West Dereham Parish Council - July meeting

DRAFT MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF WEST DEREHAM PARISH COUNCIL HELD AT WEST DEREHAM VILLAGE HALL AT 7.30 pm THURSDAY 9 JULY 2015 PRESENT (6 Councillors): - Pam Bullas (PB), Tom Foy (TF), Lorraine Hunt (LH) – Vice-Chairman, Paula Kellingray (PK), Claire Page (CP), Pam Walker (PW). Clerk: - Sarah Thorpe Cllr Brian Long (BL) – County Council Cllr Sandra Squire (SS) – Borough Council 4 members of the public were in attendance. Papers presented to Councillors: (i) Financial Management Report (spreadsheet); (ii) Expenditure (for approval); (iii) Glazewing Report. The Vice-Chairman welcomed everyone present and opened the meeting.

1. Apologies for absence. Apologies had been received from Cllr Claire Cann (CC) due to her being away.

2. Declarations of interest. No declarations were made.

3. Use of social media and audio recording of meeting. LH asked “Will anyone present be filming, recording, Blogging, or tweeting during this meeting?” No member of the public present at this stage advised that they would. 4. Minutes of the Parish Council meeting held on 11 June 2015. LH confirmed all Councillors had seen the minutes of the Parish Council (PC) meeting held on 11 June 2015. These were agreed as a true record and signed by the Vice-Chairman.

5. Reports. 5.1 Chairman’s Report. No report was given as CC was not present.

5.2 Clerk’s Report. 5.2.1 Decorative Village Gateways. Measurements have been taken by the Handyman regarding the available space for the gates at all locations. The Highways Engineer is to take a look and confirm the appropriate size of the gates for each site. 5.2.2 Borough Council (BC) Planning Enforcement Referral. The BC have advised that they have investigated the case that was referred to them, following the last PC meeting, and they confirmed that no action is needed. 5.2.3 Annual Return. The Annual Return has been submitted to the External Auditor. To comply with the “Transparency code for smaller authorities” the PC is now required to display, on its website, most of the documentation that has been sent to the External Auditor. This was done before the 1 July 2015 deadline. 5.2.4 NALC/SLCC Summer Conference. This took place on Tuesday 7 July in Norwich. The conference included interesting and informative talks from Norfolk County Council (NCC) on the Parish Partnership Scheme for 2016/17; Strengthening the Reputation of Local Councils from the Academic Leader of SLCC; Community Resilience including Emergency Plans from Norfolk Resilience Forum; and Acquiring Community Assets: A Practitioner’s Perspective which involved talks from Diss and Sprowston Town Clerks. There was also a large selection of trade stands offering information on products and services which could be of use for the PC with future development plans. 5.2.5 Local Council Award Scheme. Some documents have been added to the website and others will follow when they are approved.

5.3 Handyman’s Report. No report had been received from the Handyman. It was noted that more of the plants in one of the wooden planters had been removed. PW advised that she had some spare plants and would use them to fill the gaps left from the missing plants. It was suggested that in future years the planters could be filled with wild flowers.

5.4 Police Report. PK advised that weekly crime summary reports had been received from Police Connect. These reports including warnings on summer security for properties and advised residents to keep windows and doors locked; advice on care near open water; and security of sheds and outhouses. During the last month there had been a number of burglaries from sheds and churches in the Downham Market area and one of these included the church in WD where the lock was broken but nothing was taken. The Police are urging residents to ensure their sheds are kept locked.

5.5 Village Hall Report. PK advised that the hall continued to do well and events were well supported. Finances could be better as additional costs were now being incurred due to rates being payable and a paid role of Treasurer. There are currently vacancies on the committee and these would be advertised in the next village magazine.

5.6 Broadband Report. PW advised that there was no further update to the information given at the last PC meeting which had advised that WD was expected to receive superfast broadband by the end of September 2015.

5.7 Glazewing Report. Glazewing had issued their July report by email which covered the month of June. The report provided an update on the potholes that had been reported to Highways in May; it stated that they had been repaired by Highways within 48 hours. No complaints had been received in June. The report also stated that the Traffic Commissioner was dealing with the letters of concern that were sent to him following the application from Glazewing to extend their Goods Vehicle Operator’s Licence. Glazewing advised that they had received a visit from VOSA on 7 July in connection to this and were awaiting the report. There was also a further reminder that Paul Norris has left the company and that all future correspondence should be sent to Richard Stimson.

6. Finance. 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 May 2015 has now been confirmed and that estimated figures for June have been inserted based upon invoices received. Expenditure for the first quarter of the year was in line with budget. Payee Cheque No Net VAT Gross Clerk’s salary, expenses for June 15 – 48 hrs 100810 568.03 568.03 BCKLWN – annual rent for recreation field 100811 5.00 5.00 CGM Ltd – grounds maintenance for June 15 100812 165.50 33.10 198.60 West Dereham Village Hall – hire of hall for Apr-June 100813 180.00 180.00 Total 918.53 33.10 951.63 The above payments were considered and approved. Cheques to be signed at the end of the meeting.

7. Planning Applications. 7.1 15/01000/F Construction of gates and pillars at cemetery, St Andrew’s Walk. The application, which had been submitted by the Parish Council, was discussed and the public were invited to make comments. No comments were made at this stage. It was agreed by all that the PC would SUPPORT the application.

8. Parish Council Policies and documentation. 8.1 Standing Orders. The draft document had been sent to all members prior to the meeting. An amendment had been made to state that filming and recording was “permitted in line with the provisions of the Openness of Local Government Bodies Regulations 2014.” It was agreed by all to adopt the amended document. 8.2 Asset Register. The draft document had been sent to all members prior to the meeting. It was briefly discussed and agreed by all to adopt this document. 8.3 Action Plan for 2015/16. The draft document had been sent to all members prior to the meeting. It was briefly discussed and agreed by all to adopt this document.

9. Correspondence. 9.1 An email had been received from Wereham Village Hall Committee (WVHC) regarding support for their application to build a new community hub to support Wereham and the surrounding villages. The matter was discussed and it was agreed that WD already had facilities in place to provide the services being suggested for the new hub. The PC felt unable to give support to a project that could adversely affect the facilities already provided in WD and future plans to improve outdoor activities in WD. Clerk to issue a reply to advise WVHC of the situation. 9.2 A mid-season report had been received from the Allotment Liaison Officer, Richard French (RF), regarding the poor condition of some of the allotment plots. Letters had been sent to tenants by the Clerk as agreed at the last meeting. A reply had been received from the tenant of plot 3 to advise that they agreed to the PC suggestion of giving up three quarters of their plot and retaining only a quarter. They wished to clean up the rest of the plot in order to receive their deposit refunded. The letter advised that they had started the work to clear the plot; however the report from RF advised that only a small attempt had been made to remove some of the weeds and that the plot was now critical. Plot 8D was in a similar condition and plots 8C and 8A were approaching a similar stage. It was agreed that an urgent inspection of the allotments was needed by the PC and that this should be arranged as soon as CC returned. Clerk to contact all to agree a date and advise RF of the situation.

10. Other Business – Any additional reports and items for inclusion on the next Agenda. 10.1 CP advised that the wooden posts on the corner near The Old School had not yet been installed by Highways. Clerk to chase up. 10.2 Ownership of the footpath that was blocked still needed to be established so that they could be contacted. 10.3 The Clerk confirmed that she had reported the broken posts in front of the telephone box in Station Road. 10.4 Photographs had been received from a relative of damage to a grave stone in the churchyard. It was agreed that this matter would be referred to CGM for them to investigate. 10.5 TF advised that he was moving away from the area in September, due to a work posting, and would therefore be reluctantly giving his resignation from the PC. 10.6 CP advised that she had heard that that another parish had installed a trough system, which prevents a hosepipe connection, for the water supply at their allotments and it was agreed that this could be investigated prior to installation of the water connection at the WD allotments.

The official meeting concluded at 8.15pm, and was opened to the floor for general comment.

Open Forum. • A parishioner expressed thanks to the PC for reporting the issue regarding the sunken drain cover on Church Road. It was noted that the area had been marked for repair by Highways. • A parishioner commented that Highways may object to the planning application for new cemetery gates and pillars as they may not meet the minimum requirement for distance from the Highway. The PC advised that the gates were not intended to allow vehicular access.

Closure. The Vice-Chairman thanked everyone for attending, and final closure of the meeting was at 8.18pm.

Next PC meeting is on Thursday 6 August at 7.30pm with Open Surgery from 7.00pm. Clerk: Sarah Thorpe Email: clerk@westderehamparishcouncil.com Telephone: 01945 430930

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