Prior to the start of the meeting mayor Debbie Whitworth made the following announcement:
Before the meeting this evening I’d like to say a few words as a tribute for Tom Bent who died suddenly and unexpectedly last month. It is with deep sadness and shock that I and fellow council colleagues learned of the sudden passing of Tom, co-owner of Olney Pancake Parlour. On behalf of all the residents and everyone at Olney Town Council - I extend our sincere sympathy to Mark, to Jamie, to their family, friends, and colleagues at this most difficult time. Tom was a valued member of our business community, contributing greatly to the local economy with his bubbly enthusiasm for new initiatives and his infectious bubbly spirit and zest for life. He will be sadly missed by everyone who knew him.
There was one member of the public who spoke this month. As a resident of Dartmouth Road he expressed his disappointment that the usual Christmas trees had not been erected on Dartmouth Road, as the council had run out of trees. Town Clerk Jane Brushwood interjected to say that additional trees had now arrived. However as part of Olney Events, the volunteer group that had previously organised the trees, he was disappointed by the quality of those that had been erected. They had been ‘ham fisted’ into the brackets without being opened up, some had the lights hanging off and residents had complained that in some cases the leads were too short or too thick to pass through window frames so consequently would not be lit. None of these issues had occurred when Olney Events had organised the trees, he said. Additionally many children had been disappointed to find that their house had not received trees when others had. Jane replied that many of the trees had deteriorated in recent years and there is an ongoing program of replacement. The council workers would be instructed to revisit and ‘fluff up’ the trees that had not been fully opened, she said.
David Tyler and Deirdre Bethune had sent apologies. There were no declarations of interest.
Milton Keynes City Council (MKCC) Ward Councillors Keith McLean and Peter Geary had both sent apologies but submitted a written report which Debbie read out. Bucks and Milton Keynes Fire Authority are undertaking a public consultation regarding the reduction in the number of on-call fire engines and closure of two stations. Keith and Peter are opposing the move and wish residents to be aware that the consultation closes on 28th January and can be viewed and commented upon at bucksfire.gov.uk. David Chennells asked if the proposals would affect Olney and Debbie confirmed that they wouldn’t. The consultation for the final draft of the MK Local Plan closes on 22nd December. There are still no more details about the location of the government proposed new town for Milton Keynes. Next year all 60 seats on MKCC will be contested after which the leader of the Council Pete Marland will be stepping down after 12 years’ service. Finally they said that they were pleased that the financial support for the 41 bus service had been extended and wished all staff and parishioners a Merry Christmas. Wearing her Ward Councillor hat Debbie reported that Nationwide Building Society had confirmed that all current branches will be open till at least 2030. Damage done to the Olney branch in the recent ram-raid is significantly greater than originally thought and the required work was due to be signed off by MKCC by the end of that week, after which it would be ’all systems go’. Concerns had been expressed by residents about the potential increase in traffic, parking and noise caused by the proposed change of use of the old St John Ambulance hall to a Om Shakthivel Temple. As yet no planning application has been submitted. Residents have flagged safety concerns regarding parking at four locations in the town, namely Yardley Road from the junction of Driftway, Fairfield Close 12m from East Street, East Street 12m from Fairfield Close and 27m westerly, and Palmers Road southern kerb line 36m southeasterly . MKCC Highways have assessed all four locations and will initiate a Traffic Regulation Order, effectively starting the ball rolling to implement double yellow lines in those areas.
No PCSO was present so Jane Brushwood read out the report:
There were no queries on expenses. Regarding the budget, Chris Shaw Chair of Finance said that as usual it was a matter of timing but he had nothing that sticks out. Later in the meeting Chris reported that he had attended a webinar on the ‘CCLA takeover’ and felt that this was a positive thing that would protect and enhance OTC’s ‘miniscule investment’ with them. Post meeting investigations by Mercury revealed that CCLA is an investment company which serves non-profit clients such as charities, churches and local authorities and aims to help them maximise their impact on society through their investments. Subject to regulatory approval CCLA is being acquired by Jupiter Fund Management plc.
Many councillors represent OTC at external groups and forums. Christina Diamandopoulos reported that she had attended a meeting of MKCC Nature Group and a presentation concerning violence against women. Mary Prosser reported that the trustees of the Ann Hopkins Smith Alms houses had attended a private viewing of documents of interest at the Cowper and Newton Museum followed by the residents Christmas lunch. Dan Rowland had attended a meeting of the MKCC Flood Group. Chris Tennant had attended a councillor briefing given by MKCC about the New Towns Task Force report. No site has been chosen for a new town as of yet, but if it was built in MK it could add another 10 to 20k homes to the 60k already planned in the MK Local Plan. Sarah Lowe reported that following on from a rural crime meeting she had recently attended she had surveyed local retailers regarding shoplifting. As suspected, it had revealed significant underreporting of incidents. Across the 28 retailers who responded it appears that over an average month there are between 180-250 incidents, with one reporting losses of around £2k per week. That particular retailer said they only report thefts of more than £500. 57% of retailers said they don’t report any incidents at all. One retailer reports all incidents to head office but they only report a tiny fraction to the police. Reasons given for non-reporting include not witnessing the crime taking place so they don’t think they can report it, and also because Olney lacks a local police presence. In some cases the retailers said they had provided full evidence and identification but no action had been taken. Jane Brushwood said that ‘if its not reported it hasn’t happened’. Also, the police do not just sit in Central MK waiting for things to happen, she said, and may well be in the area already, so it is important for incidents to be reported. A meeting had taken place to demonstrate an app for reporting incidents to the police, but not a single local retailer had attended, she said. On a positive note Sarah said that the retailers are keen to engage with any initiative that might achieve results.
Deputy Clerk Rob Mungham provided the stats for the period 09/10/2025 to 06/11/2025:
All locations recorded a decrease in average speed from previous measurements.
Debbie Whitworth reported that Mark Butterfield and members of Olney and Clifton Fishing Association continue testing for pollution at various locations. After months of drought there has been considerable rainfall with the river almost at flood level. As a result it has not been possible to carry out fly testing to measure the insect quantity and therefore water quality. Electroconductivity levels have dropped due to the drop in temperature and increased volume of water, with an average of 550чS/cm across all sites. Ammonia is good, averaging 0.2mg/l with a spike of 0.56mg/l at the weir. Phosphates are much too high with average of 0.85mg/l. Nitrates are a poor 5mg/l. Tчhese results are obtained using testing strips so funding is being sought from MKCC for more accurate testing equipment. Mark is concerned that Anglian Water might be dumping sewage into the river in the early hours hoping not to get caught as has allegedly occurred in Bedford. Debbie said that Chris Curtis MP has been asked to follow up. She thanked Mark and the Fishing Association for their continued work.
20mph limit for all of Olney
Debbie Whitworth reminded councillors that this had been requested by a resident who had spoken at last month’s meeting and invited comments. Richard Hillier expressed his support but Jane Brushwood said there are an awful lot of people who are against it. Chris Shaw said whether it was right or wrong was up for debate but his concern was whether it would be enforced. Rob Mungham said it was his understanding that there is no police enforcement of 20mph restrictions. David Chennells said that in his experience when regulations are broken the authorities response is to impose more regulation on those who are already compliant so the result would be to inconvenience those who already travel at speeds of 25-30mph. Those who break the existing limit would ignore a 20mph limit so it becomes completely undervalued. It would be more sense to target specific areas but a blanket restriction to make people drive at 20mph at 11:00 at night would not work. The Hight Street might benefit but who has driven down there at more than 20mph for 90% of the time he asked? It would be regulation for regulation sake and he would be against it, he said. Colin Rodden spoke in favour of ‘Twenty is Plenty’ expressing the opinion that even if the limit was not observed people would be more likely to drive at 30mph in a 20mph area but at 30mph they will drive above that. Resident like to walk and cycle in the town and every month there are reports of animals being killed on the roads so he was very much in favour. Chris Tennant observed that OTC could only request MKCC to consider such a restriction, as had happened with the areas already limited to 20mph, such as near to schools. In those cases OTC had provided evidence and MKCC had carried out the necessary monitoring and consultations before approving the restriction and he would support any targeted locations with evidence, but not a blanket restriction. He put this forward as a formal proposal for a vote which was passed by an overwhelming majority. Colin Rodden wished his objection to be formally recorded.
As a member of both the BOFF committee and OTC, Deirdre Bethune had requested permission to use the Market Place from Friday to Monday, with every effort being made to clear the Market Place by early Monday afternoon. Debbie Whitworth was concerned that a number of issues were yet to be resolved, such as H&S, Risk Assessments, Accessibility, and without a full proposal the council were unable to agree to the dates in isolation. Richard Hillier was firmly against approving the dates without the full proposal being available. Colin Rodden said that although unable to attend this year it had been a great success as far as he was aware, and he had personally received no complaints. Chris Shaw said it would show good faith to approve the date, pending receipt of the detailed plan. Chris Tennant said he agreed with Colin Rodden, noting that this was a somewhat unusual occurrence to much amusement from fellow councillors. He formally proposed that permission be granted subject to receipt of the agreed management plans, which was passed by a majority vote.
Yardley Manor development
Progress is being made on the community building which is due to be completed in February. Landscaping work continues, but work on the pond has stalled because of the bad weather. Repairs to the play equipment were due to complete that week, weather permitting.
Jane Brushwood said there was nothing to report but she had managed to obtain some additional funding.
The absent David Tyler had provided a report on behalf of the Tree Working Group but it had not been provided to Mercury as part of the meeting pack and no discussion took place so we must assume that all trees are happy with the current state of affairs.
It was agreed to purchase a ‘Lamp Light
of Peace’ to be lit on Remembrance Day
next year and future years. One of the aims is to get young people involved, which Mary Prosser felt was very important in her role of Standard Bearer for the local branch of the Royal British Legion.
A resident had requested that additional Christmas decorations be erected on the lampposts in a northerly direction along the High Street, Dartmouth Road and Wellingborough Road. Jane Brushwood said the decorations were ‘jolly expensive’ and there is a huge cost involved in getting them put up, taken down, connected to the electricity supply and use thereof. The general feeling was that the existing decorations being concentrated in a smaller area had more impact which would be diluted if they were extended further so it was agreed not to proceed.
New artwork has been installed in the Market Place bus shelter.
The next meeting will be held on Monday 15thJanuary at 7.00pm in the Olney Centre. If you would like to contribute to the Public Participation section at the start of the meeting, or any time the mayor deems appropriate, please contact the Town Clerk, townclerk@olneytowncouncil.gov.uk.
