WEST HAGBOURNE PARISH COUNCIL MINUTES

Meeting in Hagbourne Primary School 9^th March 2006

East Hagbourne

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

Public: Mary Wiley

Cllr Patrick Greene sent his apologies

Open Forum

Mary Wiley said the map is now ready and suggested it should now be fitted as soon as possible.

There was discussion about the new concessionary travel arrangements. The withdrawal of tokens from those under 70 was considered unfair as village people have less opportunity to use buses than those living in towns and tokens could also be used on taxis. There is also an imbalance between West Hagbourne and Didcot where the town council provides additional tokens. Could the Parish Council consider this option and also provide tokens for those aged between 60 and 70?

The Council meeting opened at 8.00pm

1. Minutes of meeting on 12^th January 2006

The minutes were passed as a true and correct record.

2 Matters arising

Green waste. If the new scheme is implemented:

a) if the new brown wheelie bins are stolen, will SODC replace them free of charge?

b) the Parish Council will consider whether to buy (say) five wheelie bins if they will be emptied by SODC. These could be located them around the village for village people to use

3 Planning applications

a) Didcot West (Great Western Park)

The Parish Council’s objection was submitted. Patrick Greene has advised that the Highways Agency has objected as the A34 will be taking more traffic. This is likely to mean a further delay.

b) Conservatory at Fairview, York Road

Planning permission has now been granted. The work is in progress.

c) Barn conversion at Ivy Farm

Planning officer has been waiting for some time for more information and thinks this is unlikely now to be taken further.

4 Traffic through the village

a) Experimental traffic proposals

Peter Ronald has clarified the situation. The County Council is happy to go ahead with the experiment and replace the white lines and signs if speeds increase or other problems are identified. The Parish Council’s suggestion that the lines, etc. should be replaced if speeds are not reduced by at least 5% has been rejected.

b) UKAEA traffic proposals

A meeting will be held with Steve Moss of UKAEA on 18th April.

c) Brook Lane will be closed for a likely maximum of one day starting on 21 March

5 Village maintenance

a) Village tidy-up

This will be on 8th April ( to be confirmed )

Clerk to remind Highways about the kerbstones in Main Street and the potholes in York Road and to speak to Ruth Webb about grabs and to SODC if Mike Butler can not provide yellow jackets.

b) The Foxglove Lane end of School Path is extremely muddy. People who volunteered in connection with the Parish Plan will be asked to clear the mud and expose the path as part of the village tidy-up.

Foxglove Lane also suffers from encroaching mud from the verges and this too will be cleared. The County Council will be asked to remedy the potholes.

6 Vision for Didcot’s future

Bernard Mead attended a workshop held for parish councillors. Bernard has started a response to the consultation questionnaire and this will be circulated before completion. Marion Judd attended a Health Authority meeting about Health Service provision in Didcot which also considered wider issues about Didcot’s future.

7 Land for memorial grove

This was suggested in the Parish Plan. Chris & Sue Lay have confirmed they cannot provide any land, but suggested planting memorial trees along the parish boundaries, the position of which will be recorded on a map. This was agreed and the proposal will be included in the Parish Plan

It was also decided that the Parish Council should hold a map showing land ownership within the parish, and this should also be in the Parish Plan.

8 Programme of meetings for 2006/07

The following dates were agreed:

Ordinary Council meetings: 11/05/06, 13/07/06, 14/09/06, 09/11/06, 11/01/07, 08/03/07

Annual Meeting of Parish Council: 11/05/06

Annual Parish Meeting: 20/05/06

9 New village notice board and map

The notice board has now been erected. Options for re-using the old notice board will be considered by the Parish Council. The cost of new posts will be investigated. Marion Judd can store the old notice board for the time being.

10 Parish Plan

Progress is continuing slowly. The first coffee morning was successful.

11 Land adjacent to the Horse and Harrow

The land still has not been cleared. Chilton Construction now say they will do it next week. Phil Taylor to remind Greene King about contacting the licensee.

12 Storage of archives

There was nothing to report.

13 Finance

a) Appointment of auditor

There has been no progress. Upton Parish Council to be asked who audits their accounts. A new quotation will be obtained from an accountant in Brightwell cum Sotwell who previously offered his services.

b) Cheques raised:

Hire of school room £70.00, Tracey Anderson (contribution towards newsletter printing) £84.00, Clerk’s salary and allowance December to March and postage £488.37

14 Communication

a) Correspondence

Suggested dates in March for visit to Police control centre not ideal. April would be better.

Vehicle weight watch report forms to be included with newsletter for those in Main Street. Councillors will also make available to certain other people.

15 Other business

A feasibility study is being carried out for extending Hagbourne village hall.

Butts Piece (Charity allotments in East Hagbourne) has now been registered with Land Registry

Reminder that reports will be needed for the Annual Meeting in May

Date of next meeting – 11^th May 2006 at 7.30pm

Chairman……………………………………… date…………………………………..