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CHIPPING NORTON TOWN COUNCIL
At the Council Meeting held, pursuant to notice on Monday 18th April 2016 at 7.15 pm in the Council Chamber, the Town Hall, the following members were present: -
Cllr. M. Tysoe
Cllr. C. Butterworth
Cllr. Mrs. E. Coles
Cllr. D. Davidson
Cllr. T. Hasan
Cllr. D. Heyes
Cllr. M. Jarratt
Cllr. S. Jordan
Cllr. J. Kitcher
Cllr. M. Walker
Officer: The Town Clerk
6684The minutes of the meeting held on the 21st March 2016 – were approved and signed at the meeting.
6685Public Participation
There had been no requests for public participation.
6686Apologies for absence
Apologies for absence had been received from Cllrs. Ms. A. Roy-Barker, Mrs. J. Graves,
A. Corfield, A. Villars and R. Averill.
6687Declarations of Interest
There were no declarations of interest to report at the meeting.
6688Mayoral Announcements
The Mayoral Announcements had been circulated with the agenda showing the functions which the Mayor had attended since the previous Town Council meeting.
The Mayor reminded Councillors of lighting the beacon adjacent to the Health Centre on Thursday 21st April 2016.
Countrywide had provided the gas bottle free of charge to the Town Council to light the beacon.
The Mayor reminded Councillors of Mayor Making on 16.5.16 and also Question Time on 15.6.16 at the Town Hall for ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to the EU.
6689Oxfordshire County Council
County Cllr. Mrs. H. Biles reported on the following: -
Footpath from London Road to Banbury Road
Cllr. Mrs. Biles reported that the owners of Cromwell Park were now in favour of the footpath linking London Road to Banbury Road but now the NHS were against the idea.
The NHS feel that people would be using the Hospital/Health Centre car park and walking through to Aldi and then the car park would not be available for patients.
Cllr. Mrs. H. Biles had suggested a pilot scheme for nine months as a trial period and if the car park does get abused then the foot path would get fenced off.
The Lawrence Home Nursing Team was to get back with an answer on the foot path by the end of April.
Ace Centre
An OCC officer would be using an office at the Ace Centre and would be working with the manager of the Ace Centre. OCC would be budgeting £40,000.00 towards the cost of the head teacher.
Chipping Norton Hospital
Chipping Norton Hospital was to be discussed this Thursday at a meeting which
Cllr. Mrs. H. Biles would be attending. The Order of St. John had only got one nurse employed at the moment and they had not been able to get any more nurses to work at the hospital under the Order of St. John. Because of this situation a decision had been made that the hospital would not be able to take any patients until they had managed to employ more staff. They were hoping that they would be able to recruit more staff within the next three months.
The Joint Over-View and Scrutiny Committee would be asked to refer to the Secretary of State regarding this situation.
New Street
The very bad condition of the road surface in New Street had been reported and OCC were treating this as an urgent job so it was at the top of the list to do.
Planters in Middle Row
OCC had refused the proposal of installing two planters a third of the way in at both ends of Middle Row as this was access for the disabled.
6690West Oxfordshire District Council
Cllr. G. Saul reported on the following: -
Planning
Cllr. G. Saul had attended a recent meeting at WODC where officers had stated that modifications were going to be implemented to the planning system. Letters of notification of a planning application would only be sent to the immediate properties where a proposed development/extension was to take place.
The list of determined plans would no longer be distributed as they were never 100% up to date.
Unitary Council
WODC were having discussions and reports were being compiled on whether they emerge with Cotswold District Council and Gloucester Council. Cllr. G. Saul reported that he had concerns with going across with border as a Unitary Council.
Cllr. Saul stated that the Council need to look at any proposals coming forward and a reason why it is being put forward.
Yellow Planning Notices
Cllr. M. Tysoe asked Cllr. Saul why there was a yellow sign outside Bitter & Twisted on a pole stating that Class B type couldn’t be down-graded to housing. The Town Clerk hadn’t received this notification.
It was reported at the meeting that there were a few of these notices around the town outside businesses.
Cllr. M. Tysoe thanked Cllr. G. Saul for all of his help and support over the two and a half years as a District Councillor.
County Cllr. Mrs. H. Biles stated that OCC were undertaking their own report on Unitary Council.
6691Planning
(a) Applications Received
Council decided to make the observations set out under the heading ‘comments’ on
Appendix A – 18th April 2016, planning applications 4205 - 4210.
(b) Decisions
There were no decisions to report at variance with WODC’s and Town Council’s decisions
on planning applications since the last Town Council meeting.
6692Town Clerk’s Report
Council approved the following payments: -
(a) Imprest Account for March 2016: £8,889.50.
(b) General Account: Accounts for payment as at 18th April 2016: £45,764.16.
(c) Correspondence received
Chippy Jazz
Chippy Jazz had asked permission to use the Council Chamber, the Town Hall on Sunday 11th September 2016.
The Town Council granted permission.
Oxford Art Week 21st – 30th May 2016
Oxford Art Week had asked permission to have a banner on the Town Hall railings a week prior to their event.
The Town Council granted permission.
6693Cemetery & Pool Meadow Committee
The Council received the minutes of the Cemetery & Pool Meadow Committee meeting held on 15th March 2016.
The Chairman reported that quotations were being sought to repair the colonnade roof.
The recent cemetery clear up day had been productive and the Chairman reported that they were just waiting for the ground to dry up a bit before organising a skip and a digger to clear up the bonfire area.
6694Town Hall & Publicity Committee
The Council received the minutes of the Town Hall & Publicity Committee meeting held on 18th March 2016.
The Chairman reported that they were now waiting for the installation of a new notice board for the town centre, a quotation for repair/refurbishment of railings around the Town Hall and the removal of graffiti on the bus shelters.
6695H & S Committee
The Council received the minutes of the H & S Committee meeting held on 4th April 2016.
An updated H & S document was to be distributed to all Town Councillors and staff.
6696Recreation Committee
The Town Council received the minutes of the Recreation Committee meeting held on
14th April 2016.
At the last Recreation Committee meeting two ladies had attended under public participation regarding a skate park for Chipping Norton. The Mayor had reported that the skate park was on the back burner at the moment whilst the sporting organisations in the town received assistance from the Town Council with the first portion of the Section 106 money.
The Town Mayor put a proposal forward to spend Town Council money on funding the architect’s fees on the new Scout Hut so that the project could go ahead at Greystones.
A vote was taken of the proposal put forward of all in favour of funding the architect.
6697Xmas with CNTC & ECN
Cllr. D. Davidson reported that a meeting had taken place purely to have a brain storming session on plans for Xmas celebrations in Chipping Norton.
A date was set for Friday 2nd December 2016.
LED lights for the town centre trees were being investigated.
Children’s rides, carol singing and music, screening of a Xmas film were to be organised.
Another meeting had been arranged for this Wednesday.
If anybody else had any ideas they were to pass these onto Cllr. D. Davidson.
6698Update from PCSO
There was no PCSO in attendance at the meeting.
The meeting closed at 8.18 pm.