Councillors, M
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FINMERE PARISH COUNCIL Minutes of Annual Parish Meeting held on 12th May 2015 in Finmere Village Hall Present:- Councillors, Mike Kerford-Byrnes (Chairman) (MKB), Katherine Grimston (Vice Chair) (KG), Kevin Ochel (KO), Mike Kirby (MK), Stephen Trice (ST), District Councillor Barry Wood (BW) and County Councillor Catherine Fulljames (CF) In attendance:- Sharron Chalcraft (Parish Clerk and RFO) (SC), and 10 members of the public 1. Apologies Apologies were received from County Councillor Catherine Fulljames, for possible lateness, Parish Councillor Amanda Hodgkins, PC Caroline Brown, John Cunningham, Mike Geelan, Rachel Pears, Marc Forster and Peter and Joan Grimwade. 2. MINUTES The minutes of the meeting of 10th of June 2014 were circulated and approved. 3. ANNOUNCEMENT OF APPOINTMENT OF OFFICERS The PC officers for 2015/2016 having been appointed at the PC meeting on May 5th 2015 these appointments were announced as follows: Chairman Mike Kerford-Byrnes (having indicated his willingness to continue) Proposed: Katherine Grimston Seconded: Kevin Ochel Carried unanimously Vice Chair Katherine Grimston (having indicated her willingness to continue) Proposed: Mike Kerford-Byrnes Seconded: Steve Trice Carried unanimously RFO Sharron Chalcraft (having indicated her willingness to continue) Proposed: Mike Kerford-Byrnes Seconded: Mike Kirby Carried unanimously Parish Clerk Sharron Chalcraft (having indicated her willingness to continue) Proposed: Steve Trice Seconded: Kevin Ochel Carried unanimously 4. CHAIRMAN’S REPORT The report is attached 5. FINANCIAL REPORT The report is attached Copies of the receipts and payments account for 2014/15 were made available. SC has checked with OALC whether the annual presentation of accounts by the PC needs to be on an accruals basis as the District Council’s is and they have confirmed that it does not. 6. REPORT OF COUNTY COUNCILLOR MRS CATHERINE FULLJAMES The budget was set in February. The council tax was increased by 1.99% which is the equivalent of 46p for a band D property. The increase was regrettable but necessary to maintain care for the elderly, those with special needs and also to maintain roads. Efforts are continuing to try and improve broadband provision throughout the county. The cable has been laid in Finmere and the service should be in place by September. Potholes are a problem and OCC has set up an online reporting service called - [email protected] and issues can now be reported directly and are regularly dealt with. The master plan for development involves new houses in Bicester. There are four county councillors in Bicester and they work together. There are concerns about the infrastructure and road network in Bicester and these are being addressed. HS2 issues seem to concern OCC less as the county is largely untouched. CF is trying to get them to take up the problems for local roads that will come with construction. The Bicester to Oxford railway will have Ambrosden, Merton and Wendlebury badly affected by aggregate trucks also the M40 Junctions 8, 9 and 11 will be badly hit. A routing agreement is necessary near aggregate sources as well as at the site of the build. The big landfill issue at the moment is the application to open the MRF without complying with conditions of the current planning applications. There is to be a meeting on Monday May 18th at 2p.m. at County Hall to discuss this. Anyone wishing to speak should email [email protected] by Thursday 14th. A report on the issues involved is on the OCC website. CF will recommend to the committee a Section 106 – development carried out in accordance with existing agreements. Ques – Phillip Rushforth, villager, - Having used the site before Easter I found it quite efficient. On Tuesday I reported a defect on a path, on Friday I checked to see if it was in order to be sorted out and found it was showing at a different site and with a different number. Why would this be? Ans – It is possible the original posting had already been dealt with and removed from the system and this was a new posting. 7. REPORT OF DISTRICT COUNCILLOR MR BARRY WOOD The council’s finances are sound, there are no money troubles and there has now been no rise in council tax for CDC for 6 years. The joining with South Northants council and subsequent sharing of staff and buildings has saved some £3million per annum. Stratford upon Avon may be included next in order to save even more. These savings are brought about by things such as sharing one set of licences for computer software, one mega computer, one standby computer etc. There was no imperative to work in this way before but now that such hard targets are set for budgets necessity has proved the mother of invention. BW would advocate the setting of hard targets in future. The Cherwell Local Plan should be in place within the next couple of weeks. This is a plan for the next 25 years. Places for people to live and provisions for them are all covered in the local plan. Banbury and Bicester are the main areas for development with Kirtlington and Upper Heyford also set to grow. CDC have tried to protect the villages but 750 more rural houses need to be provided. The PC can play their part in delivering the local plan. In Bicester the new Library and a Travelodge are being built near the new bus station. The old library site is to be turned into a disabled housing area. The council has lost car park income from the centre of town but has gained in shop rents. There will be a lot of traffic improvements and the train service will be improved by the new Bicester Town Station. There is also a new park and ride for Oxford near Chesterton with 750 places Mon-Fri which will be overspill car parking for Bicester Village at the weekends. More than 3,000 people are now employed at Bicester Village which is the largest built attraction for the Chinese. Tesco is moving to a new site nearer to Wyevale, this being 1 of only 2 sites that Tesco has continued to build following its recent restructuring. Bicester is truly becoming a ‘boom town’. Tesco will pay for the necessary traffic improvements near the store. There will be a ‘hamburger’ roundabout. There will also be a new road through the site of the old ordnance depot out to the Aylesbury Road. The new train service to Oxford should be up and running by October. 8. REPORT OF POLICE COMMUNITY SUPPORT OFFICER PC Brown is unable to attend this evening but reports that there are no serious issues regarding crime in the Finmere area. PC Brown will be attending a PC meeting in the village in the future and will make a more detailed report at that time. 9. REPORT ON THE NEW DEFIBRILLATOR This item was dealt with earlier in the meeting as Mr Tracey was on call and might be called away. Dick Tracey (DT) of SWAS gives a presentation about defibrillators, how and when they are used and what benefit they can bring to survival rates. The most common concern among the public is the safety of using the equipment if you are not sure of a person’s condition. DT explains that it is impossible to shock someone who has a heartbeat as the machine detects this and will not administer the shock. Anyone whose heart is not beating needs to be shocked if they are to have the best chance of life. The machine will be fitted in a locked case on an outside wall of the school and anyone calling 999 will be given the access code for the case. The PC hopes to have the machine in place shortly. 10. REPORTS OF VILLAGE ORGANISATIONS Church – The report on Church activity was presented by Barbara Cunningham, PCC (BC). The village has lost its Rector, who has moved to Wales and the last few months have been dominated by the search for a new Rector which is still ongoing. There is currently an Inter Regnum. It seems that the speed of the C of E in these matters is slow, dead slow, stop or reverse. Although the Rector left on October 13th this was not made official until November 12th. The benefice profile of 10 Churches and 8 PCC’s has to be explained and meetings held with any candidates. There was only one applicant to fill the post at the first attempt. It is also difficult to attract candidates as the Rectory has been let on a short lease, although it is still used as the Benefice office. As the Church currently fails to meet its financial quota from weekly contributions there needs to be fundraising. Jan Shelley of Chinalls Close holds a coffee morning on the first Tuesday of the month which is doing well. There will also be another Safari Supper on July 4th. BC has organised the Christmas Draw for the last 3 years and this needs sponsors, in particular a £200 sponsor is needed. The Christmas Fayre will be held on December 5th this year. Roof repairs are due but attendances are down. The Church needs village support in the sum of approximately £2,000 if the possibility of closure is to be avoided. The Church is the oldest building in the village and is used by the whole community for weddings, funerals etc. The WWI commemorative service was well attended as was the Harvest Festival which was Christobel Hargraves last service as Rector. Reservation of burial plots is up with new burials now to take place on the South side of the Church.