MINUTES
SOUTH LEIGH AND HIGH COGGES PARISH COUNCIL MEETING
Revised at item 16 in light of omission at PC meeting on 29th February
25th January 2024
7.30 pm in the Village Hall
Councillors Present
Nicky Brooks (Chair) NB
Lysette Nicholls (Deputy)(LN)
Rita Sawrey-Woodwards (R S-W)
Peter Grant (PG)
MINUTES
| 1 | Apologies from Dick Pears, David Auger
Apologies from Carl Rylett and Dan Levy |
| 2 | There were no Declarations of Interest |
| 3 | To approve the minutes of the previous meeting as being a true record of the proceedings – a copy having been circulated in advance to the Councillors – Minutes approved by those present. |
| 4 | Opportunity for any parishioner to raise a matter of concern. The details are not necessarily minuted. |
| 5 | PC Business
Payments to approve – a list was circulated in advance of the meeting to councillors and the payments approved will be shown in the minutes of this meeting as a Schedule
NB asked that any expenditure on behalf of the parish council is accompanied by a VAT receipt made out in the name of the parish council
NB reminded councillors of the importance of using the pc e mail address for their own protection.
NB clarified that the paperwork for the setting of the precept (as agreed in November) had been submitted to the WODC – following WODCs calculations it meant a rise in the precept of 3% – It does however result in the agreed increase to our funds. |
| 6 and 7 | It was agreed that the clerk’s emails should continue to be distributed but that if any action was to be taken it would be referred back to the clerk
Review of actions or discussions from last meeting. The vehicle by the garages in Lymbrook Close has still not been removed. DP to chase again.
The car parked at the entrance to Just Cartridges has been removed.
Martin Spurrier and John and Liz Ashwell have agreed to takeover the newsletter production from LN – Our thanks go to LN for her hard work. The deadlines for contributions for the rest of the year are 10 March, 24 May, 21 August and 11 November
There had been an allocation of £75 for the collection of leaves on the village green – this was no longer needed as a villager had kindly undertaken the task (KL)
After some chasing by DP the road salt box is now in place.
We haven’t been able to find anyone to run a good neighbours’ scheme |
| 8 | 12 Acre Solar Farm – It was agreed that DP would reapproach the developer to see if more community benefit money could be gained because of the delay – particularly in the deliverance of the planting scheme. |
| 9 | Update on Shores Green, A40, traffic calming and Barnard Gate Junction
Update on Shores Green – another meeting has been held with OCC – there is no update on the progress of work starting only that it has been further delayed and OCC and the land owners have failed to come to an agreement Traffic Calming The pc had submitted a summary of the consultations held with the village about the proposed scheme – OCC wanted some more detail. A second meeting was arranged as a walk through to finalise the details of the scheme. The village consultation had brought to our attention that, whilst approving of the scheme, residents wanted as little extra road furniture as possible. This is going to be actioned by OCC. When the final scheme is available it will be published for everyone to see. OCC have said that the scheme will be implemented before work starts on the junction. The PC will continue to have regular meetings with OCC – the next one scheduled for April 2024 |
| 10 | Update on conservation area application- a productive meeting had been held with WODC – a note is attached |
| 11 | Martin Spurrier presented the framed copy of letter received from the King following on from the celebrations of his Coronation. This was gratefully received by both the VHC and the parish council and will be erected in the village hall |
| 12 | Opportunity for any County Councillor and / or District Councillor to update the Parish Council on any matter of relevance or concern.
LN – West Botley Solar Farm consultation is now closed. Attended a rural crime meeting with the PCC. Mentioned about thefts in church and village and they are going to put information sheet together. Criminals are using drones now. More rural crime police officers are being recruited. They are looking at having base locations more locally e.g.; fire stations (Burford being rolled out). Proposal for cross party task force to tackle Thames Water proposed at Full Council. |
| 13 | Planning – Two planning applications had arisen in between meetings – April Cottage and the Old Crossing – neither were felt to be contentious – see attached |
| 14 | Football pitch Grass cutting and hedge cutting – preservation of the verges throughout the village. NB will get a quote to get the grass cut shorter and cuttings collected and the hedges along the Just Cartridge road boundary cut |
| 15 | Election of the PC – this will take place in May this year – KB (clerk) and NB to attend a meeting at WODC. The PC whether in its current form or in a new one will need to hold the AGM between the 11-15th May – if we can’t raise a quorum for that date (which looks likely) then we can rearrange |
| 16 and 20 | Flooding at the pub and High Cogges was dealt with together
High Cogges – meeting between residents, OCC, WODC and the parish council has been arranged for the end of this month
The pub area – the PC had been in touch with OCC about clearing the road drains to help the water drain away but had received an unhelpful reply suggesting that we handle it ourselves. This has been refused by both ourselves and Dan Levy and further pressure needs to be brought on the council. LN advised the meeting that the WODC had no record of flooding in our parish. She said that this was because there were no reports of our flooding on the ‘fix my street’ portal and, thus, in future residents were asked to submit flooding reports to ‘fix my street’ as and when they occur. No one at the meeting was aware that floods should be reported to ‘fix my street’.
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| 17 | Village Security after recent thefts – DP had not managed to get hold of any community police. LN attended a meeting at WODC with regard to crimes locally. She drew our attention to how criminals are using drones to look at potential theft sites. |
| 18 | Village Records and Archives – we are waiting a meeting with Phyllis Broome to be arranged to see what level of storage would be needed to safely store her archives |
| 19 | Notice Board Update – the coordinates have now been received and a meeting to update Mark Walker as to its location will be arranged |
| 20 | Dealt with above with item 16 |
| 21 | Thames Water – |
| 22 | Litter report |
| 23 | Date of next meeting – 7.30 – 29th February 2024 |
| 24 | Points of information – 3 old car tyres have been dumped in the ditch in Church End – this will be reported to Fix My Street |