The members of the Parish Council were given copies of the Library Service Consultation on the future of all the libraries in Oxfordshire including Kennington. The document and the background papers were available online on the County Council website www.oxfordshire.gov.uk . The consultation had a deadline of 30th September 2011. Kennington was classified as a group 4 community library. The County Council proposed to provide a fully supported infrastructure (building, ICT, book stock and the installation of self-service). They would work with the Friends Group to enable them to shift the balance of staffing in the community libraries towards volunteers over a three-year period. It was proposed that the sixteen community libraries would be run on one third paid professional staff and two thirds volunteer staff. As the documentation was extensive it was agreed to allow the working group set up last month to come forward with proposals for consideration at the July meeting. It was agreed that another public meeting was not necessary at this stage.
Following the Clerk’s report to the County Council of the large Leylandii trees which were blocking the street light in Kennington Road she had a call to say that they would be attending to remove the branches obscuring the light. She was asked to report the hedge at the junction of Kennington Road and Upper Road which was obstructing the warning signs for the mini roundabout.
The County Councillor reported that there were planned repairs to the footway in Grundy Crescent from 15th August which was in the school holidays. He said that there were plans for surface dressing of the roadway in Bagley Wood Road and The Avenue but this had not been scheduled yet. There would also be work on road drainage in July.
The Chairman of the Parish Council who was the council’s representative on the Youth Club Committee raised his concerns about the delayed opening of the newly refurbished club building. He hoped that the Youth Club committee could find a solution to the lack of a regular leader to start the club again. The members of the Parish Council agreed and hoped that within the village there were experienced youth workers who could get together to restart the club. The Parish Council would be pleased to put people in touch with the committee as it was three years since the club closed. They were saddened that it was taking so long to reopen the club as it was a valuable resource for the young people in the village.
The Oxfordshire Rural Community Council had an article in their magazine about the Digital TV Switchover. They were asking local organisations especially those involved with elderly or disabled people to check that their members have had their televisions converted to receive the digital signal from 14th September 2011.
