
Shelton.
(Action Mrs Alison Shelton)
06/12/06
Youth Shelter
Mr Stuart McGill stated that he had not managed to progress this item
since the last meeting.
(Action
Mr Stuart McGill)
07/12/06
Recreation Ground
Mr Stuart McGill informed the meeting that a variety of surfaces to
protect the grass in the area that is used
as an overflow car park had been considered by the Village Hall Management
Committee and that any work would not start
before the Spring. However before any work could
start the Parish Council would need to approve any proposal made by the
Management Committee. Mr Simon Oddie suggested
that professional advice should be obtained before any recommendation is
made to the Council. (Action
Mr Stuart McGill)
08/12/06
Finance
The Council approved the following
expenditure:
Don Ruffles - shredder &
supplies
£119.78
Oxfordshire Playing Fields Association membership renewal
£30.00
SODC Lotteries & Amusements Licence
£17.50
SODC emptying dog hygiene bin
£21.25
Society of Local Clerks
- annual subscription
£55.00
Spadework UK Ltd grass cutting November
£100.39
Gainey Erwood renewal of web hosting/domain registration
£116.33
Little Milton Village Hall recharge of electricity
£102.49
SPISE renewal of membership
£30.00
A letter of thanks has been received from Age Concern Chalgrove in
respect of the £50 donation made at the November meeting.
The Clerk circulated a preliminary paper on the 2007-08 Precept that
highlighted the key elements of the process
to set the precept. The paper also included outline figures of underlying
receipts and payments for
2006-07 as well as proposals for 2007-08. The Clerk stated that the Council
would need to set the Precept at the
January meeting as the information was required by SODC by 12th
January 2007.
09/12/06
Planning
P06/W1165: Orchard House; Change of use
from agricultural land to create an extension of residential
curtilage
The Council recommended approval of this application subject to the
District Council restricting any permitted development on the extended
residential curtilage.
P06/W1187/AG: Warren Barn Farm :proposed erection of free standing
steel portal framed building
The Council recommended approval of this application.
P06/W0226: Land adjacent to Plough House : Appeal lodged with
Secretary of State following refusal
by Planning Authority to grant planning permission.
This was noted by the Council.
10/12/06
Correspondence
ORCC Results of Little Milton
Transport needs survey
The
Chairman outlined the key elements of the report that was produced by ORCC from
the data collected from the recent survey
of transport needs. The Clerk was asked to include a
summary of the recommendations in the newsletter. (Action
Clerk)
OCC
Review of supported Bus Services, Wheatley, Thame & Watlington
The
Clerk stated that he would included a copy of the ORCC transport needs survey
report with the Parish Council response to
OCC. (Action Clerk)
OCC-
Proposal to simplify bus fares on supported services
The
Clerk agreed to respond to the letter from OCC in which it is seeking views on
options to simplify the complexity of
the current fares structure. (Action Clerk)
Letter
from Department of Trade and Industry
The
Chairman read out a letter from The Department of Trade and Industry Advice
Centre in esponse to a letter sent by the
Council in connection with possible reduction of the Post Office
network and the possible impact on rural communities.
Oxfordshire
Primary Care Trust Developments in community health services
The
Chairman briefed the meeting on a document that had been received from the
Oxfordshire Primary Care Trust that detailed a summary of its current position.
He explained that the Trust was keen to engage with the local population and it
was agreed that we should publish the contents
of their briefing in the Newsletter. (Action
Clerk)
OCC
Fire Authoritys Integrated Risk Management Consultation Action Plan
2007-08; consultation
proposals
The
Clerk stated that he would complete the short questionnaire in response to a
letter received from OCC. (Action
Clerk)
Thames
Valley Police Police Community Support Officers
Thames
Valley Police are currently rolling out across the Thames Valley a different way
of working between the Police and the
local communities. The Chairman informed the meeting
of a further briefing on this subject. A number of Parish Councils have
agreed to consider jointly funding Police
Community Support Officers (PCSOs). At this stage the Parish Council
is not considering any joint funding arrangement.
OALC
notification of change of address to SODC Crowmarsh
The
Council noted the change of address of OALC from Jericho Farm to SODC Crowmarsh.
SODC Draft Sustainable Development Strategy 2007-2010
The Clerk requested that members complete a short online questionnaire.
11/12/06 Village
Hall
Mr Stuart McGill reported on the recent events held by the Village Hall
Management Committee and informed the meeting that the level of interest in hall
bookings remains high.
12/12/06
Village Shop/Post Office
Mr
Stuart McGill informed the meeting that he and the clerk had attended a meeting
with representatives of OALC and
ORCC to review the role of the Parish Council in making any financial
contribution to the proposed new
Village Shop/Post Office.
The powers of the Parish Council do not extend to building a shop/Post
Office although they could acquire
existing premises. The Parish Council is limited to making a financial
contribution within the provisions of
Section 137 LGA 1972 which would be a maximum contribution of about £2,000. The recommendation from both OALC and ORCC was for the
Village Hall to extend the current premises as the Parish Council had wider powers to support Village Halls.
The Parish Council could support the building of the shell but it could not support any capital or working
capital required by the business
venture that would manage the shop/Post Office. It was recognised that
the Village Hall Management Committee would need to consult with the Charities
Commission to allow a third party to use the additional space for a shop/Post
Office. The Tackley shop was set up through their
Village Hall and information will be made available to the Village Hall
Management Committee.
At some stage it will be necessary to review the current lease
arrangement between the Village Hall Management
Committee and the Parish Council.
Due to this new development the Parish Council members considered it
appropriate to make enquiries to extend
the current lease that is due to expire in October 2007. It was agreed that Mr
Stuart McGill would approach the current
owners of the existing building. The setting of the precept for 2007-08 will
need to recognise any additional cost of any borrowing if a request is likely to
be made in that financial year as it is a requirement by the Public Loans Board
before any funds can be made to Parish Councils.
13/12/06
Any Other Business
Mr David Turner informed the meeting that the resurfacing work on the
A329 was going to be subjected to a skid resistance test as there was some concern about the quality
of the work that had been done.
14/12/06
Date of Next Meeting
The
Parish Council will meet on Wednesday
10th January 2007 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 10.05 p.m.
Parish Forum
No matters
were raised