Page 54 - Phonebox Magazine November 2014

MERCURY REPORT
Colts Changing Rooms
Mercury report for the Council Meeting of Monday 7th October 2013
Public Participation
Brian Rice, the only speaker in this slot, had come to discuss parking in and around Oakdown Crescent. He reported that the previous Friday evening, a large van had parked on a corner in the Crescent in such a way as to make it hard to drive cars, let alone emergency vehicles, round it. Noting that the Crescent was full of cars most evenings, he said that the parking issue needed to be addressed within the next 12 months.
Colts changing rooms
Olney Town Colts Football Club (FC) has raised sufficient funds to build changing rooms, and contacted Olney Town Council (OTC) to discuss where they would be best located. After discussion, the Recreations and Services Committee recommended they be placed in an extension to the left of the tractor shed, approximately symmetrical with the toilet blocks to its right. The Council approved this recommendation, with all in favour bar Ron Bull, who was against the location on principle, feeling that the Football Clubs should be located together.
As background, Olney Town Colts FC has 23 teams covering the junior age range from U6 to U18, while Olney Town FC has various senior teams. The two clubs were due to meet on the same evening as this Council meeting.
Traffic regulation order
As reported in an earlier Mercury, Milton Keynes Council (MKC) has recently been considering various requests to restrict parking in parts of Olney. The proposals have been out for consultation and the results are now in. The double yellow lines on Spinney Hill Road opposite the School will, in fact, be retained. New double yellow lines will be painted on the North side of Spring Lane between the High Street and West Street, and at various West Street junctions between Dinglederry and Spring Lane.
Community Asset Transfer
Jeremy Rawlings reported that the Y outh Centre had been added, to tranche seven of MKC’s Community Asset Transfer programme. He believed there were four or more parties interested in taking over the running of the Centre. Steve Clark noted that MKC still had the option to keep the Centre, being under no obligation to transfer it. Jeremy concluded the topic, by noting that two or more of the parties appeared to have ambitions to build on the field to the rear of the Centre, suspecting they were as yet unaware of the buried sewer pipe running East-West across the site to the pumping station behind, and the associated restriction that no building was allowed within four metres of its route.
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Citizens Advice Bureau
As reported previously, the local Citizens Advice Outreach Service is supported financially by OTC, and had provided a report on its work between April 2012 and February 2013. It had seen 57 clients in that time, almost all from the Olney Ward, 34% aged 35-49, 26% aged 25-34 and 72% female. The biggest topics enquired about by its clients were benefits (43%) and debt (27%). It was noted that OTC had effectively paid approximately £100 per client, and that it would have been cheaper for it to pay for taxis to have those people seen in Milton Keynes, although that would not preserve their anonymity. John Boardman felt, and various Councillors agreed, that a representative from the Bureau should be invited to speak with the Council before the next anniversary of the funding, to allow Councillors to get a better picture of its operation.
Bits’n’bobs
Liam Costello noted that the allotment track is due for resurfacing in the next month or so. A site meeting has been held with the contractor, and tenants of nearby properties will be informed.
Jeremy Rawlings had attended the opening night of the new Youth Café in the redeveloped Church Hall. Around 30 children came along, and Jeremy was impressed with both the Café and the Hall’s fresh new look.
A new Café, La Cantina, has opened in Rose Court. It’s made use of the ‘pop up’ measures introduced by Eric Pickles to promote regeneration, where various kinds of retail outlet, including restaurants, can open for up to two years before gaining the usual planning consent – for example, change of use. However, it did not give the required 21 days’ notice to MKC Planners, who have since visited the Café and asked it to provide the information retrospectively. Steve Clark, also a member of OTC’s Planning Committee, noted that this area of planning was currently
something of a minefield, with those setting up new businesses under these measures not necessarily aware of what permissions and licences they need to apply for.
The next meeting will be held at 7.30pm on Monday 4th November 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.
MK Business Reference Library
With signs of an up turn in the economy starting to emerge, businesses large and small across Milton Keynes are turning to the Milton Keynes Reference Library, to find new customers and business advice. Aggie O’Hara is the Business Information Librarian based at Central Milton Keynes Library and has witnessed a large increase in enquiries and information requests over the summer. Along with the traditional business books and magazines you would expect to find, the MINT and COBRA databases held at the reference library contain a massive amount of free business information waiting to be tapped into.
Aggie told us ‘Many businesses don’t realise that there is a wealth of information available for free, and for those who don’t feel confident doing their own searches library staff will run them for you and email the results to you for a small fee.’
One of the key pieces of advice given to new and existing companies is to: ‘research your market’, and with UK market synopses, a legal library and a UK Business Support Directory, to name a but a few of the available resources at your finger tips, there is no excuse not to. Contact details: Milton Keynes Reference Library, 555 Silbury Boulevard, Central Milton Keynes, MK9 3HL. 01908 254051 Reference. library@milton-keynes.gov.uk