Vice Chairman of Berinsfield Parish Council - in the Chair

MINUTES of the ANNUAL MEETING OF BERINSFIELD PARISH held in the School Hall, Abbey Woods Academy, Wimblestraw Road, Berinsfield on Monday 24th April, 2017

PRESENT :Councillor Stuart Scott-Ely,

Vice Chairman of Berinsfield Parish Council - in the Chair

16 members of the public

County Councillor Lorraine Lindsay-Gale

Annette Loveland, Clerk to the Parish Council

Apologies received from Councillor Ken Hall, Chairman

Councillor Stuart Scott-Ely introduced himself and explained that he would chair the meeting as the Chairman of the Parish Council, Councillor Ken Hall, was in hospital.

1.To receive the Minutes of the Annual Meeting held on18th April, 2016. The contents of the Minutes of the Annual Meeting held on 18th April 2016 were noted.

2.Report from Councillor Ken Hall, Chairman of the Parish Council, presented by Councillor Scott-Ely, Vice-Chairman.

The Chairman of Berinsfield Parish Council, Councillor Ken Hall, would like to thank you for attending the Annual Parish Meeting and hope that you will take the opportunity to express your views and concerns about your village. The Parish Council is always pleased to receive comments and, for that matter, complaints from residents as without this input the Parish Council may not know about problems in the village.

This year the Parish Council received the very sad news on 6th March that one of its Members, Councillor Fred Workman, had passed away. Councillor Workman had played a very active role as a Member of the Parish Council and his contribution to the work of the Parish Council will be missed.

The Parish Council was also sad to hear about the death of former Parish Councillor, Mr. John Eccles who had served on the Parish Council from 2004 until 2016.

During the year the Parish Council has been able to enlist the help of the staff at RAF Benson to have the propeller on the War Memorial refurbished. The Parish Council is grateful to the Commanding Officer and his staff at RAF Benson for carrying out the work which entailed the propeller being removed and taken to the workshops at RAF Benson. A small reception was held after the unveiling of the refurbished propeller which enabled those present to meet with the staff from RAF Benson who had carried out the work.

The new basket ball and goal unit which has been provided on the recreation ground is proving very popular and it is also hoped to be able to carry out some improvements to the play area on the recreation ground later in the year, subject to grants being obtained to assist with the cost.

The Parish Council will be providing an additional public use defibrillator and seats on the playing field and in the Burial Ground during the year.

Berinsfield Neighbourhood Development Plan.The Parish Council started work on a Neighbourhood Development Plan back in 2013 soon after SODC allocated 109 new homes to the village as part of its Core Strategy. Grant funding was awarded by both SODC and the Department of Communities and Local Government to help with the cost of gathering evidence in areas such as flood risk, sustainability appraisals and an extensive community consultation. Work was halted on the Neighbourhood Development Plan after an independent hearing at which SODC Officers objected to the plan on the grounds that it preceded their own Local Plan and that any proposals for development would be contrary to Green Belt policy. The Independent Examiner’s report concluded that Berinsfield’s Neighbourhood Development Plan should not proceed to village referendum until after the local review of the Green Belt at Berinsfield had taken place as part of SODC’s emerging Local Plan.

The Parish Council is still considering how best to progress with the Neighbourhood Development Plan in the light of recent plans for major regeneration of the village by SODC.

Members of the Parish Council and the local community worked with a solar farm provider to support the use of the former landfill site at Wally Corner as a Solar Farm.

Berinsfield Regeneration Scheme. The Parish Council has been working with the Regeneration Team from South Oxfordshire District Council and is grateful to all residents who have participated in the consultation meetings that have been arranged by the District Council with regard to the proposed regeneration of the village. The funding for the regeneration of the village is linked to the provision of new housing and there will undoubtedly be more consultations with the District Council later in the year.

The South Oxfordshire District Council is also developing a new Local Plan that, once made, will shape the future of the District until 2033. They are currently consulting on the emerging Local Plan, which identifies where housing, retail and employment land should be located and the infrastructure required to support the growth such as new roads, schools, health services and sewerage systems. The Plan can be viewed in Berinsfield Library and on line on the District Council’s website,

One of the positive projects to have come from the funds provided for the regeneration scheme is the provision of the pedestrian crossing over the A4074. This is something that the Parish Council, County Councillor and residents have been campaigning for, for many years, and with the loss of the local bus services it will be very well used by residents who now have to rely on the X39 and X40 services which run on the A 4074.

Dogs fouling on public open spaces and pavements. There have been some incidents of dogs fouling on footpaths in the village. In an attempt to assist residents to clear up after their dogs, a bag dispenser has been installed at the Lay Avenue entrance to the recreation ground. Hopefully this will assist residents who walk their dogs and forget to take plastic bags with them.

Pavilion. The pavilion is now thirteen years old and is still well used by the football clubs based in the village. The Pavilion is available for hire during the day time and some evenings and further information can be provided by the Clerk, upon request.

Website The Parish Council’s website, is available for use by any organisation in the village free of charge. Information can be passed to the Clerk either in writing or by e.mail and she will be pleased to include it under the Community Activities section of the website. Information from the Parish Council and other organisations is also placed on the two notice boards in the village, one outside the Information Centre in Fane Drive and the other just inside the gates of the Burial Ground.

3.Financial Report

Copies of the Income and Expenditure Account for the year ended 31st March 2016 were made available for inspection at the meeting. The accounts for the year 1st April, 2016 to 31st March, 2017 are currently being prepared ready for audit and this will be carried out in June, 2017.

Council Tax 2017-18. Unfortunately for the first time in nine years the Parish Council has had to increase its precept request this year to £116,280, this is a 2% rise on previous years. This is the estimated amount of money required to run the Parish Council’s services in the village for the year and to retain a working balance. The Parish Council regrets having to increase the precept and has only done so after much discussion.

One of the reasons for the increase in the precept is that the South Oxfordshire District Council is no longer passing on a grant that it receives in respect of the Council Tax Reduction Scheme. The grant was paid to the Parish Council for three years and this enabled the Parish Council to reduce the amount of its precept and this saving was passed on to residents. However, the District Council has now decided to retain the funds and to use them to provide grants for projects in the District. The Parish Council has submitted an application for a grant towards the cost of renewing the play equipment in the play area on the recreation ground and this should be considered by the District Council at the end of April 2017.

The Parish Council has just awarded grants to voluntary groups in the village. As with previous years, a small balance is still available for any organisations that may wish to apply during the year.

4.PAGE (Parishes Against Gravel Extraction). Mr. John Taylor attended the meeting in order to give an update on the work of the PAGE Group. Mr. Taylor explained that it had been a long campaign which had started in 2010 with two objectives, to reduce the amount of sand and gravel required to be extracted to the lowest amount possible and to protect the areas that the PAGE Group covers, Dorchester on Thames, Warborough, Drayton St. Leonard, Benson, Berinsfield, Stadhampton, Newington and Berrick Salome.

Oxfordshire County Council continues to propose extraction levels of one million tonnes per annum which is in excess of the average of just over 600,000 tonnes per annum for the last ten years, therefore the proposal of one million tonnes is higher than the current need and it means that if OCC continues to push for this figure developers will come in and submit planning applications for sites in the area, as is the case in Clifton Hampden and Cholsey. If these applications are rejected, the next area to be looked at would be Berinsfield/Dorchester/Warborough.

An examination in public was held in September 2016 and the PAGE Group put forward their case. The Inspector listened to the case for two weeks and provided a report for Oxfordshire County Council. The Inspector decided to support the OCC proposal of one million tonnes per annum. Oxfordshire Council Council conducted a further round of consultation earlier this year on its Waste and Minerals Core Strategy and the PAGE Group submitted comments. It is anticipated that the outcome of the consultation will not be known until September 2017. If the comments submitted by the PAGE Group are not taken into account, the Waste and Minerals Core Strategy will be submitted to the OCC full Council meeting in September/October 2017 for consideration for approval. If the plan is approved it is the intention of the PAGE Group to launch a Judicial Review and this has to be done within six weeks from it being approved. The Judicial Review will cost in the region of £15,000 - £20,000. The PAGE Group has limited reserves and representatives from the PAGE Group are attending the Annual Meetings of all the Parishes in the area to ask for financial support.

Mr. Taylor thanked the Parish Council for their financial support in the past, but noted that it had agreed not to make a donation to the PAGE Group during the financial year 2017-18. Mr. Taylor asked if the Parish Council would be able to re-consider this decision and Councillor Scott-Ely informed him that an item would be included on the agenda for the next meeting of the Parish Council on 8th May, 2017.

Councillor Scott-Ely thanked Mr. Taylor for attending the meeting.

5.Berinsfield Family Centre. Councillor Scott-Ely welcomed Linda Champion, Manager of the Employment Action Group who is now overseeing the Berin Centre, formerly the Berinsfield Family Centre. Linda thanked the Parish Council for its support for the project and for the funding it was providing towards the running costs. The Employment Action Group has now moved into the former Family Centre buildings and staff are currently getting the building ready to open. Mr. Knowles from Knowles and Son has made staff available to assist with the work required in the building and in the garden. The Employment Action Group is still waiting for the lease to be prepared, but in the meantime has got a Tenancy at Will in place with Oxfordshire County Council. It is estimated that the it will cost in the region of £100,000 per annum to run the services in the Centre, some funding has been secured, but Linda will have to apply for grants.

The Employment Action Group has an Employment Co-ordinator in post and they have managed to arrange appointments and see clients.

The Health Visitors will be based in the premises from May to weigh babies and it is hoped that the Midwife will also be based in the building. These services will be used by people from neighbouring villages as well as from Berinsfield. The Childminders and Central Impairment groups will still use the Centre.

The play and stay sessions will increase to three sessions per week and a Family Services Co-ordinator has been appointed to oversee this. A Play Worker will also be appointed as there should always be two members of staff to supervise the sessions.

Linda said that volunteers would be required to assist with running services in the Centre and she also hoped to be able to hire out space in order to assist with costs and to keep the Centre running all day, particularly during the evening. Linda would also like to get all age groups using the Centre, i.e. running a community cafe, running catering and food hygiene courses etc, some of which would be run in conjunction with the Abingdon and Witney College. Linda would be happy for residents to let her know if there are any courses they would like to see held in the Centre. The building will be partitioned so that adults and children can be in the building together.

Councillor Eldridge asked if funding would be requested from neighbouring villages whose residents will use the services in the Centre.

County Councillor Lorraine Lindsay-Gale asked if the Employment Action Group would continue with the sewing classes and Linda confirmed they would, possibly as evening courses. Computers will also be available for anyone to use, particularly job seekers who need to apply for positions on-line.

Councillor Scott-Ely asked about the Campus Youth Centre premises and Linda informed the meeting that there were discussions in the early days about using the premises, which are currently empty, but the County Council had set the rent at £11,500 - £12,000 per annum. The Berin Centre do not have to pay rent for the premises for the first year, but thereafter the rent will be £6,500 per annum. The Berin Centre will have to pay insurance and utility bills on top of the rent.

Linda Champion stated that the Youth Centre did serve a purpose for the young people in the village and it was unfortunate that the Berin Centre could not take on both buildings. If they had been able to afford both buildings they could have kept their services separate. County Councillor Lorraine Lindsay-Gale informed the meeting that there may be opportunities for the Berin Centre to get funding from Oxfordshire County Council from a different budget in the future.

Councillor Scott-Ely thanked Linda Champion for attending the meeting and reporting on the new Berin Centre.

6.Public Meeting.

a)Disabled Car Parking spaces outside the shops and in the car park adjacent to the Church of St. Mary and St. Berin. It was reported that the markings on the disabled car parking spaces required re-painting to prevent them being used inappropriately. The Chairman informed the meeting that South Oxfordshire District Council who owned both car parks, had been asked to re-paint the spaces.

b)Car park at the rear of the shops on the junction of Chiltern Close and Fane Drive. It was reported that rubbish has built up again in the car park at the rear of the shops and one resident has evidence that there are rats in the car park. The Chairman informed the meeting that the Parish Council had already been informed about the rubbish but that a further report would be made with regard to the rats.

c)Request for Notice Board – Chiltern Close/Fane Drive. A request was made for a notice board to be provided at the junction of Chiltern Close and Fane Drive. The Chairman informed the meeting that the Parish Council would consider this request.

d)Request for tarmac footpath from the Berinsfield Roundabout to the north bound bus stop on the A 4074. A resident from Burcot asked if consideration would be given to providing a tarmac footpath on the northbound side of the A 4074 from the bus stop to the Berinsfield roundabout. The meeting was informed that South Oxfordshire District Council had obtained quotations for carrying out this work whilst installing the pedestrian crossing, but they had decided not to provide the path due to the cost involved. Another resident pointed out that the provision of a footpath would make it easier for people who wished to walk to Dorchester on Thames via the A 415 as they would not be able to make use of the new pedestrian crossing and would still have to rely on crossing the A 4074 by way of the traffic islands near to the roundabout.