April 2018 Minutes

Cllr P Emery WODC

The Chairman declared a declaration of interest in the planning application submitted by Paul Snell in respect of the Alan Aston Company. The Chairman has advised that he rents a building on the land.

The minutes of the meeting held on Thursday 12^th March 2018 were approved.

a) Thames Valley Police Report – notifications of incidents in Cassington

i) HMRC phone scam – recorded message advising people that they have a lawsuit made against them and that they have to call a certain number which will then charge them a very high premium.

ii) Attempted burglary in Long Hanborough Millwood End. Gained entry to the conservatory but failed to get into the house.

iii) Police are aware of suspicious people going onto peoples driveways in Freeland.

iv) Caravan was stolen from Standlake and two attempted thefts of caravans in Enysham and Witney. Two further vehicles had been moved and various items had been taken.

v) There has been a report that in parts of the Cotswolds that there are various people driving in non-refrigerated vans trying to sell people fish.  That this is being a ruse to get people out of the house or to be able to see what they have so that at a later date they can be burgled.

b) Report from the Clerk on actions from the last meeting

i) Hedge Trimming has been put off to the next half term holiday due to bad weather. – Email from Emily at the school to say that it is fine to do in the next half term.  Have also emailed Dax to confirm this.

ii) Ambulance Service (Defribulator) – Spoke to South Central Ambulance Service re the Defribulator outside the village all.  Was advised that once the defib has been installed that it then needs to be registered with the local ambulance service so that it can go on their list and of anyone has a heart attack that they know that it’s there.  If a defib is not registered then they have no idea that it is there. I have a registration form and will complete it and email it back to them.  Cllr Matthews asked for the registration form to be forwarded to him so that he can send it to all the other parish clerks for them to register their defibs.

iii) Replace the back of the Notice Board by the Village Hall and Bell Lane – The one by the Village Hall has so many holes in it that the notices just fall down plus the pins are now mostly rusty.  The noticeboard on Bell Lane has a carpet back and is mouldy and also the pins are rusty. – Action to replace backing and tidy the notice board ups.

iv) Church Green Waste Bin – £30 per bin – The main church yard has a green waste bin, but we need one in the new churchyard and also one in the old church yard. – Action to get Green Waste Stickers

v) Little Lane Wall – Report from James Mackintosh – As there were two opinions on whether the wall was safe or not it was decided to ask James Mackintosh to have a look and give his opinion.  His opinion was that the Wall was safe however the tree behind the wall was the reason for the wall pushing outwards and that would need to be addressed.

Cllr Thomas will be giving a copy of the report to Mrs Hughs and the school.

Unless a gap of more than 3cm appears in the wall then the wall is deemed safe.

vi) External Backup for the laptop – Currently there is no external backup for the files that are held on the laptop which means that if anything were to happen to the laptops motherboard then all files would be lost.  Flash Dive would cost roughly £25 maybe less.  This will be a password protected flash drive.  Also, with regards to the new Data Protection legislation coming in in May it may be useful to have the laptop encrypted.  Concerns were raised by the residents on how secure my home internet it and I have ensured them that my home internet is extremely safe.

c) Horsemere Lane Update – Notice from David Toll.  That an order is needed to be able to close the road.  The Chairman has suggested that a meeting is called with the residents at that part of village.  It seems that the Council would charge £10k to be able to deal with it. The Council will close the road when they need to build the bus lane.  If a meeting with the residents and Parish Council is fixed then an invite to Adele Parsons to come along.

d) Playing Field

i) Update on Sports England Grant – Still waiting for the Sports England Grant to come.  Have been asked by them to provide more information.  We are just waiting on their response.

ii) Grant Application by the S&SC – The Chairman met with the Sports and Social Club and it was decided that they would apply for a Wren Grant. The application round opened on 27^th March. The Chairman needs to sit down with the Sports and Social Club to see if they want to continue with the grant application and also if they have the people who have the time to put into getting it done.

iii) Sports Pavilion Improvements – Approx. £25k available for the improvements that are needed. The cost of the improvements are in the region of £40k.  The other £15k could come from Wren

e) Benches – Benches for 3 residents in the village that have passed who had contributed to the village. Waiting for the spring so that we can organise an occasion so that family members and villagers can see the benches put in.

f) Manor Farm

i) Photos have been taken around the green and the surround, so that once work starts if anything happens we have photographic proof of what it looked like before.  This has been agreed with Blenheim

ii) Blenheim have to check on certain planning conditions before continuing. Work will start in the middle of May once all conditions have been met.

iii) When work starts working hours will be 7:30 – 17:00.  Have been advised that workmen will not park in the village or the village hall carpark.  Vehicles will be parked on site

g) Request for Headstones by Banbury Memorial – There are two headstones in the new cemetery that are at present made from a stone type material and the families would like them to be made polished black with gold lettering. It was agreed that the headstones could be changed.

It was agreed that a boundary round Ray Bowerman’s plot could be done if it is requested.

h) Gas Main in Pound and Church lane – Man going around spraying the road with red paint.  When the Chairman went down the road he found that they had machinery to lay a new gas main up the road. They advised that they would bore underground and lay the pipe that way.  The would do make a pit to do this then make another pit to join it all on the main road.  The chairman asked who they got their permission from and they advised that OCC gave them permission.  The Chairman has asked if they could provide the permission documents. At the time of the meeting nothing had been received. The company is South Gas Networks.

a) Consultation on Further Modifications to the Submission Draft West Oxon Local Plan. – No comment was made

b) Air Space Consultation Period is now closed – One or two residents have made a comment on it.  The only issue that the council had was that we were not consulted and were given information at a very late stage.

a) Cllr C Matthews OCC – Proceeding with the growth board. £60 million for affordable housing, £150 million infrastructure. 5-year total Oxfordshire Plan. Requirement to have a 5-year land bank within the district will become a 3-year land bank.

b) Cllr P Kelland WODC – Scrutiny Board of the Growth Board will be made up of all the Councillors from all of the Councils that sit on the Growth Board.

c) Neighbour Hood Watch Cllr Perrin – Neighbourhood Watch meeting in Enysham it was discovered that Helen the PCSO is now the only one covering Cassington and Enysham as the other 2 have left. – Action by the Chairman Cllr Thomas to write to the Police Commissioner as to why we only have one PCSO and the Council Tax has increased. Cllr Kellend has suggested that we invite the Police Commissioner to the Annual Meeting.

Queries the trees in river.  Tracey advised that the Environment Agency are aware of this and until the weather clears up and the field dries out a bit there is nothing that they can do.  They have spoken to the owner of the land and he has said that as soon as the field is accessible then they can come on to the field and winch the trees out of the river.

Hatch Markings on A40 by Cassington turn off.  They have not been repainted. The Chairman spoke to Paul Wilson at the Locality Meeting and was advised that he would look into it.

Bell Lane path is covered in trees and is becoming quite mushy.  Cllr Thomas said that he would try and report it on Fix My Street.

Yarnton Road the wooden fence is broken – To get quotes for repair.

Nothing Noted

Nothing Noted

Nothing Noted

Issue with the timber structure.  Needs to be looked at.

Tracey to contact Cassington Nurseries to get them to advise on the amount of new bark     that is needed for the play area.

a)    Payments:

b) Income: None

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a) Alan Aston Roofing Supplies – Paul Snell gave a brief explanation of what is going to happen.

Over the past 6 months they have moved Tony Eldridge Scaffolding out of Bell Lane and into Yarton Road.  Reason for this is to help with building for new construction also this has made space for 6 car spaces for staff at the Boswell Clinic.

Once building has been completed it will enable them to take lorries off Bell Lane in the first left turn and the lorries will then be able to turn around in the yard rather than try and turn in the street.

New proposal will be a 2 story building which will take up roughly 50% of the existing footprint.  Plus, there will be a 2 story warehouse.

The new offices will look like a cottage with a slate roof and stone facer.

At the minute there are 12 parking spaces at the from of Alan Astons once the building has been knocked down there will be 24 spaces so 12 spaces are going to used by the Boswell Clinic as additional parking.

Mid-Month Planning meeting: This was agreed for 24^th April at 8pm in the Red Lion.

This was agreed for Thursday 10^th May 2018 in the village hall

Annual Parish Meeting 17^th May 2018 at St Peters School