Hook Norton Parish Council

HOOK NORTON PARISH COUNCIL

MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF HOOK NORTON PARISH COUNCIL HELD AT THE NORMAN MATTHEWS COMMUNITY HALL ON THURSDAY 8th DECEMBER 2005 AT 7.30pm

Present: Councillors: Timms [Chairman], Fry [Vice-Chairman], Clay, Hayward, Jelf, Riley, Swainbank, Walsham and Young, and Mr Porter [Parish Clerk]. There were no members of the public present on this occasion.

1. Apologies For Absence

Were received from Cllr Millar, who had another meeting to attend.

2.Chairman’s Announcements

The Chairman informed the parish council that he would be away for both February and March meetings and, as the clerk is also to be away in March, he wondered whether the PC would wish to dispense with a meeting in that month? After discussion it was suggested that a joint meeting be held later than usual in February, on the 16th. As both the chairman and clerk will be available on that date this was proposed by Cllr Jelf, seconded by Cllr Walsham, and passed unanimously. The Chairman also informed the meeting that he had a replacement for Joe Williams on the PC, Derek Brotherston, who is known to many of the members. Unfortunately he was unable to attend the present meeting. However Cllr Timms proposed that he be co-opted onto the PC and this was seconded by Cllr Clay and passed unanimously.

3. Minutes of previous meeting, 10th November 2005, and matters arising

It was proposed by Cllr Swainbank, and seconded by Cllr Walsham, that the minutes of the previous meeting be passed as a true and accurate record and this was agreed unanimously. Arising from the minutes the Chairman mentioned that we had received a warm letter of thanks from Barbara Hicks, on behalf of the Museum, for the donation and letter of support for their Awards for All application.

4. Declarations of Interest

Cllr Fry announced his intention to withdraw during Item 14, as he is a regular user of the shoppers’ bus. The Chairman expressed the view that he should remain for the early part of the discussion, as his knowledge of the service would be most helpful in reaching a decision. He would then leave before any voting took place.

5. Report by Planning Co-ordinator on planning applications received

Cllr Walsham reported that there had been one planning meeting during the past four weeks when a total of eleven applications had been considered. No objections had been raised to any of these. The clerk had made enquiries of CDC about one application which had been outstanding for some time, that relating to tree works at Heydon House, East End, and although the PC had no objections CDC felt the work was excessive and unnecessary and have imposed a preservation order. The blue bricks on the wall at Pennyfarthing, Bells Lane, are now being removed. Cllr Jelf commented that the PC’s application relating to the proposed extension at the Memorial Hall will not be decided until 21 December and Cllr Fry made the point that the delay makes it very difficult to proceed with grant applications. Cllr Walsham said that he would speak with CDC to see if it possible to speed this up.

6. To invite members of the public to comment on planning applications

There being no public present on this occasion there was no comment from the floor.

7. Report of Working Groups

(a)Recreation Group – Cllr Young reported that he was personally pleased that £1000 has been set aside from the precept for 2006/7 to help with renewal of equipment. There is no doubt that some of the present equipment is nearing the end of its useful life but it is accepted that renewal will have to wait until the major expense of rebuilding the cemetery wall has been concluded. During the month we again experienced a problem with sewage leaking from a manhole in the Play Area but Doug Marshall was able to contact Thames Water and resolve the problem.
(b)Environment & Open Spaces – Cllr Riley reported that there had not been a meeting over the past four weeks but that matters are progressing with the proposed work on the cemetery wall and he has received four quotations with another expected next week. Those to date vary from £56/£79000. An application to SITA for grant assistance will be submitted within the next ten days and the clerk has established that a modest grant may also be available from the Trust for Oxfordshire’s Environment and again an application will be submitted if appropriate. The intention will be to start the work in the Spring once we know whether our application for funding form SITA has been successful. Approval has been received from CDC for the tree works in the cemetery and it is anticipated that approval for the other tree work will be forthcoming by the beginning of January. The arboriculturalists have the work in hand and it is anticipated that it will all be completed before the end of March so that payment may be made from this year’s budget. Thereafter tree work will be dealt with on a regular basis as needed and a provision of £2000 will be set aside for the next financial year. It was also noted that the work on the footpath at Rope Way has now been completed.

8. Hook Norton War Memorial Hall

Cllr Jelf informed the PC that no formal meeting has taken place over the past four weeks as he is still awaiting formal planning approval from CDC. However the new cleaner has settled in and has been well received. Cllr Fry mentioned that the work on the broken window and the floor is still outstanding as neither contractor has been available. He is also waiting for Paul Austin to install the hand-dryers and replace the light strips, together with those at the NMCH. Also one of the curtains had come down during a Pilates session and Cllr Young will arrange to put this back up.

9. Report of Finance Working Group

Cllr Clay presented the meeting with an up-to-date report on the income and expenditure for the present financial year and informed the PC that provision for the tree work had been increased to £7000 but, as it appears that no work will take place on the cemetery wall in this financial year, he has removed it from his calculations resulting in a projected surplus of £17198, which will increase the capital of the PC to £59K. However the payment for the work on the cemetery wall will have to be found from this sum. In his budget for 2006/7 he has set aside the usual £3000 for projects, which together with a projected surplus of around £3K should ensure that we can afford to rebuild the wall even if no grant is forthcoming. As such it is necessary to seek an increased precept of £38K which, while an increase of £3500 from the present year, is only a 2.7% rise on what it was in 2003/4. Cllr Fry enquired whether any reserve was available for the projected work on the extension for the kitchen at the Memorial Hall and Cllr Clay responded that if we are successful in our grant applications this should release funding for the MH. Cllr Jelf commented that, if necessary, the work on the kitchen would have to be postponed for a year. Cllr Clay therefore recommended to the PC that we apply for a precept of £38000 for 2006/7 and this was seconded by Cllr Jelf and passed unanimously. The clerk will inform parishioners of the need for the rise in the Newsletter. The Chairman moved a vote of thanks to Cllr Clay for his hard work in preparing the budget. There followed a general discussion on the merits of acquiring a laptop to facilitate the production of the accounts and budgets and initially Cllr Jelf will look into this. There was also a discussion on potential funding of £2K which might be available through ORCC but the Chairman reminded councillors that he and Christopher Barry had attended two working groups on this issue in early 2003 and it had been generally felt that the number of hours needed to complete the project was simply out of proportion.

10. Schedule of Receipts and Payments for authorisation by the Council

Mr Porter presented the schedules of receipts and payments and sought approval to pay cheques totalling £4609.01 for the PC and £171.76 for the Memorial Hall. Cllr Fry moved acceptance of the payments detailed and this was seconded by Cllr Jelf and passed unanimously.

11. Norman Matthews Community Hall

Cllr Walsham informed the PC that the library had held a successful Open Day on 1 October when the whole of the hall had been used. The next meeting of the committee is not until 7 February but there are some small jobs still outstanding, the installation of smoke alarms and quotations to fix a seven-day clock to the heating system and also to install a light-sensor at the entrance to the hall.

12. Report on District Council Matters

In the absence of District Cllr Gasson there was nothing to report on this occasion.

13. Report on County Council Matters

Cllr Jelf had nothing of significance to report although staff at County Hall are working on the budget for 2006/7 and it is anticipated that the rise in council tax will be to the order of 4.375% with the intention of achieving a further reduction in 2007/8 and reducing to 4% in 2008/9.

14. Shoppers’ bus – charge and fares

The PC has received notification from the present operator, Jeffs, that it will be necessary to increase the charge for the bus from £40 to £60 per trip with effect from January 2006. While this is the first increase for many years the clerk wrote to two other operators seeking quotations on the same basis. That received from Bakers of Enstone was significantly more than Jeffs and we have had no response from Worths of Enstone. Cllr Fry informed the meeting that the bus is used by an average of 23 people, 28 having used it that morning, and the price has been £1 per return journey for as long as he could remember. However over-60s will be able to use the service bus free from April of next year. Having provided this information Cllr Fry withdrew from the meeting. After discussion Cllr Hayward proposed continuing with the present operator for a further year, the position to be reviewed next December, and increasing the price to £1.50 per trip. This was seconded by Cllr Young and passed unanimously. Cllr Fry returned to the meeting and mentioned that he needed somebody to deputise for him to collect fares on the rare occasions when he was not on the bus. After some discussion it was agreed that enquiries will be made to find a suitable person.

15. Correspondence

(i) CDC – Licensing Act 2003 – notification that CDC in the process of issuing the new Licence for the MH;
(ii) Woodcote Parish Council – Youth Service Budget in Oxfordshire – seeking our support in their campaign to increase the budget for youth services in Oxfordshire. Cllr Jelf was able to amplify on the reasons behind this request and it was agreed that the clerk will write to Keith Mitchell, leader of the County Council, supporting this action:
(iii) OCC – Children and Young People’s Plan – consultation documents available to download on www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/childrenandyoungpeoplesplan;
(iv) OCC – Fares and Ticketing Strategy Consultation – copy of summary and questionnaire for consideration;
(v) Thames Valley Police - the clerk sought guidance from the PC having received six posters from TVP in the past two months. It was agreed that he should use his judgement and display those which seem to have relevance to Hook Norton;
(vi) OCC – Environment & Economy – letter from Steve Bowden officially informing the PC that he’s leaving;
(vii) OCC – Information Strategy Consultation – reports on commercial and subsidised bus services in the county;
(viii) Health Scrutiny News –newsletter;
(ix) OCC – December Circular.

16. Questions and Comments from Members of the Public

There were no questions on this occasion.

17. Date and Time of Next Meeting

The next meeting will take place on Thursday 12th January 2006 at 7.30pm, again in the Norman Matthews Community Hall.

There being no further business the Chairman thanked everyone for attending and wished everyone a happy Christmas and prosperous New Year before declaring the meeting closed at 9pm.