December 2020

Cllr H Thomas, Cllr B King, Cllr C Metcalf, Cllr D Levy, Cllr C Mathew, Cllr C Rylett & Clerk Mrs T Cameron plus 2 members of the public

Cllr D Butlin & Cllr J Perrin

Cllr Thomas has declared an interest in item 99/20

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

The minutes of the meeting held on Thursday 5^th November were approved

a) Thames Valley Police Report – notifications of incidents in Cassington – A spate of burglaries in Carterton.  They entered via the back entrance of the houses and stole various items of electronics and jewellery.

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

 i) Neighbourhood Plan – I have spoken to Leoni from Oneill Hormer and we have discussed moving forward.  The decision was to get some dates from the people who have volunteered to be part of the Neighbourhood Plan Group and we can arrange a meeting in January. I have sent the designation plan off too WODC today.  I have the locality grant to do.  Leoni has said that she will check it through for me before I send it off.  Cllr King has agreed to be on the Neighbourhood Plan Group and will lead it for the Parish Council. We should hopefully be receiving a quote from Leoni to be discussed at the next meeting.

ii) Horsemere Lane/Cassington Lights – I managed to get the Traffic Survey from OCC which I have forwarded to the Parish Councillors and also my cut down version that only related to the entrance to the village from the A40. I also emailed them Cllr Metcalfs comments and the response I got back was that Horsemere Lane will be closed once the works on the A40 have finished and that they will take into consideration the Cassington Lights Junction at that time. Cllr Metcalf added that there has been a notice put in the papers that OCC have said that the compound for the A40 works is being built in Dec 2020 and the works will start Feb 2021 with an end date due end of 2021. The compound will be near the Wolvercote Roundabout.

iii) Lease for Playing Field – I have sent a copy of the new lease to the Sports and Social Club I have then chased it up and haven’t had a reply.  Cllr Thomas has said that he would speak to them.  I have also resent it the Chair.

iv) Website – I have started it but with other things coming up I haven’t managed to get as far as I would have liked.  It is on my to do list for next week.

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: 20/02197/HHD – PP-08997528

LOCATION: 2 Cassington Road Eynsham Witney Oxfordshire OX29 4LF – Alterations and erection of two storey front extension and first floor front extension above existing entrance.

APPLICANT: Mr Matt Freeman

DECISION: Approved

County Councillor – Charles Mathew – OCC are not presuming any kind of budget cuts or diminishment of service.  Cllr Matthew has had conversations this evening with regards to Horsemere Lane. The current situation is that the new officers have looked at the rational of the refusal of OCC to change their decision on the traffic lights and said that clearly saying that there are only 25 cars going down Horsemere Lane is not correct and that there are plenty more cars using Horsemere Lane than that.  So, they have decided that they are going to do another traffic survey soon. Cllr Mathew pointed out that we are not in normal times and so a new survey at present would not reflect normal traffic flow down the lane. Cllr Mathew is concerned that OCC will make an opinion on Horsemere Lane which doesn’t show a true circumstance.  Cllr Mathew has asked if it is possible that he have the traffic survey that was previously done, so that he could pass it on to the new officers.

Tracey interjected that she had found an excel spreadsheet from 2015 that shows the flow of traffic on Horsemere Lane. Cllr Thomas thinks that, that could be it so Tracey has forwarded it to Cllr Mathew.

 District Councillors – Cllr Levy – If there are any residents in Cassington that require the Business Grant from WODC that they should apply as soon as possible. Also, to remind people that there is a food bank in Eynsham that is fully stocked ready to help people at Christmas. So, if you know of anyone please refer them to it.  Also, Cllr Levy would like to thank the residents of Cassington who have donated to the food bank.  Cllr Thomas asked Cllr Levy if he could chase up the cycle racks that were discussed earlier on in the year.

Cllr Rylett – Has been chasing up on the Garden Village, Area Action Plan as it was expected that it would have been submitted by now, but it has been delayed slightly. There is a difference between the application from Grosvenor and the Area Action Plan so WODC are taking legal advice on how it can be sorted. Cllr Rylett will also get an update on the from Planning re Dove House.

 Parish Councillors – Nothing from Parish Councillors to report

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

No recent update. Cllr Thomas mentioned that they planted some wildflowers in the church yard.

Question 1 – With regards to the Zoom meetings. Are the login details the same each month or are they different? – The login details are different every month, but they are available in CAWN and on the notice boards.  However, if people wish to email Tracey then she can send the login details once she has set up the meeting.

Question 2 – The road leading into Williams Court what are Blenheim doing about it? – Cllr Thomas has spoken to Matthew at Blenheim and he has advised that they now have all the legal paperwork sorted and that they are talking to the contractor to arrange a date for the work to be done. They have had issues with OCC.  Blenheim had offered to resurface the road, but OCC required an agreement that if they didn’t think that the road was up to scratch that Blenheim would have to come back and fix it.  The legalities of this took a long time.  But they are hoping to get it completed before Christmas.

Question 3 – Has the Parish Council heard anymore on the plans that Blenheim has for The Allotments? – Cllr Thomas has recently spoken to Blenheim as the Parish Council had been made aware that there were lines across the road. Apparently, Blenheim had requested that a Road Survey be done. With regards to the Allotments the Parish Council haven’t heard anymore.  Although Blenheim did mention that they were looking at putting something else out before Christmas though we don’t know what it is yet.

Question 4 – Has the Council had a chance to look into making the Allotments an Asset of Community Value? – The Council has not yet looked into this as we are waiting to see what Blenheims next move will be.  The Parish Council would also look at getting legal advice before we go down that road.

Cllr Thomas has been dealing with Worton and the problems that they have with flooding outside the entrance.  He has met with Kevin Jack.  It was established that the ditches along there are not doing what they are meant to be.  The ditch between Worton and Jericho and Jericho and beyond over the past few days the hedges have been cut down and the ditches have been drained and dug out. Hopefully, this will make a difference to the entrance to Worton.

Cllr Thomas asked Tracey if she had managed to find out about the drainage outside Moorecroft.  I spoke to someone at WODC who advised that she needed to speak to Thames Water.  Tried to speak to Thames Water but apparently there was no one that could help me. She advised that she had emailed Kevin, but he hasn’t come back as yet.

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

Speedwatch – They are planning to start this again due to the increase in speeding traffic through the village.  Already discussed earlier in the meeting.

Tracey met with a gentleman from Sovereign to discuss the new play area.  He has gone away to do a quote and once his is back then we will have our 3 quotes.  The thing that is going to take large percentage of the money is going to be the removal of all the bark and the wet pour rubber.  We would be keeping some of the grass as those parts are built up higher but when the wet pour is put in this would them level it up.

Cllr Butlin has repaired the rotten back board in the play area that was highlighted by the WODC Playground Inspector.

Payments to be approved:

Income:

The Parish Council also passed for payment the Defib Battery and other pad when they are delivered £231.54.

Cllr Metcalf also added that now we have received our refund from Namesco they should have released the domain name so that Netwise can now purchase it.  Tracey advised that she has already email Netwise and they are looking into it.

APPLICATION NO: 20/02663/LBC – 20/02662/HHD

PROPOSAL: Erection of a new fully glazed conservatory to the rear elevation

LOCATION: Bell Cottage Bell Lane Cassington

APPLICANT: Mr Kevin Dunne

APPLICATION NO: 20/02946/HHD

PROPOSAL: Erection of single storey rear extension and creation of first floor office above

existing garage with addition of two dormer windows to front elevation.

LOCATION: 15 Hollow Furlong Cassington Witney

APPLICANT: Mr John Ashworth – Pending Consideration

i) Defibrillator – Tracey has ordered the new battery and 2 pads.  Cllr King has said that when they all come in, she will fit them. She has also said that she is happy to check the defib on a weekly basis.  Tracey has printed out a check list and also a manual on how to use it.

ii) A40 Plan – This was covered in the minutes previously.

iii) Tree outside Cllr Thomas house – There is a tree at the front of Cllr Thomas’s house that was planted just before of just after the development that built the houses next to the village hall.  The tree is with the root distance of his house and also the corner of the village hall.  The roots of the tree can go between 5-9 meters across the ground. Cllr Thomas would like the other Councillors to have a look at the tree and discuss what can be done at the next Parish Council meeting.

iv) Dog Fouling – A member of the village contacted Tracey with regards to dog fouling up and around the Pavilion, there has also been dog fouling along the track.  We have asked people to report any dog fouling to the Parish Council, but no one seems to have done so. There could be a consideration to installing another dog poo bin at the entrance of the track.  Cllr Thomas has said that we need names so that we can pass it on to Helen Keen our local PCSO so that she can go round and have a quiet word with them.

v) Trees on the Playing Field – Cllr Thomas has come up with an idea with regards to the left side boundary of the field. He felt that if we plant some trees like Elm, Oak or Beech we could make it a closed boundary. We could put 10 or 12 trees.  We could also ask the Tree Officer of WODC for advice.  It was asked if Councillors could have a look over the next month and see if they can come up with any other ideas and for it to be discussed at the next meeting. A member of the public thought that maybe we could look at members of the village possibly sponsoring a tree along the boundary.

vi) Funtime Bounce – Refund – Tracey has emailed the Administrator and has received a creditor form which she has filled in with a copy of the original invoice and also a copy of the bank statement showing the payment to Fun Time Bounce and have emailed it back.

vii) Precept – Tracey has created 4 examples of the precept if we increase it by certain amounts.  Cllr Thomas has said that we do need to increase the precept as we have more and more to pay for that in the past was either covered by District or County Council.  If we compare Cassington to other Parishes of equal size, then we are drastically under in our precept.  The Parish Council have put forward that we raise the precept by £22.32 per household per year.  This works out to be 43p per week.  The is voted in and for Tracey to send the form off to WODC

viii) War Memorial – After some investigation Tracey has discovered that the War Memorial is in fact not listed. It’s also not part of the Conservation Area that exists in Cassington.  She has been in touch with English Heritage and has completed an online form to get the War Memorial listed.  We have to wait 6-8 weeks for a decision. She has also spoken to James Mackintosh with regards to the repair.  He is now looking into getting 3 quotes for us.  He has advised that the ballpark figure will be around £6000.

ix) Lorries in the Tennis – Cllr Thomas has spoken to Alan Aston with regards to the lorries reversing into the tennis to turn round. As we thought that it wasn’t going to happen. He was advised that once the work has been started on the yard lorries will be able to turn around there.  Cllr Metcalf is looking into the safety aspect of this.  He has advised that he has spoken to a lorry driver.  He was reversing an articulated lorry with 2 trailers into the Tennis.  The lorry driver said that without a banks man to help him reverse into the yard there is no way that he can do it on his own.

x) Christmas Tree – This will be delivered next Thursday.  Cllr Thomas and Cllr Butlin will hopefully get it ready on the Friday.  Cllr Butlin has spoken to Mr Hatwell about borrowing some barriers so that we set them up to help with social distancing when people come out to see Santa.  There will be a box near Santa that the children can put their letters in. They will also be going round the village.

A member of the village advised that she belonged to a singing group and they could possibly sing outside the Village Hall next to Santa for 10-15 minutes.

 Mid Monthly Planning Meeting – No mid-month meeting needed

Date of the next Parish Council Meeting – Thursday 7^th January 2021 @ 7.30pm via Zoom