Page 31 - Phonebox Magazine November 2015

A Town Centre Improvement Fund of £90k is proposed, which would be used to offset the impact of the development on the Town Centre by providing improvements such as car parking, traffic improvements and physical and social infrastructure improvements. Peter Geary explained that the money would become available in phases and does not need to be spent all at once but OTC need to make plans now as to possible projects. Tony Evans suggested a public consultation to ask residents for suggestions and Mayor Steve Clark agreed but thought that clear limits need to be set in order to avoid the usual flood of swimming pool requests. A working party will be set up to progress. An additional sum of £20k is being proposed to provide real-time bus information displays at bus stops, which Deirdre Bethune thought a waste of money bearing in mind the poor bus service that Olney receives and also the fact that not all operators provide the necessary data. However, other members thought that it would be a useful facility.
Wind and Solar Farms
MKC is inviting comments on its draft Landscape Character and Landscape Sensitivity to Wind and Solar PV Developments document. The objective, it
says, is to evaluate the Landscape Character Types and Landscape Character Areas of MK and identify particular areas which may have a greater or less capacity to accommodate such development, i.e. where to put them! The consultation period runs till 4th November but there will presumably be a delay before it becomes a policy. In June this year the government announced that onshore wind and solar farms would be excluded from the subsidy scheme from 1 April 2016, a year earlier than planned. Peter Geary said he believed that this would lead to no more planning applications being made from next April so members decided not to take part in the project.
Odds and sods
OTC’s proposal to provide match-day parking on the recreation ground between East Street and the football pitch has received a setback because the MKC planner has asked for a hedge to limit the visual impact from East Street. This would severely reduce the amount of parking spaces, making the scheme unworkable.
The scheme to put CCTV cameras on the Market Place has stalled due to the retirement of PC Andy Perry. Susan Hughes from the Neighbourhood Action Group has not been
able to get any interest in progressing it from anyone else at Thames Valley Police.
The owner of the former Westlands care home has said that the current occupiers will be leaving by Christmas so MKC will not be taking action to stop it being used illegally as a House In Multiple Occupation (HIMO). OTC has agreed with this course of action so long as the owner complies. It was pointed out that the present occupiers had not caused any problems and were spending money in the town.
Planning permission has been granted for Olney Town Colts FC to build their new club house and groundworks will soon commence. Colin Rodden reported that the illumined central reservation bollard by the Church Hall had been damaged for some time and wondered when MKC would get round to replacing it. Steve Clark said that all such bollards in MK are being replaced by the reflective knock down and spring up type so it would probably be replaced as part of that project.
The next meeting will be held at 7.30pm on Monday 2nd 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
Sutcliff Baptist Church
dedication service, attended by the Mayor of Milton Keynes, Keith McLean and his wife, where we thanked God for the brothers and sisters who have worshipped in the church in years gone by whose remains have been relocated, along with those of John Sutcliff, which are to be marked with a specially commissioned plaque. We also thanked God for all the people who have worked so hard and thoughtfully to bring the building about, and those who have so generously given and continue to give. We concluded our time by thanking God for the future he has planned for us, that we will run the race of faith, with our ‘eyes on the prize’, with so many witnesses of God’s goodness, and looking to Jesus who is the one who has gone before.
I would like to say a big ‘Thank you’ to everyone who made the weekend such a great success, and to the many, many people who came to visit – we hope to see you again soon!
Phonebox Magazine 31