Minutes of a meeting of Standlake Parish Council, held in the Standlake Youth Club on 12th January 2016 at 7.00pm.
Present:
Mr. J. Rippin Vice Chairman
Mrs. B. Smith
Mr. N. Owens
Mr. P. Willis
Mr. C. Naylor & Mr. J. Hunt, having previously declared an interest as members of the LW Tennis Club, joined the meeting at 7:40pm with Mr. Rippin remaining in the chair.
1. APOLOGIES –apologies were received from Mr. Good, Mrs. Fenton and Mrs. Clements.
2. L W TENNIS CLUB – PROPOSAL FOR CLUBHOUSE. Mr. Rippin noted that councillors had seen the presentation prepared by Mrs. Milne who proceeded to answer questions regarding the proposal which is: to build a small clubhouse for members that will also provide toilet facilities for community groups when they are not using the village hall.. Mrs. Milne said that she had received some support from groups such as FOSS, Toddler Group and the Youth Club for the idea.
The site proposed by the LWTC is behind the mound in the children’s playground and this was the subject of discussion. It was agreed that the council was generally supportive of the proposal, but doubts remained over the site and it was decided that a site visit was necessary to get a clearer picture; this was set for Sunday 17th January. Mr. Rippin thanked Mrs. Milne and she left the meeting at 7.40pm
3. PUBLIC ITEMS – there were no members of the public attending.
4. COUNTY and DISTRICT COUNCILLORS REPORTS – there were no reports at this meeting.
5. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST - There were no declarations of interest..
6.
PLANNING – there were no planning applications pending.
7. MINUTES
Minutes of the Meeting held on 12th December 2015, copies of which had been previously circulated to all members, were agreed as a true record and signed by the vice-chairman.
8. MATTERS ARISING
Busses, Bus Stops – Mrs. Smith will attend the OCC meeting on 20th January and stressed that until the we have no real idea of what the bus companies position is. She will also attend the meeting of affected parishes at Northmoor on 13th January. The council thanked Mrs. Smith for the hard work in getting the bus shelters at Martins Lane/The Downs and at Woodlands: it is to be hoped that there will still be bus services to service them.
Assets of Community Value – Mr. Owens passed the completed forms for the registration of The Post Office, The Bell, The Black Horse and the Cricket Club to the clerk who will forward them to WODC.
Playground/Recreation Ground & Maintenance – Mr. Hunt reported that the playground fence has been broken loose again but pushed back into position. He also noted that in wet weather the steps up to the climbing tower are very slippery and suggested that non slip treads be put on the steps. The clerk will contact Mr. Pascoe and discuss this with him.
Mr. Rippin asked if his 5 year old footballers could use the recreation ground as they were looking for an extra venue; they will supply goals and markers. This was welcomed and Mrs. Smith observed that this was what the recreation ground was for.
Mr. Hunt asked about the marking out of a netball court on the multi games court. Mr. Naylor said that at one time netball was played on one of the tennis courts which were marked for that purpose. No decision was made.
Mr. Hunt suggested investigating the provision of a zip line feature to attract older children. It was agreed that he should go ahead and research this and report back.
Village Communications – during recent high winds the general notice board adjacent to the post box was damaged; the outer door frame wrenched off and the glass broken. This has now been cleared up by the Pascoes and the whole frame removed from the PO window. After some discussion it was decided that this should be replaced and the clerk will arrange for a quotation from Mr. Pascoe. The clerk reported that the old Parish Council noticeboard on the PO wall has also been removed.
Roads, Newbridge – nothing further to report at this meeting
Traffic/Speeding – nothing further to report at this meeting.
Footpaths – nothing further to report at this meeting..
Highway Maintenance - nothing further to report at this meeting.
Flooding/Sewers/Winter – nothing further to report at this meeting.
9. CORRESPONDENCE – letter from Lord Lieutenant of Oxfordshire regarding HM the Queen’s birthday celebrations. emails have been circulated to all members.
10. ACCOUNTS
For payment:
CPRE – subscription 2016 36.00
C R Naylor – chairman’s expenses 107.30
Volunteer Link Up - donation 50.00
Standlake Youth Club – rent/grant 2015/16 150.00
11. NEW AUDIT REGULATIONS 2017 – the clerk explained the new audit regulations commencing April 2017. Briefly, councils with turnover of less than £25,000 will no longer be audited by an external body. Annual returns and internal audit must continue plus the council must comply with certain ‘transparency’ conditions by making information available on a publicly accessible website. In the case that the turnover exceeds £25k in any year an external auditor will be appointed for that year and the scale of charges remains at the current level. There is an option of the council appointing its own external auditor but the clerk recommended that we stay with the government scheme and this was approved unanimously.
12. H M THE QUEEN@S BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS 11th/12th JUNE 2016 – the letter referred to above has been circulated and Mr. Hunt will look into this and report back to the council
13. THE CODFATHER MOBILE FISH & CHIPS – the clerk has been contacted by the proprietor of this service asking if there would be objection to him starting a round in Standlake. It was agreed that this might be welcomed by a number of residents and, provided there was no obstruction caused, there was no objection.
14. ANY OTHER BUSINESS
Mr. Hunt asked what progress was being made by the Village Hall committee in respect of the car park as it was in a very bad condition. Mr. Rippin (council’s representative on the VH committee) said that discussions were still ongoing and a gravel solution was being looked at. The clerk reminded the meeting that, since FY 2010/11, the council granted £500 pa towards the upkeep of the VH car park; there did not seem to be any evidence that this £3000 had been used for that purpose. Mr. Rippin said that he did not know if any of this money had been spent on maintenance.
It was agreed that the February meeting be held on the Tuesday
16th, the 3rd Tuesday, due to the clerk’s absence earlier
in the month. There being no further business, the meeting closed at 8.35pm.
...................................................................................... Chairman .................................................................... Date