MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE OXTON PARISH COUNCIL HELD ON TUESDAY 11^th DECEMBER 2001.

Meeting commenced at 7.30 p.m.

Present: Messrs. Maclaren and Bayliss. Mesdames Cooper, Bennett and Roe. District Councillor Armstrong. Clerk Mr. B Machin. One member of the public.

Apologies for absence. Apologies were received from Mr. Colston and Mrs. Jacobs.

MINUTES OF THE MEETINGS HELD 20^TH NOVEMBER 2001:

The minutes, having been circulated prior to the meeting, were confirmed and signed as a correct record.

Dog friendly Stiles: A reply from Notts CC is awaited.

Trees in Manor House development: A letter from Keen Construction Ltd. confirmed that the trees had been inspected and were found to be in sound condition requiring only dead wood pruning, this had been carried out in November.

Web page: The Clerk reported that the operating system on his computer would not support the Council’s copy of Microsoft FrontPage, a memory upgrade costing around £85.00 would overcome the problem. In the meantime an earlier version of the software had been loaded.

Crime & Disorder liaison: Notts. Police has confirmed receipt of the request for a ‘speed trap’ and will be in contact in due course.

Standards Board for England: The Clerk reported receipt of The Parish Councils (Model Code of Conduct) Order 2001, the Vice Chairman and the Clerk will be attending a seminar about the code, organised by N&SDC, on the 12^th December and will report at a future meeting.

Quality Parish & Town Councils – a consultation paper: The Clerk still has to circulate this paper.

Unsatisfactory repairs to play area: The Clerk reminded Council that the annual inspection of the play area by ROSPA had identified the failure of the of the gap filling and sealing applied to the safety surface joints by Playground Supplies last year. The Clerk reported that he had contacted the company to carry out remedial work but they had replied the work was carried out 18 months ago and they do not guarantee repair work and can therefore not carry out rectification work.

The Chairman said this was unsatisfactory, it was incumbent on the contractor to carry out work to a proper standard and as this clearly had not been done any guarantee was therefore irrelevant.It was agreed the clerk write to the contractor pointing out his obligations.

Alcohol Consumption in Designated Public Places: A report by N&SDC was received and circulated, the item will be discussed at the January meeting.

Leisure Strategy: A report by N&SDC was received and circulated, the item will be discussed at the January meeting.

Review of the Newark & Sherwood Local Plan: N&SDC are to undertake a comprehensive review of the plan and are seeking Councils views. Council are asked if they feel good about the present plan, also what they consider the most important issues with which the plan review should deal. For example, issues discussed at the Parish Councils’ Conference included the need for more affordable housing in rural areas, flooding problems, village envelopes, car parking and protecting areas of nature conservation value. The item will be discussed at the January meeting.

Vacancy at School Gardens: The chairman reported notification of a vacancy. The Clerk reported that no-one had registered interest in any vacancies with him, it was agreed to put the information on the notice board.

Yew Tree, Forest Road – tree work: N&SDC has given permission to the felling of five and the pruning of one trees.

Glenfield Lodge, Honeyknab Lane – tree work: N&SDC has given permission to the pruning of one Cedar tree.

Replacement Telecoms tower, Loath hill: An application to replace the 15metre tower with a 25metre tower was considered. It was noted that this application was similar in most respects as the earlier application to erect a 30metre tower that had been refused planning permission. Council was concerned that the visual impact of the tower on the surrounding countryside was still unacceptable and were concerned that insufficient effort had been made to find more acceptable alternative sites.

It was agreed to oppose the proposal and to ask what alternative sites had been considered.

Beanford Splash footbridge: referring to the letter from Notts. CC about the repairs to the footbridge (692) the Chairman suggested Council remind Notts. CC that they promised to do the work in the Autumn of 2000 and that further delays would be unacceptable.

The Clerk was asked to write to Notts CC.

Invoices and payments: The following were approved for payment.

B Machin Clerks salary November £103.12

Inland Revenue PAYE period 3 £87.78

CPRE Annual subs plus £5 donation £10.00

Financial report for November: The Clerk reported a current account balance of £4077.87 plus £1745.98 in the sinking fund with receipts of £1239.58 and payments of £195.61. The figures include a transfer of £562.40 from the sinking fund to the current account, being the cost of repairs to the swing (£1062.40) less the annual contribution to the sinking fund (£500).

The Chairman and Vice Chairman signed a letter transferring the £1175 contribution collected by J Jacobs from the current account to the sinking fund.

At this point the Chairman changed the order of the Agenda.

BUDGET 2002/2003

The clerk presented calculations showing an estimated year end balance of £1918, a base budget for 2002/2003 of £5054 including £2000 working balance giving a precept requirement of £4724 plus any additional requirements above the base.

Discussions took place on additional items including the review of the Clerks salary and computer issues, the Clerk left the meeting for this item.

It was agreed to set the Clerks salary in accordance with the National Joint Council for Local Government Services rates for Part Time Clerks. Commencing on the 1^st January 2002 at Scale LC1 spinal column point SCP17 (currently £7.016 per hour) based on five hours per week and to pay annual increases in the scale. It was also agreed to pay up to £100 to the costs of upgrading the Clerks computer memory. The effect of these decisions being to increase the annual budget by £338.

It was agreed to include £250 for cutting the playing field hedge (Brackenhurst College was suggested as a low cost option) and remedial work to the playing field tree (Mrs. Armstrong agreed to approach Mr. Catchpole to get advice). It was also agreed to increase the grass cutting budget by 15%. The effect of these increases is £461.

The precept was agreed at £5500.

POOP SCOOP BINS:

Mrs. Cooper and Mrs. Bennett had inspected various possible locations and suggested a bin at the bottom of Windmill Hill and one on Main Street near the Green Dragon or alternatively on Water Lane. Discussion highlighted an objection from residents to the Main Street and Water Lane locations.

It was decided to site an additional bin at the junction of Windmill Hill and Honeyknab Lane, the Chairman agreed to contact affected residents.

RECREATIONAL FACILITIES:

As Mrs. Jacobs was not at the meeting no monthly inspection report was available.

CHARITABLE STATUS OF PLAYING FIELD:

The clerk did not have the relevant deeds available so the item was held over to the January meeting.

Bottle Bank: Miss Roe suggested that the location of the banks was not ideal as the area puddles and is muddy, this is putting people off using the facility. The Clerk agreed to have a word with the management of the Olde Bridge Inne.

Oaks Lane - sand on road: Miss Roe reported that sand washed onto the road was a hazard. It was agreed the Clerk report the matter.

Oxton Roundabout – blocked road gullies: Miss Roe reported the gully grates were blocked. It was agreed the Clerk report the matter.

Oxton By-pass – food sales: Miss Roe asked if the vendor require a licence? It was thought this was a County Council function.

Grass Tracking – opposite Grange Farm: Miss Roe pointed out that grass track racing was held at this site regularly and asked if planning permission was required. Mrs. Armstrong agreed to find out the position regarding planning.

Village Hall car park: Mrs. Bennett reported she had searched the Village Hall minutes and had discovered information pertinent to the current requirements for repair funding. It was agreed to discuss this at the January meeting.

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