Sandford on Thames Annual Parish Meeting
Minutes of meeting held in Village Hall at 7.45 pm Monday 9th May 2005
| Present: |
Dr N Northcott
Mr M Norton
Mr M Inston
Mr M Hills
Mrs I Reveco
Ms M Robson
Cllrs J Stimson, J Howell
3 parishioners
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Apologies for absence - Mrs H Hutton,
Minutes of meeting held 10 May 2004 These had been posted on the parish notice boards prior to the meeting and were agreed by the meeting and signed by the Chairman.
Matters arising - There were none
Chairman's report 2004-2005 (Appended in full and summarised here)
Kassam Stadium and traffic The problems had improved a little due to yellow lines and poor
performance of the football team. Still no relief from speeding traffic.
Village hall is in good shape and disturbances now minimised.
Police liaison Still no police locally in spite of reassurances last year.
Recreation/play areas M Robson is liaising with youth groups for improvements.
Fox Furlong work has been undertaken.
Parish Plan this has now been published.
Green belt still a need for vigilance.
Motor cycles Donnington Hospital Trust has now fenced their land.
Park Homes there continues to be much frustration.
Appreciation was extended to council and thanks to attending villagers and especially appraisal team.
District Councillor's report
Many of the problems and concerns of the Parish Council do not
seem to vary much from year to year. Although many are not the direct
responsibility of the District Council I nevertheless, as the local
representative, seek to obtain improvement to benefit local residents.
Traffic congestion and Parking problems, especially those generated by the Kassam Stadium
remain a principle concern in Sandford, and hopefully will be addressed by the newly elected
County Council. Flooding also falls within this category.
Housing and the Green Belt
Sandford residents will know of Oxford City Council's ambitions to solve its Housing problems by
breaching the Green Belt south of Grenoble Road.As things stand SODC would have the
nomination rights over any low cost Housing which might be built in this location and in any event
the likely advance costs especially relocating the Sewage Works would limit low cost Housing to
the minimum.The breach once made would enable large scale speculative development in the area
south of Oxford and swallow up many other villages as well as Sandford.
SODC's response to the SEERA consultation seeks to reduce new housing to the minimum and
requests very considerable infrastructure improvements especially to the roads system. SODC
supports the option to expand Bicester and Didcot instead of building in the Green Belt. I support
this view subject to the proviso that the inffrastructure must be dramatically improved first.
Community safety
I am one of SODC's representatives on the Community Safety Partnership which includes
representatives from the Police, Probation Service and Youth Groups, among others.
I regularly request greater liaison between the Police and Parish Councils including attendance at
Parish Council meeting by local Police Officers. The current reorganisation of the Thames Valley
Police command structure will hopefully address this aspect of Community relations. The
appointment of Community Support Offficers is to be welcomed in ths regard.
Park Homes, Sandford
In spite of achieving the setting up of the Mobile Homes Task Group (I was instrumental in this
with the help of the Hazel Hutton and other Park Homes residents) and enlisting the aid of Cabinet
member: Pat Dawe, progress remains slow in improving conditions. I have been assured that a
report is being prepared for the new Scrutiny committee which will meet shortly after the Annual
Council on 12th May.
Planning enforcement
A report from the Best Value team was accepted by the (SODC) Cabinet on 7th April. This outlines
steps for clearing the backlog (500 cases) and changes to procedures which will improve future
performance.I have been assured that adequate Financial resources will be made available but it is
proving difficult to recruit suitably qualified staff.
The above is an account of some of the matters with which I have been concerned.
I very much enjoy representing Sandford on the District Council and would like to thank the
Parish Councillors, and the Clerk, Liz Shatford for their help over the past year.
County Councillor's report
J Howell was pleased to be returned, a new council was being formed
with a Tory majority of 12 and the first full meeting would be held on Tuesday next week.
High on
the agenda would be culture change in the organisation - it would be attempted to make the
organisation more efficient, customer focussed and responsive.
The items of most interest to
Sandford were the state of the roads, stadium parking/traffic movements, buses and police.
Statement of accounts 2003- 2004 (appended)
Before presenting the accounts, the clerk expressed the thanks of the parish council to Mr N.
Mackisack who so generously acted as the parish hon. internal auditor. The accounts were
presented by the Clerk and adopted by the meeting.
Appraisal Group report
Their was nothing much to report at the moment except that the
neighbourhood watch now had 3 groups. The web site was averaging 50 or 60 hits per day with 120
in April for some reason. The village directory had been on the back burner but it may be possible
to do a double page insert in the next Link. SODC would be asked whether they would like to have
a presence with green boxes at the fete on July 9th.
Matters raised by parishioners The possibility of improved lighting at Church Rd junction was raised.
Meeting closed at 8.30 pm
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