Minutes of Northwold Parish Council - September Meeting

Northwold and Whittington Parish Council – Ordinary Meeting Tuesday 4th September 2018, 7.30pm Christchurch, Whittington

PRESENT: Cllr R Crisp, Cllr C Anderson, Cllr M Peake, Cllr S Smith, Cllr I Quinn, Cllr G Gillett, Cllr C Sharp, Cllr N Nickles, Cllr C Pointeer, Cllr David Human, Cllr H Hogan. Mrs N Cooper (Clerk)

There were 4 members of the public.

1. PUBLIC FORUM (15 MINUTES) Item 12 Whittington Park was brought forward for discussion on approval of the Chair. It was noted that the new swing seat which has been purchased for Whittington Park will cost £141 incl. vat to install by Bonnets as the current shackles are non-standard. This cost was agreed by all. * Cllr Pointeer to progress. Some discussions have been had with Whittington residents about what would be liked in Whittington Park but no specific ideas have been provided. After discussion it was agreed that a small questionnaire should be developed for delivery to all Whittington residences to determine what parishioners would like to see there. *Whittington Councillors to develop a questionnaire and bring it to the October meeting for approval.

2. ACCEPTANCE OF APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE There were none.

3. MEMBERS’ DECLARATION OF INTERESTS and DISPENSATION REQUESTS (for items on the Agenda) Nothing was declared.

4. TO APPROVE AND SIGN THE MINUTES OF THE LAST MEETING held on 3rd July 2018 The minutes were approved by all Councillors present. The minutes were signed by the Chairman as a true record of the meeting held on 3rd July 2018. The final version will be available on the website.

5. REPORTS AND MATTERS ARISING FROM MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETINGS (for information only) Item 8b, the items could not be refunded as they were paid by card. Item 16a, the bin has been installed but the BCKLWN have retrospectively advised that it is sited too high. Discussions are ongoing to resolve this. Item 23a, to be deferred for now.

6. LOCAL AUTHORITY REPORTS a. Norfolk County Council – representative not present b. Borough Council of Kings Lynn & West Norfolk – nothing to report

7. CORRESPONDENCE i. Newsletters CPRE, Norfolk Constabulary, Norfolk Association of Local Councils ii. Annual Review of Small Schools, Norfolk County Council Children’s Services iii. West Norfolk Early Help Bulletin and Service Directory for August iv. Norfolk Rivers Trust: WaterCoG - Water Management Survey v. Also a complaint has been received into the Council about a fence height. *This will be passed on to the BCKLWN. It was advised that the Wissey catchment update will be amended to include the correct villages.

8. School Lane car park update The plans to satisfy highways requirements for the visibility splay have been approved. The Public Rights of Way team have concluded that historically FP6 was 4-5m along its length and therefore a 1m gap would be an illegal obstruction. The plans have been adjusted and resubmitted and a response is awaited. Quotes for the works have been difficult to attract. 5 companies have visited the site and invited to quote but only two have responded with costs to date. Creative Driveways have costed for part of the works; to widen and gravel the driveway. NCC Highways have quoted for the full job. The NCC quote was discussed and it was agreed that the cost is greatly in excess of the original budget and could not be approved at this point. The maximum grant from National Lottery Awards for all is £10,000 which would not offset the quoted cost sufficiently. It was noted that contractors for the highway frontage must be NCC approved. This was a limiting factor for Creative Driveways. *It was agreed that Cllr Anderson should go back to Creative Driveways and Highways to see if there is a way of piecing together an affordable way forward for the project. * Clerk to check when the Lottery Grant must be spent by. It was noted that some antisocial behaviour on the car park site has been reported to the police. This included the riding of quadbikes on the land. This report has been followed up and police have visited the site. Any subsequent antisocial activity on the site should be reported directly to the police.

9. Northwold Sports and Social Club roof repairs – estimates are awaited. *To put on October agenda.

10. Northwold Recreation Ground- a request from a Northwold team to play football on the recreation ground has been received over the summer. This was retrospectively approved.

11. Northwold War Memorial and Whittington War Memorial have both been awarded Listed Building Status by Historic England. This was noted.

12. Discussed under item 1.

13. Constables Charity Land – The Clerk advised that she had looked through the paper work and on the Charities Commission website as to whether the charity land can be sold. A copy of the scheme dated 18th March 1930 (Charities Commission) is held at Norfolk records office in Norwich and is needed to determine the governing rules which should determine whether a sale can take place. Cllr Human offered to visit the records office. *Clerk to follow up initial contact with the office to see if a copy could be received and liaise with Cllr Human if a visit is still necessary.

14. A request from Methwold PC to remind people to clear up after their dogs along Mill Drove was noted.

15. UPDATE ON CURRENT WORKS a. Common Drove Footbridge – both Common Drove and Ingham’s Lane footbridges have had temporary repairs. Signage will be put up at Ingham’s Lane footbridge to say ‘Pedestrians Only No Livestock’ upon request from NCC. b. SAM2 / Trod. The SAM2 is ready, training to be organised for Cllr Nickles and Cllr Piinteer before this can be used. *Clerk asked to ensure that the SAM2 is covered by the insurance. *Cllr Pointeer to purchase padlocks for the device. The trod is still awaited. Clerk also asked to find out what happened to the flashing speed sign which used to be located on the A134 100m south of the junction with Methwold Road. *Clerk to ask Highways c. Public Rights of Way Signage and Road Signs - the PROW sign for FP6 has been requested. The road signs are all reported as having been repaired. d. Play area repairs – There have been company delays on this. *Clerk to request a date for completion. e. Crown Inn – a purchase price for the pub has been agreed and this has been publicly announced. Financial contributions are still being sought. Shares can be purchased for £50. Loans of a minimum of £2000 are requested and these will be paid back from Yr 4 and will be eligible for tax relief.

16. CEMETERIES: a. Christchurch wall has been damaged. This is believed to have occurred during recent treeworks as ordered by the Parish Council. The Church insurance does not cover the cost for repairing this. *Clerk asked to contact the contractors to find out why no one was informed of the damage at the time. *PCC to seek three estimates for repair. * To place on October agenda. No other issues were raised for Whittington Cemetery Northwold Old Cemetery grass needs to be cut. *Clerk to chase TTSR. Cllr Smith asked if it is ok to cut the hedge in front of the Whittington War Memorial. This was agreed to by all.

17. GROUNDS MAINTENANCE a. *Clerk asked to advise TTSR that the area in front of Northwold new cemetery needs to be cut soon. b. Concerns have been raised about ragwort on Northwold Recreation Ground. *Clerk to ask TTSR if they can deal with this. c. Costings for extra grass cutting costs via NCC Highways are awaited, *Clerk to follow up for October meeting.

18. HIGHWAYS and STREETLIGHTING a. *The Clerk was asked to follow up on reports of the damaged bus stop near the old tile centre in Northwold.

19. PLANNING APPLICATIONS AND UPDATES a. The following planning applications were received between meetings. All were circulated to Councillors and no objections were raised or extra ordinary meetings requested. A response of No Objections was sent to the Planning Authority for all of the below: 18/00123/TREECA, T1 Silver Birch Reduce up to 4m off sides 4m off top and remove low limb within Conservation Area, 14 Methwold Road, Northwold 18/00124/TREECA, T1 T2 Apple Trees x 2, Fell within Conservation Area, 16 Methwold Road Northwold 18/01388/F Replacement of flat roof with pitched roof, construction of facing single skin wall to existing extension to create cavity wall and render to existing wall at Audley House 1 High Street Northwold 18/01443/F Single storey extension to dwelling (amended) at Crisps Yard Common Drove Northwold 18/01438/F Retrospective application for siting of purpose-built shipping container for use as snack bar at Fendicks Fisheries Methwold Road, Whittington 18/01121/F Proposed side extension, front reception lobby/hall and attached double garage in a Conservation Area at 4 Pinfold Lane, Northwold b. The following planning applications were discussed at the meeting. i. 18/01495/F New house and garage at Land Copse And Pond SE of Heathlands And W of A134A Thetford Road Northwold Norfolk. The Parish Council objects to this application on the grounds of reduced traffic safety due to the sites location close to a dangerous crossroads where any increased traffic usage will compromise safety. ii. 18/01561/F Proposed residential bungalow 5 Glebe Close Northwold. The Parish Council objects on the grounds of it being a cramped form of development. iii. 18/01541/F Removal or variation of condition 9 of planning permission 07/02097/F No objections raised

20. FINANCES: a. Election Costs - – The BCKLWN has advised by email that Borough Council costs for administrating uncontested elections will now be recharged to individual Parish Councils. For Northwold and Whittington Parish Council there are two wards so the costs will be double. Democratic services estimate that the cost would be around £200 per ward for this. Contested elections are already being budgeted for but Democratic services have advised that the charge for contested elections council be up to £2000 per ward. Therefore, the amount of £1000, which is already allocated to this each year, needs to be rolled forwards incrementally each 4-year period between elections. The next elections will be in 2019. b. 2019/20 Parish Partnership Funding – discuss project ideas. Deadline 7th December 18. *To be placed on October agenda. Clerk to investigate whether this could contribute towards the car park cost. c. 5 Year Financial Plan – rolling agenda item. Costs for Whittington amenity land flagged up. d. Emergency treeworks were undertaken by NCC since the last meeting to remove a fallen tree in Church Lane Whittington. It was confirmed that this tree is the responsibility of the Parish Council and the payment was approved. The accounts to 4th September 2018 were accepted and cheques to be signed and payments approved in accordance with the table on the next page.

21. TRAINING: No new requests

22. MEETING VENUES It was agreed that meetings at Whittington Christchurch should be continued. A payment of £10 per meeting going forward was agreed. June and September 2019 meetings to be held at Christchurch.

23. ADDITIONAL ITEMS FOR AGENDA OF NEXT MEETING: TO BE HELD ON TUESDAY 2nd OCTOBER 7.30pm, Northwold Village Hall a. Community Notice Board (NN) b. Northwold Tennis Court request for funding towards lighting. c. Annual Risk Assessment (CA) Before the close of the meeting the Clerk asked for a volunteer to be the named generator for the solar panels at Northwold Sports and Social club for the purposes of EON’s records. This is currently a previous Councillors name. Cllr Crisp agreed to this. *Clerk to action.

With nothing more to discuss the meeting closed at 9.15pm

Chairman: __________________________________ Date: __________________