Launton Parish Council Meeting on 2 March 2023

Councillors present: Mr Andrew Briant, Mrs Abigail Dowman, Mr Ed Sanders (Vice Chairman), Mrs Lesley Thompson, Mr Simon Turner (Chairman), Mrs Jaqueline Webber

Apologies: None

In attendance: The Clerk, Mrs Jane Olds; Cllr Angus Patrick (CDC); 3 members of the public

East West Rail

No representative was able to attend.

An additional five HGV movements are taking place on weekdays from Monday 20 February to Friday 28 April between the A1 Compound and the new Station Road bridge. At the Parish Council’s request, EWR has installed a Speed Indicator Device on Bicester Road which we hope is helping to reduce the vehicle speeds along the road.

We hope that by the time you read this report, the public rights of way around the Grange Farm area will have been re-opened. The footpaths nearer the Tythe Barn have already been re-opened.

If anyone has any queries, please contact East West Rail directly at publicinformation@ewralliance.co.uk or call the 24 hour helpline at 0345 711 4141.

Reports from District and County Councillors

Councillor Patrick gave his report.

No report had been received from Councillor Corkin (OCC).

Elections

The elections will take place on 4 May.

The elections in Launton will be for:

... one of the three District Councillor seats (currently Angus Patrick)

... the whole Parish Council.

CDC was still looking for Polling Clerks to work in polling stations - if you are interested in this paid position contact the Cherwell Elections Team or see their web page below: www.cherwell.gov.uk/info/11/elections/665/working-on-elections

If you have moved recently, make sure you don’t lose your right to vote - there’s still time to update the Electoral Register.

The Notice of Election was published on 27 March and nominations for the Parish Council must be submitted to the Elections Team at CDC, by hand, between Tuesday 28 eMarch and Tuesday 4 April between 10am and 4pm.

The latest briefing with all the dates and times is on the Parish Council website at https://www.launton-pc.gov.uk/elections-2023/ and includes information about how to obtain nomination papers.

The qualifications to become a Parish Councillor are also on the Parish Council website. It’s great to have a broad range of ages and experience on the Council (the minimum age is 18) so if you would be interested in putting yourself forward, do contact one of the current Councillors or ask Jane Olds for more details.

Finance

The Finance Report is available on the Parish Council website.

Planning

All planning applications, which include the links to Cherwell’s Planning Portal, are put on the Parish Council website when they are received (www.launton-pc.gov.uk in the Agenda and Minutes section).

If any villager has concerns or comments about a planning application, they are welcome to come along to Parish Council meetings to bring them to the attention of the meeting. Villagers are also welcome to contact Councillors or the Clerk to make comments.

Guidance on how the Parish Council is able to respond is available on the Parish Council website: https://www.launton-pc.gov.uk/planningapplications

ParishHall

The Architects, PCMS Design, have approached five potential contractors with a pre-qualification questionnaire and are now seeing quotations from the contractors who responded.

Contractors have made site visits and we are now waiting for the likely costs to know how much we are going to need to fundraise.

VillageSpringClean

Thank you to all who came to the Spring Clean on Saturday 11 March - we greatly appreciate the time and effort put in and thank you very much to the wonderful WI for their delicious refreshments-much needed on such a cold day.

Dog Bin Provision

The Council will be reviewing the provision of the 11 dog bins in the village. We will be looking at which bins are popular, which are less well-used, as well as those which are proving difficult to empty and might be moved to be more useful.

OCC Tree Planting

Oxfordshire County Council has been given funding for one tree per Oxfordshire parish or town.

Launton has been given an Amelanchier Arborea (or Common Serviceberry) 'Robin Hill' which will be planted by OCC on the highway verge in Sycamore Road, halfway between the bench and the entrance to The Willows. It has been confirmed that it is unlikely that the tree roots will interfere with any underground utilities.

Advance Notice of the Annual Parish Meeting

The Village Annual Parish Meeting will be on Thursday 20 April at 7.30pm in the Parish Hall. All organisations involved in the village will be invited to make a short report and all villagers are welcome to attend.

If there is anything specific you would like to add to the agenda, please let Jane Olds know by Tuesday 11 April.

This is a great opportunity to hear about what has happened in the village over the past year and to get involved with new projects and organisations. For more information, contact Jane Olds at clerk@launton-pc.gov.uk

Agenda items and dates of the next meetings

The next meeting will be on Thursday 6 April in the Parish Hall, starting at 7.30pm. If you’d like to chat with a Councillor, do come along after 7.15pm.

We are trying to reduce our printing and paper use, so if you would like hard copies of the agenda or any of the meeting papers, please let the Clerk know well before the meeting.

The agenda and papers will be available to view via the data projector during the meeting.

Suggestions for agenda items for the 11 May meeting (postponed from 4 May because of the Council elections) need to be with the Clerk by 27 April, and items for the 1 June meeting by 18 May.

If you’re not signed up to our mailing list to receive news from the Parish Council, you can find a sign up form at the bottom left hand menu of the Parish Council website at www.launton-pc.gov.uk/