BALDONS PARISH COUNCIL
Minutes of the Parish Council
Meeting held on Monday 8th January, 2018
Attendees
Apologies / Dorothy Tonge (Chair) (DT), Charles Barclay (Vice-Chair) (CB), Stephen Dance (SD), Elizabeth Gillespie (EG), John Maskell (JM), Sue Lawson (SL) SODCLisa Fermer (LF) (Clerk) and 3members of the public.Lorraine Lindsay-Gale (LLG) OCC Laurence Attewill (LA),
Ref / Item / Notes / Action
001/18 / Introduction / The Chair, Dorothy Tonge, welcomed all present and wished them a Happy New Year.
002/18 / Declarations / No declarations of interest were made.
003/18 / Minutes of the November Meeting / The minutes of the Baldons Parish Council meeting held on 13.11.17were approved by the meeting and signed by the Chair, typing change to page 1 required. / Approved
004/18 / Matters Arising / Blenheim Corner- quote for £400 from Martin Drew accepted on proviso rubbish is removed. Work has not yet been started.
Clearing of the ditch- Martin Delafield has agreed to complete, will receive payment.
Replacement Tree- DT has asked, CB to take responsibility for purchase and planting, agreed £100 to be spent on tree, staking and guarding.
005/18 / Open Forum / Grant for churchyard mowing- previous grant of £600 given for maintenance of both churchyards, actual cost was £986. PC were asked to consider an increased grant for this year. Churchyards now looking very well maintained and the support is much appreciated by the church.. PC agreed to an increased grant of £800 for this year but thereafter an annual review and consideration of inflationbut not a large yearly increase in the grant.
006/18 / Village Matters / Repairs around The Green
Briefing note and paper received from SD, please see paper 1 at end of the minutes. The paper highlights the problems and pressures with regards to parking outside the school and pub and driving on the south side of The Green. Solutions are also put forward including stakeholder contributions due to large capital spending requirement and need for ongoing maintenance.
The paper asks for the consent of the PC to
- open dialogue with stakeholders and put together costed propositions with details and prices of technical solutions. Obtain agreement from stakeholders and agree a delivery plan over time
- Give degree of priority to the situation outside the school
- Erect sign on the south side of The Green as temporary measure to discourage driving.
Councillors agreed to fund the NO DRIVING ON THE GREEN notice at a cost of £275 + VAT. / SD to present costed options at the March meeting
CB to action
007/18 / Treasurers Report and Finance / Discussion regarding increasing the village precept. JM has been in discussion with Stephen Guard at SODC, no referendum is required to increase the precept up to a certain amount, Also discussed the amount to be held as balance in the account. Suggestion that some capital could be used to fund some of the repairs needed outside the school. At present there is no concrete figure or evidence for this project to increase the precept above the level of inflation.
Recommendation for 3% increase to the precept proposed by SD and adopted by all
Request for new church gates to be funded from Baldon Feast monies, 2 estimates obtained for approximately £1700 per gate. PC agreed that this was not currently a priority and suggests that monies be requested from the Millenium Committee. / DT
008/18 / Oxford to Cambridge Expressway Report / Lobbying by local group to petition OCC for a public enquiry regarding site and route. Group had representation at national meeting, expertise required to gather evidence for public enquiry. No further action required from PC other than to support local group.
009/18 / Report from Oxfordshire County Council
(OCC) / See paper 2
010/18 / Report from South Oxford District Council (SODC) / See paper 3
011/18 / Neighbourhood Plan Update / In final draft stage, minor alterations being made following comments from external bodies. This will then be ready to submit to SODC followed by a referendum in the village. Following inspectors enquiry can be adopted by SODC.
PC to authorise that current version can be submitted for the next stages. Proposed by SD, seconded by JM.
012/18 / Planning Applications / P17/S4051/FUL
32 The Green Marsh Baldon OX44 9LP
Change of Use for Land from Agricultural to Garden Status
PC to support
P17/S4270/HH
44 The Green Marsh Baldon OX44 9LP
Demolition of recent single storey lean to, and construction of new flat roof single storey extension to the rear.
PC to support
P17/S4425/HH
4 Baldon Lane Marsh Baldon OX44 9LT
Demolition of the existing detached garage. One and a half storey side extension. Enlargement of existing entrance gates to driveway.
PC to support with qualifying remarks
P17/S4348/LB and P17/S4347/HH
31 Toot Baldon OX44 9NE
Erection of a single storey side extension to provide additional bedroom and en suite shower room
PC to support with comments regarding materials
013/18 / Correspondance / Letter received from Carol Trinder regarding problems with wall in Toot Baldon- PC spoke with Savills on 5.1.18, to be looked into again.
Freedom of Information request received and responded to, clarificationnewsletter required
Parish Council Compliance with National Policies
Transparency code LINK
Data Protection Policy
Freedom of Information
Information on village website such as finance, councillor details and policies to be increased.Need to be clear what information is held by coucillors.
Letter from Oxfordshire Association for the Blind requesting contribution, PC to make donation of £50.
014/18 / Any other business / No other business
015/18 / Diary Dates / Date for village clean up agreed as Sunday 8th April
016/18 / Dates of the next meetings / Monday12th March
Monday 9th April Annual Parish Meeting
Monday 14th May Annual General Meeting
Monday 9th July
All meetings to be held at 7.30pm in the Marsh Baldon Village Hall
Paper 1
Parking on the Green andlong termmaintenance of the Green edges.
Recommendation: That the Parish Council promote a partnership approach between landowners,the School,businesses, developers and residentsto secure the long term amenity of the MarshBaldonGreen.
Financial Implications: Capital is required for immediate repairs tothe parking areas outside the School and the Seven Stars[estimated at c£20,000] and an annual revenue of c. £2,500 is required to maintain the access roads, parking and Green edgesto a reasonable standard. This level of expenditure is beyond thefundingcapacity of the Parish Counciland will require contributions from other stakeholders, including the potential to raise thePreceptfor MarshBaldonresidents.
Timing:The immediate priority is the parking outside the school andthe ParishCouncil is asked to authorise theopening ofdiscussionswith Queens College and the School to enable early action to be taken in this area.
The Parish Council isasked to approve the opening of discussions with other stakeholders around and on the MarshBaldonGreen with a view to developinglong termproposals on the lines set out below. The Council will monitor progress at its meetings during the year with a view toadopting proposals in the Autumn 2018.
Background:
Parking on the Green is becoming a real issue, both for the School(drop off and pickup ,plus staff parking)and the Pub(parking).It is in the interests of the villages forboth of these community assets to operate safely and effectively.
There isalso a problem along the south side of the Green thatis caused by vehicular traffic,not connected to either pub or school, using the Green as a thoroughfare to avoid the potholes on the hard track.
Articulating the issue is easier than finding a solution. The Council has previously agreedthatshort termfixes are not appropriate, so we need to consider a more holistic approach. This involves first setting out the best technical solutions and then agreeing who pays for it.
The Parish Council should note thatit is not the Parish Councils responsibility to maintain these areas and the "damage" is being donepartly by non-residents. Sothere is a question as to the extent to whichthe cost and responsibilityshould fallon Toot and MarshBaldonratepayers?
Technical solutions.
School: PaulFermer(School governor and chair of the resources committee) has undertaken some preliminary work to establishcostedoptions for repairs to the parking outside the school. This does not address the staff parking issues.
This analysis needs to be tested, butin broad terms the capital cost works out at c£1000 per year ofdesign life and theoptimum solutionappears to beto scrape the surface, layhardcoreand roll flat at a cost ofc.£5000 andwith a 5 year design life with care.There are potentially more expensive (Grasscrete) and cheaper(hole filling) options available, but these are either unaffordable or poor value for Money.
Pub: LaurenceAttewilleundertook some exploratory work on this site, butfurther work is needed to confirm and update the costs involved. It is important to try and retain the “green” nature of the surface, soa different technical solution is required to that for the School.
ATerramlayer might cost c.£20,000 witha 10 year life. An alternativemightsignageand annual repairs atc.£2000 per annum. These areestimates only and subject to confirmation.
SouthSide track: No work has been done to assess options and costs involved. However, the lengthof trackinvolved is extensive andthere is no desire to create a racetrack by overspecifiyingthe surface quality. Scraping off,layinghardcoreand rollingwould presumably cost several £000’sand is likely to be unaffordable, unless there is asubstantial capitalcontribution. Filling in and then rolling the holeson a more regular basisis probably the most affordable option. This might cost c.£2000 per annum.
Other tracks around the Green: The tracks to theeast and west of the green are not under such pressure – but on the basis of fairness should included in any holisticscehme. The costs might be£250 per annum.
Costs
All of the above estimates will require checking and validation through a tender process. The ballpark estimates suggest that about £20,000 capital plus£2,500 per annum might be required.
Costs could be reduced if we can access the machinery and labour at below market levels, butthe evidence is thathomespun methods,using villagers,as labourers is not sustainableoverthe long term.
Proposed Fundingsources
The proposedsolution is thatthe parish Councilseeksto pull together a mixed funding fromlandowners, the School, businesses, developers and residents. This will need to be sufficiently robust to pay the initial capital cost and put in place a sinking fund that builds up over time to maintain in the future.
The Parish Councilwould actas commissioner for the works required, subject to confirmed funding contributions from others as below:
- Capital contribution from Parish Funds
- Consideration to raising the precept for MarshBaldonGreenresidents toraise specifically for Green Edge repairs.
- Capital and revenue contribution from the pub.
- Capital and revenue contribution form the school.
- Contribution fromBEC andaper annum pledge from the fireworks (when and if held)
- Capital and Revenue contributions from landowners and developers on the Green.
Next Steps
The Council isasked to agree in principle to investigation of thepropostionoutlined in this paper and to open discussions with relevant stakeholders.
The Council is asked to approve the Chairman and two Councillors to lead this work and report back to subsequent meetings, with a view to approving any proposals in autumn 2018.
The Council is asked to agree that the School areaisan immediate priority.
Paper 2
REPORT TOPARISHCOUNCILSJANUARY2018
FROMCLLR LORRAINE LINDSAY-GALE
COUNCIL PROPOSES FUTURE BUDGET FROM A RESILIENT POSITION
OCCis planning to set a new budget having made difficult choices in previous years to manage a combination of squeezed budgets and the fact that more people need council services–especially in children’s social care and adult social care.At the same timethe council hasbeeninvolving communitiesin services for their locality–ranging from support for older people and those with learning disabilities to library volunteers.The net result is that the council’s finances are in a resilient position looking ahead to the 2018/19 financial year and planning for years up to 2022.Although proposed budget changes are not as extensive as in many previous years, like any organisation the council still has rising financial pressures that need to be matched by new savings so that a balanced budget can be proposed.At the time of writing, plans are based on a Council Tax rise of 4.99% (1.99% referendum limit plus 3% social care precept). However, in December, Central Government announced councils could add an additional 1%, should they so choose. This is currently under consideration. The Budget has to be approved by Cabinet, then Full Council on February 13th. The Budget consultation can be found here:
CRIMINALS TARGET PUBS AND CLUBS TO PEDDLE ILLEGAL TOBACCO
Trading Standards are warning licensees and pub-goers to be on-the-look-out for criminals selling smuggled and counterfeit cigarettes andhand-rolling tobacco. The call for vigilance follows recent research revealing that nearly half (43%) of illegal tobacco customers use pubs and clubs as their main source of supply.Cheap illegal tobacco is attractive to some smokers because it is often sold at half the price of the legal equivalent but its availability helps children to start smoking, brings communities into contact with organised criminals and undermines legitimate local businesses. In October HMRC released figures showing illegal tobacco made up 15% of all cigarettes and 28% of hand-rolling tobacco smoked in the UK. Taxpayers lost around £2.5 billion from the illicit trade in 2016-17. Thismoney, for example,could be used to fund over 50,000 new NHS nurses for a year.Anyone with information relating to illegal tobacco being bought or sold, can report this to Trading Standards by anonymously via the Illegal Tobacco Hotline, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week on 0300 999 6 999 or online at
1 MILLION TONNES OF RUBBISH TRANSFORMED INTO ENERGY ATOCC’SARDLEY PLANT
OCCand its partner Viridor have marked the one millionth tonne of residual waste received atArdleyduring December.TheArdleyplant converts waste into electricity, rather than burying it in landfill. Itproduces enough energy to power 38,000 homes and can export up to 27MW per hour of electricity to the grid.
FIBRE BROADBAND UPDATE
This update covers the following areas: Toot Baldon, Marsh Baldon,Garsington,Stadhampton,NunehamCourtenay,Clifton Hampden,Culhamand Dorchester.
The superfast broadband infrastructure upgrade scheduled for your location has moved from being expected to complete this December, to the first half of 2018. OCCunderstandsthis is likelyto be very disappointing, and the councilwishesto reassureeveryone affectedthat all effort is being made to have this work completed as soon as possible. For context, the programme has achievedit’s95% coverage target on time, but as part of a major infrastructure project which has delivered over 73,000 premises with access to superfast broadband, thereare some instances where mostly engineering related challenges have not been overcome in time for completion by December. These instances are normally related to gaining access wayleaves, high cost structures needing re-planning, collapsed ducts requiring new track (with commensurate traffic management notice periods), or in some cases a technology change where we are not confident the proposed new technologies such as Fibre to the Remote Node, will be properly deployed.
If you would like to have further specific information in respect of your location, please see our website map contact us and we will provide you with all the information we have, and if necessary we can arrange a call in the New Year to discuss this with you.
SNOW GUIDE
December saw substantial snowfall across the county. OCC has produced a useful guide for snow clearance and acopy is available here
Paper 3
January 2018District Councilors Report
Sue Lawson
Put your real tree to good use after Christmas – recycle it!
Residents in Southern Oxfordshire are being encouraged to make sure their real Christmas trees are put to good use by recycling them.
Garden waste customers simply need to leave their real tree next to their brown bins on their usual collection day:
• week commencing Monday 15 January in South Oxfordshire
However, residents do not have to be signed up to garden waste collections to recycle their real trees. They simply need to take it along to one of the drop-off points being set up by South Oxfordshire District Council.
Details of the drop-off locations are available on the councils’ website.
Last year a total of 2,384 real Christmas trees were collected and recycled from the various drop off points in Southern Oxfordshire. This is in addition to the trees that were left next to the brown garden waste bins.
Helping residents keep warm and healthy this winter
Residents in southern Oxfordshire concerned about keeping warm and managing their energy billsarebeing encouraged to contact an advice service for help.
The Better Housing Better Health service, funded by South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse District Councils alongside the county’s other district councils and Oxfordshire County Council, helps people who are vulnerable to the effects of living in cold homes over the winter period.