The
Annual Parish Meeting
This
year the meeting was held in the village. In years past the event used to be
held in the Horse & Harrow and more recently in Hagbourne School.
Last year there was a request that this meeting should be held in the village if
possible.
This
was made possible by Marion Judd’s generous offer to use her garden as the
venue. The weather was kind, sunny and dry, and people gathered in the Marquee kindly
provided by the Village Association. About 35 parishioners attended and were
given written reports from the Chair of the Parish Council, the West Hagbourne
Village Association, the West Hagbourne History Group, the William Tyrrell
Trust and the South Oxfordshire District Council and Oxfordshire County Council from County and District Councillor Patrick Greene.
Phil
Taylor, Chair of the Parish Council, opened the meeting at 2.30pm welcoming everyone and
explained the meeting had been planned to avoid long speeches but instead give
the time to the people of the village to voice their views and concerns in the
Open Forum…
Open
Forum –
The
following topics were debated:
- Parked vehicles
at top end of Moor Lane,
to monitor
- Didcot Hospital
– a temporary reprieve to closure
- Land opposite
Horse and Harrow
– the area lets the village down. Owned by Brewery but the upkeep is the
responsibility of the Landlord. One suggestion was to make it into a carpark and the carpark into
a garden. It was also suggested that we should encourage it to be cleared
and grassed and then kept regularly cut., Chris
Lay offered help.
- The small piece
of ground next to the Bus Shelter needs attention. Ivy is growing over the
roof. Volunteers needed to help clear area and keep it tidy.
- Asbestos in the
in ceiling of the bus shelter– has been investigated, and no action at
present is needed.
- Wheelchair
access to Sustrans track – it is almost impossible
to access path with a wheelchair. Church path is crumbling and needs
attention. A link track from WH to access has been put forward to Sustrans and this could be from top of Foxglove Lane
to the access to the path at the railway bridge. This will be pursued.
- Trees along
bank bordering Nappers land need attention. An
electric fence or barbed wire to stop cows from damaging the trees was
suggested. The landowner will be consulted.
- Flooding in Brook Lane
– Highways are responsible for clearing the drain – it has been cleared
once this year.
- The drain at
junction of Foxglove Lane
and Brook Lane
is not adequate when there is a heavy downpour of rain. This will be
pursued and monitored and pressure will continue to be applied on the
Highways department.
- General clear
up of all drains/kerbsides is needed.
Traffic
issues:
- Increase of
traffic through the village is still one of the greatest concerns for the
parish.
- Finance for
improvement will not be forthcoming in the near future, from the Didcot
Integrated Transport Study - other action is in progress
- • Large vehicles travelling
through village is still a problem
- Didcot
expansion – traffic planning and possible bypass
- Diamond Project
– expansion will inevitably lead to further increase of traffic through
village
Parish
Plan
Initial
copies of the Parish Survey were discussed and circulated for feedback before
distribution to all households during the summer.
The
meeting agreed that the venue and location was a good idea and it was hoped
this could be repeated next year.
A formalised meeting of the Annual Parish Meeting commenced
at 6.10 pm
and Items raised at the Open Forum were duly noted for future consideration.