Radley Parish Council - Highlights of meetings in 2008

April 2008

• Town Green Application, Thrupp and Bullfield Lakes: You may have seen the recent press release on this subject? In accordance with its resolution of 29 February, the Parish Council has now submitted an application to the High Court to undertake a Judicial Review of the decision of Oxfordshire County Council on 14 January 2008 not to register land around Thrupp and Bullfield Lakes as a Town Green* . The application was submitted on 1 April 2008 within the 3 month deadline.
Since then, several other local councils have added their support to the campaign. These include Oxford City Council, who passed a resolution in support of the action on the 18th February; the Vale of White Horse District Council; Abingdon Town Council; Kennington Parish Council and Sunningwell Parish Council. Several councils have already pledged financial support, and others have promised to consider giving financial support in the future
The Parish Council has decided to re-opened discussions with Didcot Power Station, and a meeting of the Radley Local Liaison Committee (RWEnPower) will take place during May.

• Bus Shelters: The Parish Council has now agreed to ask the Oxfordshire County Council for a grant towards two new bus shelters in 2008/2009. The new bus shelters will be put on the Oxford bound side of Foxborough Road, opposite the current bus shelter, and on the Oxford bound side of Radley College. The actual position of the bus shelters at these bus stops has still to be agreed.

• Annual Parish Meeting: The Annual Parish Meeting is taking place on Friday, 9 May 2008, at 7.30 pm in the Church Room. This is open to the electorate of the Parish and the Parish Council hopes you will come along. A special invitation is being sent to local organizations – the Parish Council hopes that in future this might be a wider meeting, with local organizations giving a short report on their activities. What do you think about this – please give your views to me or to any of the Parish Councillors?

• Highway Matters: My annual plea – please ensure any hedges bordering on to the village footways are cut back to ensure the full width of the footway is available. So many of them are far too narrow but it is unlikely that anything can be done about this.
The Parish Council is very conscious about the amount of potholes in the Parish and the continual flooding outside Radley College. We are in touch with the OCC Highways about these matters regularly, and hope that our pressure will result in action.

• Parish Council Vacancy: Please see the notice regarding filling the vacancy which has been put on village notice boards. If an election is not requested, the Parish Council will fill the vacancy by co-option. If you are interested in joining the Parish Council, please let me know not later than 18 June 2008. Interested people will be invited to meet the Parish Councillors before the Parish Council meeting on the 26 June 2008.

• Conservation: The Parish Council has set up a Working Party on Conservation (Nature) following the publication of the Natural Environment and Rural Communities (NERC) Act which gives a new legal duty to local authorities to protect and enhance wildlife.
The Parish Council also regularly reviews the footpaths in the Parish and has applied to register the footpaths around Radley Lakes and to alter the designation of Footpath 8 to that of a footway/cycle way. However, the news is not good. The Oxfordshire County Council takes ten years to consider applications!
Tree planting is continually reviewed and new planting is agreed each year. You may have noticed that more trees have been planted along Whites Lane, but this coincided with two trees being knocked down by unknown motorists.
Rubbish in the Parish is a continual problem. If anyone knows who dumped the cabinet in the unofficial lay by in Sugworth Lane, the Parish Council and District Council would be pleased to know. I know an appeal was made in the Oxford Times about this – but does anyone locally know anything about it?

* Following the application in 2006 by Mrs Jo Cartmell, a resident of Abingdon, to register Thrupp and Bullfield Lakes in Radley as a Town of Village Green under the 1965 Commons Registration Act, in order to protect the area of these lakes from being turned into a repository for waste ash from Didcot Power Station, a 7-day public inquiry was held in Radley during 2007. The inspector found that most of the land around the lakes had indeed been used for recreation as of right for an uninterrupted period of at least 20 years, which are the requirements for land to become a town or village green, but, on a controversial legal point, recommended that the land should not be so registered. The inspector argued that the use of the land was more in keeping with use as a right of way, a point which is disputed by Radley Parish Council and its legal representatives. Radley Parish Council and Save Radley Lakes pressed their counter arguments upon Oxfordshire County Council and, in doing so, got the backing of one of the most eminent barristers in the field. Nevertheless, Oxfordshire County Council’s Planning and Regulation Committee not only stood by their inspector’s recommendation, but chose not to seek further legal opinion as they were requested to do, and proceeded to reject the application outright at their meeting on the 14 January.

February 2008
• Town Green Application, Thrupp and Bullfield Lakes: The public consultation of the parishioners of Radley, (where every household in the village received a letter asking them to vote on whether the Radley Lakes ought to be saved, and whether Parish Council should undertake to challenge the decision made by Oxfordshire County Council) showed an overwhelming vote in agreement with the Parish Council taking action. At its last meeting, the Parish Council considered the result of the public consultation and legal advice, and decided that it would instigate the legal process which had been provisionally agreed at an earlier meeting. It also took into account the recent statement by RWE Npower that the lake would not be filled with ash in the immediate future, but did not feel this gave an assurance that the lake would never been filled in.
• Abingdon Town Council has already agreed to give financial support, as has Save Radley Lakes, and other local councils and organisations have been approached to see if they also will give financial support.
• Footpath 8: The Parish Council has received a grant of £10,000 from the Trust for Oxfordshire’s Environment towards the widening of Footpath 8 from the top of Whites Lane to the roundabout. This will improve the path for use by pedestrians, cyclists, and the disabled.
• Bus Shelters: The bus shelter at Sugworth Crescent has been installed, and the one at Pebble Hill will be installed at the end of March. The Parish Council will be considering the provision of more bus shelters during 2008/2009.
• Lime Tree, Foxborough Road: The Parish Council has been pressing the OCC for this tree to be cut down as it had a lot of rot inside its truck. It is hoped a further tree will be planted in the village to replace it, although not on the same site.

Highlights from previous meetings in 2007

Highlights from previous meetings in 2006

Highlights from previous meetings in 2005

Highlights from meetings September – December 2004