Minutes of a meeting of the STANFORD IN THE VALE PARISH COUNCIL held on Wednesday 3rd January 2007 in the Millennium Hall Stanford in the Vale

 

Prior to the meeting the Parish Footpaths representative, Miss H.Grylls detailed the footpaths that she had dealt with and those that she had identified as needing work. Work on  2 stiles and 1 bridge has been completed. There was an urgent need for the river walk to be refurbished as it was dangerous in places and it was thought maybe the PPC could be approached to fund the refurbishment. There were difficulties with Horsecroft as 3 parties seemed to be involved although Cllr. Bambury said that responsibilities had been sorted. Miss Grylls will provide the Council with details of requirements. Council thanked her for her efforts

 

There were no questions from parishioners

 

Present:          Cllr.P.G.McMorrow(Chair)                           Cllr.S.Bambury(Dep.Chair)

                        Cllr.G.Hughes(Senior Cllr.)                           Cllr.P.Gill

                        Cllr.Mrs.G.McMorrow                                 Cllr.Mrs.F.Shires

                        Cllr.D. Monahan-Smith

 

                        County Cllr.Mrs M.Tilley                             District Cllr. R.Sharp

                        M.Dew (Clerk)                                               1 Parishioner

 

1.01.07Apologies

 

Cllr.M.Isaacs(Business)   Cllr.M.Mullen(Personal)        Cllr.B.Burls(Business)

 

2.01.07Declarations of Interest by Councillors on any Agenda Item

 

Cllr.Shires – Item 11 Accounts for Payment

 

3.01.07Minutes of Previous Meeting 1st November 2006 to be received and signed as a

true record

 

ON THE RESOLUTION OF Cllr.Mrs.McMORROW

SECONDED BY Cllr.HUGHES

IT WAS RESOLVED that the minutes be approved and signed as a true record

 

4.01.07Report of County Councillor

 

Little to report although there is a meeting next week. Requested a copy of the footpaths report. When questioned knew nothing about the pipeline that was near Milletts Farm but would enquire.

 

5.01.07Report of Clerk

 

Clerk reminded Councillors that Miss Northcote would be retiring at end of January and if the vacancy is filled then it would probably involve PAYE which for one employee was very time consuming. The circumstances of present employees does not involve the PAYE system. Clerk is prepared to take over these duties although he

 

1/5

would wish it to be more mechanised and to this end asked Council to consider the

purchase of a second hand precinct sweeper. There is a possibility that a “weed control” contract on behalf of the OCC is in the offing and these sweepers can be fitted with steel brushes for weed control. Council authorised the Clerk to make further enquiries and also to look for litter pickers on a casual basis.

A tow bar has been fitted to the Clerks vehicle in order that litter and mowings can be transported to the land fill site.

Clerk reminded Councillors of the May elections and that it is their responsibility to obtain nomination papers not his.

 

6.01.07Report of Chairman

 

·        Honours Board – Estimates for the village achievements board are £550 approx

ON THE RESOLUTION OF Cllr..MONAHAN-SMITH

SECONDED BY Cllr.Mrs.SHIRES

IT WAS RESOLVED that the board be purchased

 

·        Football Club rec field fencing – Clerk had spoken to FC who were not in favour of spending money to increase the height and in fact thought that the A417 end was more appropriate. Clerk said most footballs were caught in trees and those that went over would require a big height increase. Cllr Gill thought the problem lay in training  rather than matches

·        Play area equipt. – Spring item (Duck) to be replaced £325 Item to newsletter thanking PPC for the grants towards play equipt and 1005% support for the mower. Train seat completed

·        As previously agreed the Youth Shelter ground area needs resurfacing due to mud. 30 sq.m. of tarmac (Green ?) cost approx £1310

·        Millennium Green – Not yet spoken to Charity Commissioners re transfer to PC . Path ways are in need of repair and the application to TOE needs a “kick start” grant

ON THE RESOLUTION OF Cllr.GILL

SECONDED BY Cllr.BAMBURY

IT WAS RESOLVED that a grant of £164 ( 10% ) be made

 

·        County Environmental Award - £200 has been awarded to the village

ON THE RESOLUTION OF Cllr GILL

SECONDED BY Cllr BAMBURY

IT WAS RESOLVED that £30 be donated to Stanford Watch Group

 

·        War Memorial – The village has no War Memorial and it was decided that through the newsletter the village would be asked if there should be one. Clerk explained that due to current Government legislation the Council could not erect one only maintain an existing one. Clerk to contact national organisation for more information.

·        As we now have four mowers it was felt that the non-working model could be disposed of. The gear box needs £500 of repair, Clerk to contact ARC

·        Church Green – Correspondence from assessors suggest that there will be a

 

2/5

struggle to obtain insurance compensation for repairs. Cllr. Hughes detailed diagrams to be copied to insurers and OCC Highways. There were approx 30 various notifications to the Council from parishioners regarding refurbishment with the main theme being that it should be as natural as possible

·        The provision of a ½ pipe at the skate park in memory of a recently deceased youth was due to cost between  £11,000 and £17,000 and his friends were planning various fund raising towards this. Cllr.Gill said Council had planned more skate equipt. But another Councillor has already stated that after discussions with villagers he felt it wrong to dedicate to one person. Cllr. Gill suggested a small plaque.

 

ON THE RESOLUTION OF Cllr.P.G.McMORROW

SECONDED BY Cllr. BAMBURY

IT WAS RESOLVED that £1000 be made available for the ½ pipe

 

7.01.07Correspondence

 

VWHDC         Thames Water proposed reservoir meeting 1.3.07 – noted

VWHDC         Elections May 2007 – additional costs – noted

Thames Valley Police    PSCO briefings – noted

Oxfordshire Highways Proposed 50mph Speed Limit Orders A417 Faringdon

                                                to Challow – Noted

Various residents of Bow Road Re traffic calming – There was a negative response to “humps” and there have been no accidents involving people which is of course the criteria. OCC are willing to verge gate,red patch and dragon teeth the road but consider the use of electronic signs to be of little use.

ORCC             Primary school provision – Passed to Cllr Gill

 

8.01.07Planning applications

 

Nil

 

9.01.07Report of District Councillor

 

The Abingdon Old Goal is to be sold. Tenders are invited from developers. £800,000 of savings have to be found  and while the Government has legislated that bus passes must be provided, they are not providing anything towards the £350,000 cost to the Vale

 

10.01.07                To approve monthly statement of accounts

 

ON THE RESOLUTION OF Cllr Mrs. SHIRES

SECONDED BY Cllr.MONAHAN-SMITH

IT WAS RESOLVED that the statement of accounts be approved

 

11.01.07                To authorise accounts for payment

 

D.M.Dew                                 Salary & Expenses                               903.53

 

3/5

J.Northcote                              Salary                                                   132.00

Pepler Car Services                  Tow Bar                                               283.18

SLCC                                      Membership Fees                                 120.00

F.Shires                                    Glassware engraving                               60.00

 

ON THE RESOLUTION OF Cllr.BAMBURY

SECONDED BY Cllr. Mrs..McMORROW

IT WAS RESOLVED that the accounts be paid

 

12.01.07                To approve Planning & Finance(Bills) committee decisions December 2006

 

ON THE RESOLUTION OF Cllr Mrs..SHIRES

SECONDED BY Cllr.Mrs..McMORROW

IT WAS RESOLVED that the decisions be approved

 

13.01.07                Recreation and Leisure report

 

  • The swings are now fully installed.
  • The wet pour areas have been pressure cleaned as moss and other growth were creating a slip hazard. This process has not been totally successful and the contractor is looking at how this area can be treated again.

·        Attend to bolts on play apparatus. completed

·        Placing turf in front of bench-trip hazard. completed

·        Some timber pieces to be non-slip by the addition of surface textures or cross-cutting. D.R. or P.G to do.

·        Replace swing seats in Toddlers Area. Completed

·        Weed and cut back hedge in Toddlers Area- D.R.

Also now that the Log Roll is being used the grass underneath has become mud and now slippery- Propose we install carpet under and around. Completed.

 

Maintenance:

  • Costings have been sought for repair of chain link fencing around Recreation Ground and concrete posts.  Cotswold Playground have completed this work with a tender which was half as much as others.
  • Following concerns from parishioners in the Perrys Road Bungalows- councillor McMorrow and I have asked the contractor to cost for a stronger and higher fence to protect windows etc from flying footballs. Propose we share half of cost with the Football Club.
  • Gate and timber rails have been placed (Some still to complete) at Huntersfield side of Village Park Fencing to improve entrance / exit from park and Village Hall. The intention to discourage climbing and further breakages.(D.Rolls)
  • The Youth Shelter is being well used again but this now means we have a very slippery and mudded area- propose we install slabs or similar as a safer surface.
  • Floodlights have been troublesome of late and we may need to take a different approach. Users overriding switch Proximity sensors ?
  • The High Street was cut at the beginning of December and we now have 3 mowers in working order which includes a second hand John Deer cylinder cut which has

 

4/5

replaced the Ransom we were trialling in October. It was demonstrated and proved more acceptable to our needs.

  • The Toro mowers will need to be serviced before the new cutting season.
  • Need to purchase Grass / Leaf Blower
  • We still await the County Council Village Maintenance Team to clear footpaths and grass in road verges.
  • Councillor Mark Isaacs has left some quotations for climbing nets which I shall share.
  • We also need to discuss an addition to the Skate Park –“a stand alone half pipe”. The group of young people, I talked about at our last meeting, are applying for a grant from the Youth Opportunities Fund.

 

 

 

14/01/07 Date of next meeting

 

            7th March 2007

 

Items to next agenda

 

Presentation - Street Cleaning – Millennium Hall (Cllr Hughes) 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5/5