LEAFIELD PARISH COUNCIL MEETING
Wednesday 6th November at 8.00pm, Village Hall
DRAFT
Attendees:Juli King – Chair (JK), Luke Caunt – Vice Chair (LC), Dan Thorton (DT), Lucy Thorton (LT), Jackie Hitchman (JH), Kieran Mullins (KM)
Helen Fallows, Parish Clerk.
1 Members of the Public
Minutes
1. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
Kate Tustin
Juli officially welcomed Dan, Lucy and Jackie onto the Council after their co-option and completing all necessary paperwork.
2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES
The minutes of the meeting (copies of which had previously been circulated by email) were formally approved and signed.
3. DECLARATION OF INTEREST ON ITEM ON THE AGENDA
The Parish Council declared an interest in the car park as joint trustees and responsibility for the Village Greens.
Luke Caunt had 2 declarations of interest, one as a member of staff at Thames Valley Police, and one as he has a property that backs onto the car park.
4. REVIEW OF ACTIONS FROM THE LAST MEETING
1) To look at costs for covered bus shelters and what is available – Lower End. ACTION: Still to be looked into.
2) Parish Clerk to arrange moving PC archives to be stored in the Pavilion. The Youth Club also has some items to be moved/stored – Juli King to look into. ACTION: Still to be arranged – waiting on the Gym to be finished so there is room to move the PC cupboard.
3) Parish Clerk to speak with Highways Department at Oxford CC regarding process for installing speed bumps. Also to raise issue of chicane at the end of Fairspear Road which needs repairing (it has already been raised with them). ACTION: In progress.
4) Parish Clerk to look into other cinema club schemes to see if Leafield could join forces and put on showings in the Village Hall on alternative dates. ACTION: Still to do.
5) Parish Clerk to review how much scanning is required by going through Archives. IN PROGRESS
6) Parish Clerk to add the Pavilion onto the Village Hall lease via a Solicitor. The Pavilion will need to be registered with the Land Registry prior to this. ACTION: This is in progress but further discussion is needed between the PC and the VH Committee.
7) After the Fete AGM was cancelled, if another meeting is rearranged, the Parish Clerk will put a notice in the Leafield Newsletter insert. DONE
8) Include a budget review on the Agenda for next month – we will then look at where we are at the 6 month position. A closed Budget Meeting will also be held in November (Wednesday 12th) for all councillors to attend to set the budget for next year. DONE
9)Parish Clerk to confirm the distance between the trees and the Old Chapel house, and compare to recommended distances. Also to speak to Nick Dalby regarding the distances, and the homeowner’s proposal to remove the current trees and plant others further away from the house. IN PROGRESS
10)Parish Clerk to book temporary repairs for the Village Hall car-park. These have been completed on Wednesday 22nd October. DONE. Parish Clerk will also look into purchasing some signs for the car-park to say “Disabled and Emergency Access only” and “Loading and unloading only – please do not park to protect fragile car-park”.
11)Parish Clerk to add article into newsletter/website regarding vandalism/damage to fencing in car-park and village green.DONE
12)To add Grass Cutting onto the Agenda for next month to review the areas for grass cutting, and the frequency at present, to enable the tender to be prepared. DONE
13)Parish Clerk to check whether Pavilion can be removed from insurance cover at a later date. If this can be done, arrangements will be made for the cheque to be signed after this meeting, and the insurance renewed. DONE
5. CORRESPONDENCE FOR VIEWING
5.1 Mobile Library Consultation (received 06/10/2014): Review of Mobile Library Service Consultation which runs from 06/10/2014 – 31/12/2014. Posters have been displayed on the noticeboards and shop and letters have been sent by the library to users. Discussion regarding the removal of this service, would affect Leafield residents who don’t have access to other libraries. ACTION: Dan Thorton would submit a response on behalf of Parish Council/village.
Councillor Kieran Mullins arrived at the meeting.
5.3 Letter from Cornbury Park regarding damage to Village Green Posts (received 03/10/2014) stating they would forward on the details to the organisers of the Wilderness Festival.
5.4 Email from the organisers of the Wilderness Festival regarding the damage to the Green posts (received 03/10/2014) saying they would reimburse the Council for the cost of repairing the damage to the posts – this has already been done. A vigilant resident who saw the incident happen reported it to the Parish Clerk who contacted Cornbury Park.
Planning Applications received
5.2. 14/1323/P/FP:Leafield Pig Farm, Purrants Lane – Erection of two storey side extension with new porches to front and rear elevations. No objections raised.
5.5. 14/1417/P/FP:11 Witney Lane – Alterations and erection of two storey side and rear extensions, front porch and new dormer windows to front elevation. No objections raised.
5.6. 14/01607/S73: Lower Farm, Witney Lane – Removal of condition 5 of planning permission 07/1279/P/FP to allow the existing garage to be used as ancillary accommodation to the main dwelling. As this would not require any additional parking requirements, there were no objections raised.
5.7 14/01559/P/FP: Acre End House, Hatching Lane – Variation of condition 2 of planning permission 13/0201/P/FP to allow minor amendments to previously approved scheme including new balcony, door, arched window leading to balcony and altered south facing loft window. No objections raised.
5.8 Email from Chair of Village Hall Committee (received 4/11/2014) regarding new tenants in properties either side of the driveway to the Village Hall who have been parking on the driveway. There was discussion over the rights of way on that section and whether this had been given by owner of the house (on the left hand side). ACTION: To follow up with the owner of the house to check right of way.
6. CHEQUES FOR SIGNING
Cheque Number / Payable to / Reason / Amount401514 / Helen Fallows / Overtime (Sept)
Phone top-up
Printer paper
2 x toner cartridge / £269
£ 10
£ 9.99
£ 89.94
Total / £378.93
401515 / Burford School / Printing for newsletter:
September (400)
October (275) / £20
£13.75
Total / £33.75
401516 / Thames Water / Bill for Pavilion from Aug 2014 – Oct 2014 / £15.88
401517 / A.C.S Bower Ltd / Village Hall Car-park temporary repairs / £600
401518 / Playsafety Ltd / RoSPA Playground Inspection 2014 / £181.20
401519 / S A Barnes / Grass cutting (October) / £495.65
401520 / DJ Tonks Electrical / 2nd fix Pavilion Electrics / £1652.50
401521 / Cotswold Security System / Door access system for Gym / £1290
401522 / Benefice Newsletter / Donation towards delivery of ‘Leafield newsletter’ for October and November / £40
Total Spend: / £4,687.91
Incoming funds:
£2763.50: Payment from Leafield pre-school for works to part 2 of canopy, less VAT
£654.47: Credit from Thames Water following accurate water meter reading
£1800: Payment from Aviva for the felling of the Horse Chestnut tree, less VAT
£110: Payment from the Wilderness Festival for the repairs to the Village Green posts
£250: Payment from the Village Hall for 50% of costs for temporary repairs
7. LEAFIELD VILLAGE HALL UPDATES
7.1 Members of the Village Hall committee met with an architect to look at the Village Hall and see where it could be extended. This was the first stage meeting. The Parish Council and VH committee need to meet and discuss this further, to talk about what the ambitions are for the Village Hall. A closed meeting has been booked between the PC and VH committee for Monday 24th November at 8pm.
7.2 The committee would like to put a noticeboard on the outside of the hall – a closed one for Hall notices and information. There is only enough space for a small closed noticeboard. There was also discussion about having an open board on the outside wall of the Pavilion (which would be protected from weather from the roof). This could be half open and half closed. ACTION: Costs of noticeboards to be looked into.
7.3 The committee would like to put out a survey to the village regarding improvements to the hall and to gather interest in potential new groups/classes, to prove to the organisers that people would attend. There could be a summary in the Leafield newsletter regarding this to let people know the survey was coming.
7.4 Pre-school water tap: They would liketo have an outside tap installed, to beable to clean the path and playground and they plan to have planting areas inthe garden and this would make it easier for watering. They would pay for this and use a plumber and make sure it was very secure .i.e. the tap would be in a padlocked box. No objections were raised by the councillors.
8. BUDGET REVIEW
The PC accounts are updated monthly and these were reviewed at the meeting after being sent to the councillors in advance of the meeting. There have been projects in the year requiring extra spending including the Gym project and Pre-school garden project, but grants have been received for these, less the VAT which will be reclaimed. Money received for the car-park project from Lord Rotherwick (£250) was put towards the temporary repairs completed earlier in the month. Other spending during the year so far is generally under budget.
A closed PC meeting is being held on Wednesday 12th November to discuss the budget for 2014-15. In preparation to this the expected payments for the remainder of the year will be entered into the spreadsheet.
9. GRASS CUTTING
The frequency of grass cutting was reviewed as this may need to be reduced as part of the tender. A specification previously used by the Council has been sent to the councillors for review to be used as part of the tender.
The remainder of the discussion has been postponed until the next meeting.
10. TREES ON THE GREEN
10.1 The tender for the Tree Survey has been prepared and will made live as soon as possible.
10.2The Parish Clerk has measured the distance between the trees under review and the house, which are as follows:
Horse chestnut tree - distance is 9m20, recommended distance for the side of the house is 10m.
Field Maple - distance is 6m30, recommended distance for the side of the house is 6m.
The recommended distances have been taken from the Leeds County Council document referred to in the last meeting.
Some advice has been received from Nick Dalby, Landscape and Forestry Officer at WODC regarding this matter. Firstly he advises caution when using standardised tables indicating distances between trees and buildings, as there are so many variables between properties and different parts of the country. He also suggests looking at the public amenity value of the trees under review, as to how significant they are to residents. Also he would be cautious about setting a precedent about removing trees at the request of a resident without evidence of the problems occurring.
An email has also been received from a resident having read the minutes of the previous meeting regarding this subject. They were alarmed by the suggestion of removing trees without the same process of investigation which was applied to the Horse chestnut tree.
The Parish Council discussed the above information. At the present time it is not known whether the movement is being caused by the trees. We have a duty as the landowner to review this matter, but it could set a precedent if investigations are not undertaken. ACTION: It was decided that more information was needed and further advice would be sought from Nick Dalby.
11. LEAFIELD VILLAGE FETE UPDATE
The majority vote taken at the special meeting was to spend the remaining money on a bus shelter/noticeboard in the village. There is £2000 in the fete account, however the cost for a new shelter could be £3000 therefore additional fundraising would be needed, or grants could be looked into.
Most of the Fete committee have resigned, including the Chair, Vice-chair, Secretary and Treasurer, therefore unless other residents in the village come forward, there may not be a Fete in 2015. The Parish Council would like to see the Fete return so will arrange a meeting in January to be held at the Village Hall for any interested residents to attend that may be able to help.
12. HORSE CHESTNUT TREE UPDATE
A number of ideas have been suggested so far. Advice has also been sought from local company Go Wild Landscapes who had some other suggestions for the renovation of the area. So far the ideas include:
1.A replacement tree. The options we have are:
Rowan
Silver Birch - group of 3
Service Tree
A number of trees have been suggested – a vote will be made available to the residents of Leafield to choose their favourite. This will be in the newsletter and the website and the decision will be made in January, taking into account all the votes. ACTION.
2. Lavender hedging to run around the lower half of the circle and around the back of the bench plinth. A local resident has requested to situate a bench on the plinth (where there was one previously) in memory of relatives.
3. Wildflower turf for the upper half of the circle: mixed perennial wildflowers applied as turf rolls (as these are more reliable than seed).
4. Native mixed hedgerow to run around the top half of the circle.
5. A variety of bulbs to come up in the spring and autumn including snowdrops, bluebells and autumn flowering crocus.
6. Cast iron stag and doe statues:these were suggested to remind us that the village is surrounded by woodland.
13. PLAY AREA INSPECTION
The play area was inspected and a few minor repairs were found. The repairs will be arranged and the cost of these reported back. ACTION: Repairs to be arranged.
14. VILLAGE HALL CAR-PARK
The temporary repairs on the car-park have been completed at a cost of £500 +VAT. The Village Hall committee have paid 50% of this.
The long-term project is under review and we are waiting on the specification for the tender. One of the options is a tarmac scheme, but will this help the water drainage?
The Parish Council need to decide on whether to go for the whole scheme first of all, or should we concentrate on the next worst section first? We may need professional advice to move forward. The test holes have not yet been dug so we don’t know what is underneath the concrete section.
The next steps – allocate money to get professional advice on how to progress, undertake test holes, decided what we are tendering for (part of the car-park or the whole scheme).
ACTION: Ask OALC/ORCC for advice regarding this, or look at other local Parishes.
15. PAVILION / GYM PROJECT UPDATES
A review of the finances and purchases to date has been completed by the Parish Clerk and these are all in order so far. The membership costs have been published and there were some questions raised by the Council about the discounts for the yearly membership against the pay monthly option. These have been based on the model at Shipton gym.
As landlords of the gym, the Parish Council need to review and set the rent for the gym and discuss the gym. This will need to include a review of the expenses, overheads and projection figures.
16. SPRING PLANTING
Suggestions have been put forward by councillors for a variety of bulbs to be planted in the village – these will be planted around the signs at the entrance to the village and in some beds to be made around the Greens. A notice was included in the Leafield newsletter to ask for volunteers to join in the planting. Bulbs will be purchased, amount agreed on £150 for bulbs and planters.
17. SUGGESTED ITEMS FOR NEXT MEETING
18. ANY OTHER BUSINESS
None
Meeting closed at 10.45pm.
The time and date for the next Parish Council meeting will be Wednesday 6th November 2014
Signed:______(LPC Chairman) Date:______
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