At the Annual Meeting, Cllr. Peter Biggs was elected as Chairman of the Parish Council. It would be his nineteenth year as Chairman. Cllr. Colin Charlett was re-elected as Vice-Chairman.
The Statement of Accounts and the summary income and expenditure financial statement were considered and approved. They had been audited and the documents would be available for inspection by appointment with the Clerk from 7th June to 2nd July 2010.
Following the last meeting, the Clerk had written to the Kennington Playing Fields Association to arrange a meeting to discuss the BMX track. When the two groups met, the members of the Association agreed to the proposal from the Parish Council that the BMX track to be installed behind the Leylandii trees in Forest Side. There was also a discussion about the day to day maintenance and monitoring of the new play area. In addition the Association had requested that their lease be renewed. It was agreed discuss these matters in detail at a meeting of the Amenities Committee of the Parish Council.
The Clerk had received a number of complaints about the quality of the grass cutting and the Village Warden had logged the areas that were not cut. The Clerk had requested another meeting with the contractor to try to resolve the problems. The members of the Parish Council were concerned that the village did not look as well kept as usual.
A meeting was arranged with the contractor working on the new play area in late April to discuss the outstanding issues. It was agreed that the surface on the closed area should be dug over and reseeded. There was also some remedial work to be done to dig out one of the bark pits and secure the gate and fencing. The contractor started the work on 6th May and it was looking better already. The temporary fencing still needed to be in place for a few weeks to try and allow the grass to grow. It was hoped that young people and their parents would not use this area as it had not been inspected by ROSPA and it was not finished. There needed to be safety matting around the playhouse. Once that had happened and the swings attached, the site could be opened.
The members of the Parish Council wanted to express their thanks to the manager of Oxford Garden Centre (formally Wyevale’s) at South Hinksey as the company provided free compost for the flower baskets in the village when approached for support from the Chairman. The Centre cooperated with the organisation of the planting up of the baskets by allowing the volunteers to choose and take away their plants. The final bill was then paid by the Parish Council. It was hoped that there would be a very varied display later in the summer as some of the past winners of the Best Container Competition were taking part.
BBC South Television did a report on the potholes in Kennington and interviewed Cllr. Charlett and the Clerk in April. It was pleasing to see that a team from the County Highways arrived the following week and had been working in the village for four weeks.
