Minutes of the Meeting of Hanwell Parish Council

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Minutes 108

Minutes of the Meeting of Hanwell Parish Council

Held on Wednesday, 16th September 2015

Present: Councillors: John Spratt (Chairman), Gordon Polson, Arnold Bailey, John Hart, Giles Dessain

Jayne Gordon, Clerk (minutes)

A number of residents of Hanwell

Val Ingram, Shotteswell Parish Council

Apologies: Cllrs Charles Nixon-Eckersall,

Declarations of interest: Cllr Bailey declared an interest in Agenda Item Number 10.

574 Minutes of the last Parish Council Meeting

The minutes of the parish council meeting held on the 1st July 2015 were taken as read and signed as being a true and accurate record.

575 Matters Arising

a. Water Butts for Park Close Allotments

Cllr Polson has a water butt at his house that is surplus to requirements. He has kindly offered to donate it to the allotments. It needs to be collected from his house. The clerk to arrange this with the allotment holders and Cllr Polson.

Action: Clerk

b. Overgrown Allotment

Cllr Dessain has been to look at the allotments. He reported that allotment number HA09 was extremely overgrown. Cllr Dessain has spoken with the tenant who has agreed to give up the tenancy on the allotment with immediate effect. Cllr Dessain proposed that tenancy be offered to the next person on the waiting list, rent free for the first year as it will involve some considerable effort to clear the allotment as it is now.

Action: Clerk

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c. Defibrillator for Hanwell

The Big Lottery application form for a grant to cover the cost of the defibrillator, the cabinet to house it, installation costs and training costs, has now been completed under the guidance of Val Ingram from Shotteswell Parish Council. Val has helped a number of nearby villages with similar applications - all of which have been successful. On behalf of the village, the parish council wishes to thank Val for all her help in progressing this project.

d. Traffic Calming in Hanwell

The clerk has received a telephone call from Oxfordshire County Council Highways Department. Highways would like to arrange to come to the village to meet with Cllr Nixon-Eckersall to walk around the village and assess the issues. Cllr Nixon-Eckersall has been notified, but is currently on holiday.

Action: Cllr Nixon-Eckersall

e. Facebook

It was confirmed that a link to the Hanwell Village Website has been put on to the Facebook page used by some villagers. There was a lot of discussion between the parish council and members of the public as to the possibility of the parish council officially participating in this page as a means of communicating with the village. The village website is currently administered by the parish council and all PC related matters are reported on the website along with agendas, minutes, etc. The Facebook page is currently run by members of the public and is a closed group. There are very strict guidelines governing how local councils operate and data protection rules have to be carefully considered. One solution is for the Facebook page to be administered by the parish council, which would mean finding additional resources to fund the administration. An alternative solution is for the clerk to notify the current administrators of any parish council related happenings at the same time as the website administrators are notified. In the end it was agreed that this would be the course of action to be taken for the time being.

Action: Clerk

576 Nathaniel Stock, Cherwell District Council, Planning Department

There are currently 3 applications that are live, these are all for Reserved Matters. All of the areas for development have had outline planning permission granted by CDC.

1. Miller Homes

300 houses

West side of Warwick Road

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2. Phase 1 Persimmon Homes

118 houses

East side of Warwick Road as you leave Banbury

3. Davidsons

160 houses

The land next to Dukes Meadow Drive between Hanwell Fields and the Persimmon site

There is a 4th application to come very soon and this is the Reserved Matters application for Phases 2 and 3 of the Persimmon site. Phases 2 and 3 are for a total of 232 houses.

All of these sites have been purchased by individual developers who have their own time frames for development. CDC cannot control when the developers actually build, however it is most likely that all sites around the village will be underway within the next 18 months.

The Davidsons site was queried as this is not a familiar name to the parish council. Mr Stock explained that this site was originally owned by Amber Developments and once the outline planning had been approved it was sold on to Davidsons to develop. The planning application for this site was processed in the normal way and would have been seen by the parish council.

It was noted that outline planning permission was granted on these sites before the Local Plan had been approved which is most unsatisfactory.

It would appear that in policy terms, there is nothing in the wider map in the Local Plan showing a buffer/area of green belt. There are 2 lines of trees between the village and the developments in the plan. It will be a condition put on the developers that the existing vegetation in the plan remains.

Cherwell District Council's Local Plan was adopted in July of this year. The plan provides the core strategy for the district for the next 20 years. This puts CDC and the local parishes in a good place. Looking forward, there are 2 measures that the PC could put in place to help to protect Hanwell from further encroachment:

1. Formulate a Neighbourhood Plan

2. Maintain close communication with the Planning Department to ensure that CDC is aware of the village's concerns regarding further encroachment.

The possibility of formulating a neighbourhood Plan with nearby villages such as Great Bourton, Horley, Hornton, Wroxton and Drayton could be explored as this would reduce the cost of such a scheme.

Action: Clerk

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In terms of construction vehicles coming through the village, conditions can be imposed on the developers to prevent this from happening.

Action: Parish Council

Other possibilities regarding traffic control through the village include the use of speed bumps and rumble strips. Also the use of chicanes at each end of the village. These measures will urbanise the village to some extent. The parish council has already made strong representation to OCC regarding the traffic issues in the village and has now scheduled an on-site meeting with the Highways Department to take the discussions further at which the possibility of chicanes at either end of the village will be considered.

The question of additional facilities being provided integral to the new developments was raised. Also a footpath along the Warwick Road to facilitate access to new facilities. It is unlikely that a footpath will be provided as far along as Hanwell. The extent of the facilities to be provided is not known. There should be additional bus services – but no details are known.

The question was raised as to whether there are any further developments in the offing along Duke’s Meadow Drive. Mr Stock confirmed that there was another smaller site in that area for 95 houses that was currently in an appeal situation.

It was agreed that the clerk would contact Mr Stock with a list of questions that the village would appreciate answers to.

Action: Clerk

Note: On behalf of the residents of Hanwell, the parish council would like to thank Mr Stock for giving up his time to come and speak at the meeting. The session was most helpful in clarifying the current situation.

577 Play Safety RoSPA inspections of the play area and the playing fields

The annual inspections have been carried out and the reports from Play Safety Limited received and circulated to members of the parish council. The report highlights some areas that will need maintenance work in the near future.

578 Consultation on household waste recycling centres strategy for Oxfordshire

The consultation on this runs from 10th August to 5th October 2015. After discussion it was agreed that the parish council would not be submitting any comments. Cllr Dessain noted that an outcome of the consultation might result in the Alkerton site being closed.

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579 Neighbourhood Watch

This item refers to an email received from Cllr Nixon-Eckersall. As he was not at the meeting it was agreed to discuss this item at the next meeting in November.

Action: Clerk

580 External audit for year ended 31st March 2015

The clerk received an email from the external auditors, BDO LLP, requesting the minutes that recorded the approval of the internal auditor for 14/15. The clerk duly sent this to the auditors on 13th August. To date this is the only outstanding point arising from the audit.

581 The Old Farmhouse Workshop

Cllr Bailey brought to the attention of the parish council a potential breach of planning control at a property in the village where a business being run from a B2 industrial building is operating under household planning permission. The matter has been referred to Cherwell District Council to act on.

582 Green area - Church Lane

Cllr Bailey asked who was responsible for maintaining the green area where the village pump is located as it has not been mowed for some time. The kerb around this piece of land is continually being mounted by lorries and it was agreed that this is due to the angle that the land lies at. It was decided that OCC Highways should be shown this area with a view to trying to improve the situation.

Action: Cllr Nixon-Eckersall

583 a. Planning Applications: 15/01183/LB

Mr Adrian Beecroft

Hanwell Castle, Main Street, OX17 1HN

Alterations including installation of new finials and formation of cupboards (amendment to 11/01877/LB)

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15/0023/TCA

Mr Nicholas Allen

Chrilibarn Cottage, Gullicote Lane, Hanwell

T1 x Silver Birch – Fell

15/01314/LB

Mr Adrian Beecroft

Hanwell Castle, Main Street, OX17 1HN

Internal alterations – relocating partition walls to new layout

15/01448/F

Mrs Fay Hand

Hanwell Grange, Gullicote Lane, OX17 1GY

Alterations to existing porch, existing render to be replaced, garage conversion, new timber garage, alterations to rear windows and doors and removal of trees to allow creation of tennis court

b. CDC Planning Approval: 15/01228/LB

Mr & Mrs Beecroft

Hanwell Castle, Main Street, Hanwell OX17 1HN

Structural and strengthening works in addition to previous applications 12/01528/F and 12/01524/LB

584 A.O.B.

a. Cheques issued 1st July to 16th September 2015

b.  Post Received

Distributed as received.

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c. Sign for St Peter’s Church

The sign for the church at the end of Church Lane is almost illegible and it was agreed that the PC would investigate having it repainted

Action: Clerk

d. HanFestive

This is to be held on 28th and 29th November and will take the form of a Christmas Market and Show.

The Chairman thanked everyone for attending the meeting and there being no other business, the meeting closed at 9.20 pm.

The next meeting will be held on 4th November 2015 at 7.30 pm in the village hall.

… Continued