Parish Meeting on 5th May 2017 at 7.00pm in the Village Hall

Minute 05/05/2017

Parish Meeting on 5th May 2017 at 7.00pm in the Village Hall

Around 25 attendees from 37 dwellings in the village attended the Parish Meeting.

Mike Hough (MH) chaired. Nick Goodenough (NG) took notes.

Apologies were received from:

Jenny Lowe

Hamish and Anna Coull

Bronwen Mills

Chris and Alison Goldingham

Judith Geake

Hugh Humfrey

Also noted by the Chair (MH) was the sad absence of the late Roger Goodenough

and the late Michael Godfrey, both of whom had made substantial contributions to

the village life and charities during their lifetimes.

The Minutes for 2016-17, previously circulated, were approved.

Matters arising

It was decided to pass the £500 “windfall’ money from last year to the Church to

deal with a tree in need of surgery; the money was duly passed to the church. The

other options (discussed below) had proved too complex or too expensive.

MH had made enquiries of WODC about dog-poo bins. He reported it would cost

£250 to install one bin, and £3 each time it needed emptying. Someone would have

to take responsibility for the oversight of the bin, and for its servicing. As no-one had

volunteered to take responsibility for it, it was agreed to put the matter in abeyance,

and that dog-owners should pick up and take their dogs’ poo home with them.

MH apologised for failing to make contact with RAF Brize Norton – about the

wandering flight path and the possible damage to the fabric of the church – and

asked the meeting if it was something that should be pursued. It was decided that,

after consultation with others, MH should send a tactful letter to Brize that the

situation should be monitored.

Paul Molyneaux (PM) reminded the meeting that Roger Goodenough had

corresponded with Brize some years previously, the result being that a significant

contribution was made by the RAF to the restoration of the spire. It would be worth

reminding Brize that overflying the church was not simply a breach of RAF

commitments, but also might incur costs. [Neither PM nor MH have been able to

locate the relevant correspondence since the meeting.]

Parish Accounts information for 2016-17 was presented by Tim Gray on behalf of

Jenny Lowe. The annual precept of £500 was received and passed to church funds

as agreed at the last meeting. As agreed at the village meeting of 2016, the windfall

payment of £500 that we received in 2015/16 was paid over to the Parochial Church

Council Fabric Fund. These payments left £4.99 in the account at the end of the

financial year. The accounts were agreed.

On the basis of a draft of our annual return to the Parish Meeting auditors (BDO),

MH said he thought that the windfall payment might still be in our accounts. It was

agreed that – assuming this was the case - £1,000 should be passed to church funds

this year, rather than £500. The meeting agreed this. [The draft return was in fact

inaccurate, and the windfall payment had already been paid. A ‘virtual meeting’ was

organised on 19th May to amend the agreement to pass £1,000 to the church, the

agreed amount being varied to £500. A note of the virtual meeting is at the end of

these minutes.]

Mike then introduced Ward Councillor David McFarlane. David summarised the

local political landscape. He questioned whether plans for a single unitary council

would work in West Oxfordshire’s favour. He discussed the West Oxfordshire District

Plan, the key point for Broadwell being that Carterton West was no longer identified

as a development site for new housing – although there was always the possibility of

this decision being overturned.

David touched on the failed broadband scheme, and the replacement that WODC

was putting in place. A new contractor was expected to be in place in October, and a

schedule of works agreed thereafter. The meeting agreed that the lack of

transparency and lack of effective communication over the failure of the Cotswold

Broadband scheme was very unsatisfactory. David said that he fully appreciated the

importance of getting superfast broadband in place.

David was asked why local banks were closing – despite the expansion of Carterton

– and this caused great difficulty for people without internet access or skills, and

those with limited mobility. It was agreed that MH would write to Robert Courts

expressing our concerns about this trend, and asking him to apply any pressure that

he could bring to bear to halt closures.

It was agreed that we should invite our MP Robert Courts to the 2018 meeting.

Chairman’s Report

Mike Hough reported that there had two planning applications – one for Broadwell

House (granted) and one for lighting at the Colston Tennis Club – just received, see

below.

MH reported that a challenge had been made from South Oxfordshire to the

Oxfordshire County Council Decision to exclude West Oxfordshire from possible sites

for extraction.

MH wrote in support of the AGGROW letter stressing that West Oxfordshire was not

suitable for gravel extraction. [OCC have now published their strategy, which

excludes Bampton and Clanfield as extraction sites.]

Election of Officers

Mike Hough was re-elected as PMC, Jenny Lowe was re-elected Treasurer, Nick

Goodenough agreed to act as Secretary.

Neighbourhood Plan

Tim Gray gave an update on the Neighbourhood Plan. The Plan has been reviewed

by an assessor who gave it a clean bill of health subject to some additions. Once

these were compelted, there needed to be a referendum within the village. Malcolm

Hunter raised the alternative possibility of applying for Conservation Area Status. He

reported on discussions with local authority officials that suggestion there was a

possibility – albeit a slim one – of a successful application. After discussion it was

agreed that the greater flexibility of the Village Plan and the fact that it would be

controlled by the village made this the better alternative, with its design code

prescribing the form and style of any new development. TG and MH to progress this.

Council Tax Precept

It was agreed that the precept and the windfall of £500 – if it was still in our account

– should be passed to church funds. [Note: a subsequent ‘virtual meeting’ clarified

that the windfall had already been passed to the church, and it was agreed that the

£500 precept alone should be passed to the church in 2017/18.

Porter Trust

MH summarised a report received from Charles Stanley Evans. The trust is in good

financial shape, and is getting Damon Smith to carry out a range of repairs to the

recreation ground. Further fundraising is planned for 2017/18. MH agreed to seek a

report on the bowling club for next year’s meeting.

Chilli Pepper

Susan Barrow gave a report on the status of the pub. Plans were still in place to

open, but problems of ill-health meant that progress had been delayed, and as yet,

no opening date had been settled. There was a heated discussion, ending with a

plea from Adrian Munsey for mutual tolerance.

Brize Norton – aircraft noise

After a discussion, MH agreed to write to the relevant officer about continued overflying

of the church, and the risk of fabric damage to the steeple.

Remembrance Day Poppy Wreath

Brian Lewis kindly offered to pay for this. [NG has already ordered this.]

Harvest lunch

It was agreed that we should have a September event, and the Molyneauxs kindly

offered their barn as a venue. Georgina would take the lead in organising. [The

event took place on 17th September.]

Planning developments (Colston tennis court lighting)

This was a part-retrospective application to vary and extend the lighting system,

prompted by the fact that the terms of an earlier application had not been observed.

It was agreed that MH would discuss with those residents close to the club, and take

any necessary action. [MH objected on behalf do the village, requesting conditions

to be attached and fully observed. Application approved, subject to conditions.]

Road repairs and speed marking

MH reported that he had arranged with Pete Handley (OCC councillor) to meet him

and the traffic engineer on site.. This didn’t happen, but MH reported that he had

since been in touch with Mr Wright, OCC Highways. OCC will only pay for signage

and traffic calming measures at sites where people had been injured. So we would

need to raise the precept if we were to commission any significant measures.

OCC have agreed to put Broadwell on the list of villages that are due to have

signage on the road surface repainted. The feeling at the meeting was that beyond

this, we did not wish to increase the amount of road signage (along the lines of

Kencot’s warning signs).

It was agreed that potholes needed to be reported to OCC to get repaired. [Some

residents have notified MH of potholes, and he has reported around 15 to OCC.]

Some, but not all, of these have been repaired.]

Any other business

None

MINUTES OF A VIRTUAL MEETING OF BROADWELL PARISH

MEETING AT 12.00 NOON ON 19TH MAY

A virtual meeting was convened at noon on 19 May 2017. All those of the village

email list attended virtually. There were two items on the agenda:

Item 1: Accounts

The chairman reported that he needed to correct information presented at the AGM

on 5 May. The Treasurer’s report was correct (and the draft report for BDO auditors

incorrect). Balances brought forward at the start of the year were £504.99. We

received a precept of £500. We passed £1,000 to church funds, and balances at year

end were £4.99. The meeting agreed the accounts unanimously

Item 2: Expenditure plans

The meeting agreed to vary the agreement made at the AGM to pass £1,000 to the

church in the current financial year. This sum had been agreed on the assumption

that only £500 had been paid to the church in the previous year, when £1,000 had

actually been paid, it was agreed unanimously to pass only £500 to church funds in

2017/1.

Mike Hough (Chair, Broadwell Parish Meeting)

Beckinsale

Broadwell

Lechlade GL7 3QS