Annual Village Meeting – 16th April 2024 – 7:30pm at the Village Hall

Agenda

Update on West Northants from Councillor Alison Eastwood

Report of the Council (below)

Questions and Answers

Reports from Village Organisations

To keep you informed we are posting the Chairman’s Report and Financial Statement on noticeboards and online.  If you have any queries and can’t attend the meeting then please get in touch and we will try to clarify as much as we can.

We are increasingly receiving and circulating information by email.  If you would like to be included in our distribution list for any local information please provide your email address to the Parish Clerk. Send an email to clerk@chippingwarden.org .  Please note that if you provide your email address the Parish Clerk will use it to circulate information deemed of interest to parishioners and your details will be held for this purpose alone.

Increasingly the Parish Council information and local news is also communicated via the Chipping Warden Community Facebook Group.  This is a particularly useful line of communication for urgent Hs2 works updates and utility works warnings.  If you haven’t tried it out log onto Facebook and have a look.

We currently have one vacancy on the Parish Council as Alistair Barclay has resigned his position and we will be looking to co-opt someone from the parish to the role since official notifications of the vacancy have produced no candidates.

If anyone is interested in standing please contact the Chairman or Parish Clerk.

Parish Council Chairman’s Report

I have slimmed down this years report a little, as actually it has been a lot quieter but a few things of note are going on.

Hs2 & Relief Road:

The disruption continues – and the delays.

To get their vehicles across the A361 from the compound to Calves Close/Culworth Road Area EKFB have built a temporary embankment and Bailey Bridge constructed just south of the compound.  This has helped in reducing traffic through the village to access the Culworth Road Works.

Culworth Road has been closed for most of March 2024. This closure was required to build a new farm access road for Blackgrounds which will join onto the part of Culworth Road  that will remain open once the final complete closure is done.  The Parish Council is still investigating options to keep Culworth Road passable by traffic, as otherwise the Edgcote Estate will need to build an additional bridge across the Cherwell, in the valley, to enable access to agricultural land on the west side of the river around Blackgrounds farm.  A planning application is currently being processed for this and can be viewed on the West Northants planning portal.  Hopefully an alternative will be possible rather than further construction in the valley.

The tunnel construction is continuing (slowly) with the top now being ‘sealed’ before the next phase of back-filling the tunnel trench and constructing the Relief Road phase II to run north from the large roundabout and join the old A361 just before the Bailey Bridge.

The completion of the Relief Road is scheduled to occur by the end of the current year, however, recent Hs2 road construction projects have been delayed due to trouble completing ‘bringing into use’ permissions so I anticipate this may also be delayed to Spring 2025.  The existing A361 will then be removed and the tunnel continued down to Calves Close.  When completed the Chipping Warden Green Tunnel will be 2480m in length and created from 992 ‘rings’ of pre-cast concrete sections.

The plans to construct ‘modular’ residential units on the airfield compound for Hs2 employees have been shelved as there is insufficient demand from the workforce.

We will do our best to keep you updated with information on Hs2 issues and transport plans via the Parish Council Website and our Social Media.  If your neighbours and friends are not tech-savvy please pass on what you can.

Housing Developments – Planning:

Your Council has a long-standing resolution that no housing development should be permitted outside of the village confines and will oppose any such development as a matter of principal should they come to planning stage.

Your Council strongly believe that the rules should be enforced to protect the village environment in an equal and fair manner and we are always proactive in this regard by bringing issues to the notice of the relevant authorities.

There is increased pressure on all planning authorities to allow more housing development, but Chipping Warden Village is defined as a restricted infill village and no property development should be permitted outside the current ‘Village Confines’.  The Village Confines have recently been reviewed (2017) as part of the new Local Structure Plan and minor changes have been proposed.  The new confines still have not yet been adopted but are still planned to take effect.  (check when its due)

The 8 houses on the edge of the sports field have now been built and are on the market.  An additional property has been approved to replace ‘The Morgue’ building immediately behind the school.  The Parish Council strongly objected to this property but we have been ignored.

Finally, there was a previous application for the land off Long Barrow.  This was outside the Village Confines so we objected but it was apparently to build a single self-build dwelling.  The rules state that a SINGLE self-build property can be approved if it is abutting the Confines boundary and as such the application was successful.  Whilst this may well tidy up the overgrown plot I imagine that the cost of self-building a property on this site will be prohibitive due to utility and flooding concerns.  Your Council have also made strong representations to avoid there being a further ‘single’ application once this one is ever completed. The plot is now under offer on the market.

Other Planning:  There have been several applications for cutting/felling trees within the conservation area.  Residents should be aware that advance planning approval is required for ANY work on mature trees in the Conservation area.

Your Council has considered various other minor planning and consent applications during the year.  We are not experts in planning rules but we are pleased to provide input at the pre-planning stage if any developments are considered.  We have no formal right or veto over any application, but our opinion is considered as with any individual submission.

All planning applications can be viewed and commented on by anyone online at https://wnc.planning-register.co.uk/.  Click Advanced then the Planning Search box at the top right drop down the search criteria by Parish for Chipping Warden and Edgcote.  Or they can be inspected in person at the West Northants in Towcester.

All Parish Council, Local Authority Agency and neighbours’ comments or objections– are published with the details and plans of any application.

Additional council business has continued as normal and the following has been of particular note.

Village Gates: Your Council have reinstated the village entrance ‘gates’ last summer.  Replacing the southern ones which had fallen into disrepair and re-installing the northern ones past the school that were removed by Fusion when the highway was changed.  Hopefully this will highlight the village environment and slow down some of the traffic.

Grass cutting:  Our long-time contractor RD Landscapes has retired and as such the Council have put the work out to tender.  The new contractor will, where possible, advise cutting dates and we will add them to our local facebook page.

This should allow any residents who park on the grass to remove their vehicles in advance.  The contractor will also generally try to avoid bin collection days.

We hope they can provide the same excellent service but we would ask you all to bear with any ‘teething problems’ during the start of the new contracts.

If you have any issues or comments please contact the Parish Clerk or any of the Councillors.

We would also like to thank all villagers who cut ‘their bit’ of the highways verge as it all assists in keeping costs down.  However, there is an increasing incidence of parking cutting up our green verges throughout the village and the Council request that villagers try to minimise any such damage.

Now the Relief Road is finally open parking along the A361 is also possible but some residents still seem to prefer to park on the grass.  Hopefully this will improve.

Now Appletree Road is stopped-up there has been a marked improvement with residents not parking on the verge and hopefully once the areas recover it will return to its best.

Litter:  All organisations involved in the Hs2 construction have responded positively to our complaints about littering and organised regular litter picks themselves.

If you see any litter on your walks through the village please pick it up (if you can in a safe manner) and drop it in any of our bins.  If we all do our bit, we all benefit from a nicer environment.

There is now a much a larger team of volunteers who are often visible with litter pickers and plastic bags on their daily walks following social media campaigns.  I am afraid we will have to live with this for the duration of the construction project but we will keep trying to get it resolved. 

Flooding and Drainage:  The Parish Council have been particularly vigilant with all drainage plans in the Hs2 design when we hope some of the long standing issues may get addressed by improved drainage from the airfield site to the Cherwell – However our optimism seems to have been misplaced as, with the increased rainfall intensity, the flooding issues have, if anything, been exacerbated.  The major construction seems to have changed the ground water drainage in many areas and it remains to be seen what the long term outcome is once the tunnel is backfilled and agriculture reinstated.

Street lighting:  Our Clerk is very proactive in reporting and chasing lighting repairs but if anyone notices malfunctioning street lights in the village please notify the Clerk or a local Councillor as we can only get them repaired if we know they are broken.

Dog Fouling:  Generally, we would like to thank dog owners for their continued co-operation and recently there seems to have been an improvement.  Please be aware that dogs are not allowed in the Activity Park and recently West Northants Council have introduced new regulations on dog walking that involve the possibility of more fines for irresponsible owners.

Additionally, dogs should be on a lead at all times within the village boundaries (30mph zone) and care must be taken with dogs running free on the Estate or airfield.  A boisterous friendly dog can cause concern and possible injury to other walkers, particularly the older members of the parish and the owners may find themselves liable to prosecution.  Please make sure you can control your dogs in all circumstances before letting them off the lead.  Everyone’s help would be appreciated.

Roads and Pavements:  As ever we have been vigilant in reporting the increasingly numerous potholes to the authorities.  These can also be reported by individuals by using the online Fix My Street application at https://www.fixmystreet.com/ .  It is simple to use – just enter your postcode, zoom in on the map and click the problem location then make a brief note of the problem and Submit.  Photos of the offending pothole/problem can also be easily uploaded.

Parking:  All villages suffer from problems with car parking and we are not immune.  Many residences now have two or more vehicles and garages are often too narrow to accommodate them.  Now the relief road is in place considerate parking on the old A361 is possible.  There is no ‘right’ to park outside your property on the highway when doing so causes inconvenience to others.  Parking on any part of a footpath is illegal but not often enforced and parking such that a wheelchair or pushchair cannot pass is also “causing an obstruction” and can be subject to an on-the-spot fixed penalty fine.  Whilst many people park half on/half off in villages this is not really acceptable and also damages kerbs and footways which are not built for vehicles overriding.  It is better to cause the cars to slow down by parking properly in the road than force a pedestrian into the road to get past.

Also please consider carefully when parking on narrow roads such as Mill Lane and Hogg End to ensure sufficient access remains for wider farm vehicles, deliveries lorries and particularly emergency vehicles.

Future Plans:  Discussions are on-going with WNC Highways with regard to removal of signage ‘clutter’ now that the centre of the village is bypassed and we are also in conversation about future maintenance of new ‘green’ areas created by the relief road construction and balancing ponds.

Don’t forget your Councillors are always available if you need more information.

Website:  www.chippingwarden.org : Information is available on the Parish Council Website at where copies of all the parish council minutes and associated public papers are also available for enquiry.

News is also posted there and to the Chipping Warden Community page on Facebook.

Any such information posted is also available from the Clerk.

Chairman – Nigel Galletly

Reports from Village Organisations

We have received no written reports from village organisations but these can be given at the meeting.