Stoke Ferry parish Council Minutes - August 2012

DRAFT

Minutes of Stoke Ferry Parish Council Meeting held in The Community Centre At 7.30pm on Wednesday 8 August 2012

Those Attending

:Cllr T Ryves (Chairman), Cllr Mrs J Buckley-Stevens (Vice-Chair), Cllr Mrs D Clements, Cllr Mrs M Leamon, Cllr R Bivon, Cllr J Nicholas-Letch, Cllr Mrs S Lintern, Cllr L McCarthy, Mrs C Hardy (Clerk), Borough Councillor C Sampson and 6 Members of the Public

Apologies:Cllr E Taylor

Police Matters:

PCSO Sophie Watson was welcomed to the meeting, she reported there had been 22 calls to the police since July, including ASB, report of sound nuisance, ABH, foul language, road related, personal CCTV issues, domestic, elderly driver all over the road, thefts, burglary etc. A problem of two large lorries parking in the Village Hall Car Park over a weekend. There had been more calls in the last month than for some time. It was asked if all calls were logged in the Police Crime Map, this was the case. Cllr Bivon asked if there were annual statistics available, PCSO Watson would report back to the Clerk on this. Cllr Leamon asked what should the public do if they discover needles anywhere, PCSO Watson advised not to move them and call the police. There were no more queries or problems raised, PCSO Watson was thanked and left the meeting.

1. Minutes of the last Meeting:

The Chairman asked if the individual telephone number of officers could be given to the public, the Clerk advised that the Police request any problems/incidents to be reported on the 101 telephone number.

Cllr Mrs M Leamon proposed acceptance of the minutes seconded by Cllr R Bivon

2. Matters Arising:

a) Water Tap in Cemetery - Cllr Nicholas-Letch advised that he had replaced the rotten post and re-affixed the tap to the new post. The Clerk thanked him for doing this.

Village Liaison Meeting - Update:

Cllr Mrs Clements advised she had attended the meeting in July and reported the following - nearly all the Vion lorries had been fitted with reactors which should make them quieter and less smelly. Vion were not happy that following their commitment that lorries would not use Wretton Road on the Jubilee Day, the PC had applied for a road closure and not advised them of this. Cllr Mrs Clements stated that Vion have been very good to the village in many ways. Cllr Mrs Buckley-Stevens recommended that a letter of apology be forwarded to Vion. This was agreed by all. The Chairman asked when the next meeting would be taking place, Cllr Mrs Clements advised it would be September. The Chairman also asked if the minutes of the meetings could be issued earlier than they are at present.

Standing Orders:

Cllr Nicholas-Letch had issued all members with a copy of the Standing Orders, the Chairman asked what were the views of all members. The Clerk advised that this document had been approved at the PC Meeting in June 2011. Cllr Nicholas-Letch advised that the document was based on the Nationally recognised Standing Orders recommended by NALC. Cllr Mrs Lintern stated she had read the document but felt that members do not seem to follow the Standing Orders, Cllr Nicholas-Letch Agreed. Cllr Nicholas-Letch advised that a change should be made to Standing Order 1, which is not applicable to Committees.

The question of training for parish councillors/chairman was raised, it was agreed that all new parish councillors should attend a training course. The Clerk to contact NALC to see if there was an opportunity for one or two local parish councils to have a training course in the local area, thus reducing the costs. BC Colin Sampson stated that Parish Council meetings are run completely differently to the outside world. The Chairman controls the meeting, the way things are to be done, everyone to have their input.

Cllr Nicholas-Letch suggested that once all documents under review are approved, the Clerk will issue all parish councillors with a file containing these so everyone has all important documents to hand, ie Standing Orders, Code of Conduct, Email policy, etc. A complaints from the public document will produced along the lines of a NALC template.

Cllr T Ryves proposed that the Standing Order Document together with other documents Cllr Nicholas-Letch has provided be accepted, seconded by Cllr Bivon. Unanimously agreed.

Cllr Mrs Buckley-Stevens thanked Cllr Nicholas-Letch for the hard work he had put into preparing these documents.

Committees, Working Parties and Membership

Cllr Nicholas-Letch provided a short document setting out how a committee structure more relevant to parish council business and matters should take place. He advised that such meetings should not be held in members houses, they should all be open to the public, Committees follow the same rule as the full parish council. Cllr Nicholas-Letch proposed the following Committees - Planning to be titled Planning and Environment, Cemetery/Open Space and Administration and Personnel, the terms of reference for all will be - Determined by full Council. Therefore in future when any planning applications are received, depending of when received, they will either be considered prior to the main parish council meeting commencing, ie 7.00pm or a venue will be booked and the requisite three days notice of the meeting will be displayed on the notice board. The Clerk to investigate costs for hiring the Village Hall for these meetings.

Cllr Nicholas-Letch proposed the setting up of a Planning Committee to be called Planning and Environment seconded by Cllr Mrs Clements. 7 votes for 1 abstention.

The Chair of this committee will be appointed at the first meeting.

Neighbourhood Planning:

The Localism Act 2011 introduced the Neighbourhood Plan scheme where local councils should prepare and produce such a plan. Cllr Nicholas-Letch had prepared a short document explaining the reasons for this. Such a plan will enable a community to choose where they want new homes, shops and offices, have their say of what new buildings should look like, identify and protect important green spaces and grant planning permission for the new buildings they want to see go ahead. Three Planning Booklets had previously been distributed to members, Cllr Nicholas-Letch will try to obtain a further supply particularly for the two new members. Further discussion on this will take place at the next meeting in September.

Community Car Scheme - Update:

Cllr Mrs Clements queried an email she had received but did not know who it was from, the Chairman advised it was from him. Cllr Nicholas-Letch advised the first run had taken place and everything went very well, there are two parking badges in use for the hospital car park. He would like to put in a managing committee to help with the organisation. More drivers will be required, a query regarding CRB checks was raised, these will be carried out by NCC at no charge. The Chairman raised a query relating to the age for minors, it was agreed this would be 16 and under, who would not be allowed to travel unaccompanied. Cllr Mrs Buckley-Stevens queried why only an 18 mile radius, Cllr Nicholas-Letch advised there has to be a cut off point they cannot travel all over the country. BC Sampson advised it should cover the surgery in the first instance then King’s Lynn Hospital. Cllr Nicholas-Letch agreed and proposed capping the scheme to 18 miles Cllr Mrs Buckley-Stevens thought it should be kept as simple as possible and keep an eye on the funding, she also thought Cllr Nicholas-Letch had worked very hard in setting up the scheme and explained it very well. Cllr McCarthy asked if it would affect the Council’s Public Liability Insurance, Cllr Nicholas-Letch said no.

The Cemetery & Garden of Remembrance

Cllr Mrs Clements referred to the recent problems regarding cutting and strimming when a number of flowers had been shredded by the strimmer. The Clerk informed the meeting she had met a representative of CGM to discuss the problems, the crew involved will be spoken to, it was considered this a two way problem because of the number of vases on graves with not sufficient room between them for the strimming to be carried out. Following a recent meeting of the Cemetery Committee Cllr J Nicholas-Letch advised that there were several ideas in the pipeline to improve the Garden of Remembrance and the access to the newly consecrated area. He informed the meeting that a budget needs to be set up for general annual maintenance, plus a budget to take into account the numerous works that will be required. Because of time restraints further discussion will take place at a future meeting.

With regard to the Garden of Remembrance the Clerk asked for authorisation for the works to be completed to remove the grass then replaced with shingle, which had been commenced a couple of months ago. A quotation had been received from CGM for these works in the sum of £125.00 plus VAT. It was agreed by a vote of 7 for 1 against for this work to be completed.

War Memorials/Graves:

Cllr Mrs Clements advised she had received forms to apply for funding towards cleaning etc of the War Memorial on The Hill requesting authorisation to complete these forms. This was agreed by all present.

SNAP Meeting Update:

Apart from the issues raised earlier in the meeting, Cllr Mrs Clements advised that at the SNAP meeting PCSO Edwards had informed her that should anyone who makes a complaint about any incident can if they so wish have a visit by a police officer in an unmarked car.

Village Hall:

The Chairman referred to the problems currently being encountered and said nothing can be done until February 2013.

Remaining Agenda Items:

As time was running on the remaining Agenda Items will be deferred to the next meeting, ie Land Furlong Drove, Bluebell Public House, Playing Fields, Dukes Head Area, Redevelopment of Village, Defibrillator Unit in Village.

3. Planning:

Refusal of Planning Permission

Proposed new development at Former Toll House Site, Oxborough Road

NCC

Mineral Site Specific Allocations Development Plan Document and Waste Site Specific Allocations Development Plan Document Pre-Submission Representations - to be submitted to the Secretary of State later this year.

4. Accounts for Approval

NPTP - £75.00 - Grave Matters Training

James Bradfield School - £15.44 - Hire of Hall July

CGM Ltd - £149.45 - Grounds Maintenance - July

Mrs C Hardy - £373.84 - Salary/Expenses July

E-on - Direct Debit - £47.52 - Lighting - July

Mazars - £162.00 - Annual Audit

Statement of Account as at 31 July 2011 - Balance in Bank - Community Account £641.95 Business Saver Account £13862.63 A total of £14504.58

Cllr Mr L McCarthy proposed approval for payment seconded by Cllr R Bivon

5. Correspondence:

H Brett & Son - request for Memorial in Garden of Remembrance for Leslie James Ball

EACH - thanking the PC for donation to Quidenham

Mazars - advising satisfactory completion of Annual Audit

6. Any Other Business

6.1. Councillors Other Business:

Cllr L McCarthy asked if there was a final financial statement in respect of the Jubilee Event, the Clerk will provide him with one.

6.2. Public Other Business

There was no business from the public.

There being no further business the meeting closed at 9.40pm

Next Meeting

The next meeting will be on Wednesday 12 September 2012 commencing at 7.30pm