Boughton Parish Council Minutes

Boughton  Parish Council.   Councillors are summoned to a meeting on 2nd August 2013**, at** 7pm in the Church for the purposes of transacting the following business.

Apologies

1. Minutes meeting 3rd May 2013
2. Matters Arising
3. Chairman’s Report – F. Reid
4. Report from Councillors.

i.      Highways                                                    T. Roberts

ii.      Drainage                                                                      G. Proctor

iii.      Signs & Communications                     P. Agate

iv.      Planning                                                                      D. Horkan

v.      Fen Report                                                 M. Pogmore

vi.      Playground                                                 A. Beeston

vii.      Public Footpaths                                      D. Cooper

vii         Financial Report                                                        D Horkan

viii        Correspondence

Meeting Closes

Open Questions

Date of Next Meeting 1st November 2013 – 19:00

The Public are welcome to this meeting

Date held:                            2nd August 2013                       Venue:             All Saints, Boughton

Present:

Dave Horkan (DHO)                Clerk                                       Apologies:        Peter Agate (PAG)

Frank Reid (FRE)                   Councillor/Chairman

Tom Roberts (TRO)

Mark Pogmore (MPO)             Councillor                                 Chair:               Frank Reid

Andy Beeston (ABE)              Councillor                                 Distribution:

Councillors. G4 & David Cooper (DCO)          Councillor

Village pump

Geoff Proctor (GPR)              Councillor

Public Members                     6 number

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| | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1. | Apologies |   |   | |   | None received |   |   | |   |   |   |   | | 2. | Minutes of the Meeting – 15th February 2013 |   |   | |   | Minutes of previous BPC meeting, 3rd May provided by DHO, agreed, signed and initialled throughout by FRE, file to copy. | DHO | 2/8/13 | |   | Although the AGM meeting minutes could have been signed also, the minutes where not available to hand and will now be signed at the next meeting. | DHO | 1/11/13 | | 3. | Matters Arising |   |

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None

|   |   | |   |   |   |   | | 4. | Chairman’s Report – F Reid | FRE |   | |   | Chairman’s report.   August. 2013.

Annual Challenge.

We have 25 entries for this years Challenge. The best home baked loaf of Bread.

The judges are all booked and ready for the presentation day. Sat. 24th August, at 3.00pm. Also we look forward to welcoming our visitors from Barton Bendish to contest the inter Village shield.

Refreshments will be available, and the customary Sin Bin will be receiving the usual motley crew of rule breakers.

Willow re-growth. Pond edge.

A further four Willow shrubs have been removed from pond , leaving only a few left on the South edge. Many thanks to Geoff & Andy for their help.

Grass Cutting.

We are well through the growing season, and expenditure is around £100.

This suggests that our final spend will be £180-200. Similar level to 2012, but will of course depend on autumn growing conditions

Fly-tipping.

Incidents of Fly-tipping -  Barton Rd adjacent to Geoff’s Flat Pad.

Several bags of rubbish. Also a pile of tyres in passing place, Gibbet lane. Removed by the clean-up team.

War Memorial.

Following a request from Bill Miller. The War memorial has been given a clean. Bill takes great pride in our War memorial and it was a privilege to be asked to give it a spruce up.

Items for ratification.

Contribution to purchase of 8 small tables for Village Centre.

The Parish Council agreed to share the £900 cost

With BVC, PCC, and Village centre committee. £225 has been

Contributed.

Decision agreed.

1. Council response to adverse possession claim on small parcel of land opposite middle Fen.

Council agreed not to object to the claim by WR.Chapman & son to land registry, for parcel adjacent to the cottages on Stoke Rd the Fen, which provides access to their field.

Council agree that we have no legal claim, nor legal standing with which to object.

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| | 5. | Councillors/Clerk Reports |   |   | |   |

i. Highways

| TRO |   | |   |

• Frank Reid and Tom Roberts met, on2 July 2013, the Norfolk County Council (NCC) Highways engineer who had responsibility for highways in Boughton and the surrounding area. Key points were:
  • NCC highways budgets were very stretched. It was unlikely that they would get all the resources (i.e. cash) needed to carry out all the highways work which ideally should be carried out in Norfolk
  • Many of the roads in Boughton had been scheduled for resurfacing which would (and did) take place at the end of July. It was explained to us that the aim of resurfacing (rather than the complete and much more expensive relaying) was to help prevent the road from breaking up.
  • We asked about Wretton Road as it was in a particularly poor condition but we were advised that it was not currently scheduled for resurfacing but that NCC would keep it under review.
  • Road sweepers had passed through the village after the re-surfacing to remove surplus grit – there was still some around and they would be asked to return.
  • Traffic through the village particularly near the doctors surgery in Chapel Road and at the Mill Hill Road / Wretton Road junction was causing damage to the roadside verges and Kerbs unfortunately NCC had few resources to prevent this.

In addition to the above report the following points about parking near the surgery were also discusssed:

• Parking for people visiting the Doctors surgery was a continuing problem. During the summer months the surgery made further parking available in the grass field behind their hard surfaced car park. However this extra parking space was often shut during the winter months and Councillor Agate agreed to have further discussions with the surgery management to see if the extra parking space could be kept open throughout the year.
• Councillor Pogmore noted that earlier this year he had discussions with NCC about the parking problem at the surgery and as the problem was still continuing he would have a further discussion with NCC to get posts put in to protect the kerbs / verges in the area close to the surgery.

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PAG

MPO |

Aug 2013

Aug 2013 | |   | ii. Drainage | GPR |   | |   |

With little rain in period, there is nothing to report

|   |   | |   | iii. Signs & Communications | PAG |

| |   | Signs & Street Furniture. The Frank Savage Memorial Table on The Green has had a good clean and, with the help of the chairman, has had some stabilising work carried out and a good coat of preservative. The paving it sits on has also been de-weeded and cleaned. The bottoms of the swing frame timbers have also been treated with preservative. During the next period the Village Notice board will be given a spruce up.

BT Phone Kiosk. Following representation from the village the council investigated the possibility of adopting the BT phonebox to save it. Enquiries were made and we were recently informed that we may adopt the phone if we so wish. Two parishioners have volunteered to look after the phone box in conjunction with the Council, should we adopt it.

DHO requested PAG sends agreement to him to finalise as this is the role of the Clerk.

Communications. The second of the regular updates has been issued in the current issue of the G4 magazine to help with keeping parishioners abreast of Council activities.

In answer to a parishioner request, PAG will compose a notice for the notice board regard etiquette of removal of individual’s postings. |

PAG

PAG |

11/8/13

asap | |   | iv. Planning | DHO |   | |

| Only a few applications have been received since the last meeting:-

Clr Agate left meeting as he had interest in the initial planning matter

1. Planning application received for Manor Cottage Chapel Road, Council have no observations or objections.

Clr Agate returned to meeting.

2. Variation to a planning condition previously granted at The Firs, this was to address a discrepancy in drawings and models.
3. Planning permission has been granted for the single storey extension at Jays Cottage – Council had not objected

|   |   | |   | v. Fen Report | MPO |   | |   |

As usual at this time of year, work on the fen is low key as we leave it to our summer visitors.  We have, however, kept the wildlife walk clear with small working parties using our cutter and strimmers.

A team of moth recorders visited the fen recently, which I am sure would have looked rather spooky from above, with their bright lights dotted around the area, luring the varied species in to be recorded.

We are always pleased to let you know about youth involvement, and this has continued with further community work for the Duke of Edinburgh award, as well as the local cub pack meeting to learn about the fen.

The Fen Committee has reached the final four in the shortlist for the Lloyds Banking Group Community Fund for this area.  Two of the four finalists will receive £3000 to spend on their projects.  To win this, we need to be in the top two of the area public vote.  It would be great to have your support in this, so watch this space for further details of how to make your vote.

With the sun shining and temperatures high, winter may seem a long way off but the team are already starting to plan this year’s autumn and winter work on the fen.  It would be great to see our regulars, plus some new faces later in the year.

The reed beds have grown higher and stronger than we have seen for a number of years, due to the very wet weather last winter.  Often when down on the fen, you can see the marsh harriers, which we have almost taken for granted, but of course they only started to breed here successfully four or five years ago.  A first for this year is that a family of bearded tits have nested in the reeds.

Finally, a group of us went to Norwich a few days ago to receive our Norfolk Biodiversity Partnership award in the Site Award Category.  I would like to thank the Fen Committee, the Parish Council, and most of all the many people who have helped us achieve such high standards over the last six years.

|   |   | |   |   |   |   | |   | vi. Playground | ABE |   | |   | The Boughton play area is widely used by many families, especially during the holiday period.  During the last few months, as part of the requirements for the playground insurance, the equipment has been inspected by Chairman Frank during his weekly campaign to provide and maintain this delightful village feature.

The cradle on the child’s swing has developed a split in the seat.  Although the seat is reinforced and the split not thought to be a trap for any user I have contacted the original suppliers to provide a quotation for a replacement cradle.  The price for an updated cradle is £85 plus vat, with postage at £7.50, this new cradle can be fitted to our existing suspension chains.  The remaining playground features have been maintained as directed following an earlier inspection report on Feb 6th 2013.

This was agreed to provide through current account initially to be replaced ultimately from the £1,000 playground reserve in the saving account

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DHO |

11/8/13 | |   |   |   |   | |   | vii. Public Footpaths | DCO |   | |   |

Nothing to report other than monthly cut for access to commence next week.

|   |   | | 6. | Financial Report |   |   | |   | Audit completed with independent third party John Cross, accounts summarised and sent to Mazars, no contact as yet.

VAT returns regard Parish Council reclaim completed and sent to HMRC, attempt to recoup last two years of possible amounts sent, no comment received as yet.

Cheques in period

1. NALC subs - £85.27
2. Bonnetts pond repair equipment - £19.20
3. Wishing well donation to Brambles - £150.00
4. Grass cut J Adcock - £190.00
5. H Gott petrol - £28.49
6. Paint for seat restoration - £9.50
7. Community chairs contribution - £225.00

Cheques to sign today

1. Hylton Gott Petrol - £22.37
2. J Cross Audit - £25, £5 increase for petrol costs, Council Agreed

Mandate forms completed for GPR as signatory and removal of T Madwick as signatory, MPO to sign.

Book of stamps received from CAME to cover insurance rebate, @ £5 |

MPO

Note |

Complete | | 7. | Correspondence | DHO |   | |   | Majority of correspondence received where flyers for sales, advertising or merchandise.

Summary of documents not financially related:-

1. Planning permissions and amendments as previous
2. KLWN housing development plan, Boughton unaffected
3. Policing policies and meeting invites
4. Audit compliance letter

|   |   | |   | Meeting closed |

|   | |   | Matters arising |   |   | |   |

• Following the close of the meeting, a parishioner raised concerns about the speeding transgressions evident in the village, whilst this had been monitored previously on a voluntary basis, this was not agreed to be resurrected, TRO will research other avenues which may be available.

• Councillor Sampson raised a question regard the planning consultation document and asked are Boughton in acceptance of the fact that no development will be allowed for next 15 years if agreed, council too issue a flyer to the village and compile feedback prior to comment.

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FRE/PAG |

11/8/13 |

Date and Venue of Next Meetings:1st November 2013 19:00  All saints Church Boughton