WEST HAGBOURNE ANNUAL PARISH MEETING 2014

 

Report of the Chairman of the Parish Council

 

 

In my report for the Parish meeting in May 2013, I mentioned that there was a proposal to change the parish boundary to exclude part that was assigned to Great Western Park. The Parish Council intended to agree to the transfer of the part of the parish to Didcot. We argued that the buffer zone, where there should be no building, should be part of West Hagbourne parish but this proposal was rejected and it was held that both the buildings and the buffer zone should be within Didcot.

 

The change to the parish boundary emphasise our desire to stay as a distinct rural community, something which was acknowledged by the Boundaries Commission when we were successful with our objection to the changes to the district council wards. We shall need to keep this clearly in the minds of planners. Whilst the Core Strategy of South Oxford District Council protects the separation of West Hagbourne from Didcot, we are aware of plans which might reduce this separation in the longer term. We are also concerned about the proposed activities of the Vale of White Horse, which is of course under pressure to build more homes which may have an effect on our local environment.

 

There will be some developments regarding the road system near the village. It seems that the A34 junction at Chilton will be made bi-directional, something which was supported by all of the local parishes apart from Chilton. The link road which joins the A417 just to the North West of the village, before the Kingswell, will be constructed and it has been decided that a major route for traffic to and from the A34 and the Harwell campus will be over Hagbourne Hill. The road over Hagbourne Hill will be improved and there will be a new roundabout at the junction with the A417. The county council has just contacted the Tyrell Trust regarding the purchase of the old allotment land (now leased to a farmer) to accommodate the roundabout. The intention of the Parish Council is to do what we can to exploit these changes, to dissuade people from travelling through the village when they should use the new link road.

 

It appears that the field behind the Horse & Harrow, which is in Chilton parish and the Vale of White Horse district council, has been sold by Thames Water. A rumour is that it has been bought by somebody who will seek planning permission for an ecologically sound single dwelling. Whether that permission is granted, and whether there will be further applications for further buildings on the same site, we do not know.

 

A major problem this year has been flooding. We are seeking to arrange a meeting with the various bodies involved, including the Environment Agency, to see what can be done before next winter. We will be looking at Highways drainage as well as the system of ditches and streams which should carry water away more effectively than they do at present.

 

There are still some serious potholes, some of which seem to be connected to water beneath the road surface, particularly on Main Street near the southern junction with York Road. The pavement along the stretch of Main Street to the pond is unusable in many places and needs to be repaired.

 

 

Michael Butler

Chairman, West Hagbourne Parish Council

15 May 2014

 

 

 

 

Annual report of the Village Hall Committee 2014

 

The committee met three times during the last year, on 19th September 2013, 22nd November 2013 and 12thMarch 2014. The meeting on 22nd November was followed by an AGM.

 

The hall is in a very healthy financial state and therefore the current rates have been kept for the fourth year running. The cost of the extension has now been paid off. John Jones has now resigned as treasurer and the new treasurer is Janet Hornsey.

 

The hall continues to be well used. It is almost at full capacity during the week, so much so that it is sometimes difficult for the caretakers to schedule their cleaning. Therefore Friday afternoons are being kept free whenever possible for that purpose.

Weekends are kept available for casual users.

 

A large number of improvements have been made to the hall over the year. Briefly;-

 

  The old wooden tables have been replaced with new aluminium legged ones.

 

   Four card tables were purchased for the meeting room.

 

   New chairs were purchased for the hall to replace broken ones.

 

   Curtains were removed from the kitchen and an extractor fan fitted to deal with the

   damp. This seems to have been successful.

 

   The redundant electric storage heaters were removed.

 

    An additional hinge was installed on the main entrance door so that it now works

     properly.

 

    A baby changing facility was installed in the disabled toilet

 

    A door was installed between the meeting room and the side of the stage to allow

     access during performances.

 

    Bicycle lock bars have been fitted outside the hall grounds.  

 

There are some other improvements which have been identified but not yet carried out such as :-

 

    Sound-proofing between the large and small halls

    Improvements to the coat hanging in the entrance hall.

    Doors and shelves to be fitted in the entrance hall.

    Leaf guards to be fitted to gutters.

 

Various maintenance, cleaning and decorating tasks were carried out by work parties over the Christmas holidays. An inventory of the hall contents was also carried out. This showed that the crockery in the kitchen was not very useful and it was agreed to re-stock with a full set of crockery sufficient for 100 or so people.

 

Another major improvement which is under consideration is the building of an outside storage facility to the East of the small hall, being accessible from the outside for the first two partitions to house outside Pre-school equipment and from the inside for the next two partitions for scouts equipment and possibly Hams.  It was agreed that a planning application be submitted for this. A likely estimate of the cost is £16,000.

 

Registration of ownership at land registry

 

Currently there is no official record of ownership of the land on which the Village Hall is built.

 

It is believed that the land was gifted to the village many years ago, but the village hall committee has no record of when this occurred or by whom. Thus there are no deeds of ownership in the hands of the village hall committee.

 

The Land Registry has been consulted and they have confirmed that they have no record of who owns the land. This is not particularly unusual as land is only registered when it is sold. According to the land registry about 20% of land is currently unregistered.

 

Because Hagbourne Village Hall has been the user of the land for many years it is possible, provided certain documents are obtained, to have the land registered as owned by the Hagbourne Village Hall charity. However this is neither simple nor cheap.

 

The land registry defines the benefits of land registry as follows:-

          -    shows proof of ownership

          -    helps to protect your land from fraud

          -    makes it easier to change ownership

 

The relevant papers have now been completed with the help of Rachel Booth a villager who is also a lawyer specializing in property law and an application has been made to the land registry.

 

Val Brownsword

(West Hagbourne Parish Council representative)

 

 

 

 

 

Annual report of the East and West Hagbourne Cemetery Committee 2014

 

 

The committee met twice during the last year, on 15th July 2013 at the cemetery and on 10th March 2014 at 12A Harwood Road.

 

Mrs. Napper reported that Rosa Regosa cuttings were very unlikely to grow but she will persevere and try to fill the gaps in the hedge. The proposed hibernaculum in the N.E. corner of the meadow has been built by volunteers. The hedge in the N.W. corner had been cut, the oak tree checked and the Rosa Regosa trimmed. It was agreed that the trees on the embankment were not a problem at the moment. Mrs. Napper had cut off some of the side branches. Sustrans could be approached to deal with any problem in the future.

 

It was agreed that risk assessments should be carried out every three months to check all trees, memorial stones and seats and that these assessments should be documented. As a result of this a letter regarding the safety of the fir trees bordering the cemetery had been sent to Mrs.Kilham-Jackson of the PCC. The boundary trees, memorials & seats had been inspected and found to be in good order. It was noted that one of the flagstones under the lych gate was slightly proud and had become a trip hazard. Repairs were carried out by Mr. Heapy.

 

The cemetery charges were discussed and it was agreed that they would remain the same for now. They will be reviewed at the next meeting

 

 

Val Brownsword

(West Hagbourne Parish Council representative.)

 

 

 

 

South Oxfordshire District Council Annual Report

May 2014

 

 

Overall report on the Work at South Oxfordshire District Council

 

The council continues to work in challenging times but has been able to cope without any cuts to services.

 

The efficiency savings made over the last five years by joint working with the Vale of White Horse District Council and shared contracts have meant that the council can once again reduce council tax by 2.5%.   This being the third consecutive year means a total reduction of 7.5% which is very positive.

 

New Homes Bonus money is received from the government for new homes that are built in the district.  We received one million pounds this year and expect to receive nearly two million pounds next year.  This money will be spent on projects where houses are being built to improve infrastructure.

 

Grants

 

The council continues to understand the difficulties communities and charity groups face when trying to develop their own facilities.  For that reason we continue to have a one million pound community grant fund.

 

The council has given a £15 million loan to SOHA to enable them to accelerate their housing programme.

 

Planning

 

The council is pleased to have an approved local plan which means that large developers cannot gain planning permission on any site they feel is desirable as is happening in districts that do not have such a plan.  During the last few months we have been working with other Oxfordshire districts as instructed by the government to review social housing numbers.  This means that we will shortly start a process similar to the local plan to accommodate more houses and the plan will be extended from 2027 to 2031.  This is not a happy position but is one where we have no choice.  There are more houses actually being built than in previous years.

 

Neighbourhood Plans

 

Thame now has an agreed neighbourhood plan following their referendum and Woodcote will shortly be holding their own referendum.  We have lots of similar plans in the pipeline such as Sonning Common.  Smaller parishes prefer community led plans.

 

Planning Enforcement

 

We have put additional resources into this area as it is important to explain to parishes what we can and cannot do.  Where there is a breach of planning there is frustration at the limit of what the council can do and the speed at which it can be done.  We are required to give those in breach of planning time to make amendments where possible.  However, some issues raised as enforcement are actually minor developments and are now permitted under permitted development rights.  Government reforms have now made it easier for people to erect extensions.

 

Housing

 

The council continually works in partnership to keep the number of homeless people needing temporary accommodation low.  We have seen a rise in this number in the past year but it remains fewer than 20 households.  The cost of providing temporary accommodation can be high so it is important to keep this number down.

 

Waste

 

We continue to be one of the highest recycling councils in the country.  The joint contract with the Vale of White Horse District Council works very well.  Residents say “this is a good and easy system”.  The floods caused some areas to have collection days changed.  However, everyone did their best in exceptional circumstances.

 

The Big Clean Up continues to be a huge success so once again we have increased the budget by £90K with even more money for the market towns over the next two years.

 

Market Towns

 

The market towns are very important to the district and we work in partnership with town councils, business partnerships and share costs of town centre coordinators where agreed.    Our economic development team work hard across the whole district involving many small businesses.  Car park charges have not increased and free parking on Saturday afternoons in some of our car parks has proved popular.  Any surplus car park income is spent on upgrading toilets and car parks and not on any other services.

 

Leisure Centres

 

Leisure centres are well used by all ages.  We work with the contractor to ensure that the facilities are of a standard acceptable to the user.  The present provider’s contract comes to an end next year so we have been going through a procurement exercise for the letting of the new contract which will be shared with the Vale of White Horse District Council giving more scope for better value.

 

Didcot

 

Didcot is the largest growth area in the district with Great Western Park building 3,000 houses, one of the largest sites in the South East.  We are working with Hammersons to achieve phase two of the Orchard Centre development which is still proving difficult to secure an anchor store in the current economic climate.  Didcot will benefit from Science Vale Oxford as the government has agreed millions of pounds to encourage new business growth to the science parks.  There will also be government monies for infrastructure.  This is a very exciting part of the district which should create spin off businesses for the whole of the area.

 

Cornerstone Arts Centre is well worth a visit for the wide variety of shows, exhibitions and children’s sessions plus the café.

 

Boundary Review

 

The boundary review is now complete and the commission agreed the reduction in the number of councillors from 48 to 36 which will happen following the May election in 2015.

 

Community Governance Reviews

 

Community Governance Reviews have not taken place for many years and started at the end of last year.  The process is looking at parish boundaries so we are suggesting some changes and where it would affect residents they are being consulted.  Parish councils have already been involved and no changes will be made until we hear the views of the parish councils and residents.  The review must be complete by August so will be decided at the council meeting in July.

 

Office Accommodation

 

If you have had reason to visit the council office at Crowmarsh you will have seen a lot of activity.  Vale staff are moving into our accommodation giving us an annual rent of £175,000.  Their Abingdon office is being rented to an Oxfordshire County Council service.  This is good partnership working of local authorities.

 

We will continue to work hard to provide good services and value for money in partnership with others.

 

The council website (www.southoxon.gov.uk) can give you details of all our services, councillors’ allowances, contractors and meetings that you can watch at home as they are webcast.

 

 

 

 

West Hagbourne Village Association Annual Report May 2013------May 2014

 

This has been a fairly quiet year after the Queen’s Jubilee Celebrations in 2012 as many of our committee have had health problems.

In June 2013 the judging of the front gardens took place. Mrs. Madge, who kindly agreed to be judge, commented that the attractive well kept gardens were a credit to the village. The winning garden was 16, York Road and Mrs. Hill was awarded the Madge Trophy. Highly commended were 1, Main Street, and Uplands.

Mrs. Madge was also impressed with the attractive garden around the bus shelter. Many thanks to Dave  and  Sue Totterdell who care for this garden.

 

Dragon Competition

 

The annual West Hagbourne Dragon competition to celebrate St. George’s Day was held between 13th and 27th April 2014. Twenty five dragons and a St. George appeared in front gardens around the village including the large fantastic  dragon  in the pond.

The judges, Vic and Christine Clinch from Didcot, had a difficult task in choosing a winner as they felt the standard was so high and portrayed good use of material and originality.

First prize was awarded to Little Acorns Nursery, second prize to Chapel Hayes, and third prize to Fermain.

Many thanks to Mike  Parker and family  who once again put  the  enormous dragon in the pond which is always a spectacular sight.

The Village Association thank everyone who participated in this year’s competition. The dragons provide a lot of fun and interest and attract many visitors to our lovely

Village.

Photos of the dragons appeared in the local paper and the Oxford mail. The dragon on the pond was shown on BBC1 Oxford News Channel.

Photos of the dragons can be viewed on the West Hagbourne web-site thanks to Malcolm Brownsword,who took the photos, and John Baile, web master.

 

The Village Association welcome new members and new ideas for   enjoyment of our villagers. Please contact Val Walton 851089  or June Little  850094