FULBROOK PARISH COUNCIL
MINUTES OF MEETING
Date: 21st September 2023
7.00pm
Venue The Parish Church of St James
Present: Councillors Mr Malcolm Taylor (Chair) MT
Dr Filipa Hinton FH
Dr Peter Burns PB
Mr Toby Staveley
OCC Councillor Mr N Field-Johnson NFJ
WODC Councillor Hugo Ashton HA
Parish Clerk Mrs Sarah Ebeling
Parishioners attending: 2 Parishioners.
Apologies:
Mr Robert Warner RW
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
239
1 Public Participation
No public participation
2 Declaration of Interests
Nothing new to declare.
3 Minutes of the meeting held on the 13th July 2023
Minutes of the last meeting were signed by the Chairman.
4 Matters arising
Nothing more to add please see Planning and Estates and Road Safety.
5 Reports from County and District Councillors
See reports from Nicholas Field-Johnson at the end of the minutes.
WODC Councillor Hugo Ashton
Hugo spoke about his visit to Burford Sewage works with Thames Water this month. Hugo passed
around pictures to show the causes of the blockages they are dealing with. He also discussed that
there is a certain bacteria that Thames Water have been struggling to clear however this does not
pose as a hazard. The capacity on site is working well and meets licensed conditions and they have
new reed beds to help with the filtration.
Hugo advised that the next WODC Executive meeting is due to take place at Warwick Hall in
Burford on the 11th October with a 6pm start. They will be taking questions however these need to
be submitted no later than 2.00pm two clear working days before the meeting (so for this meeting,
the deadline would be 2.00pm on the Friday before (6 October).They will not be taking questions
on the day however if you did submit and question early and they answer it you are allowed a
supplementary question.
6 Finance
6.1) Nothing new to report
6.2) The financial statement was circulated around everyone present at the meeting. MT was asked
about the percentage increase of the precept this year and explained that the increase was 10%
which covers inflation with regards to the Clerks wages, grass cutting and Insurance.
The financial statement was agreed at the meeting.
240
6.3) The Audit for 2022/23 has now been completed and signed off by John Yeatman.
Chair has agreed audit and signed.
6.4)
TSB
MT has applied for online banking but has been told he does not hold the relevant authority to go
forward with this.
PB and MT to work together to get this resolved.
NS&I
Clerk has spoken to NS&I and does not hold authority to speak to someone regarding the accounts
the council hold with them.
Clerk and PB to work together to get this resolved.
7 Amenities
Toby Staveley introduced himself as the lead councilor for the village amenities. Toby has been in
the village for 15 years and lives with his wife Lucy and their four children. He has a passion to
connect people in the village and would like to start looking at which demographics of people are
not currently being catered for when it comes to village events. He has noted that there are four
main events that take place every year which are the plant sale, 2 village clear ups (once in spring
and again in autumn) and the carol signing at Christmas. Toby has noticed that there is a lack of
events for residents between the ages of 20-50 year olds and would like to make this his starting
point with planning a village event. He is very much open to ideas and suggested a ‘bring a
bottle/dish event and maybe look into starting a WhatsApp group for people to join from different
areas of the village to bring their ideas together. MT has also been asked about whether the
amenities group could organize a Halloween event.
8 Planning and Estates
Orchard Row trees
Hugo Ashton was contacted by a resident on behalf of Rickyard Cottage Management Limited
regarding the overgrown trees just behind their properties.
FPC became involved in the Orchard Row grassed area more than 25 years ago. The area was
originally just used as car parking and WODC (predating Cottsway) agreed to widen the road
there. FPC had planned to install children’s play equipment, however, strong local objections
prevented this plan and FPC have since organized for the grass to be cut.
The horse chestnut and copper beach have been in place for many years however, the tulip tree
was not formally planted by FPC.
The councilors agreed that FPC does not have funds for significant tree work. As it is a small
group of parishioners who want the tree work completed the councilors agreed it appropriate that
the Rickyard Cottage Management Limited should fund the work. FPC would have to increase its
precept to pay for this work, which would spread the cost over the whole parish which is not fair.
It is suggested that Rickyard Cottage Management Limited should direct their concerns to
Cottsway, who own the land and any concerns regarding cable and transformer issues are the
responsibility of SSE.
241
Overgrown Shrubs
There are overgrown shrubs which obstruct the A361 footpath in several places. The
owners/tenants of the adjacent properties are unable/unwilling to take responsibility for
maintaining the shrubbery.
In addition to the above the is a bush beneath the Pill Box which restricts drivers’ view when
entering the roundabout from Cocklands hill. It was discussed whether FPC should be responsible
for this or whether this is an issue for Highways. A parishioner offered the opinion that this could
be something that residents of Fulbrook could help with during the village clean up or whether
they could get a group of volunteers together who could help the kept the village tidy on more of a
regular basis.
McCracken’s
A question was asked about what patches of grass are included in the grass cutting done by
McCracken’s and it was noted that the 30mph sign as you come into the village from Shipton is
prone to be obstructed from overgrown grass. Getting a group of volunteers to keep the village tidy
could also reduce the amount we pay to McCracken’s.
MT to discuss the contract with McCracken’s.
9 Road Safety
Speed sign
It has been confirmed that the speed sign is under a ‘back to base guarantee’ which means that
FPC is responsible for getting the sign taken down and sent back to the company for them to fix.
Clerk has emailed the company who put the sign up for a quote to remove the sign and
deliver it back to the original company.
Speed watch
A parishioner asked whether speed watch could again be reinstated through the village. Speed
watch hasn’t worked very well in the past as the police didn’t take it seriously. Malcolm Allsop
has agreed to work with PB to bring speed watch back and help with trying to find ways of
reducing the speed through the village.
PB to check the battery of the speed camera and follow up with Malcolm Allsop.
Burford Bridge
MT emailed Mike Wasley regarding the pedestrian crossing proposal for the bridge and was
advised that a committee had been formed to discuss this further. No contact has been made since.
MT asked Malcolm Allsop to help with a campaign to get WODC to listen to our concerns
regarding pedestrians crossing the bridge.
Question: Shouldn’t there be notices up on the bridge to say ‘Caution Pedestrians’? MT advised
that signs were due to be put up at the beginning of August, but these had yet to be done.
NFJ to arrange a face-to-face meeting with Mike Wasley to discuss pedestrian crossing.
242
10 Play Park
Grant
The grant application process has now been extended from 12 weeks to 16 weeks due to them
starting a new application. If the first application doesn’t go through, we can then apply again for
the new one. The application was put through 10 weeks ago.
Other avenues for funding:
Tesco grant
Crowd funding
Negotiating price with supplier
Going back to the original plan of upgrading the park in sections therefore spreading the cost.
11 Climate Change
Nothing new to report
12 Future Meeting Dates
The next meeting will take place on Thursday the 16th November at 7pm