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OXTON PARISH COUNCIL MINUTES OF THE MEETING HELD ON 13th APRIL 2010 AT OXTON VILLAGE HALL Present: Cllr. Lin Jacobs (Vice Chairman) Cllr. Ian Johnson Cllr. Robin Aldridge Cllr. Margaret Cooper Cllr. Ian Kilpatrick Cllr. Jan Sablitzky Cllr. Andy Stewart (part of meeting) Mrs. Karen Birks (Clerk) Cllr. Lin Jacobs chaired the meeting in the absence of Cllr Jill Jones. 1. APOLOGIES Apologies were received from Cllr. Jill Jones. 2. MINUTES The minutes of the meeting held on 9th March 2010 were accepted as a true record and signed by Cllr. Jacobs.
3. MATTERS ARISING (a) A decision was made that the village notice board does not need replacing and therefore an application has been made to Notts County Council Local Improvement Scheme for a bench to replace the one opposite the Post Office. (b) The Charities Commission have requested copies of a conveyance as evidence to back up the Parish Councils view that the recreation ground should not be on the charities register. This has been sent but a reply has not yet been received. The Charities commission are not willing to remove it from the register as according to the information they currently have they still hold the view that it is a registered charity. There was a change of agenda at this point in the meeting to allow Highways issues to be discussed before Cllr. Andy Stewart had to leave the meeting. 4. HIGHWAYS Cllr Stewart has raised the issue of resurfacing work on Forest Road but it not yet clear when this work will be able to be carried out. Cllr Stewart has attended a meeting with Richard Jackson and Bob Hart to discuss the change of priority on Epperstone Road/Southwell Road and from this it is suggested that Chris Charnley is invited to the next Parish Council meeting to come along and present different possible schemes which could be implemented at this junction. The Parish Council could then consider these alternatives and respond to the County Council with their views. The Parish Council expressed their thanks to Cllr Stewart for the resurfacing of Main Street commenting that the work had been done quickly, efficiently and by a polite work crew. However two issues did require follow up. Firstly one of the kerbstones had been broken as part of this work and needs replacing and some of the drains have been partly blocked by the new surfacing. Cllr. Stewart agreed to report these issues back to highways. It was noted that the signage at Oaks Lane on the bypass is very poor for giving way onto a dual carriage way and Cllr Stewart will request the safety department to look at this issue. The pothole in the road near the Bridge Inn has not been repaired despite it being reported a month ago and the clerk will report this again. 4. COMMUNICATIONS (a) The dates of visits by the mobile Rural Contact point are 15th April, 13th May and 10th June and these have been placed on the village notice board. (b) An invitation has been received to a meeting on the 12th May in Oxton Village Hall from the Sure Start Children’s centre for Arnold, Carlton and Gedling villages. This is to discuss development of a new children’s centre planned to have a hub at Lowdham School. The clerk will add this to the notice board for the interest of other Oxton residents. (c) Notification that the meeting of the Community Safety Liaison Group scheduled to take place on the 26th April has been postponed until 12th July at Kelham Hall. (d) The contract for Dog Waste Bin emptying for 2010/11 has been received. This is for 4 bins in the village at a cost of £1.55 per bin per visit to be emptied weekly. The council agreed to accept this contract. (e) Best Kept Village competition 2010. After discussion the council agreed to enter this competition at a cost of £5. The judging for the first round will take place between 7th June and 25th June. The clerk will arrange for this information to be placed in the Dover Beck with a request for someone from the village to take on a role of coordinating any activities relating to ensuring the village looks at its best for this competition. There is also an opportunity to apply for the Valerie Gillespie Award for 2010 for ‘The best community project to enhance the local environment.’ This was passed to Cllr. Jan Sablitzky for consideration of the new play facilities at a later date as the closing date is not until October. (f) Notification has been received from Notts County Council that funding has been allocated for the Oxton flyer scheme for one year (1/4/10 to 31/3/11) of £378 to be paid in four equal instalments following receipt of quarterly monitoring information. Cllr. Margaret Cooper reported that numbers of people using this service has declined recently and that consideration would be made of using a smaller bus in order to reduce costs. (g) An invitation has been received to attend a lunch in Edingley and a walk of the new ‘Tranquillity Walk’ created by the local branch of CPRE. This event will take place on the 18th April. Also notification that the AGM of CPRE will be in the evening of 27th May at Trent Bridge Cricket Ground. (h) Information received from N&SDC regarding organic garden waste kerbside collection. Oxton has been identified as a potential pilot area for this scheme and a meeting is being held on Tuesday April 20th at Kelham Hall at 7:00pm. Cllr Jill Jones will be attending this meeting. (i) The Notts County Council Civic service will be held on Sunday 27th June at 3:00pm in Southwell Minster. (j) Notification of the annual audit for year ending 31st March 2010 will be carried out by Clement Keys and must be complete by 12th July 2010. A copy of the ‘Notice of Appointment of Date for the exercise of Electors rights’ for this audit has been placed on the notice board. Geoff Perkins has indicated that he will be willing to carry out the internal audit for 2009/2010 and the council agreed that he should be appointed in this role. 6. PLANNING
Application no. 10/00331/Ful. Creation of an access to existing dwelling at Fosters, Main Street, Oxton. It was agreed that council have no objection to this application but will request reassurance on safety issues from the planners.
(a) Payments The following payments were authorised: K.Birks Clerks Salary March £216.84 K.Birks Clerks expenses March £18.76 N&SDC Dog Waste Bin emptying £372.78 NALC Local Council Review £13.50 Eon Electricity £7.49 Our centre Mini bus hire for March £96.10 Pauline Cleverley Chiropody treatment £68.00 CPRE Best Kept Village Entry £5.00 ________ Total £798.47 (b) Financial Report for March 2010 The Clerk reported an account balance at the end of March of £1148.09 with 1 outstanding cheque for £140.00. Payments for March were £3099.69 and receipts £16.86. The Sinking Fund balance was £10,865.39. The accounts were reconciled accordingly. A suggestion was made that the monthly reconciliation spreadsheet show a forecast spend for the remainder of the financial year as well as the actual spend and the clerk presented a possible format for this. It was agreed that the council would like to see this going forward along with the budget figures for the current month to enable actual spend to be compared against budget. This new format will be implemented for the next few months and then reviewed to check its usefulness. 8. RECREATION i) Cllr. Lin Jacobs reported that the metal head over the swings in the play area is rusty and needs repainting. The clerk will request a cost for this work from Philip Neal. The grass in encroaching over the surface in the play area and needs to be cut back. The clerk will ask the grass contractor for a cost to carry out this work. It was noted that the grass contractor had done a good job on the first cut of the season. ii) Cllr. Jan Sablitzky reported on the progress of the recreation ground sub committee. A meeting is to be held with stakeholders on the 27th April Quotes are expected from N&SDC on the 14th May An invitation is to be made to residents to look at the final proposal on the 22nd May in the village hall after which a final decision will be made on equipment and layout of the new area. It is suggested that not all the money in the sinking fund be spent on this proposal but that some be kept back as contingency and for the next phase of the project. This would be approximately £2/3,000. The Parish Council agreed that the cost of £50 to send two delegates on Playground Inspection training would be met and that a budget of £60 be set aside to cover meetings in the village hall relating to the new recreational facilities. 9. COMMUNITY LED ACTION PLAN It has been decided that the consultation process will not be in the form of a questionnaire but members of the steering group are to be trained as facilitators and will then meet with both existing established groups and other small groups of residents in order to gather the requirements of the whole village. There will also be an opportunity for an individual visit and a backup questionnaire for those who are either do not want to or are not able to attend a group session. It is hoped that this will be an open and creative process. One of the overall aims is to keep the costs of the plan down and therefore current thinking is that the final result will not be an expensive glossy document but something more practical but which contains all the relevant information. 10. RISK AND RESILIENCE N&SDC have received a draft version of the drainage study carried out by JBA and are expecting the final version shortly which will be passed onto the Parish Council. The flood team are continuing their regular inspection of the watercourses and there have been no issues to report recently. 11. ANNUAL PARISH MEETING A proposed agenda was circulated and agreed. The clerk will arrange for the meeting to be published in the Dover Beck. 12. DATES FOR FORTHCOMING MEETINGS The following dates were agreed. June 22nd, July 20th, September 14th. No August meeting.
13. ANY OTHER BUSINESS It was agreed that the annual ‘Beating the Parish Boundary’ walk around all the Parish footpaths will take place on Sunday 23rd May starting at 2:00pm at the Village Hall. It was reported that the walking leaflet holder is broken. Cllr. Ian Johnson has a spare one and will make an exchange.
The chairman closed the meeting at 9.20 p.m.
Chairman Date ……………………………………. …………………..
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