March 2020

Cllr H Thomas, Cllr C Metcalf, Cllr J Perrin, Cllr D Butlin, Clerk Mrs T Cameron, Cllr C Mathew & plus members of the public

Cllr B King, Cllr D Levy & Cllr C Rylett

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

The minutes of the meeting held on Thursday 6^th February 2020 were approved

Blenheim have appointed an architect firm called Featherstone Young for the land at the back of Elms Road. They are exploring a rural exception site to create more affordable housing in the site.  They are also discussing that the site be a passive home site.  Dominic advised that they are looking at consulting with the village and the Parish Council in roughly 3 months’ time.

Blenheim are still awaiting to get the signed Section 38 and Section 278 from OCC so that things can be tarmacked around it. Most of it has been done however OCC are asking for a £300k bond on performance. All the houses were let off plan which is extremely unheard of.

Dominic mentioned some of the things that Blenheim had got wrong over the past 6 months including the theft of the gold toilet that was on display. Also, the Shakespeare Rose Theatre.  They got around 40k people over the summer when the target that they needed to hit was 50k. A building site known as PR10 it was a site that was favoured in the Cherwell Local Plan.  It has now been decided that it is not part of the Cherwell Local Plan.  This has set Blenheim back slightly but without this site they should be able to reach their goal of 300 truly affordable homes and building up a £45 million endowment to protect the World Heritage Site.

The big positives over the past few months were Christmas at Blenheim with Alice in the Palace they grew by roughly 30%.

They announced that their economic contribution has passed £100 million within the last year and the jobs that are supported outside of Blenheim 2200.  The rate of growth is about 15%.

The housing site at Long Hanborough is selling really well.  It is selling at approx. 1.5 houses per week. It has been dwarfed by Park View in Woodstock.  The show home was launched in mid-January and the first phase has already sold out.

Overall, the visitor year was very strong. Over the last four weeks with the Corona Virus has hit visitor numbers quite hard.  For February Blenheim was 35% down 20% was due to the terrible weather we had for the first part of the year.

About 2 weeks ago Blenheim launched their Green Strategy.  Blenheim has always had a goal to be a net generator of Green Energy, they hope to reach it by March 2021.  A planning application has gone in so Blenheim to build a 7mwh solar farm out at Weaverly.

They are also hoping to be Carbon negative by 2025 they also want to divert half of their visitor journeys on to carbon neutral transport.  They also want all the buildings that they build to be EPC grade A.

A project that they are working on is to provide safe cycle routes to join all their local communities.  They also want to create a shared work hub in each community so that people don’t always have to commute to work.

Another thing that they are doing is an Environmental Sensors Network which they already have at Blenheim.  It’s allows any one to put a £20 sensor that Blenheim can build anywhere.  That sensor feeds into a live network that you can see live online. If you log on to www.soxproject.org and click on Woodstock you will see 30 sensors giving you live readings on particulates, carbon monoxide and methane readings.  They will also be putting the sensors around the perimeter of Blenheim so that when they have their concerts people can see the readings live. This is also means that the people on the sound desk can see the real sound levels and also the wind speed and direction and can change things accordingly.   They are also working with Woodstock School and Marlborough Primary so the children are doing stem science and they are also creating apps so that they can share with their parents the air quality impact at 8.30 and 3.30 when all the parents park outside the school gate but leave the engine running.

Blenheim are also doing a natural capital report on their own assets along side with Oxford University.

Blenheim has finished all the dreg work on the lake and have appointed a contractor.  They will start to dreg the lake in mid-May.  In late May they will lower the lake and also build a road to take away the silt.  They will also survey the under-water part of the bridge as that is part of the restoration programme.  They are also thinking that they may create some sort of digger land for children so that they can dig in the silt.  That will carry on till October then they will slowly start to refill the lake in time for the Christmas Light Trail.

Mr Hare was asked by a member of the public if Blenheim was going to sort out a maintenance company to look after the land that it owns in Cassington.  Mr Hare advised that they are now compelled to create a management company to deal with grass cutting and all kinds of maintenance that arises within their homes.

a) Thames Valley Police Report – notifications of incidents in Cassington

There was a number plate theft in Chipping Norton on 23^rd & 24^th February.  They were stolen from vehicles on Albion Street. Southcombe Garage in Chipping Norton have anti-theft number plate screws that they will fit for free just call and make an appointment. 

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

i) Complaint – With regards to the complaint.  That has now been finished and completed to the satisfaction of all parties. 

ii) Neighbourhood Plan – I am still in the stages of getting advice from WODC and The OALC. 

iii) Specification for the Land by Church Lane – Tracey is still working on it. She needs to get back and take some more measurements and also some more pictures. 

iv) Proludic Invoice – Tara at WODC is now back and has spoken to Sara who was dealing with her work while she was away and we are now going to receive the 25% of the Sports and Socials side of the invoice.

i) Previous Planning Application – No previous Planning Applications

i) Request from Banbury Memorial for a memorial for Desmond Newport.  The family would like to erect a polished grey book memorial.

ii) We received an email with regards to Hampton House asking again if they could erect a mirror on the side of the house so that they would be able to see any oncoming traffic before they pull out.

iii) An email was received by a resident who asked if we could discuss parking and the speed of vehicles through the village. They advised that they have to walk a small child through the village to school each day and they have noticed the speed of cars through the village especially at the end of Elms Road, where the road narrows by the memorial, which makes it difficult to walk side by side and they are concerned that the speed of vehicles could pull a child into the road. They are asking if the Parish Council could change the speed in the village too 20 but are unsure that it would do any good as most people don’t abide by the 30mph speed limit. They have suggested that we maybe make a safe place to cross or maybe a chicane. Cllr Thomas advised that a few years ago the Parish Council put it too OCC to install a chicane in the village. We got approval from OCC and prepared drawings.  But at the meeting that was held at that point there was a large number of people who were against it. So we couldn’t move forward.  It was suggested that an article would be put into CAWN and to add it to the agenda for the next meeting.

County Councillor – Charles Mathew – The budget was passed. Council tax has been increased by roughly £5 per month on a band D property.  There has been no progress at all from OCC with regards to Horsemere Lane. Charles has a meeting on 6^th March with regards to the A40, the Bus Lane and the Park and Ride.  £575k had been agreed for Bus Subsidies.  It was discussed at the Parish Council Meeting that perhaps an old bus route could be spread between different villages over the course of a week.  Cllr Mathew is going to put this proposal forward.

Cllr Thomas queried the Planning Application on the Gravel Extraction.  Was promoted by OCC as being a site of gravel due to be dug between now and 2031 by the north 632000 tonnes. Cllr Mathew has advised that there is a group in Eynsham that have got together and have strongly objected to this plan.  The consultation ceased on 4^th March and Cllr Mathew expects it will be a long time before we hear the outcome of the decision. 

District Councillors – Tracey was sent an email by Cllr Leavy to advise the Parish Council that both Cllr Rylett and himself raised objections to the Gravel Pitt. 

Parish Councillors –

Cllr Metcalf – With regards to the website.  He has exchanged more emails over the past few weeks. The advised that the new email address that was created couldn’t be used as it wasn’t a .gov email address.  Cllr Metcalf advised them that we hadn’t been granted the .gov domain yet so we couldn’t have the .gov email address but they have said that we can say that is what we plan to use.

Cllr Perrin – With regards to Speed Watch.  There have been a few volunteers come forward.  She also received a report from the Police with regards to offences that have happened in Eynsham in January. 

a) Neighbourhood Watch –.

Please see the attached notes from the Group meeting on 26^th February

A member of the public would like to thank Cllr Butlin for fixing the street sign.

A member of the public asked if the Parish Council felt that the complaint against Cllr Thomas and the Parish Council with regards to Horsemere Lane was now put to bed.  The Parish Council advised that they were a little disappointed in that the editor of CAWN didn’t appear to read the letter of complaint that was sent in as he would have realised that out of all the Parish Councillors only one live near Horsemere Lane. The Parish Council feel that the Editor should have also come direct to the Clerk for a response to the original letter.

A member of the public thought that it would be nice if we could put another little tree on the small green by Williams Court.  Tracey to source a tree and contact someone about getting it planted.

The Parish Council would also like to thank members of the village for their support.

There is a meeting with Thames Water and Robert Courts on 26^th March to discuss the ongoing issues.

Cllr Butlin has brought up that the ditch beside the garage all the way along the playing field is full with debris and fallen branches.  Tracey to contact Mr Henman as the ditch is more accessible from his side.

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

Speedwatch – We now have permission to use the speed gun from TVP.  Cllr Thomas has purchased new batteries.

Cllr Butlin has made some repairs on the climbing frame in the play area as some parts were rotten.  Cllr Thomas thinks that we need to look at the long-term issues with it as it needs more and more repairs due to the weather.  Tracey to look into new steel frames and play equipment.

Payments to be approved:

 Income:

APPLICATION NO: W/20/00125/PRMA

PROPOSAL: Licence Application 04/09/20 – 07/09/2020

LOCATION: A40 Section from Eynsham To Cherwell District Boundary Cassington Oxfordshire

APPLICANT: Leon Cole Field Maneuvers

APPLICATION NO: W/20/00164/PTEN

PROPOSAL: Temporary Event Notice 24/06/20 2pm – 25/06/20 12am

LOCATION: Field South of Cassington

APPLICANT: Sheena Paterson

APPLICATION NO: W/20/00174/PTEN

PROPOSAL: Temporary Event Notice 17/04/2020 6pm-12am

LOCATION: Land at Eynsham Cricket Club Cassington Road

APPLICANT: Sheena Paterson

APPLICATION NO: W/20/00179/PTEN

PROPOSAL: Temporary Event Notice – 12/06/2020 5pm – 14/06/2020 12am

LOCATION: Field South of Cassington

APPLICANT: Matt Atwell

i) Green Bins in the Churchyard – 2 new garden waste licences.

ii) Climate Emergency Workshop Saturday 28^th March 9:45am – 1pm in The Long Room of Oxford Town Hall – The Climate Group are happy to attend.

iii) Financial help for the Village Halls new boiler – Cllr Thomas and Cllr Butlin attended the Village Hall Committee meeting and they need to get a new boiler they have a quote of £2480 including VAT.  Cllr Thomas has suggested that we donate £1000 plus VAT

iv) Tracey to attend Neighbourhood Planning course £129.60 – The Council agreed that Tracey should attend the Course.

v) WODC to increase the amount that they charge by 2.5% on Grass Cutting – This was agreed by the Council.

vi) Sick Leave – Tracey will be on leave from 13^th March until May.  The April meeting will a small meeting where the Council will discuss payments and any urgent business.  The May meeting will be the Annual Village meeting followed by the monthly Parish Council Meeting.  The meeting in May will be held in the School.

Mid Monthly Planning Meeting – Tuesday 17^th March @ 8pm in Red Lion

Date of the next Parish Council Meeting Thursday 2^nd April in the Village Hall @ 7:30pm