Apologies for absence were received from Councillors J Amys, Mrs P Brundle and D Jackson. a) Update on Foliage Overhanging Footpaths and Pavements

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1 Wantage Town Council Grove Parish Council Oxfordshire County Council Oxfordshire County Council Officer Thames Valley Police Clerk: Councillors Mrs J Hannaby (Chairman). Councillor G Chown, W Evans, J E Nunn-Price and Mrs J Stock. Councillor Mrs Z Patrick. Ms L Hutchins (Area Steward) Mr C Hulme and PCSO H Pack. Mr W P Falkenau. 1. Apologies for Absence Apologies for absence were received from Councillors J Amys, Mrs P Brundle and D Jackson. 2. Declarations of Disclosable Pecuniary Interests 3. Minutes of Meeting held on 17 January, 2013 The minutes were approved and signed. 4. Statements and Questions from the Public 5. Matters Arising from the Previous Meeting a) Update on Foliage Overhanging Footpaths and Pavements The County Council had written to a number of property owners requesting that foliage be cut back from the highway. b) Vehicle-Activated Speed Sign in Mablv Way Wantage Town Council was not wholly convinced of the need for a sign, and the matter was still under consideration. The Clerk was to advise the Town Council that Grove Parish Council, the Police and this Committee felt that there would be a benefit from installing a sign. c) St. Mary's Way It was reported that parked vehicles on the roadway leading to Stockham Way were still obstructing the passage of buses. Ms Hutchins agreed to visit the area to observe the problem. d) Update on Complaints by Resident of Ickleton Road concerning Vehicle Speeds Between Letcombe Regis Turn and Ham Road Junctions

2 It was reported that there was no accident history in this area and therefore represented a low priority for County Council action. Road markings had worn away and were to be reinstated. e) Update on Parking at Church View. Main Street and Vale Avenue, Grove All the work relating to updating the road markings had been carried out. Problems were still being experienced with vehicles parking in the bus lay-by. f) Update on Lack of Street Lighting in Willow Walk. Wantage Councillor Mrs Nunn-Price had conducted further enquiries with the County Council. The overall cost of installing an additional light was 3,465. The Clerk was to write to the District Council, owners of the area, requesting that consideration be given to installing the light. g) Bay Tree Pedestrian Crossing, Grove Members of the Committee were of the view that lights on the Bay Tree public house were acting as a distraction to drivers at night approaching the crossing. Ms Hutchins advised that as far as the County Council officers were concerned, the crossing met all highway requirements. It was agreed that this item be removed from future agendas. h) Local Roads Affected By. and Prone To. Flooding : Portway. A3 3 8 by Autotype Flooding was still being experienced, following heavy rain, in a number of areas that had been referred to the County Council. As far as could be seen, no action had been taken. The Clerk was to pass s he had sent to the County Council to Ms Hutchins. 6. Matters referred by Grove Parish Council a) Poor Condition of Local Roads and Need to Repair Potholes were evident throughout the local area following the bad winter weather conditions. The County Council was applying more resource to deal with the problem. Holes of high priority were being identified by a red line drawn around the hole. Those of lesser priority were circled by an orange line. The County Council was currently failing to meet its target time for repairing the holes. The Camel Cross Roads in Wantage had recently been totally resurfaced. It would take time to clear the backlog. 7. Matters referred by Wantage Town Council and Others (a) On-Street Parking Enforcement of Yellow Lines The Police were not willing to use resources to enforce yellow lines. Responsibility for this had been moved to the County Council, as highway authority. The County Council was unwilling to undertake these duties. The District Council was the bestplaced authority to undertake this because it was actively enforcing parking restrictions in its car parks. The District Council was unwilling to do this because it felt that the activity would not be self-funding. It was agreed that the Clerk should press the Executive Members of the District Council for it to take on these duties, and to engage with other town councils in the Vale of White Horse district and South Oxfordshire to get their support.

3 (b) Yellow Lines in Post Office Lane, off Wallingford Street The County Council had confirmed that the lane was not an adopted highway. This did not preclude there being a highway order forcing double yellow lines. Certain requirements needed to be met. Mr Hulme agreed to visit the lane to determine whether the yellow lines currently installed were enforceable. Action : Hulme (c) Sainsbury's Sign in Limborough Road by Zebra Crossing The sign had been removed. (d) County Council Road Gritting Policy in Snow Conditions The County Council had adopted a policy of only gritting A and B roads in winter weather conditions. A number of bus routes and roads leading to schools had not been treated during the recent bad weather. This had led to a number of complaints involving the Town Council and Ed Vaizey, MP. The Clerk, who had been involved in a series of exchanges, felt that the response of the County Council was wholly unsatisfactory. He was of the view that the County Council had failed in its duty. A promise had been given by a senior County Council officer that their policy would be reviewed. Ms Hutchins agreed to refer the concerns to a County Council "wash-up" meeting that was due to the held the following day. It was agreed that this was a matter which should be taken up with the new County Council Cabinet Member responsible for highways following the election. (e) Effectiveness of County Council Highway Defects Reporting System Covered by items above. 8. Area Steward's Report The attached report was noted. It was requested that potholes at the edge of the roadway be given high priority. These were likely to be encountered by cyclists bringing increased risk of traffic accidents. Ms Hutchins was to refer this to the County Council. It was noted that the lay-by in Harcourt Road was due to be installed in the week beginning 22 April, General Correspondence 10. Date of Future Meetings The following dates were noted - 27 June, 19 September, 2013, 16 January, 2014 and 10 April, The meeting closed at 8.27 p.m. 3

4 Are you aware of issues that affect public safety on the Highway? For all highways works including potholes, flooding and vegetation that could cause a hazard, and damaged or missing road signs, please contact Highways Enquiries on highwayenquiries@oxfordshire.gov.uk Or For mud, leaves and street cleansing Biffa on For siding out and vegetation clearance Community Payback The Probation Service seeks to provide work for probationers who are conducting community service as an alternative to a custodial sentence. They need to work where they will be visible and to have access to a hall for welfare. If you would like to discuss non-urgent requests for improving your area, such as dropped crossing, please ask for the Local Highways Representative below: Mandy Bell, Abingdon Area Tony Currell, Faringdon Area Lex Macfarlane, Botley to Radley and Kennington to Blewbury Alan Pratley, Grove and Wantage Area Area Stewardship Fund The Area Stewardship Fund is committed now and almost all works are complete. There has been some delay with those requiring our electrical contractor to install the required power. This has affected some VASs (Wootton and Drayton) and the lighting for pedestrian crossings (Spring Road in Abingdon and Marcham). These will be competed in the next few weeks. After the May elections the new cabinet will be asked to approve a new fund. In the meantime, please continue to raise enquiries highwayenquiries@oxfordshire.gov.uk. Please do not use individual addresses as they may not be monitored OXFORDSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL Highway Works in the Vale of White Horse April, May 2013 Maintaining the Highway Welcome to the latest newsletter on highway maintenance in the Vale of White Horse. This winter has proved extremely difficult because of the extreme weather conditions which has restricted when we can repair defects. The sheer volume of defects that has been generated on the highway network and the number of safety defects that can be repaired in a single day have resulted in us having to introduce additional resources and we continue to monitor our performance in this area. As stated on the OCC public website, "To further fund the repair programme, an additional 250,000 - enough to fill more than 4,000 extra potholes - has been added on top of around 5 million spent so far throughout 2012/13 on fixing road defects." For more information on the public website, please see: %E2%80%98sprinq-clean%E2%80%99-oxfordshire-roads Reporting Potholes on Line - Fix my Street Laura Hutchins Area Steward, Vale of White Horse We have now initiated a new online reporting tool which people can access from computers and smart phones (see inside this newsletter and on the OCC website) Potholes reported to will automatically be logged for the attention of highways officers - helping to speed up the process of identifying, mapping and prioritising defects.

5 In particular, people who upload photos will provide insight to the severity of the defect, reducing the need for further on-site investigation. The site also features an interactive map which allows users to check whether the pothole they are reporting has already been logged, avoiding duplication. Encouraging online reporting will help reduce the volume of calls to the council's customer service centre (CSC) and free up staff to deal with other pressing enquiries. Residents will of course still be able to report road defects by calling Once a reported pothole has been verified by a member of the Highways team, the county council's contractor undertakes to repair these potholes within 28 days, 24 hours for emergency potholes, and two hours for the most severe category. In a 'normal year' we might expect 24,000 defects. We're currently looking at around 36,000 for 2012/13, and the previous two years have also seen a large number of repairs. This is part of a national trend of road networks becoming increasingly pothole-ridden. If they are concerned about the amount of time taken to get through then creating a FMS account and reporting faults online may be a better option for them. It would also allow them to keep track of all their reports, receive automatic updates without having to get through to LHRs and also helps support the council channel shift initiatives After each winter season the County Council undertakes a full review of the service, one of the review points for this year will be how we can provide an access to villages and schools which are not on part of the above 43% of the network Some communities, such as Abingdon, have used Big Society Funds or Area Stewardship Funds to increase the resources available to Parish and Town Councils. This has proved very successful, and the budget may be available again in For more information and support, please look out for events that are held during the summer months, such as Community Resilience events held in each district by Emergency Planning and depot open days at Deddington and Drayton Temporary Traffic Regulation Orders Updated Parish Abingdon Appleford Appleton I Road Stert Street Bablock Hythe Road Oaksmere Description Water main connection Drainage construction Water main works Start i End Date Date 29/04/2013 : 30/04/ /04/ /05/ /05/ /05/2013 Road Gritting Policy in Icy Conditions Oxfordshire County Council treats 43% of the roads we are responsible for, which compares favourably with many other local authorities. As a matter of routine we review things yearly however there are currently no plans to alter the high percentage of roads that we treat as a matter of course. It is simply not economically or practically viable for us to treat all of the whole road network that we are responsible for - this is the case for all local authorities. Kennington Longworth North Hinksey Shiplake Upton t Oxford Road (BagleyWood) Rectory Lane i Lime Road Level crossing ] High Street Carriageway repairs due to subsidence Drainage construction Water main works Level crossing upgrade works Sewer connection 20/ /04/ /05/ /04/ /05/2013 Duration until further notice 17/05/ /05/ /04/ /05/2013 However there are other locally-based options available, such as salt bins, which can be purchased through town or parish councils. Wantage i Belmont Water main works 124/06/ /06/2013 Obviously the council is happy to hear suggestions on any subject about how a service could be improved within resource limitations, and this applies to ideas residents may have about treating roads in icy conditions. Wantage i Town centre May Fair I 03/05/2013 i 05/05/2013