Page 25 - Phonebox Magazine June 2006

Friday Night. Olney is supposed to have a ‘ring fenced’ Police Officer, but because crime in Olney is lower than elsewhere in Milton Keynes he is very rarely seen in the Town. The Police Community Support Officers do an excellent job but they have no powers of arrest. Malcolm Messenger said it was unfortunate that the PCSO were being deployed in place of Special Constables who do have powers of arrest. Also the fact that Newport Pagnell Police Station is not manned 24 hours a day means that it takes longer to get an officer to Olney. Paul Watson hoped that as many councillors as possible would make an effort to attend the public meeting with the police being held the next evening.
Floral Fiesta
A request had been received from the Floral Fiesta Committee requesting permission to use the recreation ground for the Raft Race on Sunday June 25th. This will be the main event of Fiesta this year. Tony Evans expressed disappointment that Fiesta had been considerably scaled back this year and no Fiesta Day or parade would be held. He said it was important not to let Fiesta fold and that awareness of the event needs to be raised. Dave Price agreed, pointing out that Fiesta had now been running for over forty years. Paul Watson said he had met with members of the committee, but lack of numbers meant that they could no longer run the scale of events that they had in the past.
Health Check update
This is the initiative run by the South East England Development Agency (SEEDA) to
regenerate market towns in the South East region. David Coles reported that a letter had been sent to local organisations inviting them to a meeting to introduce and explain the Healthcheck, but there had been little response and poor attendance. A further meeting will be held on June 6th to which members of the public are invited. Although four members of the council had attended representing other organisations it is important to note that this is not a council run initiative but should be run by members of the community.
Section 136
There was little progress to report on this long running issue this month. Paul Watson said that a letter of response had been sent to the Ombudsmen and an acknowledgement received. The District Auditor’s response was due the end of April but was now expected by the middle of May.
Farmers’ Market
An audit of the market had recently been completed by the Association of Farmers’ Markets. A full report will be provided in time for the next council meeting, although initial impressions seemed to be that it is managed well. It was noted that the regulations controlling the market allowed for the attendance of ‘guest stalls’ on an occasional basis, so it would be possible to run a single market with a French theme, for example. Tony Evans said he thought that the market still needed leadership and co-ordination and suggested that a meeting of the
Recreation and Services committee should be held to discuss it, with stall holders invited.
Cemetery graffiti
There had been reports of graffiti in the cemetery. Initially this was thought to be relatively harmless instances of youngsters marking the pavement for games of Hopscotch. However Malcolm Messenger reported that there had been instances of ‘tagging’ which had been removed. A discussion then took place as to how this could be prevented. The general feeling was that locking the gates would not be a solution, since access could be gained through other entrances.
Emberton Wind Farm
Paul Watson reported that he had attended an exhibition by Your Energy at Emberton Pavilion. The revised plan consisted of seven turbines (reduced from ten) one hundred and twenty five metres to tip with a capacity of up to 3 MW each. Formal applications for planning permission could be expected soon, he said. d
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Phonebox Magazine 25
The next meeting will be held at 7.30pm on Monday 5th 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.