Minutes of the Parish Council AGM And

BALDONS PARISH COUNCIL

Minutes of the Parish Council AGM and Ordinary Meeting held on Monday 9th May, 2016 Clerk: Paul Isaacs, 11 Thame Road, Great Milton, Oxon., OX44 7HY (01844 278040)

Attendees Dorothy Tonge (Chair) (DT), Elizabeth Gillespie (EG), Laurence Attewill (LA), John Maskell (JM), Stephen Dance (SD), Cllr. Sue Lawson (SODC), Cllr. Lorraine Lindsay-Gale (LLG / OCC), Paul Isaacs (Clerk) and 5 members of the public. Apologies Charles Barclay (Vice-Chair) (CB).

Ref Item Notes Action 045/16 Introduction The Chair, Dorothy Tonge, welcomed all present. The meeting DT began with the AGM elections of officers.

046/16 Election of The Clerk took over for the election of the Chair. Clerk Officers Election of Chair: Dorothy Tonge re-elected unanimously. For info. Proposed by EG, seconded by LA. Election of Vice-Chair: Charles Barclay re-elected unanimously. For info. Proposed by DT, seconded by EG. Election of Treasurer: John Maskell re-elected unanimously. For info. Proposed by SD, seconded by LA. At 7.40pm the Chair then closed the AGM formalities and the For info. meeting continued with the first ordinary meeting of 2016/17.

047/16 Declarations of LA and SD declared their interests regarding agenda item For info. Interest 050/16. No other Declarations of Interest were made.

048/16 Minutes of The minutes of the BPC Ordinary meeting held on 8/3/16 were For info. recent meetings approved by the meeting and signed by the Chair. Approved The minutes of the Joint Parishes meeting held on April 12th, For info. 2016 were approved in principle and will be circulated to those Approved who attended the meeting.

049/16 Matters Arising Bridleway signage - it was reported that OCC have agreed to For info. from the March install a ‘Not Safe for Vehicles’ sign. This will hopefully stop meeting and vehicles from getting stuck and being towed out. The wooden from the Annual barrier in Tinny Lane has also been replaced. Parish Meeting Speed Survey - it was reported that the initial speed survey was For info. carried out at the wrong location being far too close to the Croft. DT has contacted OCC Highways requesting a repeat survey at more reliable location. Dog Bins - a request was made the Annual Parish meeting to For info. provide an additional dog bin in vicinity of lower end of The Croft. It was decide that this is not a priority at present. Ivy clearance at Toot Baldon - it was confirmed that Queens do For info. not consider this to be an issue. Blocked footpath - it was reported that DT had spoken with Martin Delafield. Martin replied that he had erected fencing to For info. stop cows from damaging the ditch but insisted that he had left a clear access for ramblers.

050/16 Open Forum Debbie Dance addressed the meeting regarding refurbishment For info. plans for St. Peters Church. SD and LA registered their interest. The Parish Plan identified that the Baldons can only benefit from better use of existing buildings. Therefore, in an attempt to make St. Peter’s Church more user friendly, plans have been developed to renovate the toilets and kitchen, to provide disabled access and disabled facilities, to update the electrics, bell, organ and water supply and to possibly provide a ‘Sunday School’ room over the vestry. £5,000 has been raised to pay for the initial heritage needs assessment and architect fees but at least a further £5,000 will be required to continue the project. Debbie requested that the PC endorse the plans and that the For info. PC considers making a financial contribution. BPC unanimously agreed to endorse the plans and is ‘minded’ Initial to contribute financially but DT noted that the PC will require decision advice from OALC regarding our powers (ability) to contribute and require a formal request from the PCC.

051/16 Village Matters Bus Services - the Clerk wrote to Stagecoach regarding the For info. consequences for the Baldons of OCC withdrawing all of their bus subsidies from July. Stagecoach have confirmed that the service will end on 20/7/16 and that they would only consider continuation if the PC (or PC’s) provided ongoing subsidies. Ralph Slaney stated that it is difficult to justify BPC considering a subsidy of the current minimal provision as it doesn’t even provide a service that the village requires. Parking and Verges - options to repair the track and protect the For info. edges of the south side of the green were revisited but it was agreed that there is no easy answer. LA and SD agreed to revisit the options and to present costs for the July meeting. Verge Cutting - it was agreed that BPC will not take on the For info. responsibility for cutting the verges from OCC at present. OCC want to outsource the contract to save costs.

052/16 OCC Report Cllr. Lorraine Lindsay Gale noted that it had been a very difficult LLG (County Council) and challenging year. OCC had been preparing for up to £51m of savings from 2016 to 2020 (on top of the £292m cuts already being made for the period 2010 to 2018) but now has to make a further £20m of cuts bringing the total to £71m over the next 4 years. The list of proposed savings for £51 million was already controversial and, to achieve the additional £20 million savings, only areas of statutory provision (eg, education and services for the most vulnerable) will be exempt. Therefore other areas will suffer disproportionately and will involve difficult decisions. The rest of LLG’s report commented on:- For info.  Consultations including Children’s Centres / Early Intervention hubs, Supported Transport Services, Household Waste Recycling Centres, Adult Social Care, the Minerals & Waste Plan, Oxfordshire Together;  Efficiency savings - new fire control centre, property, back office and reserves;  Roadworks across the County and proposals for a new Thames river crossing, Didcot to Culham / Clifton Hampden;  Devolution and Unitary status proposals;  Additional funding for ‘Better Broadband’. 053/16 Report from Cllr. Sue Lawson presented a report which highlighted the SL South Oxford following areas:- District Council  the terrible recent events at Didcot Power Station; For info. (SODC)  that SODC has kept its element of the Council Tax frozen (achieving this without cuts to any services);  Corporate Services Agreement - a new contract to provide HR and IT back office services will save in the region of £50 million across a 9 year contract;  Oxfordshire Vision - the District Council’s proposals for Unitary Status as an alternative to the County proposals;  the excellent news that South Oxfordshire has topped a list of the best places to live in the UK;  Revised Local Plan - a submission will be made in early 2017 with a final decision expected at the end of 2017;  Land Supply - SODC no longer has a five-year land supply for housing which leaves us vulnerable to developers appealing against non-approval of their plans which do not accord with the current Local Plan;  Didcot Garden Town - SODC will apply for Garden Town status for Didcot and, if successful, this will bring large amounts of Government investment.

054/16 Neighbourhood LA reported that work is progressing regarding the scoping LA Plan report and the housing needs survey. Gail Wootton has been appointed as the new Neighbourhood For info. Planning officer for SODC and LA recommended that the councillors meet Gail prior to the July meeting.

055/16 Treasurers JM presented the Annual Financial Report (appended):- JM Report Balance c/f @ 1/4/15 = £12,783.80 For info. Income 2015/16 = £12,290.09 Expenditure 2015/16 = £12,151.92 Balance c/f @ 31/3/16 = £12,922.17 Ring-fenced funds - £3,574.54 Baldons Feast and £1,320 Defibrillator project >> Total balance £17,816.71 Proposed by SD, seconded by DT. Approved and adopted unanimously. Approved JM presented the Annual Governance statement and annual For info. risk strategy to be incorporated in the annual audit procedures. Proposed by DT, seconded by LA. Approved and adopted unanimously. Approved The 2015/16 accounts will now go to internal audit prior to For info. submission to the external auditors (BDO LLP). EG proposed that the PC consider contributing to the costs of Proposal mowing the churchyards and that costings should be obtained. The responsibility falls to the PCC but is mowing is currently being carried out by local volunteers.

056/16 Consultations OxLEP ( Oxfordshire Local Enterprise) - a consultation regarding For info. the refresh of the Strategic Economic Plan for Oxfordshire setting out OxLEP’s ambitions for 2030 to drive innovation, to foster accelerated growth and to place the county at the forefront of the UK’s global growth ambitions. Unitary Status - note was made of the wealth conflicting For info. information being circulated by the County Council and District councils. SD commented that there is a need to clarify the criteria that will be used to assess the best options before we consider our response.

057/16 Planning P16/S0746/DIS 1-3 Queens Cottage, Toot Baldon For info. Matters Proposed reconstruction following a fire to create a 4 bedroom dwelling with carport & store. A discharge notification for information only of conditions 3 (approval of materials for external construction), 4 (details a,b,c,d,e) and 6 (archeological written scheme of investigation) of applications P14/S1287/FUL (Full Application) & S1288/LB (Listed Building Consent) granted by SODC on 11/6/14. BPC recommended APPROVAL. Fully discharged on 1/4/16. P16/S0910/FUL - Amended details - Land to rear of Penstemon For info. House, Marsh Baldon, OX44 9LS. Proposed stable and associated store with wash down hard surface. Use of land for keeping of horses. (Amended by drawings 6377/BL1 Rev A and 6377/FPE reducing the width of the building by 3 metres and altering the floor layout and external openings accompanying e.mail from agent). BPC recommended REFUSAL to the original application. P16/S1012/HH - Penstemon House Road (between Baldon Lane and the Green), Marsh Baldon, OX44 9LS. For info. Proposed single storey Orangery to rear of existing property. Alteration to existing garden wall. BPC recommended APPROVAL but suggested that the application be considered alongside application P16/S0910/FUL. P16/S0652/HH - Justyn, Marsh Baldon, OX44 9LL. Provide a level parking bay for a caravan alongside the existing For info. driveway. Change the existing access steps to the property to include an access ramp. BPC to reply by 19/5/16. P16/S1196/SCO - Scoping request - Land to the south of For info. Grenoble Road and B480 Watlington Road. For information.

058/16 Correspondence A reminder that BPC can apply for a small SODC grant towards For info. any Queen’s 90th Birthday event that the village may wish to put on. Applications to be made by 3/6/16. In response to a request for the PC to nominate a ‘Parish Paths For info. Warden’, it was agreed that we are happy with the current arrangements whereby all councillors (and local residents) will continue to keep an eye on footpath issues.

059/16 Any Other Baldons Feast will take place on Saturday August 20th, 2016 - For info. Business 12 noon to 6pm. The Feast has been extended by two hours as it is getting so popular. Once again, a full programme has been arranged. The event will include fire dancers and a cider bar and there will be an emphasis on family entertainment with lots of activities for children.

060/16 Forthcoming Monday July 11th, 2016 For info. Meetings Monday Sept. 12th, 2016 Monday Nov. 14th, 2016 To be held at 7.30pm in the Baldons Village Hall.