Minutes of the Meeting of Kidlington Parish Council Held At

Minutes of the meeting of Kidlington Parish Council held at

Exeter Hall, Oxford Road, Kidlington on

Thursday 15th September 2005.

Present: Councillor Chris Pack (Chair)

Councillor D Betts

Councillor S Bird

Councillor J Garlick

Councillor A Graham

Councillor Carole Pack

Councillor D Rae

Councillor C Robins

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Apologies:

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors D Atsoparthis, S Colverson, R Laynes, S Laynes, A Moss, J Ruiz and J Stansby.

Declarations of Interest:

None

1. Minutes

The Minutes of the meeting of Kidlington Parish Council held on Thursday 30th June 2005 were agreed and signed as a true record.

1. Matters arising from the minutes of the meeting held on Thursday 30th June 2005

(i)Horse Riding at St Mary’s Fields (Public Participation and minute 29)

The Chair had received a letter from Mrs Clark who had been annoyed at the Councils decision to prohibit ponies’ access. The Chair had replied explaining the issues.

(ii)Real Time Information (Minute 17(2))

The Real Time Information system though still under test was now working

adequately according to County Council Officers.

(iii)Sustrans (Minute 19)

The Chair and Vice Chair had met with the riders of whom there were

approximately 30 at 10.30am on the previous Friday. A very pleasant meeting

had taken and the Parish Council had been presented with a Sustrans millennium

book which was a very interesting read.

(iv)Orchard Recreation Ground (Minute 31)

It was reported that the Chair and the Chair of Environmental and Amenities

were to meet with the football club and the Chairman of the Recreational Trust

on site on the forthcoming Wednesday.

1. Minutes of Committees

Consideration was given to the following committees which were confirmed and adopted:

a)Planning Committee - 7th July 2005

b)Environmental and Amenities Committee - 14th July 2005

(i) CanalBridge (Minute 15 (3))

It was noted that Councillor Moss had reported to the Committee that

the canal bridge had support full support from the Woodland Trust the

Environment Agency, Cherwell District Council, Oxford County Council

and British Waterways as well as both Parish Councils and the Stratfield

Brake Management Committee.

c)Finance Committee - 21st July 2005

(i) Internal Auditor (Minute 7 (2))

The Council AGREED the recommendation of the Finance Committee to re-appoint Mr Roger Signs for a further year to act as internal auditor.

d)Planning Committee – 4th August 2005

(i) McCarthy and Stone Limited – 234-236 Oxford Road and

Bowood House

It was reported that the subsequent McCarthy and Stone application had

been refused at the meeting of the South area planning committee held

earlier that evening.

e) Environmental and Amenities Committee – 25th August 2005

f) Planning Committee – 1st September 2005

(i) Land adjoining a north west of 2 Exeter Road (Public

Participation) Minute 152

The Chair had visited the highways office asking why permission had been

given for access when the building had not been approved and it was clear that permission had been given on misleading information. He asked it be noted that a formal request for an instruction to see the work to prepare the access had been issued and that the District Council Planning Office had a commitment that if the application was refused they would enforce a return to grass.

(ii) Appeal Decision – part of garden 26 South Avenue

The Chair having been in attendance at South Area Planning immediately prior to the Council Meeting reported that the Planning Officer had read out extracts from the inspectors report disagreeing with the reasons for refusal. His claim was that no president had been set as all cases would be treated as individuals.

The Planning Officer had warned the committee that this was likely to happen more frequently due to current government guidelines

(g). Exeter Hall – 8th September 2005

(ii) Disabled Lift (Minute 10 (4))

The Chair reported that the Exeter Hall Management Committee had felt

that the removal of the disabled lift was essential on health and safety

grounds and reported that this left the hall with no disabled access facility

though the Management Committee were pledged to continue to look into

a further option as technology changed.

It was noted that compliance with the elect did not necessarily give

independence to ability impaired as use of equipment had to be supervised

1. Stratfield Brake Management Specification

The Council received a letter from Gosford and Water Eaton Parish Council agreeing to the change of the revenue funding agreement to be effective from the following financial year.

1. Land to Rear of Tesco

The Council had been asked to suggest a name for the road passing behind tescos and through the car park and had taken some suggestions from the historical society being: The Laurels, something to do with Dr Milburn or Chicken Run.

The Council rejected all options and instead RESOLVED to recommend that name as Forrester’s Way.

38Financial Matters

(i)Authorization of cheques signed since the last meeting. The Council ratified authorization of all cheques written between 22nd June 2005 and 7th September 2005.

Co-operative Bank PLC (current account) – 81,053.52

National Westminster Bank – 320.44

Payroll payments report – 29,229.61

(ii)Financial Regulations

The Council received the recommendations of Finance Committee to adopt

financial regulations as circulated. RESOLVED to adopt the financial

regulations as recommended by finance committee meeting of the 22nd July

2005.

1. Remembrance Day – 13th November 2005

The Council noted that the remembrance and service parade would take place on Sunday 13th November 2005. The service would be in St Mary’s church at 10am. Wreath laying would take place at the memorial at 10.45 then the parade would form to march up the High Street where Council members would take a salute outside Tesco.

1. Questions to Chair

(i)Development at Co-op

Councillor Graham asked what provision there would be for consultation

for proposal for development on the co-op car park and refurbishment of

the co-op with flats above.

RESOLVED to call an extra-ordinary meeting of the Parish Council to

discuss the proposals with extended public participation.

(ii)Insignia

Councillor Rae asked if consideration could be given to replacing the ribbon

on the chairman’s insignia and while doing so to make this longer

1. Reports to Council

(i) Website Address

The Chair reminded Councillors that a paper had been circulated giving website email

addresses and asking if anyone wished to set up a separate account. Nobody had to date

requested that this be done.

(ii) St Mary’s Church Spire Appeal

The Council were circulated with a leaflet explaining the appeal to raise £250,000 to save the spire at St Mary’s church which was suffering weaknesses and death-watch beetle in the belfry.

The appeal had been launched the previous weekend with Jeremy Paxman. This was an important Kidlington landmark and the ~Council RESOLVED to support the appeal and pass the matter to the Policy Committee for consideration in the forthcoming budget. It was AGREED that as a circular organisation the grant from the Parish Council should be conditional that it went to the steeple and it would be made clear that the donation would be to preserve part of Kidlington’s heritage.

Councillor Robins asked that it be noted that Councillors could give personal contributions.

(iii) Centre’s Management Board

The Chair reported that there had been concerns at the Management Board Meeting held the previous evening that artists had been invited for selection for a feature in the new

Watts Way area. A brief had been prepared that neither the Management Board nor the

Parish Council were aware of.

(iv) Kidlington In Bloom

Councillor Carole pack reported that Kidlington had received a Silver award in the

Thames and Chiltern in Bloom Competition as opposed to the silver gilt achieved

in the previous year.

She was disappointed with this award as most people in Kidlington had approached her

stating that the flower displays had been the best ever.

Currently Kidlington was in the category of large towns which had been won by

Bicester. But next year there would be new classification and Kidlington would be

against Marlow and Henley.

However, the competition was really about self examination of the processes and it

should be noted that Kidlington was mentioned with praise in a number of various

categories within the competition.

(v) St Mary’s Fields

Councillor Carole Pack reported the public meeting on October 4th at Exeter Hall to

discuss a new five year plan.

(vi) Gala Day

Councillor Rae reported that the recent Gala Day had been a great success and could

be considered the best to date. Special thanks were given to all Councillors who had

helped and particularly to staff including the Rangers for their extreme hard work in

organising the event. Special mention was also made for Grace Cottonknight who had

dressed up for the occasion.

Concern had been expressed about the volume of the band which had been an excellent

innovation but may have made it difficult for the operation of the stalls and

consideration may have to be given to this for the future.

(vii) Firework Display

Councillor Rae reported that the firework display at Stratfield Brake was to take place

on Friday 4th November on this occasion due to conflict with sporting activities at the

weekend.

Councillors would be requested to give voluntary assistance on the night.

(viii) Christmas Lights

Councillor Rae reported that the Christmas Light switch on was scheduled for the 6th

December.

(ix) Kaleidoscope Centre

Councillor Rae reported that the AGM at the Kaleidoscope Centre had taken place.

There was pressure to note that the centre still existed and though it continued to look for funding. However, there was a particular need to have additional trustees.

(x) Kidlington Football Club

Councillor Rae reported that recent developments had been undertaken with planning

permission at theYarnton Road site for floodlights stand and hard standing round the

pitch.

Members should be aware that there was a public right of way across the field bordering

the allotment site.

With recent promotion to the Hellenic league and the aforesaid developments there was

an increase in numbers attending matches and a rumour had been made of a fence

around the pitch. A lot of research had been undertaken into the feasibility of this but

it was important to note that this was not happening at the present time and that there

would be a full consultation with the Parish Council should such a proposal be made.

(xi)Vision 2016

The Clerk reported that the third annual review for 2004/2005 of the Cherwell

Community plan to 2016 was available in the office for inspection if members were interested.

(xii) South East Plan

The Clerk reported that she had that day received communication from Oxfordshire County Council on its consultation relating to the building of 21000 new homes in Oxfordshire between 2016 and 2026 as agreed by the South East Regional assembly (SEERA).

A briefing would be taking place aimed at DistrictTown and Parish Councils on Tuesday 27th September at County Hall and all Councillors who were interested were recommended to attend.

The closing date for responses was the 28th October and it was felt that a special meeting of the Parish Council should be held to make these comments.

The topic could be an item for discussion at the same meeting as that to discuss the proposals for the co-op.

Chair

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