Category Archives: Parish Council

Who Clears the Graffiti?

Graffiti clear Jul 14 We’ve had a recent spate of graffiti here in Botley. Well, if May is considered ‘recent’.

In the spring, we were tagged with ‘Mango’. It was everywhere: bus shelters, utility cabinets, buildings in West Way, A34 underpasses, grit bins, other places. The Louie Memorial Pavilion was a big target.

So, you may ask, who is responsible for cleaning it up? Vale? County? Parish? Me?

I went to the Vale officers in late May to ask for advice and help. Officers from the Community Safety team visited the area and called on owners of some of the defaced property, and also notified the police to be vigilant.

Some of the tagging has been cleaneStella Bella Stellad up, but not all.

The Vale website has information about who is legally responsible for clean-up: http://www.whitehorsedc.gov.uk/services-and-advice/environment/street-cleaning/graffiti

Essentially, the owner of the property is responsible for its removal.

For phone boxes and utility cabinets, it is the relevant company (numbers are on the website).

For bus stops, it’s the county council.

For bus shelters, it’s the parish council.

For Louie Memorial Pavilion, Muga and playing fields, it’s the parish council.

For street name plates, or the public toilets at West Way, it’s the Vale. To report graffiti on property owned by Vale of White Horse District Council, please contact our waste contractors Biffa by emailing admin.vale@biffa.co.uk or calling 03000 610610 (local call rate).

The volunteer supporters of the Louie Memorial Pavilion had a clean-up day in July. Adults and kids got stuck in, painting over the defaced surfaces, and trying to make the pavilion less attractive as a target.

I would sure like to see the bus shelter on Arnold’s Way cleaned up. It’s been awful for a long time. If a parish councillor is reading this blog post, how about it? Could you ask the PC to organise a graffiti clear up?

My Report to NHPC – 15 May 14

If you’d like to read the report I provided to the North Hinksey parish council for their AGM tonight, I’ve put a copy on Dropbox. You can read it via this link:

http://bit.ly/RV9Qn8

Recently the way the Dropbox link works has changed, and I don’t know why. You used to be able to read the doc right on the screen. Now the link makes you download it. (shrugs) If anyone knows how this can be cnahged back to the old way, please give a shout.

North Hinksey Parish Council By-election 24 Apr 14

North Hinksey Parish Council is holding a by-election to fill 3 vacancies.

The deadline for nominations is noon Weds 26 March. If there are more than 3 nominations, an election will be held on 24 Apr 14.

You can see all the rules on the PC website, here: http://bit.ly/Q3IqL3

May I draw your attention to how to apply for a new postal vote, on that page. (If you are already registered for a postal vote, there’s no noeed to do anything else.)

In my opinion, what we’ve learned over the past 3 years is that the most important quality in a local councillor is how well they represent the community’s views. When you are elected to represent the community, your personal view doesn’t matter any more than anyone else’s view. You are elected to represent the view of the community and work for what the community wants. The trick is in being able to find out from the community what they think about issues, and then taking appropriate action.

I think this is a great chance to move forward into a parish council that works hard in support of community aspirations.

 

 

Neighbourhood Planning

Neighbourhood Planning Briefing Event

The Localism Act 2011 has introduced new powers for local people to help shape the places in which they live.  The Act is a central pillar of the government’s new approach to empowering local communities and encouraging more collaborative working with local authorities. One of the most important changes is the introduction of neighbourhood planning.

To further explain the benefits of collaborative working and the neighbourhood planning process, South Oxfordshire District Council and the Vale of White Horse District Council are organising an event for our town and parish councils across the two districts.

The purpose of the event will be to:

  • provide information to town and parish councils on neighbourhood planning in light of the new regulations and the National Planning Policy Framework;
  • place neighbourhood planning in context, alongside other forms of community led planning and policy work undertaken by South Oxfordshire District Council; and
  • gauge the level of interest of town and parish councils in neighbourhood planning.

The event will be held:  Time: 6 – 8.00pm   Date: Monday 16 July 2012   Venue: Guildhall, Abingdon

It will take the form of a short presentation given by council officers followed by a breakout discussion session on the issues in your local area and how these might relate to neighbourhood planning.  Oxfordshire Rural Community Council will also be in attendance to give further support and guidance on their role in community led planning.

Report to North Hinksey Parish Council – 24 Nov 2011

  1. The Vale now stocks some 360 litre green recycling bins, which are half again as large as the standard green bins. At the moment, they are only for households of 6 or more, but that policy is to be reviewed soon. If you’d like a larger green bin, contact the Vale 01235 520202, or waste.team@southandvale.gov.uk
  2. You can have a Collection Reminder sent to your mobile phone when your rubbish or recycling pick-up date changes due to holidays or bad weather. It’s easy to register: send a text message with the word “waste” and your collection day to 07797 870371. For example, “waste Thursday”. This is the best way to keep up to date throughout the winter.
  3. The Vale hosted the first ever Town and Parish Council Forum on 23 Nov 2011. Town and parish councillors were invited to meet with other parish councillors, councillors and officers from the district council and local public sector representatives. I know that a few days before the event, no one from North Hinksey had signed up. If someone had a chance to attend, I’d like to hear how it went and what you learned.
  4. From 9 Dec 2011, there is free two hour parking in Vale owned car parks in Abingdon, Wantage and Faringdon. (Ours in North Hinksey are already free all the time.)
  5. The Vale plans to bring free Wi-Fi to Botley. Dates aren’t announced yet, and I understand we’re in the queue behind the town centres. But we’re definitely on the list!
  6. County Cllr Janet Godden and I hold a Get It Sorted Session every other month in a different part of the parish. Our next session is 29 Nov 2011, 6-7pm at the Westminster Sports Centre. This is particularly handy for residents of Harcourt Hill and the upper part of Elm’s Rise, but everyone is welcome.

Reminder: You can see all the current North Hinksey planning applications on my blog. I’ve tried to make it simple to find out what applications are currently under consideration in North Hinksey and Wytham ward. I add info as soon as I receive notice of the planning application from the Vale. I include the consultation period, targeted decision date, and a link to the Vale Planning site so readers can see what information about the application has already been received. See them at www.DebbyHallett.MyCouncillor.org.uk

Report to North Hinksey Parish Council – 15 Sep 11

Brown bins: The Vale has recently revised the terms and conditions of their garden waste service (brown bins). They want to make it clear that the fee is a contribution to running costs and that collections will be suspended for two weeks over Christmas, to enable Biffa to collect the extra household waste produced at this time of the year, when very little garden waste is created. In the past when they’ve tried to manage the two it has resulted in lengthy delays to collections of rubbish and recycling.

Extra collection: There will be an extra collection of garden waste (brown bins) during a week in spring, which they’ll publicise nearer the time.  Plus, to increase efficiency and effectiveness, new customers will only be able to pay via direct debit, and existing customers will be switched over before their service is next renewed. They hope some customers will switch now but gives all customers up to 12 months notice of this change.

Delayed collection message: You can sign up for a free waste text message to let you know if your collection day has changed due to bank holidays or bad weather. To register send a text message with the word “waste” and your collection day to 07797 870371. For example, “waste Thursday”.

Unvlaed scrapped: The cabinet member for communications has announced: “We decided to stop publishing the council’s residents’ magazine Unvaled in order to save £39,600 a year. Instead, the council will be making better use of other ways of communicating with residents, including via its annual leaflet in March with council tax bills and the tags that are left on all bins in the district to let residents know about revised waste collections over Christmas and Easter. This year the distribution slot that had been booked to deliver Unvaled in late November will instead be used to deliver next year’s waste calendar as the current calendar runs until December. The following year we will include the waste calendar in the booklet we send with council tax bills. We will be reviewing the way we communicate with residents in two years time.”

Yarnells Hill coaches: Residents in Yarnells Hill approached me about the coaches that take children to Matthew Arnold School. They understood coaches were supposed to use the main approach via Cumnor Hill and Arnolds Way, rather than Yarnells Hill and Lime Road. Queries to the school and transport service providers, via the Oxfordshire Highway & Transport steward for our area, Laura Hutchins, found no contracts or agreements regarding the route to be taken by the coach drivers; they can take whatever route they like.

Metal theft: An increase in the cost of scrap metal has meant that thieves have been targeting lead on buildings and vans with catalytic converters.  Thames Valley Police advise businesses and van owners  to take some simple steps to help prevent these kinds of thefts:

  • If you own a van with a catalytic converter, get a catalytic converter marking kit (these are available on line at http://bit.ly/mYPpJj ).
  • If you have lead on the roof of your business or property, use anti-climb paint to prevent access to the roof and put up signs to say that the paint is being used.

Electoral Review: Local Government Boundary Commission for England has confirmed that it has included a Further Electoral Review (FER) of Vale of White Horse in its work programme. The goal is to reduce the number of councillors from the current 51 to around 34. The FER will commence in March 2012 and should last no more than a year allowing for the implementation of any new electoral arrangements prior to the next district council elections.

Local emergency plans: Oxfordshire County Council encourages all parishes in the Vale to develop community emergency plans. The county intends that these plans would identify key contacts within a parish or town that should be notified by emergency services in the event of an incident, as well as buildings that could be used if residents need to be evacuated. This information will also be shared with the district council. The county is also holding a series of events for parish about emergency response and winter, to which your parish councillors have been invited.

    Thames Water work: The Vale council has welcomed plans from Thames Water to start work improving the drainage problems in Cumnor Hill and Botley. Thames Water has written to the council to outline its plans to carry out work to upgrade the sewerage system in Botley. This work is due to start in January 2012 and should be completed by the end of next year. This also means that planning applications, which have been on hold because of the sewerage problems, can be determined now that the drainage improvement works is due to start. Since October 2007, the council has been unable to permit any planning applications for new housing in the OX2 0, OX2 9 or OX1 5 postcode areas because of a holding objection raised by Thames Water due to the ongoing drainage problems. Thames Water has confirmed that as the planned work will be carried out shortly, it has no objection to the council permitting applications for new housing in the area subject to a condition being imposed on planning permissions stipulating that no new houses can be occupied until the drainage improvement works have been completed.

      Contact Stuart Walker, (01235) 540505, stuart.walker@southandvale.gov.uk

      Community Payback: Is there a public area in your neighbourhood that could do with being cleared, cleaned or painted? If so, Thames Valley Probation could help. They run the Community Payback scheme, where offenders who have been sentenced to an Unpaid Work Requirement are given jobs that benefit the local community. For example, placements could involve:

        • clearing overgrown public areas
        • removing graffiti (on public rather than private property)
        • conservation work
        • painting and decorating (especially schools and other community/charity facilities)

        This scheme is particularly keen to take on placements where offenders work alongside volunteers from the community. This helps offenders to understand the value of the work they are doing.

        If you know of an area where you think Community Payback could assist with, please email the details to Karen Brown, Community Safety Projects Officer, Karen.Brown@southandvale.gov.uk .

        Town and parish council forum 2011: The Vale has invited town and parish councils to attend a town and parish council forum to be held during the evening of Wednesday 23 November 2011 at Wantage Civic Hall. This is the first of its kind in the Vale. It’s expected to be a well-attended event providing town and parish councils the opportunity to meet with other parish councillors, councillors and officers from the district council and local public sector representatives.

          The evening includes a buffet and networking session, service information stands, an address from the chief executive and an opportunity to discuss current issues and how organisations can work together to tackle them.

          If you’re interested in attending the forum or would like more information contact Anne Hall,  Corporate Strategy, 01491 823311, anne.hall@southoxon.gov.uk

          Botley Drainage Work

          The Vale of White Horse district council has welcomed plans from Thames Water to start work improving the drainage problems in Cumnor Hill and Botley.

          Thames Water has written to the council to outline its plans to carry out work to upgrade the sewerage system in Botley. This work is due to start in January 2012 and should be completed by the end of next year.

          This also means that planning applications, which have been on hold because of the sewerage problems, can be determined now that the drainage improvement works is due to start.

          Since October 2007, the council has been unable to permit any planning applications for new housing in the OX2 0, OX2 9 or OX1 5 postcode areas because of a holding objection raised by Thames Water due to the ongoing drainage problems.

          Thames Water has confirmed that as the planned work will be carried out shortly, it has no objection to the council permitting applications for new housing in the area subject to a condition being imposed on planning permissions stipulating that no new houses can be occupied until the drainage improvement works have been completed.

          For more info, to ask questions or voice your concern, contact Stuart Walker
          (01235) 540505 stuart.walker@southandvale.gov.uk