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Agenda item

Participation of the Public

Any member of the public, who is a registered elector in the District, is eligible to ask one question at the meeting, for up to three minutes, of the Leader of the Council, or any Member of the Executive on any issue that affects the district or its people.

 

Notice, together with a written copy of the question, must be provided to Democratic Services, either by email to:

 

[email protected]

 

or by post to:

 

Democratic Services, West Oxfordshire District Council, Woodgreen, Witney OX28 1NB.

 

Questions are to be received no later than 2.00pm two clear working days before the meeting (e.g. for a Wednesday meeting, the deadline would be 2.00pm on the Friday before).

 

A response may be provided at the meeting, or within three clear working days of the meeting. If the topic of the question is not within the remit of the Council, advice will be provided on where best to direct the question.

 

The appropriate Executive Member will either respond verbally at the meeting or provide a written response which will be included in the minutes of the meeting.

Minutes:

The Executive provided the following answers to the following questions:

Q1 Asked by Alison Huitt, Resident – Chipping Norton:

What measures is WODC taking to check and follow up with any necessary action:

(i)            On who is authorised to have a wheelie bin or a 'Grundon' type bin in the upper and lower parts of Market Street;

(ii)           On whether these bins are being used appropriately and emptied regularly to avoid the unpleasant smells, infestation of maggots, broken and lidless bins as currently the case;

(iii)         On the nearby Chequers in Spring Street leaving several used commercial cooking oil containers and an up-ended WODC wheelie bin on the footpath beside their premises?"

The Town Council raised enthusiastic support to help "Keep Chippy Beautiful" at their Annual Town Meeting some 16 months ago. Residents of Spring Street are doing their bit by weeding and tidying up Market Street and Spring Street. Action is needed from WODC to deal with the bins and other detritus”.

A1 Answered by Councillor Lidia Arciszewska, Executive Member for Environment, in conjunction with Mr. Bill Oddy, Assistant Director for Commercial Development:

“I would like to thank Alison Huitt for bringing this to the attention of the Council.

A site visit to the area was arranged by Officers last week. This meeting took place in the Market Street and Middle Row with Alison Huitt and Councillor Keyser from Chipping Norton Town Council last Thursday, I wanted to look for myself at the extent of the problem.

The meeting was also attended by Councillor Geoff Saul, local Ward Councillor for Chipping Norton, and Mr Bill Oddy, the Assistant Director responsible for Waste and Environmental Services at West Oxfordshire District Council. I will now ask Mr Oddy to outline the Environmental Action Plan that had been agreed at the site meeting.

“A total of 13 actions had been agreed at the site meeting which fell into 3 broad categories. 

  1. Removing fly tipped items and street sweeping Market Street and Middle Row to improve the environment;
  2. Replacing unsightly and damaged domestic and business waste bins to improve the visual impact they have on the street scene;
  3. Asking Oxfordshire County Council to undertake repairs to the railings in the Market Square between Market Street and Middle Row.

The 13 actions have all been allocated to officers to complete, and the initial target dates for the work to be completed is 4 October 2024, when Alison Huitt and Councillor Keyser will be updated.”

Q2 Asked by Sandra Coleman, Mayor and Town Council Chair – Chipping Norton:

“Can you confirm the process followed by West Oxfordshire District Council when a resident misses a Council Tax payment, and if this helps residents who fall behind to pay in the future? Have the Council ever considered taking a more holistic approach to help residents recover from this situation?

A2 Answered by Councillor Alaric Smith, Executive Member for Finance:

Thank you. Yes. This question was given at short notice so I’m happy to take it as it’s a good one.
I would like to thank the Mayor for their question. In order to make sure that we answer it properly, we will give a full written response in the next 7 days. But in the meantime, I would like to encourage any residents who do have problems and concerns with Council Tax, to contact the Council. We can help to come up with a course of action to resolve their difficulties. I think it’s very important that we engage with residents with difficulties and seek to help them through that.

 

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