TIDDINGTON WITH ALBURY PARISH COUNCIL

Monthly Meeting

Monday 5 July, 2004, 8.00pm – at Tiddington Village Hall

MINUTES

Present: Mr J Nowell-Smith (Chairman and District Councillor), Mr R Boughton, Mr A Stratton and Mr W Tremayne.

1. Apologies

Mr K Field, Mrs J Willis and Mrs A Purse (County Councillor).

2. Approval of previously circulated minutes

Previously circulated minutes were approved and signed.

3. Matters arising from previous minutes

a. OCC Highway matters – Mr Nowell-Smith had met with Peter Ronald of OCC and Mrs Purse to discuss traffic calming in Sandy Lane. Various options were suggested including making the lower part one-way, but none were considered useful in addressing the problem of speed. Further warning signs may be considered. Ickford Road was also studied at the meeting and OCC will liaise with Buckinghamshire County Council regarding a weight restriction on the Ickford bridges.

Mr Tremayne had emailed Brian Fell of OCC regarding HGV s turning in the village. A reply indicated that the traffic engineer will look at the possibility of a sign at the Waterstock turn. Meanwhile Mr Tremayne had two further examples (of cars) and The Fox landlord had witnessed a lorry turning and damaging the kerbing outside the pub. Clerk to email details to Brian Fell.

b. Street light on A418 – Mr Field had met with Alan Cockbill of OCC to finalise positioning of the pole and light and they have now been ordered.

c. Overgrown hedge, Milton Common - Mr Tremayne reported that the hedge had been trimmed by contractors working for OCC.

d. Affordable housing – Oxford Citizens’ Housing Association (OCHA) and South Oxfordshire Housing Association (SOHA) had made presentations to Councillors on 7 June and following that meeting, opinions on who to choose for the project had been divided equally between the two and it was agreed to discuss further when the tenants’ satisfaction surveys for 2003 had been received and studied. It was agreed at this meeting that a decision needed to be made and a vote was taken. Again opinion was equally divided and the Chairman used his casting vote in favour of OCHA. This decision will be reported to Suzanne Willers.

e. Footpath matters – Mr Tony Clark from the Ramblers Association had invited the Council to attend a meeting with Councillor A Purse to discuss problems with footpath 5 access and the opening up of footpath 17. Mr Tremayne had attended and put the case for using footpath 19 only as this was safer and was a virtual duplication of no 17. The meeting was held as part of National Footpaths Week and press photographs were taken.

4. Planning matters

P04/W0536 14 Brookside Close, Tiddington – erection of one dwelling on land adjacent to 14 Brookside Close (approved under planning permission P04/W0039) plus the incorporation of the existing extension of 14 Brookside Close.

Decision: SODC granted.

5. Correspondence

a. SODC has requested a review of the village entry in the District tourist guide. Mr Nowell-Smith and Clerk to update.

6. Financial matters

a. Parish Council contribution to Parochial Church Council. Mr Nowell-Smith declared a personal interest. The quote for mowing the churchyard had not yet been received. As a mowing was urgently required it was proposed by Mr Stratton that Mr Robinson be asked to complete one mowing and that the quote for a year’s work be considered at the August meeting. This was seconded by Mr Boughton.

b. Payment of £65.00 to SODC for garden sacks proposed by Mr Stratton, seconded by Mr Tremayne.

7. Open discussion

a. Mr Stratton reported that there were holes in the playing field caused by moles and these posed a danger. It was agreed to ask Mr Robinson to attend to them as part of his maintenance of the grounds.

b. Mr Boughton reported that he had done a traffic count of 800 vehicles passing between 10.00-11.00am on a weekday on the A418 and 604 vehicles between 5.15-5.45pm. It was agreed that the volume of traffic had increased markedly over the last few years but that we already had the maximum number of points required on traffic flow for a pelican crossing. Possibly a count of pedestrians crossing would be useful as this had been relatively low when points were allocated at the last survey. It was agreed to press again for a crossing in the autumn and meanwhile Mr Nowell-Smith will contact Little Milton about the statistics for their crossing recently installed. Mr Stratton thanked Mr Boughton for his efforts on the traffic count.

8. Date of next meeting

Monday, 2 August 2004 at 8.00pm.

There being no further business the meeting closed at 9.35pm.