December 2023 Minutes

CASSINGTON PARISH COUNCIL

Cassington Parish Council Meeting at 7.30pm on Thursday 7^th December 2023 in the Village Hall, The Green.

THIS WAS NOT AN OFFICIAL PARISH COUNCIL MEETING AS THE COUNCIL WERE NOT IN QUORATE

 Minutes

1. Apologies – Cllr B King, Cllr D Levy, Cllr Metcalf, Cllr Rogers, Cllr Goodwin

2. Declarations of interest

(Any pecuniary interests should be declared also a review of current declarations of interests circulated)

3. Minutes of the previous meeting held on – NO DECISION WAS MADE

4. Comments from the Public –

5. Report from Clerk

• Notice Board by the Green – This has been received and is up on the side of the village hall
• Lorries in the Tennis – No response from Alan Aston about the lorries reversing into the tennis
• Little Lane – No response from OCC with regards to getting Little Lane repaired
• Elms Road Ditch – Responses from Blenheim. They are going to look into the balance pond but do not think that the ditch along Elms road is their responsibility – Cllr Mills & Cllr Thompson are going to look into this
• Styles – No response from OCC
• VAS Machines – OCC are aware about the 2 VAS machines that we have but there is no time frame when the new ones will be installed.

6. Planning

Previous Planning Application Decisions

New Planning Applications

Botley Solar Farm – Report from Group – The second phase of consultation for Botley West is from Thursday 30^thNovember until Thursday 8^th

7. Correspondence

8. Reports from County and District & Parish Councillors –

County Councillor

Budget

The budget at County Hall is currently being created. The headline figures are that there are £36m of pressures, caused by underfunding, by demographic changes and by inflation, including a higher-than-expected rise in the National Living Wage with no additional money from the government that announced it.

We spend over half the budget on adult and children’s services, including social care. The County Council is making savings and becoming more efficient. For instance, we are building new childrens homes, including one in Aston, to enable us to look after Oxfordshire children in the county.

The headline gap between expected income and expected spending for 24-35 currently stands at £9m, which we will have to fill to create a balanced budget. Despite this we are in a better position than most other County Councils of all political persuasions.

There is a consultation open, which can be found on the County Council website. We do want to hear from as many residents as possible.

Roads

There is a planned closure of the road between Standlake and Stanton Harcourt/Northmoor between 6th and 8th December between 9-30 and 3-30 each day. This is for bridge work. There has been some discussion about timings, and how they fit in with school activity, but this is the best we can get and still have the work done. The road will remain open for people on bikes.

There is also a closure planned for Tar Lane, between Stanton Harcourt and Witney, in January, to replace the bridge parapets on the A40 crossing. That will last several weeks. Clearly it will affect a few SL residents who live on Cogges Lane, but also may see increased traffic through South Leigh Village.

There was another serious crash at the Barnard Gate junction a few weeks ago. Officers are investigating how to make this crossing safe. It was going to be part of the reworking of the A40 using money from Homes England, but this phase of the project has had to be deferred as the costs of the whole project have exceeded what government made available – this was predictable from the point at which the P&R/A40 scheme was first sketched out.

So, we do need to do something. This might include shutting the junction to right turns, which will be very inconvenient mainly for people living north of the A40 in places like Freeland, who use the junction to get onto the A40 going westbound. I don’t think such a restriction would be negative for people in South Leigh but would be interested in people’s views. When the Shores Green junction on the A40, making the eastern Witney junction four way, is completed, the issue should disappear.

Watercourse from the allotments along Elms Road

There has been a repeated problem with this watercourse. The County Council is responsible for it as it passes under the main road. The rest is the responsibility of the riparian landowner, and after some extended discussion Blenheim are clearing the stream and building a balancing pond upstream, I have been assured.

Botley West Solar Farm

The next phase of consultation is now open. Residents can and should have their say on the scheme proposed by PVDP and mainly using land owned by Blenheim. Councillors like me who sit in cabinets are taking the view that we are best commenting through the councils, which will have an obligation formally to report their concerns to the secretary of state, who will be making the decision. Those councillors who are not so bound are free to stand with those residents who are making their voices heard.

District Councillors – Local Plan consultation has finished improvements are being made from the existing Local Plan. 5 Year housing land supply as the local plan has now finished.  Reduce the expectation of houses that can be built by developers. Salt Cross judicial review hopefully a decision will be made in the new year.  Cllr Rylett has stood down from the Executive Role.

Parish Councillors – There is an issue with the MUGA pitch where it was flooded and has made It unsafe. There has been quotes to have it cleaned professionally but these are rather expensive.

9. Ditches, Drainage and Flooding – Blenheim have agreed to clear the ditches. The balancing pond is going to dredged but not until an ecological report has been done.  Cllr Thompson has asked to see the report once it has been done.

10. Maintenance/ Grants

11. Traffic

• Speed Watch
• Speed Indicators

12. Play Area & Recreation Ground

• Replacement Playground Equipment – Quote for new play area the cheapest £74k and the highest is £88k. The village is trying to fund raise but it is not very.

13. Finance

Payments to be approved: