April 2021 Minutes

Cllr H Thomas, Cllr B King, Cllr C Metcalf, Cllr C Rylett, Cllr C Mathew, & Clerk Mrs T Cameron plus 6 members of the public

Cllr D Levy, Cllr D Butlin & Cllr J Perri

The Parish Council has made the public aware that the meeting is recorded for the clerk to type up the minutes later at home.

Cllr Thomas declaration of interest in minute ref 56/21

Cllr Metcalf declaration of interest in minute ref 67/21

The meeting is recorded by the Clerk to enable her to type up the minutes at a later time but is then deleted.

The minutes of the meeting held on Thursday 4^th March 2021 were approved.

a) Thames Valley Police Report – There were no Police Alerts

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

1)      Horsemere Lane/Cassington Lights – Cllr Thomas and Tracey attended a meeting with OCC with regards to the Plans for A40. There were things that were specific to Cassington that came up which resulted in another meeting book for the 7^th April again with OCC.

2)      Website – Tracey sent to the link to all the Councillors for them to look through and give any feedback.  The main body of the website is done.  This week Tracey will send the link to 4 members of the village for them to have a look as well and also give any feedback.  We are looking at going live with the website mid-April beginning of May.

3)      Tree outside Cllr Thomas house – With regards to the tree the Parish Council have received Cllr Thomas email and are now looking at what we can do with regards to the tree.

4)      Neighbourhood Plan – The Neighbourhood Plan Committee met on Monday. Although I am not attached the committee, I did receive a new scoping plan with some amendments and that they are planning to meet in April.

5)      SSE Poles on the Playing Field – Tracey has had an email back from Lindsay that works for SSE.  She has had to go to another office to get paperwork and has asked me if we had any deeds relating to the land. Tracey doesn’t have anything in her files and believes that it may be in the Archives in Cowley, Oxford

6)      Dog Fouling Bins – Tracey has put in an order for a new dog bin at the bottom of the track by William Court.  Cllr Thomas has also put a stake in the ground to show where it should be situated.

7)      Potholes on Horsemere Lane – Tracey has received an email from Fix My Street that the potholes had been dealt with.

8)      Potholes by the Old School House – Tracey has spoken to OCC Highways and it seems that they haven’t adopted the Road.  Land Registry has advised that the road probably isn’t registered.

9)      War Memorial – Tracey hasn’t heard back from English Heritage with regards to the listing of the War Memorial.  Tracey has taken some extra pictures of the damage to the column and has sent them to the War Memorials Trust just so that they have a more up to date picture of the problem. James Mackintosh has given the Parish Council the scope of fees with regards to the works on the War Memorial however Tracey has spoken to him and advised that due to a clause within the grant that we received the War Memorials Trust we cannot carry out any works with their prior permission for 6 years.

c) Previous Planning Application: –

APPLICATION NO: 20/01734/OUT

LOCATION: Land North of A40 Section from Barnard Gate to Eynsham Roundabout Eynsham

APPLICANT: Grosvenor Developments Ltd

DECISION: Under Consideration

APPLICATION NO: 20/03491/FUL

PROPOSAL: Conversion of existing stable building to offices (Use Class E)

LOCATION: Livery Yard Worton Park Worton

APPLICANT: Mr Adam Hulewicz

DECISION: Approved

APPLICATION NO: 21/00260/LBC

PROPOSAL: Internal and external alterations to form an en-suite bathroom at first floor level, works to include the insertion of a mechanical extraction unit with external stone louvre and an external waste pipe.

LOCATION: Bell Cottage Bell Lane Cassington

APPLICANT: Mr Kevin Dunne

DECISION: Under Consideration

APPLICATION NO: 21/00304/HHD

PROPOSAL: Erection of a first-floor rear extension

LOCATION: Highwinds Mill Lane Cassington

APPLICANT: Mrs Patricia Johnson

DECISION: Under Consideration

County Councillor

Cllr Charles Mathew – At the Planning Meeting on Monday 8^th March with regards to the application by OCC for the A40 works and the Park and Ride were discussed and approved. Cllr Mathew has also had a meeting with Tom Shuttleworth of OCC to discuss items that he felt should have been brought up.  First was the Bio-Diversity loss which was at 15%.  Cllr Mathew has requested that the money be spent locally e.g. The Long Mead Meadow Trust etc. Also, Cllr Mathew has requested that that use a special type of tarmac along the A40 which minimizes the noise from traffic. 50% trees and 35% of hedges are being cut down to make way for the widening of the A40. Cllr Mathew also suggested that there is a type of plant what consumes the toxins that comes from cars which should be planted all the way along side the road and to plant new trees.

Cllr Mathew would also like it noted that OCC has paid out £800,000 in compensation to members of the public.  This was found in the financial records which no Councillor would know about.

Cllr Mathew also enquired about the road works by Williams Court.  Cllr Thomas advised that the works were being done.

District Councillors

Cllr C Rylett – Cllr Rylett has also had a meeting with OCC with regards to the A40.  He also raised the issues of the tarmac and the trees.  With regards to the Garden Village, they are still awaiting a decision.

Cllr D Levy – Cllr Levy gives his apologies for not being able to attend the meeting.

Parish Councillors

Cllr King – Cllr King advised that she is on the Neighbourhood Plan Committee and they have decided to split into 2 groups to work on certain things then they are going to arrange a meeting for April to discuss a way forward.

a) Neighbourhood Watch – There was no report from Neighbourhood Watch

Nothing to report.

We were asked about the A40 work with regards to Marlborough Pool as they need to open and shut a gate to get in which means that people will have stop across the Bus Lane to open the gate.  Cllr Thomas has said that he will look so will meet the resident that brought up the question to get a clearer picture of it.

A note from a member of the village advising that as restrictions have started to lift people in Bell Lane have started to notice cars coming up Horsemere Lane from the A40 at a very fast speed so as not to meet any car coming down.  They would estimate about 50mph-60mph for some.  They have asked if there was something that could be done to slow people down.

A comment was made by another resident of the village that maybe we could get people from Speedwatch to stand at the top of Horsemere Lane to record cars that come up.

Cllr Thomas mentioned that the ditch next to Worton Farm is being worked on to open up the culvert more and stop the flooding of the roads.

Please can people remember to things on fix my street on the WODC website.

Speedwatch – Cllr Thomas has advised that now restrictions are being lifted more cars are speeding through the village.  Suggestion was to put something in CAWN to ask for more volunteers.

20mph in the Village – OCC are looking at making all villages 20mph zones. Cllr Metcalf has looked into the 20 is Plenty campaign to push forward with OCC.  We need to look at getting more people in the village behind the village being a 20mph zone.

Tracey advised that we are due for our Annual Safety Inspection for the play area and the new play equipment.  She got prices from Kompan and ROSPA.  Tracey also suggested that she do the play equipment inspection course that way she can include it when she comes over every month to do the agenda.  That way it is also done at the same time every month and that anything that comes up can be mentioned in the Parish Council meeting a few days later.

Cllr Thomas would like to thank Cllr Butlin to tidying the play area and de weeding it.

Payments to be approved:

Income:

Cllr Thomas questioned if Tracey had received the invoice from Greenman with regards to the Trees on the Recreation Ground.  Tracey advised that she hadn’t had the invoice yet.  It was decided that once the invoice was received it would be paid so that the trees can get ordered, delivered, and planted.

Cllr Thomas questioned the Letter Fee from Moore Stephen.  Tracey advised that she received an invoice in the middle of March advising that they had sent the Parish Council a letter in November 2020 that we hadn’t replied to.  Tracey emailed them to advise that she hadn’t received a letter in November and was advised that they had sent it so because we hadn’t responded we now have a fee. The Parish Council have put this payment on hold at this time.

APPLICATION NO: R3.0057/19 (Oxfordshire County Council)

PROPOSAL: Construction of a park & ride car park providing 850 car parking spaces, cycle spaces, motorcycle spaces, electric vehicle charging points, bus shelters, landscaping, external lighting, public open space, toilets, seating, fencing, habitat creation, drainage features, new access from Cuckoo Lane, new roundabout with access onto A40, an eastbound bus lane approximately 6.5km in length from the park & ride site to the A40 bridge over the Dukes Cut canal, two sections of westbound bus lane (each approximately 500m in length), new shared use footway/cycleway, widening of Cassington New Bridge, junction improvements, new crossings, new footbridge alongside Cassington Halt Bridge, and associated works

LOCATION: Barnard Gate

APPLICANT: Oxfordshire County Council

COMMENT DATE: 3^rd April 2021

APPLICATION NO: R3.0034/21

PROPOSAL: Request for Scoping Opinion for the proposed A40 Smart Corridor works, including

i) Dualling of a 3.2km section of the A40 between the Hill Farm Junction to the proposed Eynsham Park and Ride and upgrade to shared path on northern verge, ii) widening of existing carriageway to provide dedicated eastbound and westbound priority bus lanes along 6.5km section between proposed Park and Ride and Duke’s Cut iii) capacity and connectively improvements over three bridges and a culvert at Dukes Cut to enable eastbound bus lane over the bridges at A40 between Witney and Duke’s Cut

APPLICANT: Oxfordshire County Council

COMMENT DATE: 9^th April 2021

a)    Trees on the Playing Field – Cllr Thomas will contact Greenman to get the invoice.  The cost of the trees are being covered by sponsors of the trees and the Parish Council are covering the cost of the plaques and other sundries. Cllr Thomas and Butlin met with a member of the village at the recreation ground to look at the place where the trees would be planted.  We may have to purchase a hose to help water them.

b)    Village Logo – The Parish Council have looked at the logos and passed the decision to Tracey for her to decide which one to use.

c)     Lorries using The Tennis – A letter was sent but Tracey hasn’t had any reply as yet.

d)    Notice Boards – Cllr Butlin has had a price of £1000 to replace both notice boards.  We will look at it in the Autumn. Cllr Butlin has also made a comment that perhaps we have another notice board put along side the one on the Green that any member of the public can use.  Tracey thought that this was a good idea as it would stop people sticking things on the glass or stapling them to the legs of the noticeboard.

e)    Date for Annual Parish Meeting – It was decided to push it back to August.

f)     Annual Inspection for the Play Area and Equipment – Decision was made to use ROSPA.  Tracey was to book.

g)    Bio for the Website – Most other Parish or Town Councils have little snippets of information on their Councillors.  It’s not to be personal but just information on you as a Councillor e.g., your role and how long you have been a Parish Councillor.

h)    Precept increase – Cllr Thomas wanted to make a comment on the reasons why the precept was increased.  Firstly, there is a lot more work now than there was 5 years ago also the work to the War Memorial, to improve the childrens play area.  The wooden structure there at the moment is slowing getting rotten.  Also, all the maintenance costs from around the village like the grass cutting and looking after the trees also with insurances.  Also, with the website that would give all the information at the click of a button.

i)      Trees Survey – The trees on The Green are substantial and the costs that go with looking after them e.g., taking off the dead wood, pruning etc are only going to grow as the trees get bigger.  We are going to suggest once we have the tree survey, we look at getting to keep them at the height that they are.

j)      Parish Council Meetings from 7^th May – When we went into lockdown the Government brought in new legislation to say that all Town and Parish Council meetings must be held virtually, and we cannot meet in person.  That ends on the 6^th May.  There is a case in Court at the moment that is hoping to extend the legislation or change it so that Councils have the right to choose how they meet whether it be in person, virtually or as a hybrid meeting.

k)    AGAR – Tracey has finished the accounts for the current financial year and am now getting all the relevant paperwork to give the accounts to the internal auditor. Once they have completed their work then it will be sent to the external auditor.  However, as we are under £25k income or expenditure then we should be able to claim exemption from a full audit.

l)      A40 Meeting – Tracey and Cllr Thomas will have a meeting with OCC on 7^th April regarding the A40 works and how it effects Cassington Village with regards to the closure of Horsemere Lane and also the Cassington Lights/slip road. We have a list of items to bring up.

–       The type of tarmac being used

–       To see if the speed limit at the junction could be reduced

–       Concerned about heavy goods vehicles using Cassington as a cut through when the A40 works starts.

–       The drainage as there is a culvert going under the road by Mill Lane that is blocked

–       The gates at Marlborough Pool

–       Night working

–       Construction traffic – ask for them not allowed to use the village to park in

–       Tree planting along the edge of the road

–       Street lighting at all junctions where the cycle paths meet the road.

Mid Monthly Planning Meeting – No mid-month meeting needed

Date of the next Parish Council Meeting – Thursday 6^th May @ 7.30pm via Zoom