Page 18 - Phonebox Magazine June 2009

Mercury Report
Olney Town Council Meeting of Monday 11 May 2009
Public participation
Martin Pebody spoke on behalf or the residents of Bridge Street and High Street South, expressing concerns about the volume and speed of traffic through the town. He said that there has been an enormous increase in traffic through Olney in recent years and that it is seriously affecting the quality of life of residents, particularly those living along the main road. There have been a number of serious road traffic accidents involving serious injury to individuals and also damage to buildings, the most serious of these being a fatality in Bridge Street earlier this year, he said. The junction of Bridge Street and Church Street is treated by many divers as the end of the 30 mph speed limit and an opportunity to rapidly accelerate out of the town. Many of the dangers faced daily by residents, pedestrians, cyclists, churchgoers and visitors to the Swan and the Wine Bar, the parents and children of the playgroup and those heading to Emberton Park could be significantly reduced by significantly lowering and enforcing a lower speed limit, he felt. Although the causes of the accidents are both various and open to debate there is no doubt that the greater the volume of traffic the greater the risk of such incidents occurring, he said. A meeting had been convened by Milton Keynes and Olney Town Councillor Debbie Brock in early March for the residents of Bridge Street and High Street South where many ideas for reducing the speed of traffic and the protection of person and property were discussed with officers of MKC and he now awaited with interest the preliminary conclusions. In recent weeks it has become clear that the Government is now actively supporting the lowering of speed limits to 20 mph in residential areas in order to lower the number of fatalities on Britain’s roads. Martin ended by urging the council to give full consideration to the idea of reducing the speed limit to 20 mph as a first step in protecting all those who live and work in Olney.
David Rumens said that the A509 is a Primary Route and similar arguments had been put forward as part of the Lorry Management Strategy so in his opinion there was no chance of reducing the speed limit. However, the subject was discussed in a later agenda item.
And it’s goodnight from him...
The May meeting of OTC is when members elect a new mayor, deputy mayor and members of the various sub-committees. John Smail* stood down as mayor, having
completed two years in the role. In his final address he said that he had enjoyed his period as mayor and thanked the rest of the council for putting up with him. In the past two years the council had achieved many notable successes, particularly the recent introduction of parking restriction on the Market Place. His one regret was that the problem of the Driftway landscaping had not been resolved, he said. He proposed Mike Hughes as new mayor, which was seconded by David Rumens and carried unopposed. John handed over the ceremonial chain of office to Mike Hughes and left his seat at the head of the table to return to ‘the ranks’.
Mike Hughes took the chair and thanked John for his term in office saying that he hoped John would remain around for a long while. John said he did too!
Mike Hughes proposed Dave Price as deputy mayor and Alan Richardson proposed Steve Clark. A secret ballot was taken and Steve Clark was declared the winner.
Nominations were then taken for the sub- committees and once agreed, the chairs were elected. The chairs of the committees are:
Recreations and Services – Tony Evans Planning Liaison – Steve Clark
Olney Centre Management – Alan Richardson Finance – Chris Ford
Dickens of a Christmas – Mike Hughes
Many councillors are also members of other bodies, both in their own right and as representative of OTC. These representatives were mostly agreed unchanged, except that Tony Evans stood down from the Trustees of the Cowper and Newton Museum to be replaced by Nigel Birrell. David Rumens, as representative for the Olney Health check, said that it had now run its course and the documentation produced should now be used to update the Parish Plan, which he noted had not been revised for many years.
Neighbourhood Action Group (NAG)
John Sharp reported on the recent NAG meeting. A new Police Community Support Officer has now been employed bringing their strength back up to two. A visual audit of the litter situation in the town will take place in late May/early June he said. Due to vandalism OTC had been forced to replace the waste bin outside Enzio’s fish and chip shop at a cost of £470. There had been reports of alcohol related antisocial behaviour on Barnfield but poor internal communication meant that the NAG were not always aware of this because MK police
were not informing the local police when they attended incidents in the town.
Dave Price asked if the crime figures included arson as he knew that there had been incidents of arson on Barnfield and he had assumed that the fire brigade would report attendance at such incidents, but that appeared not always to be the case. Tony Evans observed that although the crime figures for Olney were low, compared with other parts of Milton Keynes, OTC should not rest on their laurels and must keep the police on their toes with regard to their presence in the town.
Air Quality Management and Road Safety
Debbie Brock reported on the meeting with residents of Bridge Street and High Street South, as mentioned by Martin Pebody in the public participation section of the meeting. One of the proposals put forward had been the placing of bollards in locations such as the narrow part of the road by the Swan and a trial was due to be carried out using paint markers to represent the possible locations. In the longer term consideration could be given to remodelling the bend and Church Street junction, she said. There may be mileage in investigating the possibility of a 20 mph speed limit in the area, she said.
On the subject of air quality, Steve Clark noted that it would be interesting to find out if the reduction in lorry traffic as a result of the current financial situation had lead to a reduction in pollution levels.
Licensing application for The Bull
Many members were surprised to see this item on the agenda, because such applications are dealt with by MKC as the planning authority. David Rumens said that he had requested the item be placed on the agenda as a number of residents had already objected. It appears that the application is to extend Sunday to Thursday opening from 11.00 pm to midnight and Fridays and Saturdays from the current midnight to 2.00 am. Mike Hughes pointed out that OTC could have no say in the matter, since the premises already had a license and other establishments in the town already had opening hours similar to those proposed. MKC would have the final say on the application, he said.
Olney Town Council wards
As reported in previous articles, MKC has conducted a review of wards in its area which has recommended that Olney be
18 Phonebox Magazine