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Sunningwell Parish Council
MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF SUNNINGWELL PARISH COUNCIL HELD ON WEDNESDAY, 25th MARCH 2009
Present: Cllrs E
Bennett (Chairman), H Lynam-Smith, C Wise (part meeting), and T Foggin (part).
In attendance: M W Rothery (Clerk)
25/09 Apologies for Absence
Cllrs D Graham and J Russell; OCC
Cllr B Johnston.
26/09 Declarations of Interests
Cllr Lynam-Smith declared a
personal interest in the proposed flood alleviation scheme.
27/09 Minutes of the Meeting held on 25th February 2009
The Minutes of the meeting on 25th February 2009
were approved, and signed by the Chairman.
28/09 Matters Arising from the Minutes
17/09 Children’s Playground Cllr Foggin is researching funding
options and would discuss these with interested groups in the village.
17/09 Local Community Flood Group The Registration form was submitted on 26 February.
22/09 Flood Alleviation Scheme Members
discussed the detail of the proposed scheme, as submitted by Vale of White
Horse DC. They believed that the scheme currently proposed does not quite
fulfil the stated needs, for two main reasons: (i) it does not appear that any
significant volume of water would be stored within the reconstructed canal, and
(ii) the outfall pipe from the canal and feeding the stream is too large to
restrict flow at times of high rainfall. In addition the scheme does not appear
to take into account the large volume of surface water in the lateral drain
having an outfall to the stream just below the canal.
Action: It was agreed that the
Clerk invite Mr Peter Dela of
VWHDC to attend the Annual Parish Meeting on 13 May to discuss the proposed
scheme.
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29/09 Village Hall Car Park
Cllr Wise advised the council
that the proposed short-term repairs may not be good value for money, and that
a better approach might be to undertake a more substantial reconstruction of
the surface of the car park. Members considered that a major project should not
be undertaken until the question of ownership is further explored.
Action: It was agreed that the council
take steps to register all or part of the land forming the car park, with the
Land Registry. The Clerk would pass a set of forms for this purpose to the
Chairman who agreed to progress the registration application with Cllr
Lynam-Smith.
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30/09 Wootton to Abingdon Cycle Track
Cllr Wise explained the
background to the long-standing proposal to extend the cycle track from Long
Tow to Whitecross and thence to Wootton. He considered that the need for this
extension was as strong as ever and felt that one approach would be scheme
jointly promoted by Wootton, St Helen Without, and Sunningwell
Parish Councils;
this would facilitate the development of the track in stages, and enable applications for the grant
funding which would be required for the scheme to proceed.
Action: It was agreed that the Clerk send
a letter to Wootton parish Council strongly supporting the possibility of
resurrecting the project to extend the
cycle track.
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31/09 Potholes in Local Roads
The Chairman reported that she
and Cllr Lynam-Smith had that day compiled a list of dangerous potholes, that
she would submit to the county council highways department.
32/09 Finance
(a) The following payments were
approved:
Cheque no.
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Payee
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Details
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Total
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VAT
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1181
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Sunningwell Scene
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500 copies of Spring issue
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310.00
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1182
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B Cross
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Litter Warden – March 2009
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98.78
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1183
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M W Rothery
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Clerk’s
salary&exp Feb & March 2009
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918.52
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1184
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Shirley Robinson
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Plants for village pond
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47.75
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(b) Review of the effectiveness
of internal audit
The council considered the report
prepared and circulated prior to the meeting by the Clerk. The report reviewed
a number of criteria regarding the scope, quality and independence of the
internal audit. It was agreed that the arrangements for the internal audit of
the council’s financial procedures were fully effective in meeting the
statutory requirements. It was further agreed to re-appoint Mr Roger Syme as
Internal Auditor.
(c) Annual risk assessment
It was agreed to delegate this to
the next meeting of the Finance Committee.
d) Draft Accounts
for 2008/9
The Clerk reported that a surplus
of Approx £1,900 was forecast, and that the reserves at 31 March 2009 were expected to be
approx £24,000, of which £7,000 was earmarked for specific purposes. It was
agreed to delegate consideration of the detailed accounts to the next meeting
for the Finance Committee. Members noted that the draft accounts would need to
be approved by the council at the April meeting in order to meet the time table
set by the External Auditor.
33/09 Planning
a)
Applications dealt with between meetings
There
were none.
b) Decision Notices received
There were none.
c) New Applications
SUN/2080/1 proposed extensions and alterations to existing
dwelling. 28 Bruncombe Lane,
Bayworth. Cllrs Bennett and Lynam-Smith
had visited the site, and found that although the claimed increase in the
footprint is 30% it seemed that the proposed increase in the volume of the
house would be more than 30%. It was agreed that the parish council would
object but that it would be happy to withdraw its objection were the VWHDC
planning officer to be satisfied that the proposed increase in volume is no
more than 30%.
34/09 Correspondence
The full list of correspondence
has been circulated to members by e-mail. The Clerk highlighted the following
matters not already discussed earlier in the meeting.
Item 69 PWLB loan terms for early repayment, delegated to Finance
Committee.
Item 70 OCC consultation on primary school review. Cllr Bennett
agreed to attend the public meeting on 28 April.
Item 73 OCC consultation on changes to bus shelter grant scheme.
35/09 Other Urgent Business
(i)
Proposed
Incinerator at Sutton Courtenay
The parish
council expressed concern at the risks to public health arising from the
emissions from the proposed incinerator, particularly as it notes that a number
of incinerators of similar design in Europe
are now being decommissioned on public health and safety grounds. Members were
aware that public demonstrations against the project in which calls were made
for an independent assessment of the potential health hazards, were ignored by
the county council.
It was agreed
that the Clerk send a letter to the OCC planning officer objecting to any
further progress on the proposed incinerator until an independent environmental
impact assessment has been undertaken and published, and until the legitimate
concerns of serious objectors have been met.
(ii)
Proposed New
Reservoir
The Chairman reported that she
had attended the local panel meeting with Thames Water. Thames Water had
responded to the many comments made during the recent consultation process, and
had updated its long-term projections of water demand. As a result the project
has been deferred for five years and would probably be reduced in size by about
one third.
36/09 Next Meeting
The next meeting will be on Wednesday
29th April, 2009
at 7.30pm in Sunningwell
Village Hall.
The Chairman closed the meeting at 9.45pm
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