Parish Council reporting - Launton Lines Issue 290 January & February 2025

Combined notes from four meetings of the Parish Council, held on Thursday 5 December 2024 at 7:30pmin the Parish Hall (ordinary meeting); Thursday 12 December at 12 noon in the Parish Hall (extraordinary meeting);Thursday9January 2025 at 7:30pmin the School Hall (ordinary meeting); and Friday 17 January 2025 at 5:00pm in the Parish Hall(extraordinary meeting)

A procedural oversight meant that the Chairman had not been formally appointed as temporary Proper Officer of the Council at the November meeting, which limited the amount that could be done on 5 December and meant that many agenda items were deferred to future meetings; this oversight was rectified at the Extraordinary Meeting on 12 December.

Councillors present Mr Glyn Austin (12 December onwards), Mr Andrew Briant (Vice Chairman; not 12 December), Mrs Jackie Hackett, Mr Simon Turner (Chairman), and Mrs Jaqueline Webber

Apologies 12 December: Mr Andrew Briant

In attendance 5 December: 3 members of the public. 12 December: Mr Glyn Austin (participated as a Councillor after his co-option). 9 January: 2 members of the public. 17 January: 1 member of the public.

1. East West Rail

It is expected there will be no further reports from East West Rail. If anyone has queries, contact directly at publicinformation@ewralliance.co.uk or call the 24-hour helpline on 03457 11 41 41.

Reports from District and County Councillors

No reports had been received.

Governance

The Chairman was formally appointed as temporary Proper Officer of the Council (as well as Clerk and Responsible Financial Officer) on 12 December to enable the full functioning of the Council to continue until a locum Clerk is appointed.

The Council received the resignation of Mrs Abi Dowman due to increased pressures of work and thanked her for her service. It was also pleased to co-opt and welcome Mr Glyn Austin as a Councillor, meaning that there are still two Councillor vacancies.

There have still been no applications for the vacant role of Parish Clerk: details of the vacancy may be found on the Parish Council website. Anyone interested in the position should contact the Chairman, Simon Turner: simon.turner@launton-pc.gov.uk or call the Parish Council’s mobile number (07305 303889).

Finance

The Finance Report is available on the Parish Council website.

On 17 January the Council considered the detailed budget and agreed the level of £62,054 for the year 2025/26. This took into account the range of Parish responsibilities, including the village grass cutting and weed spraying, the dog bin emptying, meeting costs, saving for replacement street furniture (such as bins and benches), other reserves and of course the Parish Hall, which continues to be an ongoing focus.

The Parish had been given the Tax Base figure (broadly, the number of Band D equivalent dwellings in the village) by CDC which was estimated at 620.1; this was a very slight increase from 619.9 the previous year. Following the calculations, it was agreed to leave the Precept at £51,592, the same as the previous year. The annual cost to a Band D household would be approximately £83.20 - a decrease of £0.03.

More information about how the Tax Base figure is calculated is available on the Parish Council website at https://www.launtonpc.gov.uk/ financial-information/financing-the-parish-council/

For anyone interested, the draft budget and Precept calculations can be found on the Parish Council website under the 17 January items for information at https://www.launton-pc.gov.uk/agenda-and-minutes/ 2024-2025-agenda-and-minutes/

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 a 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.

Parish Hall

The Parish Hall Development Advisory Group have made good progress towards finding a solution for the roof and presented their recommendations for replacing the roof to the Council at the 9 January meeting; due to time constraints and the late availability of some information, this was further considered at the 17 January meeting. It is hoped that we will be able to bring the recommendation to fruition, with work commencing in March, but there are still some issues that need to be resolved first.

Highway and Traffic Issues: Speedwatch

The Speedwatchteam will always welcome volunteers - if you’d like to help out, please contact speedwatch@launton-pc.gov.uk Note that the team has currently suspended operations until the days get longer and the weather improves.

Village Spring Clean

A date for your diaries. We hope to hold our annual Spring Clean and litter pick on Saturday 15 March between 10am and 12 noon from the Parish Hall. Do come and join us!

Agenda items and dates of the next meetings

The next meeting will be on Thursday 6 February 2025 in Launton Parish Hall, starting at 7.30pm. If you’d like to chat with a Councillor, do come along after 7.15pm.

Suggestions for agenda items for the 6 March meeting need to be with the Clerk by 20 February and items for the 3 April meeting by 20 March.

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