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Draft Annual Parish Assembly Minutes

held on Monday 18th March 2019 at 7:00pm in the Caudwell Day Centre, Gravel Lane, Drayton, OX14 4HF

Drayton Parish Councillors Present:

1. Richard Williams (Chairman)
2. Adrian Cooke (Vice Chairman) (arrived at 7:03pm)
3. Colin Arnold
4. Patricia Athawes
5. Pervin Shahin
6. Graham Webb
7. Tamsin Crane
8. Matthew Lowy
9. Shane McAleavey.

Drayton Parish Councillors not present:

1. Richard Wade.

In Attendance:

1. Lorraine Watling (Parish Clerk and Responsible Financial Officer)
2. Christopher Price (Deputy Clerk).

Public:

13 members of the public were present.

1/2019 Apologies for Absence.

1. Richard Wade
2. Richard Webber (OCC)

2/2019 Minutes.

The minutes of the previous Annual Parish Assembly Meeting were approved and signed by the Chairman.

• Proposed: Patricia Athawes
• Seconded: Graham Webb
• Resolved: Unanimous

Adrian Cooke arrived at 7:03pm.

3/2019 Report from Parish Council Chairman.

Richard Williams (Chairman) spoke about the salient points from his preprepared report:

To start with the good news, in the last year we have appointed a new Parish Clerk and gained 2 new councillors. Lorraine Watling, our new Clerk, was previously the Town Clerk in Woodstock for 7 years and the Parish Clerk in Deddington for 12 years, holding the two jobs concurrently for much of that time. She therefore brings to the role plenty of experience and a lot of enthusiasm. Although Lorraine lives ‘over the border’ in Cherwell territory, she went to school in Didcot, so qualifies as an honorary local girl. Our 2 new councillors are Tamsin Crane, a newcomer to the village, and Shane McAleavey. We look forward to working with Lorraine, Tamsin and Shane, and welcome all three to Drayton Parish Council.

As in the previous 3 or 4 years, the most significant changes in the village have been to do with the various new housing developments. Here the news is mixed. On the upside, last August, Andrew Bax and I attended an official ‘opening ceremony’ for the Bloor Homes site, south of the High Street. As far as we can tell, the new residents of this site are very happy with the way it is progressing, and, although there is a long way to go, the landscaping and overall appearance of the development look impressive.

The Manor Farm site in the middle of the village also appears to be well-managed and the PC is not aware of any complaints from residents on either site. The picture at Walnut Meadow, unfortunately, is more troubling. Progress here has continued to be painfully slow, and the pavilion project has had to be put on hold for the time being. To be fair, there has been some movement on the site. We finally opened the children’s playground last December – not the ideal time to do so, but the timing was not in our hands.

The new footpath to Corneville Rd, intended as a safe route to Drayton School, is now almost complete, although signage and barriers at the Barrow Rd end remain to be installed. The playing fields area has been considerably tidied up, with the head-high thistles at last being scalped and removed. However, the overall condition of the fields means they are far from ready for handover; work on the entrance to the site has not even begun; there are still questions regarding drainage on the site as a whole, and OCC have recently stated that they will not adopt any of the internal roads for at least 2 years. Until adoption is confirmed, access to the pavilion site cannot be guaranteed and therefore construction work cannot proceed. It is the developers on this site, Miller Homes, who are primarily responsible for the delays and hold-ups.

Over the past three years now, the Parish Council has met regularly with Millers’ site managers and customer service execs. We have spent many hours with them in face-to-face meetings, where we have continually urged them to address the outstanding problems on the development. Although the company’s response has much improved in recent months, nevertheless the schedule for completion of works has fallen further and further behind. From last summer, we managed to directly engage the Planning Enforcement Team at the Vale, but to little effect. In truth, I believe it is only the constant nagging of the Parish Council, plus the additional pressure applied by the complaints of justifiably disaffected residents on the site, that has got us this far. Our conclusion from all this is that whenever developers fall short of acceptable standards, the current planning set-up seems unable to cope. In those instances (none too rare, across the country) where developers prove incompetent or negligent, it is incredibly hard to hold them to account. The regulatory regime is weak; the sanctions are inadequate; and legal action may take months, if not longer, to instigate. Developers have deeper pockets than most local authorities, so they can afford expensive QCs to defend their actions. Local planning authorities are often reluctant to challenge them because they cannot afford to do so. This allows developers to play the system to their own advantage, and some of them are only too willing to exploit the fact.

On which note, for those of you wondering what has happened at the Halls Close site, you may be aware that Blue Cedar Homes have attempted to withdraw the planning condition which states that 11 of their houses will be designed specifically for the over 60s. As this condition was partly responsible for the company obtaining planning permission for the development, the Parish Council has opposed the change. Blue Cedar have now requested discussions with us and I hope to arrange a meeting with them soon.

Motorists will have noted that there are no current road works linked with the housing developments in the village. This has improved traffic flows and it has eased the problem of Henleys Lane/Church Lane being used as a rat run. I hesitate to say this, but it turns out that the raised table and dropped kerbs at the junction of Hilliat Fields with Abingdon Road were not built according to the agreed plans. OCC have offered to remedy this, and if the arrangements are reconstructed as they should have been, the result will be an improvement – but it will, alas, mean a return of the road works opposite the CALA housing site!

Also in the ‘no pain, no gain’ department, we have put forward initial proposals for installing traffic calming measures in the village. This will mean more road works at the entrance to the Walnut Meadow site and probably along the High Street as well. Although the works will be disruptive, they are much needed in both cases, especially at Walnut Meadow, where it has long been recognised that the new junction is unsatisfactory and potentially hazardous.

One of the projects in the Neighbourhood Plan which we have been pursuing for some time is tree-planting on both sides of Hilliat Fields. This, we naively thought, would be a relatively easy task to accomplish, but the labyrinthine bureaucracy involved in obtaining a tree-planting licence from OCC has, up until now, almost defeated us. However, thanks to the Clerk’s efforts, we seem to have made a breakthrough with officials at OCC and I understand that an order has been placed for approx. 24 trees which will be planted by OCC and maintained by them for 4 years. The work will be paid for by Section 106 money specifically earmarked for the purpose.

A further chunk of Section 106 money is to be spent on ‘public art’. Some of you may have read Pervin Shahin’s recent article in the Chronicle asking for volunteers to assist with the new sub-committee we’ve set up. This is headed up by Pervin, ably assisted by Abigail Brown, the Vale’s Arts Officer. The committee will consider appropriate projects and where they might be sited, bearing in mind there are certain constraints on location.

The construction of a new school nursery is finally going ahead. Janet Manning put in a tremendous amount of work on this project, but funding seemed to be a near insuperable difficulty, not least due to complications over the payment of VAT. The building now being contemplated is a more modest affair than the one originally planned, but hopefully it can be brought in within budget. Supervision of the project has been taken over by Laura Billington, another former parish councillor. Laura now works for the Early Years dept. of OCC and the fact she is actually employed by the county has made communication with the education officials much easier.

The Millennium Green continues to be maintained in superb condition by Jane McWhirter and her committee. The vandalised area bordering Sutton Wick Lane appears to be on the mend, and daffodils have been planted in several locations across the green. Past attempts to arrange community events on the Green have been hampered by poor weather, so what we really wish for in 2019 is another summer like last year’s. Fingers firmly crossed.

Several meetings have been held at the piece of ground at the back of Lyford Close (the ex-BMX track) to consider the feasibility of a nature reserve on the site. An environmental specialist and a representative from the Earth Trust gave advice on design, suitable plants, hedging etc and funding. There are many practical considerations to be resolved, but this would be a good way to use this land constructively for the benefit of the village, and it was one of the more popular suggestions made by people who responded to the survey we carried out a couple of years ago.

One organisation which definitely benefits Drayton is DAMASCUS. Two weeks ago at Sutton Courtenay Village Hall, Damascus gave an excellent presentation on their work with young people to the High Sheriff of Oxfordshire, Richard Venables. I was very pleased to be invited to this, along with trustees of the organisation and parish councillors from the other constituent villages. Amongst the speakers were Rita Atkinson, Roxy Elford, and several of the young people themselves, including one very sparky 15 year old girl who loves football and whose idea it was to organise a girls’ football tournament in Steventon. Hopefully, Damascus are represented here tonight and can speak for themselves about the work they do, but I’d just like to throw in a couple of quotes from those who’ve been helped, plus one from the police. One 15 year old said, “Damascus isn’t just a building you go to and hang out… they are on your streets – at your door step – it’s not just about keeping us busy – we learn to take responsibility and create change in our own lives. A 19 year old said “To know that I have someone who I can trust who isn’t family or close friend was a massive help to me as I was growing up. I knew that if I was in my community messing around I would let the project and my mentor down so it was a safety net for me. And finally, Superintendent Andy Boyd of Thames Valley Police said, “The Damascus Project changes people’s lives, the help and support young people receive from the project enables them to make the right choices in life and equips them with the right knowledge and skills to start their adult life with a positive attitude and future – they do a brilliant job” Drayton Parish Council has supported Damascus financially all through my time on the Parish Council, and I’m sure it will continue to do so into the future. As well as its intrinsic worth, one of the project’s great strengths has been its ability to constantly refresh and reinvent itself. This has enabled it to more effectively adapt to the changing needs of the young people out there.

Finally, my thanks to all of the Parish Councillors and our Clerk and Deputy Clerk. Most of them have now put in a full 4 year shift, which will come to an end next month, followed by new elections in May. When the current term of office began, in May 2015, the Drayton Neighbourhood Plan had yet to be officially adopted, or ‘made’. That happened a couple of months later, in July 2015. Since then, much has changed, and the village has grown substantially in size. It will continue to do so for at least a couple more years to come. I believe, despite setbacks, that the Neighbourhood Plan has proved its worth because it has given us a framework and a series of objectives to work towards, although inevitably, implementation has turned out to be even more difficult than putting the Plan together in the first place. The latter was an exhilarating process, even exciting, which is not a word often mentioned in connection with Parish Council activities. Implementation requires hard slog, dogged persistence, and attendance at lots of meetings. I am lastingly grateful to the Council for its keenness, diligence, and at times, sheer bloody-minded determination to get things done in the face of adversity. Thank you all for coming to the Annual Parish Assembly.

There is no ordinary Parish Council meeting to follow, as in previous years, but there will be one on the first Monday of next month, as usual, i.e. on Monday 1st April.

4/2019 Reports from Parish Council Committees.

1. Projects Board. Colin Arnold (Chairman, Projects Board Committee) spoke about the salient points from his preprepared report:
   1. Traffic Calming. Richard Webber or OCC Councillor is having ongoing discussions with the Highways Department regarding how to get the maximum benefit from the funding that is available. The top priority is a scheme at the Northern end of the village incorporating the entrance to Walnut Meadow and the end of Sutton Wick Lane, this is closely followed by a safe crossing in The High Street and other measures to slow down traffic throughout the village.
   2. Pre School Building. This has been complicated by the original provider ceasing its operations and the Early Years Education provision being taken on by the school. Janet Manning has worked exhaustively on this project and has progressed it as far as possible. At our last Projects Board meeting it was reported that it was now in a suitable position to be handed over to the school, and for them to see it through to completion. Our thanks to Janet for the massive amount of work she has done on this project.
   3. Public Art. Funds are now available for works of Public Art, and a sub-committee to be led by Pervin Shahin has been formed (still places available if anyone wants to join) this group will liaise with VOWHDC and developers to decide on what is appropriate and how it can be delivered given that there are rules governing where Section 106 funds from each development can be used.
   4. Village Hall. The Village Hall Committee have fully considered the improvements that are required to the building, and have a prioritised list of what they intend to do. There does seem to be a method by which the Section 106 funding can be drawn down by the Hall Committee without having to go through the Parish Council as we first thought, there is some paperwork involved but this is being tackled already and should make things as smooth as possible. Or thanks go to Tony Holmes who seems to be the “go to man” for all Village Hall matters, we very much hope that he will continue to work with us to deliver the best result possible.
   5. Tree Planting. The NDP included a tree planting scheme for the Hilliat Fields area of the village, all of the required paper work was completed and sent to OCC so that they could issue a “Planting Licence”, they have failed miserably in doing so using a multitude of excuses to cover up the fact that they don’t have a clue what they are supposed to do. Recently the Parish Clerk has, using her contacts managed to find a route through the quagmire and an alternative solution appears to be possible. This is currently being worked on as if we are to get trees planted, they really need to be in by the end of April at the latest.
   6. Sports Facilities. There are still ongoing issues on the Walnut Meadow site that are preventing the Parish Council from being able to accept the transfer of the land into their ownership. We are working with all parties involved in an effort to resolve these issues, but until all of they are resolved we cannot start to undertake any work on the sports pitches, MUGA or the pavilion and its surroundings. This means that we are effectively at least two years behind schedule and unless there is a breakthrough very soon that could well slip even further.
   
   
2. Planning.

   Richard Williams (Chairman, Planning Committee) spoke about the Planning statistics for 2018-2019: Drayton Parish Council received 42 planning applications, 6 less than last year.

   Parish Council

   SUPPORT

   RESPONSE

   OBJECTION

   NO RESPONSE

   20

   9

   12

   2

   VWHDC

   GRANTED

   REFUSAL

   WITHDRAWN

   35

   1

   7
   
   
3. Finance and Personnel.

   Patricia Athawes (Chairperson, F&P Committee) read out her preprepared report:

   As always, the Finance Committee has met regularly with the clerk of the council who is also Finance Officer for Drayton PC. Up to date information regarding Money coming into the PC and money going out is provided and discussed. All Members of the Finance Committee are also members of the Project Board (which again meets regularly) so that finances relating to the Board are kept up to date and so Finance committee know exactly what the state of finance is. It is very important that up to date information is available for all, not just the Finance committee and so when decisions are/have/need to been taken, information is always provided for the whole of the PC members. Paperwork for the finances are available and can be viewed at any time. If you have any questions / queries then please let us know.

5/2019 Reports from Parish Council Working Groups.

1. Rights of Way and Conservation. Graham Webb (Chairman, ROW&C Working Group) read out his preprepared report:
   1. Village Caretaker. Once again we have only had a few problems with fallen branches, and these have been dealt with promptly by the new Village Caretaker.
   2. Gravel Lane. The Gravel Lane path was dug up by Cala to route a surface water drain from Manor Farm site into the main drain. It was resurfaced roughly with scalpings, creating an uneven surface. The PC has complained to Cala Homes about this, and about the grubbing out of about 120m of hedgerow from what is supposed to be a Conservation Area. Action from Cala on both is still awaited.
   3. BW29. The proposed work to the bridleway from Sutton Wick to Oday Hill (FP29) is still awaiting OCC’s promised work to cut back the hedgerow as a first stage.. In the absence of this It has been decided to expedite matters by contacting adjacent landowners, and then further discussion has identified the possibility of keeping the cost down by cutting back the hedgerow to a lower height on one side only, thus creating a “hard shoulder” suitable in headroom for cyclists, whilst leaving the other side clear for horse riders. We would thus only need a cyclable surface on this side.
   4. FP14. The removal of footpath barriers seems to have been a success, but it has been decided to reinstate a barrier where FP14 emerges at the corner of Henley’s Lane. An OCC approved design will be used.
   5. FP13. The surfacing of the Allotment Path (FP13) with wood chippings has lasted well. In the absence of any adverse comments, we are considering another layer, or its use on other footpaths.
   6. Walnut Meadow. The Walnut Meadow to Corneville Road footpath is complete.
   7. Footpath Warden. We are happy to be notified, by the Footpath Warden and others, of any problems needing attention.
   8. Heritage. The proposal to extend the Conservation Area to include the East Side of Church Lane is being drawn up by VWHDC prior to public consultation. It is strongly recommended that if you have a view on this you should contact the Conservation Officer at VWHDC.
   The field at Manor Farm currently remains in the Conservation Area, and it has been suggested by several parishioners that, as it has been built on, it should be de-classified.
   9. Overhanging branches. Lastly, we would repeat our seasonal request that, if your property adjoins a footpath, please trim back any overhanging branches or shrubs that might be obstructing it.
   
   
2. Leisure and General Purposes. Richard Williams (Chairman, L&GP Working Group) had reported on Leisure and General Purposes in his Chairman’s Report. See 3/2019 Report from Parish Council Chairman.
3. Public Art. Pervin Shahin (Chairperson, Public Art Working Group) reported: A meeting will be held in the Caudwell Day Center on 26th April to discuss the art installations to be chosen as well as the venues. The Steering Group will consist of myself, Tamsin Craig and Shane MacaLeavy. The VWHDC Art Representative will be there to show us photos of recent installations.
4. Allotment. Tim Atkins (Allotment Warden) read out his preprepared report:
   

   Last year was generally similar to recent years, with some turnover of tenants, (mostly) well tended plots and a vast array of vegetables, fruit and flowers. During the main growing season, it is rare to visit the allotment without seeing several people tending their plots. It is an important village amenity in so many ways. Sadly, the unauthorised removal of produce has continued. Most plotholders devote a lot of time and effort to cultivating their plots so it is extremely frustrating when produce is damaged or goes missing. The thefts, combined with the impact of hungry wildlife such as rabbits and deer, has resulted in several plotholders erecting more wire netting and other protection on their plots. The process for deciding rent rises is a matter of concern for the majority of plotholders so there was thankful relief that the rise for the coming year has now been calculated using the usual historical method. Rent is being collected for the coming year and I hope to pass this to the Parish Council within the next few weeks. Three new tenants have recently taken on plots although it is always sad when long standing tenants decide not to continue. There are no new applicants on the waiting list but there are two people who currently have half a plot who would like more land to cultivate and the Clerk has forwarded an email from an imminent new arrival in the village who is keen to join the waiting list. In the future, it is hoped there may be additional water troughs, more regular hedge trimming and enhanced security to help protect the Allotment Gardens.

6/2019 Reports from Drayton Community Organisations.

1. Village Hall. Ann Webb (Chairperson, Village Hall) and Fred Stevens reported on the Village Hall.
2. DAMASCUS. Roxy Elford’s (Youth Worker) report:
   
   Street work and gazebo sessions. During the half terms and summer holiday we take the gazebo, sports and other activities to Drayton, usually setting up at the recreation ground. Young people and parents often join us. More recently, we did some street work and checked out the new park on the housing development. We were glad to see it already in use by lots of young people!
   
   Drop-in / Youth Club. Every Monday evening you will find us at Drayton Village Hall. We have two youth sessions; the younger group (10-12) is 6-7pm and the older group (13+) is 7-8pm. Both sessions are well attended by between 15-35 young people each week. We have a fantastic group of 9 parents and volunteers who run the tuckshop (we are always looking for more volunteers to sign up to the rota!). We bring different activities each week whether is cooking, a workshops, themed activities or games.
   
   1-2-1 support. For those young people who are particularly vulnerable or who need a bit of extra provision, we offer goal focused 1-2-1 support. It might that a young person needs support looking for employment, education or training opportunities, they might be having a lot of issues at home and need a listening ear or want to work on their confidence.
   
   Educational Issue Based Workshops. In the past year, we have delivered 5 workshops on:
   • Social Media Savvy
   • Building Resilience and Coping with stress
   • Healthy Relationships
   • Drug and Alcohol Awareness
   • Food for your Mood
   These workshops have been participated by 10-25 young people from the village who all went away feeling they could cope better with difficult situations and peer pressure.
   
   Healthy Lifestyles. We have partnered with the Park Club gym in Milton and put on gym, spin and boxing classes which have been attended by Drayton young people. The fitness sessions are followed by informal workshops around food, nutrition, health, well being and leading positive, active lifestyles.
   
   Swimming Project. We ran two beginners swimming courses at the Park Club which were attended by 4 Drayton young people who were not confident at swimming. One young person said they always avoided swimming parties and trips with their friends because they were too embarrassed to show that they couldn’t swim so it has been great hearing them talk about the swimming trips they have been on since with family and friends since the project and listening to them talk about how confident they have become.
   
   Stonehill Community Garden. We regularly take young people to visit the garden and learn horticulture and carpentry skills.
   
   Wittenham Clumps Trips. Following on from the outdoors theme, young people really do love exploring new places. We have done three trips to Wittenham Clumps with 3 different groups of young people from Drayton. The trips have been really useful for our youth workers to help build relationships with the young people, but they have also been a good way for other young people to get to know each other outside of school or the village, learning new things about one another and again keeping active.
   
   Litter Picks. We have been on 3 litter picks in the last year, all over Drayton village. The young people get excited to use the pickers and it’s a great time to have conversations about the environment and the responsibilities we have to ensure the village is kept well. We always invite parents and community members to join us to help bridge the intergenerational gap.
   
   Visit to Oxford Brookes. We took a group from Drayton to Oxford Brookes to get a taster of their Fine Art degree and to raise the ambitions of the young people. We took part in an art class and got to look around a student exhibition along with the campus grounds. The young people really enjoyed the visit and said they had never thought about going to university before however after speaking with some of their students, they were all really interested. In the car on the way home, they were looking at the Brookes website and talking about different courses they might like.
   
   School Fete. The school kindly provided us with Archery Equipment to help fund raise at the school fete. Young people helped run our stall.
   
   The Future. We would love to build on the intergenerational work in Drayton, looking at events and projects that can help bridge the intergenerational gap. We have contacted the Arts Advisor for SODC and VWHDC along with the Drayton Art Group to see if there are opportunities for partnership work. We’d ideally like to redo the art work in the small room at the village hall. As mentioned, we are always looking to build our cohort of volunteers, if you know anyone that would like a highly rewarding volunteer role, send them our way!


3. Drayton Art Group. David Icke’s report: The most important event in the last 12 months has been the retirement of Dixie who had led the group for 25 years – a very big thank you. The group meets Tuesday afternoons in the Caudwell Day Centre during school term-time. There are currently 13 members and we could probably accommodate a further 2 members if anyone is interested. We have a programme of subjects for the year, although members are free to to ‘do their own’ thing if they wish. In February we held a very successful workshop with tutors from Abingdon Art School, using pastels on coloured paper. We will be holding our annual exhibition and sale later in the year, which we will publicise in the Chronicle and on Families in Drayton.
4. FODSA (Friends of Drayton School Association) Fundraising. Tamsin Meredith reported on FODSA.
5. Community Garden. Richard Seamark’s report: The Stonehill Community Garden is off Stonehill Lane, just past and opposite the riding school. We are open Wednesdays between 10.00 am and 4.00 pm. We are open to everyone and our main aim is reconnect people with nature and with one another while in a safe environment in the open air. We are predominately a vegetable garden, growing organic veg in a sustainable way. We use the permaculture ethos which very basically means no digging but building up layers by regular mulching and growing a wide diversity of plants.. This is our 4th growing season and our 2 new ploy tunnels are now up and running. One being a nursery tunnel, where we plant seeds into trays,and the other is for early planting. We plan to install a solar powered hot water system for the composting toilet so that people can wash their hands in warm water. We also hope to set up an irrigation system to make more use of our harvested rain water. 2 pews donated by St Peters Church have been used to create a quiet corner for people to sit in a relax while still being apart of the garden. We have regular visits from DAMASCUS, Style Acre, Kingfisher School, The McIntyre Charity and SOFEA. We have around a dozen individuals who call in. The poly tunnels have already proved to be a great success with visitors seeing how planting a seed can lead to a small plant, which can then be nurtured and planted out to produce food as well as seeds for the following season.
6. Public Transport. Daniel Scarf’s (Drayton Public Transport Representative) report: DRS has attended most of the meetings (3 per year) that have lost some of their purpose since the loss of the subsidised services. However, a good chance to hear from the transport officers and issues experienced by other parishes (many with less good services than Drayton that should have a ‘premium’ service but companies cannot run at 15/20mins due to congestion. OCC are calculating the carbon emissions from the school run and will be able to compare these with the consequences of children being driven to school. The problem for Drayton is the gap between Real Time Information run by OCC and the X2 run by Thames Travel and buses not running or not connected to the satellite. DRS was advised to ignore Oxontime and resort to an App (as if everybody has this technology available. Climate Emergency. Oxford City and the Vale of White Horse DC are just two of the many councils around the country committed to addressing the “Climate Emergency” as described in the IPCC 1.5 degree C report of October 2018. The County Council will debate this on 2 April. DRS proposed that Drayton PC should do the same. Actions being considered are carbon counters (ie parts per million) that could be a good use for the public art fund, and liaising with twin towns to show solidarity and share ideas for the transition.
7. Drayton Diners. Daniel Scarf’s report: This group is in abeyance since departure of Austin and Geraldine from the Wheatsheaf but hopefully agreement will be reached with the new owner to restart in April and we will attract fresh blood.

7/2019 Report from OCC Councillor.

Richard Webber (OCC) was unable to attend the meeting but had submitted the following report:

1. Finances, Transformation and OCC/Cherwell DC link up. Many Councils are in various degrees of financial trouble. Oxfordshire has managed to avoid the worst of it by taking some very tough decisions over recent years. (Closing Children’s Centres; Reducing the spend on road maintenance –see 3 below, etc)
2. Brexit impact on Oxfordshire. Briefings given to all 63 County Councillors by Emergency Service officers, assess the impact on the County to be “low”. Impact on A34 of lorries coming up from Portsmouth, potential impact on companies like BMW are of most concern.
3. Highways and Potholes. OCC has now modified its policy of “managed decline” of our road system. Borrowing £80m over 10 years against its substantial assets, OCC now believes that it can steadily bring our roads to a satisfactory state. It will not be quick, but at least we now have a more optimistic policy to offer.
4. Carillion. The sudden demise of Carillion left the County with many headaches. Not least the number of school building projects partially completed. Legal wrangling continues as to who owes who what. However the financial damage to OCC was reduced by a steady winding gown of the contract over the previous year as the facts emerged. Many Councils were not so farsighted,
5. Street-lighting. This is becoming a major issue across the County. There is a woefully slow roll out of more environmentally friendly LED lighting. There are also an increasing number of non-working lights, and lights in need of adjustment. County officers are working to rectify the issues.
6. Walnut Meadow/Miller Homes/Junction with Abingdon Rd. The County Adoption of the main road into the estate is still not complete. While issues with Miller Homes over drainage persist, OCC Highways is understandably reluctant to accept responsibility for roads maintenance. Slow, painful progress by Miller Homes is being made but we will get there. The new junction with Abingdon Road continues to be a concern. OCC is aware that there are urgent safety issues to be addressed. I am particularly concerned at the damage being done to the perception of the Drayton Neighbourhood Plan by these delays, and I am raising the issue with the powers that be at every available opportunity.
7. OCC , Drayton Neighbourhood Plan and Highways plans. Whilst not as urgent as the Walnut Meadow entrance, I am working with OCC Highways on how the £750+K already either in the pot or well on its way should best be spent. Whilst the sum available is the envy of every village around, it is not enough to pay for everything that was envisaged in the initial Neighbourhood Plan consultations. Trees planting, Raised tables (a la Cala development – although that table is going to have to be redone as it is not in the right place) and fresh and imaginative use of white lining are envisaged. Finally an improved and tidied central village roundabout will be looked at. There are many stages to go through before work will begin – design – costing – phasing – and, most importantly, further consultation with residents.

8/2019 Report from VWHDC Councillor.

Stuart Davenport was not present and did not submit a report.

9/2019 Public Participation.

Gard Against Reservoir Development. Derek Stork (Hon Chairman, GARD) reported on the reservoir.

10/2019 Chairman’s Closing Remarks.

Richard Williams thanked everyone for coming.

The meeting finished at 8:16pm

The Chairman declared the meeting closed at 10.35pm.

Signed:

Date: 1st April 2019