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.