WEST HAGBOURNE PARISH COUNCIL                                                          MINUTES

 

 

Meeting in Hagbourne Primary School                                                 14th September 2006

East Hagbourne

 

 

Present:  Phil Taylor, Marion Judd, Bernard Mead and Keith Little

 

Apologies for absence from Sue Totterdell.

 

Cllr Patrick Greene gave his report to the Council before the meeting started.

 

There were no members of the public present.  Eleanor Bowey and Margaret Hedger sent their apologies for absence.

 

 

The meeting opened at 8pm.

 

1.         Minutes of meeting on 13th July 2006.

 

            The minutes were passed as a true and correct record.

 

2.         Matters arising

 

            Village website. 

 

The Clerk (as joint Webmaster) will contact people who have expressed interest in helping to explore with them possible improvements/additions to the website

 

3.         Planning applications

 

            a)         Nursery rooms and sleepover accommodation at Little Acorns Day Nursery

                       

                        Planning permission for the work has been granted

 

            b)         Repairs and alterations for barn conversion at Ivy Farm

 

This planning application has been withdrawn by the applicant.

                       

c)         Single detached dwelling at land adjacent to Ash Farm. 

 

Minor amendments to one elevation were discussed and the Council decided it had no strong views on the amendment.

 

d)         Residential development for a chalet bungalow at land adjoining 4 Manor Close

 

The Council decided it had no strong views on the application but has concerns that it would give the effect of overcrowding which would affect the scale of the street scene in Manor Close, and concerns about the overhead cables which infringe on the site.

 

4.         Traffic through village

 

a)         Removal of white lines and road signs

 

            It was confirmed that the decision on which lines, markings and signs could be removed was taken by Oxfordshire Highways when it met parish councillors earlier in the summer.  The Council noted that the nature of driving through the village has now changed and the Council will discuss with Oxfordshire Highways whether some of the signs should be replaced.  Highways will be requested when they plan to remeasure the speed of traffic through the village so it can be compared with the traffic speed before the experiment started. 

 

b)         UKAEA Harwell traffic proposals

 

There has been no further contact with UKAEA.

 

c)         Proposed closure of Hagbourne Hill

 

The proposed closure so for the pipeline crossing by Thames Water was noted.

 

d)         Heavy traffic monitoring

 

Images of the heavy vehicles prohibited from the village will be included in the next Newsletter.

 

e)         A response by the Parish Council is needed on the recent high class patch and mend to Hagbourne Hill. Councillors noted the inadequacy of work done and the excessive time taken to achieve very little - poor value for money.

           

5.         Village maintenance

 

            a)         Maintenance of village garden

 

Richard Evans has started working on the village garden.

 

            b)         Highways maintenance

 

            Oxfordshire Highways have refused to maintain the open ditch that takes surface water from the road near Green Thatch between the road gulley and the garden wall as it is the private owner’s responsibility.

 

c)         Improvements to rights of way. 

 

Suggestions for specific improvements will be discussed at the next Council meeting, including proposals of the Village Action Group.

 

d)         Definitive land ownership map

 

A map suitable for recording land ownership has now been obtained and Phil Taylor (assisted by Bernard Mead and Jeff Powell) will start to compile the information.

 

6.         Parish Plan – progress report   

 

            There was no report of progress.

 

7.         Land adjacent to Horse and Harrow

 

            Greene King and the tenant have confirmed their agreement for the plot to be released to the Council.  Phil Taylor will write to Greene King to confirm the details. 

The Clerk will explore whether a Caution against First Registration could be applied for. 

The Council decided to accept a quotation for £800 to clear the plot plus a further amount of £140 for carting away soil or £240 for carting away mixed rubble.

Phil Taylor will write to Thames Water to ascertain position of services crossing the site.

 

8.         Parish Clerk’s training

 

The Clerk reported that he has commenced the distance learning course for basis training for clerks.

 

9.         Revised Standing Orders and Financial Regulations

 

            The Council noted that comments have been received from OALC which would necessitate changes to the drafts.  Comments will be sent to the Clerk by the end of September with a view to approving the new documents including proposals for delegation at the next Council meeting.

 

10.       Finance

 

a)         Audit of the Annual Return and Auditor’s report

 

            The audited Annual Return was approved and accepted by the Council and the Auditor’s report was noted.

 

b)         Report on expenditure

 

            The Clerk’s Report on Expenditure was accepted.

 

c)         Cheques signed

 

            WWDP (website hosting)  - £23.49

 

                       

11.       Storage of archives

 

The Clerk will write to neighbouring town and village councils to ascertain whether they have spare storage capacity the Council could use.

 

12.       Communication

                       

a)         Correspondence

 

A letter received from Dave and Lynne Carter was read to the Council regarding the experimental traffic scheme, heavy lorries and potholes in the road that are dangerous for pedestrians.  The Clerk was asked to report the heavy lorries and potholes and draft a reply to Mr & Mrs Carter.

 

b)         Recent consultation invitations

 

The Council decided to respond to consultation invitations from UKAEA (HVLA waste) and from SEERA (Partial Review of South East Plan dealing with gypsy and travellers’ sites).  The Council decided to delegate the formal response to the Clerk who would consult with members on the responses.  

 

13.       Any other business

 

            Keith Little advised the Council of possible extensions to Hagbourne Village Hall.

 

            Marion Judd advised the Council that Mike Butler has prepared tenancy agreements for both the existing and new allotment sites and obtained Matt Napper’s agreement and said that the village should be grateful to Mike Butler as this had been a long-standing problem.

 

            Phil Taylor will write to Thames Water about any plans they may have for their site next to the allotments.

 

 

Date of next meeting – 9th November 2006 at 8.00pm (open forum at 7.30pm)

 

 

 

 

 

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