Apologies for absence:
Apologies for absence were received from District Councillor Simon Hoare
To approve minutes of the meeting held on the 26th January 2005:
The minutes were approved and signed by the Chairman.
Declarations of interest in items on the agenda
No declarations of interest in items on the agenda were made.
Fence on village green
Following complaints from several villagers, Cllr Croft explained the
background to the construction of a fence on the village green for the village
school. He stated that the school had approached the Parish Council for the
use of the green for pre-school children. Following this, the Parish Council
approached the Oxfordshire Association of Local Councils (OALC) to determine
what the legal situation was. OALC contacted the National Association of Local
Councils (NALC) for legal guidance on this. NALC stated in a fax to Leafield
Parish Council that as long as the Parish Council wasn’t intending to sell
part of the green and the area was available to the entire village, it was
fine. The option of a stone wall rather than a fence was deemed to expensive
to enclose the area adjacent to the school.
Following complaints over the fencing from several people who’s
properties look out on to the green, Cllr Croft spoke to Mrs. Ryde and she
stated that the visual impact of the fence would diminish over time as plants
were grown next to the fence. Mrs. Ryde stated that an overwhelming majority
of the parents of children at the school approved of the fence.
Mrs. Taylor, who lives on a property adjacent to the green, stated that she
didn’t know about the fence until the day it was erected. She complained
that the fence had been constructed without any communication to people in the
village.
It was explained that a gate to the enclosed area would not be locked and
anyone would be able to enter the enclosed area.
Sheila Tremlett stated that her opinion from the last Annual Parish Meeting
was that no fence would be built. However, it was explained to her that this
was when the Parish Council was investigating leasing part of the green to the
school.
The Parish Council voted that all but one (who abstained) were in favour of
the construction of the fence. However, in light of the complaints from the
three people attending the meeting, it was agreed that this matter would be
discussed further at the next Parish Council meeting on the last Wednesday of
March. This meeting would take place in the main village hall. Cllr Crick is
to communicate this in the next village newsletter.
Cllr Crick
War memorial/lych-gate funding
Cllr Kenny requested an invoice from Gary Billows, who attended the
meeting, so that he could send it off to the War Memorials Fund to obtain a
grant. It was reported that the lych-gate is now completely restored and Mr.
Billows could be issued with a cheque as payment for his work.
Local tranport
Cllr Crick reported that the Saturday bus service was still all set to go
ahead, starting at Easter. It was also communicated to all at the meeting,
that the Charlbury taxibus now went in the opposite direction to previously
following arguments put forward by Cllr Crick. This allowed the taxibus to
connect with the Finstock-Witney service.
Village greens
Cllr Digby reported that she had gone out early one Wednesday morning to
watch the refuse lorry on its rounds. She spoke to the refuse collectors and
they said that it was the vehicle collecting material for recycling that was
damaging the borders to the village green. It was explained that someone needs
to note the exact time and place if they observe the borders to the green
being damaged by a lorry.
On a related note, Cllr Crick asked who was responsible for repairing the
path from the Fox to the village shop. The clerk is to contact Oxfordshire
County Council regarding this.
Clerk
Football Club
Mike Ody from Fieldtown Football Club explained that Mr. Mitchell from the
Oxfordshire Football Association was due to attend the meeting but hadn’t
turned up. The football club had been awarded a grant to refurbish the
pavilion and to install a drainage system for the football pitch. The work on
the pitch is due to start this summer, with the work on the pavilion starting
afterwards.
The Parish Council requested that the Football Club provide them with plans
as to what was going to happen in front of the pavilion adjacent to the
village hall. The football club are to contact the Parish Council when these
plans are ready.
Cllr Roscoe raised concerns about the effectiveness of the drainage system.
He asked the football club to please talk to both himself and Philip Holloway
before proceeding. He also requested that the football club get a cast-iron
guarantee from the company installing the drainage system that it is
successful. The Parish Council requested that they have a meeting with this
company before the drainage system is installed.
Planning Applications
Decisions on recent planning applications were communicated to all at the
meeting. Cllr Hoare communicated to all at the meeting that he had objected to
the proposed development on Fairmile. He was also looking into the restoration
of the dry-stone wall in front of the newly-constructed houses adjacent to Mr.
Russ’ property.
Village Sports facility
Cllr Kenny reported that the auction of promises evening was very
successful raising £3100 for the proposed sports facility and were now £1700
short of their target. 150 people attended this event. Cllr Kenny suggested
that this become an annual event, raising funds for a different project each
year.
Cllr Kenny explained that the skatepark would be constructed adjacent to
the existing children’s playground. He intends to submit plans to the local
planning officers so that people can raise any objections that they might
have.
The plan is for the skatepark to be installed in July or August.
Leafield Youth Club
It was reported that the Youth Club was going well and that a rota for all
helpers was being organised.
Correspondence for viewing
The clerk reported on the correspondence that he had received in the last
month.
The clerk had produced a projection of the Parish Council’s finances for
the current financial year. It was explained that there would be roughly
£6.5K at the end of March, £4.5K of which would be needed as final payment
for the village burial ground.
A bill from the company responsible for repairing the wall at the entrance
to the village playing fields. The clerk is to submit an invoice for half this
amount to the village hall committee.
