West Dereham Parish Council - September meeting

DRAFT MINUTES OF THE WEST DEREHAM PARISH COUNCIL MEETING HELD AT WEST DEREHAM VILLAGE HALL AT 7.30 pm ON THURSDAY 1 SEPTEMBER 2016 PRESENT (6 Councillors): - Pam Bullas (PB), Claire Cann (CC), Lorraine Hunt (LH), Paula Kellingray (PK), Pam Walker (PW) Claire Williams (CW). Clerk: Sarah Thorpe Borough Councillor Sandra Squire (SS) 14 members of the public were in attendance. Papers presented to Councillors: (i) Financial Management Report (spreadsheet); (ii) Expenditure (for approval); (iii) Budget for 2016/17; (iv) Glazewing report. The Chairman welcomed everyone present and opened the meeting.

1. Apologies for absence. Apologies had been received from Tom Foy due to work commitments (TF); and County Councillor Brian Long (BL) due to him being away.

2. Declarations of Interest. No declarations were made.

3. Use of social media, audio recording of meeting and invitation for public contributions. CC 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. CC advised members of the public that if they wished to comment on any item, before a decision was made, they should raise their hand and they would be invited to speak.

4. Minutes of the Parish Council meetings held on 4 August 2016. CC confirmed all Councillors had seen the minutes of the Parish Council (PC) meeting held on 4 August 2016. These were agreed as a true record and signed by the Chairman. (SS arrived at this point giving her apologies for being late.)

5. Reports. 5.1 Chairman’s Report. 5.1.1 Vacancy for Parish Clerk. CC advised that the current Clerk had given notice due to personal circumstances and that the position would be widely advertised in order to find the best candidate. 5.1.2 Cemetery. CC advised that the new gates were now fully operational. A path had been mowed in the grass from the new gates to the area which contained the memorials. Weeding and trimming of the Garden or Remembrance had also been undertaken by Councillors and their family members. The PC would now be removing the original gates and they would be stored at the Village Hall; the plaque on the gates would be removed for safekeeping. LH agreed to make an application to Woodland Trust for additional hedging plants to fill the gap created by removal of the original gates; Handyman to be asked to install hedging over the winter months. A parishioner asked for the PC to reconsider fully closing the gap created by removal of the original gates; she felt that some parishioners with limited mobility could find it difficult to walk from the new gates to the memorials. CC advised that the PC would need to discuss this further as the decision to remove the original gates was made a while ago following the opportunity for full consultation with the village. The cemetery had been planned to work for everyone well into the future and any graves not adjacent to the gates would involve a short walk. It was noted that the water supply had been positioned so that it was between the new gates and the memorials.

5.2 Clerk’s Report. 5.2.1 Update from Borough Council (BC) on Site Allocations and Development Management Policies Plan (SADMP). The BC had now received the Report into the Examination of the SADMP from the Inspector. The Report and the Appendix giving the Main Modifications were available on the BC website. A report proposing the adoption of the Site Allocations and Development Management Policies Plan with the Main Modifications outlined by the Inspector would be presented to the BC Cabinet on 7 September. The meeting of the Council on 29 September would be asked to formally adopt the Plan. Following this the BC would prepare the consolidated version of the SADMP and publish this together with the relevant supporting documents as given in Regulations 26 and 35 of the Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2012. CC said none of the plan affected West Dereham. 5.2.2 Notices to be placed in the parish regarding Section 31 (6) Highways Act and Section 15A (1) Commons Act 2006. Notices were due to be posted within the parish relating to deposits made by landowners to Norfolk County Council (NCC) under the above legislation. Public Rights of Way Deposits under Section 31(6) of the Highways Act 1980 relate to the establishment of public rights of way. A deposit relating to public rights of way does not affect any existing public rights of way that are recorded on the definitive map and statement; the public can continue to use existing public rights of way as normal. The deposit is a statement from the landowner that they do not intend to dedicate any additional public rights of way over their land. An admission by the landowner of existing rights of way usually forms part of the deposit. Town and Village Greens Deposits under Section 15A of the Commons Act 2006 relate to the establishment of town or village greens. A deposit relating to town and village greens is a statement from the landowner that they do not intend to dedicate the land covered by the deposit as a town or village green. Depositing a Section 15A notice also means that any application to register land covered by the deposit as a town or village green must be made within a year of the deposit date or the opportunity is lost until another 20 year period of use is established. Deposits can include statements regarding both public rights of way and town and village greens. Further information and copies of deposits can be found on the NCC website. The deposits within West Dereham are referenced as D16 43 and D16 45. CC advised that she had looked at the notices on NCC website. They related to land owned by the Ryston Estate and none of it affected West Dereham.

5.3 Handyman’s Report. The Handyman had cleared and replanted the wooden planters on Church Road; strimmed verges on Ryston Road and around the footpath at the junction of Church Road/Lime Kiln Road; completed preparation work and commenced painting of the telephone box on Church Road. Councillors had been watering the wooden planters and advised that they had been approached by several residents to comment on how nice the planters looked with one resident offering to deadhead the plants when necessary. A parishioner asked if the Handyman could cut the small strips of verge on St Andrew’s Close which were no longer cut by NCC. CC restated the position of the PC, as mentioned at the last meeting, in that the PC could not include verge cutting in their programme for grounds maintenance because they could not cut the verges outside one property without being prepared to cut them all and it would be prohibitively expensive to cut all village verges; the PC had already taken on extra ground maintenance work to cover local government cuts.

5.4 Police Report. PK advised that there had been no information from the police on any reported crimes in the parish since the last PC meeting; however she was aware of a recent garage burglary which had occurred overnight in Crimplesham with the door being damaged, several items stolen and items that were not taken had been damaged. CW reported that she had called the police regarding the anti-social behaviour of bike riders along Station Road. This matter was discussed with several residents reporting incidents of this nature. It was reported that the police had called at the wrong house and spoken to residents that were not involved in the incidents. It was agreed that all residents affected need to report each incident to the police every time that it occurred. It was felt that the police needed to take more proactive action to solve this ongoing issue with regular attendance in the village to witness the incidents. A resident expressed concern about speeding vehicles on Church Road and claimed that tractor and trailer drivers were the worst offenders. He felt that more 30mph signs should be installed on Church Road. It was agreed that Highways would be asked to install additional signs. It was agreed that a record would need to be kept of vehicles involved and dates and times before any action could be taken direct with the businesses allegedly concerned.

5.5 Village Hall Report. PK advised that it was a mixed report this month. Bookings were good for September and last Sunday the village hall had undertaken their first outside bar for an event organised by the Boughton Cricket Club. The recent Bank Holiday weekend had seen events taking place each day and made a profit of £750-£800, which included funds raised by the bar. On a less happy note the keep fit had stopped, due to lack of numbers.

5.6 Broadband Report. PW reported on an update from Karen O’Kane (KOK) from Better Broadband for Norfolk (BBfN) which had advised that the new cabinet on Church Road (Stoke Ferry 9) was now up and running but some areas still needed to be connected to the new cabinet and this should be completed within the next month. PW asked that parishioners let her know the speeds that they were able to obtain so that the situation could be monitored and KOK informed of areas which still had a poor speed. A parishioner advised of a website which could be used to check speed and he agreed to send this information to PW. An email had been received from a resident on Hilgay Road asking for the PC to continue applying pressure on BBfN until a good speed was available to all of the village.

5.7 Glazewing Report. PB provided feedback on the situation regarding activity at Glazewing (GW): • 3 August – Rachel Flannagan, Environment Agency (EA) informed PC that they had asked GW to write a fire prevention plan in line with new guidelines. • 11 August - Steven Halls, Monitoring and Control Officer, Planning Services, Community & Environmental Services, NCC visited GW and monitored activities; he reported that he had told GW that their waste piles were exceeding the 4.5 metre legal limit and they must get them down to this level within 28 days and they had been working outside their permitted operating hours 07:00-19:00 Monday-Friday and 07:00-17:00 Saturday. • 13 August - GW had a major fire. Reports stated that about 10 staff members were at the recycling site when the fire started at 06:15. Although residents were asked to keep their doors and windows closed via the media this probably didn’t reach everyone. The PC received no communication about this and was not invited to the multi-agency meeting that was held on 16 August. It was reported that the evacuation of residents of Station Road was considered at one point but still no contact was made with the PC. SS advised that the BC Environmental Health Officer had attended the meeting and that the air and water quality was being monitored. The PC would be sending a letter advising of their concerns over the apparent lack of consideration for residents’ health and the failure to invite the PC to attend the meeting or provide any contact with the PC at all. The PC had been informed that NCC served GW with three Breach of Condition Notices (BCN) on 18 August, which was 7 days after Steven Halls’ visit. In summary these were for: working outside their permitted operating hours, the illegal height of their waste piles; and contravening the perimeter hedging conditions round their site. They had been given 7 days, 28 days and 6 months to address these BCNs respectively. The latest reports received from residents showed that GW had been using their haulage yard as a waste ‘holding’ yard over the Bank Holiday weekend; there were many covered and uncovered skips left in the haulage yard, presumably waiting for the start of permitted operating hours on Tuesday after the Bank Holiday. Some of the skips were parked over an open water course, which given the heavy rain that the village had experienced were a cause for concern. This had been reported to the EA and Steven Halls with photographic evidence. An email had been received from a resident to ask if there was some way of calling for a review from NCC regarding the skip area as this was the source of most of the noise and nuisance, dust etc - one morning a vehicle reversed from one end to the other at 04:40 with the reversing bleeper going for about 5 minutes then was banging and crashing around as he unloaded. Video evidence had been provided and PB had suggested they contact Steven Halls but wondered if more could be done by the PC or BC. SS advised that this was a matter for NCC. Richard Stimson (RS) from GW had provided a monthly report for the PC meeting. It stated: “Fire Saturday 13 August 2016 We would like to thank the emergency services for their prompt actions, the fire was contained within a small area of the site. We would also like to thank the local community for their understanding during this incident and apologise for any inconvenience caused. The material concerned was general waste, no hazardous materials were involved. The most likely cause of the fire is arson, if anybody saw anything suspicious during the early hours on Saturday morning please inform the police. Glazewing Ltd are working with the Environment Agency and Planning office to implement an improved site security system and fire prevention plan. If you have any further questions regarding this incident please contact Keith Charlton. Keith Charlton is taking over the responsibilities as Waste Transfer Station & Compliance Manager, please forward all future correspondence to Keith e-mail & telephone number below. If you have any concerns or complaints please direct them to: Keith Charlton, Transfer Station & Compliance Manager either in writing, by phoning direct on 01366 500162 or e-mail to keith.charlton@glazewing.co.uk. To enable us to respond to your concerns please include the following information. • Type of complaint or incident • Date and Time of incident • Vehicle details, registration if possible were applicable” The PC and parishioners commented on their surprise to hear the fire referred to as “contained within a small area” as it was reported that 15 fire appliances, with approximately 100 fire-fighters from 3 counties, had attended the fire. All were equally surprised at the suggestion that the most likely cause of the fire was arson when press reports had stated that 10 members of staff were present on the site at the time that the fire broke out. The PC was also surprised to read in GW’s report that no hazardous materials were involved as they had been informed that fire-fighters had been forced to dispose of their uniforms as they had become covered in an unknown sticky black substance.

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 July 2016 had now been confirmed and estimated figures for August had been inserted based upon invoices received. The Clerk advised that although expenditure had been high over the last few months it was still in line with budgets. The Clerk’s payment included her 2 weeks’ holiday pay. Payee Cheque No Net VAT Gross Clerk’s salary, expenses for August – 61.25 hours 100887 695.95 695.95 Handyman’s contract, expenses plus 10 hours for August 100888 106.20 106.20 CGM Ltd – Grounds maintenance August 100889 237.66 47.53 285.19 Mazars LLP – External Audit 2015/16 100890 100.00 20.00 120.00 Pear Technology Services Ltd – Annual tech support 100891 200.00 40.00 240.00 Keith Alan t/a OZ-UK – Additional supports for Cemetery gates 100892 286.00 57.20 343.20 Total 1625.81 164.73 1790.54

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

6.2 External Auditors Report. The Clerk advised that the Annual Return had now been completed by the External Auditors and that their report contained no comments or suggestions. It was therefore appropriate to consider that the PC had acted correctly in all matters affected by the Audit. It was agreed to display the ‘Notice of conclusion of the audit’ on the PC notice boards and website along with a copy of the External Auditors Certificate.

6.3 Budget for 2017/18. Copies of the budget for 2016/17 had been circulated to Councillors and was on display on the overhead projector at the meeting. CC advised that this was the first month of the next four months when the PC would be considering whether any additional items should be added or removed for 2017/18 and that a decision would be made on setting the budget at the PC meeting in December. Members of the public were invited to comment on the budget for 2016/17. No new items or suggestions for removal of existing items was identified at this stage. CC advised members of the public to contact the Clerk if they had any suggestions following the meeting.

7. Planning. Applications. None Decisions. Concern was expressed by a member of the public over planning application 16/01054/F on which there was now a decision. 16/01054/F Extension to agricultural building at Hill House Farm, Bath Road, West Dereham. A letter had been received from the BC Planning Officer advising of the decision to approve the application and the reasons for the decision. The letter was read out to the meeting: “I am writing to inform West Dereham Parish Council that the above planning application for the extension to an agricultural building at Hill House Farm has been approved. The principle issues of objection by the Parish Council related to the proposed use of extended building, associated traffic movements and the impact on neighbour amenity. The issues were addressed as follows: Further correspondence between the case officer and the agent on 12/07/16, 13/07/16 and 02/08/16 clarified the use of the site for storage of agricultural vehicles already parked on the site. On the site visit it was clear the existing storage unit was already used for storage of vehicles and machinery with a number of other such agricultural equipment present in the adjacent yard uncovered. The use can be restricted by a condition. The information provided by the agent was forwarded to the Local Highway Authority for further comment. The officer determined that additional traffic should be restricted on Bath Road, however they did not object to the application. They recommended a condition to restrict the use of the building being ancillary to the existing farm and that it would not be let or sold for third party use as such is likely to result in additional traffic. The proposed extension faces away from neighbouring properties. The agricultural building is of a sufficient distance from neighbouring properties and is screened by vegetation such that it is unlikely to cause significant amenity issues in terms of noise or pollution to neighbours for its continued use as a storage unit. It is therefore considered that the principle issues of objection can be resolved through conditions. For this reason, under the Borough Councils Scheme of Delegation for planning, the Executive Director has the delegated power to approve the application.” PW asked if a decision had been received from the BC on the application submitted for retention of air conditioning units at Woodside Barn, The Row (Reference 15/01955/F). The Clerk advised that she had previously been told that the application was still being considered. It was agreed that the Clerk should chase this matter up again with the BC.

8. Parish Council Assets. 8.1 Installation of benches and bird bath at the Garden of Remembrance. This item had been carried forward from the August PC meeting in order to obtain further quotations but no other quotations had been received. CC advised that she believed the contractors who had carried out the improvements to the Garden of Remembrance should be asked to carry out the installation at a cost of £350 plus VAT as they would take the most care to prevent any damage to the plants. It was agreed by all to go ahead with this quotation.

8.2 Clearance of vegetation from the Recreation Ground. The Clerk advised that despite several attempts no other quotations had been obtained. The only quotation received was from CGM for £280 plus VAT. This matter was discussed and it was agreed that the work needed to be done and that the quotation from CGM should be accepted.

8.3 Quotations to cut hedges at the allotments and the cemetery. PB had met with CGM to discuss options for cutting the hedge at the allotments. They had hoped to be able to carry this out with a flail but this could not be done so the only other option was to use a chainsaw; CGM had advised that this was likely to cost in the region of £500 plus VAT. The matter was discussed and the offer was accepted for Alexander Cann to cut the hedge free of charge and burn the cuttings on site. CC advised that she had a meeting with CGM the following day to discuss a quotation for cutting the cemetery hedge.

8.4 Quotations for new door frame for Church Road telephone box. The Handyman had advised that a new hardwood door frame would be needed for the telephone box. The Clerk had obtained three quotations which ranged from £255 to £350 excluding delivery and VAT. The matter was discussed and it was agreed that due to the cost involved a new door frame should not be purchased at this stage and that the Handyman should be asked to remove the current door for now and complete the repainting without the door.

8.5 Grounds maintenance for 2017. The current contractor had advised they would not be quoting for the work when the present contract expired. CC noted that in the past they had provided the work at a considerably reduced rate and were possibly moving away from this type of maintenance contract. A discussion took place on the quotations obtained from other contractors in 2015 and it was agreed that all of these contractors should be approached again to provide a quotation for 2017 and that if any other companies were known they should also be approached. It was most likely that the maintenance contract would need to be reduced in order to save costs and it may be that more than one contractor would be needed as it could prove cost effective to split the work into difference sections. Clerk to send out maps and details of requirements to contractors.

8.6 Allotments. A meeting with allotment tenants had been arranged for Saturday 3 September to discuss options for going forward with the site to include cost of deposits, number of plots, clearing of vacant plots, and options for smaller plots. The Allotment Liaison Officer had advised that he would be giving up the role and his plot from the end of the current term for personal reasons. Decisions to be made at the October PC meeting and then new tenancies could be agreed. A member of the public asked if they could attend the allotment tenants meeting as they were interested in taking on a plot; CC advised that they were welcome to attend. 9. Review of PC Policies and documents. 9.1 Data Protection Policy. The draft document had been sent to all members prior to the meeting. It was briefly discussed and agreed that no amendments were needed to the document at this review.

9.2 Risk Assessment. The draft document had been sent to all members prior to the meeting. It was briefly discussed and it was agreed to accept the proposed amendments to the cemetery section to confirm that this included gates, pillars, pillar caps, gate stays, benches and bird baths. Clerk’s email address and “Quality” logo for the Local Council Award Scheme to also be updated on the document.

10. Correspondence. None.

11. Other Business – Any additional reports and items for inclusion on the next Agenda. 11.1 PW and SS had been advised that they must attend compulsory training on 19 September for their positions on the Executive Committee of the Internal Drainage Board. 11.2 PB asked for the Clerk to chase up Highways on a response to the reinstatement of the village map sign. 11.3 PB asked if all Councillors and the Clerk could respond to her request for feedback on the draft Cemetery Regulations so that the matter could be discussed at the next PC meeting. 11.4 PK offered her apologies for the allotment tenants meeting and the October PC meeting. 11.5 CW advised that she had obtained an Ordinance Survey map of all footpaths in WD. 11.6 CC asked the Clerk to chase up Highways for an installation date on the village gateways.

The official meeting concluded at 9.30pm, and was opened to the floor for general comment.

Open Forum. • A parishioner asked if the PC had details of the intervention levels from Highways on pot holes. LH agreed to look into this matter and obtain details.

Closure. The Chairman thanked everyone for attending, and final closure of the meeting was at 9.35pm.

Next PC meeting is on Thursday 1 September 2016 at 7.30pm with Open Surgery from 7.00pm. Clerk: Sarah Thorpe Email: clerk@westderehamparishcouncil.uk Telephone: 01945 430930

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