West Dereham Parish Council February Meeting

DRAFT MINUTES OF THE WEST DEREHAM PARISH COUNCIL MEETING HELD AT WEST DEREHAM VILLAGE HALL AT 7.30 pm ON THURSDAY 2 FEBRUARY 2017 PRESENT (six Councillors): - Pam Bullas (PB), Claire Cann (CC) - Chair, Tom Foy (TF), Lorraine Hunt (LH), Paula Kellingray (PK) and Pam Walker (PW) Clerk: Helen Carrier Thirteen members of the public were in attendance. The Chairman welcomed everyone present and opened the meeting.

1. Apologies for absence. Apologies were received and accepted from Claire Williams.

2. Declarations of Interest. PK declared an interest in an item in correspondence involving the cemetery.

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 meeting held on 1 December 2016. CC confirmed all Councillors had seen the minutes of the Parish Council (PC) meeting held on 1 December 2016. The minutes were agreed as a true record and signed by the Chairman.

5. Reports. 5.1 Chairman’s Report 5.1.1 Village Gates The Chairman had reported to a local farmer the damage to the village gate on Lime Kiln Road. The Clerk will contact Andrew Harrison the maker to ask him to visit the site and give a quote for repairing the gate which would be passed to the farmer. 5.1.2 May PC meeting – due to locals elections on the 4 May the meeting will now be held on Wednesday 3 May 2017. 5.1.3 Ditch at The Row The ditch opposite The Row has now been cleared. 5.1.4 Glazewing Interview – the interview that the Chairman gave to BBC Radio Norfolk, to be mentioned in 5.7, is recorded if anyone would like to listen to it. 5.1.5 Royal British Legion The Chairman showed the RBL magazine to the meeting which featured on the cover Cllr Tom Foy with the West Dereham Standard. The Chairman thanked TF for putting West Dereham on the map.

5.2 Clerk’s Report. 5.2.1 30mph signs on Village Gateways The Clerk had continually chased Highways to replace the signs and have now reported the problem to Norfolk County Council Highways and to Karl Rands, Area Manager BCKWLN Highways. 5.2.2 SAM2 sign The SAM2 has been installed and is working well. The Clerk was attending data training at Southery Village Hall on Monday 6 February and suggested that two new brackets are ordered from Westcotec to make the SAM2 easy to move around the five sites. 5.2.3 Allotments A letter has been sent to an allotment holder asking them to consider the role of Allotment Liaison Officer. 5.2.4 Police Connect The Clerk has registered the parish with Police Connect and have created a separate heading on the website. Any relevant police connect reports will now be placed on the website for residents’ information. 5.2.5 Bank Mandate The forms have been submitted to Barclays Bank. 5.2.6 Goal Posts As the original quote is out of date a new quote is being prepared by Sports-Theime and will be sent by email. However, with an order over £1,000 only a BACS payment can be made. 5.3 Handyman’s Report. The original gates have been removed from the Cemetery and have been stored at the village hall. Fencing has been put across the gap and the grounds have been tidied up after the tree surgery. The Handyman has removed low branches on trees at Stocks Bridge and footpath – all rubbish was taken to Recycling Centre. The goals posts and netting have been removed from the Recreation Ground. The waste bin and dog bins have now been replaced in Church Road and the waste bin has been reattached at the Recreation Ground. The Handyman met with the Clerk and Roy Payne from Westcotec to discuss the installation of the SAM2 at various sites around the village on 11 January. The SAM2 sign was fitted on 20 January and the Handyman will meet with the Clerk to discuss a three weekly plan. The Handyman has done an inspection of the three main areas; allotments, playing field and Remembrance Garden. One resident said that only the netting had been removed and not the goals posts – the Clerk will clarify with the Handyman.

5.4 Police Report PK reported that she has received a new sign for residents to place inside their doors reminding of them of security when answering the door. LH and PW attended the Police and Crime Commissioner’s meeting on Monday 30 January 2017 and reported that SNAP meetings will be ongoing and the Neighbourhood Watch Scheme will be resurrected in due course. A full report is held by the Clerk.

5.5 Village Hall Report PK reported that the village hall is going from strength to strength and has lots of bookings for the coming months. The village hall are recruiting for a new secretary and an advert has been placed in the village magazine.

5.6 Broadband Report. No report received. Members of the public reported that Basil Road has very slow broadband.

5.7 Glazewing Report. The following email had been received from Keith Charlton but no report. “At this time due to the ongoing issue after the last fire I will not be able to complete a report for you this month, but will say that Glazewing apologizes for any inconvenience that the recent fire may have caused and I myself look forward to future communication with the parish council working towards a mutual relationship of sort issues between Glazewing and the Parish council. Please in the first instance if there is any issues raise them with me and I will action and report back.” The Chairman said she had been at the April 2011 meeting with Liz Truss et al and while she understood that GW could not be forced to screen the skips on the north side of the river, she recollected perfectly clearly that this was precisely what GW undertook to seriously consider to do.

PW attended the Stoke Ferry Internal Drainage Board (SFIDB) meeting on 1 February 2017. PW reported that at the "Matters Arising" stage of the meeting she updated the board on the latest fire at Glazewing and the fact that again the PC was not informed of the fire so could not notify or support residents, particularly those who were vulnerable and lived near Glazewing. The Chairman of SFIDB suggested that the Glazewing fire was not really a matter for the PC as the wind was in the opposite direction and so would not cause a problem so there was no need to notify anyone. PW disagreed with this comment and reported that the PC considered it an important issue; this was supported by some members of the board. Glazewing Report from PW • Back in December Glazewing reported that Jon Miles had acquired another yard for parking some of the lorries that are kept in the Station yard there was an application, in the Lynn News on 20 Jan 2017, by them for a change of existing licence as follows: To add an operating centre to keep 7 goods vehicles and 6 trailers at Bexwell Aerodrome. • I was informed on Tuesday that Glazewing had ‘closed’ notices up at their site. On Wednesday morning I rang Rachel Flanagan at the Environment Agency who told me they had closed the site down to all incoming waste as a fire precaution until GW get their stockpiles down to the EA’s required 4M limit. The site will remain closed until compliance is met. Rachel also told me that there are now security guards on site, additional CCTV will be installed in the next 3 weeks and thermal imaging sensors will be installed that will be connected to telephone alarms. This will all form part of their fire prevention plan that has been delayed owing to the fires!! I also mentioned to Rachel that we had received two reports of ‘smouldering’ rubbish at the GW site; one was on 10th December 2016 and one a generalised reference received in December. • Noise – All complaints about noise from the GW site should be reported to the EA. Even if they are from the same people they will be given a reference number and treated as separate incidents. EA hotline 0800 80 70 60. We were told in the GW September 2016 report that they were carrying out an independent noise survey, in line with recommendation from the planning officer. I have now been told that the noise assessment is being carried out this week and the results will be available by the end of next week. Steven Halls, Monitoring and Control Officer, Planning Services, Community and Environmental Services, NCC says he is ‘very unhappy with the progress being made over the new plant as it is now 5 months since I first raised the matter with the company. I have given them a deadline of 13th March for ‘substantial progress’ to have been made towards the submission of a planning application. In essence I want a definitive answer as to where the plant is to be located in the long term, a design of the plant and a firm date by which the application will be submitted. I will assess the information available on 13th March and the enforcement position will be reviewed’. • Skip Screening – Questions have been raised over the screening of the skips that are parked adjacent to Station Road. This goes back to 2009/10, when GW successfully claimed historic rights for the parking of skips. Further to meetings with Christopher Fraser, MP, Liz Truss, MP, Richard Rockcliffe County Cllr, Glazewing, NCC, West Dereham PC there was an understanding that GW would plant and as quoted in a meeting held on 1 April 2011 ‘To help screen the skips on the site north of the river, some planting would be considered; this could include a hedge or other such planting’. At a meeting on 6 September 2012 Nigel Manning, GW informed the PC meeting that GW is still awaiting approval from NCC for a planting scheme which was intended to screen the skips located by the river in Station Road. I have raised this matter with Steven Halls and he says the statement of 1 April 2011 would not constitute a commitment and there is nothing he can enforce. SH had raised the issue with Paul Norris when he worked at GW and the response was that planting would not be done in that area. SH believes that the scheme Nigel Manning was referring to was Condition 3 of Planning permission C/2/2011/2024 – screening of the main site – this is the planting that has failed and is now the subject of the Breach of Condition Notice. The Chairman had been contacted by Radio Norfolk about the fire and gave an interview on 16 January. One member of public presented the meeting with a video of a lorry reversing down the road after coming from Glazewing’s and possibly being called back. The lorry was very large and caused a hold up on the road. The Clerk will forward this video to Highways at BCKLWN to show how large the lorries are on a single track road and what effect this is having on the village verges. One member of the public asked why a Glazewing representative did not attend parish council meetings. The Chairman explained that there is an ongoing invitation for them to attend but they stopped coming in March 2012 because they said they did not have to listen to criticism. A member of the public asked about the weight limit of the Stock’s Road Bridge and has it been reinforced. The Clerk will contact Highways for a report and ask what the weight limit is on all the bridges in West Dereham. One member of the public asked if Glazewing could have an alarm or siren that could alert residents of a fire or any other incident that would need residents to close their windows. 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 December 2016 and January 2017 had now been confirmed and estimated figures for February had been inserted based upon invoices received. Payee Cheque No Net VAT Gross Oliver Bradbury 100918 600.00 600.00 Helen Carrier salary, expenses for December 100919 489.29 489.29 Ray Poole, Handyman’s contract, expenses for December 100920 90.21 90.21 Post Office Ltd - PAYE 100921 61.20 61.20 Westcotec Ltd SAM2 100922 3417.00 683.40 4100.20 Norfolk ALC – Autumn Conference 100923 50.00 50.00 Total 4707.70 683.40 5391.10

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

6.2 Transparency Code. The Clerk had attended a training seminar and advised the meeting that the parish council could apply for funding to buy a new laptop and software and extra working hours to maintain the website. All agreed to apply for the funding and the Clerk will submit the form to Norfolk ALC before the next deadline.

7. Planning. No applications have been received. The Clerk was asked to check the outcome of the application 15/01955/F – Variation of Condition 2 attached to planning permission 11/00695/F which was discussed at the meeting on 3 November 2016.

8. Parish Council Assets. 8.1 One off cut of Cemetery long grass. Holly Landscapes had forwarded a quote of £100 + VAT. Council agreed to accept this quote.

8.2 Ground Maintenance Contract As TOP Garden Services were extremely slow in providing a contract the PC had grave doubts about their ability to deliver a reliable and efficient service so it was decided to obtain another quote. The Chairman and Clerk met with Nick Robinson from Holly Landscapes to discuss the grounds maintenance required in the village. A quote of £3,900 + VAT from Holly Landscapes was considered along with the original quotes obtained last year. All agreed to grant Holly Landscapes the contract for 2017/18.

9. Review of PC Policies and Internal Affairs. 9.1 Reporting Policy. The document was reviewed and it was agreed that no amendments were necessary. 9.2 Action Plan. The document had been amended in line with actions that had occurred since it was last reviewed. The Chairman reported that the village green has not moved forwarded due to three letters being sent to a landowner regarding a piece of land to be used by the village – to date no response has been received from the landowner. 9.3 Clerk’s Contract The document was reviewed and it was agreed that no amendments were necessary. 9.4 Clerk’s Appraisal The document was reviewed and it was agreed that no amendments were necessary. 9.5 Travel & Expenses Policy. The Clerk confirmed that the mileage rate was current. The document was reviewed and it was agreed that no amendments were necessary. 9.6 Health & Safety Policy. The document was reviewed and it was agreed that no amendments were necessary.

10. Correspondence. A letter had been received from Anglian Water for information only. The Community Infrasture Levy (CIL) Monitoring and Compliance Officer had sent an email regarding details of the new CIL which will come into effect from Wednesday 15 February, the Clerk had forwarded the email to Councillors. An email has been received regarding the proposed road closure at Gibbet Lane 530m north east of junction with A134 for 80m north east from 12-17 February, the appropriate notices will be displayed on noticeboards. The Clerk had received a telephone regarding the placing of one headstone between two graves. The PC agreed that the Cemetery Regulations on the website were quite clear and one headstone between two graves would not be permitted. It was possible to purchase a double grave with a single headstone which was smaller than two singles; but the strip between two single graves did not form part of either grave and all such considerations came down to maintenance.

11. Other Business – Any additional reports and items for inclusion on the next Agenda. 11.1 CW had asked in December if consideration for a sign for the Millennium tree could be added to the agenda. The official meeting concluded at 9.45pm, and was opened to the floor for general comment.

Open Forum. One member of the public asked for Council to consider a defibrillator for the village. The Chairman said all villagers had been asked in two household drops last year if anyone was interested in fundraising for a defibrillator. There had been no response. However, if there was now an interest this would be added to the Action Plan and the Clerk will research grants and contact Wereham Parish Clerk for more information on the funding they obtained for their defibrillator. Potholes have still not been filled outside of 9 Church Road, the Clerk will report this. The ditch on Church Road is causing concern to residents due to the lack of drainage, the Clerk will request a site visit from Highways.

Closure. The Chairman thanked everyone for attending, and final closure of the meeting was at 9.55pm.

Next PC meeting is on Thursday 2 March 2017 at 7.30pm with Open Surgery from 7.00pm. Clerk: Helen Carrier Email: clerk@westderehamparishcouncil.uk Telephone: 01366 387443

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