MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL PARISH MEETING OF SHIPLAKE
PARISH COUNCIL HELD IN THE GREAT HALL ,SHIPLAKE COLLEGE
SHIPLAKE TUESDAY 24th APRIL 2012 at 7.30 P.M.
1. PRESENT.
Mr Tudor Taylor(Chairman), Mrs.A.Law , Dr P Skolar, Mr M Leonard, Mr C Smith , Mr G Thomas, Mr F Maroudas, Mr R.B.Head and Mr R Simister..
An apology for absence was received from Mrs J Arnott, Mr G Davies and Mr D Pheasant.
In addition there were 54 members of the public present.
The Chairman opened the meeting by welcoming the members of the public.
2. MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS ANNUAL PARISH MEETING HELD ON TUESDAY 19TH APRIL 2011
The Chairman said that he understood that the minutes had been approved by the Parish Council at their meeting in May 2011 and asked that they be taken as read and be approved. This was accepted by the meeting and unanimously approved on a motion proposed by Mr M Leonard and seconded by Mr G Thomas.
3. MATTERS ARISING.
None were raised.
4. POLICE MATTERS.
There was no police present .The Clerk reported that Sergeant Pink had indicated that there were low levels of crime in the year apart from occasional Burglary .He was aware of the parking issue within the village and fully supported to the OCC proposals.
5. ANNUAL REPORT OF SHIPLAKE, HARPSDEN, DUNSDEN AND PEPPARD SICK POOR FUND.
The Chairman presented the report for the Shiplake Harpsden Dunsden and Peppard Sick Poor Fund created by trust deed in July 1953 and which currently has 4 Trustees under the current Chairmanship of the Reverend Paul Bradish
The Charities purpose is the: supply and distribution of Christmas hampers or flowers to the sick and or poor who are resident in one of the parishes of Shiplake, Harpsden, Dunsden or Peppard
The Fund has capital of £4000 held in 4.25% Treasury Stock 2036 and income of £669 resulting from these dividends, and a donation of £500 from the Phillimore Trust.
This income is very much in line with previous years and allowed for the distribution of 14 hampers to local residents. Can I thank the Trustees on behalf of the Meeting for all their work over the previous year?
6. CHAIRMAN’S REPORT.
The Chairman, Mr Tudor Taylor then gave his report, copy attached. Appendix 2.
7. OPEN FORUM SESSION.
The chairman opened the open forum at 7.54pm with the following comments:
Parking
In the run up to last year’s Annual Meeting there was:
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OCC Highways Engineer David Tole was invited to last year’s APM and he received a tough time from between 80+residents demanding action.
Parish Council lobbied OCC Highways to assess the situation and come up with a plan of action. We had to go all the way to Cabinet Officer Level and we have taken Legal advice from OCC and OALC. OCC have acknowledged there is a safety issue and hence we now have a Plan under consultation.
They made 2 points:
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Status as at Sunday April 22nd evening:
32 responses: 14 in favour 9 against and 9 other .Most of the 'Other' responses are in favour of doing something but many think the proposals are too extensive.
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Any comments made this evening we will endeavour to record and pass on BUT this does not replace the recommended course, which is to write directly to OCC before 27 April deadline expires. Your comments may also influence our thinking for the presentation to the Cabinet Officers Meeting
The Chairman opened the Public session
Several questions and points were raised from the floor
Mr Noble. Brampton Chase and Mr Oliver, New Road asked about the actions people on private roads can take regarding illegal parking .Advice has been received from OCC with regard to this .Details will be put on the website.
Mr J Jenkins Mill Road commented on the morning restrictions in Mill Road from
Station Road to Lowes Close and in Lowes Close, itself changed to No Waiting between
10 and 11am. Replacement of all the lengths of 20-
Mrs S Wiggin, Oaks Road commented that she was not averse to overspill cars parking in front of her house and therefore why did parking restrictions have to be applied to feeder roads and the restrictions will deter friends, relatives and visitors from coming to the village.
Mr M Leonard replied that the restrictions were definitely not designed to deter visitors .Only all day commuter parking should be affected.
Mr B Law commented that he was of a contrary view and did object to parking outside his property ,Several members of the audience supported this view
Mr R Simister (DC) commented that SODC have reduced the costs of parking at Henley and that hopefully that would have , in the longer term ,a beneficial effect on commuter parking at Shiplake
Several speakers commented that the main safety problem was parking in Station Road
Mr J Palmer, Station Road raised an issue of off street parking, he has two cars and off street parking for only one car .He believes strongly he will be adversely affected by the proposals.
Mr C and Mrs H Donohue, Brocks Way commented that cars are already creeping along Brocks Way and without the proposals this will intensify .They affirmed their support of the proposals .They do not believe the proposals will deter friends visiting. Mr Donohue reported an incident of excessive speeding up Station Road by small white vans.
Mr A Patrick, Oaks Road asked if Council had any timelines for the results and implementation of the proposals if approved. The Chairman responded by saying that initial results would be with Council by June and a final decision will be taken at a Cabinet meeting at OCC (open to the public) in July with, if approved , work starting in the Autumn.
Mr M McKean,Basmore Lane and Mrs B Rowlett ,New Road commented that the residents of Basmore Lane /New Road felt disenfranchised from the process as they had not received any correspondence , could they make an input ?The Chairman assured them that any resident is encouraged to make an input .
A lady from the floor asked how to do this? suggestions were made e.g. reading the notices on the lampposts or contacting a resident who had received communication .The contact point for email input is Mr David Tole OCC Highways.
A gentleman (Stephen) mentioned the plight of residents walking from the Sydney
Harrison Home along Mill Road to the shop -
The Chairman urged all attendees at the meeting if they had not made an input to please do so and to encourage neighbours and friends to do like wise. He then closed the open forum at 8.30pm
8. GUEST SPEAKERS
The Chairman introduced Mr Anton Nath (Community Development Worker at Oxfordshire
Rural Community Council ) as the guest speaker who proceeded to run an a lively ,
informative ,interactive session with the audience on the 9 principles of Community
led Planning .These steps can be found on the website www.clp-
Mr Nath concluded by asking the audience two questions1) is there an interest from the audience in developing a Community plan? The audience was very supportive of the idea 2).secondly would any members of the audience be interested in volunteering? At least half a dozen hands were raised. Volunteers were encouraged to contact the Clerk.
The chairman thanked Mr Nath for his presentation and took the commitment that the PC would take the views of the audience into account and start the process of developing a plan. Mr Nath invited questions from the floor:
A member of the audience asked if there were any local parishes that had embarked on this process and could they have sight of their plan .The nearest village was Binfield Heath who have just completed their questionnaire.
Mr Peachey ,Chestnuts commented that the idea of a neighbourhood plan was attractive to the village as this would give greater control and input on planning applications
There were no other questions The Chairman thanked Mr Nath for a very informative session.
ANY OTHER BUSINESS
There being no further questions or business the Chairman thanked the members of the public for attending and closed the meeting at 8.54pm.
Chairman’s report
Good Evening – Welcome to Shiplake College and a big thank you to Greg Davies and Neil Warne for allowing us to be here tonight.
Introduction :Parish council has 9 councillors – 1400 electors in 2 villages apolitical
and non-
Responsible for the memorial, benches, playgrounds and field gates but most importantly reflecting the views of residents to ensure we maintain the great environment in which we live.
The Council. Last year retirement of Lord Philimore and Malcolm Leonard and this year the retirement of Eddy Ryder
New joiners: Greg Davies; Chris smith and Fred Maroudas creating a good balance of skills
Financials: So 2011/12/Financially good – maintained reserves – improved financial disciplines and made more effective grants
No increase in precept – as per your council tax bills.
Planning: Around 1 per week mostly straightforward – but we always take to committee if we disagree with Planning Officer. Threats are outside the Parish and we keep a close eye – Lafarge, Wyevale and Thames farm. Want mixed community and open boundaries where possible.
Successes Some successes in the last year 7 to talk about:
1.Lashbrook
2. Station Gates -
3. Footpath to the side of Chapel to the river and round to Mill Lane.
4. The agreement for 2 VAS on the A4155
5. Nearly there, on agreeing additional slow down warning signs on the approach to the Primary School – Plough Lane Memorial Avenue
6. Getting OCC to bring a Plan to consultation for tackling the parking in Lower Shiplake
7. We have made some sizeable Grants to the school, Memorial Hall and clubs
Projects We have identified a number of other projects for the years to come but felt that it was worth considering a Community Plan and hence the invitation to our speak Anton Rath to speak about Community Planning and what we the Community can do together. The Parish does want to provide the necessary financial support.
Perhaps the most important project is the re-
Village is in good shape
Well done Mark and Carol -
Schools are performing well
Clubs appear financially strong with good membership.
Some thank-
To the Parish Councillors and in particular our clerk Roger Hudson who works very hard on our behalf.
To Bob Partridge Ann Law and Pam Hudgell for managing the communications.
In addition, to all those that volunteer in the village.
(I will say something very briefly on the Parking Consultation just before the Public session).
Can I commend my report to you?
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