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OXTON PARISH COUNCIL MINUTES OF THE MEETING HELD ON 9th MARCH 2010 AT OXTON VILLAGE HALL Present: Cllr. Jill Jones (Chairman) Cllr. Ian Johnson Cllr. Lin Jacobs Cllr. Margaret Cooper Cllr. Ian Kilpatrick Cllr. Jan Sablitzky Cllr. Andy Stewart (part of meeting) Cllr. Bruce Laughton (part of meeting) Mrs. Karen Birks (Clerk)
1. APOLOGIES Apologies were received from Cllr. Robin Aldridge. 2. MINUTES The minutes of the meeting held on 9th February 2010 were accepted as a true record and signed by the Chairman.
3. MATTERS ARISING (a) Quotes for the grass cutting contract for 2010 have been received from 4 companies and the clerk distributed information comparing the costs. It was agreed by a unanimous vote that the contract be given to Green Grass Contracting which will be organised through LMR Services. The clerk will contact Ian Dawson at LMR to request that the grass cutting commences in early April and to get his opinion on the cutting of the playing field with the current disruption caused by moles. 4. COMMUNICATIONS (a) Notification from Notts County Council of the closure of Beanford Lane between 1st March and 31st March to assist with toad crossing. (b) Notification of a Nottinghamshire NHS Public Board meeting to be held on 25th March 2010 in Mansfield. (c) Letter from Notts County Council with information that they have declared May 2010 as ‘Robin Hood Month’ and are encouraging groups and organisation to get involved particularly on May Day Bank holiday. Financial support is available from the Local Improvement Scheme. This letter will be passed to the social committee. (d) N&SDC are currently producing their Local Development Framework. As part of this they are proposing that funding for ‘Strategic Infrastructure’ (improvements to the Highway Network which are required because of growth of the District up to 2026) is secured through a Community Infrastructure Levy. This will introduce charges on most types of new development and will be based on the size and type of the development. N&SDC propose that these charges would apply to residential, industrial and commercial development across the District with affordable housing being excluded. Below 100 Sq.m. the charge would not apply. N&SDC are asking for responses to these proposals by 9th April. It was agreed that the consultation document will be circulated around all councillors and that any comments are to be passed back to the clerk to ensure they re recorded and submitted to N&SDC. (e) Campaign to Protect Rural England invite nominations for the Harry Johnson Award 2010 for the best new building or restoration of a building within a Nottinghamshire village setting. The council agreed there were no suitable buildings but would let the clerk know before the 1st May deadline if anything came to light. (f) Notts County Council are launching the New Local Improvement Scheme initiative and as part of this they are offering each Parish Council a new notice board or seat installed in the local area. The Parish Council would be responsible for future maintenance of any item installed. Suggested locations are to be submitted by 22nd March. It was agreed that the clerk will contact Colin Rieley, chairman of the Village Hall Management committee, to ask whether they think the Notice Board needs to be replaced. If it does this will be the selection put forward to Notts County Council and if not a seat will be requested to replace the old one opposite the Post Office. (g) Notification has been received from the Charities Commission that despite a letter received in 2008 advising the council that the recreation ground had been removed from the register as a charity it has now been re-instated and therefore an annual return is required. No annual return has been completed for many years because the Parish Council do not agree that a charity exists. The clerk has written to the Charities Commission to ask them to once again remove the Recreation Ground from the register of Charities and await a response. 5. HIGHWAYS Main Street is to be closed from 23rd March to 29th March for repairs. There was concern that the hole which had been dug outside the entrance to the village hall car park had been there for a couple of months and that this work needed to be complete before the road repairs were carried out. The clerk will contact Colin Rieley to ask if he has any information on why the job being carried out by Severn Trent is taking so long and when it will be complete. The clerk will report potholes on Oaks Lane and on Nottingham Road outside the Bridge Inn. Also streetlight No. 8 which is not working. A number of residents have complained about the state of the road surface on Forest Road which they view to be as bad, if not worse than Main Street. Cllr Andy Stewart agreed to pursue this issue and ask for it to be added to the scheme of work. 6. PLANNING Notice of decision. N&SDC have approved full planning permission to convert the coach house to a dwelling at the Old Vicarage, Main Street, Oxton (Application no. 09/01677/FUL)
(a) Invoices and Payments The following payments were authorised: K.Birks Clerks Salary February £214.76 K.Birks Clerks expenses February £19.04 K.Birks Website hosting (refund) £23.50 NALC Annual subscription £99.09 NCC Grass mowing 2009 £1707.60 N&SDC Contribution drainage study £750.00 Our centre Mini bus hire for February £77.70 Neighbourhood Watch Ringmaster £140.00 Pauline Cleverley Chiropody treatment Feb £68.00 ________ Total £3099.69 (b) Financial Report for February 2010 The Clerk reported an account balance at the end of February of £4730.92 with no outstanding cheques. Payments for February were £411.26 and receipts £56.12. The Sinking Fund balance was £10,365.39. The accounts were reconciled accordingly. A proposal to transfer £500 from the current account to the Sinking Fund was put to the vote and was agreed by 4 votes for; 1 vote against and 1 abstention. (b) Clerks salary Details have been received from NALC with new hourly pay rates for part time clerks. This increases the rate for spinal column point 15 (the scale the Oxton clerk is currently paid on) from £8.26 to £8.34 per hour. This would increase the monthly salary by £2.08 to £216.84. Acceptance of this increase was proposed by Cllr. Ian Johnson, seconded by Cllr. Lin Jacobs and approved by all members. Also notification that the mileage rate has increased from 58.7p to 60.1p per mile. 8. RECREATION i) Cllr. Lin Jacobs has inspected the play equipment and has no issues to report. ii) Cllr. Jan Sablitzky reported on the progress of the recreation ground sub committee. It is proposed that developments are made in two phases – phase 1 new provision for 8-14 year olds and Phase 2 to update the existing play area. The Playbuilder grant application has been successful and Phil Beard at N&SDC has indicated that Oxton will receive a sum of up to £23,000. David Wilkes is now getting quotes from a number of different companies and the council looked at details of one of these which has been received from Playdale. The suggested equipment is in response to the consultation which took place with the children and it is a wooden trail which fits well into the proposed environment. In principle it was agreed that the proposals are suitable for Oxton. Concerns were raised over the site of the bonfire which would need to move, the fact that the area was not enclosed and was possibly too spread out and the issue of mowing the grass in the area. The next steps are - to get more quotes – to look into eligibility for more grants - David Wilkes and Jan Sablitzky to meet with Phil Beard to confirm the grant details - Further consultation with the children after the Parish meeting The planned timescale is to present a full proposal at the June Parish Council meeting
It was agreed to move the discussion on budget for meetings and training courses to the agenda for the April Parish Council meeting. 9. COMMUNITY LED ACTION PLAN There was nothing further to report on the Community Led Action Plan 10. RISK AND RESILIENCE There was nothing further to report on Risk and Resilience. 11. MOLES ON THE RECREATION GROUND There is concern that the extent of the problem with mole hills on the recreation ground may make it impossible to satisfactorily cut the grass. Two quotations have been received to attempt to eradicate the moles by gas which are £272.00 + vat and £400.50 + vat. There is no guarantee that this will solve the problem as the moles may well return from surrounding areas. This subject will be discussed with the new grass mowing contractors and raised again at a future meeting. 12. ANNUAL PARISH MEETING It was agreed that the following people will be invited to speak at the meeting. Cllr. Ian Kilpatrick will contact PC Gary Sipson, the new beat officer. Cllr. Jan Sablitzky will contact Matthew Wheatley re the cricket club Cllr. Jill Jones will confirm who will speak about the Parish Plan. The clerk will contact Carol Buchan and Frances Wheatley to give a Workhouse Close Trustees Report
13. ANY OTHER BUSINESS Cllr. Jill Jones is not able to attend the next meeting and it will be chaired by Cllr Lin Jacobs.
The chairman closed the meeting at 9.34 p.m.
Chairman Date
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