May Minutes 2022

Cllr H Thomas, Cllr D Butlin, Cllr B King, Cllr C Metcalf, Cllr Perrin, Cllr C Rylett, Cllr A Goodwin Cllr A Rogers, Cllr G Mills& Clerk Mrs T Cameron plus 4 members of the public

Cllr Levy, Cllr Goodwin, Cllr Rylett, Cllr S Thompson

The Clerk has suggested that the Parish Council has a rolling Chair so that the responsibility doesn’t fall onto one person alone.

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 meeting is recorded by the Clerk to enable her to type up the minutes later but is then deleted.

The minutes of the meeting held on Thursday 7^th April 2022 were approved.

a)     Thames Valley Police –

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

·        Horsemere Lane/Cassington Lights – There has been no movement with OCC.  Emails are not being replied to. – Tracey to contact Dan for him to chase

·        Neighbourhood Plan – The response has come back from WODC.  The Neighbourhood Planning Committee met on Tuesday 10^th May and the outcome was changes to be made by Oneill Homer. – Reg 14 has finished. Most of the statutory consultees have responded.  Next step is to send submission to the parish council for them to agree.  This will then go to WODC for them to submit to for consultation.  Wodc will then send a list of inspectors to the Neighbourhood Plan Committee.

·        Zip Wire – This has now been fixed

PLANNING

APPROVED APPLICATIONS

New Planning Applications:

County Councillor –

A40

The A40 projects are slowly getting to the point of no return.   That doesn’t mean that we can’t still keep trying to improve them, so that they work better for residents.   The Compulsory Purchase Orders for the A40 HIF2 scheme were approved by Cabinet in April.  That really means that the expectation is that construction will start soon, subject to the planning approval, which will probably come before the next planning committee at the County Council.   I took the opportunity to present to cabinet some of the outstanding issues with the scheme, including the failure to build in adequate crossings for pedestrians in the section north of Eynsham and south of Salt Cross, and to consider the impact of the new roundabout at Barnard Gate for rat-running south of the A40.     There is a commitment on the part of the cabinet to keep trying to improve the scheme.

The second key A40 scheme is the Shores Green junction, giving the eastern Witney junction access westbound as well as eastbound.   I think this is likely to increase the amount of traffic that comes through Stanton Harcourt, and thought needs to be given as to how to prevent this being a problem.

Freight and speed limits

The County Council continues to work on creating a freight policy, and I am urging it to restrict lorry movements on all roads other than the key main routes.

Eynsham’s 20 zone, and a reduction in speed limits on the “ringroad” were approved last month, and I look forward to other parishes having 20 zones soon.  I am really excited that this key commitment is now being put into reality.

The bike lane along the A4095 between Hanborough and Bladon has now been completed.  It still needs proper signage.  And there is no dropped kerb at the end of Burleigh Road – that is a real issue for people cycling to and from Cassington, and I will get it fixed, even though it isn’t in the division I represent.

Trees

There has been a quiet but important change to trees policy: It wasn’t widely reported on, but an important new policy has been adopted to increase the number of trees in Oxfordshire. The policy puts in place a ‘presumption in favour of trees’, recognising the benefits to the climate, environment, and wellbeing. The goal is to move away from the previous unambitious policies of merely maintaining and managing existing trees, to actively enabling more trees in rural and urban settings. One key requirement of the policy is to plant two new trees for every tree that has to be removed from county council land. Funding will come from increased developer contributions (s106, s278, CIL), as well as bids for national funds and third-party contributions, with the potential to increase the council’s investment in trees in the 23/24 budget.

WODC

As you will be aware, there were elections for new district councillors on 5 May, and Carl Rylett was reelected to WODC to represent Eynsham, Cassington and South Leigh ward.  I look forward to continuing to work with him and Andy Goodwin.

There is likely to be a new administration in West Oxfordshire which has the same political membership as at the County Council, ie an alliance of Liberal Democrats, Labour and Greens.   As I write this on Monday evening, we are working to put in place this new alliance.    As the County Council and District Council will share key objectives, including taking active steps to address our climate impact, encouraging healthy places and active travel, etc, it should be easier to get things done.

District Councillors –

Last Cabinet meeting there was a motion to put more pressure on Thames Water to look at sewerage.

Parish Councillors –

A member of Parish was approached by a person telling them that they aren’t allowed dogs on the playing field.  There has also been a spate of thefts of catalytic convertors.

a) Neighbourhood Watch –

Problems with drainage through Cassington is getting worse – Tracey to chase Thames Water

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

Speed watch –

107 vehicles

During the last week 14 vehicles have been input into the system and this was in one hour

The zip wire has been fixed.  A new waste/dog waste bin will be situated near the play area.  The Clerk to book the ROSPA inspection.

Payments – THESE WERE APPROVED BY THE PREVIOUS COUNCIL 05/05/22:

Payments to be approved:

Income:

Balance of Unity Bank as of Sunday 8^th May – £13,274.54

a)     Platinum Jubilee – The Sports and Social would like £200 towards the afternoon tea – PC has agreed.

Wall Survey – Manor Close to Mill Lane check to see if it is topped with lime mortar or cement.

Mid Monthly Planning Meeting – No Meeting Needed

Date of the next Parish Council Meeting – Thursday 9^th June 2022