November 2020

Cllr H Thomas, Cllr B King, Cllr C Metcalf, Cllr D Levy, Cllr C Mathew, Cllr C Rylett & Clerk Mrs T Cameron

Cllr D Butlin & Cllr J Perrin

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

The minutes of the meeting held on Thursday 1^st October were approved

a) Thames Valley Police Report – notifications of incidents in Cassington – Hare Coursers.  Have been spotted in and around Milton-Under-Wychwood. The vehicle was seen heading to Gloucestershire partial plate SB52 and that is attached to a Suzuki Vitara.

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

i) Neighbourhood Plan – Talk from Neil Hormer

ii) Traffic Calming – Having spoken to some other clerks of small villages who also have issues with speeding in their villages.  Most have come back to advise that their County Councils are very reluctant to do anything unless there has been any serious accidents.  I am not sure on what our next action should be.  We can ask OCC to do a speed survey £360+VAT.  – Tracey to contact James Wright at OCC to get a speed survey done. 

iii) Lease for Playing Field –  I have contacted the solicitor to advise her to go ahead and send the Lease to the Sports and Social so hopefully when they have had a chance to look at it we should be able to get it signed.

v) Precept – I have sent the Parish Councillors a breakdown of our finances for the past year and what we can expect to pay out for in the coming year. With the War Memorial and the traffic calming that the village want to do we are possibly looking at a precept increase of between £10-£15 per household per year.

c) Previous Planning Application – No previous Planning Applications 

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

An email arrived from a resident with regards to the trees that were planted on the piece of green by Mill Lane.  They also enclosed an email that was sent around 18 months ago advising that they didn’t want the trees to be planted as they would affect their drainage to their home and will also spoil their view. The trees that are due to be planted are small and will not affect the drainage system.  They are also small enough that they can be pruned so they will not get too big. Tracey to see if she can get a picture of the drainage system by Moorecroft.

County Councillor – Charles Mathew – OCC meeting last Tuesday there was a motion that read “the decision last autumn by the Oxfordshire LEP to withdraw the funding from the Luke Farm Project, Dukes Cut to the Luke Farm Roundabout along Province relief road to the A40 round Oxford undermines sensible solutions to the endless traffic jams on the A40 between Witney and the Oxford roundabout. Given that the use of public money should be productive council ask cabinet to review the plans presently being offered and adopt a long term strategy which will actually meet the publics needs for the next 20 years or more, and as part of this work ask the cabinet to consider undertaking a feasibility study should funding be confirmed to look at a rail link from Carterton to Witney and Eynsham to Oxford. This was discussed by 35 colleagues and was passed unanimously. 

District Councillors – Cllr Levy – He had a meeting with Domonic Hare the CEO of Blenheim to discuss 2 things one was the development proposal in Cassington in which Cllr Levy backed the villages feelings that this is a large development for such a small village. And cycling as Cllr Levy is the WODC Champion for Cycling.

Cllr Rylett – Cllr Rylett also had a conversation with Domonic Hare with regards to the Cassington development proposal.  He also met with the project manager of the Garden Village.  They are looking to submit the area action plan to the inspector by the end of November.  It will depend if they want to make any adjustments before, they submit it. It is looking like Grosvenor are looking to push back with some of the parts of the Area Action Plan. It could go through, or it could be sent back for another 6-week consultation. 

Parish Councillors – Cllr Thomas made everyone aware that The Parish Council had a 45 minute meeting with Blenheim today.  The Parish Council tried to be engaging with them but also quiet firm in what the village wanted. Blenheim admitted in the meeting that they had misread the feeling of the village. If anyone wishes there is an audio copy of the meeting and to email Tracey.

Cllr Metcalf – Brought up the issue that lorries had been reversing and parking in the Tennis again. Tracey to email Alan Aston to advise that the village is getting concerned about the lorries turning in the tennis. 

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

No recent update. Cllr Thomas mentioned that they planted some wildflowers in the church yard.

Chairman of the Allotment Association – wanted to advise the council that they have had nearly 200 of the pledges signed by the residents.  More than 90% have stated that do not want any development on the allotment site or adjacent space.

Member of the Public – They asked if the Neighbourhood Plan is not enough to stop the development on the allotments, would the Parish Council consider making it an Asset of Community Value on the land of the allotments.  Cllr Thomas advised that it wasn’t something that we had heard of and perhaps the member of the public could email Tracey with the details.  He also mentioned that the last lease that the allotment association had with Blenheim was 5 years he has advised that they have renewed it for a further 6 months with takes them to October 2021.  Should Blenheim not renew the lease is there any help that the Parish Council could offer?  Cllr Thomas has advised that the Parish Council would fully back the Allotment Association should Blenheim no renew the lease.

Member of the Public – Asked if he could have a copy of the minutes.  Was advised to email Tracey requesting the minutes.  With regards to the planning consultation with Blenheim there hasn’t been much mentioned about the feelings of the residents on Elms Road. There is a strong objection from the residents of Elms Road on how it is going to impact their lives. Cllr Thomas advised that we had discussed with Blenheim the impact the development would have on the residents of Elms Road also if they were to get planning permission how would the site be serviced with diggers and lorries.

A water main burst in Burley Road this is the old 24-inch water main, which is why the road is shut off.  We understand that there is a hole in the road which is the same size as a fairly large car.  This goes to reiterate our worry about this main that it needs replacing.  Cllr Thomas has advised that he will be writing to Thames Water again to remind them that the next time it could be Cassington Village. Luckily, no one was flooded.

There is also flooding outside Wortons entrance Cllr Thomas met with the Manger of Wortons Farm to look at this.  Cllr Thomas has called Kevin Jack Road Engineer from WODC and he has had a look at it and has sent in some proposals. Hopefully, it will be sorted soon as they can have up to 12 inches of flood water when there is heavy rain.

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

Member of the public brought up that the waste bins along by the Red Lion where the road narrows are being left in the middle of the path by the bin men.  Tracey to send an email to WODC refuse to ask if they could not leave the bins in the middle of the path.

Speedwatch – They are planning to start this again due to the increase in speeding traffic through the village.  Already discussed earlier in the meeting.

Cllr Thomas has spoken to Worton and they are also going to use the speed camera to record speeds going through there.

Tracey met with Annabel from Proludic she is a playground designer to discuss installing a new play area.  This is due to the existing play area starting to look old, there is now constant repairs, and we are also having to replace the bark every 6 months or so due to the harsh weather.  We are looking at speaking to the younger members of the school and showing them, a few designs so that they get some input into the new play equipment.  Tracey to look into grants and also speak to Tara/Martin at WODC.

Payments to be approved:

 Income:

Talk re Neighbourhood Planning by Oneil Hormer

Until last year neighbourhood plans had very little power in managing change especially if they were washed over by the Green Belt. Neighbourhood Planning is a lot easier when the community is working with the local authority.  It is a simple process if you know what you are doing.  The Parish Council controls part of the process and then hands it over to the local authority to finish the process off in terms of the examination stage and the referendum stage.  As a project it is led by the Parish Council from its inceptions to when it hands the paperwork over for the examination. There is a lot of flexibility of when and how you engage the community, and the scope of what you would like in the neighbourhood plan.  It must relate to things that require planning permission.  Cllr Thomas explained about the proposed development from Blenheim Estates.  You cannot use Neighbourhood Plans to stop development you can only use it to stop development in bad places.  The grant available from the Government extends up until March 2022 which is normally how long it takes the neighbourhood plans that Oneill Hormer support to take. 8/10 time the grant will be enough to meet all of their costs which mean that the Parish Council wouldn’t need to spend any of its own money.

Most Parish Councils set up a steering group.  The Parish Council is what is known as the qualifying body in the regulations which means that the project has to be in the name of the Parish Council but it can delegate to a steering group pretty much everything apart from the publication of the formal draft of the neighbourhood plan and the publication and submission of the final of the neighbourhood plan.  Most steering groups are between 6-12 people.  It can compromise of a mixture of Parish Councillors and any other member of the village that you wish to have.  It is good to have the steering group chaired by a Parish Councillor that can report back to the Parish Council.  It helps keep the steering group and the Parish Council working closely together.  It is also a good idea for the Parish Council to write some terms of reference laying out the things that are to be delegated and what needs to be reported on and when.

APPLICATION NO: 20/02663/LBC – 20/02662/HHD

PROPOSAL: Erection of a new fully glazed conservatory to the rear elevation

LOCATION: Bell Cottage Bell Lane Cassington

APPLICANT: Mr Kevin Dunne

i) Update on Website – Tracey advised that she hadn’t received any pictures.  But is starting to work on the website.

ii) Horsemere Lane/Cassington Lights – A letter was received from OCC that they have a simulation of traffic flows and that 300 or more cars that may come from Horsemere Lane will make no difference to Cassington Lights.  Cllr Thomas thinks that they Parish Council should be able to see the simulation and the data that goes with it to see how OCC have worked this out. Cllr Thomas suggests that we write to ask for this information and if OCC will not give it too us then we should request it under the FOI Act. Cllr Metcalf agrees that we need to see this information.  Cllr Thomas has asked OCC when they last did a traffic survey on Horsemere Lane.  Cllr King advised that she uses Horsemere Lane everyday and has not seen another traffic survey since before Cllr Thomas came onto the council.

iii) Housing Needs Survey – The Parish Council has requested that Tracey contact Tom McCulloch at Oxfordshire First to get the process started.

When the Council had the meeting today with Blenheim, they advised that the information that they received from WODC suggested that there were a lot more people needing housing in Cassington than the Council were aware of.

iv) Christmas Tree – Cllr Thomas has been in contact with Blenheim with regards to the Christmas and that it should be delivered by the start of December. Cllr Thomas and Cllr Butlin are going to try and get it up on 11^th December as The Rotary Club are visiting the village and will park in the car park of the Village Hall.  There will also be a post box for the children to post their letters to Santa and there will also be music playing. We will put up barriers to help with social distancing.

Mid Monthly Planning Meeting – 18^th November 2020 @ 8pm via Zoom

Date of the next Parish Council Meeting – Thursday 3^rd December 2020 @ 7.30pm via Zoom