Minutes of a Meeting of Standlake Parish Council, held in the Standlake Youth Club, on 18th November 2008 at 7.45pm.
Present:
Mr. C. Mathew, Mrs. J. Dodds, Mr. M. Wareham
1. APOLOGIES were received from Mrs. B. Smith, Mrs. H. Fenton,
2. PUBLIC ITEMS
Mrs. Jane Dodds asked if the council would consider donating another £100 towards the OUTRAGE campaign. The services of a QC have been engaged to put the case at the OCC planning meeting on 24th November. Mr. Tolputt said that the council was in receipt of her letter and would consider the request later in the meeting. Mrs. Dodds thanked the council and reminded the meeting of the importance of as many people as possible attending the meeting on the 24th.
Mr. Wareham spoke on behalf of FOSS (Friends of Standlake School) and presented plans to support the request for a grant of £4000 towards the provision of a new expanded playground at the school. The total cost would be some £80,000 spread over a period of three years. He answered questions regarding the funding of the project and indicated that applications to other bodies have been made and would supply a list if required. Mr. Tolputt said that the council was in receipt of the letter of application from FOSS and would consider it later in the meeting when discussing the 2009/10 budget.
Mr. Tolputt opened the meeting at 8.15.pm.
3. MINUTES
Minutes of the meeting held on 14th October 2008, copies of which had been previously circulated to all members, were agreed as a true record and signed by the chairman.
4. MATTERS ARISING
Stonehenge Farm Gravel Application – Mr. Tolputt will not be available to speak at the 24th November meeting and Mr. Mathew kindly agreed to speak in his place. The clerk will email Mr. Mathew to confirm that the concerns are that the building of the bund would have a detrimental effect on flood defences and that any further gravel extraction would put a greater burden on the overstretched road system. Mr. Mathew also agreed to stress again that, despite OCC records to the contrary, Standlake had formally responded to the initial application and has evidence to show that this response was received by OCC.
Graveyard Extension – The clerk has received an invoice (£18000 + VAT) for the third payment. Mr. Tolputt has spoken to the contractor regarding the unfinished entrance and, after some discussion, it was agreed that the work would be completed in the next few weeks. The contractor has stated that various factors, mostly concerned with the OCC demands for the higher specification of the entrance meant that the cost would overrun the original estimate by about £3000. Mr. Tolputt asked for a breakdown of the additional cost for the council to consider and this will be provided. After some discussion, the council decided that £2000 should be withheld from the current invoice until the work is completed.
Flooding – Mr. Tolputt has contacted WODC regarding the inclusion of Standlake’s concerns in the final flood report and this request was well received.
Mrs. Smith said that WODC were issuing a list of village sites for the collection of sand and sandbags in flood conditions and Standlake did not appear. After some discussion it was decided that the area in the new car park at the church to the left of the entrance would be an ideal location. Mrs. Smith will email the clerk with details of the officer concerned at WODC.
Mr. Lowe said he had been in contact with Mr. Oddy at WODC regarding the flood/emergency plan. A ideal plan is still under consultation at WODC and Mr. Lowe will be contacted following this consultation.
A415, Newbridge – Nothing further to report at this meeting.
Traffic/Speeding – Nothing further to report at this meeting.
Highway Maintenance – Nothing further to report at this meeting.
Footpaths – Nothing further to report at this meeting.
Playground/Recreation Ground & Maintenance – Mrs. Perry reported that pallets were still being left on the games area tarmac. Mr. Tolputt said he had told youths to remove the objects and encouraged all members to do the same.
The Goose – Mr. Lowe reported that the goose will be removed to the school this weekend (22/23 Nov).
Bike Jumps – Mr. Lowe reported that the work discussed at the last meeting has been carried out.
Neighbourhood Policing – Nothing further to report at this meeting.
Woodlands entrance bus stop mess – this is on Mr. Reddy’s ‘to do’ list.
Request for donations – Requests for donations (FY 2007/8) have been received from the following organisations: West Oxon CAB; Air Ambulance; Oxon Assn for the Blind; Connection Floating Support Team; The Carer’s Forum. The clerk said that there was £150 budgeted for donations in the current year, assuming that the donations to OUTRAGE were to be taken from reserves. After some discussion it was decided that £50 be donated each to the Air Ambulance and the Carer’s Forum; the cheques will be signed at the next meeting. This will leave £50 in the budget so that further requests can be considered before the end of the financial year.
5. CORRESPONDENCE - See attached correspondence record.
6. PLANNING - See attached planning record.
The application 08/1732/P/FP - Erection of 7 dwellings at Malthouse Farm, 9 Aston Road Brighthampton is a a revised application considered by the council in November 2007. The same objections were raised with the additional comments that the provision of two single bed units does not constitute a balanced number of affordable homes as required by WODC policy. The council’s objection is reproduced in full below the application on the planning record.
7. ACCOUNTS and AUDIT 2007/8 click here for balances
The 2007/8 audit has been completed and the only
observation raised by the auditors is that a rounding error of £1 was noted in
Section 1. The council accepted the audit report and the clerk stated that the
required notice of completion of audit was on display on the notice board at
the Post Office.
The following accounts were approved for payment:
Standlake
PCC - churchyard upkeep -2nd Half 275.00
BDO Stoy
Hayward - audit fees 334.88
A J
Mitchell - bus shelter cleaning 20.00
M & G
Pascoe - mowing, V hall fence repair 195.00
Standlake
V Hall - hire of FD room for OCC mtg 9.00
Outrage 50.00
GLR
Contracts - 3rd payment 18,800.00
8.
BUDGET 2009/10
The outline budget, which will be finalised at the
December meeting, was discussed and the following major decisions were made:
The clerk’s salary was set at £5513 to reflect the NALC
rates recommended for part time clerks, thus fulfilling the promise made by the
council in November 2007 to complete this staged increase in FY 2009/10.
The council considered requests for FY 2009/10 grants
from:
Standlake Youth Club (toilet upgrade); Mr. Rippin
declared an interest and withdrew. The council decided to make a grant of £400 in
respect of the request for £540
Standlake Village Hall (replacement of locks); Mrs.
Perry declared an interest and withdrew. The council discussed the amounts
donated to the Village Hall in the past few years and decided that a grant of
£200 would be made in respect of the request for £830.59
Standlake Primary School (new playground); Mr. Naylor,
Mrs. Bayliss, Mrs. Perry and Mr. Reddy all declared an interest and withdrew.
In view of the scope of this project which will be ongoing for an estimated
three years and taking into consideration the grants made in the past, it was
decided that a grant of £1000 be made in respect of the request for £4000.
The total amount of the outline budget stands at £19078.92
9. MEMBER’S REPORTS
Mr. Reddy said that there were increasing instances of low level vandalism in the village and it was agreed that the PCSOs should be asked visit the school to raise awareness of the serious nature of this conduct.
10.
ANY OTHER BUSINESS
Mr. Tolputt reminded members that the December meeting
would commence at 7.00pm to set the final budget/Precept and deal with accounts
and urgent business only. There being no further business, the meeting closed
at 10.05pm
....................................................................................... Chairman ............................................................................ Date
CORRESPONDENCE RECORD 11/08 |
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ACTION |
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A |
The Oxfordshire Woodland Project |
Request for donation (Not given Previously) |
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B |
Mrs Jane Dodds |
Request for further funds for OUTRAGE (£100 July 08) |
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WODC |
Climate Change policy |
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OFPA |
Playing Field newsletter |
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Oxon Carers’ forum |
Request for donation (£10 May 07) |
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Communities & Local Govt |
Codes of conduct - consultation |
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Volunteer Link Up |
Request for Donation (£25 Dec 07) |
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PLANNING APPLICATIONS/CORRESPONDENCE RECORD No: 11/08 |
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DATE |
PLANNING Number |
DETAILS |
COMMENTS |
REPLY BY |
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08/1418/P/FP |
Grant of permission - extensions Denham House 9 Church End |
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08/1735 - 6/P/FP |
Grant of permission – extensions Cheswell Cottage 125 Abingdon Road |
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08/1502/P/FP |
Grant of permission – extensions 119 Abingdon Road |
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08/1432/P/LB |
Grant of permission – internal alterations Magdalen Farm Cottage 92 Abingdon Rd |
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08/1647/P/FP |
Alterations and new garage – Ashfield, 7 Aston Road B’hampton |
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OCC |
Extension of waste skip recycling facility – Lakeside Industrial Park |
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08/1686/P/LB |
Alterations and erection of rear conservatory – 93 Abingdon Road |
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08/1699/P/FP |
Change of use from residential to office – 1 & “ annexe Yew Tree Farm - Ab Rd |
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The council’s objections to this application remain
the essentially same as the last occasion this proposal was presented.
That is: 1. The proposal
does not constitute ‘rounding off’ or ‘infilling’; it is backland
development and is therefore contrary to Policy H6 of the adopted West
Oxon Local Plan 2011. 2. The site plan
would indicate that the development would encroach on an area labelled
‘Anglo Saxon Burial Ground’. 3. The density of
the proposed development is not in keeping with the general scale,
pattern and character of the area and therefore is contrary to
Policy BE2 of the Plan. This proposal would increase the density of
dwellings and change the open character of the Brighthampton hamlet. In addition, 4. The proposed
number of dwellings has increased from 5 to 7, and therefore would
generate an even larger large number of traffic movements via a very poor
access onto a narrow road. The council does not accept that the
developer’s promise to install better speed limit signs would alleviate
this problem in any way. Furthermore, this traffic would naturally route
through Brighthampton for access onto the A415 to Witney or through
Standlake southbound to Abingdon and Oxford thus exacerbating the levels
of traffic through the village at peak periods. 5. The proposal to
add two tiny one bed dwellings to the original 5 ‘executive style’
properties, as an answer to the requirement for provision of low cost housing
in any development, is almost insulting in its contempt for that
requirement. The council understands that the current WODC policy
is that half of the properties in any development should constitute
affordable housing. Simple arithmetic reveals that by adding 2 properties
of this kind to the original 5 does not in any way conform to that
policy. There is a need for affordable housing in Standlake
and any proposed development in the village must take this into account
as is required by current policy. |
08/1732/P/FP |
Erection of 7 dwellings – Malthouse Farm, 9 Aston Road B’hampton |
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