Minutes of Parish Council Meeting held Tuesday 28th March pm in Church of All Saints, Mollington

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1 MOLLINGTON PARISH COUNCIL Clerk: Geoff Hall, Sunnybank, Mollington. OX17 1BD Tel: (Clerk Home) and (Chairman) Chairman: Minutes of Parish Council Meeting held Tuesday 28th March pm in Church of All Saints, Mollington Present: Councillor John Summers Councillor Denise Hall Councillor Cathrine Webb Councillor Steve Lapper District Councillor Ken Atack Cherwell District Council District Councillor George Reynolds CDC and OCC The Clerk Residents and Public - 14 Welcome and Introductions Chairman welcomed all present and apologised for change of venue caused by the temporary closure of the Village Hall. Apologies for Absence - None Declarations of Interest - None Resignation of Councillor Truscott and implications. Following the last Parish Council Meeting, on 28 th February, Toni Truscott had resigned from the Parish Council. The Chairman acknowledged her resignation and formally thanked her for the work she has carried out over the last 2 years on behalf of the Parish Council. In terms of her responsibilities it was proposed that: Councillor Webb undertake the duties for the liaison with the police (as this sits well with neighbourhood watch), Councillor Lapper to take on board the highways responsibility and Councillor Summers will take on board Mollington Matters. The Clerk has processed the resignation and required Notice of Vacancy with CDC, and the notice is placed on the notice board and Website. 792 Minutes of Previous Meeting and Matters arising Tuesday 24th February 2017 The minutes had been circulated in advance of the Meeting. They were agreed to be a true record of the Meeting and were signed by the Chairman. Matters Arising County Connect: It is planned to commence the County Connect Service on April 18 th and any promotional material will be circulated when available. Booking information and locations will be published by County Connect and Councillors will need to post through letter boxes in the normal way. (Councillor Lapper to pick up Toni s usual list) Horton: Response to the Horton consultation. The minutes called for a response to the Horton. Toni Truscott had prepared a response as requested and this was sent by the Clerk as a letter to Oxfordshire Clinical Commissioning Group. Footpaths: Improvements to the footpath to Warmington at the bridge. Councillor Webb updated the meeting, mainly regarding lack of progress by CDC. Footpath between Main Street and Caravan Park alongside Southam Road. Subject concerning driveway to caravan park raised by Mr Jeffries at the last meeting; as a 1 of 5

2 consequence, the condition of public footpath along Southam Rd needs to be checked and cleared if necessary. Councillor Webb to organise a working party. Planning Applications: PC to consider reducing the number of tree applications looked at by the Parish Council. Raised by Councillor Webb in Councillor s points of interest. It was agreed that the PC would continue to look at each application on it s merits and that the reasonably increased number of applications received recently was due t to Tree cutting operations needing to generally be done in winter before the bird nesting season begins. 793 Financial Statement The following Cheque was raised during the month of February Mollington Village Hall Support for Queens Birthday Celebrations By Grant There was VAT outstanding at the end of February, which will be claimed back at the end of the financial year. Taking the above into account, the expected bank balance was 14, This is reconciled to Bank statement at 5 th March 2017.These payments were then approved by the Council. 794 Planning New Applications o 17/00377/F Convert garage to bedroom and wet room, install new windows to front and side and new door to side Cicerone Church Lane. Inspected by Councillors Hall and Summers. Recommended that the Parish Council do not object to this application. o 17/00472/F Remove time period restriction re 13/01299/F Point to Point Farm. This application (previously withdrawn) is seeking to vary the temporary condition on workers dwelling for this to be varied so the workers dwelling can remain permanently. The Parish Council recommended that this decision is left to the planners so long as the accommodation remains as originally planned i.e. for agricultural workers on 23 August It is recommended that his recommendation is restated o 17/00090/TCA Fell 5 junipers and 1 cypress; prune cherry and reduce crown of Maple Cicerone Church Lane. Inspected by Councilors Hall and Summers. Recommended that the Parish Council do not object to this application o Decisions: Planning decisions since the last meeting: 17/00042/DISC Discharge of conditions 3 (stone sample), 4 (external roof material sample), 5 (timber boarding sample), 6 (door and window details), 7 (eaves details) and 8 (roof light details) of 16/00423/F School House Roundhill Road - Permitted 2 of 5

3 795 Councillors Reports:- Councillor Summers Village maintenance: Tree works in the Orchard Piece playing fields and Village hall car park have been carried out, within the sum approved. Bark at Mollington Playing fields has been topped up. First grass cut of the season has now taken place. The schedule is still being agreed with Thomas Fox in order that a cut will be carried out before the Village Day in June CDC annual survey - Residents have the opportunity to let Cherwell District Council know what they think of its services by completing the annual satisfaction survey this spring. From early May, residents and businesses will have six weeks to complete a short questionnaire allowing them to give feedback on the council s services, whether it provides value for money and the quality of its day-to-day operations. The information provided will be used to help the council prioritise its budgets and service provision for future years and make improvements in areas where people have reported concerns. Survey available at and on the website. Tesco bags of help - The Bags of Help scheme is run by Tesco in partnership with Groundwork, a charity with a green heart. The scheme is funded by Tesco customers through the 5p carrier bag levy. The application will only take a short amount of time and any applications that are not awarded funding will rollover to the following month for 6 months therefore your application will always be considered for funding. The earlier applications are submitted the higher the chances are of being awarded. Each month three projects will be shortlisted for public vote at Tesco stores, and awarded a grant based on the number of votes received: first place receives up to 4000, second place up to 2000 and third place up to Grants will be awarded to voluntary or community organisations such as schools, churches, parish councils, local community groups, companies, local sports teams and cadet/scout groups. Bags of Help can fund up to 100% of project costs. However, if additional funding is secured, there is no limit to what this amount can be and any funding awarded by Bags of Help can form part of the wider project costs. CDC response to single unitary authority in Oxfordshire: Extraordinary meeting held on 17 March. Chairman requested an update from Councillor Atack. Bird scarers: Received a request to investigate a bird scarer being used at least every 5 minutes to the west of School Hill/Whiteways from 6.15am until 11.30pm. Since receiving the request the situation had been resolved. It was agreed that any further incidents should be reported to Councillor Webb. Councillor Webb Neighbourhood Watch There has been several reports of suspicious activities in the village in the last two weeks. All residents are reminded that anyone seeing suspicious activity or see anything that does not quite look right to report all incidents to the police, even if you think it's not worth reporting. Dial 101 to report anything. For anybody on Mollington Facebook it is well worth putting on the page and also a good idea to inform your Neighbourhood Watch coordinator 3 of 5

4 so that other residents are made aware. Councillor Webb thanked all that have been reporting these incidents. Police are now aware of all incidents reported and vehicles involved. There was also a distraction burglary in Wardington residents should be aware of this type of crime so that can avoid becoming a victim:- At 5pm on 20 March, a male entered a property in Wardington on the pretence that there was a water leak at the property next door. Upon entering the male asked the homeowner to turn off all the taps in the house and empty the cupboard under the kitchen sink. This is a common distraction method and normally results in rooms such as bedrooms being entered so that items such as cash and jewellery can be stolen. A dark blue Ford Fiesta was parked nearby at the time and maybe connected to the offence. If someone tries to gain entry to your property using this method, state you are going to check with your water supplier first to ensure that the leak is genuine and has been reported. Please also call 101 as soon as you can giving a description of the individual and any unfamiliar vehicles that may be parked nearby. Footpaths Sarah Aldous of CDC is to provide a map to Mollington PC, re footpaths; Sarah states Maps have been done, but she unfortunately forgot to post and will send them soon. Sarah has also apologised as she has still not visited to see the footpath/bridge which was reported last year - Sarah to visit asap and report back to PC/ Councillor Webb. Dog bins Unfortunately it is still necessary to report that a lot of dog owners are still not picking up after their dogs when walking through fields - all dog owners are reminded to consider other users when walking dogs. In addition, it is not fair on landowners to have to be responsible for keeping paths clean just because there is a right to walk through their land. To consider having some notices put up around the village to remind dog owners. Please remember there is still a supply of dog waste bags available if required - please contact Councillor Webb for bags; bio degradable bags are also available. Councillor Hall The Quiz Night on Saturday 11 th March was a great success. Everyone enjoyed the Quiz and Supper and the funds raised exceeded 700. The proceeds will go towards the Village Day on Sunday 25 th June. Village Hall - An urgent meeting was held on Sunday 26 th March at the village hall as it had been noticed that there was evidence of woodworm in the hall s wooden floor. This is in the original section of the hall which dates from 1965 and is mainly constructed of wood. It was decided on the grounds of health and safety to close the hall to regular users and ad hoc bookings until further notice. Bob Wadsworth has arranged for a specialist company to come out and survey the hall on Wednesday 29 th March. Hopefully after their visit we will have a better picture of what is going on and how we move forward. The Ceileh that was planned for Saturday 1 st April, in aid of Water Aid, has had to be postponed and all other activities that take place on a daily basis cancelled until further notice. Obviously the Hall Committee are aware of the disruption to the users and will endeavour to keep everyone informed and updated. 4 of 5

5 Councillor Lapper reported that more parts of the wooden play equipment at Orchard Playground are beginning to show signs of rotting. 796 Councillors Points of Information Councillor Webb reminded the meeting that there was only a little over a week to complete any survey documents against downgrades at the Horton or complete travel times taken from Banbury to John Radcliffe. Surveys are available on PC website and Mollington Facebook. A further visit to Orchard Play ground is to be arranged in order to ascertain if further trees are to be cut back, which will be subject to a Conservation area planning application. Hedge cutting is to be done later in the year when it is best to lay hedges. A tree encroaching onto a Chestnut Rd resident s is to be investigated at the same meeting. It was confirmed that tree works carried out to date in Orchard Playground were in accordance with the planning application of December Councillor Webb is trying to arrange for the Police to visit one of the Village events e.g. Village Fete, to encourage residents to security mark heir private property and show them how to do it. Parish Council Meeting finished at 8.40pm Dates of Future Meetings The next scheduled meeting date of the Parish Council is Tuesday 25 th April 2017 immediately following the Annual Parish Meeting in Mollington Village Hall. This will be preceded by the Annual Parish Meeting starting at 8.00pm Chairman, Mollington Parish Council Public Participation Session A Resident reported that he was aware from the Police that there was an increase in scrap metal theft in the area often from residents gardens. Any further information must be reported to Police via calling 101. Mr Jeffries reminded the meeting about his plans concerning the caravan park drive he had asked the appropriate bus company if they would consider arranging to collect and set down school children in the village instead of at Mollington turn there was no further feedback. A resident added that he would like the PC to look at cutting back a tree on the Orchard playground which encroaches on his property this will be looked at as stated in Councillors Points of Information as above. Public Session closed at 9.06pm 5 of 5