Rena Partridge
First to speak was Rena Partridge, noting that the street lighting at the north end of West Street is very poor and a danger for pedestrians, and asking if there’d been any progress on improving access arrangements to the Co-op car park. She felt the current access from Weston Road was dangerous, particularly for pedestrians exiting the car park. Steve Clark explained it was a pity that neither Ward Councillor was present, as they’d have the most up to date information for Rena. He commented only on her second point, saying that changes were under consideration but he didn’t know when they’d be made.

Bryan Rice
Second to speak was Bryan Rice, clearly not happy about the subject of parking in Oakdown Crescent and Weston Road. Noting that the latest round of complaints had been ongoing for around a year, he felt that nothing had been done and that the remit given to the Milton Keynes Council (MKC) Transport representative was ‘inept’. He noted a couple of ways he felt the situation could be resolved, that Councillors should ‘pull their socks up’ and that, if the situation didn’t get resolved, he’d be back the next month, and the next... until it did.
Steve Clark explained that neither Highways nor Parking issues were in the power of Olney Town Council (OTC) to solve – they were MKC issues. Ron Bull concluded this item, noting pointedly that there was a vacancy for a new Councillor, should one wish to put themselves forward.

Rosemary Osborne had met Rob Ward, Neighbourhood Manager at MKC, to discuss various issues related to dog fouling. Namely, to consider whether the Recreation Ground should have a designated area for dog walkers, whether the improved signage has helped, and to discuss the proposed fencing around the football pitch adjacent to East Street. The decisions made in this meeting were to install dog bag dispensers at the main entrances to the Ground, to monitor the impact of the improved signage, to request that the Sports Clubs talk with dog walkers using their pitches and, if appropriate, hand out dog bags to them, and that an article would be produced for the Phonebox to educate people about the effects of dog fouling.
Liam Costello noted that the proposed fencing around the main football pitch would make it easier for a dog control order to be applied to that area, but that for private land, such as that on which various rugby pitches are based, a joint scheme would be required. Ben Brock, one of the Rugby Club coaches, noted that the Club may well be in favour of such an approach.
Peter Gage, who’d spoken on this topic in the Public Participation section of last month’s meeting and had come to listen to this one, felt that providing information and education to the Ground’s users was an excellent approach.

As noted in an earlier Mercury, OTC has sought advice from MKC related to the East Street Car Park extension, prior to it submitting a formal Planning Application. That advice highlighted two areas of concern. First, there are three large trees located to the edge of the proposed additional car parking area. These trees must be retained, implying that protection must be afforded to their roots, meaning that the space immediately around them can’t be used. Second, there must be a six metre over-run area between the football pitch and the additional parking area. This latter area of concern surprised Councillors, in that the Football Club’s Planning Application specifies that the fencing will be only two metres from the Pitch. After some discussions, Councillors decided to wait on the outcome of this Application, due to be considered mid January, then to consider having proper Architect’s plans drawn up for the site, including allowances for the tree roots.

As reported previously, the Council is trying to facilitate surface improvements to Berrells Court. It’s contacted the landlords of properties on the Court and now has a list of those who’d be interested in collaborating to pay for the improvements. Councillors planned to discuss pricing for these improvements in the confidential items agenda item handled after the public, including Mercury, have left the meeting.

Tony Evans explained that the Council has received the quotation and plans for the summer bedding plants around Olney. Martin, the new Groundsman, is keen to add more of a ‘wow factor’ to the displays by using a wider range of informal plants and, as such, The Knoll and the bed outside the Cemetery Rest Room will trial these ideas. These have resulted in the quotation of £3077 being £480 more than last year. Councillors felt the would bring, and voted unanimously to accept it.

Alan Richardson introduced this item noting that, each June, the Council hosts a buffet meal for war veterans in the Olney Centre. This is much appreciated, but the attendees would like to eat sitting together in one room, and the Olney Centre can’t accommodate this. Alan had talked informally with the Carlton House Club, and it appeared they could host the event in their function room, also providing the food. Councillors liked this, giving their unanimous approval for Alan to pursue this course of action.

After a successful visit to the Pyghtle last year, Pinders Circus has asked to visit again, the dates being Thursday 9th to Sunday 12th May. Councillors agreed unanimously to this request, with all bar one voting to keep the daily rate charged to the Circus unchanged this year. Surf to www.pinderscircus.co.uk for more information.

Councillors voted to allow the Market Square Car Park to be used as part of a Model T Ford Rally on Friday 7th June. All voted in favour bar three against. The benefits cited were that it’d be interesting for people to see, and should bring more people to the town. The drawbacks were the consequent lack of parking in the centre.

The toilet refurbishment having been completed, Councillors reviewed the cost breakdown. The main issue was a significant overspend of around £6,000, around a third of the expected total. This was discussed at some length and just the main points are covered here. Tony Evans asked if all the additional amounts had been sanctioned by Mike Hughes, the Clerk of Works appointed by the Council. Liam Costello replied that they had. Jeremy Rawlings felt that some of the overspend, such as that on unforeseen underground sewage work, was reasonable. Overall, there was concern about the issue and, when Rosemary Osborne suggested inviting Mike to a meeting so that Councillors could put their questions to him and he could answer them, it was agreed quickly.

Steve Clark noted that, with OTC having funded a specialist nurse for the elderly for the previous year, Olney finance firm The MPA Group – surf to www.thempagroup. co.uk – have set a great example to other local businesses by taking on the funding of that post.

Steve reported that during last year’s Fireworks Display, The Olney Group (TOG) was glad to have help from the local Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs). TOG realised that the PCSOs’ torches were considerably less powerful than those used by the event marshals, and asked whether it could purchase brighter ones to replace them. The response was positive, six bright new LED torches were bought, and they’re now in the hands of the PCSOs.

The Kitchener Centre offers day care to older people from Olney and the surrounding villages. Steve Clark outlined a proposal which local GP and ex-Councillor Brian Partridge had discussed with him. Brian was instrumental in the original Kitchener Centre project and, with over a quarter of local people now being over 60, the need for this day care is on the increase. As such, the Kitchener Centre is bursting at the seams and would benefit from additional capacity. Brian had asked Steve if OTC would be involved in a project to raise funds for an extension to the building. This topic will be included on the next meeting’s agenda.


Next Meeting - 4th February

The next meeting will be held at 7.30pm on Monday 4th February in the Council Chamber in the Olney Centre. Members of the public are always welcome to attend and, if they wish, speak at the start of the meeting, or at any point that the mayor decides is appropriate.

Isobel Ager-Righinioti
The only person wishing to speak at this monthʼs meeting was Isobel Ager-Righinioti. Isobel said that she uses her bike for short journeys around the town in preference to driving a car. One afternoon last July she was riding down West Street and as she drew level with ʻThe Archʼ a car caused her to fall off her bike. She felt that a contributing factor had been the presence of the cobblestones in the road, which she said should not be there on such a narrow street and said she had legal advice confirming this fact. Would it not be better if East Street and West Street were both one-way, she suggested? Deidre Bethune responded, saying that one of the conditions of the planning permission which was granted for the houses served by The Arch was that some form of traffic calming must be provided and the cobbles were not actually part of the highway.

Following the resignation of Andrew Dooley, a vacancy had arisen on the council and, there being no call from the electorate for an election to fill the post, it fell to the council to fill the post by co-option. Only one candidate had put his name forward for nomination, that being Joe Stacey. Joe was invited by Mayor Steve Clark to give a brief resume of his reasons for wishing to join the council. Joe said he moved to Olney from Suffolk, where he had previously served as a councillor, in July last year and had found it to be a
“smashing place”. He had worked for 40 years in the construction industry, he said, and hoped to bring some of this experience in serving on the council. There then followed a short discussion on what was the minimum period of residence before one could become a town councillor, with periods of between one and three years being suggested. Peter Geary said there was no statutory minimum and the council could elect “whoever they wished”. There being no other candidates, Joe was co-opted unopposed and took his seat at the table.

Following the discussion at last monthʼs meeting about a possible extension to the Kitchener Centre, Dr Brian Partridge and centre manager Helena Newbold were present to discuss the proposal. Brian explained that the Kitchener Centre offers day care to older people from Olney and the surrounding villages and, with over a quarter of local people now being over 60, the need for this day care is on the increase. OTC had always been receptive to the needs of the elderly and took up the challenge of getting the centre built when the nearest similar facility was in Newport Pagnell, he said. One of the key roles of the centre was to enable the elderly to continue to live in their own homes rather than go in to residential care but the ability to remain independent becomes less as we grow older. The centre currently provides for 14 people per day between the hours of 10:00 am and 3:00 pm, enabling them to have a hot meal, meet other people and be gently supervised. Helena explained that there are two waiting lists in operation: The first is for people wishing to join the service and there are currently nine on the list with another six in progress. The second list is for people who already use the centre but want additional sessions and this currently stands at 12. Sadly, the only way that people move up the list is when others go in to residential care or pass away. The clientele covers a wide range of ages (more than 30 years) and abilities, with some people in their sixties with dementia attending sessions with those in their nineties. Over such a range it was inevitable that people would have different interests and ideally separate sessions should be available for different age groups, she said. Brian concluded by that he was garnering views as to whether there was a perceived need for further provision for the elderly in Olney and the surrounding area but so far the indication were positive. However, he wanted to be sure that if the centre expanded it would continue to be financially viable, particularly when public finances are being cut back. He did not have time to personally spearhead a fundraising campaign, he said, but thought that perhaps an individual with the right skills and sufficient time might be persuaded to volunteer. Ward Councillor Peter Geary suggested that a Business Case should be prepared and funding sought from MKC. Tony Evans said that since the centre opened in 2000, OTC had supported it and thought there was no question that they would want to be involved but wondered what sort of costs were likely to be involved and would it be just for the building and running costs or staffing as well. OTC could help get the ball rolling but agreed it would need someone to manage the fundraising on a full time basis.

As previously reported, OTC has sought advice from MKC related to the East Street Car Park extension, prior to it submitting a formal Planning Application. One of the points that MKC identified was that the Football Club had applied for Planning permission to erect a protective fence around their pitch to comply with league regulations and a condition of that permission being granted would be that there must be a six metre over-run area between the football pitch and the fence, The Football Club was subsequently able to argue that the 6m run off area suggested by planning officers was not actually an element of the league regulations, so the officers eventually agreed not to require this as a condition. Steve Clark said there were still a number of issues around the planned car park and the council recognised that an application for car parking may not be popular, so they intend to conduct a survey to gauge the amount of local support. If the outcome is reasonably positive, they would then apply for planning permission. Tony Evans said that in his opinion the town desperately needs more car parking spaces and was passionate that it should go ahead. Peter Geary was sure that there would be flak from residents and said that he did not want the council to start work on the scheme and then back out. He said he, personally, would not be voting for the scheme because it was too expensive for too few additional spaces. Jeremy Rawlings thought that additional parking was required but only at specific times and would only support the scheme if the additional parking was only available as an overflow on match days. John Sharp disagreed, saying that it was needed seven days a week and would be used. The existing East Street (Rugby Club) car park is too far away and too dark, he said. Eventually a vote was taken on whether to progress with the survey which was narrowly passed by four votes to three, the rest of the members present inexplicably choosing to abstain.

The finance committee have recommended an increase of 5.84% to the precept. This is the portion of the council tax which is collected by MKC on behalf of OTC. The Income & Expenditure Budget vs. Actual appeared to show a deficit of £15k, although there seemed some doubt as to whether it was a ʻrealʼ deficit. Peter Geary felt that the budget should balance and said that the council needed a plan to reduce the deficit and balance the budget. MKC is capped in terms of the amount it can increase the council tax and OTC could be the same. Tony Evans felt that they were a good set of figures and easily understandable. The budget was passed by a vote of five to three. Electoral Review of Milton Keynes
As previously reported, The Local Government Boundary Commission for England has undertaken discussions with MKC and consulted publicly on council size and has decided that the number of councillor should be increased to 57, from the current 51. Each a councillor will cover 3300 residents as opposed to 3000 at present. The draft proposal as now been published and recommends that Milton Keynes be divided into 19 wards, each represented by three councillors. In most of urban MK this is fine but in the rural areas this leaves very large geographical areas with many individual communities requiring individual attention from their councillors in attending parish council meetings etc. For example a merged Sherington and Olney ward would comprise 17 parishes, which Jeremy Rawlings described as ridiculous. Steve Clark proposed that OTCʼs response to the document should be a request to maintain the status quo such that the current Olney ward continues to be represented by two councillors. The motion was passed by five votes to two, again with a number of abstentions.

The council had received a copy of the document ʻQuick Guide to Neighbourhood Plansʼ. Since April 2012 local communities have been able to produce Neighbourhood Plans for their local area, putting in place planning policies for the future development and growth of their neighbourhood. The plan is subject to examination and referendum and then forms part of the Local Development Plan. This statutory status gives Neighbourhood Plans far more weight than parish/community plans, such as the
'Olney for You' document that was produced by members of the community over five years ago. Tony Evans thought that a plan for Olney is a 'must do' as it is an opportunity to influence the planners and wondered if it might be possible to reuse some of the Olney for You output. Peter Geary pointed out that if Olney produced a plan ii must fit in with the existing development framework and could not be used to override MKC plans. If, for example, MKC strategy was to build 400 new homes in the town then a Neighbourhood Plan could not be produced proposing no new housing. Unlike Olney for You it would need to be council led and the effort involved would be massive in comparison. Several such plans were being produced elsewhere in Millon Keynes, he said, and were clos€ to going to referendum. The council agreed to set up a working group of members to investigate the feasibility of producing a plan for Olney.

Town Clerk Uarn Costello reported that he'd had meetings with MKC about the position of street cabinets that will be required for superfast broadband to be rolled out in Olney. Pete Geary explained that this is being enabled by an alliance between MKC, Bedford Borough and Central Bedfordshire Councils to provide superfast broadband to areas that are not part of BT's commercial deployment plans, as described in the Councillor Comer article in January's Phonebox. MKC has set aside £2.4m and has won a government grant of £ 140k to appoint a contractor to do the work, the contract being due to be let in August or September this year. However, since the meeting this has been overtaken by the recent announcement from BT that Olney is now part of its own commercial deployment some time in 2014.


Next Meeting - 4th March

The next meeting will be held at 7.30pm on Monday 4th March In the Council Chamber in the Olney Centre. Members of the public are always welcome to attend and, if they wish, speak at the start of the meeting, or at any point that the mayor decides Is appropriate.

Ann Lark and Nick Stacey from Age UK attended the meeting to discuss the Kitchener Centre, a day care centre for vulnerable older people from in and around Olney. Age UK has been managing the Centre under contract to Milton Keynes Council (MKC) since 2000. The contract to manage the Kitchener Centre and another day care centre in Bletchley, currently run by the British Red Cross (BRC), has been out for competitive tender, the bid process having just been completed. Itʼs not yet known who has won the contract, but Ann and Nick provided background information on what might happen next. First, the BRC did not submit a bid for the Bletchley centre, as running day care centres no longer fits with its national agenda. Second, and most important for Olney, the contract value specified by MKC is significantly below that which Age UK believes is required to continue to offer the current level of service at the Kitchener Centre. Age UK has been given notice to leave the Kitchener Centre later this year unless this issue is resolved. Responding to the clear, though not fully articulated, implications for the standard of care being offered, David Rumens, of Senior Voice MK and previously Olney Town Council (OTC), said his organisation would apply as much pressure to MKC as it could, and will also keep in contact with OTC on the subject. Olney Councillors were also clearly concerned about this issue.
In the background, OTCʼs letter to MKC regarding the possibility of an extension has now received a reply, any consideration being put on hold until the end of June when the contract commissioning process should be near completion.

Andrew Jackman is the new Team Leader for Traffic Management at MKC, having replaced Richard Duffill in the post. Tonight he was attending the Council meeting to discuss various Highways issues in the town.

Parking in Oakdown Crescent is a longstanding and contentious issue. Andrew agreed that there was severe pressure on parking there, as had been made clear to him by Ward Councillors Peter Geary and Debbie Brock and stated that, if there was a simple solution, itʼd be in place by now. Peter Geary outlined three current ideas, each with highly approximate ballpark figures:

• A new road running from Dagnall Road through The Pyghtle to serve the properties which face it, £250,000.
• A car park in the (retained) garden of 102 Weston Road, £85,000.
• A residentsʼ parking scheme in Oakdown Crescent, £5,000.

As is usual for this issue, a good deal of discussion followed. The main points were that Peter Geary felt OTC should propose a solution, Andrew wanted to understand the problem and have MKC work out the best solution and, when pushed by Ron Bull, Andrew said the issue would be addressed by the end of March 2014. Finally, Debbie Brock noted that the investigative work done so far hadnʼt gone to waste – it would still be useful when choosing the best way forward. The Olney Traffic Management Review in 2008 included the idea of having one-way systems in East Street and West Street. Andrew felt that using a one-way system to calm traffic was an odd idea, since evidence shows that such systems in fact make people drive 5-10 MPH faster. Based on the brief discussion which followed, which saw various Councillors expressing safety concerns regarding East Street, itʼs hard to see the one-way idea progressing further. Regarding potholes, Andrew explained that the Highways Authority has a duty to maintain roads in a safe condition. All roads are inspected regularly at least once a year. Defects, whether spotted during inspections or reported by members of the public, are dealt with in 24 hours if classified as dangerous or 28 days otherwise. The general condition of the roads has been contributed to by bad winters causing water which has penetrated the road to freeze and lift the surface. Insufficient maintenance on a national basis hasnʼt helped either. MKC is developing plans for a pothole month, likely April, during which the Council would deploy many road gangs to blitz the problem.

OTC agreed to requests to hold the annual fair on the Recreation Ground between Wednesday 19th and Saturday 22nd June, and the Cherry Fair on the Glebe on Saturday 29th June.

Great news for those who attend Council meetings but, by the end, feel like theyʼve missed out on the interesting bits. OTC has received quotes to improve the Olney Centreʼs facilities for the hard of hearing. One quote was for a fixed system, building on the hearing aid induction loop already fitted in the Council Chamber and supplying boundary microphones and an amplifier. The other also provided microphones but, instead of using the existing induction loop, provided earphones and two mini loops which the hard of hearing could wear around their necks. No decision was made on the night, but one or both systems will be trialled during a real Council meeting.

Liam noted that the hedge laying on Crouchʼs Field has been completed. Also, the gate into Crouchʼs Field has been moved to comply with the right of way through to Nichols Field - the field to the East of Crouch's Field beside the river.

There was a brief discussion about the proposed extension to the East Street Car Park, particularly including how it would adjoin the proposed fencing around the Recreation Ground football pitch. Joe Stacey noted that, while a concrete path is planned to go all the way round the pitch, thatʼs not an FA requirement – the FA requires hard standing on only two sides. He suggested instead that the path at the East Street end could be removed from the proposals, thus creating more space for parking which currently looks pretty tight. Although the Football Club does have planning permission, and OTC as landlord has given its permission, OTC could change its permission if the Council felt that section of the path should not be included. The Council will discuss the issue with the Football Club.

Back in February 2012, Alan Richardson stated and Peter Geary confirmed that the Olney Centre was not an asset which would be affected by the Community Asset Transfer (CAT) scheme, as it was not MKCʼs asset to transfer. Now, however, legal opinions about this differ.
The Olney Centre is held in a trust and, until recently, was believed to be owned by that trust and not by MKC, even though the trustees are wholly that Council. Day to day, MKC is responsible for certain aspects of the repair of the building while OTC is responsible for other aspects.
The ownership of the Centre has been challenged, with the Queenʼs Counsel (QC) and the Charity Commission having been asked for advice. The QCʼs advice was that the Olney Centre was the property of the trust and hence could not be transferred. However, the Charity Commission believes that, since around £400 was paid on the transfer of the building in 1870, it seems to have been purchased by the predecessor to Buckinghamshire County Council, then reverted to that Council when it formed, and then to MKC in 1996. It is therefore currently thought that the property could be transferred under the CAT programme to a community organisation or group such as OTC.
MKC is to arrange a Public Meeting at the Olney Centre at 6.00pm on Wednesday 22nd May to explain CAT and how it affects the Olney Centre. This may well be a very interesting meeting.
Mercury thanks Peter Geary and Liam Costello for background information on this topic.


Next Meeting - 8th April

The next meeting will be held at 7.30pm on Monday 8th April in the Council Chamber in the Olney Centre. Members of the public are always welcome to attend and, if they wish, speak at the start of the meeting, or at any point that the mayor decides is appropriate.

The extremely poor condition of Berrells Court, off East Street, has long been a cause of concern with huge areas of standing water often covering much of the surface. It has never been adopted by Milton Keynes Council (MKC), and according to the Land Registry it does not have an owner. Planning Permission for a new property was granted almost two years ago, and a condition of this Permission was that the road surface should be brought up to standard with tarmac and drainage before construction could start. When OTC last discussed the matter in December 201 2, the proposal was to bring the surface up to adoption standard and seek adoption. The council has since obtained quotes for a tarmac surface with five soakaways but the fact that the soakaways would be directly under the road does not meet the standard for adoption. Town Clerk Liam Costello has contacted the residents of Berrells Court with a view to getting them to contribute to the costs and all but one or two had agreed. Joe Stacey questioned whether the specification needed to be so high for a residential road that gets very little use, particularly now that adoption is not being proposed. Liam agreed to seek alternative quotes for a lower spec. Ben Brock and Deidre Bethune wondered if residents who contributed to the work would be able to claim ownership once it was done. (For a wonderful moment Mercury had a vision of them installing a toll booth and charging the recalcitrant few for access to their properties!) Jeremy Rawlings expressed his displeasure with the whole proposal, declaring it 'a farce'.

As previously reported, MKC has recently approved a procurement process to test the market in terms of both cost and service standards, as part of a 'value for money' review of the landscape services, that include grass cutting, shrub, hedge and tree maintenance and weed control. OTC has been asked whether it wishes MKC to retain responsibility for the services, which would be put out to tender, or take responsibility for the services themselves. A working party of Cllrs Evans, Geary, Boardman, Bull and Clark were appointed to look at the pros and cons of each option and have produced a detailed report which recommends that OTC take on the devolved service in house for an initial three year period, employing a part-time worker and leasing any additional equipment required. At the end of the three-year period, OTC can chose to hand the service back to MKC if it does not prove successful. The recommendation was put to a vote and passed unanimously.

The Localism Act introduced a right for communities to draw up 'Neighbourhood Plans' that can become part of the formal planning framework for the area. Once adopted, these Neighbourhood Plans form part of the statutory Development Plan for the area and give the local community more say and control over development in the area. They cannot be used to counteract or override existing core strategies but are more to provide a local input to the implementation of those strategies. At a previous meeting, Joe Stacey had strongly urged OTC to produce such a plan and had agreed to be part of a working group to investigate the feasibility. Joe had consulted members of other communities that had produced plans, including Stony Stratford, Woburn Sands and Winslow, and noted that some had obtained significant funding and produced large documents, whereas others had produced smaller documents in house at little or no cost. The working party had recommended that OTC allocate a budget of £7,000 for a Steering Group, consisting of five Town Councillors and four selected representatives of the community, to produce a Neighbourhood Plan for the parish of Olney. A vote was taken to proceed with the recommendation, which was passed unanimously.
A point of interest: The Working Party report refers to the MKC Core Strategy, which states that collectively Newport Pagnell, Olney and Woburn Sands are earmarked for an additional 1760 new homes over the next few years. These three settlements were chosen on the basis that they have the largest range of facilities and best public transport links in the rural area. All, bar Olney, have already embarked on producing Neighbourhood Plans, and based on historical growth patterns Olney would be expected to grow by approximately 250 properties in that time. As Olney has been identified as a key settlement, numerous landowners have put forward parcels of land to be considered for housing development. The suggested sites will now be examined in detail to see how sustainable they are, e.g. in terms of proximity of main services such as water, electricity and sewage and also how they would link in to the current highway network. One or more of the sites will then be included in the development plan as being suitable. To this end, most (if not all) of the landowners to the west of Aspreys have put forward plots of land to be considered, and the land thus far put forward is sufficient to build over 2000 dwelling, although this does not guarantee that they will be deemed acceptable and included in the development plan. The action of the landowners is not surprising bearing in mind the considerable increase in the value of green belt agricultural land that such designation would confer. Of course, any development at the Weston Road end of Aspreys would further accelerate the gradual sprawl of Olney towards Weston Underwood. Mercury is grateful to Steve Clark for clarification of the Milton Keynes Development Strategy.

Earlier this year the council had discussed a possible extension to the Kitchen Centre, due to an increase in the need for day care for the elderly. Dr Brian Partridge and Centre Manager Helena Newbould, had attended to support the proposal, and explained that there were then two waiting lists in operation: The first for people wishing to join the service, and at the time there were nine on the list with another six in progress. The second list was for people who already used the centre but wanted additional sessions and that then stood at 12. Since then, the incumbent operator has lost the contract for running the centre and it has been bought in house by MKC. For some reason which was not made clear, there is no longer any waiting list and consequently no business justification for expansion. Debbie Brock, Cabinet Member of MKC with Portfolio responsibility for Adult, Older Years and Health, said that opportunities for additional services that do not involve expansion of the building were being explored.

Parish Wardens are employed by MKC and spend on average half a day per week in their allocated parish, performing duties such as enforcing dog fouling fines, supporting the police and PCSOs etc. Earlier this year MKC had informed OTC that it was proposing to 'delete' the six remaining warden posts, only four of which were then occupied, unless the parishes provided funding for them to continue. At the time, OTC requested a breakdown of what the wardens had contributed to Olney over the past few months, before deciding what to do. 23 other parishes had done likewise, and only three had expressed an interest in purchasing the services of the wardens so MKC has decided to end the service from 31 st March 2014.

Tony Evans reported that a vacancy has arisen at the Ann Hopkins Smith Almshouses and applications are invited from ladies of the parish who are over 60 of age in need of accommodation.
Deidre Bethune reported that the organisers of the Big Olney Food Festival (BOFF) would like to extend the event to cover the whole weekend of 6th & 7th of September next year. They currently have no clear plans for the Sunday but suggested it could encompass the Farmers' Market and other events. Steve Clark suggested a meeting between reps from BOFF, the Farmers' Market and OTC Rees and Services committee.
Debbie Brock passed on her thanks to The Olney Group (TOG) for another highly successful fireworks display.


Next Meeting - 2nd December

The next meeting will be held at 7.30pm on Monday 2nd December in the Council Chamber in the Olney Centre. Members of the public are always welcome to attend and, if they wish, speak at the start of the meeting, or at any point that the mayor decides is appropriate.

The Council listened to a presentation from Joy Oehlman on the Olney Dementia Project, organised by the Friends of Cobbs Garden Surgery and made possible through generous donations from local businesses. It's in response to David Cameron's Dementia Challenge, and Joy is employed on a fixed term one year contract. Olney has a higher than average proportion of older people and, nationally, increases in dementia detection rates (currently 44%) are expected to significantly boost the proportion diagnosed with dementia.
Two thirds of those diagnosed with dementia live in the community , with many of them feeling let down and misunderstood by those around them. The Project aims to increase awareness and understanding of dementia, trying to address issues such as shopping - dementia sufferers tend to feel more comfortable shopping locally - and signage. While not the first initiative in the UK, that honour falling to York, it is the first in Milton Keynes borough.

Following on from last month, the Big Olney Food Festival (BOFF) has now formally asked the Council if it can extend its September 2014 event to two days. Sunday, the second day, would see the Farmers' Market stalls housed under BOFF's covered area, encouraged to serve hot food and to stay at the venue late into the afternoon. The Council agreed to this request.

Although only mentioned briefly in this meeting, two proposed road changes have entered their consultation period -the High Street junctions with Yardley and Weston Roads. If you visited the Council's stall at Dickens of a Christmas, you'd have seen their details on display.

As reported previously, the Council has been trying to install an improved hearing loop system in the Olney Centre. This has been progressing very slowly, with an external company having agreed to install a trial system but not yet having done so. In order to guarantee some progress, Councillors voted that, if the trial system was not ready by the January full Council meeting, Jeremy Rawlings would investigate the purchase of one or two boundary microphones and equipment to connect them to the existing hearing loop, thus hopefully providing a useful fixed system for the Council Chamber.

Parking near the Sports fields at certain times during weekends continues to be a hot issue. Various possible solutions were discussed, and those which seemed most relevant are noted here. Firstly, the Rugby Club has offered an area in the West end of Doffs Field which could be used at weekends for sports related parking. Secondly, Tony Evans suggested the compulsory purchase of the vacant land North of and adjacent to the existing East Street car park, and currently classified as being for housing use. Peter Geary felt that the parking problem was a neighbourhood planning issue, that there was a logical process to pass through and that, since it was a problem for only around four hours per week, there may be easier solutions such as traffic management. He also noted that, with its housing classification, this vacant parcel of land was extremely valuable and, to purchase it, the Council would likely need to request that another piece of land be classified as being for housing use. If this was done, then the money from the sale could be used to fund the purchase of the land adjacent to the car park. Tony Evans felt that having decided to reclassify this land as being for housing use, thus significantly inflating its value, Milton Keynes Council (MKC) should fund the land purchase. The only thing which seemed certain at the end of the discussion, was that this issue will run and run.

Since the Police are generally no longer providing assistance with closing roads for local events, two three-hour training courses are being run in December, which will qualify those who complete them to be able to close roads with speed limits of 30MPH and below. They'll be attended by representatives from various local groups, and from the Council.

Duncan Taylor, previously a junior player at Olney Rugby Club, graduated to playing with Bedford Blues, now plays for Saracens and has six caps for Scotland. Councillors congratulated this major achievement.


Next Meeting - 6th January 2014

The next meeting will be held at 7.30pm on Monday 6th January in the Council Chamber in the Olney Centre. Members of the public are always welcome to attend and, if they wish, speak at the start of the meeting, or at any point that the mayor decides is appropriate.

Mayor Steve Clark opened the meeting by wishing all present a happy New Year and welcomed the new Town Clerk, Liam Costello. As reported last month, Liam has seven years' Council experience, previously holding the post of Clerk to Marlborough Town Council.

Gerald Wilson
The first person to speak was Gerald Wilson of C.T. Wilson and sons who spoke about the issue of parking in the High Street. This was discussed at last month's meeting with comments being made about the fact that the parking spaces are not marked out, leading to some vehicles parking so as to not make the best use of the spaces available. Gerald said that during the winter months it is necessary to park his coal truck outside of his shop sideways on, due to the length of the vehicle. Although this occupies more than one space it does create a layby of sorts, he said, enabling customers who wish to load coal and other heavy purchases into their cars to pull in. In the past there had been discussions about 'A' boards and displays of goods outside of some shops, he said. Whilst agreeing with Milton Keynes Council's (MKC) ban on 'A' boards, he felt Lhat his display added to the aesthetics of the High Street and it was necessary to display goods to show that the shop was open. He reminded the council that 30 years ago, via the Chamber of Trade, he had obtained an agreement with Bucks County Council, forerunner of MKC, to have a display and as far as he was concerned that arrangement still stood.

Roger Mann
Second to speak was Roger Mann, who also wished to express his opinion about High Street parking and in particular the suggestion made at last month's meeting to realign and mark the spaces so that vehicles would have to reverse in to them and then drive out forwards. He reminded the council that last lime markings had been discussed they had decided that it would not be appropriate in the conservation area. The current alignment enabled drivers to spot a space and indicate, albeit belatedly, and pull in lorwards. If the parked cars were 'slewed' the other way it would not be possible to see a space until the driver was level with, or even past, the space. This would lead to drivers looking out of their passenger windows or rear view mirror, rather than the road ahead, he felt. Assuming the following vehicle had left space for the driver to reverse they would then need to complete the manoeuvre quickly so as not to hold up the traffic. A lot of drivers have considerable trouble with reversing and not particularly the elderly, he said. The danger was that the alignment of the traffic on the opposite side of the road would now present a better view of spaces, so drivers would probably pull across and park front-ways in to a space. When they subsequently backed out they would either have to reverse across both lanes ol traffic or find themselves lacing oncoming traffic. In conclusion he said that anything that improves the parking or traffic situation in the town is to be encouraged, but this would do neither, possibly making the latter worse. Gerald Wilson observed cryptically that his truck was probably the only vehicle parked legally in the High Street, anyway, as he left the meeting!

Tony Evans reported on plans by the Baptist and Parish Churches to hold a combined event on the Recreation Ground to celebrate the opening of the Olympic Games on the evening of Friday July 27th. It would be a celebratory, family friendly, community event by the people of Olney for the people of Olney that reflects the aims of the Olympic Village in terms of its sporting and cultural agenda running from 4:30pm to 11 :30 pm. The council agreed to support the event so long as the sports clubs are in agreement but if significant financial support is required then an approach would need to be made to the council in the proper manner. Finance was a recurring theme during this month's meeting.

For a number of years the surgery employed an ex-District Nurse funded by Milton Keynes PCT. Last year the PCT withdrew the funding and it looked as though this valuable service would be lost. At the request of Cobbs Garden Patient Participation Group the Olney Town Council (OTC) had agreed to fund the post for a year at a cost of £13,500. Steve Clark noted with some concern that a journalist from BBC Three Counties Radio had recently visited the surgery and interviewed one of the partners who had given the impression that OTC had declined to renew the funding, due to budget constraints. Steve said that no such decision had been made and ii the journalist concerned had bothered to contact the council or visit the offices whilst he/she had been in town then they could have clarified the situation. Mike Hughes suggested that the partner had probably assumed that funding would not be renewed since the original decision had just been to fund it for a year with no obligation to fund on an on-going basis.

Traditional Markets Ltd has applied to hold a continental market In Olney on Sunday 18th March. Debbie Brock recalled that there had been a few complaints from the public about lack of pricing signage on some of the stalls when a similar event was held last year. Mike Hughes said that some of the businesses around the market had complained that they had lost most of their trade that day to the market. The general feeling was that the council would support the event but the ofler of £250 from Traditional Markets was insufficient and
£450 should be charged. This was agreed by a majority. After the vote Tony Evans said that he assumed the ban on the selling of hot food would apply, as it did for the Sunday and Thursday markets. Debbie Brock said she thought ii was reasonable to relax this rule for a one-off event but Tony said this would send out the wrong message to the existing market traders and the ban should apply to all such events on the Market Place. Andrew Dooley asked if Tony thought it should also apply to the Big Olney Food Festival (BOFF) in that easel He proposed that the council agreed to the sale of hot food and the vote was carried by a majority.

Jeremy Rawlings explained the changes that would be necessary for councillors to meet their obligations to promote and maintain high standards of conduct. The key tasks that OTC has to achieve before 31 st March are:

• Adopt or amend a Code of Conduct
• Adopt or amend a Register of Interests for publication
• Set rules (standing orders) for disclosure of interests

• Manage standards and ethical governance as part of the wider corporate governance of the Council

MKC have an existing code which meets these requirements and considers that parish councils will have met their obligations ii they adopt MKC's Code, Register and Rules. Jeremy said that the new rules were considerably more stringent than those currently in place and it would be a criminal offence not to declare an interest in matters coming before the council. A number of councillors round the table will be obliged to be much more open in the information they provide regarding properties and land that they own etc, he said.

Paul Watson
The first person to speak was Paul Watson, a former Mayor of Olney. Paul had read in last month's Mercury that the Council had Increased its precept, the part of your Council Tax which goes to Olney Town Council (OTC), by 10%. He'd been astonished by this, given that he believed the Council's reserves to be very healthy. During the six years ended 31st March 2009, he stated that Income and expenditure had been under strict financial control, resulting in increases in the cash and bank reserves every year from £195,000 on 31st March 2003 to £386,000 on 31st March 2009, not including the money provided by Milton Keynes Council (MKC) for planning gain and land purchase.
He stated that this financial discipline appeared to have been abandoned and, in each of the years ended 31st March 2010 and 31st March 2011, cash and bank balances had fallen, by in total almost £80,000. Whilst current numbers were only available to the end of December 2011, an extrapolation of those figures to a 12 month period to 31 March 2012 suggested that the same downward spiral was continuing: Even with the 10% Increase in the precept, the Council was staring at an overspend or more than £65,000. Further, he noted that, if the Council had approved the Market Place Toilet renovations, which seemed to be so strongly supported by the Chair of Finance, that would have required a further £38,500, based on OTC's estimates.
Paul felt this was in stark contrast to OTC's staff having been on a pay freeze for three years, bar one Government allowance of £250 paid some time ago. He s1ated that OTC's current spending level was profligate, and that it wasn't too late to reduce spending by instructing the Chair of Finance to rescind the budget approved last month, eliminate the precept increase and prepare a budget which balanced income with expenditure.

Members of the Public speaking in this slot are allowed a maximum of three minutes and, in this meeting, the limit was enforced vigorously by Steve Clark. So, Paul didn't get to finish his contribution.
Later In the meeting, Mike Hughes spoke to express his concern about this, and register his disgust at how harshly Steve had called time on the former Councillor's contribution. He felt It was a disgrace. Steve noted his comment.
For information, the minutes of December's Finance Committee meeting show that, of the eight people on the committee, two were absent and, at the vote to set the level of the precept, three voted in favour, one against and two abstained. This proposal was then brought to full Council and finalised.

Carole Russell
The second person to speak was Carole Russell, asking the Council to continue part• funding a Specialist Nurse for the Elderly at Cobbs Garden Surgery. The Friends of the Surgery had been campaigning to raise funds but, while they'd raised nearly £2,000, this was nowhere near enough to fund the post. Carole felt that the nurse was a lifeline for the elderly in the area and that, particularly with Olney having a higher than average proportion of elderly people, it would be a travesty if the post could no longer be funded. She concluded by saying that the Friends would not give up raising funds in future and that she was sorry to have to tall back on the Council.

Terry How
The third speaker was Terry How, expressing his concerns about the disposal of the land to the rear of 57 - 59 Moores Hill, a topic also covered later in this meeting. Terry felt that c􀁴rtain individuals had pocketed vast sums of money over the sale or the land. He stated that there'd been no representation from Olney's Ward Councillors, who seemed to know what was going to happen in advance of It happening. He was sure that the disposal of the land could have been handled better - it seemed to him to be a case of collusion al MKC, with Olney's Ward Councillors having something to do with ii. He slated that the situation stunk and asked that, If some individuals have made £200,000 to £300,000, how much would go back to Olney residents? He felt that the correct procedures had not been followed by MKC, who are under investigation by the Ombudsman about the issue. Terry fell strongly that a similar situation should not be allowed to happen again, and that OTC had a duty to make sure it didn't. For information, Olney's Ward Councillors are Debbie Brock, absent from this meeting, and Peter Geary, present and seated in the public viewing area.

Pinder's Circus is due to visit Olney, with the likely time and place being 7th - 9th May on The Pyghtle. The Council will inform local residents.

Following on from Carole Russell's contribution, this agenda item was for the Council lo decide whether or not to accept a Grant Application for £11,550 which, added to the money raised by the Friends, would fund the Nurse post for another year. Tony Evans and Mike Hughes thought the post was important, were in favour of funding it but nervous that the commitment was open ended. Deidre Bethune S1ated that the Council had budgeted for the funding. Colin Rodden felt that there were certain things that the Council needed to do, but that it mustn't duplicate things that should be done by the Health Authority.
The Grant Application went to the vote, with all voting in favour bar one abstention - the Council will fund the position tor another year.

First, some background on this long running issue. Over the years, a number of Planning Applications to build houses on the land to the rear of 57 - 59 Moores Hill have been made and rejected. Now, an Application has been accepted by MKC and, contingent on that acceptance, a developer has purchased two thirds of the garden of one of the Council houses in Moores Hill from MKC, which has also granted an easement for access to the site via a thin strip or its land off Dinglederry. In addition, the developer has purchased part of the garden of a nearby privately owned Moores Hill property, a key area which Joins the access strip with the Council house garden area. The purchase of the two areas of garden, the granting of easement for access and of Planning Permission all come together to create an area of land on which houses may be built.
There were questions as to whether MKC has handled this process correctly, so a complaint was raised In order to discover what happened. MKC complaint investigations can pass through a number of stages - surf to http://bil.ly/z98jJZ for further information. The main findings of Stage two or the investigation were:

• There was no evidence of MKC consulting with OTC or OTC's Ward Councillors about the land disposal;
• The land was not advertised for sale in an appropriate publication. This was because MKC's Valuer felt that sale to this developer was the only viable option for achieving a development rate for the land, since this developer had already secured the key area of private garden. The Valuer should have set out the justifications for not advertising the land in writing, but appeared not to have done so.
• MKC used independent expertise to value the land at a development rate, and secured a price higher than this valuation.
• Summary: "In my opinion, the Council ... disposed or the land in accordance with relevant law and largely in compliance with Council Policy, There were some procedural issues which appear to have been missed but in reality these issues are unlikely to have resulted in any different outcome in the disposal."

Presumably, the investigation had been escalated further, as the Council had received the following letter from MKC: "The outcome of the stage three investigation Into the Council's processes surrounding the disposal of the above property interests concluded that Property Services had not properly administered the processes ln regard to consultation with Town and Parish Councils and their respective Ward Members. Although this maladministration occurred during the time of my predecessor (2010) I should like to apologise for any inconvenience caused to each of you. The protocols put in place ensure that evidence or timely consultation is included as part of the sign-off procedures, such that there Is now no scope for error or omission in the future.

Jeremy Rawlings spoke first, having followed the land disposal issue from the start. He felt that Terry How was right - the support given to affected residents had been abysmal. He summarised the letter as saying that, yes, MKC had made a mistake, but that they weren't planning lo do anything much about it. He felt that OTC must make sure the issue gets raised to a higher level. Jeremy stated that the way the land disposal had been handled was wrong, but didn't know how to proceed further. He concluded by saying that the sale of the land was alter an MKC Planning Meeting in which most of the comments were against It yet, when it came to the vote, most Councillors abstained.

Mike Hughes asked Steve Clark, as Mayor, for his views and perhaps an undertaking to investigate possible ways to proceed. Steve agreed with Jeremy but, again, lei! it unclear what the Council could do. Tony Evans stated that OTC needed legal advice, MKC having operated Improperly and against its own protocol by not advertising the land sale. He also noted rumours that the land had since been sold on by the original purchasers lor a massive profit. He explained that OTC had said the situation was wrong from the start, that It should seek legal advice and, perhaps, that it should sue MKC.

Colin Rodden, a lone voice, questioned the validity of one public body suing another in these money-saving times. He also lelt that Olney had to be allowed to grow - houses had to be built somewhere.

Jeremy Rawlings stated that, while one Olney Ward Councillor is related to one of those who'd purchased the land from MKC, there was emphatically no suggestion that either Ward Councillor had done anything wrong.

Investigations after the meeting confirmed that the residents have raised the complaint to the Ombudsman and discovered that, while the Council was unable to raise it in this way, it's investigating other options, including whether it could support the residents' complaint.
Mercury thanks Jeremy Rawlings and other Councillors who've provided background for this section and helped ensure its accuracy.

Jeremy Rawlings gave a brief introduction, saying that the Youth Centre was applying for a grant or £1,250, the salary of a professionally qualified Youth Worker for two sessions per month, for the year starting April 2012. The Council funded the post last year and the sessions have proved very popular with around 50-60 children attending.
Mike Hughes asked if the Youth Centre had tried to obtain funding elsewhere. Jeremy said that ii hadn't, noting that MKC doesn't fund these sessions tor Under 13s. Mike suggested that perhaps the session entry fee should be increased from 60p to £1.60 per person, thus covering the cost. Tony Evans felt that the Grant Application was very good value for money and that, with some people spending time criticising young people In the area, the Youth Club was doing something positive to help. Deidre Bethune concurred, saying that OTC needed to fund the sessions. A vote was taken and passed with all in favour bar two abstentions - the Council will pay the grant.

MKC is running meetings to explain the process of Community Asset Transfer, in which it plans to transfer some of the assets it owns lo more local ownership. Peter Geary spoke briefly from the public gallery to clarify the purpose of these meetings. As Alan Richardson noted and Peter Geary confirmed, the Olney Centre is not one of these assets - it's not MKC's to transfer.
Some funds arising from the Petsoe End Wind Farm development are becoming available. with £7,000 assigned to the Olney Parish. This money must be allocated towards schemes "for the promotion, installation and education of renewable energy or energy saving measures" in the Parish. OTC will send a representative to the next meeting of the Community Development Liaison Committee, set up to administer these funds.

The Council had received a letter from a local business asking that the Market Place Car Park time limit be increased from three to five hours. The Council refused this request for reasons including three hours being long enough, there being longer stay spaces in the town and the cost of changing the signage.
In the Cattle Market Car Park, a single parking bay is reserved for turning. However, Mike Hughes noted that it's often heavily encroached on by the vehicle in the next space, thus leaving insufficient angle for vehicles to turn. This results in cars having to back out of the Car Park onto the main road - hardly ideal. MKC has suggested increasing the reserved area to two bays, thus allowing cars to turn more easily. The Council ag.reed with this suggestion.

As reported in earlier Mercury articles, the local Churches are organising an event on 27th July to coincide with the Olympics· Opening Ceremony. Tony Evans noted that this was progressing and that, once the finances had been estimated properly, the organisers must be encouraged to put a proper proposal to OTC. He felt ii would be a fantastic event, if it could be made to work.


Next Meeting 5th March

The next meeting will be held at 7.30pm on Monday 5th March in the Council Chamber in the Olney Centre. Members of the public are always welcome to attend and, if they wish, speak at the start of the meeting, or at any point that the mayor decides is appropriate.

In the past OTC has always rejected requests from market traders to sell hot food on the Sunday and Thursday markets, not only because they didn't want to see things like burgers and hot dogs on sale but also in order to protect the interests of the businesses around the Market Place. Following a recent market where one of the traders had apparently ignored this rule, there had been some feedback at the Recreations and Services Committee meeting about how popular the product on sale had been because it was something different that was not regularly available In the area. Tony Evans reported that the Recreations and Services Committee was now recommending that this rule should be rescinded, subject to certain conditions. Deidre Bethune questioned the actual proposal from the R&S meeting, saying that she thought the recommendation from that meeting was to ·consider· rather than to
'allow'. (For information, the minutes of that meeting show that no vote was actually taken). Tony said that any trader wishing to sell hot food would have to apply in advance and comply with strict conditions. Mike Hughes was in favour of the proposal and said if anyone flouted the new conditions they would be ordered to leave immediately. A vote was taken and passed by a majority with two members voting against.
As an aside, Town Clerk Liam Costello suggested that sub-committees should be more autonomous and not be obliged to take every decision to the full council in order to get it approved. Mercury understands that this is common practice with many other local councils, such as Newport Pagnell, and would certainly overcome the frustration expressed by councillors in the past that, having fully discussed and agreed a course of action at a sub-committee, it is then discussed again at length by the full council.

The council has been sent a copy of the document Draft Wind Turbines Supplementary Planning Document and Emerging Policy: Wind Turbines Planning Applications for comment, and also a request from the Chair of Castlethorpe Parish Council, Philip Ayles, to support the policy. Philip's letter noted that the existing policy is over 10 years old and was written when turbines were half the height they are today, which is typically 125m (the height of the local turbines at Petsoe End). In fact 200m turbines exist and plans for the first 1000m turbines were recently announced. Much of the policy is around the minimum separation distance between wind farms and housing. The policy is available at www.millon-keynes.gov.uk/wind-turbines and the public are invited to comment, although the consultation period officially ends on 28th March 2012. Unfortunately these documents were sent out in early February and were on the OTC agenda in March but this report will not appear until the end of that month.

MKC has written to the council asking for comments on the Transport Strategy Review. The policy is available at
www.millon-keynes.gov.uk/transport/ and the public are Invited to comment, although the consultation period is even lighter, officially ending on 23rd March 2012.

This fund is granted by MKC to local councils to enable them to apply for funding of up to 50¾ for improvements or facilities which they wish to provide in their local area, and applications are now being invited. Tony Evans noted that the path into the cemetery needed upgrading, while Deidre Bethune suggested improvements to the roadway to the allotments. Mike Hughes suggested the current hedge laying work that is taking place on Crouch's Field (previously known as 'The New Field'). John Boardman noted that some items of play equipment had been removed from the recreation ground for safety reasons, although Steve Clark said that a similar scheme, the Play Area Improvement Scheme existing specifically for such reasons and MKC was also inviting applications for funding under that scheme. It was agreed to get quotes for the suggestions which will presumably be discussed at a future meeting.

This has traditionally taken place in April so that in an election year, such as this, the outgoing council are able to present the annual accounts prior to the start of the new council year, although Uam Costello said that this is not actually a formal requirement. The election for the new council will take place on 3rd May so it was decided to hold the Town Meeting on 26th April. Liam questioned whether the closeness of the two events might impinge on the members ability to 'go knocking on doors' but the opinion of some councillors was that if the electorate could actually be bothered to turn up at the meeting then it would save them the trouble! Mercury is usually almost as lonely at the Town Meeting as he is at the monthly OTC meetings, so ii you want the chance to meet your councillors before the election and question them on anything you like, please come along.

Tony Evans reported that Crouch's Field is looking good and the council workers have done an excellent Job, particularly with the fencing, The hedge laying is coming along well, also. He invited any councillors (and presumably the public as well) to go along and have a look.
Steve Clark reported on the recent meeting of the Emberton Park Liaison Group. There is concern about car movements in the park and the 10 mph speed limit is not well observed. A one way system is being considered, with two way traffic being permitted up to the cafe, he said. The downside of this would mean that access to the Sailing Club would result in a large circuit of the park, though. Consideration is also being given to extending the season for the static caravans, he said.
Rosemary Osbourne reported that MKC had now approved the work required to resolve the Issue of the path which runs between the bottom of Wagstaff Way and the play park that is liable to flooding. Work would commence in May and is due to be completed by August.
Mike Hughes reported 1hat a recent survey conducted by the Neighbourhood Action Group showed that the main issues concerning the residen1s of Olney were:

1. Traffic congestion
2. Parking
3. Dog fouling

all of which came as a surprise to precisely no one, suspected Mercury.


Next Meeting - Monday 2nd April

The next meeting will be held at 7.30pm on Monday 2nd April in the Council Chamber in the Olney Centre. Members of the public are always welcome to attend and, ii they wish, speak at the start of the meeting, or at any point that the mayor decides Is appropriate. The Town Meeting will take place on Thursday 26th April and members of the public are invited to attend and question the council on any matters concerning them. Remember. it's your opportunity to make your voice heard and it's no use complaining that you don't know any of the people behind the names on your ballot paper or you don't agree with what your hard earned money is being spent on ii you don't attend.

This was the first meeting of this year's Council, so ii started with various elections. Steve Clark was re-elected as Mayor with Jeremy Rawlings continuing as his deputy, both posts being uncontested. The committee Chairs stayed as last year although Deidre Bethune, absent this evening, had noted that, If anyone else wished to lake over as Finance Committee Chair, she'd be more than happy for them to do so. The Committee will elect its own Chair at its first meeting.

The storage units on the Recreation Ground are rented to The Olney Group (TOG), Olney Rugby Club and Olney Colts Football Club. The licences are due for renewal and, following advice from a Solicitor, they've been tightened up somewhat and, to reduce administration, now have a five year upper limit on their duration.

As you may have noticed, the High Sheriff's horse ride will be starting one day after the BOFF. As such, the CoT and the Museum plan to coordinate and, after a brief discussion involving Councillors and, with Standing Orders temporarily suspended to allow it, Samantha and Paul, it seemed like this would work out well. The CoT offered either to have the BOFF Marquees taken down on the Saturday night, leaving the Square free for the ne-xt day, or to leave them up for the Sunday, allowing the Museum to use them with, if desired, some food stalts. This item concluded with the CoT being given permission to use the Market Square for 48 hours from midday Friday 14th September.

As reported before, the lower footpath in the Chantry Rise play area is liable to flooding. To alleviate this problem, Milton Keynes Council (MKC) has proposed building a boardwalk over much of this path, similar to those in Emberton Par1<. Councillors liked this and, after a short discussion, it was approved. Debbie Brock concluded by thanking the Neighbourhood Action Group for its help pushing this through.

The Friends of Olney Middle School have asked the Council for permission to use the East Street Car Park to host a Car Boot Sale in the summer to raise funds for the School. Tony Evans started by noting that, while he didn't want to be a killjoy, the Council had always refused requests to use this Car Park for non-parking purposes. Steve Clark asked where people attending the Sale would park. Other possible nearby venues included the area between East Street and the nearby goalposts on the Recreation Ground - that which may in any case soon become a Car Park. After further discussion, a consensus was reached. The Council agreed in principle to support the event, and to hold discussions with the School about precisely where to hold it.

Introduced by Alan Richardson, this item was to request a budget increase for Dickens of a Christmas (DoC). In essence, Alan wanted to increase the entertainments budget from
£3,000 to £4,000 in order to provide more to see along the High Street - the aim being for the event lo be continuous between the Amaya restaurant and the Market Square. Councillors voted to accept this request - this was a major event which deserved the backing.
Peter Geary, while in favour of the increase, noted that it must be round without increasing the overall budget for the current financial year, currently projected to overspend by
£65,000. In other words, other things would have to be trimmed to compensate. Liam Costello noted that recent budgets had underspent compared with initial projections. Peter replied that the budget should be redrafted in order to make It realistic.

Alan Richardson noted that the Olney Centre sound system, around 20 years old, had failed and, with that affecting bookings, the amplifier had been replaced by local company Impact.
The Council had budgeted £2,250 this year towards the ongoing replacement of the lamppost-mounted Christmas light curtains with more efficient LED versions. Councillors approved this expenditure and, with some local shops offering to make contributions to the local community, will see if that could make it possible to replace them more quickly.
The Jubilee Beacon lighting is being organised by a group of Councillors and one of the TOG members. It will be Iii at 10.1 Spm on 4th June. For more information on the Beacons Which will be lit around the UK, surf to http://bit.ly/Kg6YVX.

Following on from Terry Howe's question at the Town Meeting, Ron Bull asked Liam Costello for the latest information on the Moores Hill development issues. Much as before, Liam replied that the Council was still waiting on MKC for an update and that, while publications had been made aware of the issues, he couldn't force them to publish them.

Tony Evans noted that the last lime MKC had cut the grass around Olney was 6th April, with the next cut being due for 18th May, six weeks later. He felt this was totally unacceptable. He concluded by comparing the schedule with those of previous years: Last year there were eight cuts, one every four weeks, while In the year before there were 13.


Next Meeting - Monday 11th June

The next meeting will be held at 7.30pm on Monday 11th June in the Council Chamber in the Olney Centre. Members of the public are always welcome to attend and, if they wish, speak at the start of the meeting, or at any point that the mayor decides is appropriate.

Tony Evans and Ben Brock were not present, having sent their apologies.
Tony had sent a letter explaining that, following recent rainfall, the pitch between the Football Club and East Street was too soft for heavy vehicles and, thus, unsuitable for the fair due lo arrive on Monday 18th June. So, regrettably, his letter recommended that the Council cancel the fair In order to avoid the risk of serious damage lo the ground. Councillors agreed.
Debbie Brock noted that the April grass cutting date given In last month's meeting, and
reported by Mercury, was incorrect. e correct dale ls in fact 16th - 17th Apnl, ,:ti ten days later than given, meaning that the lime between cuts was shorter than claimed.
Councillors briefly discussed then agreed Barry's request for Silver End road closures over the summer.

This item was to discuss correspondence from MKC regarding the easement to the land to the rear of Moores Hill from Dinglederry and, having earlier declared personal and prejudicial interests, Debbie Brock and Peter Geary left the meeting.
Jeremy Rawlings started the discussion, feeling that the decision, at Peter Geary's request, to split the single agenda item covering the development Into two parts was not ideal because the parts were not separable. He noted that John Bint, the Ward Councillor who'd represented residents' views at the Development Control meeting, had done a good job. After further discussion In which every Councillor who contributed appeared unhappy with the whole issue, bar Steve Clark who took more of a chairman's role, Councillors decided to note their displeasure and to make furtherrepresentations If and when a Planning.
Application for the land is received.

Having earlier declared only a personal interest in this item, which was to discuss the Ombudsman's Reports, Debbie and Peter retumed to the meeting.
As background, there were two Reports. The first responded to a nearby resident's complaint that MKC had failed to properly process a transaction involving the sale of Council owned land and that, as a result, he missed out on the opportunity to bid for the land. The second responded to another nearby resident's complaint that in addition to a similar MKC failing, MKC was at fault for the grant of an easement over the access to that land. He'd also claimed that a survey of Great Crested NeW1s should have been arranged and that incorrect information about Tree Preservation Orders had been presented to the Development Control Committee.
The Ombudsman's decision on the first Report was that there was no requirement !or MKC to advertise the land for sale but that rt should have consulted with Olney Town Council alternative (OTC) uses and for its the Ward Councillors about alternative uses for the land, a failing which MKC had acknowledge,cL The Ombudsman felt that the complainant had not suffered significant injustice because, even if his views on alternative uses for the land had been heard, the price obtained by the Council for the land reflected its development value and took into account the easement and, thus, would have exceeded and provided better value than any otter made by the complainant. The decision concluded with the Ombudsman saying that he needn't be further involved with the complaint.
The decision on the second Report was broadly similar, though also noting that MKC had behaved correctly regarding the ecological points. This decision concluded with the Ombudsman discontinuing his office's involvement in the complaint.
Back to the meeting, Jeremy Rawlings felt that, once again, the Reports had indicated errors in MKC's handling of the land sale but that the Ombudsman had ignored them. Peter Geary felt differently and, starting with "I wasn't going to say anything but...", gave his views. He felt that OTC had received a one sided recollection of what had taken place. The facts were that the Ombudsman had
identified some failings, for which MKC hadapologised, but concluded that these _failings
had not changed the overall outcome. Pet r felt there'd been one main failing - that 􀂡neither OTC nor them as Ward Councillors had been notified - but that much debate had taken place in OTC and in the town. However, the Obmudsman's Reports were from an independent, unbiased body with no axe to grind. He concluded by noting a concern that, with OTC having taken legal advice in this case due lo requests from concerned residents, a precedent could have been set for how it handles similar requests in future.
Andrew Dooley pointed out that this planning issue was different from others, as neither Ward Councillor had been allowed to represent the town. People thought they'd been abandoned by OTC and it could not change their views. Peter replied that he'd spent many hours on the phone to Nick Shipton, who'd spoken as a member of the public in April's OTC meeting, but that when it became clear they could no longer take part in the issue, he and Debbie had backed out. Going further, Peter slated that people had not been abandoned: This was a myth and not part of the complaints. In fact, someone had taken on representing residents' views a few days later. He noted that one complainant was an aggrieved developer who'd also wanted to bid for the land.
Debbie gave some background, some of which was in answering a post-meeting question from Mercury. She explained that Peter had been due lo speak In a Planning Meeting as a member of the public against the Planning Application. He'd declared a prejudicial interest and so was allowed to do this but would have had to leave before the debate had taken place. However, a day or two before the meeting, MKC received accusations about Debbie's conduct along with a strong view that neither she or Peter should have anything to do with the Application. As a result, they backed away from it apart from, when asked, helping lo arrange an alternative Ward Councillor to represent residents' views. She said that they'd never abandon people in the town, "we just wouldn't", and that the whole episode had been regrettable. She fell that OTC had been manipulated to an extent: One of its members, not present at this mooting, should not have been part of some conversations in this Chamber - not good news.

Jeremy Rawlings concluded the discussion, saying that MKC had made an arbitrary decision not to advertise the land on the open market due to it not being possible to use standalone. He felt this had been glossed over.

As regular readers will know, Councillors are obliged to declare ii they have an interest in any items being discussed. Peter Geary explained that not doing so will shortly become a criminal offence. This meant that Councillors must understand what constituted personal and prejudicial interests or else, in theory at least, they could end up appearing before a Court.

Differences in the rate of population expansion across M1lton Keynes Borough mean that some Ward Councillors now represent many more people than others and, thus, MKC ls performing a Ward boundary review. First of all the Electoral Commission is asklng how m􀃘ny Councillors should sit on MKC. Once it knows this, the ratio of Ward Councillors lo people is known and the resulting Ward boundary positions will then be decided.
This raises the possibility of Olney, plus some surrounding villages, being split into two Wards and, thus, each Olney Town Councillor being elected to represent one or the other. Historically, OTC has not believed this to be a good situation, and discussion tonight confirmed this view. As a result, OTC's opinion was that the number of MKC Councillors should be increased to around 67 - 70, thus keeping the ratio of Ward Councillors to people about the same and, it hoped, avoiding Olney being split into two Wards.
Mercury thanks Debbie Brock and Peter Geary for providing background on this issue.

OTC noted in this year's Town Meeting that it's looking to provide additional parking near the sports fields by changing some of the grass area between the westernmost Recreation Ground goalposts and East Street for use as a car park. Details of this proposal have been on display at Olney Town Council but, in summary, a reconfiguration of the existing nearby car park would provide an additional 25 spaces while the additional area would provide a further 36. The MKC Community Parking Fund may help fund this work.
liam Costello Introduced the Item noting that there'd been some opposition from local residents and suggesting that, since both parts of the scheme were feasible, OTC could apply for funding for the two, then make firm decisions later on which, if any, to implement. Noting that, in spite of the Council having sent consultation letters to nearby residents, some had first heard of the proposals from the Phone Box, Debbie felt that they were very much hypothetical - they may never happen. She also stated that the devices added to the existing East Street car park to reduce antisocial behaviour mustn't be removed by any changes. Councillors decided to submit formal applications to the Community Parking Fund, listing the reconfiguration of the existing car park as the priority.

Olney Football Club has informed the Council of plans to erect a perimeter fence around its main pitch on the Recreation Ground. Paul Tough, Chair of the Club, was present and, at various points, standing orders were lilted so he could answer questions.
Summarising, Paul explained that the fencing would be low, likely green in colour, and was required to meet new Football Association rules and thus allow the Club to continue to operate. It was not the intention to stop the public, or indeed the fair, from using the area. As such, the plans included two areas where the fencing would slide back to allow access, and that these would be closed just between Friday and Saturday evenings. An additional benefit would be the reduction of dog fouling on match days. Finally, given the earlier discussion on parking, he noted that, if the area between the westernmost goal and East Street did become a car park, it could be possible to have a temporary high net behind the goal, to be erected only on match days, thus avoiding a permanent, and likely less pleasing, high fence there.

Councillors voted in favour of the plans, with six voting for, two against and three abstalning.

liam said that the Jubilee Beacon lighting had been very successful, and thanked The Olney Group (TOG) and Neill Elliot for helping organise it. He also reported that a new head groundsman has started at the Council. Finally, all Ann Hopkins Smith Alms Houses are currently lull but the waiting list is empty, so any elderly Lady with strong Olney connections can apply for an Almshouse by writing to Tony Evans at Olney Park Farm, Yardley Road, Olney, Bucks.


Next Meeting - Monday 2nd July

The next meeting will be held at 7.30pm on Monday 2nd July in the Council Chamber in the Olney Centre. Members of the public are always welcome to attend and, if they wish, speak at the start of the meeting, or at any point that the mayor decides is appropriate.

Although Olney is a town it is eligible for entry to this competition and this year won the Michaelis Cup for small towns. The competition awards are for Best Kept towns/villages, not beautiful villages, and care, cleanliness, maintenance and community effort were what the judges were looking for when they visited in June. There will be a brief presentation ceremony at the Olney Centre on 8th September. Mercury noted, somewhat ironically, that Savills Is one of the sponsors of the competillonl

For information, this building has been empty since the Derby House Saddlery vacated the premises a year ago. It is a building of significant local importance and history, having been the site ol J.W. and E. Sowman which was established as an ironmongers in 1888 and went on to become a large emporium, finally being sold to Burgess' In 1962. Burgess' left the town in 1984. Real Estate Advisors Savllls have lodged two planning applications with respect to the premises. The first is to convert the upper floor into four two bedroom residential apartments. The second is for a change of use from a shop (use Class A 1) to a cafe
(mixed A1/A3) for occvpation by a branch of Calle Nero. In the Planning Statement Savills referred back to similar change of use applications which had been granted in Olney over the last 12 years. They also listed a number of natJonal appeal decisions which had established the justification for change to mixed A 1 /A3, which some councillors found somewhat intimidating. MKC ward councillor Peter Geary reminded the members that objections could only be made on planning grounds rather than the impact it would have on local businesses. However, the council might decide that there are already enough similar businesses nearby and any more would change the character of the town, in which case an objection might be justified. Multi-national companies like Savills and Caffe Nero have huge financial resources to appeal against any rejections he said, pointing out Tesco had successfully taken over two shops in the town. Mayor Steve Clark felt that Caffe Nero could not be regarded as a quality outlet and would not increase footfall in the town. He said it was regrettable that Derby House had closed the branch, since he knew of customers who travelled over 100 miles to shop there. Jeremy Rawlings thought it most unlikely that anyone would travel 100 mile to visit Caffe Nero, although he pointed out that if the application was rejected the building could be empty for many years. Peter Geary suggested that the council should support the application for the flats since it would reduce the size of the shop and make it more marketable. He also reminded councillors that if Gaffe Nero were so minded they could buy up one of the existing coffee shops in the town and would not need to apply for a change of use. Colin Rodden was concerned that the plans did not allow for sufficient car parking for the cafe and flats. Debbie Brock said that it was important that the Integrity of the front and rear of the building Is maintained so the proposed UPVC windows were not appropriate. Alan Richardson noted that the plans Included retlling of the entrance but pointed out the existing tiling is of historical importance.

Mercury is grateful to MKC ward councillor Peter Geary for providing the background to this issue. The Local Government Boundary Commission for England has undertaken discussions with MKC and consulted publicly on council size and has decided that the number of councillor should be increased to 57, from the current 51. Each councillor will cover 3,300 residents as opposed to 3,000 at present. What now has to be decided is the way the wards in Milton Keynes are constructed. The starting point is 19 wards, each represented by three councillors. In most of urban MK this is fine but in the rural areas this leaves very large geographical areas with many individual communities requiring individual attention from their councillors in attending parish council meetings etc. For example a merged Sherington and Olney ward would comprise around 18 parishes. With this in mind the two councillors. The boundary commission says that if a parish is split then it must be warded. Two years ago OTC campaigned against proposals by MKC to impose warding but these proposals mean that parish would be warded by stealth. Both the Sherington Ward and the Olney Ward currently have the correct representation for the new ratio of 3,300 electors per councillor so little change would be necessary and maintaining the status quo may well mean that better representation could be given to the areas. If, however, the areas are to be merged it would be better to have one three-councillor ward as opposed to single councillor wards which would see Olney Town Council warded. Peter said that in his opinion the two-councillor ward has worked successfully for many years, with the two councillors dividing up responsibility between them. Jeremy Rawlings questioned if this would work across the political spectrum, but Debbie Brock said that she and Steve Clark had managed ok. Steve Clark said that Olney Councillors have always expressed a desire to represent all of the people of the town.

The Town Council have received notification from the Housing Revenue Account Strategic Landlord Asset Management Group within MKC that the ground floor flat forming part of the property is to be removed from their housing stock and disposed of. It appears that when the previous occupant left it was no longer fit for habitation and has been empty for the last two years. MKC cannot justify the 'extensive financial investment to bring it up to a suitable standard for future beneficial occupation·. Peter Geary explained that the property has many issues and would cost an enormous amount to repair so the money would be better spent on building another, more easily maintainable property somewhere in Milton Keynes. One of the by• products of the disposal might be a partial solution to the parking problems in Oakdown Crescent since the property has a large front garden, some of which could be retained and used for parking. This would need consultation with the residents, he said.

A kebab van has applied to MKC for permission to operate from the old cattle market car park, owned by MKC. The councillors agreed not to support the application on the grounds of there being another establishment nearby catering for the need. Steve Clark said the applicant seemed to be under the impression that MKC had already granted permission and suggested that OTC apply to take over ownership of the car park as a Community Asset Transfer so that they could fully control it.

Steve Clark reported that he had attended the Olney 2012 event to mark the start or the London Olympics and it had been a great success.

Rosemary Osbourne reported that the boardwalk over the flood plane in Wagstaff Way should have started but had been delayed by the bad weather! It was now expected to be completed by 20th August.


Next Meeting - Monday 3rd September

The next meeting will be held at 7.30pm on Monday 3rd September in the Council Chamber In the Olney Centre. Members of the public are always welcome to attend and, if they wish, speak at the start of the meeting, or at any point that the mayor decides is appropriate. Official minutes of all meetings and much more information can be accessed via OTC's revamped website at
www.olneytowncouncil.gov.uk

Following on from a topic aired in last month's Public Participation, the Recreations and Services Committee has recommended that a two-seat bench be placed on the pavement outside the United Reform Church, mainly for the benefit ol the elderly. Councillors discussed this, and decided by a majority that the bench would be installed on a trial basis, with reviews after six and 12 months, to which Its two main opponents - the United Reform Church and the Carlton House Club - would be invited to contribute their views.

As reported before, OTC has applied for funding to improve the East Street car park. The applications for both phases of this 50% match funding - £32,500 and £25,000 - have been successful.
There was some discussion over whether the dimensions of the proposed additional parking area were adequate, and a small group of Councillors look an action to confirm this. OTC will arrange and advertise a public meeting, likely in October, to explain the proposals.

Back In 2004, OTC submitted an application to MKC to add a lootpath around the Northern and Eastern edges of Doff's Field, plus one from around the centre of its Northern edge running ,diagonally to Its South Eastern corner. Much later, OTC advised MKC that it wished to remove the diagonal path from the application.
The whole matter seems to have progressed slowly, with OTC having just rnceived an email indicating that MKC would shortly be considering the application, and asking OTC to confirm whether it did Indeed wish to remove the diagonal path. After a brief discussion, Councillors agreed that this path should be removed, leaving just that round the two edges.

As discussed in June's meeting, funds arising from the Petsoe End Wind Farm would soon become available. Olney now has £7,000 which will be used to install low energy lighting in the Olney Centre and the Market Place toilets.
Tony Evans reported that, having had to postpone their residents' Jubilee Lunch in June, the Ann Hopkins Smith trustees held the lunch late in August and it was a great success.
Jeremy Rawlings reported that the new Youth Leader is Terry Isles, filling the post vacated by Darren Smith.
Ron Bull raised the issue that parking in Spring Lane was sometimes preventing buses from travelling along it as, in one section, pari

Next Meeting - Monday 1st October

The next meeting will be held at 7.30pm on Monday 1st October in the Council Chamber in the Olney Centre. Members of the public are always welcome to attend and, if they wish, speak at the start of the meeting, or at any point that the mayor decides is appropriate.

Tony Evans reported that, as a result of the recent Public Meeting, the Recreations and Services Committee was recommending to full Council that the planned alterations to the existing East Street Car Park should go ahead. Although the total was not yet costed, 50% of it would be paid for by Milton Keynes Council (MKC).
However, Tony explained that the Public Meeting found the additional car park area at the top of the Nursery Field adjacent to East Street to be much more controversial, with around half the those attending being in favour and half against. In any case, it would likely need planning permission, so the Committee recommended that Olney Town Council (OTC) seek pre-planning advice from MKC, at a cost of around £200.
Councillors all voted in favour the alterations to the existing East Street Car Park bar one against - Ron Bull, who noted that the resulting number of spaces, while greater than that currently marked, was less than that currently achieved in practice. Councillors also voted in favour of seeking pre-planning advice about the additional parking area.

Tony Evans introduced this topic, saying that the Recreations and Services Committee would consult with the allotment holders, as was said in its last meeting. There followed a somewhat arcane discussion on how this information had been passed to the allotment holders. The main point is that they will be consulted.

OTC had received a quote for £2,300 to hedge the boundary between the Allotments Field and the newly purchased Crouch's Field. Tony Evans noted that the right time of year to do the job would be between now and the end of February.

As reported in an earlier Mercury, back in January 2004 OTC submitted an application to MKC to add a footpath around the Northern and Eastern edges of Doff's Field, plus one from around the centre of its Northern edge running diagonally to its South Eastern corner. Later, OTC advised MKC that it wished to remove the diagonal path from the application.
Continuing apace, it has now been resolved that there is no evidence that the diagonal path across Doff's Field should become a public right of way. The decision on the status of the path around the Northern and Eastern edges of Doffs Field and continuing South along the riverbank to the bridge to Clifton Reynes has been deferred until January 2013, to allow any further evidence to be collected.

Steve Clark explained that MKC owns the Olney Youth Centre building, and provides a yearly grant towards its running costs. Councillors discussed whether OTC should express an interest in obtaining the building and, it was assumed, the land behind it under the Community Asset Transfer scheme. Peter Geary stated that this could move quite quickly, perhaps being concluded in around six months. A small group of Councillors will be set up to progress this issue.

Debbie Brock introduced this item. She'd corresponded with a local resident about traffic issues in the West Street area and noted that, if the Council was minded, it could redirect MKC officers to consider the traffic issues there. At the same time, she acknowledged that it was far from being the only awkward traffic area in the town. This started a wide ranging discussion and, summarising, there were two outcomes. First, the Council would re-assess the Yardley road junction plans, due from MKC shortly. Second, it would consider producing a Neighbourhood Plan, as this would give local people more say over the town's development.

The extremely poor condition of Berrells Court, off East Street, is causing concern. Councillors passed around pictures of the road and it was clear that things were far from satisfactory, with huge areas of standing water covering much of the surface.
Dedire Bethune felt passionately that it was dangerous and a "disgusting tip". She felt the situation had to be sorted out, in spite of difficulties about who owned the land. Other Councillors backed up Deidre in her view. She noted that uncertainty over who owned the land was a problem, and that there was some dependency on a Planning Permission granted nine months ago, and which remained valid for another two years and three months.
Peter Geary noted that a condition of this Permission was that the road surface should be brought up to standard, with tarmac and drainage, before construction could start. Liam Costello believed that this condition was effectively stopping the development -presumably due to the expense of improving the road. John Boardman concluded the discussion by suggesting that OTC initiate a meeting of all the interested parties. Councillors agreed with this.

Liam Costello
Liam Costello reported that work on the toilets was progressing well, and that delivery of the stainless steel furniture was awaited. Tony said it appeared that the hot and cold water sink for the Market traders had been removed from the store room and, as the specification didn't say it should be removed, it needed to be returned.

Steve Clark had been invited to Traka, www.traka.com, a local business, in celebration of it being awarded its third Queen's Award for Enterprise. He'd most enjoyed the day, feeling the tour was "stunning". As background, he explained that the company had been founded in 1995 with four people, and had now grown to around 100.

Next Meeting - Monday 3rd December

The next meeting will be held at 7.30pm on Monday 3rd December In the Council Chamber In the Olney Centre. Members of the public are always welcome to attend and, if they wish, speak at the start of the meeting, or at any point that the mayor decides is appropriate.

Although this did not appear to be a formal agenda item this month, it was discussed at last monthʼs meeting so the discussion continued under Matters Arising. Deidre Bethune said the situation was a ʻcrying shameʼ and she fully supported Carol Barrettʼs efforts. John Sharp said that the Land Registry show that Berrells Court has not been adopted as part of the public highway. He had spoken to a number of property owners, some of whom had indicated a willingness to pay for the repairs but, equally, there were those who would not. No formal estimate appears to exist to indicate how much the remedial work would cost but MKC Ward Councillor Peter Geary said that in his opinion one should be obtained in order to ʻmop upʼ any unclaimed grants from MKC. If a simple covering of tarmac was laid it would probably need doing again in two to three years, he said, and thought the best option would be to lay proper drainage and seek adoption by MKC. Deidre Bethune pointed out that the required standards for adoption are very high but agreed that it should be the preferred option. Carol Barrett spoke again, saying that adoption and repair would mainly benefit the developer who would be building and then selling the proposed new property and she, personally, would be happy for remedial work short of adoption.

Following the recent inspection and report by MKC about the issue, Tony Evans said it was news to him that there is NOT a problem! He thought that getting the MKC enforcement officers involved would identify persistent offenders, with possible prosecutions. Jeremy Rawlings wondered that if the ʻprofessionalsʼ said there was no problem and Peter Gage was of the same opinion then perhaps it was not an issue. Deidre Bethune disagreed, saying that even if responsible dog owners picked up their dogsʼ mess it often got ʻsmeared aroundʼ leaving some behind. Jeremy wondered if dog faeces is actually more dangerous than that of the wild animals that would naturally use the field. Mayor Steve Clark said that the problem is Toxocara Canis and Toxocara Cati that is present in dog and cat faeces, respectively. John Sharp suggested that the solution might be to ban dogs altogether from marked out pitches and fines could be imposed for offenders. Peter Geary observed that the enforcement officers cannot be there all of the time and it was no surprise that owners cleared up while they were there observing. He suggested that there could be three distinct areas:

• Dogs not allowed
• Where dogs are allowed on a lead
• Where dogs are allowed to run free

Peter Gage interjected, saying that a DCO was not appropriate, considering that most pitches were only used for two to three hours a week during three or four months of the year. Tony Evans pointed out that the recreation ground is used for other events, such as the highly successful Olympic Opening celebration, when two to three thousand people had sat down on the grass. He described dog fouling as an ʻevil thingʼ. Peter Geary said there would be no point in imposing a DCO if it was not enforced. Deidre Bethune said that unless something is illegal the police would not be interested in enforcing it and Jeremy Rawlings was of the opinion that dog fouling is not actually illegal unless it is on the public highway. John Sharp suggested using the Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) but Peter Geary said that would only be possible if Thames Valley Police agree and the Chief Constableʼs view would no doubt be that PCSOs should concentrate on crime prevention. He recommended that the council press ahead with seeking a DCO otherwise the issue would continue to go ʻround and roundʼ with no resolution. Steve Clark closed the subject by saying that Rob Ward from MKC Environmental Services would be invited to the next meeting of the Recs and Services Committee.

This issue is frequently discussed at meetings of OTC. The council have always resisted the idea of formally marked out parking spaces because it would reduce the theoretical number of spaces that are available due to ʻimaginativeʼ parking. However, this relies on the first cars that park each day doing so in a manner that allows two rows down the middle. If this does not happen then the number of spaces is considerably reduced for the rest of that day. John Sharp said that the council had previously suggested the marking of a single white line down the centre of the car park to show where cars should park nose to tail. Ron Bull suggested that this should be done on a temporary basis to see if it is adhered to. It was agreed that a small group of councillors will investigate this option.

As reported previously, the council have agreed to overturn the ban on hot takeaway food being sold at the market and as a result have had a request from a start-up Olney company wishing to sell Paella. Tony Evans suggested that before giving them the go-ahead on a permanent basis they should be invited to have a ʻguest spotʼ so that they can be audited to ensure that they use locally sourced ingredients, where possible. Mercury understands that they use poultry from a local farm, so presumably this wonʼt be an issue.

A letter had been received from the organisers of this event on Friday June 7th 2013, requesting reserved parking spaces for about 45 cars. Councillors agreed that the obvious place for this would be the Market Place but recognised that closing the Market Place for any length of time could impact trade. The upside could be that it might attract visitors and the exhibitors would possibly eat in the town. John Boardman said that it would only attract visitors if the event was sufficiently well advertised and hoped that the organisers would do so. It was suggested that the market would be closed until 3.00pm and Deidre Bethune would consult the Chamber of Trade.

A letter had been received from Olney Town Colts informing the council that this popular event would be taking place on Saturday June 29th 2013. This was noted and agreed, but also pointed out that this should have come in as a request because it is held on OTC land. Tony Evans said that he really did not like the title of the event as it sends out completely the wrong message.

Steve Clark reported that the refurbished toilets on the Market Place were now open, but did not say if he had performed an official opening ceremony.
Andrew Dooley has resigned from the council due to work commitments, so a vacancy now exists. The period during which residents can demand a by-election was due to expire at midnight on the day of the meeting so it is assumed that the vacancy will be filled by co-option. Any resident wishing to stand should get in touch with the Town Clerk at the Olney Centre.
Rosemary Osbourne asked when the issue of extending the yellow lines at the entrance to Chantry Rise would be resolved and Peter Geary said that the process of consultation is on-going, but he had received a letter asking that the existing lines are NOT extended.
John Sharp noted that the overhanging hedges by Emberton Park had still not been cut back by MKC and Peter Geary replied that it was on the list of work to be done but the recent bad weather had caused a back-log.

Next Meeting - Monday 7th January

The next meeting will be held at 7.30pm on Monday 7th January in the Council Chamber in the Olney Centre. Members of the public are always welcome to attend and, if they wish, speak at the start of the meeting, or at any point that the mayor decides is appropriate.

Tim Regan
Coneygere resident Tim Regan spoke at the start of this month's meeting. Tim explained that he was there to present a 'human face' on an issue which has been the subject of some discussion at council meetings over the last few months. This matter was an item later on the agenda but for information, Tim has a large tree growing outside his house, number 6, which is threatening lo undermine the foundations and he wants to have It removed. Olney Town Council's (OTC) position has been that this is a matter between him and the builder, since the tree was there when the house was built and the builder should have provide the house with suitable footings.
Tim was at pains to point out that he is not 'anti-tree' and if it were possible to put the offending tree on wheels and move it elsewhere he would be delighted, but the fact is that it is knocking down his house. Due to the age of the house (some 20 years, believes Mercury) Tim said he did not think it practical to go back to the builders and, although he would be sad to see it go, removal is the only option.

It is possible that an end to the long running saga of the Drittway landscaping may be in sight. Attending the meeting was John Price Millon Keynes Council (MKC) Neighbourhood Manager for Environmental Services for Rural Areas and his assistant, Rob Ward. John said that there were a number of options available to resolve the problem:
1. Do nothing and continue with efforts to establish wild flowers on the existing banks. Cost to be met by developer.
2. Keep the exlstlng profile, remove the wild flowers, and establish topsoil and amenity grass. Cost approx £10,000 to be met by MKC.
3. Reshape the Mound and establish amenity grass. Full cost in region of £120,000 to be met by MKC.

John explained that the original problem with option 2 had been that the banks were too steep to be maintained by traditional mowing equipment, but as a result of an accident elsewhere MKC had been obliged to purchase equipment which could mow the banks. He said some preliminary investigations had been done into option 3 and presented the plans to the council. The reshaping would have the effect of reducing the overall height of the bank by 1.5m and the soil removed would be used to fill the existing gap. The downside was that some residents would now have a view across to the industrial estate opposite, which the mound currently blocks. Dave Price was concerned that OTC should consult the affected residents, but Steve Clark said any reshaping would require planning permission which would necessitate notification to the residents who could then express their opinion. Tony Evans said that the options presented were no different to those offered by MKC six months ago. The situation had now changed in that it would be possible to leave the profile of the banks as they are and sow with grass which could now be mown, although he thought that £10,000 to 'sow grass on a heap of soil was very expensive!'. He thought it a waste of lime to even consider the more expensive plan which had no chance of getllng approved. If a decent sward could be grown on the existing banks without invasion by weeds and thistles then that was the obvious choice, he said. Jeremy Rawlings felt that to spend £120,000 of MKC's ratepayers' money on what was essentially cosmetic work was "obscene" in the present financial climate. At this stage Mayor Mike Hughes reminded the meeting that it was not OTC that had bought the proposals to the table, but MKC. Rob Ward said that the costs quoted were worst case scenarios and agreed tha1 they appeared very expensive but warnted to ensure that all options were put before OTC so that they could make an informed decision. Dave Price once again suggested that local residents should be consulted but Mike Hughes believed that this would not be necessary for the preferred option 2, since there was now no intention to reshape the mound which had been constructed in line with the original planning permission. Steve Clark proposed that the council progress with option 2 and the vote was passed unanimously.

Steve Clark reported that a notification had been received from MKC concerning development of land to the rear of 57 and 59 Moores Hill. At this point Tony Evans declared an interest, having relatives living nearby. One of these houses is privately owned and the other is owned by MKC. The property owned by MKC has a covenant preventing further building taking place on the plot, which it will be seeking to relax. The intention then would be to apply for planning permission to build three new houses on the combined plot, with access from Dinglederry, although that would be subject of a separate request for Planning Permission. Steve reminded the council that such infill requests had been rejected in the past and said they would need to decide whether or not to object to this one in principle. Deidre Bethune said that this appeared to go against government policy ol not splitting up gardens for development. She also noted that intention appeared to be to limit the number of houses to three and wondered if that would be fair on other residents in the area who might then wish to sell ol land in a similar lashion. Ron Bull asked if the scheme would help towards MKC's quota of new houses but Deidre said that infill does not count towards the quota Mike Hughes, possibly playing devil's advocate, asked if OTC should not be supporting what appeared to be a workable plan which would raise money for cash-strapped MKC and was likely to go ahead in any case. Tony Evans emphasised the need to consult the nearby residents, since 15-20 houses in total could be seriOusly impacted. He felt that it was important that the matter should be dealt with correcuy by MKC, since they own part of the land, will sell it to a developer and will be responsible for granting planning permission. Mike Hughes reminded the members that the plans before them only related lo the disposal of the land and not any subsequent building and that residents would get the chance to comment when planning permission was requested. He proposed the motion that the council should thank MKC for the consultation and reserve comment for any subsequent planning request, which was passed on a vote.
The matter of the tree outside number 6 Coneygere was discussed under this agenda item. Tony Evans said it was clear that the tree had been there when the house was built but if the owner asked for permission to remove It and replace with two trees in the cemetery that would be acceptable. Mike Hughes said that OTC would not wish to be seen as intransigent on the matter and suggested that the council should allow the tree to be removed, so long as It was not at a cost to MKC. Della Cheal wondered if the owner's insurance would cover the cost of removing the tree. At this point Standing Orders were suspended and Tim Regan was invited to speak. Tim confirmed that he had building insurance and hoped that ii would cover such costs. Standing Orders were then reintroduced and a vote taken recommending that MKC be requested to remove the offending tree, which was passed unanimously.

Jeremy Rawlings explained that OTC has use of the domain 'olneytowncouncil.gov.uk' which can be used as a suffix for members' personalised email addresses, e.g. JeremyRawlings@olneytowncouncil.gov.uk This provides a standard format which would make it easier for members of the public to contact their councillors, rather than the current collection of individual email addresses, he said. If they did not want a personal email published then members could opt for admin@olneytowncouncil.gov.uk, which would go the Town Clerk for onward distribution. The proposal, whilst apparently acceptable to most members generated a surprising amount of anger and hostility from some, who appeared not to like having such a 'label' imposed upon them. John Sharp felt that councillors should be free to decide if they wanted to publish their existing personal email addresses and Deidre Bethune felt they were being treated like naughty school children and being told what to do. In any case, she never gets any emails from members of the public so what does it matter, she said. Eventually it was decided to allow members to publish their existing personal addresses If they really want to.

A letter had been received from Mark Luckin of The Olney Group (TOG) who organise the annual Fireworks Night. TOG has donated £500 to OTC in recognition of the fact that OTC underwrites the event every year in case of financial loss. The underwriting has only had to be called upon once in the entire history of this popular event.
Tony Evans reported that a vacancy had arisen at the Ann Hopkins Smith Almshouses and any elderly female resident of the town wishing to take it up should contact him.
Steve Clark reported that the Whirly Pit had frozen over in the recent cold spell, resulting in the loss or many, if not all of the fish. The pit is under the ownership of MKC, who had apparently made no effort to prevent it from freezing over or to remove the dead fish, resulting in something of a bad smell. Mike Hughes suggested an agenda item for a future meeting lo propose that OTC take ownership, enabling the council's own workers to maintain it.
Deidre Bethune said that there had been much confusion about refuse collection over the Christmas period, resulting in refuse bags lying around for over two weeks. The MKC website slated that there would be a collection between Christmas and the New Year but it was not until Christmas Eve that an email had been sent to the Town Clerk confirming that the next scheduled collection would be Tuesday January 4th, which was then too late lo advertise. Jeremy Rawlings reminded the council that only last month they had decided not to progress with training for the Clerk on the use of Social Media (e.g. Facebook, Twitter etc.) which would have been an Ideal method of distributing such news.


Next Meeting - Monday 7th February

The next meeting will be held at 7.30pm on Monday 7th February in the Council Chamber in the Olney Centre. Members of the public are always welcome to attend and, if they wish, speak at the start of the meeting, or at any point that the mayor decides is appropriate.

Despite there being a very full agenda for this month's meeting. Deputy Mayor Steve Clark managed to keep the meeting moving at a brisk pace. This was In no small part due to locally produced ale 'Hopping Mad' being on sale at The Swan for £1 a pint on this particular evening!*

Although the council chamber was packed with members of the public, none of them were there to speak at the beginning of the meeting. II transpired that most ol them were there for the meeting referred to in the first agenda item and left as soon as it had been discussed.

Present at the meeting was Gill Prager, Director of Quality and Governance for Milton Keynes Primary Care Trust Gill was there to present to the council the proposals set out in the consultation document 'Shaping the Future of Healthcare in Milton Keynes' and afterwards to hold one of a series of 'Tell Us' meetings at which the public would have an opportunity to speak to NHS staff about the specific proposals. Gill explained that the NHS is facing Its toughest financial challenge and most radical reorganisation since it was created in 1948. NHS Milton Keynes is responslble for providing healthcare service for all people registered with General Practitioner (GP) surgeries In Milton Keynes. as well as dentists, hospitals and community services. It has an annual budget of £360 million which rise by less than 0.5% per year over the next few years, despite the fact that the populalion Is rising and becoming increasingly elderly. It has been overspending for some time and as a result the hospital, alone, is £5 million in the red. II will not be possible to continue to provide the same level of services, so ways must be found or providing better services for more people with less money and to claw back some of the deficit. The reorganisation will see the end of Primary Healthcare trusts. she said, and in preparation for that NHS MK had already reduced its managers and administration statr by 40"/4. The consultation document refers to 'thresholds' which are guidelines for GPs to follow to when assessing patients· needs for treatment. Deidre Bethune asked Gill how sticking to these thresholds would save money? GIii said that GPs do not currenUy stick to the current guidelines and will refer patients for treatment according to their professional opinions, regardless of the guideflnes and cost. For many types of treatment new thresholds will be introduced which GPs will be obliged to comply with. This will reduce the number of patients undergoing those treatments, thus saving money, she said. Jeremy Rawlings said that this would lead to people suffering and singled out the new threshold for hip replacement patients lo be unable to walk more than 250 metres as rediculous. Gill acknowledged that in some cases it may mean more people having to suffer pain for longer. The consultation period runs untll Friday 25th February, so may well be over by the time you read this report, but the document can be downloaded from www.mlltonkeynes.nhs.uk/discussion2011.htm

Tony Evans reported that he had had a meeting with John Prloe, Milton Keynes Council (MKC) Neighbourhood Manager for Environmental Services for Rural Areas, and his assistant Rob Ward. It had been agreed that the mound would be left with the existing profile, although there were concerns about the quality of the existing topsoil. MKC are looking to see if they can come to a financial agreement with Wimpey's, the developers. Tony emphasised that !the work must be done this spring and said that John and Rob were keen to resolve the Issue.

Jeremy Rawlings reported that as of February 1 st the school had obtained Foundation status, which Is the first stage to becoming an Academy. The Governors now own the land and buildings so the switch over to full academy status can happen any lime. with June 1st being the probable date.

Tony Moroney, Chairman of Stantonbury Brass, presented a proposal to change their name to 'Olney Brass'. Tony explained that the band would shortly lose its main source of funding and would have to fold on April 1st unless an alternative source of funding could be found. The proposal was to change the name and form a closer allegiance to the town and request some funding from OTC. As a working band, they would look to be as self supportive as possible and raise money through member subscriptions, engagements and concerts. They would also apply for charitable status. which would also bring financial benefit through the gift aid scheme, he said. The band has 12 residents of Olney and Emberton amongst its strength of 25, 4 of whom are founder members. Throughout its 30 - 40 year existence Olney has featured more than anywhere else in !their regular performances, whether through its annual Christmas concert, Dickens of a Christmas, various fates and carolling. Over the years it would be lair to say that the band enjoyed a stronger affiliation with Olney, than with either Stantonbury or Milton Keynes, he said. Younger members of the band progress. both as Individuals and as musicians and often go on to study music at university. The band were particularly proud of two of their current young players, one of whom has been offered a place at The Royal Northern College, whilst his own 15 year old son has been accepted Into The National Youth Brass Band. As part of their commitment to Olney and the surrounding area it is also the intention to form an Olney Brass Development band, which would be available to all brass players who have attained at least grade 3 and it is hoped that they would be able to offer this opportunity free to members less than 18 years of age. The council members seemed generally happy to endorse the name change and the issue or funding was referred to the Finance Committee.

Carol Russell of Cobbs Garden Patient Participation Group was present to request OTC funding of a Specialist Nurse for the Elderly. Carol explained that that the surgery had employed an ex•Dlstrict Nurse for the past two years, funded by Milton Keynes PCT. This funding had now been withdrawn so the present incumbent would be made redundant. She said that a letter in The Phonebox requesting local businesses, charities and MKC to provide sponsorship had met with only a limited response, so It was vital that funding be found from elsewhere. The intention would be to separate the post from the surgery so that it belonged to the community rather than the surgery, but the surgery would continue lo provide racllities such as a desk, computer and phone. The current post holder was employed for 15 hours a week working with people who were soclally isolated, lonely and anxious. Many of these people need time to be listened to, and practical help In many ways, such as filling out forms to claim attendanoe allowance etc. Carol said that in order to keep the nurse employed for a year they would need £13,500. Deidre Bethune, as Chair of the Finance Committee, was concerned that It would need to be an ongoing grant and wondered if OTC could be liable for redundancy payments if the post could not be maintained. Carol said she was optimistic that funding might be forthcoming from elsewhere for future years. Deidre said that. Deidre said that the Finance Committee were minded to fund the post for a year at a cost of £13,500 and proposed that the full council approve the recommendation, which they did unanimously on a vote.

The Parish Precept {the amount of Olney residents' Council Tax which goes directly to OTC) will once again be retained at the existing rate.
The council agreed to purchase laptop for the Town Clerk and Deputy at a cost of £498+VAT to include relevant Microsoft software.
A vacancy exists for the Chair of the Personnel Committee. New member Colin Rodden was nominated and selected but then deselected on a pint of order, possibly the shortest tenure of any committee chairman on the council!


Next Meeting - Monday 7th March

The next meeting will be held at 7.30pm on Monday 7th March in the Council Chamber in the Olney Centre. Members ol the public are always welcome to attend and, if they wish, speak at the start of the meeting, or at any point that the mayor decides is appropriate.

*It had sold out by the lime Mercury arrived.

Richard Izzard. responsible for coordinating the Census for Olney, Newport Pagnell, Astwood and Stoke Goldington, gave a detailed talk about it. The main point is that, if you've not submitted yours by the time you read this - get a move on!

The first item to be considered in the meeting proper was Chris Talbot's request for the Club to acquire the freehold of the land on which the clubhouse stands. Two Councillors. Tony Evans and John Smail, had declared a personal interest in this item, meaning they could discuss but not vote on it.
Mike Hughes introduced the topic, explaining that the Bowls Club owns its own clubhouse while the Tennis, Crick.et, Rugby and Football Clubs do not. He invited Councillors' views. Tony spoke in favour of granting the request, seeing nothing wrong with it. John Sharp spoke against ii. feeling that the Council should try to benefit the whole town and not Just the Rugby Club. Dave Price spoke in favour, noting that the Club does benefit the whole town - through sport and other community activities such as quiz and charity nights. Finally, Ron Bull asked how the Council would come to a decision as to what the freehold was worth, Gill Edmonson noting that, as achieving best value is a Council requirement, this would indeed have to be done properly. Ron believed it would have a high value, while Mike Hughes disagreed, due to the covenant which would be associated with the land.
Councillors voted by majority of seven to one, with two abstentions, in favour of obtaining legal advice and furthering the discussion with the Rugby Club.

Rob Ward, Milton Keynes Council Neighbourhood Manager for Environmental Services, gave a presentation. Note that Rob's title is as stated here and not, as stated previously, the assistant to that post.
In the first part of his presentation, Rob explained that he manages the delivery of Environmental Services in the rural parts of Milton Keynes (MK) Borough, covering waste collection, landscape, highway maintenance, play area maintenance and neighbourhood enforcement. Savings of around 30% would have to be made in the next lour years, which would require choices of what could and could not be achieved, alongside ensuring the best use of resources. Readers who wish to report a problem with any of the services Rob manages should call 01908 252570.

The second part of Rob's presentation concerned the Drlftway banks. As background, note that in the previous meeting, John Price and Rob Ward had presented three options to resolve the problem ...
1. Do nothing and continue with efforts to establish wild flowers on the existing banks. Cost to be met by the developer.
2. Keep the existing profile, remove the wild flowers, and establish topsoil and amenity grass. Cost approx £10,000 to be met by MKC.
3. Reshape the mound and establish amenity grass. Full cost in region of
£120,000 to be met by MKC.
... and the Council had voted unanimously in favour of option 2. At the time, the Driltway banks were believed not to have been adopted by MKC.
Since then, Rob had discovered that MKC's Highways department had in fact adopted the Driftway banks, although the Section 106 element relating to completion of the landscaping had not been signed off. The results of this were that MKC may not have as much negotiating power with the developer, Taylor Wimpey, as previously thought. However, independent of that. Rob stressed that MKC remained committed to completing the works on Driftway.
Rob proposed two new options:
A. Plant grass and shrubs in six inches of topsoil then cut approximately six times per year. Costs: £8,500 to Implement,
£900 per year to cut. Summary: high potential for success, attractive, higher ongoing cost.
B. Plant further mixed species and wild flowers In a thin layer of topsoil, providing new growth and encouraging what's there to develop, then cut twice a year. Costs: £3,200 to implement, £300 per year to cut. Summary: Higher biodiversity, fairly attractive, lower maintenance cost.
Mike Hughes stated that option A was basically that agreed by OTC in its previous meeting, that this was what should be done and that suggesting a cheaper alternative was merely MKC trying to ease its way into doing less and less work.
This was debated at length and the following is a just brief summary. Tony Evans felt that only option A was likely to be successful. Deidre Bethune suggested a compromise, planting mixed species and wild flowers in six inches of topsoil. Both Tony Evans and Mike Hughes wanted MKC to stick to the original agreement, option A, and commit to an ear1y planting date in order to increase the chance of a successful outcome.
Rob Ward agreed to follow option A, with the work to be done 'in weeks' and certainly before the end of April.

For each Thursday Market, the Council hires a skip and cleaning service to complete tidying up after the stallholders have left. This costs £322 per week which, put another way, represents 44% of each stall's weekly rent. As the skip doesn't get particularly full, the Council discussed whether it and the cleaning service provided were worth continuing with. No decision was made, though the issue will be explored further.

There'd been an incident during a Rugby match on Doffs Field where a player had fallen into some dog poo, which caused his eye to swell up. This raised the issue of dog fouling in general, which continues to be a problem on the Sports Fields. Although no decision was made, it's likely that around ten additional signs will be placed around the Fields to ensure there's no doubt that the practice is illegal.

In February, Della Cheal stepped down from being Chair of the Personnel Committee. She was generally acknowledged to have been very good at this role, and Councillors were keen to fill the vacant position. As reported in last month's Mercury, Colin Rodden had been selected for the post and then immediately deselected on a point of order. The issue was that he wasn't a Committee Chair, Standing Order 16 stating that the 'Personnel Committee (is) to be formed from Chairpersons of Committees but to include one female Councillor if possible'.
Councillors now considered whether the wording should be changed to 'Personnel Committee to be formed from Chairpersons of Committees or suitably qualified Personnel Officer and to include one female Councillor if possible'. John Sharp did not like this at all, standing up and stating that, if this happened, "I'll resign as of now. You are altering things to suit the Council. It's corrupt." Mike Hughes explained that the issue was being brought before Council for a decision, as per usual procedure. Deidre Bethune and Gill Edmonson also attempted to pour oil on troubled waters. However, all this seemed to make little difference and John left the Council Chamber.
Ron Bull felt some sympathy with John, believing that Councillors setting the rules for the year then changing them arbitrarily part way through ii was starting down a slippery slope. Mike Hughes declared himself "staggered" by John's reaction. After further discussion, the Standing Order was not changed, the issue instead being deferred to the next annual meeting.

Councillors decided to enter Olney for the Tindal Cup, the only category in the Best Kept Village competition it can enter this time round, having won the Best Kept Town award last year. Then they decided, as last year, not to enter Olney for Britain in Bloom.

As reported in last month's Mercury, 6 Conygere was built close to a large tree which is now threatening to undermine the building's foundations. The tree is on OTC's land and, as the Council has now received a solicitor's letter on the subject, it passed the issue to its own solicitors.


Next Meeting - Monday 4th April

The next meeting will be held at 7.30pm on Monday 4th April in the Council Chamber in the Olney Centre. Members of the public are always welcome to attend and, if they wish, speak at the start of the meeting, or at any point that the mayor decides is appropriate.

Mike Hughes started the meeting with his report. He praised the various events and organisations in the Town mentioning, amongst many, the Cherry Fair, Raft Race, Motorama, the Scouts and the Sports Clubs. He felt that the organisations and the volunteers behind them added greaUy to Olney's sense of community.
Noting that Olney had won the Best Kept Town award, he thanked both the ground staff and those tending their private gardens. He also explained that Olney Town Council (OTC) had purchased seven acres of land, adjacent to the current sports fields and the allotments, with the aim of using it for recreational and sports use. This would take a few years to achieve due to the surface preparation required. In future years, he said, it also raises the possible return of the Fireworks Night bonfire.

Rob Ward, Milton Keynes Council (MKC) Neighbourhood Manager for Environmental Services. gave a brief summary of the Rural Neighbourhood Management team's work. It covers the entire rural area of Milton Keynes Borough, two thirds or its geographical area but with a minority of its population. It's the first point of contact for issues such as potholes, bins not being emptied and landscaping issues. When reporting a problem, ring the Environmental Services Helpline on 01908 252570 or surf to
www.milton-keynes.gov.uk/street-care

Chris Ward gave the Police report. He explained that antisocial behaviour in Olney had declined generally, there'd been increasing numbers attending the Youth Centre and Offic.ers had given talks both there and at local Schools.
The 'highlights' of the crime figures for Olney between Aprll last year and February this year were: 38 violent offences, 2 sexual offences, 8 burglaries, 11 crimes related to vehicles, 5 thefts of pedal cycles, 22 shoplifling offences, 59 theft offences, 57 incidents or criminal damage and 6 drug offences. Overall there were 203 offences, a 28.5% reduction over the same period the year before.

Committee Chair Tony Evans gave this report. He started by noting that, although the changes made each year by OTC may seem small, the difference made over the approximately 25 years he's been Chair of this committee had been astonishing. This year, changes had included the new play equipment on the Recreation Ground and the new Tennis Court.
Dog fouling continues to be a major issue, and Tony stressed the need to persuade dog owners to pick up their mess. He also gave a little more detail on the planned use of the newly purchased land adjacent to the current sports fields and the allotments. Over the next two to three years, it would be prepared as an area suitable for recreation - not necessarily a formal pitch area. He felt it might be used by Junior sides at the weekends and for kick-abouts, but hoped not to see permanent posts erected there. Take-up of the allotments continues to be very high and, due to vandalism, new gates and fences have been erected near their entrance.
Tony thanked Rob Ward for picking up the issue of the Driftway verges and sorting it out. Six inches of topsoil have since been laid and seeded with grass although, unluckily, there'd been hardly any rain since. The Market Place had seen the addition of two new noticeboards and lour new bins, and Tony felt the parking scheme there continued to work very well.
He concluded by thanking the groundsmen Ian and Richard, Reg Webster for his work on the Cemetery grounds, and Gill and Sandra, the Town and Deputy Town Clerks, for their hard work over the year.

Steve Clark started by explaining that Olney Town Council can only advise on planning applications, this advice being passed to Milton Keynes Council which then makes the decisions. It had been a quiet year due to current economic conditions and the remaining parcels of land suitable for development running out.
He noted that the landlocked area between the end of Moores Hill and Dinglederry had attracted various planning applications over the years. OTC had consistently opposed them, but ii now seemed likely that MKC may leave the way open for development by selling off some land and releasing a restrictive covenant. The details are beyond the scope of this report but are well worth a read so, for a comprehensive description, surf to stephenclark.mycouncillor.org.uk/2011/01/13/moores-hill-development. Either way, Steve concluded by saying that, until a new planning application had been received, there was nothing concrete for OTC to discuss.

Deidre Bethune presented a very brief report noting that, again, there'd been no precept raise this year and that the 'Sydney Dix' fund would shortly be renamed the 'Olney Town Council Community Fund'. Its purpose, described by the new name. remains unchanged.
From the handout, the following figures are for the year ended 31st March 2011, with the bracketed figures being for the year before. Total income was £272,000 (£.277,000) and total expenditure £442,000 (£300,000), resulting in an excess of expenditure over income of £169,000 (£23,000). Cash reserves are £363,000 (£526,000). The main difference between this year and last ls the expenditure on land capital of £125,000 (£0), this presumably being related to the purchase of land adjacent to the sports fields.

Alan Richardson gave this report, saying that the Centre was vibrant and well used. He explained wryly that, in line with the latest safety regulations, door furniture such as handles and crash bars had been replaced, finally making the doors safe after 137 years of continuous usel New presentation boards, projection screens and a flagpole had been purchased. He concluded by thanking Peter the caretaker, Rob the early morning cleaner and Gill and Sandra.

The Cowper and Museum report was very brief, noting that attendance had been higher than last year and thanking OTC for its support. From the handout, admission income was up 2.7% on last year and a surplus of income over expenditure of £800 was made, compared with a deficit of £3200 last year.
The Ann Hopkins Smith Almshouse Charity had seen two properties become vacant, both now taken by new residents. All houses are occupied but a waiting list is maintained. Any elderly Lady with strong Olney connections can apply for an Almshouse by writing to Tony Evans at Olney Park Farm, Yardley Road, Olney.
The British School Charity awards grants to people in Olney aged under 25 engaging in further education beyond A Level or in occupational training. The ongoing very low interest rates mean that, while It used to rely on an annual income in excess of £3,000, current income is less than £400. This makes the Charity effectively dormant.
John Ferris gave a report on the Newport Pagnell and Olney Uons Club. The Club has around 16 members and has raised just over £14,000 and donated £10,000 during the year, the remaining £4,000 being in reserves. All money donated goes to good causes, administration costs being borne instead by club members. Just over half the donations were local, and included ones to the Brooklands Centre in Newport Pagnell and Willen Hospice.
Neill Elliot reported on The Olney Group (TOG). It had been a successful year, with the Duck and Raft Races being well attended (bar the World Cup) and Fireworks Night going exceptionally well. Mainly as a result of the latter, the total income was £9,000 and there was a surplus of income over expenditure of £2,400. TOG also donated £500 to OTC in part recompense for the loss Incurred three years ago when Fireworks Night was hit by exceptionally wet weather. This year's Raft Race will include entertainment from Olney's Got Balls and the MK Friends of the Caribbean.