Page 41 - Phonebox Magazine November 2014

Berrells Court
As noted in earlier Mercury reports, OTC has wanted Berrells Court to be resurfaced and has been seeking financial contributions from interested parties. OTC has now received the first part of the developer’s contribution, so a subcontractor will be engaged to do the ground work for the new road surface, with the surface itself being completed after the dwellings have been fully constructed but before they’re occupied. Councillors voted to accept the quote of £41,550, and to cover its liability of around £5,050 from Section 106 monies. The vote was unanimously in favour, bar Jeremy Rawlings voting against. Peter Geary thanked Jeremy for chairing the discussion so impartially.
Weston Road play area
As reported before, the Weston Road play area was removed due to a mixture of rot and technical issues. The landscaped area that replaced it looks good, but a consultation of nearby residents was strongly in favour of new play equipment being installed. MKC will propose a new play scheme, consult and hope to implement it in 2015. Peter Geary stressed the need to obtain concrete acceptance from MKC that, as well as building, they’d maintain the play area.
Olney Town Colts
Olney Town Colts Football Club have
planning permission to build a clubhouse on the left of the toilet block on the Recreation Ground. They had some financial issues related to the VAT treatment of the build which delayed them from building over the summer. That gave them the opportunity to consider whether the location chosen was the best one. Subsequently, they had discussions with the Rugby Club about an extension to the Club building, but these proved not to be feasible due to the location of the main sewer pipes, which run to the pumping station in Austen Avenue through Doffs Field. They are now exploring the feasibility of building adjacent to the Football Club on the Nursery Field.
East Street parking
The need to provide additional parking on East Street has been clear for a while, and plans are being drawn up for parking on two strips, one to the West side of Doff’s Field and one to the West side of Nursery Field. The two sites would stay grassy, with a system such as Grasscrete or Ecogrid being used to toughen up the surface
Crouch’s Field
When the council obtained planning permission to use Crouch’s Field as parkland a few years ago, there was a restriction that it could not be used for organised sports activity. This was, as reported before, because of the sport-related traffic problems
at the weekends. The logic was that more pitches would generate more traffic and more parking problems.
OTC is currently exploring with MKC whether the restriction could be transferred from Crouch’s Field to the Allotment Field, thus moving the pitches on to Crouch’s Field and concentrating sporting activity closer to the clubhouses and main car park. At the moment OTC is getting pre-application advice from MKC, and waiting for its response.
Name change
The Council had received a request for permission to hold Booze on the Ouse on the weekend of 20-21st June 2015. Ron Bull stated that he was offended by the name and that Tony Evans, absent from this meeting, agreed. He’d prefer it to be called ‘Blues on the Ouse’ and wanted OTC’s agreement for the event being held to be conditional on a name change. This was put to the vote and lost narrowly: four yes versus five no with one abstention. Therefore, permission to hold the event was granted, with no condition placed on the name.
The next meeting will be held at 7.30pm on Monday 3rd November 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 at any point that the mayor decides is appropriate.
Olney Town Council
Olney Model Railway Club
The club held another successful exhibition in September. Eight demonstration lay-outs were on view ranging from Z gauge, which
is the smallest available working scale, to O gauge. In addition several traders attended offering new and second-hand rolling stock, kits and books. Attendance approached one hundred and fifty paying entrants.
The club exhibited the latest progress made on its Olney Station layout, which prompted interesting conversations with people who remembered when the station was operational and when it was demolished. These conversations also provided further information which will be of use as the layout is developed.
We would be interested to hear from anyone who has photographs of the station or who
has other information which may help to give additional accuracy to the final layout.
The membership is growing and club nights are very well attended. We also have the occasional visit by members of other local clubs. We are still seeking new members of any level of skill and experience, from beginners to experts, to assist in building exhibition layouts, to develop their model making skills or just to run their trains on a
much larger track than most people have available at home.
The club meets every Thursday from 7.30 in the permanent club room behind the Carlton Club. Members have a wide range of interests from live steam models to n gauge. For more information the club website is olneymrc.org.uk, come along and join in or phone 01234 241686 for more details.
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