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OXTON PARISH COUNCIL MINUTES OF THE MEETING HELD ON 12th NOVEMBER 2009 AT OXTON VILLAGE HALL Present: Cllr. J. Jones (Chairman) Cllr. R. Aldridge Cllr. L. Jacobs Cllr. M. Cooper Cllr. I. Kilpatrick Cllr. A. Stewart (part of meeting) Cllr B. Laughton (part of meeting) Mrs. K. Birks (Clerk) 1. APOLOGIES No apologies were received. 2. MINUTES The minutes of the meeting held on 15th October 2009 were accepted as a true record and signed by the Chairman. 3. MATTERS ARISING (a) As Cllr. Ian Johnson was not present at the meeting it was agreed to carry over the issue of the stile in the hedge to the December meeting. (b) The mobile speed sign is to be positioned on lamppost no. 5 opposite Tansley House drive and it is expected that it will be installed week commencing 16th November. The sign will be in position for approximately 8 weeks with the possibility of extending this to another 8 weeks depending on demand from other villages. (c) The BBC application for funding to assist with the costs of framing and hanging the watercolours of local sites has been submitted to Notts County Council for consideration in January 2010. (d) The Parish Conference was attended on the 9th November by Cllrs. Jill Jones and Robin Aldridge. Information was made available concerning financial assistance with loft lagging and cavity wall insulation for residents in Newark and Sherwood and it was agreed that Cllr. Aldridge would arrange for this information to be publicised in the Dover Beck. Also details of a scheme to encourage energy saving and reduction of emissions to be passed to the steering group to be considered as part of the Community Plan. N&SDC reported that savings amounting to £4.5 million will need to be made and information is to be sent out to Parish Councils for their views on how these savings can be achieved. 4. COMMUNICATIONS (a) The public board meeting for Nottinghamshire NHS is to be held on Thursday 26th November at 12:30pm in Newark Town Hall. (b) A questionnaire has been received from Notts County Council regarding a review of the Mobile Rural Contact Point Service. It was agreed that Cllr. Lin Jacobs will complete and return this. c) NALC are offering a training seminar entitled ‘ How to understand Planning Application’ on 28th January 2010 at a cost of £20 per participant for NALC members. Councillors are to consider if they would like to attend. (d) The agenda for the NALC AGM to be held on 18th November as been received along with the minutes from the 2008 AGM. Circulated to Cllr. Margaret Cooper and Cllr. Jill Jones who are to attend along with the clerk. (e) A letter has been received from Mike Keeling, Technical Services Manager at Highways North, Notts County Council regarding his site visit to observe the traffic movements in Oxton. In his view the amount of traffic is light and ‘does not present cause for concern’. He states that speed enforcement is an issue for the Police and therefore he has sent a copy of his letter to Notts Police Traffic Division. This letter is to be circulated to all councillors and discussed at the next meeting. 5. HIGHWAYS Cllr. Andy Stewart reported that he has spoken to the Highways Investigation unit about the recent accidents on 9th November and the end of October but they are not able to progress these until reports are received from the police which can take 6 weeks. Cllr. Stewart also reported that Notts County Council have put £600,000 in the budget for capital drainage repairs. 6. PLANNING i) 09/01438/FUL Application for conversion of barns to dwellings at Oxton Hill Farm. Agreed to recommend to Newark and Sherwood District Council that planning permission be granted. Comment to be made on the importance on retaining original features in conversions of this type. Clerk to respond to N&SDC ii) Notices of decision - Application no. 09/01313/FUL. Erection of first floor extension over garage at The New House, Blind Lane, Oxton. N&SDC have refused planning permission. - Application no. 09/01169/FUL. Application to erect a single storey extension and new boundary treatment at The New House, Blind Lane, Oxton. N&SDC have approved full planning permission. 7. FINANCE (a) Invoices and Payments The following payments were authorised: K.Birks Clerks Salary October £214.76 K.Birks Clerks expenses October £29.74 Our centre Mini bus hire October £86.10 M. Bramble Hedge Cutting £100.00 Pauline Cleverley Chiropody Provision £68.00 Total £498.60 (b) Financial Report for October 2009 The Clerk reported an account balance at the end of October of £5462.64 with outstanding cheques to the value of £110.49. Payments for October were £740.52 and receipts £4018.20.The Sinking Fund balance was £10,353.69. The accounts were reconciled accordingly. 8. RECREATION Cllr. Lin Jacobs reported that a meeting had taken place to discuss the development of new recreational facilities and this was attended by 5 people including David Wilkes, Cllr. Ian Kilpatrick and Cllr. Lin Jacobs. There were 3 possible actions plans. i) The Playbuilder application which would consist of a number of individual pieces of equipment around the edge of the football pitch area. This would be in addition to the current play equipment and would not be in a contained area. ii) Refurbishment of the current play area iii) Possible redevelopment of the football pitch depending on the outcome of the community plan It was agreed that the recreation facilities consultation group needs to feed into the community plan but it is not necessary for one person to attend both groups. The Chairman said the Steering Group, which will lead the Community Plan, did not exist and this should be borne in mind by the recreational facilities consultation group. 9. COMMUNITY LED ACTION PLAN The next meeting to hopefully form the steering group will take place in January 2010. 10. RISK AND RESILIENCE A meeting to discuss flooding issues took place on 22nd October. N&SDC initial response had been to return to their previously submitted plans of building a large bank but following a site visit it was decided that this would not solve the problem and that there was a need to reroute the water which flows off Southwell Road. It was agreed at the meeting that expert opinion in the form of a drainage study was required to ascertain what the options and consequent costs are. Although Notts County Council do not currently have responsibility for flooding it is likely that this will be the case in the near future and that if the drainage study is completed now the council will be in a position to move ahead once responsibilities are confirmed Following the meeting a cost has been received from JBA Consulting via Gary Burden at N&SDC to carry out the drainage study – this amounts to £4,982 + VAT. N&SDC have proposed that this cost be split three ways between themselves, Notts County Council and Oxton Parish Council. After looking at the current financial situation it was decided that the Parish Council do not have the funds to cover a third of this proposed cost as it would amount to approximately a quarter of the precept. It was agreed that the clerk will contact Cllr. Andy Stewart and Cll.r Nora Armstrong to ask if they are able to contribute a sum of money towards this cost and once this information is available the matter will be discussed at the December Parish Council meeting. 11. TRANSFER OF MONEY TO SINKING FUND The clerk distributed copies of the likely spending up until the end of the financial year which shows that the estimated current account balance at the end of March will be £1350. It was decided not to transfer any money to the sinking fund at this time as it is still unclear how much may be required as a contribution the drainage study (Item 10) and therefore all the funds should be left in the current account until this is determined.
12. BUDGET 2010/2011 The clerk distributed copies of a proposed budget for 2010/2011. It was agreed that the councillors will each take away and review this document with a view to discussing and confirming the budget at the next meeting. 13. OXTON – CALVERTON BUS TIMES VERSUS SURGERY HOURS It was noted that there is likelihood the bus times to Calverton and back to Oxton do not allow sufficient time for visiting the doctor. This might result in an unacceptable long wait for the next available bus. It was agreed that Cllr Jones will contact the Calverton surgery to ask if they can offer any assistance to patients who are placed in this position. 14. ANY OTHER BUSINESS a) It was agreed that the date for the March meeting will be the 9th March. b) Local Development framework. Following discussion on the sections of the LDF which directly affect Oxton the following was agreed: Question 4: The District Council have not yet identified a Preferred Option for the Growth Scenarios therefore Council was asked :- ‘Which Growth Scenario do you think best provides for and meets the needs of the District, and realises the opportunities, over the next 17 years? By a vote of 4 councillors for and 1 councillor against The Parish Council are to agree with Spatial Policy 4; Growth Scenario 4 – Urban Concentration NOTE: Cllr Cooper said that due to the number of site constraints she did not think Newark would cope with all the planned development and asked for this comment to be included in the feedback.
Question 6 ‘Do you agree with the Councils approach to the extent of the Green Belt and Green Belt villages? By a vote of 4 councillors for and 1 against the Parish Council are to agree with preferred option for Spatial Policy 5A & 5B.
Question 13 ‘Do you agree with the Councils Preferred Option for Affordable Housing Exceptions sites? By a vote of 4 councillors for and 1 councillor against The Parish Council are to object to the preferred option for Core Policy 2.
The chairman closed the meeting at 9.45 p.m.
Chairman Date
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