November Minutes 2024

The Clerk has emailed the Planning Officer to ask for an extension to 6^th December 2024 as no Planning Application letter has been received by the Parish Council.

Botley Solar Farm – Report from Group

8. Correspondence

• Email from Jericho Farm that on Monday 28^th October their outer west facing wall collapsed. The residents are unable to use certain rooms as they are concerned that the inner walls will collapse.  They have notified their insurers.  They have notified WODC. The residents had a survey before the work began. They have asked for a construction phase plan and have not received this.  Building Control came out on Monday afternoon and declared it unsafe.  Cllr Goodwin is going back to Building Control to ask for more clarification on the

9. Reports from County and District & Parish Councillors –

• County Councillor

I am writing this after the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s Budget last week and while working on the County Council’s budget for 25-26 which needs to be set in February.

We already know that increases in the National Minimum Wage and in Employer National Insurance are going to increase pressures on already stretched resources at all local authorities.  I look forward to getting details of some of the additional funding, particularly to support our obligations to children with SEND requirements. Our expectation is that the additional SEND money announced will still leave all councils with SEND obligations running at a deficit, and that includes Oxfordshire. Councils will get details of central government support in late December and will finalise their budgets in February.

Roads

A40

Homes England have finally agreed to release the funding related to the A40 project. As you will recall, this project was initiated by the previous administration, with a view to obtaining funding from two government departments, but unfortunately the funding was not inflation indexed. We have had to resize the project to fit the budget available, and to ensure that no Oxfordshire council taxpayers’ money is used.

There will be a new junction to link the Park and Ride in Eynsham to the A40, improvements to the Eynsham Roundabout and to the junction in Cassington. These will remove some of the key impediments to free movement of traffic on the A40. The Cassington junction changes will hugely improve wait times for people entering and exiting the village, not least by stopping lane blocking. There will be new crossings for pedestrians and cyclists, new bus stops, and an improved bike lane between Eynsham and Wolvercote.

If more money is made available, which is possible given increased housing targets for West Oxfordshire, then we will engage in Phase 2 of the project, to the west of Eynsham.

A new round of consultation will commence in November, with a view to planning permission being considered early in 2025. The views of residents and users will be much appreciated. The views of Cassington residents are particularly valuable.

South Leigh traffic calming

The creation of a 4-way junction at Shores Green, incidentally, paid for out of the other pot of government money to the HIF2 scheme, along with the Park and Ride, will give a new route onto the A40 for some Standlake residents. Please note that traffic calming measures are being installed in South Leigh, to counter the increased traffic that might use South Leigh as a consequence of the new junction. These have been designed through a cooperative effort of the parish council and county council.

Oxford Railway station

Still no update from Network Rail. That means that the date at which Botley Road can be reopened to cars and buses is unknown. The S1 will continue to run via Cassington until Botley Road reopens. I will continue dialogue with Stagecoach about maintaining better Cassington services thereafter.

Buses

A reminder that a daily ticket, with a cap of £6-50 for adults, and monthly ticket with a monthly cap of £25, are available, for use across Oxfordshire and into the neighbouring counties. We are in discussions with the bus companies about how this will change as a consequence of the rise in the single bus fare cap from £2 to £3, announced by the Chancellor.

There has been an increase in the frequency of the buses serving the southern bit of the Eynsham Division, including the First and Last Mile service that runs through Stanton Harcourt to Eynsham and the Pulhams/ Oxford Bus Company routes to Abingdon and Witney.  Each route is in part financed via being the Home to School service supported by the County Council. There has also been a doubling of the H2 service from Witney via Cassington to Summertown, the JR and Headington.

Winter Fuel Allowance

As you know, the government has restricted Winter Fuel Allowance to those pensioners also in receipt of Pensioner Credit. That kicks in at an income of £13,000 pa. Both Oxfordshire and West Oxfordshire have passed motions deploring this means testing at such an arbitrary and low level, despite the Labour group resisting such a motion. Both Councils are working hard to identify people who require assistance, and working with organisations like Citizens Advice to help people claim everything they are entitled to. Please do point anyone you think needs such assistance in the right direction.

Flooding

The recent deluge, with a month’s rainfall in a single day, caused problems in a number of places in the county, including parts of Cassington. It is the role of the Lead Flood Authority, Oxfordshire County Council, to coordinate flood preparedness, and I will try to ensure that more money is put into this function in the budget. It is the role of each landowner to ensure ditches they own are kept clear, with EA permission in some places. The County Council did clear the culvert at the end of Elms Road a few months ago. I am sure there is more that could be done to get landowners to fulfil their responsibilities.

When there is a flood, the Fire Service should be called in an emergency.

There is more detail on the County Council flood toolkit site. https://www.oxfordshirefloodtoolkit.com

As ever, do contact me on dan.levy@oxfordshire.gov.uk

• District Councillors

West Oxfordshire plan is being reviewed and will go to consultation next year.

CIL is going to the Planning inspectorate extended to be put in place late 2025 early 2026.  S106 and CIL will run together, and CIL is not tied to specific projects.

Review of polling stations.

Pension Credits – CAB with WODC are making sure that all pensioners in the county are checked to see if they received the correct pension credits so that they can receive the winter fuel allowance.

Electoral Commission are going to look at the boundary to see if WODC  have elections all at the same time or in thirds as it is done now

• Parish Councillors

Cllr Metcalf – Asked about the short notice going into CAWN – The clerk will add it to CAWN.

10. Ditches, Drainage and Flooding 

11. Maintenance/ Grants

• Village Walls
• Change waste bin collection
• Purchase of new battery and pads for Village Hall defib unit – Clerk to get a quote for new battery

12. Traffic

• Speed Watch

No. of sessions:                                                6 ( due to volunteer unavailability)

Total number of vehicles                              680

No. of offending vehicles:                            173

Between 25mph & 30mph:                          108

Between 31mph & 40 mph:                            62

Over 40 mph:                                                    3

Highest offender:                                            47mph

The Clerk has been asked to put the data from  Speedwatch onto the website

• Speed Indicators
• Traffic Calming

13. Play Area & Recreation Ground

• Replacement Playground Equipment – The clerk has but in an application in the local Tesco. The village has raised £8557 towards the new playground equipment

The Parish Council would like to say thank you to The Red Lion for holding a fundraising.

14. Finance

Payments to be approved: