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| Faringdon Town Council |
Town Meeting - 22/01/2001Go to Council Meeting 08/11/2000 |
A sparseley attended meeting heard that Faringdon must accept between five and six hundred new houses. Cllr Alan Hickmore, standing in for Cllr Bickley, chairman of the planning committee explained that the unresolved problem was where these should be sited. A number of sites were under consideration, including land to the east of the town, near to the Folly Hill; the present cricket ground; and land adjacent to Rogers Concrete. Cllr Hickmore said that his preferred option would be the land adjacent to Rogers' Concrete, but that the decision would rest ultimately with the Vale planners. Although more housing was seen as a bad thing by many residents, there was an upside, in the form of planning gain, said Cllr Hickmore, and he continued to say that Faringdon should receive benefit from the forthoming development equivalent to £1million. The infants ' school had received a considerable amount of money from developers as a result of the advancement of housing in Coxwell Road. "The Vale has failed us in the past" continued Cllr Hickmore, and went on to say that the Vale Council had witheld information from the Town Council on planning matters, and that we had not benefitted in the past as much as we should have done. The Town Council has now employed a planning consultant to advise it, so that this would not happen in the future. Cllr Hickmore also cited the much vaunted Country Park as an example of the lack of consultation and consideration from the Vale. This was supposed to have been completed last summer, but it seems to be arriving, he said, "in a piecemeal fashion". Cllr Leniec, chairman of the Recreation and Open Spaces committee, reported that this had been a busy year. The responsibilities of this committee lie in the maintenance and upkeep of Oakwood Park, Tucker Park, and Willes Close, some allotments, and part of the tennis courts, as well as the now closed churchyard of All Saints. There is a possibility of a skateboarding park, which would be sited in the vicinity of Willes Close. Of the options for future amenities which had come under consideration by the council this was the one chosen in response to feedback from representatives of local youngsters. Vandalism, said Cllr Leniec had been responsible for £4,500 worth of damage in local play areas, and he hoped that the community would be more proactive in its prevention in the future. A proposal by Mr Whittaker, a local resident, to spend £10,000 on the refurbishment of Tucker Park was unsupported by the residents. Improvements would be made this year to play areas to bring them in line with health and safety requirements. Cllr Ward - Social Committee - reported that £2,700 has been budgeted for cctv in the Corn Exchange, to make supervision of social events easier and for sanding and repolishing the Corn Exchange floor. On the vexed subject of the Pump Housethere was a protracted discussion, mostly covering old ground. The resources of the Economic Development Committee had mostly been taken up with this affair.The council now accepted that it would have to pay for the repair of the building, and that to pursue the former trusteess would not be cost effective. However, there was still the question of whether to continue to run the building as a community centre, or to hand it back to the Faringdon Collection Trust. The council's position, as outlined by Cllr Ilott, was a commitment to run the building as a community centre, on the grounds that to do so would attract grants on behalf of community groups, which would offset part of the repair bill. Handing the building back to the trust would simply mean that the town would have to foot the entire bill unaided. The council intends that the building should be run in such as way as to self sufficient. There was some dissent from the residents, since someone, at least, had considered the long term possibility that the building would continue to need upkeep and maintenance in excess of the revenue gathered from (often) impecunious groups. It was also mentioned that if we were to gain such rich rewards from future housing development, then it might be more sensible to cut our losses have a new, purpose built community centre, if indeed one were needed at all.. Ms Gene Webb asked when the council would be in a position to make firm proposals for the use of the Pump House. April-May was proposed. The subject of the Millennium Clock was discussed at some length. This project is still under consideration by the council, although there was no money for it, no planning permission for it, no final costing for it, and very little support from residents. Cllr Leniec expressed his disappointment that Faringdon would have nothing to mark the Millennium if the clock project were dropped, but Mrs M Brown, pointed out that there was a very popular (if unofficial) project well under way, fotoFaringdon2000, which the council might well consider supporting. Eventually residents voted overwhelmingly to drop the clock project. Ms Webb expressed her concern about the state of Faringdon's streets, particularly regarding the state of maintenance and repair, litter and filth from dogs and pigeons. Although the Vale and OCC are responsible for these various aspects the councils concerned were not discharging these duties satisfactorily and Ms Webb suggested that Faringdon Town Council should take overall responsibility for the state of the town's streets. Ms Webb proposed that the council should spend an additional three thousand pounds a year on its own street cleaning efforts. Although this would have meant a negligible amount per household, the residents, astonishingly, voted against it. |
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