Two residents wished to speak at this month’s meeting. First was Catherine Rose from Olney Sustainable Futures group (OSF) and also a member of the Climate Emergency Working Group, who was attending with fellow member Jane Varley. Catherine thanked the members and staff of OTC that had been involved in their work so far and said that much of the proposed action would go through the council’s Recreation and Services Committee, but she wanted to bring the rest of the council up to speed. She said they would be attending the Pancake Race to provide some plant-based recipes and are looking at organising a free Eco fair, hopefully in the Olney Centre. This event was an item on the agenda of the main meeting. Catherine went on to say that the Rugby Club has developed its own sustainability strategy, and the group are looking to them to be a model for other community organisations in the town.
Next to speak was James Cooper who talked about the problems of parking in Conygere, particularly on market days. With parking on both sides of the road, there is very little room for traffic to pass and it is an accident waiting to happen, he thought. He had personally seen several near-misses and asked if double yellow lines could be provided. His second point was about prohibitively expensive property prices in Olney preventing young people from getting on the property ladder. His own daughter had been affected, he said, and quoted an example of a town similar to Olney where preferential treatment was given to local people who could show an ‘attachment’ to the town. If Olney had some land that could be used in a similar manner could a deal be done with a local trust to build such houses in the town? Olney will be a town without young people if something isn’t done, he said. Mayor Jeremy Rawlings, whilst having some sympathy, said that OTC does not have any building land. Peter Geary and Chris Tennant explained that of the 250 new houses that will be built at the north end of the town, 75 will be ‘affordable housing’ with shared ownership and 10% of those will be for local people, managed via a Housing Association.

This item followed on from Catherine Rose’s input to the public participation section. The proposal is to hold the event in the Olney Centre on Saturday 18th April. It would be a ‘co-production’ between OTC for which it satisfies a number of its aims for the Climate Emergency plans, and Olney Sustainable Futures which would undertake the planning and execution. It would consist of a number of elements: The food section would promote plant-based catering with snacks and cakes being available, along with tasting, demonstrations and recipes. The activities section would consist of games, non-food products, and information on climate plans, waste and recycling and grow your own. The repair section would cover gadgets and small white goods, and furniture and clothing. The Library might also be involved. Colin Rodden and Deidre Bethune supported the idea of having a joint OTC/OSF event. Deirdre suggested that OTC should waive the hire charge for the event. Paul Collins asked if the stallholders would be commercial entities, in which case consideration should be given to the rental aspect. Joanne Eley was concerned about the partnership aspect of the event, since OTC would be seen to be endorsing everything that happened at it, and suggested that it should be supported by way of a grant in line with the discussion about rental fees at the previous month’s meeting. The Climate Emergency Working Group of OTC is a separate entity to the Sustainable Futures group, she pointed out. A vote was taken and passed by a majority of 9 to 2, with those who voted against saying they did so only because they did not know enough about OSF as an organisation. Jeremy Rawlings said that the Climate Emergency Working Group would be tasked with providing a plan to be presented to full council at next month’s meeting to enable OTC to endorse the entire event.

The government have moved the date of the traditional ‘May Day’ bank Holiday from Monday 4th of May to Friday the 8th in order to celebrate the 75th anniversary of VE Day. Chris Roberts was in attendance representing the Royal British Legion. Steve Clark said that in the past similar events have been marked by the lighting of the beacon on Barnfield. It appears that other local organisations are waiting to see what OTC organises before making plans. It was agreed that OTC would work with them to come up with a plan. Peter Geary noted that although it will be a Bank Holiday, it will be the day following the election for members of OTC, and the count will be taking place.

Mayor Jeremy Rawlings read out the following statement:

“Some councillors have breached the code of conduct by discussing confidential matters with individual members of staff and with others. They have commented disrespectfully and incorrectly on member colleagues and staff by name outside the realm of confidential council business. Some councillors are also misrepresenting council policies and decisions. This is of detriment to the council as a whole and must cease. In the same vein, I have asked the town clerk to speak to staff to remind them that they are not to discuss council matters or individual councillors in or outside work in such a way as to the detriment of the council, which is covered in the Staff Handbook, as this will result in disciplinary action.”

He explained that this has come about because a specific incident which is ongoing has been made more difficult by comments that certain councillors have made. He said he did not propose to hold any further discussion at the meeting but invited councillors to speak to him individually, if they wished.

This will take place on Friday 24th April at 7pm in the Olney Centre and is your chance to find out what the council have been doing during the past year and question them on any matters you wish.

This is the time of year when OTC produce the budget proposals for the next financial year, which in turn determines how much the precept (the portion of the Council Tax collected by MKC for local services and returned to OTC) will rise. Chair of Finance Paul Collins reported that the budget will increase from £243K to £260K which, allowing for the additional 27 taxable dwellings, will be an overall increase of 12.36%. The Band D ‘baseline’ figure will rise from £89.79 per month to £100.89. Desmond Eley said that it was important to have clarity as to what Section 106 money would be available from MKC now and in the future. Section 106, commonly known as ‘planning gain’ is a mechanism which makes a development proposal acceptable in planning terms, that would not otherwise be acceptable. It is focused on site-specific mitigation of the impact of development, and a proportion is usually made available to local/parish councils for capital projects. This can be a considerable amount of money in the case of major developments, such as that proposed for Yardley Road. Desmond said that he understood that MKC would be retaining this money in the future rather than passing it to the parishes. In this case, the precept is the only income that would be available for capital projects. Jeremy Rawlings thought that this was an ‘absolute disgrace’ particularly when MKC are looking to off-load more and more service provisions to the parishes. He pointed out that it had been necessary to significantly increase the fees that the council charges for things such as hire of the Olney Centre and market stalls. Burial fees have almost doubled, but that still made Olney almost 50% cheaper than Milton Keynes, he said. The budget was passed on a unanimous vote.

Motorama, run by the Newport Pagnell and Olney Lions, will be held on the Market Place on Sunday 14th June. The Olney Group (TOG) will run Riverfest on Sunday 5th July on the Recreation Ground with the Riverfest Rocks musical event the night before in the marquee. Olney Rugby Club will be holding the annual 7s Tournament on Saturday 20th June.

Kevin Viney noted that council website is now considerably out of date. A recently elected councillor had submitted their profile information, but that had still not been added. The most recent set of minutes were from June last year, and he had received complaints from residents who wanted to check that details of planning discussions had been faithfully recorded. The clerk reported that this is due to be addressed in coming weeks.
Graham Harrison said he had received complaints from residents of Timpson’s Row that car parking by people using the sports facilities was causing problems. Also, the pavement by the gate is now a ‘sheet of mud’ due to players removing their boots and scraping the mud off. He noted that the new LED street lighting was failing earlier than expected, particularly along Aspreys. Peter Geary responded that in some case it was the sensors that had failed, rather than the LEDs.
Colin Rodden noted that a bench on Weston Road had been removed for repair over a year ago and still not replaced. He also reported that he’d recently had to use the public toilets on the marketplace and wondered if there was any money in the budget for air-freshener? Desmond Eley said he had been carrying out some research as to how much refurbishment would cost, which was in the region of £50K, and every member of the public he had spoken to had said that they would rather the money was spent elsewhere and they would prefer to use the facilities of the nearby pubs and cafes.

Julia Chapman, who runs ‘My Little Vintage’ in Olney, was first to speak. Many years a passionate advocate of craft and up-cycling, she explained she’d run various vintage events elsewhere with attendances in the thousands. For example, a recent event in Towcester attracted 6,000 visitors over a weekend. She’d come to Olney Town Council (OTC) to learn who she should ask in order to hold such events in the town, for example on the Market Place. Jeremy Rawlings said the Council would look into it, and asked for an item to be added to the next meeting’s agenda.
James Cooper had complained to Milton Keynes Council (MKC) about the state of Swan Court in Olney, where a mix of surface mud and leaf mulch made the lines hard to see and the surface slippery. While MKC acknowledged his reporting it, he had no way of knowing when the problem might be addressed. Peter Geary, a Ward Councillor, noted the appropriate ‘FS’ number to investigate. James also noted his concern re Angle Properties’ application to build retirement apartments near Sainsbury’s. Instead, houses and flats for young people were required, he felt. Chris Tenant explained that, with MKC having refused this application, Angle had asked for a Planning Enquiry but been given a, less costly, Planning Hearing for which the date was awaited. Chris explained that OTC had requested ‘Rule six status’, so it could have a seat around the table, presumably alongside Angle’s legal representatives, to put its case for refusal. Peter Geary noted that OTC needed to work with MKC, both having the same aim. The meeting will be public, likely in the Olney Centre, with anyone entitled to attend and contribute. OTC will publish the date once set.

This item covered the deceptively simple task of setting the date of the annual meeting, when the Mayor and Deputy Mayor are elected for the forthcoming year and members appointed to Council committees. The annual meeting, usually arranged to coincide with a monthly full Council meeting, must be held more than four, but not more than 14, days after the Council elections, this year due to be held on Thursday 7th May. Thus, the combined annual-then-monthly meeting will be held on Monday 18th May.
Note: As of 13th March, the local elections due on 7th May have been postponed for a year due to coronavirus concerns. At the time of writing, OTC’s website has May’s full Council meeting scheduled for the 4th, the first Monday in the month as usual.

The Council reviewed and approved its risk management register. This covers risks including governance, for example breach of confidentiality, and finance, for example unexpected expenses and payments not received. It also briefly discussed the West Northamptonshire Strategic Plan, Chris Tenant noting that various of the Northamptonshire growth plans, for example in Wellingborough and Kettering, would increase traffic on the A509 through Olney. Councillors agreed to note the document, but give no immediate response.

Desmond Eley introduced a proposal that, from 1st October, the Olney Allotment Holders’ Association (OAHA) take over day to day administration of the allotments including plot management, invoicing and rent collection. He said the Recreation and Services Committee had recommended the proposal be put to full Council for its view before spending the money required to draw up a proper legal agreement. The proposal is for OTC to pay an initial £500 setup grant, and receive 50% of the approx. £4,000 total annual allotment rents. OTC has to pay for maintenance of the road to, and mowing around the edge of, the allotments, and the water supply. Jeremy Rawlings questioned whether 50% was the right figure. Des noted that the finances of the allotments do not make sense as far as OTC is concerned – its costs far exceed the current rents – but that it had a statutory obligation to provide allotments to suit the level of demand from local residents. The allotments are not meant to break even.
Paul Collins felt the document too vague on financial considerations, including a reference to an annual subsidy or grant – what was this designed to cover? He also felt there’d be no saving in Council administrative costs, as the office staff would of course continue to be employed. In summary, he was concerned the Council was halving its rental income while exposing itself to the need to pay for annual subsidies or grants. Now allotment administration was coming under control, he felt there was equally a case for keeping it in house. Colin Rodden noted the access road being in need of maintenance.
Desmond explained that the Council was increasing allotment rents up to the statutory annual limit of around 2%, but this increase wouldn’t nearly cover costs. Sally Pezaro felt that, while there was insufficient detail in the document, the OAHA taking on administration would in fact reduce the costs to the Council since its office staff would spend less time doing it, freeing them for other work. Desmond noted that the annual subsidy or grant was very much up for discussion and review, once a year or so had passed and a clearer idea of the finances emerged.
Joanne Eley noted that this was not the final document, only agreement in principle being required at this point. Peter Geary felt the allotments would best be managed as locally as possible, by the OAHA, but care was needed in drawing up the detail of the agreement. Councillors agreed in principle to proceed down this route, with a full proposal expected in three months or so. Desmond concluded the item, noting his intention to find a similar legal agreement between another Council and its local allotment association and adapt it – not reinventing the wheel.

Deirdre Bethune introduced this item. Some members of the climate change working group had been surprised to hear, around six months after having appointed a Council employee, that he was not in fact allowed to be in the group. While that decision was fine in itself, first she was frustrated it had taken so long to inform them, and second that the group itself wasn’t told, some of them instead hearing the news at a Recreation and Services Committee meeting. Also, the group wanted to learn its remit. For example, group member Jane Varley had volunteered to perform an energy audit on all OTC property, the group feeling that the Olney Centre was the best place to start. Was this something the Council would like done?
Jeremy Rawlings explained that if it was a Council working group, then it had to abide by Council rules, including members declaring interests and signing the code of conduct. If all members were not prepared to do that, it couldn’t be a full working group of the Council and therefore, while it could formulate policies and present them to Council to consider and adopt, it would operate (with an advisory role) outside the Council.
Deirdre replied it had indeed been set up as a working group, but had not done any of these things as it had not been asked to. She felt sure all on the group would abide by the code of conduct, but that it still needed a remit.
Joanne Eley was keen to avoid duplication. MKC had outlined but was still completing its strategy, so OTC did not yet have its remit from the Council above. Peter Geary explained that if the group was advisory, it could be set up more informally and give advice to the Council for it to decide on. However, if set up as a formal decision making body, only members who are Councillors could vote. Governance of unelected decision making bodies was fraught with problems, he said. The energy audit, however, was a good idea.
Colin Rodden thanked the volunteers for spending so much time to move this forward – a good example of public engagement. He felt the Council needed targets amongst the various committees – we all need to do our bit as Councillors.
Steve Clark noted the membership of the group is fixed, Council represented by himself, Deirdre and Colin, and three members of the public, Jane Varley, Sarah Michalik and Catherine Rose. Desmond Eley noted that the members of the public on a Council working group must be approved by the Council.
Joanne Eley noted that, with all six group members also being members of Olney Sustainable Futures, why couldn’t that group advise the Council instead? Deirdre and Steve disagreed with this, citing that all six were probably also members of the Olney Noticeboard. Chris Tenant felt making the group an advisory one would be a good idea, with its remit based on topics it discussed while being formed. It should concentrate on changes which could be made at the local and community level.
Although no decision was made, the Council seemed to be moving towards making the group an advisory one.

Each full OTC meeting contains an agenda item ‘To approve Exclusive Rights of Burial and Memorials’. This generally passes with little discussion, reported rarely due to its personal nature. Jeremy Rawlings proposed removing it on the basis it’s not required and all Councillors do is say ‘yes’. Various views were expressed, Sally Pezaro thinking it be included only if controversial, Deirdre Bethune that it be retained as a courtesy to those who’ve died and their relatives.
Peter Geary believed that Exclusive Rights of Burial are a legal agreement between the Council and whoever they’re granted to, which meant the item had to pass through Council even if only as a nodding exercise. Colin Rodden felt it should be retained and that, along with ‘Members’ Matters’ also coming off the agenda, this was part of a ‘dumbing down’ of the Council.
Desmond Eley explained that an Exclusive Right of Burial is the right to have a body in the ground at a specified location, effectively the purchase of a plot. Therefore, if such rights remain an agenda item, Council must make sure those noted have purchased their plots. Joanne Eley felt the Council should let Andrea, the Town Clerk and absent this meeting, explain the case, her having just been on a relevant training course. The item was postponed until next month.

If you’re interested in the long term future of Milton Keynes, including Olney, surf to https://www.mkfutures2050.com/, scroll down and click ‘Learn more about the Strategy for 2050’, click ‘Read the Draft Strategy for 2050’ then search for Olney. The Council has until 17th April to submit its views on that document to MKC.
Peter Geary explained that around 1500 houses were earmarked for Olney in the timeframe, reported elsewhere. The report notes ‘In areas that have poor access to services, additional people living nearby could help to make new facilities viable. As an example, growth at Olney would only be made feasible by the provision of a bypass and/or connection to the mass transit network, with significant benefits that created for the existing town.’ The Council had some fundamental decisions to make. For example, should it agree to this number of houses with only the promise of a bypass? Get this wrong, he warned, and Olney may end up with 1500 houses but no bypass.
Chris Tenant noted that, at a recent Olney Development Group meeting, the group resolved that MK Futures 2050 should be an agenda item at this meeting. Yet it wasn’t. Jeremy Rawlings stated it should have been but this connection had been lost. Since it wasn’t on the agenda, Peter suggested closing the meeting, then having a general discussion to learn Councillors’ views so that an informed response could then be drawn up in time to be finalised at next month’s meeting and subsequently submitted. Further, he felt Councillors needed to talk to the public over the coming weeks to seek their views.
Peter felt the 1500 houses would be ‘planned within months’ with developers keen to build them, yet a bypass would need national funding and could thus be a few decades away, if it ever happened. Chris Tenant noted that ‘a growth scenario’ suggested 1500 houses, and it was for Council to make comments on the various scenarios. He also referred to the mass transit system, which had a big ticket cost – fantastic, but something which Peter noted would perhaps not in fact make it all the way out to Olney.
John Boardman asked Jeremy Rawlings if it was possible that Councillors could leave this meeting with some commitment from him to liaise with the Town Clerk to ensure the necessary mechanism be put in place to enable Councillors to comply with the matters Peter and Chris had raised. Jeremy noted that there was still time.
Desmond Eley noted that the 2050 plan, with 1500 houses, is in complete compliance with Olney’s Neighbourhood Plan, which includes a bypass to the West, and which the people of Olney voted for by narrow majority. By having a Neighbourhood Plan, Olney had signed up for growth – Olney’s Plan had to be in line with MK’s Plans, he said. Therefore, Olney was having 1500 houses and he couldn’t see any way to avoid it.
Steve Clark invited Councillors to research a Bedfordshire development called The Wixams, where a very large number of houses were built on the basis the development would get its own railway station. People bought houses on that understanding yet, after 10 years or so, the station is not built, and no funding is available for it to be so. Peter Geary felt this a very good analogy re the Olney bypass.
Jeremy Rawlings closed the meeting

The next meeting will be held at 7.30pm on Monday 6th April 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 any point that the Mayor decides is appropriate.

If you wish to view past Mercury Reports on Olney Town Council Meetings you can use the following link which will take you to the last few years of meetings:
www.phoneboxmagazine.com/Olney-Council-Reports

These reports are created by our reporter, who covers the meetings and reflect what was heard at those meetings. Any parts of the meeting held in confidence we are not privy to, therefore cannot report on.

If you wish to view past Mercury Reports on Olney Town Council Meetings you can use the following link which will take you to the last few years of meetings:
www.phoneboxmagazine.com/Olney-Council-Reports

These reports are created by our reporter, who covers the meetings and reflect what was heard at those meetings. Any parts of the meeting held in confidence we are not privy to, therefore cannot report on.

Olney Town Council will meet, virtually, on Monday 4 May at 7.30pm adopting Government advice that meetings can currently be conducted online. They will use the Teams App and unfortunately members of the public will be unable to attend. It is hoped that Mercury from the Phonebox will be able to attend and report on the meeting. Unfortunately the agenda has not yet been set but anyone who has an issue that they wish to bring to the attention of all councillors, can do so by emailing townclerk@olneytowncouncil.gov.uk. The item will be read out at the meeting but, as in regular meetings, it will not be discussed if the item is not on the agenda. Any item submitted will be acknowledged after the meeting and if necessary discussed at a future meeting.
* One of the main items that will be on the agenda for the meeting is a discussion and response to the MK2050 paper put out by Milton Keynes Council. This can be found on mkfutures2050.com. It’s a long read but comments would be welcome.
* Olney Town Council would like to thank all its staff for continuing their sterling work during these interesting and difficult times.
 
Deirdre Bethune
deirdrebethune@olneytowncouncil.gov.uk

Given current COVID-19 restrictions, Council meetings are now being held online. Anyone wishing to speak in the public participation section is asked to submit the text of their speech in advance, to be read during the meeting.
Ian Stokes, Chair of the Olney Town Colts Football Club, was the only person to submit a speech. Given that the football season had finished two months short of its usual nine, the Club intends to reimburse parents’ subscriptions to reflect saved expenditure. Ian asked, therefore, if it would be possible for Olney Town Council (OTC) to reimburse the Colts for two ninths of its annual rental. He explained that the Colts is a non profit making club, run solely by volunteers to provide football for over 360 local boys and girls. Ian’s request was passed to the Recreations and Services Committee for consideration.

Pre COVID-19, Council meetings had to be held face-to-face, with everyone together in a room. A recent bill passed by Parliament allows the meetings to be held online but, if a Council wishes to do this, it must first vote to confirm its intention. Councillors voted in favour, so the meeting continued.
Having approved the minutes of last month’s meeting, Councillors then had to vote on whether to agree postponing the Annual Meeting, the post-election meeting where committee chairs are agreed and Councillors take on their roles. That would have been tonight but, with the lack of an election and resulting changes in post, the meeting was no longer required. Councillors voted to postpone the meeting for a year, to May 2021.

As noted before, if you’re interested in the long term future of Milton Keynes, including Olney, head to www.mkfutures2050.com/ and read the draft strategy. This had been discussed, with some level of urgency but not as an agenda item, in the previous full OTC meeting, the strategy coming with a 17th April deadline for the Council to submit its views. That deadline had now been extended until 22nd May, and Chris Tenant had drafted a response, now in front of Councillors to agree.
Chris introduced his draft response. MK Futures 2050 is currently a strategy paper, to guide Milton Keynes Council (MKC) towards a formal policy. It does not carry development plan weight. Thus, the cited figure of 1,500 new homes for Olney is a theoretical one. His response had been guided by two fundamental principles: First, infrastructure must come before expansion, second that decisions on land use issues must be conferred on to communities through their democratically approved Neighbourhood Plans. He felt the potential of the rapid transit network was very interesting, as was that for a Western bypass. He also felt it important to distinguish the handling of urban Milton Keynes from that of the rural hinterlands around it.
All Councillors were in favour of Chris’s document. Peter Geary further noted that, when the world restarts in three to six months, MK Futures 2050 will continue but the needs which drive it may be different in the new, post-lockdown world. So, for example, it may be that its planners need to pause and start again.
OTC will submit the document as its response to the MK Futures 2050 draft strategy.

This item was to discuss whether Exclusive Rights of Burial and Memorials should continue to have their regular place on the full OTC meeting agenda.
Deirdre Bethune, in a minority from the start, felt they should continue to appear as a mark of respect – it was something people had come to expect, she said. Arguments against this point included that discussing Exclusive Rights of Burial may fall foul of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and that granting them was a job for the Proper Officer (Town Clerk, Andrea Vincent), requiring full Council attention only by exception.
Councillors voted by majority in favour of removing them from the agenda, all in favour bar one against.

This item was to discuss the proposed policy for Councillor Communications.
When Councillors express their views via press or social media, they must make it clear that these views are their own and not the Council’s. As with much of this part of the meeting, the devil was in the detail and the apparently innocuous proposed policy wording, “the Councillor is talking on behalf of him/herself as a Councillor and/or individual resident, and is not making comment on behalf of the Town Council as a whole,” provoked discussion. The point at issue here, first raised by Desmond Eley, was that as a Councillor, a person is always regarded as such and no longer as a normal resident. The wording must reflect this, he said.
Sally Pezaro raised the following proposed wording, “When commenting on social media platforms Councillors, when using their title Councillor, must always ensure that every comment they make is followed or preceded by a statement such as ‘I am speaking as an individual councillor/individual resident and not on behalf of the Town Council.’ ” As a regular user of social media, including for her work, this could cause practical problems, she felt. After some discussion, the key here appeared to be to omit the ‘Councillor’ title from such posts, the rule not then applying.
Andrea will seek advice on certain parts of this policy, amend and bring back to full Council for approval.

This, similarly dry item, was to discuss the proposed policy for Agenda and Minutes.
The Proper Officer (again, Town Clerk) has legal responsibility for determining what should appear on the agenda. Colin Rodden asked what would happen if a submitted item was refused – was there an appeals process? This raised the general concern that the Town Clerk may have to make decisions on controversial or difficult items. Andrea will look for some wording to provide guidance on what should and should not be allowed on agendas.
The proposed wording notes that “Minutes of a meeting will include formal resolutions, proposers and, where applicable, seconders, as well as actions.“ Deirdre Bethune stated that it would be very sad if the minutes contained only resolutions and their proposers, omitting the discussions around them – they’d contain nothing of substance, she felt. Andrea noted that her training said that, while minutes should describe that there had been discussion around topics, they should focus on procedure and regulations. Deirdre felt OTC had previously had very good minutes which had told people all about the meetings, but guessed people could still rely on the Phonebox Magazine for that.
Again, Andrea will seek advice on certain parts of this policy, amend and bring back to full Council for approval.

Members of the Public are, of course, allowed and indeed encouraged to attend Council meetings. A new sub-section of the Openness of Local Government Bodies Regulations 2014 notes that any person attending meetings is also allowed to ‘report’ on them. Its definition of ‘report’ includes “filming, photographing or making an audio recording of proceedings.” Therefore, for GDPR purposes, it is necessary that people be informed that a recording may be taking place, giving them the opportunity to say if they don’t want themselves recorded, in which case content containing them will be removed.

This section was to review the pre-reconciliation profit and loss figures for the year ending 31st March 2020. Summarising, the figures are slightly better than break-even, showing a small profit. In Paul Collins’ view, this vindicated last year’s precept increase, stemming an ongoing reduction in reserves. Given COVID-19, the future was unusually hard to predict, he said. For example, the Olney Centre’s income was currently reduced to zero. However, the situation would become clearer as more Government guidance, on grants for example, emerged. How would people behave as the lockdown eased – how soon would public confidence return?

The Human Resources Committee had proposed that a full time post be advertised for Olney Centre caretaker with ad hoc cleaning duties. This work is currently performed on a contracted basis, but the Committee considered it better value to employ a person to do it. It also proposed that a contract be advertised to cover the cleaning, opening and closing of the public toilets together with regular deep cleaning of the Olney Centre, along with cover for the caretaker while on leave.
Andrea asked whether, before the Council office got into full swing making arrangements for Dickens of a Christmas, Council should consider a Glastonbury-style fallow year.
Deirdre noted that, as Chair of the Dickens of a Christmas Committee, it would have been nice to have been asked about this first. She felt the Council should “hold tight” for a couple of months on the basis that the event may be, by Christmas, something the town would really very much want. Deirdre then closed down the discussion, noting the topic “wasn’t important enough to ask the chair about.” In summary Dickens of a Christmas is going ahead, unless events dictate and Council decides otherwise.

The next meeting will be held online at 7.30pm on Monday 1st June, live streamed from a set of spare bedrooms near you. If you’d like your views read out at the start of the meeting, please contact the Town Clerk, townclerk@olneytowncouncil.gov.uk.

For the duration of the COVID crisis meetings of Olney Town Council will be held as online audio meetings using Microsoft Teams. Members of the public can listen to the proceedings by clicking on a link on the OTC web page www.olneytowncouncil.gov.uk Click on the ‘Announcements’ tab and scroll down to the announcement about the next meeting where you will find a link to the agenda and another to join the meeting on listen only.
This meeting was rescheduled from a meeting due to take place a week earlier which was opened and adjourned due to several members being unable to join. There were still some ‘teething difficulties’ at this meeting with two members being unable to join the audio conversation but they were still able to participate in discussions and vote via the text comments.

A member of the public asked if the council would consider offering space om the Market Place to companies such as cafes that wished to have outside space for tables and chairs because their premises were unsuitable for maintaining social distancing. Mayor Jeremy Rawlings reminded members that this had been discussed before, but no agreement had been reached as to how it might be implemented. Milton Keynes Council (MKC) Ward Councillor Peter Geary said that MKC had made a fund of £230k available to ‘restart the High Street’ and Olney might be eligible to apply for up to £30k. The fund is intended to pay for hire of consultants and equipment etc, so he suggested that Town Clerk Andrea Vincent investigates. Steve Clark supported the idea in principle but asked what would happen if demand outstrips supply? It would be unfair to offer space to some businesses but not others, particularly as it was possible that pubs would be open first and may request space so OTC would have to be very careful how they allocated space. It was agreed that Jeremy and Andrea would manage the process between them without reference to the full council or Recs and Services committee.

This subject was discussed at length at last month’s meeting and there now appears to be a much more formal approach to what may and may not be discussed. There was certainly a drive to stick strictly to the agenda from some members at the meeting. Last month it was agreed by a majority that Exclusive Rights of Burial and Memorials should be removed as an agenda item. It appears that Members Matters has also gone, which was an opportunity for councillors to raise issues of their own or that had been communicated to them by members of the public. Councillors must now apply to the Town Clerk for any such items to be placed on the formal agenda and she will decide if it is appropriate. Mercury assumes that this is to enable a more efficient running of meetings in the current situation.

Andrea Vincent said she and Deputy Clerk had done a great deal of work with Paul Collins, Chair of Finance, to bring the budget up to date and be ready to speak to the Auditor later this month to enable the Annual Governance and Accountability Return to be completed and signed off. She expressed concern about the forthcoming year as income would be significantly reduced due to lack of income from the Olney Centre hire and reduced market stalls. Finance was a separate agenda item later in the meeting when the schedule of payments for the month of May showed a net loss of £14k since the majority of outgoings were still necessary but there was considerable loss of income. Paul Collins pointed out that precept (the portion of MKC Council Tax which is paid to OTC for services) needed to be included to give an indication of the true state of finances. Local councils are being doubly penalised he said, because unlike private businesses they are unable to claim a Business Rate holiday but as precepting authorities they are unable to claiming the retail, hospitality or leisure grant from central government. The Finance Committee have not met since setting the budget and Schedule of Charges for 2021 and it was likely that that budget would need ‘throwing out of the window’ and be completely revised, he said.
There appears to have been a misunderstanding amongst some councillors that they have a ‘Line Management’ role over the council workforce. Andrea stated that this was definitely NOT the case and all requests for work must come via the council office.
A member of staff had left during the month, and Andrea wished him well. A show of appreciation was presented in the form of a few gifts and an afternoon tea. For Information: Richard Mynard was the member of staff in question and had been a Groundsman since 1984. The vacant post has now been advertised.

In addition to the Groundsman vacancy there is also a vacancy for a part time Caretaker. Detailed job descriptions have been produced and the caretaker post will also be advertised in due course. A spec has been created for the cleaning of the Olney centre which will be put out to tender and a contract will be created by the successful applicant.

A COVID 19 plan for the council has been produced and is constantly evolving. The purpose is to ensure that OTC can reduce the impact of potential infection from Coronavirus and/or continue to function in the case of absence due to illness, self-isolation. Olney Centre, council compound and cemetery closures are included in the plan. It will ensure the safe re opening of services and the running of council business. Peter Geary noted that Olney, along with many other communities, had set up COVID support Groups and they had done a really good job. All groups had had to move quickly to understand what is required. At one point the Olney group were providing support to approximately 120 households with around 280 volunteers. That need was now easing up but could be required again in the future. Jeremy Rawlings said it would be useful if the group could provide a written report detailing what they had achieved and what they felt their strengths and weaknesses were.
Andrea reported that there had been many complaints to the council about large groups congregating by the bathing steps, and the ‘detritus’ that was then left. The grass had been scorched by portable BBQs and a number of patches will need to be reseeded. There had also been complaints of dogs running rampant, she said. It had not been helped by the re-running of articles in two national newspapers advertising the area as ideal for wild water swimming. Steve Clark noted that the area was referred to in some quarters as a ‘Victorian swimming pool’ and the council should actively avoid using the phrase and discourage others to do the same. He noted that Google Maps was guilty of this and despite representations from several local people, had still not removed it. Signage will be provided in attempt to resolve some of the problems, but Andrea was uncertain how effective that would be, particularly as most visitors were thought not to be local. Joanne Eley said there was a public health concern which the council could not ignore due to the huge amount of human excrement that had been left in the ditches and around the various sports clubs. Where public toilets remain closed the government guidelines are to bag it and take it home, she said. Peter Geary suggested contacting the Environment Health Department at MKC for advice.

Jeremy Rawlings noted that OTRFC has submitted plans for three separate developments. The first is for an extension to the clubhouse to provide two unisex changing rooms on land which is owned by OTC, the second is for a new car park with 48 car parking spaces plus 2 coach spaces on part of Doff’s Field which is owned by the club, and the third is for a fifty seat stand also on Doff’s Field. OTC is not a planning authority and does not decide on such applications but may submit recommendations to MKC via their own Planning subcommittee. Jeremy suggested that individual members of the council could submit comments via the MKC planning portal, along with members of the public. Steve Clark, as chairman of the subcommittee suggested members submit comments to him but Malcolm Messenger was of the opinion that a planning meeting should be held since it would have a big impact on residents of Austin Avenue and Mobbs Way. There is also a public footpath running across the land proposed for the car park, he said, and there had been considerable debate, both for and against, on Facebook. Joanne Eley expressed concern that pedestrians would be walking through a car park which comes out on a blind bend. It was agreed to hold a planning meeting the following week to discuss all three applications.

The hardware used by the Clerk and Deputy Clerk is now well past its prime and is to be replaced. Mayor Jeremy Rawlings handed over the chair to Steve Clark at this point as his company is one of those that had tendered for the work. The cost for two workstations, two docking stations and four monitors was quoted as around £3.2k with three years warranty from both suppliers but was available from Amazon for £2.9k with one year warranty. Paul Collins proposed that the equipment be purchased from Amazon which was passed unanimously with one abstention.

Following on from last month’s discussion about whether to declare a Glastonbury style ’fallow’ year Jeremy Rawlings proposed that planning should continue, subject to government rules and regulations at the time and should be in the form of a very much cut-down version with a final decision being made in September. The Lions are very keen that it should go ahead, if at all possible, as it is one of their major fund-raisers and their income has seen a considerable reduction due to Covid. Peter Geary suggested that planning should continue until financial outlay was necessary and the final decision left to the organising committee, which was agreed. Andrea Rawlings said the office was already receiving many enquiries from ‘out of town’ traders and guidance was need as to whether they should plan for a full-scale or cut-down event. As Chairman of The Dickens Committee Deirdre Bethune supported holding a smaller event for local traders, which would reduce a lot of the workload for the office, with the Lions free to organise the craft fairs within whatever regulations exist at the time. Joanne Eley said that with social distancing rules still likely to be in place it was only fair to allow local shops who have had a bad year to have stalls in the road around the Market Place. It was agreed to plan for a smaller scale local event and make a final decision in September based on the regulations in place at that time.

An audit of the allotments has taken place. In ‘normal’ times anyone not maintaining their allotment could lose it, but the council recognise that some holders are currently able to do so and will not be penalised. Desmond Eley reported that allotment holders had assisted the council in filling in some of the holes in the roadways and expressed his thanks.
As of the beginning of June market traders selling non-essential goods have been invited back to the Thursday and Sunday markets, which have been well supported by the public.
The Recs and Services Committee of OTC have discussed permanent closure of all but the disabled public toilets on the Market Place (which are currently closed), except to market traders. This would be dependant of alternatives being available and discussions will be held with businesses around the Market Place to see if they would be prepared to open their facilities to non-customers, as happens in many other towns.

The next meeting will be held online at 7.30pm on Monday 6th July, live streamed for members of the public to observe proceedings. If you have any issue which you would like read out at the start of the meeting, please contact the Town Clerk, townclerk@olneytowncouncil.gov.uk This replaces the previous public participation agenda item.

For the duration of the COVID restrictions, meetings of Olney Town Council (OTC) will be held online using Microsoft Teams. Members of the public can listen to the proceedings by surfing to www.olneytowncouncil.gov.uk, clicking the ‘Announcements’ menu and scrolling down to the announcement about the next meeting, where there’s a link to the agenda and another to join the meeting listen-only.

Market Place proposal:
A retailer on the Market Place was first to have her contribution read by Andrea Vincent, Town Clerk. Noting her awareness that a proposal to use some areas of the Market Place car park for seating had been discussed and rejected by OTC, due mainly to parking, antisocial behaviour and litter concerns, she wanted to express her and the majority of small retailers’ thanks for this. She was pleased the Council had listened to them. She continued that, if it wished to support the small businesses further, they’d prefer the Council to contact them directly rather than through a third party. Noting that Olney has a successful and attractive High Street and Market Place, she felt the lockdown had pressured many businesses, leaving some worried about their ability to survive. If help were available, they’d be very happy to work with the Council, she said. She concluded by thanking Councillors for their help with the situation on the Recreation Ground and bathing areas.

A Timpsons Row resident had also been in contact, this time concerning the increased number of visitors to the Recreation Ground in recent weeks. They went on to share some incidents they’d seen, in the hope the information would be useful. The main issue in Timpsons Row was parking, it seeing typically 50 additional vehicles on warm days, obstructing pedestrians and traffi c. Noting that Milton Keynes Council (MKC) is responsible for parking in Olney, they encouraged OTC to work with MKC to take a firm stance on the issue – more restrictions and enforcement. Stating that most visitors to the Recreation Ground have to drive, they felt restricting parking would thus restrict visitor numbers – the issue wasn’t with people visiting the Recreation Ground, it was with their sheer number. Noting the nearby gate to the field and inadequate parking-related signage in the Row, they felt closing the gate during the Summer may help. Examples of antisocial behaviour have included residents being sworn at and threatened with violence, and a woman walking down the side of a house to change out of her swimming costume before getting in her car. A mass brawl was also noted, resulting in people walking past covered in blood. They asked residents, the Police, OTC and MKC to work together to devise solutions – else the situation would worsen each year. They concluded by thanking OTC for its work keeping the town in such wonderful condition.

Closing the Public Toilets: Last in this section, another contributor noted the consequences of OTC closing the public toilets during lockdown. This was without legal requirement, they said, toilets in many neighbouring towns remaining open. It had led to antisocial behaviour with people urinating and defecating on the Recreation Ground, outside commercial premises and in alleyways. This was a health and safety issue, and the lack of open toilets had put people off visiting the town, particularly the young, elderly and disabled. Given COVID, commercial premises were understandably reluctant to let the public use their facilities, they felt. They asked the Council to open and regularly clean the public toilets. They also noted that the Government had congratulated towns which had kept their toilets open, urging those who had not to reopen them safely. Andrea concluded this section, noting that OTC was following Government guidance to reopen the toilets, with the significant cost implications entailed.

Debbie Whitworth had sent her apologies. No declarations of interest were made.

Colin Rodden asked whether the Council had talked about the public toilets being closed, as he couldn’t recall it, particularly given the noted possibility of permanent closure.
Jeremy Rawlings replied that the idea of retailers opening their facilities for the public, as happens in some other towns, had been discussed. That discussion had been started as it raised the possibility that the maintenance, management and refurbishment of the public toilets would not need to take place.
Desmond Eley noted that, pre COVID, a working group had been created to look into the remodelling of the Market Place, necessarily including consideration of the public toilets. The choices were to remodel, extend or close, retaining just the disabled facility and that for the market traders. The decision process is ongoing, pending the group gleaning the information required to make it.
Deirdre Bethune noted she didn’t feel it sensible currently to talk with retailers about opening their toilets.
The decision is on hold pending a clearer way forward with COVID.

Faster Internet Connection: OTC has engaged BT in order to achieve a faster internet connection and IP-based phones.
Jeremy noted that, in his professional opinion, he’d not touch BT with a barge pole, and agreed to talk later with Andrea.

Amazon Offer Expired:
The Amazon offer for new OTC office hardware that the previous meeting agreed to purchase was time limited and now expired.
Quotes from a third local supplier will be obtained, and the three brought to Council for a decision.

Olney Centre Income required:
Noting the need for the Olney Centre to restart generating income, Desmond Eley mentioned that Room 2, normally used for marriages, was currently occupied by the Olney COVID Support Group’s equipment. The Council had asked it how much longer, but not yet received a response.
Jeremy will pursue this noting, at Graham Harrison’s suggestion, that the Council would need the full building in the near future.

Andrea noted the incredibly hard work of Council staff during the COVID restrictions. They had received a large number of criticisms, mainly about the situation with the Recreation Ground, but also some thanks. She thanked the team, a sentiment echoed strongly by Jeremy. The litter issues, he explained, were due to the amount being discarded.

Anti-Letter Signage:
The Council had devoted the resources to clear it up. Councillors discussed whether providing more anti-litter signage on the Recreation Ground would help, Deirdre thinking it would. Although no consensus was reached, the weight of opinion appeared to be that it would not.
Andrea noted that, even when the local Lions group had handed out bin bags to groups of people on the Recreation Ground, they had often not been filled. Joanne Eley noted that some of the unsung heroes in this episode were the Olney and Clifton Reynes Fishing association, working hard to clear up litter from the riverbank. Graham noted that this was a country-wide problem, not affecting just Olney. Jeremy explained that, although the “alcohol exclusion zone” signs were widely ignored, they gave the Police authority to act. Deirdre noted she may provide anti-litter signs at her own expense.

Recreation Ground Issues
A multi-agency meeting had been held to discuss the issues on the Recreation Ground. Desmond explained what happened, the following is a brief summary: The mass gathering issue did not start with COVID, instead having grown over the last three or so years, fuelled in part by mainstream and social media. The option of closing the East Street car park or charging an admission fee was discussed and its many downsides noted, for example the logistics of charging a fee, and the impact on parking elsewhere including the effect on emergency services vehicle access. This was left with OTC to decide on and manage.
The public toilets should be opened as soon as practically possible. Thames Valley Police is pleased with the recently installed “alcohol exclusion zone” signs. Fencing could be installed to funnel visitors to discourage walking across sports pitches. OTC has lost all its income streams due to COVID and, in spite of multiple requests, no funding or grants had been made available to help it tackle these problems. A key safe will be provided to allow emergency services vehicle access from East Street.
The ensuing discussion was lengthy and, again, the following a brief summary: Deirdre asked Desmond to clarify the statement on fencing. The aim, he explained, was to funnel people entering the Recreation Ground from beside and behind the Rugby Club to walk between the Bowls Club and the MUGA, entering the Ground near the toilet block. That way, they’d be more likely to avoid the sports pitches, particularly the cricket pitch which had seen people walk across even while cricket was being played. Footpath locations and byelaws were discussed, as was the fact that OTC hires out the pitches to the clubs, which then expect a facility on which they can play sport safely.
Colin Rodden asked how decisions were being made, particularly on the fencing and signage. Desmond explained that no money had been spent without committee approval, and Jeremy Rawlings that in these difficult times decisions had to be taken quickly.
Jeremy asked Colin if he was happy with this, his immediate response being silence, and later one that more consultation was required.

East Street Car Park:
Re the East Street car park, Peter Geary outlined three options: First, continue as now – people turn up in whatever numbers, the Council attempts to manage the paths they take to the river, clears up after them and stomachs the costs. Second, try to dissuade people at all costs – for example lock the East Street car park, but that would disrupt visiting teams and displace parking. Third, charge for the East Street car park to help mitigate the money spent by the Council – but the logistics and inconvenience for legitimate users would be significant. None is a perfect solution, but people expect OTC to do something, even if that’s the first option. It is public open space, and we cannot stop people from accessing it, he said. There are no easy solutions although, as lockdown continues to ease, people will at least have more choice of places to visit.
Skipping much of the discussion, the Council set up a small working group to look at charging for the East Street car park in peak season. Deirdre asked that the group keep all Councillors up to date, because that didn’t always happen. It was noted that, while there was insufficient time to make this decision in the very short term, it will not be straightforward to make in the long term either. For example, a permit holder scheme would help residents but be less obviously beneficial for sports match away teams.
David Coles’ open letter, as published in last month’s Phonebox, was also noted for Council consideration. This section concluded with Desmond asking Deirdre about her earlier comment re working groups not reporting back to the Council. He asked which working group Deirdre thought hadn’t reported back. She did not respond.

This item noted the reasons the proposal to use some of the Market Place car park for seating was rejected. These were that, in spite of sending a letter to each shop nearby, no responses at all were received, and that the Police thought the idea “madness” and would attract antisocial behaviour.

The Council had received three quotes for Autumn and Winter bedding plants, accepting Alban Hill Nurseries’. It will also seek quotes for a new mower for the Cemetery. Desmond reported that, in the second half of May, there appeared to have been a significant and sudden drop in the Council’s store of red diesel. Measures have been taken to ensure control and monitoring of the store, with others pending if agreed.

Desmond noted that, as reported previously, the Recreations and Services Committee had been discussing the formation of a service agreement with the Allotment Association, expected to move forward in October subject to agreement. This had been done informally so far, but formalising the group of Councillors involved as a working group with authority to make decisions would be appropriate to continue this work.

Paul Collins provided a broad overview of the Council’s finances given COVID.
His major area of concern was the current reduced income from the markets and Olney Centre room hire. He noted that many of the room hirers have memberships skewed towards the at-risk age groups, meaning the drop in income could be relatively long term. In the three months to 30th June, these sources of income were down £9,500 compared with a year ago.
Unlike commercial businesses and non-profits, the Council had not been eligible for business rates relief or the Retail, Hospitality, and Leisure Grant – almost singled out for special, unfair treatment he felt. Further, none of the extra money paid by Government to higher-tier Local Authorities appeared to have trickled down to Parish Council level. Hopefully, this would change. In terms of expenditure, OTC had been mindful of the need to make significant savings, and thus expenditure for this financial year is more than £30,000 below that a year ago.
However, this level of saving would not be maintained once the Olney Centre was reopened. He hoped that, by October, the Council would have a clearer view of how things will turn out. He also noted the costs of the antisocial behaviour on the Recreation Ground, and of the enhanced public toilet cleaning regime.

Andrea noted that cleaning both sets of toilets will cost £700 - £1,000 per week. Desmond raised the opportunity to promote Room 2 of the Olney Centre for marriages, noting the potential logjam for such events – it was important to know what was happening with that room. Jeremy will further ask the COVID Support Group about its plans. Although feeling that marriage bookings may not pick up until next year, Steve Clark agreed that OTC should indeed aggressively market use of the Centre for marriages. Deirdre asked about the state of the Recreation Ground toilets. These had been vandalised seriously pre COVID and, while that had delayed their repair, it would happen shortly.

Chris Tennant reported that a review of Olney’s existing Neighbourhood Plan had started. He then ran through the local development sites, of which just the residential ones are covered here.
On Site A, Lavendon Road, work had started on the building of 50 homes.
On Site B, Warrington Road, outline permission had been granted.
As for Site C, off Osiers Road adjacent to the business park, while not allocated for housing the construction of 66 homes was in progress.
On Sites D&E, off Aspreys and Yardley Road, very large scale archaeological site investigations had started. The reserved matters planning application for the 250 homes on those sites is live and out for consultation, with further drawings and reports received. OTC had objected to this application and asked for it to be considered by the MKC Development Control Committee. Chris noted issues with MKC Planning Department not necessarily consulting with members of the public and Councillors, something it is now reviewing. He felt this an effect of lockdown.
At Site R, the Sainsbury’s store is open but the planning application by Angle Properties and McCarthey & Stone, for sheltered and retirement living on the remaining land had, contrary to the Neighbourhood Plan, been allowed on appeal.
Jeremy noted that the Sites D&E reserved matters application contained significant changes. Chris agreed noting that, of most concern, a significant proportion of the promised public open space had since been extracted, no longer forming part of sites’ D&E delivery, never envisaged in the Neighbourhood Plan.
Chris felt the MKC Chief Planner at the time, who’d since moved on, had perhaps dropped the ball in that regard by allowing this change as part of the Section 106 agreement. Essentially, the town was being held to ransom on a future development option North of Site E. He felt it important to note that OTC was unhappy with this situation – we can’t have part of a playing pitch delivered, where OTC hasn’t considered a future planning application on a site outside the settlement boundary. Other issues include access: The original land promoter did not own the land strip which could provide access from Aspreys so, while MKC and OTC were previously keen to pursue that access, it was not in the promoter’s gift to offer. However, the strip is owned by the chosen developer, Vistry (ex Bovis), meaning that it could, if it chose, deliver that access. Finally, the reserved matters application includes some three storey apartment blocks, never originally envisaged. It was already the highest site in Olney in topographical terms. He felt this change perhaps a little disingenuous. Peter Geary, agreeing with much of Chris’s description and noting it pretty disappointing, expressed confidence in the current MKC Planning Offi cer. Re the issues with the playing field, he felt these were known about before and were one of the reasons he was against the outline application. This was not exactly in the spirit of things, and he felt Chris was right about the current situation. Desmond asked Chris whether, given the recent building work, there were any Section 106 monies which OTC could draw down, with a view to accessing funds to spend around the town. Chris will look into this.

The next council meeting will be held on Monday 7th September, at 7.00pm if online else 7.30pm if in the Council Chamber. If you’d like to contribute to the Public Participation section at the start of the meeting, please contact the Town Clerk, townclerk@olneytowncouncil.gov.uk.

An extraordinary meeting of Olney Town Council (OTC) was held online, Monday 20th July, to discuss reopening the Market Place and Recreation Ground public toilets, closed since lockdown. Apologies for absence were received from Chris Tenant. No declarations of interest were made.

Jeremy Rawlings reported that, as part of the ‘Olney is Open’ initiative, delegated to himself and Andrea Vincent (Town Clark), the Council had sought and received two tenders for ongoing cleaning of the toilets and, under those delegated powers, chosen the cheapest. It was, however, very expensive and raised concern from a number of other Councillors about the ongoing cost and whether OTC should bear it for the sake of reopening, so he organised this meeting in response.
He noted that the retailers, and Thursday and Sunday Market stallholders were keen for the toilets to open, a sentiment matched by the general consensus of an all-comers meeting at the Rugby Club.
The ongoing cost involved was indeed significant at around £700 per week, equating to around £3,000 per month, for the duration of the pandemic, itself an unknown quantity. It would allow the toilets to open 8am – 5pm, closing three-hourly for cleans at 11am, 2pm and 5pm, that being the period specified by the Council’s insurers for COVID-19 infection control. The cleaning, using bleach or equivalent, would include all surfaces around the toilets and sinks, internal surfaces and floors, and all the touch points - door handles, etc. The contract could be stopped by OTC at short notice.

Colin Rodden suggested obtaining sponsorship, but this would be hard in the current climate.

Malcolm Messenger suggested employing someone to do the work, but that would incur start-up costs and come with commitments.

Desmond Eley felt sorry for OTC’s staff, working harder for less pay than this, and that the tender was not good value.

Graham Harrison asked for the cost if just the Market Place toilets were reopened, Andrea replying it’d be half, and Deidre Bethune that the Recreation Ground toilets were also important given recent complaints.

Joanne Eley noted the earlier than usual closing time for the Recreation Ground toilets – what were people meant to do after 5pm?

Paul Collins, chair of the Finance Committee, reported that OTC had seen a significant reduction in income and, to date, received no Government or Milton Keynes Council (MKC) money due to COVID-19. Having started to get the Council’s finances under control and set a budget for the year, this toilet cleaning alone would add £18 per year to the average home’s Council Tax precept. He felt the toilets wouldn’t be used much and that the Council could not afford this cost. He strongly opposed the idea of reopening.

Peter Geary, noting this a difficult decision, proposed reopening both toilets pending a review at the next full Council meeting on 7th September.

This proposal, amended to first wait for upcoming advice from the National Association of Local Councils (NALC) and a final positive discussion with the Council’s insurers, appeared to receive a consensus. It would result in a cost of around £5,000, and the responsibility for taking the decision to reopen was delegated to Jeremy, Desmond and Andrea.

In the meantime, the Council will continue trying to extract funding from MKC and Government. It will write to our local MP, stating it was under the impression that some funding would be available for this purpose and, unless some came forward, it would not be able to keep the toilets open. Also, it will attempt to gauge opinions in the town with a Facebook poll, notices and a Phonebox article.

Jeremy Rawlings concluded the meeting, thanking Councillors for their input and for reaching a consensus.

August is usually a month Olney Town Council do not have a meeting. With all that is going on at the moment a special meeting was called to discuss some recent problems, especially the Public Toilets in the Town.
This meeting turned out to be a bit more lively that unusual, and caused the resignation of two councillors, following hard on the heels of a third councillor making a total of four resignations since February, and six in the last 15 months!

For the duration of the COVID crisis meetings of Olney Town Council will be held as online audio meetings using Microsoft Teams. Members of the public can listen to the proceedings by clicking on a link on the OTC web page www.olneytowncouncil.gov.uk Click on the ‘Meetings’ tab and scroll down to the announcement about the next meeting where you will find a link to the agenda and another to join the meeting on listen-only.

There is not normally a meeting of OTC in August but as there were a number of issues to be discussed this meeting was called at short notice by the Clerk Andrea Vincent and Mayor Jeremy Rawlings in the light of ‘a rapidly changing situation’.
Deirdre Bethune asked why the minutes of the July meeting stated that an August meeting would be held when at that stage none was planned. Andrea said she had amended the draft minutes for the July meeting the day before. This was picked up under matters arising from the minutes of the previous meeting and the amendment removed.

In the absence of the opportunity to speak at public meetings, the public may submit written items to the clerk to be read out. Mercury would normally name those who speak at an open meeting, unless they specifically ask not to be identified. Under the new regime, the clerk redacts the names from any correspondence under alleged GDPR rules, so there exists the situation whereby councillors and public are not permitted to know who has submitted the written items. Note: If any member of the public wishes to be identified as the originator of correspondence to the council, they should state that in the letter/email to overcome any GDPR constraints.

This month there was an email from a person who owns a business but does not currently live in Olney, but in a neighbouring village. This person said they wholeheartedly supported Deirdre Bethune’s proposal to use the Sidney Dix Community fund (or any other funding source) to enable the public toilets on the Market Place and Recreation ground to remain open, as they are an asset to the town. (This was the subject of a later agenda item). A town meeting should be called before any decision is taken, they said. David Pibworth has contacted The Phonebox and asked to be identified as the author of this email.

Another resident had also emailed to ask that the final decision on the toilets should be made by the public in the name of good governance, transparency, and democracy. The final decision should be delayed till after the May 2021 election with candidates declaring how they would act on the issue, this person believed. Kevin Viney has contacted The Phonebox and asked to be identified as the author of this email.

Regarding the first email, Malcolm Messenger questioned Deirdre as to how a person living outside the town could know that she was going to present her proposal at the meeting. Deirdre explained that this person was ‘very local’, having interests and working in the town and her (Deirdre’s) intentions were public knowledge. Malcolm proceeded to press her very strongly, asking who had told this person. Deirdre explained that it was on the published meeting agenda which was in the public domain. Malcolm asked Andrea on what date the email had been received to which she replied that it was the date that the agenda had been published.

A letter had also been received from Trevor York on behalf of Friends of Cobbs Garden Surgery, which donates over £2000 per month for health-related projects, equipment and services. A book of photographs of Olney over the years is being proposed as a fund-raiser, and Trevor asked if any colour photos in the possession of OTC could be included. It was agreed that OTC would loan any photos in its possession for the project.

There were no apologies for absence or declarations of interest. Jeremy reported that Debbie Whitworth had formally tendered her resignation, would not be joining the meeting and was no longer a councillor. Deirdre Bethune asked if a reason could be given. Jeremy declined to give one, but said Deirdre could ask Debbie if she wished. Deirdre replied that the public would really like to know why Debbie had resigned. Jeremy replied that it was up to Debbie to inform the public, not him. Deirdre suggested that perhaps the town Clerk would like to provide input as well, saying that Debbie had been considerably upset all weekend and did they care? She hoped the public were listening, she said.
Jeremy said Debbie had tendered her resignation and he had accepted it. Joanne Eley asked Jeremy to move on, saying that quite clearly there are reasons which are well documented in emails, and this was not a ‘show-boating exercise’. Jeremy closed the conversation by saying that if ex-councillor Whitworth wishes to make a public statement, then that is her prerogative, bearing in mind that whatever she says is still covered in part by the code of conduct.

Andrea reported that the organisations that were previously regular users of the Olney Centre had been contacted asking when they wished to resume bookings. Not all had replied, but six that meet monthly had indicated that they wished to return in September. None of the weekly groups had provided a date, mainly because their members were previously in the shielding category and are not yet willing to commit.
Age UK previously held a lunch club once a week but were currently looking to only commence operations at the Peartree Bridge Centre from October and asked if the council could assist with travel expenses for users. If the Olney centre were to open it would need to be done with a caretaker and cleaning contract in place, but the council would need to consider the shortfall of income, Andrea said. Perhaps as a public body, OTC should consider reopening as a sign of the ‘bouncing back of the High Street, etc’? Jeremy asked what would be the cost vs income of opening in September? Andrea replied that each booking would provide in the region of £70, but outgoings would be considerably more. Colin Rodden asked how this would impact on the reopening of the library, which was not in Phase 1 of Milton Keynes Council’s (MKC) plans. Jeremy said that the library could open independently as MKC had their own cleaning contract. Graham Harrison said it was a ‘chicken and egg’ situation because if people saw the building open, they might come, but he would not like to see the building open before October. However, if an intended opening date were published, maybe more people would consider using it. Jeremy said much was dependant of the oft-hinted Second Wave. As Chair of Finance, Paul Collins suggested waiting till the September meeting when a proper cashflow could be provided. If a caretaker is employed, it is not easy to ‘turn the tap off’, he said, and the current budget was based on a pre-Covid expectation of £34K in room hire income. The current income this financial year is £900, so there are considerable financial implications he said. The £900 is from pre-bookings which may yet be refunded in the future, he explained. It was agreed to review the situation at the September meeting.

As chair of the Olney Centre Management Committee Deirdre Bethune presented a proposal for changes to the OTC office, for which planning approval had been granted and had previously been discussed by the council. It would make for far greater safety when the Clerk or Deputy when working alone as the door could be locked and it would still be possible to communicate with the public through a hatch, which would make it easier to be Covid compliant, too.
It would create more usable space whilst distancing the clerks without having to make other changes to the existing arrangements. She’d hoped that it could be financed by a Covid grant, but the clerk had advised that this was not possible. It is, however, possible to take out public works loans which attract very little interest. The work could be done while the centre is currently closed, she said.
Joanne Eley said that in this uncertain time and without a cashflow she didn’t think that OTC should be taking out a loan at all, since the council could easily function with the current configuration. The council and residents should not be put into debt for a ‘nice to do’ she thought, since the duration of Covid is unknown, and the council currently has no income. Deirdre interjected to say she believed the work to be essential. Joanne continued that she would like to see the Management Committee produce a clearly thought out evidence-based plan on how it could be funded without taking out a loan.
Graham Harrison said he was astonished that the council could even think about spending £15k on the work but then tell residents that there was no money for anything else. It was just a ‘non-starter’ he thought.
Jeremy said he agreed that at this time the expenditure was inappropriate. Malcolm Messenger was of the view that when and if the centre opens Covid distancing could be provided with the use of a screen, and the door could be closed when privacy was necessary. Desmond Eley asked Andrea if she thought the changes were necessary to perform her duties. Andrea replied that there was already a reasonable plan to make the office Covid safe, so it wasn’t immediately necessary, but at some time in the future it was essential that changes were made to improve disabled access. Additional space could be found by moving some documentation into storage, she felt.
Colin Rodden expressed the view that keeping the office staff safe should be a priority, so as the Covid situation improves then anything that could be done to provide a better working environment would be helpful. Jeremy asked for a seconder for Deirdre’s proposal, and Colin Rodden declared himself prepared to second it. However, he then declined to vote in favour, saying he wanted more information. Joanne Eley interjected to say that it was not legitimate for a member to second a motion that he or she was not in favour of, but Peter Geary said it was a perfectly legitimate situation, which Joanne thought ‘crazy’. Deirdre said that there was obviously no support for the proposal and withdrew it. Jeremy said that the situation would be reviewed in the future as there may well be ways of resolving the issues without spending £15k.

Full details of the rules for this fund may be found on the OTC web site but to summarise:

The OTC Community Support Fund (previously known as the Sidney Dix Fund, after a local benefactor) exists to provide financial support for voluntary and community groups in the Parish. Grants will only be awarded for applications that promote or improve the economic, social, or environmental well-being of their area, and to organisations based within the Parish. Grants are normally only given for items of a capital nature which will have an ongoing benefit to residents of the town, although in exceptional circumstances other awards may be made.

Deirdre Bethune put forward a proposal that under these exceptional circumstances it would be justified to use the fund to keep the toilets open for this year, providing a much-needed service for the town, which would avoid using funds from the Council Tax Precept. With many visitors to the town, including those to the museum for the forthcoming Amazing Grace celebrations, it was essential that public toilets were available. Those visitors will also be supporting businesses in the town. The high expense of keeping the toilets open seemed to be based on employing the services of a limited company with all the associated overheads, she said, and asked why it was not possible to employ an individual at a cheaper rate.
The decision was made by the HR Committee, the workings of which are not divulged to other council members, she said. Paul Collins said whether the toilets were open or not was not a big factor with regards to the museum, because most visitors are in large parties who then go to a restaurant to use their facilities, plus the Amazing Grace celebrations will not be taking place for two years.
He went on to say that because the Community Support fund is a ‘restricted fund’ the money therein cannot be transferred to other funds and cannot be used for purposes other than those stated. The philanthropist that set it up did so with the intention of providing modest grants to community groups. By no stretch of the imagination is OTC a community group and it is not legitimate to use the fund to meet OTC overhead costs, he said. He reminded councillors that on 28th April 2011 the councillor making the proposal reported to the annual town public meeting that the Sidney Dix Fund would shortly be renamed the OTC Community Fund and that its purpose would remain unchanged. It is a totally invalid proposal, he said. Deirdre replied saying she thought the community of Olney would like to be able to go to the toilet as part of their recreation, so it would be a justified use of the community fund.
Joanne Eley interjected to say that the proposal was against the council’s Community Grant Policy to which Jeremy agreed. Desmond Eley then read a statement explaining how the current situation had arisen. To summarise, he said pre-Covid the council recognised that a number of issues need to be resolved regarding the Market Place and the state of the toilets was one of them. A working group identified that the cost of refurbishment would be between £30k and £60k, depending on the solution chosen. The Recs and Services committee was informed by some members of the public – complete strangers unknown to the council, he said – that residents didn’t like or use the toilets, would not like to see that amount of money spent on the toilets and felt there must be better uses for the money. It was then suggested by ‘a councillor’ that the toilets be closed, with the exception of the disabled toilets, and only used on market and event days. Deirdre was actioned to ask retailers around the Market Place if they would be prepared to let the public use their facilities, but Covid meant this could not be completed. A meeting of the recreation ground Joint User Adjourned Group and others resolved that the then closed Market Place and Rec toilets should be opened as soon as possible.
This was reported back to the council which resolved to reopen them at a cost, established Adjourned by the clerk, of £38k per year. Because of the high cost, this would be reviewed at the September OTC meeting.
An Internet Poll would be created to gauge public opinion. He finished by saying that in his opinion, the use of the Community Support Fund was inappropriate.
Jeremy Rawlings said at no point had OTC talked about permanently closing the toilets. The temporary closure was due to Covid, and they were now open again with additional costs in the region of £700 per week. The decision to be made at the September meeting would be whether OTC would be prepared to continue with that funding. To use the Sidney Dix fund would be an abhorrence and absolutely disgraceful, he thought Peter Geary asked how much cash was currently in the fund (a figure of £35k was quoted) and what was the result of the poll which appeared briefly on the OTC and Olney Noticeboard Facebook pages? He suggested the final decision be delayed in order to give sufficient time to look at the conditions of the Community Support Fund, noting that after a year the fund would be exhausted and suggested that the agenda item should be adjourned.
Malcolm Messenger said that the poll was not a true vote as some respondents lived in New Zealand, Norfolk, and Scotland. It should be a ‘paper vote’ to all households that pay the precept, he said. Jeremy said he agreed and wasn’t happy about the poll being posted. Deirdre asked where the figure of £18 per household came from. At this point, Joanne Eley interjected to say that the item under discussion was whether to use the Community Support Fund, not the finances and the proposal should have contained that information.
Deirdre responded by saying that the figure of £18 had not be made available until the poll went up. The following conversation was indecipherable with many people talking over each other, and Jeremy called the meeting to order. Colin Rodden felt that the council needed to understand how many people use both lots of toilets. He had been looking at the Covid website, and it was not clear how much cleaning was actually required as there seemed to be more emphasis placed on individuals to look after themselves. Cost could be cut by reducing hours spent cleaning, he suggested. Peter Geary, returning to the online poll, said it should be taken as a steer of public opinion and was not a referendum. It should be used as input to the building of the budget and setting the precept for the next financial year once the public had been given a full breakdown, he said, and once again recommended adjourning the item.
Paul Collins interjected saying he did not believe there was a need to adjourn since the point under discussion was quite specific and was an abuse of the fund. Graham Harrison said he had suggested at the last meeting that OTC place an advert in The Phonebox since Facebook was full of ‘Chinese whispers’ and not relevant. Deirdre pointed out that should already have been done as it was already an action from the minutes of last month’s meeting.
Colin Rodden felt that all councillors should be involved in the wording of any survey since he wasn’t happy with the wording and ‘binary’ nature of the poll that had been posted and then removed. Andrea pointed out that the matter of the toilets had been devolved by full council to herself, Desmond and Jeremy, and she had consulted with them before the poll was posted. Jeremy said he was minded to adopt Peter’s suggestion to adjourn the item, but Joanne Eley asked how OTC could award themselves a grant and match fund it, as per the conditions of the fund. ‘The proposer’ was the immediate past financial Chair and should be fully aware of how these things work, she said. Graham Harrison suggested a vote and Jeremy agreed and asked for a seconder. Nobody offered to second the motion, so Jeremy said the proposal therefore fell. The following discussion is reported verbatim:

Deirdre: Can I just have a word please?
Jeremy: Yes, and then we’ll move on.
Deirdre: We will - well, I won’t because I am resigning. I have no confidence in this absolute shambles of a council. It has just been going downhill; we cannot keep staff. I’m sorry, I’m out of it – I resign.
Jeremy: If you’d like to put that in writing, thank you Deirdre. Deirdre: I will put it in writing, but I am resigning, I have had enough. Unknown: Move on.
Deirdre: I have been on that Council for 42 years…
Graham: (Harrison): Yeah, that’s the problem.
Deirdre: The last year has been HELL and the year before that was
also HELL, and there are certain Councillors and certain (indecipherable – spoken over) that have made it that way. Malcolm: (Messenger): You cannot do this in public.
Jeremy: That’s enough, thank you Deirdre. Thank you VERY much,
that’s enough. Thank you. OK, moving on…
Graham: Turn my microphone…

A letter had been received from the new Youth Centre Management Committee explaining that they were not asking OTC to take over the running of the Youth Centre but to provide a level of support and financial help in tackling the problem of rent and cost of repairs. More specifically, they were seeking help in negotiating an acceptable lease agreement with MKC which was currently demanding £12.5K per year rent, making the operation unviable based on current predicted hires. The building has become dilapidated through neglect by MKC over many years and now requires considerable investment, including what Peter Geary referred to as a six-figure sum to repair the roof.
The committee are in a stand-off position with MK Council and cannot seem to be able to converse with someone who can make a genuine decision. Indeed one person seemed to be deliberately obstructive. Jeremy said that when he and Steve Clark were on the previous management committee, they had similar problems. A long discussion took place, which would normally be reported in detail, but which unfortunately will need to be abbreviated due to space restraints.
Colin Rodden reported that he and Peter Geary had recently attended a meeting with the new management committee. He reminded councillors that some years ago OTC were in the process of taking over full responsibility for the Youth Centre under the Community Asset Transfer Scheme, but MKC had withdrawn from the transfer when the Neighbourhood Plan identified the site for potential health service use, since a condition of the transfer would be that the entire site retains its original usage. Many local groups are currently using the Youth Centre, and it could be a valuable community asset with the associated green space. Peter said that as Ward Councillor he would be negotiating with MKC to get a resolution which he hoped would result in MKC completing the major building works to enable the building to remain open. He will report back regularly to Olney Town Council.

As Chairman of the Development Committee (DC), Chris Tennant gave an update on the progress of applications for Section 106 (Planning Gain) grants available to Olney Town Council. Developers pay an agreed sum to MKC, and local councils and other community groups can apply for portions of that sum for projects related to services that they provide as developments progress to completion. The Olney Neighbourhood Plan lists projects that the DC would endeavour to seek funding for and make applications on behalf of other community groups.
Desmond Eley said it was important that the DC started to deliver on the promises in the Neighbourhood Plan. Chris reminded Desmond that as a member of the DC, he (Desmond) had been actioned at the last meeting to test the process by providing a costed solution with a design of the Whirley Pits play area. Desmond said that, unfortunately, Covid had got in the way of the design process. Chris said he looked forward to receiving Desmond’s report at the next DC meeting. Joanne Eley asked how the promised public consultation with residents about the refreshment of the Neighbourhood Plan would take place. Chris said at a previous DC meeting, at which Joanne was present, the Communication and Engagement Strategy which contained that information was tabled and agreed. Joanne asked what that document looked like. Chris responded that it had been issued to her as a published document, but at the following meeting she had resigned from the Development Committee.

The next meeting will be held on Monday 7th September, at 7.00pm if online else 7.30pm if in the Council Chamber. If you’d like to contribute to the Public Participation section at the start of the meeting, please contact the Town Clerk, townclerk@olneytowncouncil.gov.uk.

After this meeting Deputy Mayor Sally Pezaro also resigned from the council.

See pages 36 to 39 of the September issue to read letters received regarding this meeting from councillors and previous councillors regarding the conduct of Olney Town Council.

For the duration of the COVID-19 restrictions, meetings of Olney Town Council (OTC) will be held online as audio meetings using Microsoft Teams. Members of the public can listen to the proceedings by surfing to the OTC web page, www.olneytowncouncil.gov.uk, clicking on the ‘Meetings’ tab and scrolling down to the announcement about the next meeting where you will find a link to the agenda and another to join the meeting listen-only.

Jeremy Rawlings introduced this section, highlighting its maximum 15 minutes’ duration and noting that, if more entries were received than can be read in the time, the remainder would not be read out until the next meeting.
Citing advice received, GDPR and other regulations, current practice is that contributors’ names are not read out. For the first time Mercury can remember, the sheer number of entries received did indeed mean that the time limit passed before all had been read. Most that were read out, around seven, were on the subject of the public toilets, all requesting they be kept open. Reasons included that closing them would make people shop elsewhere, the up-coming retirement homes being built near Sainsbury’s would increase the local elderly population and thus the need, it would have negative effects on people with certain medical needs, and that our values as a caring community would be undermined if they closed.

The first looked back, asking various administrative questions of the Council, including why Quarterly and Annual Financial Reports has not been published since 2018, particularly as the 2017/18 accounts appeared to have been qualified by auditors.The second looked forward, and a post-meeting enquiry revealed it to be from the happy-to-be-named Mike Pezaro. Noting an interest due to being from the husband of a recently resigned Councillor, but containing his own views, it discussed the possible implications of last month’s Council meeting and the working environment it depicted:
“The recent resignation of numerous Councillors and the Public meetings in which rude and bullying behaviour was clearly prevalent, and a weak apology made in retrospect, has led to my perception of the Council as an unpleasant and toxic environment to work in. I'm sure my view is representative of many people in the town, given the vocal response on social media. With multiple positions on the Council now being available, I am concerned that many capable and caring candidates will not put themselves forward for fear of becoming either associated with or a victim of noxious behaviours. What is Olney Town Council doing to address the underlying issues within the Council, and to encourage the Public to become part of a revitalised, compassionate team?”

This item discussed a planning application for an extension to 64 High Street, and associated concern from those living in an adjacent property. Steve Clark, absent from this meeting, had visited the concerned residents and written a report which Councillors now considered. Peter Geary had also visited, noting this one of the most interesting applications he’d seen in quite a while. Chris Tennant noted that planning is an assessment of technical and subjective points, taken in the round to get a balance. Subjective elements here included poor quality design and potential overdevelopment, and technical ones loss of sunlight, daylight and privacy. He felt Olney Town Council, OTC, should express its concerns to Milton Keynes Council.

Desmond Eley introduced this item, having written a paper that included a proposal. First, he noted that OTC had agreed in July that everybody wanted to keep the toilets open, and that it was only the financial restriction that made it decide to review the situation in September.
Basic facts had to be considered, he said. Any plan of action would have to stay contemporary with the latest and changing COVID-19 guidance, and unless the toilets were cleaned and disinfected after every use, they could never be guaranteed safe. He had taken a look at how other local authorities had dealt with the situation. His proposal reduced the number of cleans to one per day, and included the display of a notice on each facility stating that it cannot be maintained COVID-19 safe, and those who use it do so at their own risk.
In summary, his proposal aims to maintain the provision of the facilities in line with contemporary COVID-19 restrictions and public demand, with operational decisions made by the Council office, and the cost being within the yearly budget – as cleaning once a day should be. He recommended his proposal to Council. This was discussed at length, Peter Geary proposing an amendment – that the Council also seek advice that the plan is in line with current COVID-19 guidance. This was accepted by majority, then the main vote unanimously. Jeremy Rawlings concluded this agenda item noting that, in spite the social media interest in this topic, there had never been a proposal to permanently close the toilets. The Council had never discussed that, he said.

Jeremy Rawlings introduced this topic. The Olney Centre had closed in March due to lockdown and, now that some of the regulations had been relaxed and certain events made permissible, the Council should consider whether to reopen the Centre. The costs of reopening were quite significant compared to the income it may generate, he said. Specifically, the estimated loss to open from the quarter October to December was around £6,000. Note that the following discussion is independent of the preschool and library, each run independently within the building. Various views were put forward. Joanne Eley suggested delaying reopening, as there was little interest from Centre users. Colin Rodden believed the Youth Centre was planning to reopen in October, and felt it would be a really positive message to the community if the Olney Centre reopened at the same time. Paul Collins suggested finding some way for the Centre to operate which didn’t require caretaker input, for example asking the hirers to do their own setup and takedown, and restricting hires to certain days. Desmond Eley suggested Councillors could lock and unlock the Centre, saving more money. Peter Geary felt the Centre should open ASAP else hiring groups may go elsewhere, their income lost for good. Others felt a short delay might be in order, given the upward trajectory of new COVID-19 infections in the UK. Councillors voted unanimously to reopen the Olney Centre on 10th October or as soon as practical, for the least cost possible. The terms and conditions of hire will be amended to reflect changes in the service offered.

This item was to discuss whether to stage Dickens of a Christmas this year, given COVID-19. Jeremy Rawlings felt there were two alternatives: Cancel the event completely or run a small event with just the outdoor markets, maybe called ‘Olney welcomes St. Nicholas’. Chris Tenant, fully supportive of holding Dickens in a perhaps-reduced format, suggested obtaining a traffic regulation order to close the High Street for a fixed number of hours, leaving a wide thoroughfare giving more public space to allow proper social distancing and segregation of stallholders and public. Jeremy Rawlings noted that, while this might be possible, the A509 was a primary trunk road, so the diversion must also be along primary trunk roads. The diversion would be significant, all the way between the Chicheley and Warrington roundabouts. Peter Geary felt Chris’s comments deserved investigation, though the event would still need to be scaled down for this year, for reasons including that it may have to be cancelled at short notice. After further discussion, Jeremy Rawlings proposed that a small event be held, combining the Thursday and Farmers’ Markets, but including neither entertainment nor craft fair. This was passed by majority, with the naming of the event yet to be decided.

Jeremy Rawlings explained that the Council used to write a newsletter, delivered to all houses in Olney by Council staff and Councillors. However, the birth of the Phonebox and Mercury meant it faded and fell from publication. The desire to resurrect it was mainly due to recent negative publicity on social media. People were not aware of the good things which the Council does, he said. The Council voted unanimously in favour, so expect to see the first quarterly newsletter drop through your letterbox soon.

Desmond Eley noted that the repair of the allotment tracks was felt by one allotment holder to be ‘the best job in 30 years’. Jeremy Rawlings said that a valid request for an election had taken place for the three recent Council vacancies, so the Council would remain five down until May 2021 when all 15 places would be up for election. So, it’d be ten Councillors until next May. “At the moment we’re still quorate”, he noted, “and hopefully that will remain so”.
The next meeting will be held on Monday 5th October, at 7.00pm if online else 7.30pm if in the Council Chamber. If you’d like to contribute to the Public Participation section at the start of the meeting, please contact the Town Clerk, townclerk@ olneytowncouncil.gov.uk, stating whether you would like your name to be included with the communication to be read out.

It is with great regret that Olney Town Council has taken the difficult decision to Cancel the Dickens of a Christmas event this year. Consideration was given to a downscaled event but after discussion with local traders and market traders, it was clear that it would not be right to stage an event to bring people into Olney from far and wide given the Covid –19 situation. We will reinstate this event as soon as it is safe to do so. There will be a Thursday Market every Thursday including Christmas Eve so you can get all the fresh festive produce for the big day. There will also be a December Farmers Market on Sunday 6th December.

August:

Mercury Report

Public access to meetings
For the duration of the COVID restrictions, meetings of Olney Town Council (OTC) will be held online using Microsoft Teams. Members of the public can listen to the proceedings by surfing to www.olneytowncouncil. gov.uk, clicking the ‘Announcements’ menu and scrolling down to the announcement about the next meeting, where there’s a link to the agenda and another to join the meeting listen-only.

Public participation
A retailer on the Market Place was first to have her contribution read by Andrea Vincent, Town Clerk. Noting her awareness that a proposal to use some areas of the Market Place car park for seating had been discussed and rejected by OTC, due mainly to parking, antisocial behaviour and litter concerns, she wanted to express her and the majority of small retailers’ thanks for this. She was pleased the Council had listened to them. She continued that, if it wished to support the small businesses further, they’d prefer the Council to contact them directly rather than through a third party. Noting that Olney has a successful and attractive High Street and Market Place, she felt the lockdown had pressured many businesses, leaving some worried about their ability to survive. If help were available, they’d be very happy to work with the Council, she said. She concluded by thanking Councillors for their help with the situation on the Recreation Ground and bathing areas. A Timpsons Row resident had also been in contact, this time concerning the increased number of visitors to the Recreation Ground in recent weeks. They went on to share some incidents they’d seen, in the hope the information would be useful. The main issue in Timpsons Row was parking, it seeing typically 50 additional vehicles on warm days, obstructing pedestrians and traffi c. Noting that Milton Keynes Council (MKC) is responsible for parking in Olney, they encouraged OTC to work with MKC to take a firm stance on the issue – more restrictions and enforcement. Stating that most visitors to the Recreation Ground have to drive, they felt restricting parking would thus restrict visitor numbers – the issue wasn’t with people visiting the Recreation Ground, it was with their sheer number. Noting the nearby gate to the field and inadequate parking-related signage in the Row, they felt closing the gate during the Summer may help. Examples of antisocial behaviour have included residents being sworn at and threatened with violence, and a woman walking down the side of a house to change out of her swimming costume before getting in her car. A mass brawl was also noted, resulting in people walking past covered in blood. They asked residents, the Police, OTC and MKC to work together to devise solutions – else the situation would worsen each year. They concluded by thanking OTC for its work keeping the town in such wonderful condition. Last in this section, another contributor noted the consequences of OTC closing the public toilets during lockdown. This was without legal requirement, they said, toilets in many neighbouring towns remaining open. It had led to antisocial behaviour with people urinating and defecating on the Recreation Ground, outside commercial premises and in alleyways. This was a health and safety issue, and the lack of open toilets had put people off visiting the town, particularly the young, elderly and disabled. Given COVID, commercial premises were understandably reluctant to let the public use their facilities, they felt. They asked the Council to open and regularly clean the public toilets. They also noted that the Government had congratulated towns which had kept their toilets open, urging those who had not to reopen them safely. Andrea concluded this section, noting that OTC was following Government guidance to reopen the toilets, with the significant cost implications entailed.

Apologies for absence and declarations of interest
Debbie Whitworth had sent her apologies. No declarations of interest were made.

Approving the previous meeting’s minutes
Colin Rodden asked whether the Council had talked about the public toilets being closed, as he couldn’t recall it, particularly given the noted possibility of permanent closure. Jeremy Rawlings replied that the idea of retailers opening their facilities for the public, as happens in some other towns, had been discussed. That discussion had been started as it raised the possibility that the maintenance, management and refurbishment of the public toilets would not need to take place. Desmond Eley noted that, pre COVID, a working group had been created to look into the remodelling of the Market Place, necessarily including consideration of the public toilets. The choices were to remodel, extend or close, retaining just the disabled facility and that for the market traders. The decision process is ongoing, pending the group gleaning the information required to make it. Deirdre Bethune noted she didn’t feel it sensible currently to talk with retailers about opening their toilets. The decision is on hold pending a clearer way forward with COVID.

Town Clerk’s report
OTC has engaged BT in order to achieve a faster internet connection and IP-based phones. Jeremy noted that, in his professional opinion, he’d not touch BT with a barge pole, and agreed to talk later with Andrea. The Amazon offer for new OTC offi ce hardware that the previous meeting agreed to purchase was time limited and now expired. Quotes from a third local supplier will be obtained, and the three brought to Council for a decision. Noting the need for the Olney Centre to restart generating income, Desmond Eley mentioned that Room 2, normally used for marriages, was currently occupied by the Olney COVID Support Group’s equipment. The Council had asked it how much longer, but not yet received a response. Jeremy will pursue this noting, at Graham Harrison’s suggestion, that the Council would need the full building in the near future. Andrea noted the incredibly hard work of Council staff during the COVID restrictions. They had received a large number of criticisms, mainly about the situation with the Recreation Ground, but also some thanks. She thanked the team, a sentiment echoed strongly by Jeremy. The litter issues, he explained, were due to the amount being discarded.
The Council had devoted the resources to clear it up. Councillors discussed whether providing more anti-litter signage on the Recreation Ground would help, Deirdre thinking it would. Although no consensus was reached, the weight of opinion appeared to be that it would not. Andrea noted that, even when the local Lions group had handed out bin bags to groups of people on the Recreation Ground, they had often not been filled. Joanne Eley noted that some of the unsung heroes in this episode were the Olney and Clifton Reynes Fishing association, working hard to clear up litter from the riverbank. Graham noted that this was a country-wide problem, not affecting just Olney. Jeremy explained that, although the “alcohol exclusion zone” signs were widely ignored, they gave the Police authority to act. Deirdre noted she may provide anti-litter signs at her own expense.

Recreations and Services
A multi-agency meeting had been held to discuss the issues on the Recreation Ground. Desmond explained what happened, the following a brief summary. The mass gathering issue did not start with COVID, instead having grown over the last three or so years, fuelled in part by mainstream and social media. The option of closing the East Street car park or charging an admission fee was discussed and its many downsides noted, for example the logistics of charging a fee, and the impact on parking elsewhere including the effect on emergency services vehicle access. This was left with OTC to decide on and manage. The public toilets should be opened as soon as practically possible. Thames Valley Police is pleased with the recently installed “alcohol exclusion zone” signs. Fencing could be installed to funnel visitors to discourage walking across sports pitches. OTC has lost all its income streams due to COVID and, in spite of multiple requests, no funding or grants had been made available to help it tackle these problems. A key safe will be provided to allow emergency services vehicle access from East Street. The ensuing discussion was lengthy and, again, the following a brief summary. Deirdre asked Desmond to clarify the statement on fencing. The aim, he explained, was to funnel people entering the Recreation Ground from beside and behind the Rugby Club to walk between the Bowls Club and the MUGA, entering the Ground near the toilet block. That way, they’d be more likely to avoid the sports pitches, particularly the cricket pitch which had seen people walk across even while cricket was being played. Footpath locations and bye-laws were discussed, as was the fact that OTC hires out the pitches to the clubs, which then expect a facility on which they can play sport safely. Colin Rodden asked how decisions were being made, particularly on the fencing and signage. Desmond explained that no money had been spent without committee approval, and Jeremy Rawlings that in these diffi cult times decisions had to be taken quickly. Jeremy asked Colin if he was happy with this, his immediate response being silence, and later one that more consultation was required. Re the East Street car park, Peter Geary outlined three options: First, continue as now – people turn up in whatever numbers, the Council attempts to manage the paths they take to the river, clears up after them and stomachs the costs. Second, try to dissuade people at all costs – for example lock the East Street car park, but that would disrupt visiting teams and displace parking. Third, charge for the East Street car park to help mitigate the money spent by the Council – but the logistics and inconvenience for legitimate users would be significant. None is a perfect solution, but people expect OTC to do something, even if that’s the first option. It is public open space, and we cannot stop people from accessing it, he said. There are no easy solutions although, as lockdown continues to ease, people will at least have more choice of places to visit. Skipping much of the discussion, the Council set up a small working group to look at charging for the East Street car park in peak season. Deirdre asked that the group keep all Councillors up to date, because that didn’t always happen. It was noted that, while there was insufficient time to make this decision in the very short term, it will not be straightforward to make in the long term either. For example, a permit holder scheme would help residents but be less obviously beneficial for sports match away teams. David Coles’ open letter, as published in last month’s Phonebox, was also noted for Council consideration. This section concluded with Desmond asking Deirdre about her earlier comment reworking groups not reporting back to the Council. He asked which working group Deirdre thought hadn’t reported back. She did not respond.

Opening up the High Street
This item noted the reasons the proposal to use some of the Market Place car park for seating was rejected. These were that, in spite of sending a letter to each shop nearby, no responses at all were received, and that the Police thought the idea “madness” and would attract antisocial behaviour.

Bits ‘n’ bobs
The Council had received three quotes for Autumn and Winter bedding plants, accepting Alban Hill Nurseries’. It will also seek quotes for a new mower for the Cemetery. Desmond reported that, in the second half of May, there appeared to have been a significant and sudden drop in the Council’s store of red diesel. Measures have been taken to ensure control and monitoring of the store, with others pending if agreed.

Allotment Association Agreement
Desmond noted that, as reported previously, the Recreations and Services Committee had been discussing the formation of a service agreement with the Allotment Association, expected to move forward in October subject to agreement. This had been done informally so far, but formalising the group of Councillors involved as a working group with authority to make decisions would be appropriate to continue this work.

Finance
Paul Collins provided a broad overview of the Council’s finances given COVID. His major area of concern was the current reduced income from the markets and Olney Centre room hire. He noted that many of the room hirers have memberships skewed towards the at-risk age groups, meaning the drop in income could be relatively long-term. In the three months to 30th June, these sources of income were down £9,500 compared with a year ago. Unlike commercial businesses and non-profits, the Council had not been eligible for business rates relief or the Retail, Hospitality, and Leisure Grant – almost singled out for special, unfair treatment he felt. Further, none of the extra money paid by Government to higher-tier Local Authorities appeared to have trickled down to Parish Council level. Hopefully, this would change. In terms of expenditure, OTC had been mindful of the need to make significant savings, and thus expenditure for this financial year is more than £30,000 below that a year ago. However, this level of saving would not be maintained once the Olney Centre was reopened. He hoped that, by October, the Council would have a clearer view of how things will turn out. He also noted the costs of the antisocial behaviour on the Recreation Ground, and of the enhanced public toilet cleaning regime. Andrea noted that cleaning both sets of toilets will cost £700 - £1,000 per week. Desmond raised the opportunity to promote Room 2 of the Olney Centre for marriages, noting the potential logjam for such events – it was important to know what was happening with that room. Jeremy will further ask the COVID Support Group about its plans. Although feeling that marriage bookings may not pick up until next year, Steve Clark agreed that OTC should indeed aggressively market use of the Centre for marriages. Deirdre asked about the state of the Recreation Ground toilets. These had been vandalised seriously pre COVID and, while that had delayed their repair, it would happen shortly.

Olney Development Group
Chris Tennant reported that a review of Olney’s existing Neighbourhood Plan had started. He then ran through the local development sites, of which just the residential ones are covered here. On site A, Lavendon Road, work had started on the building of 50 homes. On site B, Warrington Road, outline permission had been granted. As for site C, off Osiers
Road adjacent to the business park, while not allocated for housing the construction of 66 homes was in progress. On sites D&E, off Aspreys and Yardley Road, very large-scale archaeological site investigations had started. The reserved matters planning application for the 250 homes on those sites is live and out for consultation, with further drawings and
reports received. OTC had objected to this application and asked for it to be considered by the MKC Development Control Committee. Chris noted issues with MKC Planning Department not necessarily consulting with
members of the public and Councillors, something it is now reviewing.
He felt this was an effect of lockdown. At site R, the Sainsbury’s store is open but the planning application by Angle Properties and McCarthey & Stone, for sheltered and retirement living on the remaining land had, contrary to
the Neighbourhood Plan, been allowed on appeal. Jeremy noted that the sites D&E reserved matters application contained significant changes.
Chris agreed noting that, of most concern, a significant proportion of the promised public open space had since been extracted, no longer forming part of sites’ D&E delivery, never envisaged in the Neighbourhood Plan.
Chris felt the MKC Chief Planner at the time, who’d since moved on, had perhaps dropped the ball in that regard by allowing this change as part of the Section 106 agreement. Essentially, the town was being
held to ransom on a future development option North of site E. He felt it important to note that OTC was unhappy with this situation – we can’t have part of a playing pitch delivered, where OTC hasn’t considered a
future planning application on a site outside the settlement boundary.
Other issues include access: The original land promoter did not own the land strip which could provide access from Aspreys so, while MKC and OTC were previously keen to pursue that access, it was not in the
promoter’s gift to offer. However, the strip is owned by the chosen developer, Vistry (ex-Bovis), meaning that it could, if it chose, deliver that access. Finally, the reserved matters application includes some three-storey apartment blocks, never originally envisaged. It was already the highest site in Olney in topographical terms. He felt this change
perhaps a little disingenuous. Peter Geary, agreeing with much of Chris’s description and noting it pretty disappointing, expressed confidence in the current MKC Planning Officer. Re the issues with the playing fi eld,
he felt these were known about before and were one of the reasons he was against the outline application. This was not exactly in the spirit of things, and he felt Chris was right about the current situation.
Desmond asked Chris whether, given the recent building work, there were any Section 106 monies which OTC could draw down, with a view to accessing funds to spend around the town. Chris will look into this.
The next meeting will be held on Monday 7th September, at 7.00 pm if online else 7.30 pm if in the Council Chamber. If you’d like to contribute to the Public Participation section at the start of the meeting, please contact the Town Clerk, townclerk@olneytowncouncil.gov.uk.

For the duration of the COVID-19 restrictions, meetings of Olney Town Council (OTC) will be held online as audio meetings using Microsoft Teams. Members of the public can listen to the proceedings by surfing to the OTC web page, www.olneytowncouncil.gov.uk, clicking on the ‘Meetings’ tab and scrolling down to the announcement about the next meeting where you will find a link to the agenda and another to join the meeting listen-only.

Jeremy Rawlings introduced this section, highlighting it’s maximum 15 minutes’ duration and noting that, if more entries were received than can be read in the time, the remainder would not be read out until the next meeting.
Citing advice received, GDPR and other regulations, current practice is that contributors’ names are not read out. For the first time Mercury can remember, the sheer number of entries received did indeed mean that the time limit passed before all had been read. Most, around seven, were on the subject of the public toilets, all requesting they be kept open. Reasons included that closing them would make people shop elsewhere, the up-coming retirement homes being built near Sainsbury’s would increase the local elderly population and thus the need, it would have negative effects on people with certain medical needs, and that our values as a caring community would be undermined if they closed.

Quarterly and Annual Financial Reports:
The first looked back, asking various administrative questions of the Council, including why quarterly and annual financial reports has not been published since 2018, particularly as the 2017/18 accounts appeared to have been qualified by auditors.

Last Month's Meeting and the Working Environment it depicted
The second looked forward, and a post-meeting enquiry revealed it to be from the happy-to-be-named Mike Pezaro. Noting an interest due to being from the husband of a recently resigned Councillor, but containing his own views, it discussed the possible implications of last month’s Council meeting and the working environment it depicted: “The recent resignation of numerous Councillors and the Public meetings in which rude and bullying behaviour was clearly prevalent, and a weak apology made in retrospect, has led to my perception of the Council as an unpleasant and toxic environment to work in. I'm sure my view is representative of many people in the town, given the vocal response on social media. With multiple positions on the Council now being available, I am concerned that many capable and caring candidates will not put themselves forward for fear of becoming either associated with or a victim of noxious behaviours. What is Olney Town Council doing to address the underlying issues within the Council, and to encourage the Public to become part of a revitalised, compassionate team?”

This item discussed a planning application for an extension to 64 High Street, and associated concern from those living in an adjacent property. Steve Clark, absent from this meeting, had visited the concerned residents and written a report which Councillors now considered.
Peter Geary had also visited, noting this as one of the most interesting applications he’d seen in quite a while.
Chris Tennant noted that planning is an assessment of technical and subjective points, taken in the round to get a balance. Subjective elements here included poor quality design and potential over development, and technical ones, loss of sunlight, daylight and privacy. He felt Olney Town Council, OTC, should express its concerns to Milton Keynes Council.

Desmond Eley introduced this item, having written a paper that included a proposal. First, he noted that OTC had agreed in July that everybody wanted to keep the toilets open, and that it was only the financial restriction that made it decide to review the situation in September. Basic facts had to be considered, he said. Any plan of action would have to stay contemporary with the latest and changing COVID-19 guidance, and unless the toilets were cleaned and disinfected after every use, they could never be guaranteed safe.
He had taken a look at how other local authorities had dealt with the situation. His proposal reduced the number of cleans to one per day, and included the display of a notice on each facility stating that it cannot be maintained COVID-19 safe, and those who use it do so at their own risk. In summary, his proposal aims to maintain the provision of the facilities in line with contemporary COVID-19 restrictions and public demand, with operational decisions made by the Council office, and the cost being within the yearly budget – as cleaning once a day should be. He recommended his proposal to Council. This was discussed at length, Peter Geary proposing an amendment – that the Council also seek advice that the plan is in line with current COVID-19 guidance. This was accepted by majority, then the main vote unanimously. Jeremy Rawlings concluded this agenda item noting that, in spite of the social media interest in this topic, there had never been a proposal to permanently close the toilets. The Council had never discussed that, he said.

Jeremy Rawlings introduced this topic. The Olney Centre had closed in March due to lockdown and, now that some of the regulations had been relaxed and certain events made permissible, the Council should consider whether to reopen the Centre. The costs of reopening were quite significant compared to the income it may generate, he said. Specifically, the estimated loss to open from the quarter October to December was around £6,000.
Note that the following discussion is independent of the preschool and library, each run independently within the building. Various views were put forward.
Joanne Eley suggested delaying reopening, as there was little interest from Centre users.
Colin Rodden believed the Youth Centre was planning to reopen in October, and felt it would be a really positive message to the community if the Olney Centre reopened at the same time.
Paul Collins suggested finding some way for the Centre to operate which didn’t require caretaker input, for example asking the hirers to do their own setup and take-down, and restricting hires to certain days.
Desmond Eley suggested Councillors could lock and unlock the Centre, saving more money.
Peter Geary felt the Centre should open ASAP else hiring groups may go elsewhere, their income lost for good. Others felt a short delay might be in order, given the upward trajectory of new COVID-19 infections in the UK. Councillors voted unanimously to reopen the Olney Centre on 10th October or as soon as practical, for the least cost possible. The terms and conditions of hire will be amended to reflect changes in the service offered.

This item was to discuss whether to stage Dickens of a Christmas this year, given COVID-19. Jeremy Rawlings felt
there were two alternatives: Cancel the event completely or run a small event with just the outdoor markets, maybe called ‘Olney welcomes St. Nicholas’.
Chris Tenant, fully supportive of holding Dickens in a perhaps-reduced format, suggested obtaining a traffi c regulation order to close the High Street for a fixed number of hours, leaving a wide thoroughfare giving more public space to allow proper social distancing and segregation of stallholders and public.
Jeremy Rawlings noted that, while this might be possible, the A509 was a primary trunk road, so the diversion must also be along primary trunk roads. The diversion would be significant, all the way between the Chicheley and Warrington roundabouts.
Peter Geary felt Chris’s comments deserved investigation, though the event would still need to be scaled down for this year, for reasons including that it may have to be cancelled at short notice.
After further discussion, Jeremy Rawlings proposed that a small event be held, combining the Thursday and Farmers’ Markets, but including neither entertainment nor craft fair. This was passed by majority, with the naming of the event yet to be decided.

Jeremy Rawlings explained that the Council used to write a newsletter, delivered to all houses in Olney by Council staff and Councillors. However, the birth of the Phonebox and Mercury meant it faded and fell from publication. The desire to resurrect it was mainly due to recent negative publicity on social media. People were not aware of the good things which the Council does, he said. The Council voted unanimously in favour, so expect to see the first quarterly newsletter drop through your letterbox soon.

Desmond Eley noted that the repair of the allotment tracks was felt by one allotment holder to be ‘the best job in 30 years’.
Jeremy Rawlings said that a valid request for an election had taken place for the three recent Council vacancies, so the Council would remain five down until May 2021 when all 15 places would be up for election. So, it’d be ten Councillors until next May. “At the moment we’re still quorate”, he noted, “and hopefully that will remain so”. The next meeting will be held on Monday 5th October, at 7.00pm if online else 7.30pm if in the Council Chamber. If you’d like to contribute to the Public Participation section at the start of the meeting, please contact the Town Clerk, townclerk@olneytowncouncil.gov.uk, stating whether you would like your name to be included with the communication to be read out.

It is with great regret that Olney Town Council has taken the diffi cult decision to cancel the Dickens of a Christmas event this year. Consideration was given to a downscaled event but after discussion with local traders and market traders, it was clear that it would not be right to stage an event to bring people into Olney from far and wide given the Covid –19 situation. We will reinstate this event as soon as it is safe to do so. There will be a Thursday Market every Thursday including Christmas Eve so you can get all the fresh festive produce for the big day. There will also be a December Farmers Market on Sunday 6th December.

For the duration of the COVID crisis meetings of Olney Town Council will be held as online audio meetings using Microsoft Teams. Members of the public can listen to the proceedings and view the presentations by clicking on a link on the OTC web page www.olneytowncouncil.gov.uk Click on the ‘Meetings’ tab and scroll down to the announcement about the next meeting where you will find a link to the agenda and another to join the meeting. Town Clerk Andrea Vincent noted that there were 15 members of the public viewing the online meeting.

In the absence of the opportunity to speak at public meetings the public may submit written items to the clerk to be read out. Mercury would normally name those who speak at an open meeting, unless they specifically ask not to be identified.
Under the new regime the clerk redacts the names from any correspondence. Mayor Jeremy Rawlings introduced this section, saying that it needs to be done verbally due to the limitations of the currently used technology. He started by reading submissions to the September meeting that were not read out due to the maximum 15 minutes’ duration of this section.

Speeding Traffic along Driftway
The first was regarding the speed of traffic along Driftway, reminding the council that the last time the Speed Indicating Device (SID) was used to measure traffic flow and speeds it was evident that the majority of vehicles were exceeding the 30 mph limit. Since then the new Sainsbury’s store had opened and the footpath completed along the remainder of Driftway. This footpath is well used by shoppers and parents taking their children to the Middle School. There would be more compliance with the speed limit if drivers were more aware of the speed limit, the correspondent thought, and suggested that road markings, width restriction markings, or repeater signage fitted to the lampposts could be employed. Jeremy Rawlings said that his understanding was that none of the suggestions were lawful in a 30 mph zone, but the matter would be passed to the Recs and Services Committee.

Closure of the Public Toilets
The second letter was regarding the much discussed but no longer planned closure of the public toilets on the Market Place. The writer noted that the suggestion by an ex-councillor to use the Community Fund to finance the continued operation of the facilities was not approved. (For information: The OTC Community Support Fund, previously known as the Sidney Dix Fund after a local benefactor, exists to provide financial support for voluntary and community groups in the Parish. If granted, groups are expected to match the grant from their own funds). The correspondent noted that the council had apparently changed the rules last year to grant the museum £15k split over three years. They also understood that the current contractor completes the required cleaning in less than the allotted time and suggested that the council look to cut the allocated time (and therefore presumably the cost) and also explain how much it cost to clean the toilets pre-Covid so that the actual additional Council Tax sum could be calculated. Jeremy Rawlings replied that pretty much all of these issues had been addressed in a previous meeting. OTC Chair of Finance and Chairman of the Museum Trustees Paul Collins interjected to say that the letter was factually incorrect in saying that £15k had been allocated to the museum as that was not the case. The grant was to support other community groups in putting forward their own small projects for the Amazing Grace 250 celebration, he said. Mercury assumes that it would be down to those groups to provide their own matched funding, although that was not stated.

In Support of the Public Toilets
The third letter was also in support of the public toilets and the correspondent said they were writing on behalf of the many users who did not have access to computers and emails or could not write letters. Again, Jeremy Rawlings emphasised that the toilets would remain open and the points raised had been addressed. The final letter was from members of FOLIO (Friends Of the Library In Olney) concerning the continued closure of the library. Milton Keynes Council (MKC) have stated that there is no date for opening up the four libraries that remain closed. The MKC Library Volunteer Coordinator has pointed out that those that have opened have done so with reduced opening hours and facilities. FOLIO asked for support from OTC to enable the library to be opened in the next phase. Ward Councillor Peter Geary said that the Covid situation had changed significantly since that letter had been written and he did not see the library opening imminently. MKC had been very quick to close things down but not ‘overly quick’ in opening them up again, he said.

A letter had been received from Chris Roberts - The Royal British Legion (RBL) Olney Branch and North Bucks Group chairman asking what plans, if any, OTC have for this year’s remembrance parade on 8th November. Jeremy Rawlings said he could not see how it would be possible to hold a parade under the current Covid rules. Town Clerk Andrea Vincent put forward a proposal to close the Market Place for a much reduced event that could possibly be viewed by the public via a live video feed. Jeremy said attendance would have to be limited to six people and it would be impossible to prevent the public from attending. Peter Geary said his understanding that [nationally] parades would not happen, but events would be organised. The RBL should have guidelines to follow and all OTC can do is liaise with them, recognising that the situation could change before the event. Steve Clark agreed that the Market Place should be made available to the RBL and the council should try to get clarification as to what the max of six applies to, since that could easily be exceeded with sound/video engineers, a Church minister, the mayor and reps from the RBL. Graham Harrison pointed out that there would be an OTC meeting the week before the event where a fi nal decision could be made, which was agreed. Jeremy Rawlings finished by saying that it was sad times when the council had to consider cancelling such an important event.

Two quotes had been obtained, one for £2900 and the other for £4100, and a third from a company that is used by several other local authorities was awaited. Joanne Eley asked if there was a cut-off date for the tenders and thought if so, the council should not wait for the last one if the date had been missed. Andrea Vincent replied that there was but many companies had been reluctant to quote as they considered OTC’s requirements to be rather ‘niche’ so she was attempting to be flexible. The current contractor was unable to provide the necessary back-up support and had declined to tender, she said. It was agreed to defer a decision to the Finance Committee.

It was noted that some councillors had not submitted a current Declaration of Interests to the clerk and were reminded to do so. Paul Collins noted that the Statement of Expenditure referred to August and not the current month, so it was agreed to roll it over to next month’s meeting.

The next Finance Committee meeting will look to considerably re-jig the budget in the light of the lack of income due to Covid.
The Annual Governance and Accountability Return (AGAR) is currently with the external auditor and there has been no feedback so far, so it is assumed that ‘no news is good news’.

New Part Time Cleaner
As of the 28th September the council have engaged a self-employed part time cleaner for the external public toilets. The toilets are thoroughly cleaned each day on closure, a service that previous contractor was unable to provide.

The Olney Centre
The Olney Centre is now open for bookings so long as they conform to the current Covid regulations. Several weddings have been booked but Andrea believed that OTC need to ‘smarten up their’ act to make it more attractive for weddings, as they are currently the only income stream for the Centre. She is working on a proposal which will be presented at the next meeting.

Thursday Market
The Thursday Market is gradually increasing in size as stall holders return. Some of the traders have asked that there be a market on Sunday 13th December. OTC has instigated a poll of traders but at present there has not been much interest. There will, however, be a a Christmas Eve Market.

Market No Parking Signs
There has been a complaint from the Thursday Market traders about cars parking overnight. Additional no parking signs are being provided on lampposts as the council’s insurers have said that the existing A-signs could cause damage to cars. Thanks have been received from a Farmers Market trader for the efficient work of the OTC office.

Ground Staff Thanks
The ground staff have been thanked for their professional work in landscaping.

Freedom of Information Request
There is currently a Freedom of Information request which is being progressed with the Information Commissioner’s Office.

This is the committee responsible for progressing and updating the Neighbourhood Plan (NP). Chris Tennant reported on the recent meeting of this committee saying that there are two significant government consultations as to how housing methodologies are calculated and also a white paper regarding planning for the future. Progress on the updating of the NP had been discussed, he said, and Section 106 funds (planning gain) from various developments are gradually becoming available. Refurbishment of Children’s play areas is being discussed with the Recs and Services Committee and the specification of the proposed community hall on the site of the Yardley Road development is being discussed with the developers.

Desmond Eley reported that there would shortly be a meeting of the committee. He said that while addressing the issue of council overspend it had been noted that council charges for market stalls, cemetery charges etc had not been increased for a number of years and had now fallen well below those of neighbouring councils. The full council had reviewed the charges over a year ago and decided to introduce increases in stages, rather than all at once, starting in April this year, and in the main charges were still below those of other councils.
There had recently been discussions on social media about increases to market stall charges, but they were relatively small and necessary. Negotiations regarding the lease of the ex-football club had stalled, he said because the solicitor at Garrard and Allen who was dealing with it had left the company and the one that had taken over had displayed a lack of knowledge on the draft lease and the current status. He said there were serious concerns about the performance of the council’s solicitors.
Olney Town Colts FC have asked for a reduction of their pitch rental due to the curtailment of their season due to Covid and to be able to pay the rental in stages.
They have also requested permission to install floodlights on their pitch on the Charity Field. Jeremy Rawlings thought that the floodlights would require planning permission from MKC and Chris Tennant agreed. Desmond said his main concern was that the lights would be pointing towards Timpsons Row, which would be an issue. Detail plans of the lighting patterns had been provided. Peter Geary said as landlords OTC would need to initially grant permission prior to formal planning permission being sought. It was agreed to discuss at the next Recs and Services Committee and then bring back to full council.
There have been requests from the public for additional dog bins, which are being progressed but there is an installation charge of £200 - £250 for each, plus the ongoing emptying charge.
Steve Clark pointed out that some play equipment on the Dagnell Road play area had been removed by MKC a couple of years ago and had not been replaced. MKC had not been forthcoming on his request for an update, he said.

Next Meeting
The next meeting will be held online on Monday 2nd November, at 7.00pm. If you would like to contribute to the Public Participation section at the start of the meeting, please contact the Town Clerk, townclerk@olneytowncouncil.gov.uk.

If you would like to be identified as the originator of any correspondence to that meeting in the Mercury report please contact the Phonebox at editor@phoneboxmagazine.com.

Council Elections 6th May 2021
Whatever the next few months bring one thing is certain, as time goes on we will return to “normality” and our town will, with the care that has been shown by the residents, not only pull through but will flourish

One thing that we should look to is that we will be having local elections (currently scheduled for 6th May 2021) and a number of people have expressed interest in standing for the Town Council.
I think that it is great for the ultimate welfare of the town to have as wide a choice of people from whom they can choose representatives as possible. We have seen a tremendous response from the town in response to Covid support volunteers and it would, in my opinion, be marvellous if we could continue this enthusiasm for public service going forward. I would hope that we could have representation from all sections of our community, business owners, a cross-section of age groups, etc. Some of those who have shown interest have commented that it would be good to know what being a Councillor required of them and I must admit to a lack of knowledge in these areas myself so I felt it might be helpful to seek some guidance.
To that end I am looking towards organising one or two “seminars” for those who may be interested.
The idea would be to hear from experienced individuals and cover such topics as:

• Responsibilities of a town councillor
• Duties of a town or Parrish Council
• The relationship between the Town Council and Milton Keynes Council
• The role of the Town Clerk

I am currently in discussion with various bodies, including Milton Keynes Council and one of our Ward Councillors, as to how we might best achieve this and would hope to be able to publish a framework programme in the next couple of weeks. For the sake of openness; I am undecided whether or not to stand myself though I feel that, whatever my decision, people might find any information helpful in their personal choices.
The seminars would be to inform prospective candidates with no experience. I would like it to be impartial and not a forum for raising issues with the current council so, with that in mind, I would look to participants being those people who were considering standing and had not previously served on the council. Of course, as far as I’m concerned, anyone interested in just listening in would be welcome to do so, including past and current council members. I anticipate that, due to Covid restrictions, such seminars would be online and I’m exploring the price of a “Teams” Licence so I may ask participants for a small contribution to costs.
For those who may be considering standing a good first port of call would be to check your eligibility. Comprehensive guidance on this aspect can be found on the electoral commission website at electoralcommission.org.uk/i-am-a/candidate-or-agent/parish-and-community-council-elections-england. Scroll down to Part 1 and select the Candidate guide - parish and community elections (part 1/6) pdf to view or download.
Having read this if anyone would be interested in participating please drop me a line at: philip060521@outlook.com
Take care and I look forward to a full mailbox!

For the duration of the COVID-19 restrictions, meetings of Olney Town Council (OTC) will be held online as audio meetings using Microsoft Teams. Members of the public can listen to the proceedings by surfing to the OTC web page, www.olneytowncouncil.gov.uk, clicking on the ‘Meetings’ tab and scrolling down to the announcement about the next meeting, where there’ll be one link to the agenda and another to join the meeting listen-only.

The first communication was from an allotment holder.
As one of the large majority of holders who is not a member of the Allotment Association, they much enjoy tending their allotment. The annual charges include the use of water, but the recently provisioned toilet facilities, provided mainly by lottery funding for the use of allotment holders, are designated for the use of Allotment Association members only. The correspondent felt that the toilets should be for the use of all allotment holders, and would support a modest addition to the charges towards their maintenance and repair. The second was from an Olney resident with a few suggestions. First, they felt Olney Town Councillors should retire at pension retirement age. Second, they suggested making East and West Streets one way, with limited parking and large roundabouts at their junctions. Third, they suggested a speed trap for the noisy cars heading North up the High Street to Santa Pod on Sunday mornings. Jeremy Rawlings said that pension retirement age was not a ‘thing’ anymore – people no longer have to retire at any age. He also noted that traffic concerns on East and West Streets had been discussed many times before and would be again. Indeed, there had been plans to discuss the topic pre lockdown.

Jeremy explained that, since earlier in the year, the Council has been investigating whether to establish a Community Land Trust for Olney, the aim being to promote the building of social housing starter homes for the young adults of Olney. The idea came about because some small packets of land in the town, with room for only one to three houses, had been identified as potential sites for building. Milton Keynes Council (MKC) said these land packets belong to Olney Town Council (OTC), which came as news to the latter. Councillors discussed it, then met with a specialist firm of solicitors.
Andrea explained that, since OTC was not generally regarded as the type of Council that could build, a Community Land Trust would provide a vehicle with which to build dwellings. Alternatives could include a Housing Association, but then OTC would have no control over how the housing was let or sold. The Community Land Trust would be a trust of the people of Olney, working to create housing with a rationale as to the type of housing wanted, in perpetuity if desired. But, while OTC could have representatives on the Trust, the Council itself could not be that Trust – it would be an arms-length vehicle. The Council would then decide what land to lease or donate to the Trust, and the Trust would be able to raise monies itself. Also, small grants were available from the National Community Land Trust to help move towards creating Community Land Trusts.
Jeremy concluded that more research was required before moving forward. Desmond Eley noted that the work was purely in the investigative phase at present. A report would then be written and presented to OTC for consideration. Colin Rodden felt this would be great for young people. Peter Geary said that, planning-wise, each site would be judged as usual and on its own merits. He also noted that, if there are pockets of land in the town which don’t have houses on them, it was probably for a reason.

This item was to review October’s Statement of Expenditure. Andrea noted that monthly expenditure was
in the low £30,000s, while income was much less due to COVID – so OTC was eating into its reserves. Jeremy noted that the Public Toilet cleaning, opening and closing charge was just over £400 per month. The Council plans to keep both the Market Place and Recreation Ground toilets open, even though lockdown may reduce the number of people using them.
Desmond Eley explained that OTC had taken another delivery of diesel this month, and was currently using around 30% of the volume it had before. Chris Tenant noted that the Olney Centre had been deep cleaned and bio-misted, requesting that the Council be mindful this may be required again. Andrea had been thinking of booking this quarterly, but with only one user of the Olney Centre since it being open, and it shortly closing again, the required timing may be rather different. Desmond noted he thought the virus only lasted 72 hours, in which case it was simply necessary to wait that long after a booking and there’d be no risk. Jeremy Rawlings and Paul Collins agreed.

Andrea presented this month’s report. She explained OTC had been surprised to receive a non-domestic rates bill for the Market Place car park, for which it didn’t know it was liable. It had therefore engaged a non-domestic rates specialist to look at the Council’s rates liabilities. Steve Clark noted he understood that, provided OTC used the Market Place as a market site first and did not charge for parking, rates did not apply. Andrea explained that, in fact, MKC had apparently been paying the non-domestic rates for the Market Place for the last 20 years in error.
Joanne Eley asked whether, if OTC did pay rates on the Market Place, could it then charge for parking or collect fines? Andrea explained that the fines go to Napier Parking, the Council’s contractors, also noting she planned to speak with Napier as it wasn’t clear they were currently doing a good job. Peter explained that OTC had been advised some years ago that, if it made money from parking on the Market Place, it would have to pay rates there, this being why Napier were engaged on the current basis. Once it was confirmed that the new situation on rates was correct, it would be appropriate to renegotiate with Napier. Peter felt that in fact MKC may have been paying these rates under discretionary powers where, if an organisation gets relief for a proportion of business rates, MKC would pay the remainder. MKC was planning for next year, budgeting based on a worst case scenario, and looking for ways to make savings, he said. OTC did indeed need to engage specialist advice on this. Joenne Eley concluded this topic, noting that it seemed odd for OTC to pay Napier to issue tickets, with Napier also keeping the resulting fines.

OTC is seeking quotes to address an issue where an Olney Centre outbuilding’s roof overhangs the property boundary, with water draining into the neighbour’s garage. The unfortunate coincidence of the Centre recently reopening for bookings, only to be followed closely by the second lockdown, was noted.

The Christmas lighting has been safety-checked, with the aim of hanging them on all the usual A509 lampposts, including the new ones. The tractor shed roof has been cleared of many years of debris and is no longer leaking. Allotment invoices have been sent, with payment requested via BACS transfer, though many people were still paying via cheque. Graham noted that, when paying for his wife’s allotment, the bank’s security had questioned the account’s name – a possible problem. This will be investigated.

The Markets have been working well, with the numbers gradually being increased while complying with COVID regulations. However, while the Council’s wish is to keep as many traders on the Market Place as possible, lockdown has meant it may need to contact the non-essential stallholders, depending on how Government regulations pan out. QR codes for the Market Place are now displayed on lampposts, with measures taken to encourage social distancing and the wearing of masks. The Council will help promote the Market and stalls on a rota basis.
Remembrance Sunday will have only a small ceremony on the Market Place, live streamed so the Public can commemorate from home. There’ll be no parade, with the expectation that only participants in the ceremony will be present, socially distanced. Peter Geary later noted that the Council was not trying to restrict people from viewing in person, it was more a matter of the lockdown restrictions - the reasons for which people could travel and leave home.
The Thursday Market traders will have a special market on Sunday 13th December, closing at 3pm.

The Council has received numerous compliments on its Community News publication, for example “The newsletter looks good and definitely puts OTC on a professional footing.” Andrea and Jeremy thanked Councillors for helping deliver it.
The Council’s Risk Management Policy and Plan has been compiled, reviewed by the Finance Committee, recommended to full Council, then adopted.

If you would like to be identified as the originator of any correspondence to that meeting in the Mercury report please contact the Phonebox at editor@phoneboxmagazine.com.

For the duration of the COVID crisis meetings of Olney Town Council will be held as online audio meetings using Microsoft Teams. Members of the public can listen to the proceedings and view the presentations by clicking on a link on the OTC web page www. olneytowncouncil.gov.uk Click on the ‘Meetings’ tab and scroll down to the announcement about the next meeting where you will find a link to the agenda and another to join the meeting. A recording will also be available for a few days following the meeting.

In the absence of the opportunity to speak at public meetings the public may submit written items to the clerk to be read out. Mercury would normally name those who speak at an open meeting unless they specifically ask not to be identified. Under the new regime the clerk redacts the names from any correspondence and official minutes, although the authors can request that their names are published in the Mercury report. Only one such request has been received this month, so Mercury assumes that all other correspondents prefer to remain anonymous. Mayor Jeremy Rawlings said there were six emails to be read.

The first email was missed from last month’s meeting for which Jeremy apologised. The email was requesting that OTC produce a Town Plan which would have a wider scope than the existing Neighbourhood Plan. Jeremy explained that this would be discussed as an agenda item later in the meeting.

The next email was regarding rubbish bags being put out on the High Street as early as Thursday evening. The correspondent thought this unhygienic and liable to encourage vermin and stated that bags should be put out no earlier than 5pm on Sunday evening. Ward Councillor Peter Geary said that the issue had been reported to Milton Keynes Council (MKC) and Clerk Andrea Vincent said that any resident with similar concerns could report them via the MKC portal. The email also expressed concern about vehicles speeding on the High Street and said that traffic calming would be most welcome.

The third email was concerning the use of the OTC land east of the allotments where, according to the correspondent, OTC is considering granting permission for a football training pitch. The Allotment Association are in the process of submitting a proposal for an orchard to the west of the field and hope that the rest of the field can be left as an eco-friendly wildflower meadow. This would be better for the environment and would help reduce Olney’s carbon footprint as it would not require mechanised mowing, bearing in mind the council’s declared Climate Emergency.
Considerable justification for this proposal was listed and the correspondent concluded by saying that in time the area could become an attractive and tranquil area. Later in the meeting Desmond Eley said that there had been no council resolution to change the use of the field from wild meadow whilst there was no other demand for its use but as the town develops there is a greater demand for sports pitches. Any such change would be discussed by the Development Group he said. Creating wild meadows is expensive in itself because it needs to be cut by heavy machinery and the mowings removed twice a year to stop them rotting down and fertilizing the land. This, plus loss of rental from the sports pitch would be a great expense to the council. The majority of OTC-owned land, consisting of Barnfield and The Goosey, is already wild meadow he said. The cutting is necessary because the land has been found to be very high in nutrients, having been over-fertilised. It will take at least five years of cutting and mowing to make it suitable as wild meadow. Peter Geary said in his expert opinion it would be decades before the land could become wild meadow as the nutrient level is well above that of even agricultural land. Such nutrients do not leach away and can only be removed by continual growing and cutting, he said, and all that would grow in the meantime are pernicious weeds such as thistles and nettles.

The fourth email appeared to be from the Allotment Association stating that the lock on the eco toilets had been damaged and hoped that this “wasn’t the work of the person who quoted the allotment toilets at the previous meeting” in an email regarding access to the toilets by allotment holders that are not members of the association. The toilets had been erected by a lottery grant and fundraising by the association, not OTC, the correspondent said and were maintained solely by the association. To change the management to OTC control would set a precedent to other organisations in the town. Jeremy said that there were no plans to do this as the facility was for allotment ‘users’ only although there seemed some confusion as the original debate had been around access to the toilets by non-members of the association.

The fifth email related to the discussion at last month’s meeting re plots of land that have recently been identified as belonging to OTC and the possibility of creating a Community Land Trust for local housing.

The correspondent requested confirmation that the land would be gifted without charge or any element of retained council ownership and asked why OTC would require council representation on the trust when such a trust’s activities are legally defined. Jeremy explained that this would be discussed later in the meeting.

The last email, also relating to the plots of land asked that OTC draw up a map of all of them and displayed in the Olney Centre so that residents could use it as a reference source, since there is a great deal of interest in the matter. David Pibworth has contacted The Phonebox and asked to be identified as the originator of this email.

An application has been made for an extension to a house in Stonepit Close and a neighbour has raised an objection. The extension will extend up to the boundary of a shared driveway which Steve Clark agreed with the objector’s opinion that it might make access to other properties difficult for larger vehicles and will reduce the amount of car parking space available from four to two, due to relocation of the parking space to the front of the property. Steve also agreed with the objector that the extension would also have an impact on the nature of the cul-de-sac.
Chris Tennant expressed concern that this might be a breach of MKC’s off-street parking standards and could lead to additional roadway parking. Peter Geary agreed and recommended that the MKC Planning officer was made aware of this concern and it was agreed to write to MKC accordingly. Chris Tennant gave an update on five detailed planning applications concerning the mixed commercial development on Wellingborough Road, being marketed as Olney Park by Angle Properties. The plans include a 66-bed care home, a hotel, car showroom, office space, industrial units and a nursery. The applications dealt with infrastructure and access, drainage, phasing, and relocation of elements from outline planning permission. Colin Rodden reminded councillors that the council had had previous dealing with Angle Properties on the ‘Sainsbury’s’ site which had resulted in the company gaining planning permission for residential development on the site in contravention of the Neighbourhood Plan (NP). Could they do the same thing on this site, he asked?
Chris replied that the plans being considered were compliant with the NP and there was nothing to indicate otherwise. Peter Geary said that now the principle of development on the site had been determined there is nothing to stop Angle Properties coming back at a later date with a different application. A much-guarded discussion followed and there seemed to be deep suspicion that this might happen so Chris Tennant suggested that the applicant be asked the question.
The next application was regarding the 250-home development on Yardley Road by Taylor Wimpey and Bovis Homes. The applicants had originally requested permission for a temporary off-site construction compound to the north of the site, but OTC had objected because it was outside of the agreed settlement boundary of the town in a farmer’s field. This had been withdrawn and replaced by a request for split compounds within the planning application boundary (but closer to existing homes, noted Mercury). The original construction access was to be along the farmer’s track to the rear of properties in Woodpits Lane, which OTC had objected to, and that has now been amended to move further away from those properties.

As a school governor, Jeremy Rawlings introduced this item to note complaints from residents of Spinney Hill Road about inconsiderate parking by some parents dropping off and collecting children from school. He said he had been contacted by two residents, one of them an on-call emergency worker, who had suffered verbal abuse when challenging motorists who had parked across their driveway. Jeremy said the school had regularly sent out letters to parents asking them not to block driveways, which usually worked for a while but then the problem reoccurred. He said he had asked the PCSOs to visit the area and encouraged residents to report any instances of abuse to the police. Steve Clark, as an ex-governor, said in the past parents had been asked to use the old car park on the other side of Spinney Hill Road. It would probably worth the school including a map to show the location of the old car park in any letters, he thought.
Andrea Vincent reported that emergency repairs are required to two walls at the Olney Centre, which have become very dilapidated, partly because previous repairs had not been performed correctly. It appears that cement had been used, so quotes were being obtained for a ‘dry stone wall’ repair. There is considerable variation in the quotes and a rather confused conversation followed so Desmond Eley suggested that the quotes be documented in a clear and concise way and revisited at the January meeting, which was agreed.
The Olney Centre heating is in need of some urgent maintenance. A leak occurred under the floor of the pre-school and when it was fixed the heating for much of the rest of the building was found to be ‘unserviceable’. The work will require the re-routing of some of pipework to now be exposed above the floor and there was concern that they would need some sort of protection for safety reasons. Andrea said that they would be lagged rather than boxed in because the number of bends meant that there would need to be several access points. Colin Rodden was concerned that this would look rather ‘industrial’ bearing in mind that the centre is used for weddings and other events. Again, there is a huge variation in the quotations. The cheapest was considerably cheaper than the rest but was from a reputable company with several testimonials. Paul Collins suspected that heating companies in general were busy at present and inflated quotes might have been provided. It was agreed to accept the cheapest quote subject to detailed investigation.

Andrea Vincent presented a plan to use funding from central government, via MKC, to deploy COVID Marshals in the town whose role would be to chiefly serve as a friendly and reassuring face in public places, providing advice and guidance to the public. Some would be deployed at weekend evenings when footfall to hospitality venues is at its busiest. They will be tasked with visiting pubs and other hospitality establishments to check that COVID-19 Secure measures are in place. Actions would include checking whether pubs have door staff to manage entry and exit, checking whether social distancing measures were in place in businesses, ensuring that track and trace customer information collection was taking place, and noting any large gatherings. The role would strictly one of observation and advice, and marshals would be not authorised to intervene in issues of enforcement. The intention was to use existing OTC groundsmen plus public volunteers, including OTC councillors. Joanne Eley observed that the marshals would be powerless, and many police forces were baffled by the role. It could give rise to confrontational situations and no amount of guidance would modify the behaviour of those who did not want to comply. Is Olney in need of this, she asked? Having consulted local retailers, they felt the money would be better spent proving masks and hand sanitisers she said. A long discussion took place and no member expressed support for the scheme, although Colin Rodden thanked Andrea and Deputy Clerk Sarah Kennedy for their work in producing plan. Paul Collins observed that the Olney Covid Support Group had 300 volunteers so surely they could provide 10 for this, if required? He would not want to use the already overstretched council ground staff as marshals, he said. Eventually it was decided that OTC would invite volunteers from other organisations fulfil the role but would not be providing resource itself. The funding would be used to obtain items such as high viz vests, masks and hand sanitiser which would be passed to the volunteers to use and distribute.

Jeremy Rawlings introduced the draft plan, saying that it is a plan to provide a medium to long term vison of where the council want to be in three to six years’ time and how they want to engage with the public. Desmond Eley thought it ‘a good starter for ten’ and suggested that councillors take time to read and review it and then bring back to a future meeting. Mercury observed that this document was more of a plan for the council, rather than a plan for the town which had been requested in the email from the resident discussed in Public Participation.

Andrea presented the report, noting that the ground staff are fully employed at present. Colin Rodden enquired if there is any intention to employ more staff as he was concerned that they might be overloaded. As chair of Recs and Services Desmond Eley said he regularly spoke to the staff who were happy with the workload and any additional seasonal work would be covered by contractors.
The recreation ground toilets have been vandalised for the third time in as many weeks at apparently the same time of day each time. Repairs are costing around £200 each time and it is unlikely that the council’s insurers will continue to cover the repair costs without a hike in premiums so Andrea suggested that the toilets should be closed at lunch time. A discussion took place as to how the vandalism could be prevented, including use of CCTV, but eventually it was agreed that they should be closed at lunchtime.

Joanne Eley thanked the staff for being ‘fantastic’ in supporting the town and councillors during the pandemic. In her HR report she said that social media and ‘local press’ comment regarding lack of response to a Freedom of Information (FOI) request was a misrepresentation of the situation. The council office has replied and complied, she said and the ICO have been consulted and the matter is now closed. The complainant had been advised and had the right to appeal but did not appear to have done so, she said. Mercury has subsequently found what appears to be the Decision Notice on the ICO website under ref No IC-52639-C8L9 which indicates otherwise. The notice sets out in considerable detail the correspondence between all parties and concludes:

Therefore, from the evidence presented to the Commissioner in this case, she does not consider that the Council provided a FOIA-compliant response to the request within 20 working days, the Council has thus breached section 10 of the FOIA.

The next meeting will be held online on Monday 4th January, at 7.00pm.

If you would like to contribute to the Public Participation section at the start of the meeting, please contact the Town Clerk: townclerk@olneytowncouncil.gov.uk If you would like to be identified as the originator of any correspondence to that meeting in the Mercury report please contact The Phonebox at Editor@ phoneboxmagazine.com.