Parish Council Minutes: September 2026
Oakford Parish Council
DRAFT MINUTES
These minutes will be agreed at the Parish Council meeting on 12th October and might be subject to slight amendment
The minutes of a meeting of Oakford Parish Council held in the Committee Room at Oakford Village Hall at 7.30pm on Monday 14th September 2026
Present: Cllr’s J Cridland (Chair), G Baylis, F Cross, L Gould, J Mayer and V Stevens.
In attendance: County Cllr S Lodge, District Cllr C Adcock, Mr L Dyson (MDDC Resilience Officer), three members of the public and the Clerk, Mrs J Larcombe.
59/09/26. To receive apologies for absence. Apologies were accepted from Cllr’s J Levick
and T Davies. Apologies were received from District Cllr M Stratton.
60/09/26. Declarations of Interest. Cllr Mayer declared a personal and prejudicial interest
regarding Spurway Barton (Item 65/09/26e) as she does some work for the owners
61/09/26. Updated Register of Interests requirements. As Local authorities are no longer
required or legally permitted to publish a councillor’s usual residential address on the
publicly accessible Register of Interests councillors are requested to complete an
amended form. The Clerk supplied paper copies and asked councillors to complete
them.
62/09/26. Public Forum. Members of the public asked if there an update on the removal of
the soil dumped on the field at Oakfordbridge. John Hammond, MDDC Development
Management Manager, has advised Cllr Adcock that the Environment Agency had
taken a lead on removing the tipped material and were working with the contractor
who brought the material on site to achieve that. Given that progress was being
made in a timely manner, neither MDDC or DCC had served enforcement notices
because a voluntary remediation avoids the time-consuming steps that delay action
being undertaken linked to either booking court time, or the steps involved in
securing compliance with an enforcement notice. (Note, determining which body
does enforce requires resolution of the nature of the material on site and whether it
is waste or not.) At the start of September the EA advised MDDC that the contractor
is no longer removing the material to an approved location. The impact of this in the
short term is that this requires joint resolution over which body (EA, DCC or MDDC)
takes formal enforcement action and the realistic timetables that formal action
involves. When either County or District serve a notice, it will set a
period for compliance and is also open to an appeal by the party enforced against
which stops the clock on enforcement action until the appeal is determined. Local
expectations of immediate action cannot be met, however the landowner remains
responsible for any environmental impacts arising from having the material on
site. MDDC has received a second legal opinion that confirms that the prior
approval under the General Permitted Development Order regime cannot extend
any consent to works that are not permitted development in the first place,
and they remain of the view that the importation of material is unconsented
and therefore unauthorised. Officers will be working with DCC and the
Environment Agency to resolve the lead enforcing authority as matter of some
urgency. There will be a meeting with the landowner this month to clarify what
they intend to do to resolve this issue.
The members of the public left the meeting.
Mr Dyson introduced himself as the Resilience Officer for MDDC and explained his
role includes emergency planning and community resilience. He has offered to
attend Town and Parish Council meetings to speak about community hubs and
thanked the Parish Council for inviting him to give a presentation. Emergency
services can take a while to arrive when there is an emergency and communities
want to get stuck in and get involved. Emergency Plans can be quite long, can take
a long term to write and need a lot of volunteers. They can quickly become outdated.
Following earthquakes in New Zealand in 2010/2011 communities tried to take
charge and help each other from the community upwards and community hubs were
formed. This was trialled in this country in Swindon, Witshire and there are now over
100 community hubs. The Devon, Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Local Resilience
Forum (LRF) has created a simple, practical guide to help communities set up and
run a Hub. Devon Communities Together put on online training and will provide hub
boxes if there is someone who has attended the training. MDDC has no say in
community hubs and they are completely flexible to model. It just needs one person
who can access a building and volunteers can be spontaneous. There can be
different types of emergency requiring different types of help and volunteers. In
answer to a question about insurance Mr Dyson explained that following 2015
legislation there has never been any action taken against a volunteer who has been
trying to help in an emergency.
Councillors agreed to look at what is online and discuss further at next months
meeting. As the Village Hall is a likely place for a community hub, Cllr Mayer will
discuss this with the Village Hall Committee. Mr Dyson provided some copies of a
flood guide. He was thanked for attending the meeting.
Mr Dyson left the meeting.
63/09/26. To agree the minutes of the Parish Council meeting held on 10th August 2026
as an accurate record of the meeting. With an amendment to the second
paragraph of 48/08/26 to make it clear that it referred to the field at Oakfordbridge,
the minutes were then agreed as an accurate record and were duly signed by the
Chair of the meeting.
64/09/26. Matters arising from the minutes, not covered elsewhere on the agenda. None.
65/09/26. Planning
a) To comment on any planning applications received before the meeting.
26/01100/FULL Replacement of former agricultural building with an ancillary
domestic outbuilding, together with the change of use of the associated land to
residential. Location: Land and Building at NGR 290698 121482 The Coach House,
Holme Place, Oakford. Comment: no objections.
b) For notification only:
26/00564/PNAG Prior Approval for the erection of an agricultural storage building.
Location: Land at NGR 289762 123318 East Tapps Farm, Oakford.
c) To note any planning decisions made by MDDC. No decision notices received.
d) Update on action being taken regarding the dumping of soil and associated
works at Oakfordbridge. This was covered under item 62/09/26.
e) Update on alleged planning breaches. No update. There is a large number of
cases waiting to be dealt with.
f) Any other planning matters. A 130 page document about the new National
Planning Policy Framework is available and there is a lot of information to take in.
There appears to be a change to the security of the settlement boundary. Everyone
needs to digest the information to see what the implications are
66/09/26. Highways:
a) Any matters to note or report. The damage to the cobbles by the phone
box/defibrillator has been repaired. The road to the old Police House has been
marked for repair. Councillors felt the poor condition of the road needed more than
pothole repairs.
b) Update on flooding issues/blocked drains. No update.
c) Update on improvements to the fingerpost signs. Mr Cridland has carried out
repairs to the fingerpost sign at High Bolham and is now looking at the posts further
out.
d) Any other highways matters. It was reported that some of the grit boxes are
covered in brambles. Cllr Lodge pointed out that the road wardens could be asked to
cut them back. Mr Cridland will be given the details of the grit boxes concerned and
asked if he could help. If any of them need filling up DCC should be informed and
given the number of the box.
67/09/26. Footpaths
a) Update on work to grade the area of Footpath 5a as agreed by DCC. Work
has been carried out to grade the path but the person renting the field hasn’t erected
the fencing yet, even though it was agreed with DCC that he would. Councillors felt
the path needed to overwinter to see how well the grading works during the poorer weather.
b) To discuss the suggestion to provide simple fire precaution signage at key
access points into our woodlands and public footpaths, particularly during
periods of high fire risk. The signs were ordered and have been delivered and put up.
c) Any other footpath matters. It was reported that the sign needs checking at Holme Place.
68/09/26. Reports:
a) District Cllr Report. A written report was circulated by email. Cllr Adcock
reported that the new council houses in Bampton have been completed and will
soon be advertised. They are very energy efficient and will be cheap to run.
Recycling and waste are doing very well. Plans for Local Government
Reorganisation have been stopped across the country and there will be a review.
District Council elections will go ahead in May 2027. One third of officers time has
been spent on this, at a cost to MDDC. The second round of MDDC’s Creative
Communities Fund is open for applications until 30th September. The Peoples
Emergency Briefing will be shown at the Riverside Hall, Bampton on Friday 18th
September at 7pm.
Cllr Baylis asked whether it was worth carrying on with Plan Mid Devon and it was
explained that new local plans are being prepared across Devon.
b) County Cllr Report. A written report was circulated by email. DCC is still
considering whether to go ahead with a judicial review. Plans to have Mayors are
likely to go ahead when the Police and Crime Commissioner roles end in 2028. If
Devon has a Mayor it will get more money from the Government and can fight for
funding. Cllr Lodge will introduce the Peoples Emergency Briefing and will compere
questions at the end. The screening will be followed by group discussions. Cllr
Mayer asked about a Bus app for Devon buses to give information about times of
buses. DCC contributes a third of the cost of running bus services across the area.
c) Update on pausing of Local Government Reorganisation.
Covered above.
69/09/26. Community Area:
a) Any points to note from the regular inspections of community area. Cllr
Levick had sent his apologies. He had not reported any issues at the community area.
b) To agree to purchase new swing seats and chains. The Clerk queried which
swing seats needed to be replaced and will check with Cllr Levick before the next
meeting.
c) Update on installing the new picnic tables in the play area. There was
concern about the variation in colour of the various parts of the tables and they
appear complicated to put together, The Council’s concerns will be taken up with the
company that provided them. Cllr Cross will take some photos.
d) To further discuss which fitness equipment to purchase for the community
area so that a third quote can be obtained for the S106 funding application. To
note a £500 grant has been received. There was further discussion about the most
suitable pieces of equipment. Cllr Cross will now obtain a third quote. £500 has been
received from Cllr Lodge’s Locality Funding and he was thanked. This has to be
spent by the end of the financial year.
e) Any matters to note. Since the rain the grass has started to grow again and the
field is looking lovely. It was reported that grass is starting to grow on the pétanque
area. Cllr Stevens will order a tarpaulin to cover the area for the winter, as previously
d
70/09/26. Finance
a) To agree the Clerk will receive the national pay award backdated to 1st
This was approved by councillors.
b) To approve any invoices or expense claims presented for payment. It was
resolved to make the following payments:
|
2627/20 |
Hampton Maintenance |
£189.00 |
Grass cutting |
|
2627/21 |
Mrs J Larcombe |
£210.57 |
Clerk’s salary August & printing expenses |
Since the last meeting a payment of £120.00 has been paid to Amy Hill for the
Internal Audit (Internal audit documents signed in maiden name of Amy Tregellas)
(Payment ref: 2627/18) and a payment of £55.20 has been paid to Oxygen Agency
for six A3 signs to warn of the risk of fire (Payment reference no 2627/19)
A service charge of £7.00 was taken from the current account at the end of August.
and a service charge of £7.00 will be taken from the account at the end of
September. Internal transfers will be made to return the balance to £500.00.
c) To note any receipts since the last meeting and the bank balance. Since the
last meeting the Council has received £500 from Cllr Lodge’s Locality Budget. The Current Account balance is £1000.00 and the Instant Access Account balance is £15001.04.
d) Bank reconciliations for 31.07.26 and 31.08.26. The bank reconciliations were
checked and signed by Cllr Stevens,
e) To receive a report on budget v actual for 01.04.26 – 31.08.26. A report was
circulated. At this point there are no concerns. The Council has Earmarked
Reserves of £3,071.75 and General Reserves of 12249.29. General Reserves will
decrease as there is still seven months of this financial year left.
f) Internal Audit Report. It was agreed to find a different internal auditor
for next year.
Cllr Lodge left the meeting.
71/09/26. To discuss making an application for the Red Lion to be listed as an Asset of
Community Value. The Council agreed to look at making another application and
this will be discussed further at the next meeting
72/09/26. Reminder of the screening of The People's Emergency Briefing at Bampton.
Covered under item 68/09/26 b).
73/09/26. To continue to discuss options for the replacement of the Oakford website
before April when MDDC will no longer provide the service. Cllr Baylis reported
that he had been looking at other Town and Parish Council websites, which
company had provided them and their ease of use. He has compiled a list and will
share this with councillors. He has also compiled a list of other parishes still using
the MDDC Umbraco websites and will email their clerks to share information and to
find out what their councils are planning to do.
74/09/26. Correspondence. The following correspondence was noted:
DALC Newsletters
MDDC press releases
MDDC - Site Tours at the waste facility at Carlu Close to see the new Depot
Configuration and In Cab Technology
MDDC - Housing Needs Assessment
75/09/26. To confirm the date of the next meeting.
Monday 12th October 2026.