The Parish Council confirmed its budget for 2009-2010 at their meeting in January following the Finance Meeting on 8th January. The Parish Precept, which is the money that the Parish Council receives as its proportion from the total Council Tax bill collected by the Vale, would be £71,212. This meant good news as there was no increase in the Parish Council Tax so a Band ‘D’ property owner would pay £41.74 per year.
The members of the Parish Council were pleased that the upgrading of the bus shelters had been completed a year early. This allowed them to allocate a further £10,000 to the fund that is being accumulated to pay for the upgrading of the play area at Playfield Road.
The Parish Council want to involve young people in the village in a number of initiatives this year. The first special day is during the February school holiday, on 17th February 2009 at the Pavilion on the Playfield Road playing field from noon to 3pm. The members of the Parish Council would like to invite all young people living in the village up to the age of 16 years old to an afternoon of drawing and designing their ideal play area. Please see the village notice boards for more information nearer the day.
The Clerk had received a letter from the Vale about two minor works schemes that they were about to start. The first is at the Fish Ponds on the slip road to the bypass. They are proposing installing a post and rail fence alongside the existing footpath with filling behind the fence to prevent the pond from over spilling the footpath. In addition they will be fitting a flap valve on the highway drain outlet into the pond. The second project is in Kennington Road, Radley near the Paddock. The stream which divides Radley and Kennington has an outlet with a trash screen which gets blocked. It is proposed to replace it with a sloping screen and concrete bagwork side walls to make it safer to remove debris and reduce the risk of the screen becoming blocked.
The Clerk has also been contacted by Keith Hutchence from the Environment Agency (EA). He has invited the Parish Council to a meeting at the Guildhall in Abingdon on 22nd January. The meeting is to get the views on the various options to be put forward by the EA for the major flood prevention scheme for Oxford.
It was found that there was too much woodchip ordered for the two play areas. The excess has been offered to other parish councils but if local residents would like some for their children’s play areas they are welcome to help themselves while it is still available outside the garage door at Playfield Road playing field.
