Filkins & Broughton Poggs Parish Council

Next Meetings The next meeting of the Parish Council will be the Annual Parish Meeting will be held on Thursday 15th May at 7.30pm. As you may know some years ago a group of volunteers completed our Parish Plan which was meant to last 5 years. We are now looking to re visit this and need your opinions as to what you would like to see our villages. Alan Foulkes from ORCC will be attending the meeting to guide us through the first steps and help form a committee to take this forward. All residents are invited to attend, have your say and give your ideas.

B4477 We now have our VAS sign in position and have managed to negotiate the 40mph speed limit being taken away. Therefore from the village threshold this will now be 30mph. The software in the VAS sign will need to be replaced and will be undertaken in due course, unfortunately as OCC have no budget left the Parish will take on this expense.

Footpaths OCC are looking for a volunteer from the Community to act as Path Warden. This will be to report faults or problems with any of the footpaths in our Parish. If anyone is interested please contact the Clerk.

Carterton West Crest Nicholson have now submitted their planning application 14/0482/P/OP and the vast amount of supporting data can be viewed online. The deadline for submission of comments is 8th May. We will be responding as a Council but need as many residents who have an opinion to write to them direct. The points we have made to them over the last two years have included increased traffic on B4477, flooding, surrounding infrastructure, facilities in Carterton and infill within the Carterton boundary.

Flood Issues Further to the large amount of rain that fell over the winter 2013/14 the Parish Council are re visiting the flood prevention we have in place. The bund held up a vast amount of water and controlled its release down through the village and Broadwell Brook. This did exactly the job it was built for and probably saved many houses from flooding. We realise there were other areas that needed looking at and this is what we have been undertaking since October. Unfortunately, working with different agencies and Councils progress is never as quick as we would hope especially as other areas of our County were more badly affected. However, we do try and update our Villages as soon as we have some definite progress.

To this effect Roger Chitty has been lobbying for months with various people from WODC and OCC Highways on some points and has only now received some reports back. This week we have been informed that the proposed restoration and small modification work can be done by WODC providing they can source materials to work with at no cost. If this can be done we hope the works will be carried out within the next month.

There is also a problem with water coming under the A361 in Broughton Poggs into the Broadwell Brook and flooding the B4477. We have asked WODC to survey the levels of this whole area but they do not have any budget until mid May at the earliest. We will need to wait until then and see if monies become available.

Highways have confirmed that there is a plan to put an additional drainage pipe across the lane in Broughton Poggs. This plan was put into place in 2007 and should be done this year. A meeting is planned with Highways to discuss other road related issues. No date has yet been confirmed. Filkins & Broughton Poggs Parish Council

Flooding cont… Some months ago WODC inspected the drive at Manor Farm to explore the possibility of an additional outlet for the Trout pond. We are still awaiting a Utilities search by WODC and have been informed this is due in the next two weeks.

We are also in discussions with WODC concerning hydrabrake at the Burford end of the village, but this is at very early stages and there is nothing to report at present.

We do understand that residents are anxious about the amount of water that passes through the Brook and we are working to find solutions to this. The bund has made an enormous difference and we will continue working with the authorities that can help us achieve further preventative measures.

If anyone has any questions please contact the Parish Council direct.

Drainage Board It has been suggested that our Villages establish their own Drainage Board to manage their watercourses and infrastructure. Each Internal Drainage Board is a local public authority es- tablished in areas of special drainage need in England and Wales. They have permissive pow- ers to manage water levels within their respective drainage districts. IDBs undertake works to reduce flood risk to people and property and manage water levels to meet local needs. The Drainage Boards obtain funding and work closely and under the supervision of the Environ- ment Agency.

Is this something you would like to help establish. If so please contact the Parish Council

Broadwell Brook Bank The bank at the Broughton Poggs bridge is currently under going repairs, we would ask that if you are using the steps to access the Brook please stay to the right hand side until the works are finished and the plants have had time to establish themselves.

Bin Collections Collection for the dates below will be delayed: April 25th until April 26th 9th May until 10th May 30th May until 31st May

Information: As ever... any thoughts/comments/concerns on anything related to the Parish Council please speak to the Clerk, Cris Hoad 01367 860388 or e mail [email protected] All minutes and agendas are available on the website: filkins.org.uk and a file is held in the coffee shop at the Cotswold Woollen Weavers. It would be appreciated if minutes and agendas could be left for all residents to read and not removed from the files or notice boards. Members of the Parish Council: Keith Perry (Chair), Jeremy Irwin Singer (Vice Chair) , Rob Bohm, Jude Oliver-Jones. Roger Chitty, Noelle Walsh. Village Defibrillator

Early access to an Automated External Defibrillator (AED ) has proven to dramatically increase a person’s chances of survival in cases of cardiac arrest :

Many of you will be aware from the local press that the West Oxfordshire District Council ( WODC) has given the go ahead for a scheme to offer local towns and parishes funding towards their own Automated External Defibrillator (AED). Working with South Central Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SCAS), the Council initiative is complementing a generous donation by an anonymous donor to enable a number of communities funding to help purchase their own AED. Every town and parish will have the chance to receive 50% of the money to buy and install an AED, which usually costs a maximum of £1,800.

A few Facts:

 Around 30,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests in the UK every year.  When someone goes into cardiac arrest, every minute without CPR and defibrillation reduces their chances of survival by 10%. Prompt Defibrillation has reported survival rates of up to 75%

A Community AED when purchased is :

 Placed in a central position in a village for easy access ( determined by the Ambulance service )  Stored in a secure, tamper proof box  Accessed using a code, which is provided when a 999 call is made to the Ambulance service Training in use is encouraged ( and will be provided by SCAS ) but an AED can be used safely and effective- ly without previous training and therefore the use of an AED is not restricted to trained rescuers.

Due to the timescale of responding ( 30th April 2014), the Parish Council have submitted a bid on behalf of the village. We are therefore writing to advise you of this opportunity and ask ( if successful in our bid) for suggestions as to how the village might be able to raise the remainder of the money required ? We understand a number of parishes have decided to seek a small donation from every house in the village ( for F&BP this would be £5.00 per household) to raise the funds necessary .

Please could we ask for you as residents to confirm that such an important piece of equipment should be available in the village and your ideas as to how the funds to complete the purchase, can be raised.

Thank you.

F& BP Parish Council.

Regards, Jude