Meeting Minutes Tuesday 9th January 2018 at 19:30PM

Minutes of the meeting of Nuneham Courtenay Parish Council held on 9th January 2018 at 19:30 in Nuneham Courtenay Village Hall

Minutes

  1. Present

Parish Councillors: Madhvi Saini (Chair), John Peters, Sue Lawson & Mandy Rigault

Also: County Councillor Lorraine Lindsay-Gale, Geoffrey Ferres, and two parishioners

Apologies: Jenny Ballam (Parish Councillor)

  1. Declarations of interest

None

  1. Parishioners’ issues

Thanks were expressed to OxonCC for arranging the tree cutting.

The resident from no 6 expressed concern that not enough was being cut off the trees. She also was unhappy that the contractors had brought their vehicles onto her property without prior notice or permission. They have left the property with damage to the driveway and guttering. PC to take up with OxonCC and the contractor.

Concern was also raised by another resident about the speed of vehicles travelling south through the village at night. PC to take up with Highways Department. The Area Steward, Keith Stenning, is to be invited to the next meeting.

County Councillor Lorraine Lindsay-Gale fed back on a meeting she had had with Mr Luciano (37) and Mark Francis from Highways on Monday 8th January.

Mr Luciano has requested bollards be installed on the verge outside his house to prevent car parking, which he feels is damaging the grass.

Mark Francis does not feel the condition of the verge is such as to cause a concern to Highways so consequently does not support this request.

Further to this it has recently come to light that the covenant on the village covers not only the houses but also the footways and verges. The covenant expressly forbids the erecting of any structure on these.

Councillor Lindsay-Gale is awaiting confirmation from the legal team but in the meantime Mr Luciano has agreed to consult his own deeds. The Parish Council revisited the previous discussion on this and arrived at the same conclusion. It does not support the erection of bollards, were that to be a legal possibility, for aesthetic reasons.

  1. Minutes of the last meeting

The minutes of the meeting held on 7th November 2017 meeting were amended by hand to rectify an omission, accepted and signed.

  1. Mattes arising and brought forward

Street lighting, road crossing and speed reduction measures to be discussed at the next meeting with the Area Steward.

  1. Appointment of new clerk

Following the relocation of our clerk Stewart Deakin to Devon, Geoffrey Ferres was appointed as our new clerk, with immediate effect. Stewart will remain our RFO.

  1. Parish website

Currently the domain name is NCPC. It is felt this needs to change to include the full title of Nuneham Courtenay. The website also needs updating so three quotes are to be sought for this work. Chair to progress. In the meantime, the minutes of PC meetings May 2017 – March 2018 will be uploaded to the current site by the end of March. Geoffrey Ferres is aware of sources of Government funding to support the creation of Parish Council websites and will work with the Chair to try to secure this before the end of March deadline.

  1. Conservation Plan

Sue Lawson has met with a SODC Conservation Officer and a Senior Planning Officer to consider Nuneham Courtenay and the need to protect it. A meeting is to be set up for these to visit the village to walk around to assess the current situation. Date and time TBC but will probably be a Friday afternoon in February –  9th, 16th or 23rd, depending on diaries. Results will be on the agenda of the next meeting.

  1. Playing Fields

The proposed lease has been received from the solicitor and will be circulated to Councillors. The implications of what is proposed will be discussed at the next meeting prior to a decision on adoption.

  1. District Councillor’s report

Sue Lawson presented her report, which will be uploaded to the website.

  1. County Councillor’s report

Lorraine Lindsay-Gale presented her report. Following a communication error Cllr Lindsay-Gale will send her last six months of reports to the PC in order for them to be posted on the website. Residents are urged to read the reports as they contain details of proposals which could impact significantly on Nuneham Courtenay.

  1. Finance

Accounts to date were examined and approved.

The precept is to remain at the same level as last year. Action: GJP to submit to SODC.

Three hours hire for this meeting was agreed to be paid to the Village Hall Committee.

  1. Planning applications

No planning applications have been received.

  1. Annual parish meeting

It was agreed to hold the annual parish meeting in April 2018, date/time TBC at next meeting.

  1. Dates of future council meetings

Date of next meeting – Tuesday 6th March 2018 in the Village Hall at 7.30pm.

The annual meeting of the Parish Council is to be held on Tuesday 8th May 2018. Time TBC.

  1. Any other business

There were no items raised under AOB.

The meeting closed at 9.50pm.

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PDF of Meeting Agenda (Opens in a new tab)

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Date of next meeting – Tuesday 6th March 2018 in the Village Hall at 19.30pm.