West Dereham PC Minutes

MINUTES OF WEST DEREHAM PARISH COUNCIL MEETING

HELD AT ST. ANDREWS CHURCH

THURSDAY APRIL 7th 2011

Present: Mrs Claire Cann - Chairman, Mrs Doreen Berry, Mr Russell Drew, Mrs Ruth Marsters, Mr Paddy Murfitt, Ms A Richardson.

Mr Trevor Manley - Borough Councillor

5 members of the public

Papers presented to Councillors: Third draft allotment agreements, Clerks timesheet, expenditure spreadsheet, budget update. Notes on the Localism Bill, Glazewing Report.

1. No Apologies for Absence received.

2. No Declarations of Interests made.

3. Approval of Minutes

The minutes of the Parish Council meeting held on 03/03/11 were agreed as a true record.

4. Matters arising from previous meetings

4.1 Frimstone/AEC Operations

The Parish Council is concerned that the change in ownership of part of the Frimstone company could lead to further vehicle engineering works being undertaken at the AEC workshop on the Crimplesham site. Under planning reference 2/99/0243/F permission was granted for the completion and retention of a replacement workshop at Crimplesham. The permission conditioned the workshop to exclusive use by Frimstone and limited the use to minor repairs and servicing of vehicles used at the existing site. Chris Curtis, BCKLWN Enforcement Officer has visited the site and has spoken to a managing director of Frimstone. The managing director stated that the workshop is operating under a new company name but it is still part of Frimstone Ltd. He further stated about 15% of the workload for the workshop is outside Frimstone. During the officers visit it appeared that major repair works were being carried out. This information has been passed to Norfolk County Council.

The Clerk will investigate planning application 2/99/0243/F and whether the Parish Council were made aware of it. The Parish Council will also make Chris Curtis aware that Frimstones website claims that the Crimplesham workshop will provide a wide ranging engineering service...to any external businesses who wish to take advantage of the facilities and expertise that AEC can offer. The website also states that the Crimplesham and Waterbeach workshops were transferred to a new company - AEC, but did not specify that they remain a part of Frimstone Ltd.

There is also concern that the screening of the new mineral extraction site at Crimplesham is not adequate. The Clerk is making enquiries regarding the planning conditions.

4.2 Norfolk Minerals and Waste Development Framework

The clay working referred to in minor modification PC14 to the Core Strategy at West Dereham is located off Ryston Road/Lime Kiln Road and is operated by Middleton Aggregates. The planning permission for this site expired in June 2010. Therefore this is no longer an active site. The site is referred to in the minor modification to the Core Strategy because it was an active site in 2010 and that particular sentence is intended to provide information on the situation regarding mineral extraction sites in Norfolk in 2010.

5. Reports:

5.1 Chairman's Report:

* The Chairman said that she was disappointed that yet again PCSO Sara Green had e-mailed apologies for not attending the meeting. The next Police surgery is at Stoke Ferry Community Centre on May 25th.

* The broken glass in the phone box in Church Road has been reported to BT and repair work has been started.

* New bus timetables will be posted on the notice boards by the Clerk and the Chairman will put basic details in the monthly household leaflet.

5.2 Clerk's Report:

* The third draft allotment agreement was presented to Councillors. Clause 3 is to be altered to allow tenants to give one months notice to terminate the agreement.

* The 2011 allotment inspection will take place on Saturday April 9th at 9am.

5.3 Village Hall Report:

* The Village Hall Committee has been successful in obtaining a grant of £10,000 from the Geoffrey Watling Trust but unsuccessful in its bid to obtain lottery funding.

* The Village Hall Committee and Village Trust Committees continue to meet monthly to discuss ongoing matters with the rebuild/renovation of the Hall.

* Professional advice has been sought for installation of a commercial kitchen.

* With further funding from the Village Trust, the building work on the hall will be completed but the Committee will need to find further funding to furnish the hall and to carry out works to the outside car park/amenity area.

5.4 No further update regarding Broadband provision for West Dereham has been received. However the Clerk will write to Richard Rockcliffe asking urgently requesting the latest position.

5.5 Glazewing Report:

* Copies of the Glazewing Report for March were given to those attending the meeting.

* Notes from the meeting with Glazewing (taken by the Parish Clerk) chaired by Elizabeth Truss MP will be distributed to every village household as soon as possible.

Points noted were:

Glazewing claim to be doing less business but this cannot be reconciled with the number of vehicles travelling to the Station Road site. Glazewing are to restrict vehicle movement to after 5am if possible (Elizabeth Truss has requested feedback regarding early morning HGV movement). Glazewing has purchased Singh (UK) Ltd which will be rebranded as Glazewing and this could mean yards at March and Peterborough will be in use in addition to the West Dereham site.

Glazewing have the right since 1994 to accept food waste at Station Road and it is felt the company may be moving towards dealing with more mixed waste. Glazewing now clear waste from Swaffham following the Saturday market.

Under the Freedom of Information Act the Parish Council has obtained a copy of the Environment Agency permit pertaining to Station Road. This is a complicated document - there are many modifications to the document and Glazewing are permitted to do many things.

The Certificate of Lawful Use obtained by Glazewing for siting of skips by the river allows as many skips as can be fitted on the land. There was no limit in number set by Norfolk County Council. Elizabeth Truss commented that lax planning leads to problems and planning generally needs looking at.

Glazewing has taken professional advice regarding use of willow hedges to screen the skips and it is expected planting will take place in the autumn.

There are issues with ownership of land which are hampering any progress on the provision of a private access road to the Glazewing site. Highways will not help with the cost of an access road. Elizabeth Truss undertook to assist with the problems Glazewing claim to have regarding discovery of ownership for land purchase for a new road.

County Councillor Richard Rockcliffe stated that the Glazewing business is in the wrong place but as the company cannot be forced to move ways to alleviate problems caused need to be found.

The Chairman summed up by saying that what is being done by the current owners of Glazewing is legal but business should come second to people's homes and the conditions which the company visit upon the Station Road villagers would not be acceptable to the Directors' families.

There will be a follow up meeting but no date has been set. Glazewing are expected to attend the Parish Council meeting in June.

It was noted that scrap rubbish, such as nails (rather than pot holes), on Station Road frequently lead to burst tyres.

6. Accounts

Financial position update:

The Parish Council bank reconciliation stood at £7,403.61 on March 14th.

6.1 Payments agreed in accordance with the budget:

Clerk's salary (March) £446.50

CGM £119.30

EFS Solutions £21.00

I.R £215.18

NALC (subs 2011) £110.41

Anglianwater £14.24

7. 2011Parish Council elections:

Seven candidates are standing for West Dereham Parish Council and thus there will be no Parish Council election for the seven West Dereham Parish Council seats in 2011. All candidates will be elected unopposed. Three existing and four new Councillors will take office from May 9th with Declarations of Acceptance of Office signed at the Parish Council Annual Meeting on May 10th.

The Chairman expressed thanks to the four Councillors who have decided to stand down.

She said that their combined service represented a total of seventy five years of Parish Councillorship and commitment to West Dereham.

Councillor Barry Glover has been on West Dereham Parish Council for nearly forty three years and has served as Chairman for some of that time. He has a wealth of historical village knowledge which had been invaluable to the Parish Council. The Chairman hoped that the Parish Council would be able to ask his advice in the future.

Councillor Doreen Berry has been on West Dereham Parish Council for eighteen years and the Chairman said she could be considered the village archivist since she was always able to produce documentary evidence whenever it was needed. She has also worked tirelessly for the village hall for a vast number of years and her support will be greatly missed.

Councillor Alison Richardson has served on the Parish Council for nine years as Vice Chairman and Chairman and currently Vice-Chairman again. She is an expert on the village map and has extensive knowledge of all the properties, footpaths and bridleways. She has been a supportive Vice-Chairman and her advice will leave a gap.

Councillor Russell Drew has been on West Dereham Parish Council for five years, following in the tradition of his father Eddie in doing things for the village for free. In addition to this his technical advice on highway related issues relating to West Dereham has been invaluable.

8. Correspondence:

8.1 Norfolk Link etc.

8.2 BCKLWN Special Council meeting agenda 17/03/11

9. No Planning applications received for consideration.

10. Further reports/items for the next agenda:

10.1 Time of Parish Council meetings

10.2 Village assets/maintenance/improvements

10.3 To consider issues regarding insurance for Councillors as trustees of West Dereham Village Hall.

OPEN SESSION

* It was suggested the name plate sign for Brookes Lane would be better positioned further into the lane. The Clerk will pass this request to Highways.

* It will be checked whether any of the footpath finger post signs reported as missing have been replaced by Norfolk County Council. The Clerk has received an e-mail that some posts have been replaced and this will be confirmed.

Parish Clerk