Little Tew Parish Meeting

Transcription

1 Little Tew Parish Meeting Minutes of Annual General Meeting held in the Timber Yard Room on Tuesday 19th May 2009 at 7.30 p.m. 09/01. In attendance: Alan Jones (Chairman), Barry Gibson (Vice Chairman), Vivian Weinstein (Parish Clerk), Margaret Norris, Andrew Dunstan, Jeanne Weinstein, Fred Temlett, Val Temlett, Viv Bennett, Mike Bennett, Elizabeth Cooper, David Walker, Judith Walker, David Cooper, Deirdre Fallows, Jacqueline Bradley, Barry Gibson, Eileen White, Tom White, Sara McCrea, Alan Mauro, Andrew Beasley, Juliet Jones, Tom Bradley, Sam Bradley, Sue Ormerod, Erica Roberts, Matthew Roberts, Freddie Lewis, Pamela Lewis. 09/02. Apologies: Susan Beasley, Mike Tomlinson, David Andrews, Clive Nightingale, Carol Nightingale, Matthew Bennett, Stephen Bennett, Wendy Preece, Paula Mitchell, Percy Bradley, Brenda Gibson, Gill Addinell and Nancy Sandars. 09/03. Neighbourhood Watch: Police Community Support Officer C9516 Chris Jones of Chipping Norton Police Station and Sergeant Mark Smith attended. They were welcomed by the Chairman. PCSO Chris Jones presented an overview of police services currently provided in the Little Tew area by the team based on Chipping Norton. There is daily police cover from 5.00 a.m. to 2.00 a.m. the following day, a total of 21 hours. From 1 June 2009 this will be extended to 24-hour cover by including services based at Banbury and Witney. The meeting was advised that the police welcomed reports from the public on anything and everything, not necessarily crime. An efficient 0845 telephone service to receive incoming calls is now in place, based at Kidlington, Milton Keynes and Windsor. The telephone contact number is the single number for Thames Valley Police - then press ʻ1ʼ to report a crime. BUT, for a crime in progress dial ʻ999ʼ. The police officers reported that in Little Tew there have been twelve incidents since 1 April 2008, chiefly until about six months ago, and mainly in a new development on the western aspect of the village. David Cooper asked about security fittings for outbuildings. Answer - (i) a 5-lever padlock; (ii) Bill Butcher is a good source of information. Alan Jones requested fact sheets. Answer - available from PCSO Chris Jones. Jacqueline Bradley asked about the frequency of drive-through patrols (and commented that 5.00 a.m. is a time favoured by burglars), and she questioned the use of force. Answer - (i) drivethrough at least once every 24 hours, often more; (b) use what is reasonable in the circumstances. There were no further questions from the floor. The Chairman thanked the police officers who then left the meeting. 09/04. The minutes of the Extraordinary General Meeting held on 14th November 2008 were approved unanimously on a motion proposed by Judith Walker and seconded by David and Elizabeth Cooper.

2 09/05. Matters arising from the minutes: (i) Ownership of Timberyard Room. Mr Robert Harrison of Winckworth Sherwood has now taken in hand the matter of rectification of errors of title and the creation of a charity to own the Timberyard Room. He awaits further instructions following this meeting. (ii) Deliberations on registration of allotment land - the Vice Chairman reported to the meeting under item 11 (see below). (iii) Precept - there was no request for a precept following publication of a notice inviting requests, issued by the Chairman and the Parish Clerk on 20 November (iv) Deposit and custody of specified parish papers - Tom White reported progress in sorting parish documents ( specified papers ). The work is now focused on the contents of a metal box containing numerous documents which require detailed examination. On completion a computerized record should be available. The Chairman thanked the volunteers who have been engaged in this undertaking - Tom White, Eileen White, Viv Bennett, Nancy Sandars, Wendy Preece, Gill Addinell and Jacqueline Bradley. (v) The approved Freedom of Information publication scheme is now available on the parish notice boards and the Little Tew Parish Meeting website. The Information Commissionerʼs Office has told the Parish Clerk that the present scheme will remain in force until further notice. (v) Flood report and progress with flood works. Copies of the final report were tabled. The works outside Cherwell House and The Manor House, as envisaged in the report, have been completed. No funds are now available for further work. Pamela Lewis reported the partial collapse of stonework bordering the stream adjacent to the culvert under the Enstone Road. 09/06. (a) The Chairman reported for the year to date, under the following headings: (i) The change of solicitor dealing with ownership of the Timberyard Room - there are signs that this will accelerate progress; (ii) Allotment land - the National Association of Local Councils (NALC) has accepted and responded to the approach suggested by the Parish Clerk in his briefing paper as presented to the EGM held on 14 November The NALC has recommended that the parish meeting should appoint a solicitor to act on its behalf. (iii) Thanks to those who have provided special services to the Parish Meeting and its officers during the past year - Jacqueline Bradley - Chairperson, Timberyard Room Management Committee as well as general cleaning and maintenance of the room for many years, at no cost to the Parish Meeting; Percy Bradley - maintenance of Timberyard Room structure for many years; Andrew Dunstan - overseeing electrical and audio equipment in Timberyard Room and the source of help generously given to the village as a whole; Judith Walker, Wendy Preece, Maggie Norris, Andrew Dunstan - membership of Timberyard Room Management Committee of which Jacqueline Bradley is chairperson; Brenda Gibson - in charge of bookings and funds of Timberyard Room; David Cooper - internal auditor; Deirdre Fallows - Neighbourhood Watch liaison

3 officer; Andrew Dunstan, Maggie Norris and Alan Mauro - assistance and support to parish clerk (contact point for parish papers, helping to post notices on notice boards); Family White and Bennett - editorial responsibility for village newsletter following retirement of previous editors; Mike Tomlinson - generous source of advice to parish clerk in dealing with parish accounts and other matters; Mike Tomlinson, Andrew Dunstan, John Edginton, Percy Bradley - help in identifying factors contributing to flooding in the village, with special thanks to Mike Tomlinson for his detailed knowledge of the subject and unstinting help in times of flood; Laurence King, Principal Engineer, West Oxfordshire District Council - for all he has done to promote the construction of flood relief works in the village; Public servants - WODC, Oxfordshire County Council, ORCC, OALC, NALC, Information Commissioner's Office - for unstinting help and support whenever approached; Cravenplan Computers - for willing support in creation of and running of the Little Tew Parish Meeting website, at no cost to the village. (b) Jacqueline Bradley, as Chairperson, reported on the activities of the Timberyard Room Management Committee. She drew attention to (i) the possible need to replace the existing electrical storage heaters and (ii) the need to paint the window frames; and she gave notice of her intention to relinquish her role as voluntary cleaner of the Timberyard Room. The Chairman thanked her for her presentation. (c) Presentation by Barry Gibson (on behalf of Brenda Gibson) of the accounts of the Timberyard Room. The meeting received the accounts, which had been audited by Pam Hammarling. The Chairman thanked these ladies for their services. (d) Great Tew School: report by school governor Viv Bennett. The school has had another successful year, has been highly commended for its performance and expects to receive a larger intake of pupils in the next school year, from 84 as at present to 92 next year. Mrs Bennett paid tribute to Sven Hammarling who is standing down as school governor after many years of service in that role. The meeting expressed its thanks to him on a motion proposed by Elizabeth Cooper and seconded by Sara McCrea. 09/07. (a) Election of parish officers for the coming year. The following officers were elected unopposed: 1. Chairman - Mr Alan Jones; 2. Vice Chairman - Mr Barry Gibson; 3. Parish Clerk - Dr Vivian Weinstein. (b) The members of the Timberyard Management Committee, comprising Jacqueline Bradley, Judith Walker, Maggie Norris, Wendy Preece and Andrew Dunstan, were re-elected unopposed. Brenda Gibson was re-elected unopposed to the role of bookings manager/ treasurer. 09/08. Neighbourhood Watch Scheme: Deirdre Fallows, Little Tew Neighbourhood Watch liaison officer, was available for discussion. No further points were raised following the excellent presentation by PCSO Chris Jones and Sgt Mark Smith.

4 09/09. Accounts: (a) The meeting received the External Auditorʼs Certificate and Opinion (section 3 of Annual Return) for the financial year ended 31 March (b) Presentation by Chairman of Little Tew internally audited accounts for the financial year ended 31 March 2009 (section 1 of Annual Return) - David Cooper is internal auditor. The meeting accepted the accounts. (c) Annual Governance statement for the financial year ended 31 March 2009 (section 2 of Annual Return) - the meeting received and accepted the statement. (d) Annual Internal Audit Report to Little Tew Parish Meeting for the financial year ended 31 March 2009 (section 4 of Annual Return). The meeting accepted the report which included the statement The annual precept requirement resulted from an adequate budgetary process; progress against the budget was regularly monitored; and reserves were appropriate. (e) Poorʼs Land charity - Deirdre Fallows reported on this charity, which has disbursed its benefits for the past year. A small credit balance remains in its accounts. 09/10. Report on recent changes in arrangements with solicitors (Mr Robert Harrison, Winckworth Sherwood). The Parish Clerk outlined the process by which he had arranged for Mr Robert Harrison to act for the Parish Meeting. 09/11. Registration of Allotment Land. The meeting received Barry Gibsonʼs report (attached) which included reference to the NALC report on registration of allotment land. As a first step it proposes that the Parish Clerk and Judith Walker will arrange the preparation of documents in support of an application to register the land with the Land Registry. The following resolutions, drafted by Barry Gibson, were put to the meeting: (a) The allotments are a valuable public amenity and they should be retained as such for the use of present and future generations of Little Tew. (Proposed by Maggie Norris and seconded by David Cooper.) The resolution was passed unanimously, with one abstention. (b) The Parish Meeting instructs the parish officers to undertake the necessary steps to register the allotment sites with the Land Registry as being in the ownership of the body corporate of the parish, namely, the Parish Trustees. (Proposed by Tom White and seconded by Sara McCrea.) The resolution was passed unanimously, with two abstentions. 09/12. Award of the parish trophy. The trophy was awarded to Jacqueline Bradley in recognition of and thanks for her work and support for the Parish Meeting over a period of many years.

5 09/13. Any other business. (a) The Parish Clerk moved the following resolution, which was approved unanimously: The Parish Meeting confirms that a bank account or accounts be continued with HSBC Bank plc (the ʻBankʼ) and the bank is authorised to (a) pay all cheques and other instructions for payment or accept instructions to stop such payments signed on behalf of the Parish Meeting by any two of the listed signatories A D Jones and V F Weinstein ; (b) deliver any item held on behalf of the Parish Meeting by the Bank in safe keeping against the written receipt of the signatories; and (c) accept the signatories as fully empowered to act on behalf of the Parish Meeting in any other transactions with the Bank (including closing any account(s)). (b) Maintenance of parish land near Heythrop turn (Hubert Hutt): Mr Hubert Hutt has expressed his willingness to continue maintaining parish land adjacent to the Enstone Road near the Heythrop turn, at no expense to the Parish Meeting. The Chairman expressed the thanks of the meeting to Mr Hutt for his kind action. (c) Jacqueline Bradley proposed that a notice board be placed at a convenient location in the Timberyard Room for the convenience of residents of adjoining houses. Her suggestion was accepted subject to agreement that the site would not interfere with natural lighting. (d) Tom White enquired about attendance of County and District Councillors. The Parish Clerk stated that in view of the pressure of immediate business he had suggested to the Chairman that they be invited to attend an Extraordinary General Meeting which would include a statutory presentation by an officer of West Oxfordshire District Council (Mr Richard Wheeler) on conclusion of the establishment of a conservation area. There being no other business the Chairman closed the meeting at 9.35 p.m. Signed: A D Jones (Chairman) Dated: 11 November 2009