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Present

Members: 

  • Cllr Mike Acreman
  • Cllr Dan Beauchamp (The Mayor/Chairman)
  • Cllr Mahmood Ebrahimjee
  • Cllr Marcus Harris
  • Cllr Susan Hendrie
  • Cllr Stephen Holder (The Deputy Mayor) (up to and including Minute 173/24)
  • Cllr Jacki Hoskins
  • Cllr Mark Hoskins
  • Cllr Nigel Hughes
  • Cllr Ros Lester
  • Cllr Diana Margarido
  • Cllr Len Pannett
  • Cllr Christine Sandall

Officers:

  • Michelle Taylor, Town Clerk and Responsible Financial Officer
  • Karen Crowhurst, Locum Clerk
  • Luke Whitcomb, Meetings Officer
  • Arthur Hodsdon, Head of Parks and Estates

Others:           

  • Cllr Pete Sudbury, Oxfordshire County Council
  • 1 member of the public
  • 0 members of the press

 

164/24     MEETING PROTOCOL

The Mayor welcomed members of the public and outlined the protocols that needed to be followed in the conduct of the meeting.

165/24     APOLOGIES

Apologies were tabled from Town Councillors Charter, Holford and Keats-Rohan, and Town Councillor Holder had indicated that he would need to leave the meeting after Item 10.

It was proposed by Councillor Acreman, and seconded by Councillor Lester, and RESOLVED that these apologies be received and accepted

166/24     DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

No interests were declared.

167/24     MINUTES

It was proposed by Councillor Ebrahimjee, and seconded by Councillor Sandall, and RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting of the Full Council held on 24 June 2024 be approved and signed by the Chairman as a correct record, subject to the replacement of the word ‘challenging’ with ‘channelling’ in Minute 94/24

168/24     ACTIONS FROM PREVIOUS MEETINGS

The Council reviewed progress on each of the ‘open’ actions agreed by previous meetings of the Full Council.

169/24     MAYOR’S COMMUNICATIONS

The Mayor reported on his recent activity, including supporting the 50th anniversary of Rainbow. He thanked the leadership of St Mary-le-More for arranging and hosting the General Election hustings. He explained that Wallingford Sports Park were currently holding consultation meetings to gain feedback on their ambitious plans. Their consultation had now finished.

170/24     TOWN CLERK’S REPORT

The Council received the Town Clerk’s Report which contained updates on the following projects and initiatives: Heritage Watch, the Town Hall Conservation Project, the Wallingford School Awareness Campaign, Britain in Bloom 2024, the replacement of the stair lift at the Town Hall, the community transport scheme, consultation on 20 mph speed limits, the development of a comprehensive list of current Town Council projects, climate action, and the new working group focussed on younger people.

171/24     COUNTY AND DISTRICT COUNCILLORS’ REPORTS

The Council received written reports from County Councillor Pete Sudbury and District Councillor James Barlow.

172/24     PUBLIC PARTICIPATION

A director of the Bunkfest updated the Council on plans for the 2024 event particularly the extension of the festival’s space using the Bull Croft.

The use of the Bull Croft had been driven by the high numbers and capacity of the Kinecroft the previous year.  The festival’s presence in the Bull Croft would be focussed on families and younger people.

Given that the Bull Croft was a Scheduled Monument, the appropriate consent had been given by Historic England and various safeguarding measures were being put in place to protect the site.

The High Street would be partially closed to assist with safe pedestrian crossing and an agreement had been reached with Waitrose to allow the delivery of goods to their store.

The use of the site had been agreed by the Bull Croft Trust as a one-year trial.

173/24     VOTE OF NO CONFIDENCE IN THAMES WATER

The Council considered a proposed vote of no confidence in Thames Water in the light of their record of sewage releases into the River Thames, including the effect of sewage releases on the stretch of the river passing through Wallingford.

Similar action had been taken by some Town Councils elsewhere in Oxfordshire.

County Councillor Sudbury encouraged the Town Council not to take action that would lead to the abuse of local Thames Water operatives.

Newly-elected Member of Parliament for Didcot and Wantage, Olly Glover, was campaigning for the non-payment of bonuses to the company’s senior executives and had signed an Early Day Motion (EDM) in Parliament that called for this.

There were misgivings with some aspects of the paper that had been tabled, particularly the reference to nationalisation.

It was proposed by Councillor Holder, and seconded by Councillor Hughes, and RESOLVED that the Town Council expresses that it has no confidence in the competence of the senior executives of Thames Water following the unacceptable releases of sewage into the River Thames and the impact of this on the natural environment and users of the river

Councillor Harris requested that his vote against this motion be recorded.

174/24     END OF SECOND WORLD WAR COMMEMORATIVE EVENT

The Council considered a recommendation of the Civic and Ceremonial Committee.

It was proposed by Councillor Lester, and seconded by Councillor Margarido, and RESOLVED that a single ‘civic’ event be held in 2025 to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War, a suitable date to be determined

175/24     MINI-GOLF PROPOSAL

The Council considered a request from an external party to run a pop-up mini-golf amenity on the Bull Croft.

It was proposed by Councillor Harris, and seconded by Councillor Hughes, and RESOLVED that the request be approved as a one-off trial on the Bull Croft, provided that the Town Council received a fee and subject to the usual conditions required of hirers, for example a risk assessment and evidence of insurance

Councillors Hendrie and Lester asked that their votes against the motion be recorded.

176/24     HERITAGE DECLARES

The Council considered a proposal from Councillors Acreman and Keats-Rohan for the Town Council to sign up to an initiative named ‘Heritage Declares’ that called for the integration of environmental conservation and the conservation of historic assets.

It was proposed by Councillor Acreman, and seconded by Councillor Pannett, and RESOLVED that the Town Council signs up to the ‘Heritage Declares’ initiative

177/24     COMMUNITY INFRASTRUCTURE LEVY (CIL) APPLICATION – ST MARY-LE-MORE

This item was deferred to the August meeting of the Full Council pending further guidance.

178/24     CITIZENS’ ADVICE BUREAU

The Council considered a request from the Oxfordshire South and Vale Citizens’ Advice Bureau for an increase of £200 in their annual grant.

It was proposed by Councillor Lester, and seconded by Councillor Acreman, and RESOLVED that the grant to CAB for 2024-25 be maintained at the budgeted level of £2k and that this be explained to the applicants who should be told that requests for additional amounts should be received by 1 November of the previous year.

179/24     BILL SCHEDULE

The Council reviewed a bill schedule.

It was proposed by Councillor Sandall, and proposed by Councillor Hughes, and RESOLVED that the bill schedule for June 2024 be approved

180/24     PARKS TEAM

The Council considered the addition of an apprentice role for the Parks Team.

It was hoped that some external funding would be able to be found through the Grants Officer

It was proposed by Councillor Harris, and seconded by Councillor Lester, and RESOLVED that an apprenticeship role be created in the Parks Team

181/24     DATA

This item was deferred to the August meeting of the Full Council to enable updates to the documentation.

182/24     COMMITTEES AND WORKING GROUPS

The Chairman informed Members that the Council’s use of Working Groups was being reviewed and that new guidelines would be issued by the Locum Clerk the following day (23 July 2024)

Specific queries should be sent to the Locum Clerk.

183/24     FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS

The following items were identified for future meetings:

  • Pedestrianisation of front area of Town Hall (Town Clerk and staff team leading)
  • Governance cycle (Cllr Charter has volunteered to lead) (Bandstand being used as a case study)
  • Community emergency plan (The Mayor is leading, and this would be a priority once the D-Day commemoration had taken place)
  • The Regal (recurring item) (current stage: feasibility review of options) (Town Clerk and staff team leading)
  • IT contract, including training and policy regarding document repository (Town Clerk and staff team leading)
  • Bandstand – outcome of scoping (Cllrs J Hoskins and Charter co-leading) (see also above)
  • Honorary Freeman (proposed by Cllr Pannett)
  • Rental property portfolio management (Town Clerk and team leading)
  • Working Group review (Locum Clerk leading)
  • Data (Locum Clerk leading)
  • Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) application to the District Council by St Mary-le-More (Town Clerk and Grants Officer leading)
  • Kinecroft, triangle of land – acceptance of proposed lease from the County Council (Cllr Holder leading, with input from Cty Cllr Sudbury)
184/24     EXCLUSION OF PRESS AND PUBLIC

It was proposed by Councillor Lester, and seconded by Councillor Acreman, and RESOLVED that the press and public be excluded from the meeting due to the confidential nature of the business to be transacted

 

The meeting ended at 9.08 pm.

Minutes of the meeting of the Full Council held on 22 July 2024, signed as a correct record

 

Chairman

 

2024-07-22 FC minutes DRAFT PUBLIC