February 2021

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

Cllr C Rylett, Cllr D Butlin & Cllr J Perrin

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 made a declaration of interest on item 32/2-i and 32/2-iii

Cllr Metcalf made a declaration of interest on item 32/21-iii

The minutes of the meeting held on Thursday 7^th January 2020 were approved

a) Thames Valley Police Report –

Rural Farm Burglaries – Please be on your guard after a spate of burglaries at farm premises in the Hook Norton & Great Rollright area over the weekend.  The break-ins have occurred sometime overnight on the 29th of January.  Offenders have gained access to farm buildings and stolen property.

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

i) Neighbourhood Plan – The first meeting is set to take place on 22^nd February.  Cllr Thomas has advised that as this is a sub-committee of the Parish Council then maybe they should have the Code of Conduct policy. – Tracey to send all members a copy of the policy.

Tracey had a meeting with Leani from Oneill Homer to go over the basic administration and also the stages that we need to go through to get the neighbourhood meeting.

ii) Horsemere Lane/Cassington Lights – Tracey has had no response from OCC and there has been nothing sent.

iii) Lease for Playing Field – The lease has now been signed by both the Parish Council and Sports and Social.  Tracey has emailed the Solicitor to advise her that it has now been signed and am waiting to hear back from her.

iv) Website – Tracey has advised that it is ongoing, but it is a slow progress making sure that documents follow the accessibility guidelines and then uploading them.  She has sent round some logos for the village. Cllr Thomas has suggested that we put a note in CAWN and offer it out to the village to see if anyone else has a suggestion for the logo. – Tracey to put a note in CAWN.

 v) Dog Fouling – The new signs have gone up around the village.  Cllr Thomas thinks that we should get some more signs.  Cllr Thomas has suggested that we get another dog fouling bin – Tracey to find out how much it would be to clear the dog bin and order another 12 signs.

 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: 20/02946/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

DECISION: Approved

APPLICATION NO: MW.0122/20 – Oxfordshire County Council

PROPOSAL: Section 73 application for the continuation of the winning and working of sand and gravel with restoration using suitable imported materials to vary conditions 2, 3 and 6 of planning permission 19/02521/CM (MW.0111/19) in order to extend the period of extraction until 31st December 2021 and the time period for restoration until 31^st December 2023 to allow for sufficient time for the working of mineral from beneath the plant site and the revised restoration of the plant site at

LOCATION: Cassington Quarry, Cassington Road, Yarnton, OX29 4EB

APPLICANT: Hanson Quarry Products Europe Ltd

Email from a member of the village regarding potholes.  One set in the road that leads to the War Memorial by the Little Green and also along Horsemere Lane. They have tried to report it on Fix My Street but was told that the road by the old schoolhouse was dealt with by Highways and they wondered if it was owned by the Parish Council.  Cllr Thomas has asked for the email to be forwarded on to him.  – Tracey to report Horsemere Lane on Fix My Street

County Councillor

Cllr Charles Mathew – Cllr Mathew has written to letter to OCC with regards to Horsemere Lane.  Cllr Thomas feels that maybe we should look at getting the media involved as OCC has taken to be quite silent on the matter. Cllr Thomas has advised that maybe the Parish Council should write an email to Yvonne Constance.  Cllr Mathew has asked WODC if he can have a copy of the planning application with regards to the Grosvenor development at Barnard Gate.  He has been told that they won’t send a physical copy as it is on the planning portal on the WODC website. Cllr Levy has said that he will try and get some material to Cllr Mathew. Cllr Mathew disagrees with the planning notice with regards to Hansen extending their gravel extraction. He has also advised that he has spoken to someone with regards to the flooding outside the Chequers Pub and this will be looked at. Cllr Mathew has written a letter in the Oxford Times with regards to sewer flooding and Thames Water.  Stating that if Thames Water cannot look after the sewerage of it’s existing properties then why is it agreeing to more properties through planning applications. With regards to Williams Court Cllr Mathew has been advised that an agreement has now been reached between OCC and Blenheim Estates and that will be going forward imminently.

District Councillors

 Cllr Dan Levy – Following on from Cllr Mathew, Cllr Levy advised that some of the sewerage is being taken in tankers to Eynsham and is being pumped into Cassingtons treatment plant.  Whenever it rains the pumping station floods and the sewerage goes straight into the Thames halfway between Cassington and Oxford.  With regards to the Salt Cross Development there is currently an impasse between Grosvenor and WODC.  The Area Action Plan which is due to go to the Inspectorate shortly.  Grosvenor are objecting to parts of the Area Action Plan as they do not agree with parts in it.  Cllr Levy has advised that they are expecting that the Elections will go ahead in May. He has said that we could push for postal votes to help with social distancing and people who are shielding.

Cllr Thomas asked if the issue with sewerage flooding a Health and Safety issue was not.  Cllr Mathew advised that it was and that it also impacts the flora and fauna in these areas also.

Cllr Mathew advised that there is an interactive map on a website called Rivers Trust where it will tell you the amount of hours and the amount of sewerage that is put into the water ways near where you live.

Parish Councillors

Cllr Metcalf – asked Cllr Mathew if he had news on the A40 works.  Cllr Mathew advised that they have started at the Wolvercote roundabout. Nothing else has started as they do not have planning permission for it yet.  However North Oxford has started

Also asked about the 20mph in the village – Tracey advised that she had email the Paul Wilson at OCC and his response was that OCC will be selecting villages that they feel need the change in speed first.  Cllr Thomas suggested that maybe the village does a petition to get the speed limit changed to 20mph – Cllr Metcalf to follow up.

Cllr Metcalf asked how far we had got with the War Memorial.  Tracey advised that James Mackintosh had contacted 3 companies.  One had come back with a quote, another had come back with just a repair quote and the third didn’t respond at all. Cllr Thomas has asked Tracey if she can speak to James again to see if he has heard anything else.  Cllr Mathew advised that he would give Tracey the details of the companies that worked on the Memorial at Stanton Hardcourt.

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

Cllr Thomas knows that the Group has put down seeds in the Church Yard so they should come up in the spring.

Cllr Thomas advised that Mr Henman has cleared all the ditches next to his boundary and has also cut all the hedges back.  He has suggested that the Parish Council write to him to thank him for all the hard work that he has done clearing everything. – Tracey to write a draft letter.

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

Tracey will report the potholes on Horsemere Lane.

Speedwatch – This is currently on hold due the National Lockdown.

 Payments to be approved:

Income:

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

COMMENTS DEADLINE: 9th February 2021

 Parish Council will not make a comment on this.

i) Tree outside Cllr Thomas house – Tracey has got in touch with some private tree companies for advice and they said to speak to a surveyor with regards to the roof of the house.  She has also spoken to WODC to see if they can give any advice.  The tree has no TPO but is in a conservation area so The Parish Council would need to apply for planning permission before we could remove the tree.

ii) Trees on the Playing Field – Cllr Thomas has a quote with regards from the trees.  So that hopefully we would have 3 quotes for March Meeting.

iii) Lorries using The Tennis – It was noticed that there was a lorry reversing out of Alan Astons into The Tennis without a banks man then parked on Bell Lane for about an hour.  It was discussed that The Parish Council write to Alan Aston explaining that large lorries really should have a banks man seeing them out and also reversing into The Tennis.  Cllr Metcalf has advised that at times it is sometimes multiple days. – Tracey to write a draft letter to Alan Aston

 iv) SSE Poles on Playing Field – Tracey has had no reply from SSE but will contact a member of the village who has contact details of someone at SSE who may be able to help.

 v) Updated Policies for adoption – Tracey has sent out the first set of the new updated policies.  She advised that there are about 8-10 more to come out.  The Council decided that it would be a good idea to leave it for this month so that it gives everyone time to read them and decide in the March meeting.

vi) Thank Charles for the donation to the school – Cllr Mathew made a substantial contribution to the school from his Councillor fund and the Parish Council would like it noted – Tracey to email Charles to thank him.

 The Treasure of the Allotments Association advised that the allotment site is now a designated site of community asset.  The Allotment Association wanted to formally thank The Parish Council and also every-one in the village that signed the petition and the pledge. 

 Mid Monthly Planning Meeting – No mid-month meeting needed

Date of the next Parish Council Meeting – Thursday 4th March @ 7.30pm via Zoom