Page 40 - Phonebox Magazine November 2014

Mercury Report
TPublic participation
land adjacent to 102 Weston Road, and resurfacing the parking spaces along the track from Dagnall Road.
• Demolish the garages in the Crescent and redesign the area to provide additional parking.
• Introduce a residents’ parking scheme in Oakdown Crescent, not to be implemented without both the above.
Back to this meeting, Jeremy Rawlings introduced this topic by summarising the above. Deidre felt it important to make the area safe, noting the poor condition of the pathways due to cars driving over them. Peter Geary explained that, due to what sounded to Mercury like an administrative anomaly, the Crescent and its pathways had not been invested in for some time. However, it had been adopted by MKC a year ago and, thus, defects could now be reported and repaired in the normal way.
Standing Orders were suspended in order to allow the Public to discuss the issue with Councillors. Brian Rice explained that, while he felt for those who live in the Crescent and didn’t want to park his cars there, he did need to. He was against the proposed changes because he felt the new parking areas would be a haven for thieves. Instead, he felt that an access road would be the proper solution. Peter Geary explained that a new road around the South and East boundaries of the Pyghtle had been discussed, but rejected due to the reduction in green space and its high cost: MKC wouldn’t build a new road for five or six houses. To get something done, Olney Town Council (OTC) had to be reasonable in what it asked for.
The discussion concluded with Peter saying that any scheme would be consulted on before implementation – agreement was needed from local residents. Brian said that agreement on the solution proposed would probably not be forthcoming. One Councillor was heard to mutter ‘Oh dear’ before discussion moved on.
Draft minerals plan
MKC had produced a Draft Minerals Local Plan, and invited OTC to respond to it. Peter Geary had drafted a letter in response, and this was discussed now. The aim of the Plan was to select the sites from which minerals should be extracted, and decide how much from each. Peter felt the estimated amount of aggregate required overall was unrealistically high, and suggested some reasons for this. He also felt that more recycled aggregate should be used, thus reducing the figure
further. Finally, he explained that extraction should be as close as possible to the developments for which it was required, meaning that it should be focussed South of the River Ouse. As the Lavendon Mill site is North of the river and there are other suitable sites nearer to Milton Keynes, he suggested the Lavendon site be removed from the Plan. There was general agreement, and Peter’s letter will be sent.
More housing in Olney
Peter Geary and Ben Brock left the meeting for this section, having earlier declared an interest.
The MKC Site Allocations Plan is out for consultation until 5th November, and OTC has been asked for its views on the proposed sites for new housing development in Olney. It expects Olney to take around 300 new homes by 2030, and proposes five possible sites:
• The strip of fields to the West and North West of Aspreys, excluding Ousedale School, the field immediately to its North, the School sports field and the public field to its West. Indicative capacity 825 houses.
• The proposed Sainsbury’s site plus the field over the road to the South. Indicative capacity 74 houses, 46 excluding the Sainsbury’s site.
• The field to the North and West of Ousedale School. Indicative capacity 252 houses.
• The field between Warrington Road and the Sewage Works. Indicative capacity 117 houses.
• The strip of dismantled railway between Yardley Road and Osier Way. Indicative capacity 59 houses.
All this information is available for you to see. So, for more detail, surf to http://bit. ly/119osnu, click Site Allocations Plan, download the pdf and go to page 98.
After discussion, Councillors decided to wait on the outcome of the Neighbourhood Plan, which will be sending a questionnaire to Olney residents at the end of October, with responses required by the end of November. Results will be compiled by the end of the year, and OTC will submit its response to the consultation then, some two months after the consultation period has ended. Views differed about whether or not this delay would be a problem. Chris Shaw concluded discussions, saying that there’d been no nasty surprises and that the decisions taken soon would define developments well after 2031.
here were two people speaking in this slot, both on the topic of Oakdown Cresecent.
Sue Warren, whose mother lives
in Oakdown Crescent, started by thanking Deidre Bethune for her support throughout this long running issue. A site meeting held in the Crescent, which some of the Councillors had attended, had allowed many of its residents to air their views. She hoped that Councillors could now see how upset the residents were. She also asked if the agreed resolution had been sent to Milton Keynes Council (MKC) and, if so, who was going to chase to ensure it was implemented.
Brian Rice spoke next, stating that people in Weston Road wanted their say. He felt that the best solution would be to provide road access to the houses and provide additional parking along the new road.
This topic is covered in more depth below.
Healthcare Review
Wayne Rabin, from Healthcare Milton Keynes, gave a presentation on the Bedfordshire and Milton Keynes Healthcare Review. The quality, consistency and effectiveness of local health services need to improve, and changes in demand, for example due to population increase, need to be catered for. Alongside these, there are financial challenges. While funding is set to increase, if Milton Keynes Clinical Commissioning Group doesn’t change the way services are commissioned, it will start running at an increasing deficit, predicted to be £25m in 2018/19. Similarly, Milton Keynes Hospital Trust, running a £13m deficit in 2013/14, would run at a deficit of £31m in 2018/19. Broadly speaking, the strategy is to provide care closer to home, work with Milton Keynes Hospital to help it become more efficient, and look at ways the General Practice (GP) services could be configured to serve patients better. In spite of being asked by various Councillors, in various ways, if there was a plan to reduce the number of employees in healthcare, Wayne insisted that there was not.
Oakdown Crescent
First some background. In a meeting held a couple of weeks before, Councillors had discussed various potential solutions to the parking problem, and decided to put forward the following for inclusion in MKC’s capital programme scheme:
• Additional parking to be provided on the
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