West Dereham Parish Council

DRAFT MINUTES OF WEST DEREHAM PARISH COUNCIL MEETING

HELD AT WEST DEREHAM VILLAGE HALL at 7.30 pm

THURSDAY 2 OCTOBER 2014

PRESENT (4 Councillors): - Pam Bullas (PB), Claire Cann (CC) – Chairman, Paula Kellingray (PK), Pam Walker (PW)

Clerk: - Sarah Thorpe

8 members of the public were in attendance.

Papers presented to Councillors:  (i) Financial Management Report (spreadsheet); (ii) expenditure (for approval);

(iii) Glazewing Report.

The Chairman welcomed everyone present and opened the meeting.

• Apologies for Absence.  Apologies have already been accepted for Cllr Tom Foy (TF) during his deployment in

Afghanistan. Apologies were also received from Cllr Lorraine Hunt (LH) and Cllr Claire Page (CP), as they are on holiday, Cllr Trevor Manley (TM) (Borough Council (BC)) and Cllr Brian Long (BL) (County Council (NCC)).

• Declarations of Interest. No declarations were made.

• Use of social media and audio recording of meeting. CC asked “Will anyone present be filming, recording,

blogging or tweeting during this meeting?” All members of the public present at this stage advised that they would not.

• Minutes of the Parish Council Meetings held on 4 & 22 September 2014. The Chairman confirmed all Councillors had seen the minutes of the Parish Council (PC) meetings held on 4 & 22 September 2014. These were agreed as a true record and signed by the Chairman.

5.1         Chairman’s Report.

5.1.1      Parliamentary Outreach session. CC and LH attended this recent event that was held in Downham Market. It was a very useful event giving information on how local government can influence central government.

5.2         Clerk’s Report.

5.2.1      Grange Farm.  A meeting is to be arranged between the PC and the tenants to discuss the questions raised. An invitation has been received for members of the PC to visit a resident in West Bilney who lives next to a pig farm there. Dates to be agreed for both meetings.

5.2.2      Willow Land Footpath.  NCC have said that the consent form issued by the PC is not acceptable and that their legal section will only accept an unconditional consent that has no provisions or expressions of regret. The PC agreed that their response clearly gave consent and accurately reflected the opinion of the PC, and if there is a legal reason why NCC require the exact wording on their consent form then they need to advise the PC of this reason. The PC also agreed NCC need to be precise about their intentions when they claim the consent provided by the PC is unacceptable. The PC would also like to know if there is a legal time limit for when this issue must be resolved. The PC has no wish to distress the owners of Willow Farm but feel that the record needs to be accurate.

5.2.3      Safety issues at the junction of West Dereham Road/Church Road.  A meeting took place with Andy Wallace from Highways. He advised that he believed that the removal of the triangle in the middle of the road helped the issue of vehicles swinging into the middle of the road or cutting the corner; therefore Highways would not want to reinstate

this triangle. It was agreed to suggest that he should approach the junction from West Dereham Road and try to see around the corner to turn into Church Road without crossing the white lines.

5.2.4      Highway Rangers.  The team will visit the parish during week commencing 10 November.  The footpath on Station Road from Hilgay Road to Stocks Bridge needs attention and this is to be referred to the Rangers. Clerk to look up future dates for visits by the Rangers to allow more notice in future to consider work that needs to be referred.

5.2.5      BT Telephone Box adoption.  BT equipment has been removed and signs have been displayed in the boxes confirming the adoption. Details of the renovations needed and spares available are being investigated.

5.2.6      New Bank Account for Allotment deposits.  An additional bank account has been opened to hold the deposits received from the allotment tenants.

5.2.7      Pear Technology.  The fifth draft of the Cemetery map has been received, a few final measurements have now been taken and this should result in an accurate document.

5.2.8      Woodland Trust Community Trees Scheme.  West Dereham has been awarded 420 hedging plants for the Cemetery and 120 for the Village Hall. The Community Payback Scheme has agreed that they can provide people to plant the trees at the Cemetery. The cost to the PC will be £75 if one gang is required or £150 for two gangs. Full details to be agreed.

5.2.9      “The Big Tree Plant” Scheme. Further free trees could be available through The Conservations Volunteers via this scheme which is funded by DEFRA. An application form is being obtained.

5.3         Handyman’s Report.  A report had been produced by the Handyman. During September the main task had been completing the jobs on the list supplied. Work that has been carried out so far:

• Started to trim the lower branches from the large tree adjacent to Stock’s bridge – two sessions so far and a third is required.
• Cleaned and painted Hudson’s Bridge white – the concrete posts have been painted with Sandtex and the rails double coated with metal paint, the loose bricks on the centre upright railing need repointing, and this will be done with repointing work to the village sign north.
• Bus shelter – cleaned out and disposed of the dead pigeon that was inside, given the inside a coat of white Sandtex, a second coat is required which will be done the first week in October, and then the anti-graffiti paint can be applied.
• A diversion sign, belonging to Highways, has been moved from the ditch behind the telephone box and placed next to the bins compound at the village hall ready for Highways to collect.
• The Cemetery – inspected and some litter cleared from the hedge.
• The Allotments – inspected but nothing appears to need doing at the moment.
• The street name sign for Ryston Road at the junction with Church Road has fallen over, it has been stood back up but needs repairing by BC street name team.
• The condition of the two phone boxes has been assessed, they need a clean and sweep out, the light is on in both boxes, the south box door does not shut and needs adjusting, the north box door has rotted away around the lower hinge, and needs extensive repairs, both boxes have missing glass and missing telephone box signs, (three on the south box and one on the north box), the aluminium glass frame on the doors on both boxes are badly corroded and pitted.

5.4         Police Report.  PCSO Jane Edwards was not present and no report has been received from her prior to the meeting. It was agreed to remind her to provide a report for the meeting in future if she is unable to attend.

5.5         Village Hall Report.  There have been two bookings recently. Events could be better attended.  The Bar continues to do well.

5.6         Broadband Report.  PW advised that there had been no further update from Karen O’Kane (KOK) since the last meeting. BL had advised that he had no more information than the PC.

5.7         Glazewing Report.  Glazewing had issued their October report by email, it covers the period from 28 August to 26 September. It advised that there had been one reported incident in the period. The details are:

• 2 September - two Glazewing lorries were traveling along Dereham Road towards College Road. Villager reported that she had to move over to avoid being hit by the second vehicle. Glazewing identified three vehicles travelling at the time of the incident but have been unable to verify which driver was at fault. They have therefore spoken to all three drivers with regards to their driving skills and will be monitoring their performance going forward.

The planning application made by Glazewing for a building to cover a new baling machine was discussed at an extra-ordinary meeting of the PC on 22 September when a decision was made to object to this application in accordance with the views of all the members of the public present. The details of the reasons for the objection were read out to all present and can be seen in the minutes from that meeting.

6.1         Accounts.   Accounts for approval and the monthly financial management report were submitted by the Clerk. She advised that the income and expenditure for August 2014 has now been confirmed and that estimated figures for September have been inserted based upon invoices received.

All of the above payments were considered and approved. Cheques to be signed at the end of the meeting.

6.2         Budget for 2015/16.  At this stage further consideration was given to any additional items that should be added or current items removed. Members of the public were invited to comment on the budget for 2015/16. There were no additional items or suggestions for removal of items.

• Two Additional Dog Waste Bins. It has been agreed that, given continuing complaints, two more dog waste bins should be purchased to match the existing bin. It was suggested that these could be placed at the end of The Row and on St Andrew’s Close. It was agreed that this item would be included in the next village notice and residents would be invited to comment on the locations.

• Planning Applications.

8.1         C/2/2014/2020 – Frimstone Ltd: Crimplesham Quarry (Northern site) extension of date for operations to continue to 31 December 2015.

8.2         C/2/2014/2022 – Frimstone Ltd: Crimplesham Quarry (Northern site) extension of date for operations to continue to 31 December 2015.

8.3         C/2/2014/2018 – Frimstone Ltd: Crimplesham Quarry (Southern site) to regularise existing plant site layout arrangements and alterations to phase boundary.

CC said that at the beginning of 2011 Frimstone began trading outside the limit of its existing planning permission. The BC enforcement officer visited the site and Frimstone was obliged to apply for retrospective planning permission which was granted towards the end of that year. In May 2011 Frimstone applied for an extension to continue operating the old north quarry, the closure of which had been one of the prerequisites to opening the new south quarry. This extension was granted until December 2014 now, with the new deadline imminent, Frimstone have once again applied to extend workings at the north quarry until the end of 2015. The then NCC mineral & waste planning enforcement officer explained that while planning conditions could be varied if they were hampering business, the BC & NCC had a duty to protect local amenities.

• It was agreed to OBJECT to all of the above applications giving the following reasons:
• It was not accepted that “permitted operations have been shown to be able to take place without undue impact on the amenities of local residents.”
• It was not accepted that the cumulative impact arising from both sites operating simultaneously has been “without complaint” as the PC objected to previous applications for this reason.
• There has been no discussion with local residents on these applications.
• These applications do not clearly spell out what will happen at the sites.
• There appears to be either no long term plan or Frimstone Ltd are not bothering to explain this plan, given repeated last minute applications to continue operating the north quarry which was supposed to close in 2011.
• It was also agreed that a letter would be sent to Frimstone Ltd inviting them to attend the next PC meeting to explain their plans.

8.4         14/01030/A – Camping Site, Woodstock Farm: two hoarding signs. Permission has been granted by the BC.

9.1         A letter has been received from NCC advising of a consultation on the budget and priorities for 2015/18. A copy of this letter is to be emailed to all Councillors.

9.2         A letter has been received from NCC advising of the Parish Partnership Scheme Initiative for 2015/16. This scheme allows PCs to apply for 50% of the cost of projects which deliver local highway improvements. The PC is considering applying for funding for Decorative Village Gateways (as in Fincham and Denver) to be placed at five entrances to the village. Measurements to be taken by Councillors and a final design to be sketched so that quotations can be obtained.

• Parish Council Assets.

10.1       Addition of the War Memorial to the Village Assets Register. Information had been provided by the Church Warden on the Church Assets Register. The PC believes the church register incorrectly claims the War Memorial as church property. The dioceses has indicated that it is not interested in maintaining the memorial. Since the PC considers the War Memorial to belong to the village, it was agreed to add it to the Village Assets Register and take responsibility for its maintenance. Members of the Heritage Group would be visiting the Norfolk Records Office to investigate further the history of West Dereham’s memorial.

10.2       Cemetery Pillars & Gates. Option one of the three sketches was agreed as the preferred choice for the gates.

Only one quote had so far been received for the pillars, however further quotes are expected.  It was agreed

that a decision would need to be made at the PC meeting in November 2014.

1. Other Business – Any Additional Reports and Items for Inclusion on the next Agenda.

11.1.      PB advised that the footpath from Basil Road has been obstructed again by the temporary fencing installed while building work is completed. It was agreed that the Clerk would speak to Highways on this matter.

11.2       PK advised that TF has been moved to another zone in Afghanistan and that he should be back at home by the end of October.

The official meeting concluded at 9.10pm and was opened to the floor for general comment.

Open Forum.

• Thanks were expressed for the overhanging trees that have been cut back on Ryston Road.
• Various potholes have developed on Church Road, in front of the houses and down to The Old School. It was agreed that the Clerk would refer this to Highways.
• Better Broadband for Norfolk (BBFN) website incorrectly states that the work has completed in West Dereham. PW agreed to speak to her contact at BBFN on this matter.

Closure. The Chairman thanked everyone for attending and final closure of the meeting was at 9.20pm.

Next ordinary meeting of the Parish Council is on Thursday 6 November at 7.30pm with Open Surgery from 7.00pm.

Clerk: Sarah Thorpe

Email: clerk@westderehamparishcouncil.com

Telephone: 01945 430930

Chairman’s signature ……………………………………             Date ……………………………