Page 62 - Phonebox Magazine December 2014

Mercury Report
Public participation
Sue Warren was the only person to speak in this slot, again on the topic of Oakdown Crescent. Sue asked if there’d been any update since last month’s meeting. Liam Costello replied that there had not, with Milton Keynes Council’s (MKC’s) Highways Department saying that the issue wouldn’t be dealt with until 2015.
Sainsbury’s Planning Application
As reported before, Sainsbury’s has submitted a Planning Application to build a store on the land immediately North East of the A509 roundabout with Lavendon Road. This Council meeting had been held in a larger room than usual in order to allow more of the Public to attend and, given the number of people present for this item, that proved a good decision.
Ben Brock, who’d earlier declared an interest in this item, left for its duration. Peter Geary and Ron Bull had sent their apologies and were thus absent from the whole meeting. David Lazenby of Sainsbury’s, backed up by Maria Allaway of GKA, a property consultancy which has been representing Sainsbury’s for this Application, gave a short presentation outlining the proposed development. The site would include, from West to East, a 20,000 square foot store, a car park with 200 spaces, and a six pump petrol station. Customers’ vehicles will enter and leave the site from a new roundabout on Lavendon road, around two thirds of the way from the roundabout to the left hand bend. Coloured high friction road surfacing will be installed at key points, and there’ll be a bus stop on each side. In response to public feedback, Sainsbury’s has added more windows to the store and more trees on the site. There are various environmental measures including the use of LED lights and, for non-potable purposes, harvested water.
The Public Consultation, sent to all households in Olney and Lavendon, achieved a 30% response. Apparently, 10% is typical. The responses yielded 79% in favour of the development, 20% against and 1% undecided. The store would compete primarily with Coop and Tesco Extra, and would sell day to day food products and stationary, for which there’d be some overlap with existing shops.
Steve Clark explained that, as with all Planning Applications, the decision was not for Olney Town Council (OTC) to make. Instead, OTC would give its views to MKC, 62 Phonebox Magazine
which would then make the decision. There was a good discussion on the topic, including some input from Jackie Fitzmaurice for which, being a member of the Public, Standing Orders were suspended. A much summarised version is included here. Jackie, who lives close to the proposed store, raised the issue of the site’s water table being high in Winter, and was sceptical as to whether the fact that the stream overflows across much of the field during that season had been considered. David responded that the water flow had been analysed, the stream could perhaps be dredged if required, and the Environment Agency would in any case state and enforce its view if needed. Councillors asked about night time lighting for the car park (LED lights, 60% off during the night) and how the site would look from various aspects.
Chris Shaw drew the discussion to a close, stating that the proposal was pretty good, that the consultation had enjoyed significant support and that Sainsbury’s seemed to have gone the extra mile to accommodate local concerns. He felt that, while there would always be some difficulties around any new development site, overall it would be beneficial to Olney. He proposed that Councillors vote on the issue, and Jeremy Rawlings seconded the proposal. Councillors voted ten in favour of the scheme with one abstention (Rosemary Osborne). So, OTC will write to MKC stating its positive view, subject to various comparatively small caveats.
Neighbourhood Planning
You should all have received a Neighbourhood Plan questionnaire with the previous issue of the Phonebox. To be counted, it has to be completed and returned back to OTC’s office in the Olney Centre by the new date of Tuesday 9th December. A team will collate the returned questionnaires, plus those filled in online – surf to olneyplan.com and click consultation.
Wi-Fi
The Olney Centre now has a public access Wi-Fi system, installed on 27th October.
MKFM
Steve Clark introduced this topic. Local radio station MKFM, www.mkfm.com, has been broadcasting on the internet for several years and has supported various Olney events. It has the opportunity to bid for an
FM radio licence and Steve asked if OTC would like to send it a letter of support. It’s notable that, since Horizon was taken over by Heart FM and BBC 3CR has seen various cuts, there is no FM station genuinely local to Milton Keynes. Councillors voted in favour of sending the letter.
The only Town Council website?
OTC’s website is olneytowncouncil.gov. uk. Jeremy Rawlings explained that there was another similarly named site, olneytowncouncil.co.uk, which, while unconnected with OTC, was presented insuchawayastomakeitappeartobe associated with the Council. After a short discussion, Councillors decided that Jeremy should write to the site’s registered address, asking to open a dialogue.
Emberton Park
Steve Clark reported on a recent meeting of the Emberton Park Liaison User Group. The transfer of the park leasehold from Emberton
Olney Churches
Sutcliff Baptist Church Jesus - Light of the World
At Christmas time Christians remember when God sent his only Son Jesus to come and bring light and hope to this world. We all know that in the dark it is easy to stumble or hurt ourselves, we also can get disoriented or lost. We even say we are ‘in the dark’ when we don’t know what’s going on – no wonder people are sometimes afraid of the dark!
But into our lives God sends Jesus – the Light of the World. When we welcome him and follow him we won’t trip up or go the wrong way, and we certainly don’t need to be afraid.
Jesus is God’s Son. He shines a spotlight on God’s love and truth, and gives us strength for today and hope for the future, no matter how deep the darkness has been in the past, or you feel it is at the moment.
I pray that you may know the light of God’s peace, joy and love this Christmas.
Rev Ian Field