Minutes of the Blewbury Parish Council meeting held on Wednesday 11th December 2019 at 7.30pm in the Vale Room of the Village Hall.

1. Apologies for absence

Received in advance from Cllrs C Cameron, M Jacobs. Cllrs M Blythe & M Penington were also not present. Cllr Inglis apologised for her late arrival at 9pm in advance. District Councillors H Gascoigne & S Medley apologised for their absence in advance.

2. Declarations of interests relating to this meeting

Cllrs Lakeland and Gibson declared interests relating to the village hall refurbishment. The council accepted that most councillors had an interest in the pre-school.

3. County Councillor’s report

Due to illness, the County Councillor was not present.

4. District Councillor’s report

Circulated in advance of the meeting & available at Appendix B below.

5. Lengthman’s report

Circulated in advance of the meeting & available at Appendix A below.

6. Open Forum

Mr A Fenn attended the meeting to raise the subject of bus stops in the vicinity of his premises. Buses no longer stop adjacent to Mr Fenn’s property on the road from Blewbury to Hagbourne, although buses have stopped there for many years previously. It was acknowledged that buses do stop at other points along this road within the Blewbury boundary, although only one of these points is a designated bus stop. Mr Fenn asked the council if they could obtain a definitive answer on this on his behalf. Clerk to speak to Oxfordshire CC.

7. Approve previous minutes

The minutes of the BPC meeting held on 13.11.19 were approved with no changes or matters arising & were signed by the Chair.

8. Outstanding Actions from previous meetings and any matters arising

Confirm whether actions are cleared, carried forward or cancelled.

9. Village hall refurbishment

9.1 Tender Response

The Chair explained the current situation with the tender process (see details at Appendix C below)

and asked that the council formally ratified the acceptance of the tender from MD Group for the

refurbishment work. The Parish Council unanimously accepted the reasons for the choice of MD

Group and duly ratified the tender acceptance. A letter of intent had been sent to MD Group and the

work is due to commence on 20^th January.

9.2 Village Hall Artwork

The deadline for submitting ideas for a work of art in the refurbed village hall is 1 February 2020 (see

Bulletin for more details).

10. Recreation Ground / Clubhouse

10.1 Update on the Clubhouse

CL explained the situation regarding the administration of clubhouse facilities. There is only one

person dealing with all of the administration and only two trustees of the CIC, both of which are

insufficient at this time. The council agreed in principle to one system in the village for the

management (booking/invoicing) of event facilities, run by one paid person. CL to respond to the

CIC in writing.

10.2 To receive an update on the recreation ground

10.2.1 It was noted that the skate park work is unlikely to take place before January & is

weather dependent. It was acknowledged that the original quote still stands. CL to apply for

CIL money once work confirmed.

10.2.2 Village Trees

CL confirmed he is approaching contractors to obtain quotes for tree inspections. It was

noted that this work would not commence before Spring 2020. CL also noted that a tree on

Coffin way had been reduced by 2/3rds for safety reasons.

11. Planning & Housing

11.1 To receive the planning committee report

Circulated prior to the meeting & confirming decisions below.

11.2 To approve responses to current applications

11.2.1 P19/V2170/FUL Y Worry, Bessels Lea, Blewbury

Amendment no.2 (heat pump)

Deadline 12 noon 02.12.19.

BPC agreed no objections 29.11.19.

11.2.2 P19/V2624/LHH 12 London Road, Blewbury

Proposed demolition of existing rear extension & proposed construction of new rear single-

storey extension.

Deadline 12 noon 13.12.19

The council voted ‘no objections’ to this application.

11.2.3 P19/V3102/HH 4 Whites Orchard, Blewbury

Garden building

Deadline 12 noon 18.12.19

The council voted ‘no objections’ to this application.

12. Finance & Administration

12.1 To receive an update on CIL or S106 contributions and approve planned expenditure.

12.1.1 Skate park refurbishment update

The Contractor would like to complete this work by Christmas, but due to the weather this

looked unlikely. A further update would be sought in January.

12.1.2 Any other updates if available

CL confirmed that as the refurbishment tender was approved, he could apply for S106

funding.

12.2 To receive an update on financial arrangements

12.2.1 Online banking – change of bank update

Santander deposit account closed & funds moved to Santander current account (£2870.52)

12.2.2 Draft 20/21 budget

Sent in advance of the meeting, together with spend to date against this year’s budget. No

comments were raised. To be carried forward to the BPC Finance meeting in January.

12.2.3 To consider the request for assistance from the Blewbury pre-school

This was considered at length. The PC agreed that a viable plan & operations model were

required. CL to write to the Malthus Trust who rent the building to the pre-school. The PC

agreed in principle to a one-off grant of £5000. CL to draft a letter to the pre-school & issue

for comment.

12.3 To approve payments to be made under ancillary powers and within budgeted amounts.

CL signed off reconciliations for both Santander/Lloyds and Barclays banks.

13. Risk Management

13.1 To receive an update on TFF Play Space

Nothing to report. The PC agreed to rename this to ‘update on village play areas’

13.2 To receive an update on GDPR

VH confirmed nothing to report this month.

13.3 To receive an update regarding trees in the village for which the PC is responsible

CL confirmed he is approaching contractors with a view to inspecting trees.

14. To receive an update on any issues relating to the Environment

14.1 To receive a report on the recent Sustainable Blewbury meeting

No update this month.

14.2 To receive an update on the OxCam Expressway

An email letter from noexpresswaygroup@gmail.com had been circulated for information and

comment.

14.3 To receive an update on the OGB & ONPA

The next meeting of the ONPZ is 23 January 2020.

14.4 To receive an update on the Cleve

A meeting was organised for 14^th December for one riparian owner & to environmental specialists

from within the village.

15. To receive an update on any issues relating to Footways, Footpaths, rights of way and open spaces

15.1 Update on barrier repair on London Road

Highways confirmed that this barrier was repaired week beginning 25.11.19.

15.2 Update on the fence encroachment on footpath 24

This was reported to the relevant authority & is under investigation.

16. To receive an update on any issues relating to roads, road safety and public transport

16.1 To discuss the conditions of local roads and decide on any course of action

There was nothing to report under this heading and the PC agreed to remove this from future agendas.

16.3 Update on the Blewbury Speed Watch group

CL had a quote for the purchase of the necessary equipment. CL has established that a contribution of

CIL money could be used. A donation was received from a recent village function of £800and Upton

Parish Council had agreed to contribute up to £1000. This is against costs of c£2030 + VAT.

17. Village Hall Management Committee. Update from the VHEMC

A recent VHEMC meeting was held. Concern was expressed over reduced income during the

refurbishment, but reserves should cover. The PC agreed to move this item to item 9 on future agendas.

18. Correspondence

18.1 Items requesting a reply & consultations

Further information on Didcot Garden Town has been circulated.

18.2 Items for information that have been circulated

Nothing significant.

19. To set the date of the next meeting of the PC

BPC Finance meeting Thursday 2nd January 2020 7.30pm Benefice Office

 Parish Council meeting Wednesday 15^th January 2020 7.30pm Melland Room 

The meeting finished at 9.15pm. 

Action Points from this meeting: –

 Appendix A – Lengthman’s Report November 2019

Nothing really to report this month. It has been very quiet with minimum grass cutting. Some machine maintenance has been done. All 2-stroke machines have had petrol emptied and run dry. The path gravelling has been done, but with a very poor turnout!!! All that remains is to wish you all a very good Christmas and a happy and hopefully prosperous New Year.

Best wishes, David.

Appendix B

Blewbury Parish Council – Wednesday 11th December 2019

Report from District Councillors

Cllr Hayleigh Gascoigne and Cllr Sarah Medley

General Election 2019

Information from the Vale of White Horse District Council on voting in the upcoming General Election:

Poll cards – Anyone who hasn’t yet received their poll card should call our Elections team on 01235 422528 to make sure they are still registered and/or eligible to vote in this election.

Postal voting – if someone is expecting a postal voting pack, but they don’t receive it by 6 December, they should contact Elections on 01235 422528 to request a replacement.

Proxy voting – If, due to unforeseen circumstances, someone is unable to make it to the polling station on election day then they have until 5pm on 12 December to apply for an emergency proxy vote. To find out more information residents can visit whitehorsedc.gov.uk/votebyproxy. Candidates and polling stations – residents can check who they can vote for and where they need to go to cast their ballot by using our Vale postcode search facility. The count and results – after polls close on 12 December, we’ll be counting votes for all three constituencies at the White Horse Leisure and Tennis Centre in Abingdon. Our estimated timeline is as follows:

• verification – 10pm to 2am
• counting the votes – 2am onwards
• results declared – from around 5am onwards

Once a constituency has been declared, we’ll post the official results on our social media accounts and websites, and also on a notice board at the leisure centre. More information More information on the general election can be found at whitehorsedc.gov.uk/elections.

Free parking in the run up to Christmas