FULBROOK PARISH COUNCIL
MINUTES OF MEETING
Date: 25th January 2024
7.00pm
Venue The Parish Church of St James
Present: Councillors
Dr Filipa Hinton FH
Dr Peter Burns PB
Mr Toby Staveley
Mr Robert Warner RW
WODC Councillor Hugo Ashton HA
Parish Clerk Mrs Sarah Ebeling
Parishioners attending: 7 Parishioners.
Apologies:
OCC Councillor Mr N Field-Johnson NFJ
For convenience the following abbreviations may be used in some instances in these Minutes.
FPC Fulbrook Parish Council
OCC Oxfordshire County Council
POF Parishioners Open Forum
WODC West Oxfordshire District Council
OALC Oxfordshire Association of Local Councils
NALC National Association of Local Councils
CHA Cottsway Housing Association
TVP Thames Valley Police
- Public Participation
Caroline North Lewis – She disclosed that she lives with her mother at Pen and Willow Cottages and her mother has lived in the village since 1947. They own are good size plot of land around the cottages and are discussing how best to use this land and if they can you it to benefit the village. Their idea is to build a community windmill and are currently looking into the feasibility of this and whether this would get support from the village. The Councillors are behind this idea and would like to support Caroline with this however they can. Hugo suggested that Caroline should enquire with the Cotswold National Landscape Board who will be able to give her some advice and should have a standard policy on this. He also advised that there is a specialist in Burford who specializes in linking the electricity grids and might also be able to give her some advice. Caroline would also be open to any other ideas people might have if she is unable to go through with her initial idea.
- Declaration of Interests
Nothing new to declare.
- Minutes of the meeting held on the 23rd November 2023
Minutes of the last meeting were signed by the Chairman.
- Casual Vacancy for Fulbrook Parish Council
An election has been requested for the current vacancy and the nominations are due to close on the 26th of January. If more than one parishioner applies for this vacancy then an election will be called and this will take place in Warwick Hall in Burford. The cost of this election is likely to be between £1,500 and £2,000 and will be added to next year’s precept.
5 Matters arising
5.1) Local Plan – Development
Summary from Hugo Ashton:
- We are at the beginning of the WODC plan
- Part of the consultation was for a ‘Call for sites’ which anyone could have written in to put their sites forward.
- The evaluation and assessment has not started yet
- This is not a planning application
- Next steps
- Planning officers will look through all the applications received; a large amount of these will then be rejected. If there are not rejected, they will then be discussed with the relevant parish.
- Next steps will be guided by criteria when the list of sites is published. Hugo will contact the parish council once he knows when the list will be published.
- The plans will then go to an inspector who will see if they are actually viable
- There will then be an adopted plan
Once the Parish Council is more informed on the likely outcome, they can then work on a plan of the best way to move forward with this.
6 Reports from County and District Councillors
Hugo Ashton:
Planning – Hugo had a tour of the Botley West Solar Farm. The district Councillors will start putting a response together on this. It is a very large site and impact on the environment will be huge. Parts of the solar farm will have low visibility however other parts of the solar farm will not be which could cause some issues. This will be the biggest site in Europe if it goes ahead as planned.
Burford Bridge – No further news on when the bridge will be fixed. Currently it is being discussed to link the bridge being fixed with the pedestrian improvements. Bell bollards are now being looked into and seem to be the most promising idea to help keep pedestrians safe while still allowing safe access for farm traffic. The idea is to get the designs for the bridge completed in this financial year and then the work to the bridge completed in the next financial year.
HGV issue – A county steering group is looking at the Windrush Valley diversion issues which Hugo is part of. They are discussing the problems that could arise and what data is needed to be able to move forward with this. They are awaiting a budget to be able to move forward with the collecting of data.
- Finance
7.1) The Financial Statement for November and December has been agreed.
7.2) TSB – PB now has online.
PB to look into how to add the Clerk to the account and find application to add new signatories to the account.
NS&I – Transfer of the £5000 from the NS&I account (number 138035952) to the TSB account has been completed.
PB to chase the transfer of the other NS&I account (informally referred to as the ‘war memorial account, number 138038843) into the TSB account
- Amenities
Plant Sale:
The date for the plant sale will be the 11th of May and Jean has kindly offered to run this again after her successful plant sale last year. She is currently looking for a singer and has found one who is available for £150. She has therefore asked if the Parish Council are happy to fund this, all Councillors agreed that the Parish Council should pay the upfront costs for the singer.
- Planning and Estates
The application for the extra four houses down Meadow End has been declined on the basis of it being contrary to certain policies of the adopted West Oxfordshire Local Plan 2031, the West Oxfordshire Design Guide 2016, the National Design Guide 2019, and the relevant paragraphs of the National Planning Policy Framework 2019.
- Road Safety
The speed camera has once again stopped working, thoughts are that the solar panel is not charging the batteries properly.
PB to investigate further and speak to the company if needed.
- Play Park
The upgrades to the play park commenced on Monday the 23rd of January and all new equipment has been constructed. All that is left for the contractors to do is let everything set and then come and collect all the fencing and rubbish etc.
Sovereign Play have offered a compliance package which comes to £399 plus VAT.
This covers:
- 2 inspections and reports each year.
- Comprehensive safety and maintenance reports on both Sovereign and third-party equipment.
- Essential maintenance and repairs included
- 2 operational inspections by registered RPII Inspectors
- Future Meeting Dates
The next meeting will take place on Thursday the 14th of March at 7pm.
Provisional dates for future meetings are:
9th of May