FULBROOK PARISH COUNCIL
MINUTES OF MEETING
Date: 14th March 2024
7.00pm
Venue The Parish Church of St James
Present: Councillors
Dr Peter Burns PB
Mr Malcolm Allsop
Mr Robert Warner RW
WODC Councillor Hugo Ashton HA
Parish Clerk Mrs Sarah Ebeling
Parishioners attending: 8 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
No public participation
- Declaration of Interests
Nothing new to declare.
- Minutes of the meeting held on the 25th March 2024
Minutes of the last meeting were signed by the acting Chairman.
- Casual Vacancy for Fulbrook Parish Council
4.1) Co-opt new Councillor
Richard Marsh put himself forward to be co-opted in as a new Councillor and gave a short introduction. He has lived in Fulbrook since 2012 and has extensive business and governance experience over the last 25 years. He is part of a four-person management team of a business listed on the London Stock Exchange and also has been a director on many company boards.
All Councillors agreed to co-opt Richard onto the Parish Council.
4.2 Election of a new Chair
Peter Burns proposed Malcolm Allsop for the position of Chairman, he has previous experience as a Chair from his last Parish.
All Councillors agreed with Malcolm becoming Chair.
5 Matters arising
5.1) Local Plan – Development
WODC have confirmed that no other sites in Fulbrook have been put forward other than the two that had previously been discussed.
Next Steps:
- To finalise the criteria for assessment: This is close to being finalized, there has been a discussion with the policy team and the hope is that there is a revised ‘method’ statement in the next few days. This will then be shared with colleagues in the assigned Development Management Team before it is then finalized.
- Consult with Town/Parishes (this was due to be March/April): WODC will be looking to send a copy of the method statement along with a schedule/map of the sites to affected Towns/Parish Councils in the next couple of weeks inviting written comments on any sites in their Parish. It is thought they would have 6-8 weeks to respond.
- Decisions on whether to include sites in the draft plan – presumably after the housing needs assessment has been produced: This will flow from the site assessment work and be determined to a large extent by the housing needs assessment which has just been commissioned and should be completed in around 5 weeks’ time.
PB asked Hugo whether a Housing Survey commissioned by the Parish Council (as previously suggested and rejected) would be beneficial to potentially stop large scale developments.
Hugo’s response: The housing need survey for the district is going to be done at a high level and will be assigned into categories of need; first time buyers, social housing etc. Population forecasts will also drive the housing needs. Information at specific level (Fulbrook) however would give valuable information if used correctly. The most important factors with regards to the proposed developments would be that it is an AONB, traffic congestion, lack of amenities etc therefore the housing survey may not be beneficial at the present time.
5.2) To consider a communication strategy for Fulbrook Parish Council
Malcolm would like to expand the Councils online presence and improve their communication to the Parish. Malcolm has suggested using a service such as ‘Mail Chimp’
MA and Clerk to discuss this further and make a communication strategy plan
5.3) To consider the frequency of Council meetings in the light of the current development
MA suggested having monthly meetings going forward while the current development decisions are going forward. BW was against the idea of monthly meetings and suggested a Sub Committee was put together. This way you would benefit from getting Parishioners with different backgrounds and expertise who are willing to assist and contribute towards the Parishes response.
Due to a discussion not being agreed it ws decided that this would be looked into again later on once the Parish is more informed from WODC regarding a timeline of next steps.
6 Reports from County and District Councillors
Reports from County and District Councillors are at the end of these minutes.
- Finance
7.1) Financial Statement for January/February/March
Clerk explained that all funds relating to the Play Park upgrade have now cleared from the account and the money from both NS&I accounts has now been received. We are also due a VAT refund which will be submitted online after the year end which is the 31st of March 24.
7.2) The transfer of funds from both NS&I accounts has now been completed and the accounts are now closed. PB will use the TSB online banking to add MA and RM as signatories.
- Amenities
The plant sale will be taking place on Saturday the 11th of May between 10am and 12pm at the Carpenters Arms.
No other events are currently planned
- Planning and Estates
A planning application has been submitted by High Meadow, Westhall Hill. BW has asked for Councillors to submit their comments by Sunday the 17th of March.
BW to finalises the comments and Clerk will add these onto the WODC website
- Road Safety
PB has handed over all his previous correspondence relating to the plans for Burford Bridge and the suggested ideas to make it safer for pedestrians when crossing. This also includes the plan for new signage which should be going ahead shortly. PB has also handed over information relating to his highways contact at OCC and the proposed plans of Dragons Teeth when entering the village and looking into the possibility of a 20MPH limit through Fulbrook.
- Play Park
Unfortunately, there has been some damage on the new equipment at the Play Park, a Parishioner has taken steps to make it safe for the children to still play on.
BW to assess the play park and speak to Sovereign Play about replacing the broken part of equipment.
- Future Meeting Dates
The next meeting date to be confirmed…