Monthly Meeting
Monday 3 December 2007, 8.00pm – at Tiddington Village Hall
Present: Mr
J Nowell-Smith (Chairman and District Councillor), Mr K Field, Mrs E Horne, Mrs
Z Knight, Mrs J Stoker (Clerk), Mrs J Willis, and one member of the public.
1.
Apologies
for Absence
Apologies
were received from Mr D Turner (
2.
Declarations
of Interest
There
were no declarations of interest.
3.
Approval
of previously circulated minutes
The
minutes were approved and signed.
4. Matters arising from previous minutes
a.
OCC Highways matters. Pelican crossing – a copy of a letter to
Boris Johnson from a junior minister from the Ministry of Transport has been
sent to Mr Turner who will make contact with Cllr. David Robertson at County
Hall to discuss the discrepancy in what he told the Parish Council and what the
Minister is saying. Mr Turner is also in discussion about the possibility of a
pavement from the M40 service station to the Wheatley Middle Ground site and on
to Wheatley. Speeding on the A418 - the Clerk
has sent a reminder to the police to ascertain the number of speeders caught
and is awaiting a reply. M40 – Mr Nowell-Smith has discussed the noise
abatement issue with the Chief Executive of SODC, and is hopeful that he may be
able to provide further help.
b.
Provision of dog bins – it was
confirmed that the Parish Council is not covered by the insurance for Mr Field
to erect the bins as a sub-contractor.
He would only be covered if he was an employee of the Parish
Council. The Clerk is obtaining quotes
from Knowles and Scion for this work. Mr
Field will also find out how much it would cost for him to have cover of £10m
in case it would be more cost effective for the Parish Council to pay for this
instead of hiring another contractor.
5.
Planning
matters
a.
P07/W1344 – Highfield House – addition
of WC to previously approved plans.
Decision – approved.
b.
Lassco – request for brown tourist
signs – no objection in principle, however more details will be required via
the planning process before a definitive decision may be made.
6.
Correspondence
a.
SODC core strategy – over the next 18
months, SODC and others will be developing plans and policies for the future
including where new houses will be sited and the services and facilities
communities require. A questionnaire has
been received and was circulated in the wallet.
The clerk will consolidate the responses on behalf of the Parish Council
and questionnaires will be returned by the councillors at the next monthly meeting. A leaflet will accompany the forthcoming
Village Hall committee leaflet drop to advise residents that the Clerk has a
copy of the report and questionnaires.
Mr Nowell-Smith noted that plans for a large settlement at Milton Common
have been ruled out in the current proposal.
b.
Lassco – Mrs Garrett has emailed to let
the Parish Council know that Lassco plan to hold an art week in May, which will
coincide with an anniversary party.
Residents will be welcome.
7.
Financial
matters
a.
The Clerk presented the budget for
consideration. There were additional
unbudgeted costs this year. A grant of
£3000 was made for village hall refurbishment; £2000 of this was budgeted for
the prior year 2006/07 but not paid until this financial year, and a further
£1000 was unbudgeted. The costs of play
area repairs of £1110 were also not budgeted.
It was agreed to increase the precept to £10,000.
b.
Internal Auditor – Mr Rob McKinney had
agreed to take this on.
c.
A donation of £50 to the Friends of
Meadowcroft was proposed by Mr Nowell-Smith and seconded by Mrs Knight.
d.
Payment of £1,304.25 to Trevor Stewart
Play Equipment for play area repairs was proposed by Mrs Horne and seconded by
Mrs Knight. The Clerk was asked to
circulate the ROSPA report detailing the repairs.
e.
Payment of £552.96 to Raymond J Bradley
for village hall entrance flooring was proposed by Mrs Knight and seconded by
Mrs Horne.
f.
Payment of £423.01 to Robinsons Garden
Care for mowing the playing field and churchyard was proposed by Mrs Knight and
seconded by Mrs Willis.
8.
Open
discussion
a.
Mrs Knight asked that planning decision
notices from SODC be included on the agenda in future.
b.
Neighbourhood policing – Mrs Horne and
Mrs Knight will attend the meeting on 5th December at
c.
Mrs Horne reported that there had been
a burglary at Milton Common. It appears
that the perpetrators are after cash only.
There had also been an attempted break in at Lassco, and there were more
instances of immigrants being dropped off at the Lantern and on the A418. Mrs Horne asked that if anyone in the village
sees anything suspicious to contact her.
d.
Neighbourhood Watch for Tiddington – no
one has come forward yet.
e.
Vacancy for Parish Councillor – one or
two enquiries had been made to councillors, but nothing official has been
received.
f.
Mrs Willis reported that the light at
the bus shelter opposite the Fox has not yet been replaced despite being
reported. The Clerk to contact OCC
again.
g.
Mr Field noted that there were a lot of
water leaks at the moment.
h.
Mrs Knight reported that the gully
outside Chestnut cottage is blocked again; the Clerk is to contact OCC.
i.
The Clerk has tendered her resignation
which was accepted by the Parish Council. The post has been advertised in the
recent newsletter.
j.
It was agreed that the boardroom table
arrangement was a change for the better and that this would be kept for future
meetings.
9. Date of next
meeting
Monday
7 January 2008 at 8.00pm
There
being no further business the meeting closed at 9.25pm.