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| Faringdon Association of Residents |
| Minutes of a meeting held 08/10/2001 | ||
Present at the Meeting: Chair - Dee England Vice Chair - Colin Desborough Treasurer - Frank Roberts Secretary - Gene Webb County Councillor - Judith Heathcoat Town Councillor - Jenny Young VWHDC Councillor - Alison Thompson |
Apologies - Clive and Christine Davis Margaret Boyden Malcolm Butler Robert Dyer Pat Purbrick Betty O'Brien Rochus Zuurmond |
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AGENDA |
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| AGM AOB Cavalier Christmas Community Bus Project Future meetings |
Mayor's Report New Medical Centre Old Health Centre Oxfordshire County Council Seeda Projects |
SSSI Street Action Updates VWHDC New political arrangements |
| 1 Apologies as above. Last meetings minutes Extension of 10 weeks has been granted re scaffolding in Coxwell St Cycle Lanes in Faringdon are the standard width – the same as all Oxfordshire County cycle lanes Minutes were agreed FR JH 2 New Medical centre - Virginia Bushell A newsletter was distributed, including floor plans. Colour schemes to identify each practice and the shared areas were shown Virginia Bushell outlined the development history since 1996. Key points mentioned were: Parking for 70 cars (45 now). Drs have a 24 year lease on the building Completion date is targeted as 3/02, but this may change as the project is 6 weeks ahead of schedule. Medical practices will move into the new centre within days of its completion. Dr Pinches retires Jan 2002. She is being replaced by 2(each at 50% full time) female doctors. In answer to a question about damp, the meeting was told that damp has been found and is being dealt with. The building is guaranteed by structural engineers in the event of future problems and will not incur cost to Faringdon. 3 Cavalier Christmas - 8/12/01 Robert Dyer was unable to attend the meeting. The event was described and discussed and wished every success. A donation of £75 is to be made towards this event 4 VWHDC new political arrangements The traditional Committee structure has been replaced in line with central Government directive A leader, plus 7 executive members (all Liberal democrats) - the Cabinet. Meetings will mostly be in public This cabinet is held to account by a Scrutiny Committee (chaired by Conservatives) There are 4 Policy Committees ( Proportionally LibDem, Cons/Lab) Area Committees for Botley, Marcham, Didcot, Abingdon, West(Sth) (Faringdon,+ villages), West(North) Area Forums – to include other organisations eg FAR, Chamber of Commerce. The situation for the West has not been finalised as it seems councillors have raised objections Oxfordshire County Council Judith Heathcoat indicated that there were similar arrangements at the County, based on a Conservative/LibDem coalition Both AT and JH expressed concern about these new arrangements, on the basis that the previous system worked and the new arrangements would cost more in payments to Councillors and Local Government officer time. 5 Annual General Meeting Frank Roberts gave the financial position to Sept. 2001 The need and frequency of audits to be ascertained. Dee England resigned as chairman due to conflict between this and her Town Council/Mayor interests. A letter from Clive Davis was read to the meeting, where he suggested that FAR constitution should state that Town Councillors should not hold nomimated positions on the FAR committee. Alison Thompson added that District and County Councillors also should not hold such offices. This was unanimously agreed. Constitution to be amended. The following new Committee were elected: Betty O’Brien President for further 3 years Colin Desborough Chairman Clive Davis Vice Chairman Frank Roberts Treasurer Gene Webb Secretary Dee England Committee member David Hughes Committee member Dr Roger Leach Auditor Thanks were expressed to the Committee work for their work over the year 6 Community Bus project - Alison More This project is progressing well. The bus has been ordered, and is due for delivery 1/11/01. It will be on display at the Faringdon Charity Day 22/11/01. The launch will take place 22/11/01 and the timetable will start 23/11/01. Time table to be published in Whats ON. Awareness will be raised through posters, flyers, visits to schools, sheltered accommodation The bus is being funded by Oxfordshire Rural Transport Partnership, SE Economic Development Agency, Faringdon Town Council, Vale White Horse 7 The Old Health Centre, formerly the Cottage hospital Jenny Young Contact has been made with both Medical Practices, SW Oxfordshire Primary Care Trust(PCT) and the Land Registry. The building is not listed. The PCT have indicated that the current plan is to abolish the building and sell the land for development purposes. Following a discussion, the concensus was that the building should be at least preserved and ideally used for the benefit of Faringdon residents it was agreed that investigations should be made to ascertain whether the original gifts (land from Allen-Stevens family, and building costs from Dr Dundas) were conditional in any way. To be pursued 8 Street Action Groups- Dee England A group has been formed by some residents of the Ferndale St area. They plan to provide grit boxes, collect leaves and plant some areas in order to improve their area. An article will appear in the Folly 9 Other SEEDA funded projects - Family Centre (Baptist Church) has employed a manager. The activities for parents and young children will be developed between now and Christmas A Youth worker has been employed. Further information is required by SEEDA for this project before grant funding is agreed 10 Updates See written report from Dee England Little discussion took place on this as the meeting was running late. SSSI Coxwell Pit Norman Snelling provided maps of the pit and the SSSI. The contamination report indicates that removal of 1m of ground will remove the contamination in the area where houses are planned. The area to become paddock has not been tested. Given planning permission is granted, the developer is currently willing to give the SSSI to the town. 11 Any Other Business A letter from Tim Reeves, formerly a member of the Community Association Trust was read aloud. This outlined how he and another member of the association are now being pursued by the Revenue and the brewery for £18k each. A Traffic Advisory meeting held 8/10/01 discussed traffic calming and parking The Car Park restriction signs have now been changed such that it is legal now to park domestic vehicles weighing over 1525kg. No information on the reopening the junction of Stanford Road and the bypass was available, as Judith Heathcoat had left the meeting (to go to another). 13 Future FAR Meetings, MON 11/2/02 13/5/02 Minutes and Agendas will be available from the Town Council office for those who want to see them in advance of the meeting. |
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| Report (verbatim) from Dee England
(Faringdon Mayor) for FAR meeting 8/10/01.Italics indicate
annotations of points made at the meeting |
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| Updates
Best Value – Car Parking Review Chairman attended a focus group meeting 6/9/01 in the Abbey Room at the Guildhall. This meeting focused on all car parking around the vale, issues included Litter, lighting, spaces available, opening times, weight of cars, fees and usage. A detailed report will be written and sent to each council in the near future. Community Centre As many of you will be aware the Community Centre is now in the hands of the Town Council. The Councils objective is to over the next few months is to put in place the repair program, the council will be advised by professional advisors. Skate Park The skate park is in the advising and planning stage. Sat 13th Oct Oxfordshire will be putting on a Skate Experience day. Two Council members will be attending this day to gain insight to what having a Skate Park and all its issues will mean to Faringdon. Verbal information from VWHDC indicates that the response to the consultation(in August) was low and the views negative in relation to a Skate Park in Willes Close. It is thought that the Town Council will discuss the Skate Park at a meeting 17/10/01 Healthcheck for Faringdon VWHDC is in the process of putting together job descriptions for 2 posts, 6 month post and 3 year post, to enable these checks to be started. No firm details are yet confirmed. The Healthcheck is an investigation that looks at the current situation and needs of the community. It will cover the environment, social and economic factors, economic development, transport etc and produce a strategy for the development of Faringdon. The work to carry out the Healthcheck is funded by a central government body Pride in Faringdon Committee Due to work overload and shortage of Councillors we have as yet to really get stuck into this work, but I can say that many of us are communicating with the public and many do feel that the people of the town are taking more pride in their own properties and surrounding street space. The one area I have visited recently Marlborough Gardens, that is looking very nice and people should be congratulated for the work they have put in. VWHDC Design Award Scheme 2001 Faringdon is to receive a commendation to the Old Town Hall WELL DONE! Faringdon Rural Enterprise Hub Meeting will take place at Faringdon Community College Thurs 11 Oct. This meeting will be attended by 5 councillors and the purpose of the meeting is to develop ideas already raised in previous meeting and to discuss new ideas Cedar Wood No update on the troughs but we have had enquiries for the College that they are interested in making the troughs and to use part of it for projects. The prime wood is being stored. The secondary wood, intended for the troughs, is missing. Country Park Alison Thompson is putting all her energies into this project and is coming closer to getting this for Faringdon Thankyou VWHDC have not yet gained ownership of land required for vehicle access to the park. They are hopeful that the situation will be resolved soon, so that work can proceed. Weeds in Faringdon This has been a bumper year for weeds on our streets. District Council can only do their best as far as money is concerned to take care of this ever growing problem. I have to say many people of Faringdon are taking much more care of their areas. This was not discussed at the meeting – the responsibility of the weeds is Oxfordshire County. Town centre streets range from acceptable to disgraceful |
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