WEST HAGBOURNE PARISH COUNCIL                                                                              MINUTES

 

Meeting held at Hagbourne Primary School                                                                         8th July 2004

East Hagbourne

 

Present: Phil Taylor Chair, Cllrs Sue Totterdell, Marion Judd, Bernard Mead, Keith Little

              County and District Councillor Patrick Greene

Public:   Mary Wylie, Sheila Taylor

 

Chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting stating the next half an hour was open for questions and comments.

 

Open Forum:

The proposed planning application for Didcot West was discussed and questioned and plans and maps studied. The over-riding concern is how this development will affect the village.

 

The Village History Group will put forward suggestions for programmed maintenance of the village assets, particularly around our most public space The Square under item 4 of agenda.

 

The Council meeting opened at 8.10

 

1.         Minutes of the meeting on 29th April

Dave Carter asked that his request to communicate with Vale of White Horse re development at Chilton Waste Services be recorded.

 

The minutes were passed as a true and correct record.

 

2.         Matters arising

            On agenda

 

3.         Planning applications

 

        a)             Land to west of Didcot between A4130 & Park Road and to both north and south of B4493   Wantage Road – a mixed use urban extension of approx 3,200 new dwellings together with associated local shops and services, leisure, open space and community facilities- transport, drainage and utility infrastructure.

 

Response date 21st July is an unreasonable timescale to give a constructive response – additional 21days has been asked for – other Parishes are requesting the same.

 

Phil Taylor asked how best to review this application. It was agreed each Cllr would study a section of the plan and then meet for overview and response.  Parishioners objections to certain aspects have to be taken into consideration – display planning application on notice board and details where plans can be viewed, where to send objections and how to contact cllrs for information and guidance.

 

        b) Horse and Harrow – erection of ten signs, three illuminated and seven non-illuminated.

            Upgrading of current signs was approved by the Council.

 

        c) Thatch Cottage – John Coggins (Planning Officer) was contacted and he stated no decision had been  

made on the recent application. At a recent site meeting he suggested Mr Robertson invite Council representation (hence letter from Dowdrill) to address problems and revised car parking. Phil Taylor and Marion Judd will arrange this.

 

            Ivy Cottage – no decision yet.   14 Manor Close planning permission granted.

 

4.         Village maintenance

a) garden area next to bus shelter requires regular professional attention and care – it was agreed PC would allocate £100 to purchase 8 hours service annually (3 to 4 sessions) from a gardener. Marion Judd will look into this.

 

b) regular maintenance required for bench near bus shelter and seating round tree as well as notice boards. Will try to organise working party for this. Possible initiative for Parish Plan.

 

c) renovation of village map plus notes of historical interest of importance beneath the map. Village History Group will undertake this and the cost.

 

d) re-paint of telephone box – to approach British Telecom first – action clerk

 

e) bus shelter – Phil Taylor reported two-thirds of tiles, hips and guttering need replacing. Asbestos in roof cannot be confirmed. Dave Carter can do this but would need help. Need to obtain three quotes.

 

f) land adjacent to Horse and Harrow – this eyesore to the entrance to the village was brought up at the APM. Keith Little was asked to approach the landlord Mr Stacey on this matter – he replied he would be interested in any constructive ideas on what to do with this land that could be of benefit to both parties.   Varied suggestions on what to do with land were put forward but it was finally agreed to first get it cleared and grassed. Phil Taylor will approach Chris Lay who made an offer to do this at the APM.  Future cost for ongoing maintenance, grass cutting, will have to be considered.

 

g) replacement of waste bins in the village – clerk to action.

 

h) dog bins – charges made for emptying but will look into costs. Alternatively dog owners can be encouraged to use  ‘pooper scoopers’ and plastic collection bags that can be obtained free from Town Council Offices –i) Village Hall Challenge – WREN (Waste Recycling Environment Ltd) a registered environmental body that distributes grants to community, heritage and conservation projects under the Landfill Tax Credit Scheme are offering two grants of £250,000 each for village halls.  Phil Taylor said West Hagbourne qualifies to apply and though chances are slim it’s well worth trying for it.  He will put forward the required initial application with help from Marion.

 

5.         Parish Plan

            Four out of the six PP survey trials have been returned and these are being worked through towards a

total village survey planned for Aug/Sept.  Children will be given a separate survey but will also be able to respond to the main survey.

 

6.         Finance

The Audit Commission’s Annual Return for the year ending 31st March 2004 was accepted by the members of the Parish Council and the statement of assurance signed by the Chairman and clerk.

 

Local vegetable sale at Hagbourne Village Hall (September) – The PC agree to underwrite half the cost of hire of hall if the Village Hall Committee insists on charging for this local event. Keith Little asked to relay this to the committee.

 

Donations – It was agreed to give a donation of £25 to each of the following:

British Legion, Didcot Volunteer Centre, Citizens Advice Bureau.and Didcot Community Hospital.

 

7.         Communication

            Praise received for the presentation of last newsletter.

           

            Should paid advertising be considered? It was thought to review this again later.

 

            Correspondence in and out circulated to all members of the council.

 

8.         Annual Parish Meeting

General opinion suggests the new venue and style was well received. Approximately 35 parishioners attended.  Agreed to similar next year Marion Judd was thanked for providing the venue and tea.

How to encourage more people to attend was discussed.

Main issues raised at Open forum were the land adjacent to Horse and Harrow and traffic calming in village.

 

 

 

9.         Any other business

 

As West Hagbourne is not included in Didcot ITS short term programme (2004/05) – Phil Taylor asked Patrick Greene who else can be contacted re traffic calming. PG had made comment to Brian Short about this but need to document traffic issues.

Although Didcot has been erased from road sign HGV’s still continue to pass through WH – need to add HGV restriction. After discussion it was agreed to contact Brian Short for cost of traffic calming.

 

Surface dressing to recent road repairs along Main Street will be carried out in the autumn.

 

Patrick Greene gave a short report on current OCC and SODC developments.

 

Vehicles in Moor Lane – Bernard Mead asked to visit owner and discuss situation.

 

RWE Nukem – Opening of library at Harwell Business Centre – Bernard Mead will be attending.

 

Jeff Higgins of Wycherts has died.

 

Village Association to donate £100 towards fireworks on 5th November.

 

10.        Date of next meeting – 9th September 2004.