Minutes of the Chadlington Parish Council Meeting held at Chadlington Memorial Hall on
Monday 13 January 2020 (Start 7.35pm, Finish 9.15pm).
Present: Cllrs Zoe Townsend(Chair), Tony Allan, Vice Chairman, Nicky Lloyd, Hilary Moore, Sam Peet. District Cllr Neil Owen and County Cllr Liz Leffman plus one member of the public.
Minutes
167. Apologies: Cllr Andrew Carpenter. Gill Hill (notes taken by Cllr Lloyd)
168. Declaration of interests: Cllr Townsend declared that on Agenda item 6 Memorial Hall, she is unable to negotiate with Chadlington Sports and Social Club because their Chair person is her husband.
169. Minutes: The Minutes of the Parish Council meeting held on 13th January 2020 were approved by Councillors Allan, Moore, Peet and Lloyd but not signed by the Chair, Cllr Townsend as she was not at that meeting. Formal signing of the Minutes to be agreed with the Parish Clerk on her return.
170. District and County Councillor Reports
District Cllr Neil Owen informed the meeting of a current District Council consultation on the use of section 106 and Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) funds, which are paid by housing developers to local authorities. He also mentioned that the District Council still has a community grants fund available to local groups who wished to apply. County Cllr Liz Leffman explained that section 106 developer contributions are paid on housing developments of any size and can be used by the County Council for infrastructure, such as schools and roads; whereas CIL funds would go to the District Council. She went on to say that the County Council are setting their budget to include £200,000 to review youth services and intend to include funding for new/re-established youth services in future budgets. There are funds for local transport services and project grants. She has proposed that the Pulham’s X9 service be provided with funding to maintain services throughout the day.
171. Gigaclear
Councillors were unclear why the broadband fibre company had returned to the village to do more work and have closed Bull Hill whilst they are digging up the road. At present the company have not given a date when the service will be available. A member of the public commented that they understood there had been problems with BT lines when Gigaclear had done work in the village previously and that the main connection box in Horseshoe Lane had not been connected properly. Another said that in general the company was honouring its commitment to rectify any damage caused to roads, pavements and verges throughout the project.
172. Memorial Hall
Building work on the car park has begun but at the moment there has not been a positive response from the Sports and Social Club to make their contribution to the costs of the project. The Parish Council lease the clubhouse to the Sports and Social Club and it is
within the terms of the lease that the Club should contribute to car park maintenance and improvement costs. Sue Cox, Chair of the Memorial Hall Committee will be arranging a meeting between some of the Parish Councillors and the Sports and Social Club to discuss terms of the lease and negotiate the improvement costs contribution.
The Memorial Hall Committee AGM will be held on 9th April 2020 at 7.30 p.m.
173. Methodist Chapel
There has been a meeting between the group of villagers who are arranging community use of the redundant chapel and the Chipping Norton area of the Methodist Church. This concerned the terms of the 12- month probationary licence that will govern this pilot project. The project group will be responsible for the running costs of the building but the Methodist Church retain responsibility for the maintenance and any necessary repair of the building.
174. Community Assets
There was no agreement amongst Councillors whether it was worthwhile to register some village shops and other amenities as community assets. Local residents are requested to inform the Parish Council if they think this action needs to be taken in order to protect the local availability of such services, should the current owners wish to cease trading and/or sell these assets. For more information on community owned shops, pubs etc. please see https://plunkett.co.uk/how-we-help/
175. Benches and Tables
It was agreed at the last meeting that 3 additional benches will be located around the village. The inscriptions for each bench are to be agreed with the sponsors, then the benches can be ordered. It was also agreed that the bus shelter should be painted green when it is refurbished. A further sponsor, who has offered to make a contribution to village infrastructure, will be contacted to suggest that they contribute to the cost of renovating the bus shelter. The cost of the benches and bus shelter refurbishment will be paid by the Parish Council initially, then sponsors asked to make their donations.
176. Allotments
There was nothing new to report.
177. Playground
There was nothing new to report. There has been little use of this facility due to the very wet weather in the last couple of months.
178. Highways – white lines and school parking
White lines in the village including those along the road outside the school are scheduled to be re-painted but this will not take place until the next financial year starting in April. School parking problems have not improved. The Parish Council will ask OCC to place a specific parking restrictions sign near the zig-zag no parking zone to add authority to anyone asking parents not to park there during school drop-off and pick-up times. It was also proposed that parents could be invited to park at the Memorial Hall, once the landscaping work has been finished, and then form a ‘walking bus with school children up to the school, as happens in many other villages.
179. Church Road/Green Lane and Brook End flooding
Cllr Townsend reported that this was still a serious hazard, pushing pedestrians in to the road and damaging the road surface. County Cllr Leffman said that she will chase OCC officers about taking some action on this issue. A member of the public also reported that OCC officers had been to see the flooding at Brook End. Drains and gullies are full throughout the village but no flushing has been taking place, despite frequent notification of these problems via ‘Fix my Street’.
180. Defibrillators – Abbeyfield House and Sports and Social Club
Councillors were unclear what had happened to the defibrillator at Abbeyfield. Cllr Moore will follow up and offer the Parish Council’s help with making sure this is available to the community as before.
The Parish Council agreed to cover the cost of re-locating the defibrillator at the Sports and Social Club to an outside wall, so this can now go ahead.
181. Public Participation Gordon Brown, Chipping Norton Town Councillor, addressed the meeting to request support for his campaign to have a new recycling centre in Chipping Norton. When Dean Pitt closed some years ago, the County Council said various proposals for a new centre were being considered but then said that they did not have the resources to do this. The Town Council has declared a Climate Emergency. Now that everyone is being encouraged to recycle as much as possible the Town Council thinks that people in the Chipping Norton area should not have to drive such long distances to reach facilities and with the new housing in Chipping Norton, there is even more demand which the County Council should fulfil. County Cllr Leffman, District Councillor Owen and all the Chadlington Parish Councillors present supported Mr Brown’s case and agreed that the County Council should establish a new centre in this area.
Nigel Ridpath, representing the trust that owns the Paddock opposite Café de la Post, reported that new trees have been planted and that a number of lambs had been born on the field. The Parish Council thanked the trust and its volunteers for maintaining and improving this area for the enjoyment of the village.
A member of the public reported that a dog mess disposal bin on Daisy Bank has gone missing. The Parish Council will check its asset register for the location of this bin and arrange replacement if necessary.
182. Asset Register
Cllr Lloyd is prepared to review this and keep it up to date but has not yet received a paper copy from the Parish Clerk.
183. Risk Register
Cllr Lloyd proposed that the Parish Council should add the Coronavirus outbreak, and proposed mitigations, to the Risk Register. Although the Parish Council has only limited responsibility for local residents’ health it can link with Good Neighbours to offer some assistance and advice to vulnerable people in our community, should the outbreak impact significantly on the wellbeing of those living in the village. Cllr Moore will speak with the
Good Neighbours team to ask what help they think their volunteers could offer and Cllr Lloyd will ensure this information appears on the village website.
184. Local Elections 7th May 2020.
Gill Hill (Parish Clerk) will provide current councillors with the forms necessary for them to re-apply for their seats in May. Cllr Allan will be standing down, so there will be one seat vacant and should more than one new potential councillor come forward there will need to be an election.
185. Planning
Application received: 20/00419/HHD Old School West End Chadlington. Erection of single Storey front extension and addition of front porch. CPC noted that there had been one neighbour objection. CPC have no objection to this application.
186. Finance
It was not possible to approve expenditure or sign cheques in the absence of the Parish Clerk.
187. Extra meeting in April
Councillors did not know why this meeting had been proposed by the Clerk. The Chair will follow up with the Clerk on her return from holiday.
188. Correspondence
Councillors agreed that they would not donate to the Theatre Chipping Norton, as it is not in the village.
189. Other Issues
A member of the public has asked whether it might be possible to provide access for people with disabilities to the new picnic benches on the Stocks green. Cllr Peet will advise whether this is technically possible and report back to the next meeting, when a decision can be made on this question.
Cllr Lloyd reported a positive response to her articles in the Parish Magazine and posters around the village, looking for a new website editor. She will be meeting with a potential new editor this week and then handing over to her in due course.
190. Information Exchange
It was agreed to ask Cllr Carpenter whether he is available to attend the WODC Town and Parish meeting on 26h March 2020.
Date of next meeting: 7.30 p.m. on Monday 11th May in Chadlington Memorial Hall tbc that this is also the AGM
………………………….,Zoe Townsend, Chair to Chadlington Parish Council 20 March 2020
All agendas, papers & draft minutes of Chadlington Parish Council meetings can be found at www.chadlington.com. You can also sign up for email updates on this village website.
VILLAGE DIARY
If you have any events or information you wish to go on the Chadlington village website www.chadlington.com, please use the ‘Contact us’ form on the website.