Minutes of a Meeting of Standlake Parish Council, held by Zoom conference call on 13th July 2021 at 7.30pm

Present:

          Mr. B. Parnham   Chairman

          Mr. Rippin                      Vice Chairman

          Mrs. L. Burton

          Mrs. A. Knipe

          Mrs. J Macdonald

          Mr. D. Bevan       Clerk

Cllr (WODC) S. Good; Mr. T. Crawford, Mr. Florey, and 4 members of the public.

1.      APOLOGIES – Cllr. (OCC) D. Levy, Cllr (WODC) L. Nicholls, Mr. D. Jeffcoat.

2.      APPOINTMENT OF NEW COUNCILLOR – Mr. Tony Ward signed his acceptance of office and was welcomed to the council by Mr. Parnham.

3.      DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST – there were no declarations of interest.

4.      PUBLIC ITEMS – Mr. T. Crawford (159 Abingdon Rd.) was concerned about the Stone Barn conversion (21/01812/FUL). He had no objection to the application but was concerned about its impact on his legal access to the rear of his property. The proposed building in the rear courtyard of the Stone Barn property would, he suggested, cause a problem with his access. Mr. Parnham thanked him for his input and it will be considered by the council.

5.      COUNTY & DISTRICT COUNCILLORS’ REPORTS

OCC – Cllr. Dan Levy has forwarded, by email, a wide-ranging report to the council; it is attached to these minutes.

WODC - Cllr. Good said there was little to report from WODC but did say there were some concerns over the COVID situation, and this was being closely monitored. He did raise the matter of the lack of visibility due to vegetation growth on the corner of Standlake Road/Cow Lane. The clerk’s opinion was that this was an OCC matter and Mr. Parnham will follow this up.

6.      PLANNING -  

21/01497/FUL: Conversion of former pub into 4-bedroom dwelling and erection of two new 5-bedroom dwellings and carport to the rear with associated landscaping and parking areas: The Bell Inn 21 High Street Standlake: Few Inns Ltd. After discussion and welcoming the renovation of The Bell and its conversion to a 4-bed dwelling, the council voted 5 to 1 to object on the following grounds: size and scale of the proposed dwellings; positioning beyond the natural building line on the High St.; loss of biodiversity; effects on drainage and sewage in the area.

21/01812/FUL:  Conversion of three linked agricultural buildings into one 5 bed dwelling; Stone Barn High St; Mr Charles Leveson Gower. No objection, but request condition to ensure unimpaired access to the rear of 159 Abingdon Road.

21/01965/FUL: Erection of a detached dwelling to side garden of 50 Abingdon Road including demolition of existing garage and reinstate driveway entrance to the front of the existing house (Amendments to proposed house design of permission 20/01844/FUL: Orchard Paddock Cottage 50 Abingdon Road Standlake: Cordiem Ltd.  No objection.

21/02270/HHD: Proposed new building design (amendment to 20/02537/HHD): Hornsway House 109 Abingdon Road Standlake.  No objection.

21/02259/HHD: Proposed covered entrance and conversion of part of garage: 3 Cranley Gardens Aston Road Brighthampton: Dr & Mrs A Malloy.  No objection.

7.      MINUTES - Minutes of the Meeting held on Tuesday, 8th June 2021, copies of which had been previously circulated to all members, were agreed as a true record and will be signed by the chairman at a later date.

8.      MATTERS ARISING

Sewage/Flooding. Mr. Parnham reported that Thames Water are still planning for further remedial work, and he will continue pressing for a timeline. Mr. Parnham also noted that Cllr. Dan Levy had that taken an active engagement with TW over the situation in Standlake. OCC have been jetting, removing silt and root ingress, and that will continue. With regards to Woodlands, OCC are preparing a proposed scheme and over the next few weeks the nature of the proposals should become clear. 

Roads/Traffic/Speeding/Traffic Calming – The clerk said that the report to Fix My Street requesting the reinstating of the white line demarking the footpath in front of The Bell has been refused for lack of funds in this FY.

Mr. Parnham has now met with the police. Risk assessments have been carried out and he has confirmation that the police will now take reports; any vehicle logged at over 36 mph will be reported, and a letter will be sent to the registered owner. Mrs. Knipe said that, with the lifting of COVID restrictions, the monitoring can commence with two volunteers required to operate the SID equipment and three to operate the speed gun. Mr. Parnham said that a small expenditure would be required for high visibility jackets and sanitizer; the clerk confirmed this would come from within the Community Fund budget. Mrs. Knipe also noted that, for the first time in long time, a police speed check van had been observed recently at the junction of Abingdon Rd. and Aston Rd.

Playground/Recreation Ground & Maintenance – More low level vandalism has been noticed at the Rack End playground, the handlebars on the motor bike have been broken off. It was agreed that this was very annoying but there was little that could be done apart from repairs; Mr. Pascoe has been asked to carry this out. The annual RoSPA inspection is expected this month. In anticipation of the relaxing of COVID restrictions on 19th July, it was agreed that the children’s playground swings, removed as part of the restrictions, should be replaced after that date.

Environment – Mrs. Burton reported that the trees have now been planted and was very satisfied with the contractor’s work. The purchase of seeds for the recreation ground Western bank is in hand.

Hornsway Bench – Nothing further to report at this meeting.

Martins Lane – Mrs. Macdonald said that some of the large potholes in the lane have been filled in and thanks are due to Mr. Townsend for doing this. The clerk will pass this on.

Village Gates - Mr. Parnham has a budgetary quote for the gates on the Aston Road, Brighthampton; OCC have indicated that they will only pay for the installation. Mr. Parnham will await a firm estimate before responding to OCC and asking why the gates were not installed as part of the original project. As to the name on the sign, Mr. Parnham said the question remains as to whether it should read ‘Brighthampton’ or ‘Standlake’ and he expected some heated arguments!

9.      CORRESPONDENCE – Letter re Jubilee bench: a former councillor (Mrs. J. Bayliss) has said that the bench (located by the Post Office) needed renovation. The clerk agreed that this was the case and suggested that this should be done in Spring 2022 prior to Her Majesty’s Jubilee celebrations. This was agreed, as was a proposal that when setting the FY2022/23 budget consideration be given to allocating funds for those celebrations.

The clerk has received a report that a glass panel in the bus shelter on the corner of Martin’s Lane and The Downs has been broken and the glass removed. The clerk said that he was obtaining an estimate to make good the damage and will report back. In addition, the shelter on the corner of Heyford Close and The Downs has fallen into disrepair and the subject of some vandalism, and the clerk suggested that, given the lack of use of this shelter after the withdrawal of the No.18 bus service, consideration be given to the removal of this shelter. This was agreed in principle and the clerk will obtain an estimate.

10.   ACCOUNTS – The clerk reported that the overall financial situation had not changed in the past month.

          For approval/payment:

Absolute Solutions - mowing/the Butts          £405.00

L Burton - purchase of trees -                         £134.93

UK2 - renewal standlakepc.com                        £15.59

Wileman & Sons - shelter cleaning                    £30.00

UK2 renewal - standlakepc.uk                           £11.99

Treetech - tree planting                                   £350.46

Absolute Solutions - mowing                          £365.00

Chris Cleland - churchyard mowing               £352.50

11.   DATE OF NEXT MEETING - The clerk said he would be away in the first 2 weeks of August and reminded the council that, in years past, the council had not met in the month of August. Mr. Parnham suggested that this be the case for this year, and this was agreed unanimously. Therefore, the next meeting will be held on Tuesday 14th September at 7.30pm. Unless government guidelines change, or Mr. Parnham considers it would not be safe to do so, the meeting will be held in the Youth Club, Church End.

12.   There being no further business, the meeting closed at 8.43 pm.

 

Chairman   ....................................................................

 

Date …………………………………………………

 

 

OCC news 13 July 2021- Cllr. Dan Levy 

The new administration at County Hall continues to settle in, and to address the very long list of things that need to be addressed, while working within the budget for this year bequeathed to us.   At the moment, we can identify a number of areas that can be addressed without additional cost.  On a personal level, I have been meeting key officers, including the ones responsible for areas such as fixing your roads.  I will be, among other things, a member of a main Scrutiny Committee at OCC, and am determined that we will ensure the highest standards and outcomes. 

The consultation for the A40 has closed and the responses are being collated.  I am confident that we can make improvements to the plans, while I retain my scepticism that they are the best use of public money or that they will be effective.  There remain areas in the plans that are not as good as they need to be, particularly relating to how people go north to south across the A40.

The Inspection of the Area Action Plan for Salt Cross (aka Garden Village) by an inspector appointed by the Department for Housing, Communities and Local Government has concluded taking evidence.    I was a “witness”, and am suggesting a number of improvements and strengthenings of the plans.   Unfortunately, as the village is planned for the wrong place, there will always be issues caused by the A40.

I have recently met first with the CEO and subsequently with the Director of Community Engagement of Thames Water, and impressed upon them the importance of fixing the issues we all know about in Standlake and elsewhere.  I was reassured that they have a plan for Standlake, and that it will be published soon.

I am in discussions with OCC about the state of Lincoln Close, which is an unadopted road but clearly damaged by cars and buses turning next to the school, and hope to report back soon.

The County Council is working on a plan to make it easier and cheaper to introduce a 20 mph limit in those villages which want it  (and I would certainly encourage this in all villages).

The plans for a community bus service from Standlake and Brighthampton to Eynsham are progressing, and will be supported financially by the County Council. I am hopeful we can get this started by the new school year. 

And finally, I had a productive meeting with the senior team at Bartholomew School.  School transport came up as a topic, and I was assured that the school will continue to pay for transport for those pupils who would not qualify for free transport as Bartholomew isn’t their nearest school if the parents can’t pay themselves -  I am not sure that all parents realise that this is on offer, and would urge them not to be shy about asking for the costs to be met.  I will also continue to press for a review of the County’s policy, as Standlake is only one of the villages in Oxfordshire that has this issue.

There are of course issues in each of the parishes in the Eynsham Division, and I will try to help resolve as many of them as possible.

I will try to be as accessible as possible.  Please contact me by phone 07852 748362  or email dan.levy@oxfordshire.gov.uk