The Parish Council decided its budget for 2008/9 in January. The Parish Precept, which was the money that the Parish Council gets as its proportion from the total Council Tax bill, would be £71,877. This would cost a Band ‘D’ property owner £41.74 per year. This was an 86p or 2.1% increase on the previous year. The bus shelter replacement programme was continued at the rate of two a year.
In addition £10,000 had been earmarked as a contribution to the refurbishment of the Play Areas once the working group had completed their task. A few people had returned the questionnaire from last month’s Kennington Chronicle. The members wanted to make sure that every family with children had the opportunity of giving their views so extra copies were supplied to St Swithun’s School, the Playgroup, the Toddler group and Small World nursery. In addition some were given to the library and the Health Centre. It was also available from the Clerk.
The final details of the agreement with Network Rail regulating their use of Cow Lane were agreed. Hopefully that would mean that Network Rail will be undertaking work to lay type 1 material in the worst areas of the lane. Once that was complete the Parish Council intends to erect a vehicle barrier to prevent unauthorised access.
The Clerk had received a response to her letter about the Poplar Grove pavement from Otters Reach to The Avenue. Oxfordshire Highways had promised to patch it immediately and look at their budget to see if they could complete the renewal of the pavement which was started three years ago.
It was agreed to do a survey of the street furniture in the village to see if there were any items that could be removed to make the streets less cluttered. The Clerk prepared a check sheet for each councillor to record their findings. They would also report any faded or missing street signs so they could be renewed by the Vale.
The Village Hall Management Committee had kindly provided the Clerk with a notice board for parish use. Please check the notice board opposite the library for the date of the next Saturday office and other official notices. One of the queries that came up at the office recently was how to use the Vale’s bus pass to get to Witney without going through Oxford before the national scheme is introduced in April. Did you know that there is a County Council supported service X15 which goes from Abingdon to Witney via Millets Farm? You pick it up in the High Street opposite the War Memorial or in Bath Street. It runs Monday to Saturday about every two hours which makes it handy for a shopping trip without a car.
