Following the close of nominations there were only twelve people elected to the fourteen seats on the Parish Council. Therefore there were two vacancies which would be filled by co-option at the May meeting. Details of how to apply for the vacancies are included in this addition of Chronicle. The members of the Parish Council said goodbye to three well respected councillors who had served on the Parish Council for many years. Ted Perkins joined the Parish Council in 1954 and had served for fifty seven years. Doreen Horseman and Charles Swaisland joined in 1991 when they were co-opted onto the council. Doreen had twenty years continuous service while Charles had a few breaks. They would be welcoming a new member Ron Mansfield at the May meeting.
The Clerk submitted the application for funding for the BMX track to WREN at the end of March. She had received acknowledgement that it would be considered by the advisory panel on 19th July 2011 and the WREN Board on 11th August 2011. In addition she had confirmation that the Vale would be able to fund a third party donation of £1,253 for this project. So for the young people in the village who would like to see the track built there would be a wait until the summer holidays before it was know if there would be sufficient funds to start it this year.
The Oxford Garden Centre in South Hinksey had agreed to supply the compost again free of charge for the village flower baskets and allow the volunteers to choose their plants without paying for them at the time. The Parish Council would pay the final bill. The baskets were to be distributed to the volunteers on 16th April. They would then plant them up and look after them until May when they would be put in position.
A number of residents had contacted the Clerk with concerns about the car parking for the Health Centre. They had noticed that there seemed to be all day parking which meant that the spaces available for patients going to the health centre was reduced and the car park was blocked which meant if an ambulance needed to have access it would not be able to get to the door of the health centre. It was discussed by the Parish Council who felt as most of the car park was the responsibility of the Village Hall Management Committee they would be asked to investigate. The only car parking spaces allocated to the health centre were the ones on the west side immediately behind the health centre building. The rest of the car park was for the users of the Village Hall, Social Club and Youth Club and other occasional users. The members of the Parish Council wanted to remind people to respect the limited parking and if they were working full time in the village not to use the car park while they were at work as it was blocking a space for an elderly person trying to get to see the doctors or nurses.
