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Minutes 96
Minutes of the Meeting of Hanwell Parish Council
held on Wednesday, 11th September 2013 at 7.30 pm
Present: Councillors: John Spratt (Chairman), Arnold Bailey, Charles Nixon-Eckersall, Giles Dessain, John Hart
Jayne Gordon, Clerk (minutes)
CDC Councillors: Cllrs Doug Webb, George Reynolds
Apologies: Gordon Polson
Declarations of interest: None
451 Minutes of last Parish Council Meeting
The minutes of the meetings held on 10th July 2013 were taken as read and signed as being a true and accurate record.
452 Matters Arising
a. Drains and Kerbing
The issue of the drains in the village, and possible kerbing of a section of the verge, was discussed. It was felt that a lot of the erosion that was seen last year was largely due to the very wet weather that persisted throughout the year. It was agreed that a close watch should be kept on the possible areas of concern.
b. Hanwell Bus Service
The clerk has obtained from Tim Darch (CDC) a list of the buses that operate through the villages on the other side of the Southam Road.
These are Northamptonshire’s County Connect service, to which Oxfordshire contributes a small amount and which serves Cropredy and Great Bourton amongst other villages.
In addition, Service 277 provides a frequent service from Cropredy to Banbury and Service 66 links Little Bourton with Banbury several times a day. Both these services are subsidised by Warwickshire with no financial input from Oxfordshire.
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It was decided that, as Hanwell is about the only village without a subsidised bus service, Tim Darch should be contacted again to see if it would be possible for one of these buses to come across the Southam Road and pick people up from Hanwell.
Action: Clerk
c. Re-siting of Village Stone
After further discussion on the feasibility and desirability of moving the village stone, it was agreed that, for the time being, the stone should remain where it is.
d. Letter to M Gault
Cllr Nixon-Eckersall asked if the cheque received from Mr Gault for the repair of the mower had been cashed.
Cllr Spratt informed the meeting that the cheque had not been cashed. The reason for this was that, in reply to the parish council’s letter asking for payment, Mr Gault sent a cheque to the parish council but indicated that he was paying under protest as he had, over the years, put a lot of work into mowing the grass in the village.
Cllr Spratt took the view that, rather than get into the issues of the matter with Mr Gault, the best course of action would be to inform him that the cheque would not be cashed under the circumstances.
It was agreed that the matter was now closed.
453 RoSPA report of inspection of Play Area and Playing Field
The RoSPA report has been circulated to the members. The report concluded that no action needed to be taken on either the playing field or the play area. It was recommended that some more bark chippings be laid around the equipment in the play area in due course. As more chippings have already been put down this year, it was agreed that this would be done next year.
454 Letter from George Reynolds re Community Grants/Highway Fund
A letter was received from George Reynolds advising of two funds that Hanwell Parish Council is eligible for. These are:
1. There is a £10,000 fund available for community grants. This can be anything that helps village groups. Cllr Reynolds would like to be able to try and share it around the villages, so there might be in the region of £500 available to Hanwell. Either the Parish Council can apply for a grant for work that they do for the community, or a group itself can apply for a
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grant. This fund is only available until the end of January next year and it has to be for a capital scheme.
2. There is a highway fund which can be used for maintenance items. Any proposals have to be agreed by Maurice Sheehan before funds can be allocated.
Various ideas were discussed by the members, including the purchase and erection
of some proper goalposts on the playing field. In addition, it was agreed that the
Village Hall Committee should be asked if there was anything that the village hall
might need that would help to support the various activities that take place in the
village. All suggestions to be discussed at the next meeting, when a decision on
how to allocate the money would be decided.
Action: Cllr Bailey
Action: Clerk
455 Park Close Allotments
A situation arose in the summer months at the allotments in Park Close, in that the tenants of No 10 had not been looking after their allotment and so the weeds had taken over the ground and were going to seed. This upset some of the other tenants who did not want the weeds on their own allotments. John Blake took matters into his own hands and cut down and burnt the weeds on No 10. The clerk was contacted by both John Blake and John Jemmett (the allotment holders representative) about this.
Subsequent to this happening, Cllr Dessain spoke to one of the other allotment holders who informed him that the matter was resolved as No 10 allotment had been properly tidied up.
456 Cherwell Local Plan
Cllr Spratt summed up the situation. Hanwell Parish Council pursued every avenue possible with regard to the proposed sites in the Local Plan and the subsequent planning applications. The letter sent to Barry Wood had been circulated to all members, as had Mr Wood’s reply. Cllr Spratt discussed Mr Wood’s reply with Alan Jones and it was agreed that nothing more could be done with any hope of success. Cllr Reynolds agreed with this summary. Cllr Reynolds informed the members that the Miller Homes application for the Drayton site had been turned down – the reason being that it was not in the Local Plan. There are currently a number of appeals underway which have been launched by developers for sites in Hook Norton and Bloxham. The results of these are due out at the end of September.
It was felt that the parish council’s next action on this matter would revolve around the conditions on the more detailed planning permission.
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457 Cherwell Boundary Review
Cllr Nixon-Eckersall attended a meeting held by Cherwell District Council about this.
Cllr Reynolds informed the meeting that Drayton and Hanwell parish boundaries are going to be altered so that the new housing is not included in these parishes, but will belong to Banbury instead. This will not take place until 2016, which means that there will not be a parish council election in Hanwell or Drayton until 2016.
Following discussion it was mostly thought that the boundary change is probably not something that the parish council should resist as it might not be in the best interests of Hanwell village to have the new housing included in the parish. Cllr Nixon-Eckersall indicated that the Parochial Church Council would be interested in having the new housing included in the parish as it would be beneficial to the church.
Cllr Reynolds offered to find out further information on this matter. He has seen a map regarding the boundary changes which has been circulated by Cherwell District Council. As the clerk had not seen this map, Cllr Reynolds offered to arrange to have a copy sent to her.
Action: Cllr Reynolds
458 Audit Results for Annual Return for year ended 31st March 2013
The external audit of the Annual Return for Hanwell Parish Council has been completed by BDP. There were no issues arising from the audit. The annual return was presented to the members and was approved and accepted by the parish council. The annual return and the conclusion of the audit would now be placed in the village notice board for a period of 14 days.
459 a. Planning Applications 13/00946/F
Mr Michael Stoddard
Walnut Cottage, 14 Main Street, Hanwell
Oak framed orangery extension at rear to replace existing conservatory.
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b. CDC Planning Approval: 13/00946/F
Mr Michael Stoddard
Walnut Cottage, 14 Main Street, Hanwell
Oak framed orangery extension at rear to replace existing conservatory.
460 A.O.B
a.
Cheques issued 11th July - 11th September 2013 / 0.00100675 / 12/07/13 / Jayne Gordon / Payment for extra work re Local Plan, etc / 250.00
100676 / 17/01/13 / Cancelled / Incorrect name on cheque / 0.00
100677 / 17/07/13 / AON UK Limited / Mower insurance / 578.46
100678 / 20/08/13 / Jayne Gordon / Clerk Salary, July/August/September 2013 / 499.98
100679 / 20/08/13 / Play Safety Limited / RoSPA inspection and report AUG 2013 / 156.00
b. Post Received
Distributed as received.
c. The clerk reported that the tax disc for the Countax mower had been renewed. In addition, the mower insurance has been renewed for the next year.
d. It was agreed that the mowing contract should be reviewed at the end of the mowing season.
e. Cllr Bailey has been asked by Malcolm Rayner to raise the issue of the neatness of the village, in particular the path outside of ‘The Shambles’ which is very overgrown with weeds.
Cllr Nixon-Eckersall reported that there is a similar problem on the path down from the church (opposite the play area) which has become very overgrown and needs cutting back.
After discussion, it was agreed that the both paths needed to be cleared. Cllr Dessain undertook to clear both of these paths.
Action: Cllr Dessain
f. Cllr Dessain asked if the grass could be improved on the playing field as it has a large amount of weeds growing in it. After discussion, it was agreed that this could possibly be something that Cllr Reynolds’s grant could be used for. It was agreed that Cllr Hart would provide a quotation for this work.
Action: Cllr Hart
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There being no other business, the meeting was concluded at 8.25 pm
The next meeting will be held on Wednesday, 6th November
at 7.30 pm in Hanwell Village Hall
… Continued