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OXTON PARISH COUNCIL MINUTES OF THE MEETING HELD ON 22nd JUNE 2010 AT OXTON VILLAGE HALL Present: Cllr. Jill Jones (Chairman) Cllr. Lin Jacobs Cllr. Ian Johnson Cllr. Robin Aldridge 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) Cllr Ian Johnson declared a personal interest in Item 6 – planning application for Home Farm Office. 1. APOLOGIES Apologies were received from Cllr. Nora Armstrong. 2. MINUTES The minutes of the meeting held on 11th May 2010 were accepted as a true record and signed by the Chairman. 3. MATTERS ARISING (a) An additional sum of £100 has been paid into the National Savings Account associated with the playground fund. The balance is now £470.52 and the book is being held by the treasurer. (b) The grass contractor has cut back the grass where it is encroaching onto the surface in the play area. The painting of the top of the swings is still outstanding. (c) The gate to the chipping dump at the north end of Forest Road has not yet been fastened to make it secure and the clerk will chase this up with Joanne Horton from Notts County Council. 4. COMMUNICATIONS (a) N&SDC have enquired if Oxton Parish Council wishes to have their play area inspected as a cost of £29.27 per site (ex VAT). It was agreed that the council would like the inspection to go ahead. (b) Letter from Notts County Council informing the council that their bid to have the paintings framed through the local improvement scheme has not been successful. (c) Request from Notts County Council for comments on what did and did not go well in the period of severe weather last winter. It was agreed that councillors will send any comments to the clerk by the 27th June and these will be forwarded onto the county council. Cllr Andy Stewart also suggested that the clerk request an extra grit bin to be located on the corner near the Old Bridge Inn. If this request turned out to be unsuccessful Cllr Stewart kindly offered to fund a bin for Oxton. (d) The monitoring officer at N&SDC is undertaking a review of the Register of member’s interests. All councillors are to check their details and any amendments to be given to the clerk at the July meeting. 5. HIGHWAYS - The council are still awaiting plans from Chris Charnley for possible traffic calming work on Sandy Lane/ New Road. Cllr Andy Stewart agreed to progress this on behalf of the council. - It was reported that many of the road signs around Oxton require cleaning. - Cllr Andy Stewart reported that 2 new interactive speed signs are to be placed on the A6097 with final locations still to be determined. - A consultation exercise is to begin at the end of June regarding the Burton Road ‘bus plug’ in Burton Joyce and Cllr Stewart encouraged councillors to give their views. It was agreed to add this topic to the next agenda to give councillors the opportunity to find out information from the website regarding this issue before the July meeting and then a response can be discussed further. - Cllr Bruce Laughton reported that recent cuts announced by the government will leave the highways department with a shortfall of approximately £5m and this will have an effect on many activities including highway safety. - Cllr Margaret Cooper passed on her thanks to the County Council for the good work that had been done in connection with replacing the ‘toad signs’. 6. PLANNING i) Application no. 10/00632/FUL. Erection of single storey extension to existing commercial premises at Home Farm Office, Blind Lane, Oxton. It was agreed that council have no objection to this application. ii) Notices of Decision - N&SDC have approved full planning permission for creation of new access to existing dwelling at Fosters, Main Street, Oxton. - N&SDC have approved full planning permission for Greenhouse, generator compound, new fence, mailbox and finial to top of wall at The New House, Blind Lane, Oxton. - N&SDC have no objection to the felling of 2 trees (a lime and a maple) at The Old Vicarage boundary with The Rosings, Main Street, Oxton. - N&SDC have no objection to the felling of a Eucalyptus and a Robinia at Tall Trees, Main Street, Oxton.
(i) Payments The following payments were authorised: K.Birks Clerks Salary May £216.84 K.Birks Clerks expenses May £34.44 LMR Services Grass cutting £226.54 Oxton Village Hall Room booking Flood meeting £15.00 Oxton Village Hall Room bookings Parish plan £34.00 Our Centre Mini bus hire for May £82.90 Jill Jones Plants £30.96 Dover Beck Insert leaflet Parish plan £25.00 N&SDC Bin emptying £15.28 Jan Sablitzky Stationery Parish plan £4.40 Pauline Cleverley Chiropody treatment £68.00 ________ Total £753.36 (ii) Financial Report for May 2010 The Clerk reported an account balance at the end of May of £3,382.78 with outstanding cheques for £160.00. Payments for May were £1,416.34 and receipts £6.40. The Sinking Fund balance was £10,865.39. The accounts were reconciled accordingly. (iii) Internal auditors report and Approval of annual return for 2009/2010 The internal auditor has completed the internal audit for accounts for year ended 31st March 2010 and signed the appropriate section of the annual return. The accounts were found to be in order with the following minor points. The council is able to recover VAT on the clerk’s petrol expenses. There were two instances where envelopes were claimed on expenses and the VAT is recoverable by the council. The invoice for grass cutting in 2009 from Notts County Council was £30 higher than the tender with no known reason for this. The Parish Council approved the accounting statements and annual governance statement on the annual return and this was signed by the chairman and the clerk. This will be sent to the external auditors. 8. RECREATION i) Monthly report. A sign has been fastened to the gate post of the children’s play area by a young person who lives in the village but it was agreed that in order to discourage others doing the same thing Cllr. Cooper will remove the sign and return it to the girl with an explanation. ii) Proposal for enhanced recreational facilities. David Wilkes, chairman of the Oxton Recreation Ground sub committee presented the proposal (copies had been previously distributed to all councillors along with feedback received from parishioners) to build an adventure trail on the recreation ground adjacent to the current play area. £23,000 of funding has already been obtained from N&SDC under the playbuilder scheme and the project requires a further £4,550 from the Parish Council which would be funded from the sinking fund. This is the maximum amount which the Parish Council would be requested to contribute and it may be less depending on subsequent decisions. David Wilkes requested that the council consider giving their approval for this proposal. He also specifically thanked a number of people for the hard work which has gone into creating the very detailed and comprehensive proposal including Phil Beard at N&SDC, Matthew Wheatley at the cricket club, Jane Redfern, Simon Stone, Lindsay Turner-Whitby, Parish Councillors and special thanks to Jan Sablitzky. After consideration the council voted unanimously to approve the proposal. The proposal contained a number of options regarding the current goal posts and a decision was also made to request that Terry Redfern remove the goal post located closest to the village hall at a cost of £100 (ex VAT) and leave the second post at the far end of the field in place. 9. COMMUNITY LED ACTION PLAN The new chair is Joan Arnold and the secretary is Linda Gale. A new bank account is currently being set up and Ian Buchan is the treasurer. Consultation sessions have started. 10. RISK AND RESILIENCE Cllr Robin Aldridge reported on a meeting which had been held on the 11th June attended by members of the Parish Council and representatives from N&SDC, Notts County Council and the consultants JBA. JBA had used computer models to try and replicate what happens to the water in a flood situation along Sandy Lane, through the flood defence system and to the weir. Their findings are presented in a water flow survey report which was discussed in detail at the meeting. Six possible actions have been suggested with two of these being the favoured options and in order to secure any funding for work the council would have to make a decision to go ahead with one of these two recommendations. Both of these involve building up the banks and would require the support of the estate for work to go ahead. Councillor Ian Kilpatrick said that, for the record, he had concerns about the proposals as JBA admitted they hadn’t been able to replicate the events on which the report is based therefore how could they say their proposal would resolve the flooding problems. The district council have agreed to call a meeting with Oxton Estates to discuss the options and hopefully gain their agreement. No further decisions can be made on a way forward until this meeting has taken place. 11. CUTTING OF ELMCROFT HEDGE It was agreed that the hedge should be cut once a year and this will be arranged for October. 12. ANY OTHER BUSINESS Cllr. Ian Johnson informed the meeting that he is in the process of moving house and this may be his last meeting or he may be attending the July meeting. The chairman and other councillors thanked him for his service and that his helpful and practical nature would be missed by the council and the village.
The chairman closed the meeting at 8.40 p.m.
Chairman Date
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