Stoke Ferry Parish Council Minutes December

STOKE FERRY PARISH COUNCIL Draft (until approved at the next meeting) Minutes of the Ordinary Meeting held on Wednesday 4 December 2019 at 7.00pm in Stoke Ferry Village Hall

Present: Cllr Sue Lintern (Chair) Cllr Trudy Mann Cllr Jim McNeill (Vice Chair) Cllr Gail Reeve Cllr Donna Stocking Cllr Janet Taylor Helen Richardson (Parish Clerk and Financial Responsible Person)

Public: 2 Also, in attendance: Chris Philpott, Footpath Warden Cllr Martin Storey, NCC

275/19 Emergency Evacuation Procedures was read by the Chair.

276/19 Openness and Transparency Notice - The Parish Council record the meeting. The Chair notified the public of this. The Chair also advised that any aggressive or abusive behaviour towards members of the Parish Council, staff or members of the public will not be tolerated. If this happens you will be asked to leave and if necessary, the meeting will be suspended.

277/19 To receive and accept apologies for absence – Were received and accepted from Cllr Kit Hesketh Harvey, Cllr Mandy Leamon and Cllr Daphne Clements (personal reasons).

278/19 To receive Declarations of Interest from Members on any item to be discussed Cllr Janet Taylor declared an interest regarding payments for approval and agreed to abstain from voting.

279/19 To approve the Minutes of the Ordinary Meeting 4 November 2019 and Extraordinary Meeting 21 November 2019 – The minutes of the Ordinary meeting held on 4 November 2019 were proposed for approval as a correct record by Cllr Janet Taylor, seconded by Cllr Jim McNeill, five were in favour, one abstained due to being absent at the meeting. The minutes of the Extraordinary Meeting held on 21 November were proposed for approval by Cllr Janet Taylor, seconded by Cllr Jim McNeill, four were in favour, and two abstained due to being absent at the meeting.

280/19 Matters Arising from the Minutes of the Last Meeting (And Clerks Report) Clerks Report (Matters Arising) – December 2019. Boughton Road Hedge - Resident informed Clerk that the work had been completed. It was possible to walk on the footpath and was satisfactory. Buckenham Drive Land Transfer – The Clerk responded to the Borough Council as per minutes in November and is yet to receive a response. The Clerk will be writing to all residents in this area to inform them that any garden waste can be taken to the local waste site or via a brown bin that can be purchased from the Borough Council, but not to be deposited on the land behind. Planning Queries by Cllr Kit Hesketh Harvey – His queries raised at the November meeting were emailed to Planning for the Committees attention and they confirmed receipt and advised it would be dealt with as a complaint. Following a query by the Chair to Cllr Martin Storey, he advised that the Planning Committee didn’t usually get involved regarding the financing of planning permission work. Cllr Martin Storey advised that sometimes an applier may have to provide a statement to confirm if a site is financially viable. There was discussion around comments of the mill site being ‘rubber stamped’ and it was felt it may have been unclear if this was an underhanded intention and as others hadn’t been there had not heard the comment. Cllr Martin Storey suggested that meetings take place in future between the Parish Council and the developer as the plans move forward. The Clerk clarified that the Planning Committee had been advised the queries were that of Cllr Kit Hesketh-Harvey. Dog Bin on Bridge Road – Highways advised that it could not be included here due to the electric in the pole, but perhaps instead could be staked in the ground nearby instead. The Highways Manager was due to email through plans for utilities in that area to the Clerk and would be added to a future agenda. Village Gates – Four of the eight gates and posts had been purchased from Stoke Ferry Timber and collected by the Handyman who had painted them. The Parish Council felt that Highways should be instructed to install them for safety reasons. Once these were installed the other four agreed would be progressed at the Wretton Road and Furlong Drove entrances. Indigo Road Streetlights – The Clerk continued to monitor updates from Norfolk County Council Highways and as soon as an update was possible it would be shared. Payroll Fees 202021- The fees would remain unchanged by the contractor next year. The Clerk recommended a review of arrangements for payroll the following year as a three-year check. Planning Decisions Received: 19/01754/F Stoke Ferry Ivy Farm Cottage 86 Wretton Road Stoke Ferry King's Lynn Norfolk PE33 9QJ - Extension to front of dwelling to create domestic garage Application Permitted 20 November 2019 Delegated Decision 281/19 To Receive a general Update following the BCKLWN Planning Committee meeting and judgement regarding the Mill Site and Mill Stores Planning Applications and approve any necessary further action of the Parish Council The Chair advised that the applications were still showing as pending on the website and it was believed that Planning were perhaps dealing with the details such as the S106 agreements. It was agreed to add to the agenda for February.

282/19 To Discuss and Approve any Action in Relation to Listed and Non-Listed Buildings Owned by 2Agriculture and the Re-establishment of the Mill Liaison Committee The Mill Manager had advised the Chair that he was seeking dates to re-establish the Mill Liaison Committee. Cllr Jim McNeill shared that nothing appeared to have happened in terms of the work required to the buildings. The Clerk agreed to write to the Mill Manager and copy the Environment Agency and BCKLWN representative and representation from the Pump and ask that the Committee be re-established. The Clerk agreed to contact the Conservation Officer at BCKLWN to discuss the issue. The Parish Council felt that the buildings had deteriorated further, and enforcement was needed to be taken to ensure the repairs and restorations required were actioned.

283/19 To Discuss Ownership of Footpath 17 and Approve Related Costs, if any Cllr Jim McNeill and the Clerk were due to take their proofs of identification to the solicitor to enable them to progress work. Cllr Jim McNeill agreed to email the solicitor to find out how long they would take to do the work required. The Clerk agreed to add to the January agenda.

284/19 To Discuss and Approve any a Horticulture update and or Purchase of 2-3-year-old trees in the Village for the Village Cemetery Cllr Jim McNeill shared that the Parish Council wished to mask the spoils area of the cemetery with hedging, he suggested a row of green beech hedging. It was agreed to budget a spend of up to £100 to purchase the hedging, this was proposed by Cllr Sue Lintern, seconded by Cllr Jim McNeil, all were in favour. Cllr Jim McNeill agreed to action the purchase and arrange planting.

285/19 To Approve the Parish Partnership Fund Application Form 202021 The Clerk had circulated a draft application form for the agreed project to Cllr Trudy Mann and Cllr Sue Lintern before circulating to the Council for approval and they were happy with the form, and particularly as they had specific involvement in pushing the ideas and project forward. Cllr Sue Lintern proposed the approval of the Parish Partnership Funding Application for 2020/21 for the map, finger post badges and perch seating for the bus shelter, seconded by Cllr Trudy Mann, all were in favour.

286/19 To Approve the Grounds Maintenance Contract 2020/21 Onwards The Clerk advised that work to be done, payment conditions and audit of work could be specified in an agreed contract. The Clerk had sent the quotation request for the one-year contract to five contractors; one declined to submit, two had not responded and two had responded. The Clerk agreed to arrange a meeting with the current contractor before the 8th January meeting at 6.30 pm. It was agreed to further add to the January agenda.

287/19 To Approve Purchase of a Projector and Screen Purchase and Mic Stands The Clerk had suggested the purchases some time ago and it was agreed to add to the agenda. The purchases along with repairs to the Notice Board and an extra website page required for the Neighbourhood Plan had been agreed by NALC in using transparency funding that had previously been received. It was agreed to do a dummy test run for lighting at the next PC meeting and add this item again to the January agenda.

288/19 To Approve Revised Cemetery Regulations, Adopt the Memorial Management Guidance and Review of Fees The regulations had been fully revised using a template provided by the Institute of Cemetery and Crematorium Management (ICCM) incorporating into it the current regulations where not included. The Clerk advised that the ICCM was used by her for advice much like Norfolk ALC and the template was a trusted model. The regulations had been circulated to the Parish Council by the Clerk prior to the meeting for review. Cllr Janet Taylor proposed approval of the revised regulations, seconded by Cllr Sue Lintern, five were in favour and one abstained as they had been unable to read the regulations in time. The Parish Council also agreed to adopt the use of the Memorial Management Guidelines to be used alongside the regulations as proposed by Cllr Sue Lintern, seconded by Cllr Janet Taylor, five in favour and one abstained as they had been unable to read them in time. A fees comparison had been provided as part of the regulations to the Council to benchmark, it was agreed that the fees required no change based on the comparisons provided, all were in favour. The Clerk advised that she will structure the fees in a way that worked in terms of what was required between the period of the purchase of a plot and interment.

289/19 To Approve Renewal of GDPR Policy and Note the Data Protection Review Cllr Jim McNeill proposed approval of the GDPR Policy that required review, seconded by Cllr Sue Lintern, all were in favour. The Parish Council noted the Data Protection Audit.

290/19 To Discuss Third Draft Budget and Precept 2020/21 The Clerk advised that this was the third draft presented and now included the precept figures received from the Borough Council. The Parish Council would need to approve the budget and precept at the January Meeting.

291/19 To Approve: Payments and Accounts Reconciliation to Date The payments and bank statement were presented over page:

The payments as presented were proposed for approval by Cllr Donna Stocking, seconded by Cllr Sue Lintern, five were in favour, one abstained due to there being a payment of close connection.

292/19 Urgent Matters – Chairman The Chair shared that NCC had written to say they were looking to implement safety improvements from Tottenhill to Thetford (A134) due to a high number of fatalities. And this work would be scheduled from 20th March 2020 for three weeks. The Clerk agreed to add the letter to the website for public information.

The Chair shared that a letter had been received from the Playing Field Trust requesting a grant towards the purchasing of their annual insurance, as in previous years. They advised that this helped them to use their finances to maintain the facilities and make improvements to it. It was agreed to include on the January agenda.

293/19 Receive items of concern & matters to be included on the next agenda from the Parish Council and note forward items - The Clerk agreed to contact the developer regarding the buddleia bushes that were overgrown at the entrance to Indigo Road and ask them to cut them back as they did before. - Cllr Janet Taylor shared that all the Santa’s around the village looked good and thanks those people involved. - Cllr Sue Lintern agreed to contact the village handyman to clean up the leaves around the community garden bed on the corner of Lynn Road and High Street.

NP Working Group Update: Cllr Jim McNeill read the following:

Neighbourhood Plan Working Group Report to SF Parish Council Meeting Wednesday, Dec 4, 2019

1. Funding We have been successful in being granted funding of £4,028 from Locality. This will help cover expenditure in developing our Neighbourhood Plan up to the end of March 2020. We will apply for a further £5,000 grant in March 2020 for consultancy costs for the next financial year.

2. Appointment of Consultants In line with the recent decision of the Parish Council, we have now appointed Rachel Leggett & Associates/Compass Point to support our work over the next 18-24 months. This appointment is conditional on the Parish Council receiving the above funding into its bank account and the signing of an agreed contract Agreement with the consultant group. 3. Working Group Members We are pleased to announce that three further residents have come forward to assist in the work of the Neighbourhood Plan for our village. To enable Working Group members to fully understand what is involved in developing a Neighbourhood Plan we will be holding a Workshop Day in mid-January. This will be led by consultant, Rachel Leggett. 4. Public Consultation Meetings and Publicity We are now organising an Initial NP Public Consultation Event to be held in mid-February 2020, at SF Village Hall (date to be finalised). We are also putting together publicity for this event as well as flyer giving a short explanation of what a Neighbourhood Plan involves, how it can benefit our village and how residents can get involved in shaping our future.

Jim McNeill Chair, SFNP Working Group

The Clerk advised that the Rangers had been in contact and Councillors agreed to email her with any issues to forward to them for resolve.

294/19 Cllr Colin Sampson (BCKLWN) and Cllr Martin Storey (NCC), if in attendance • Cllr Martin Storey advised that Coach Services and Lynx Buses were having to consider the routes that they covered in terms of accessibility of their buses following new regulations. The contact details for the bus companies could be found on their website and the transportation team at Norfolk County Council would be able to answer any queries from the public. • The Fire Service were offering a drop-in session on fire safety awareness tomorrow at the library. They were also offering free home checks for vulnerable persons. • There were several Christmas events at museums and libraries in Norfolk and more information could be found on the Norfolk County Council website. • Cllr Martin Storey had received complaints regarding Highways issues from the public and he was hoping to meet with NCC to discuss options on different schemes because he had £6k funding that he could allocate.

295/19 To Adjourn the meeting to allow for public comments

296/19 Confirm the Date of the Next Meeting – Wednesday 8 January 2020 at 7 pm, Ordinary Meeting of the Stoke Ferry Parish Council

297/19 EXCLUSION OF PRESS AND PUBLIC The Council to pass a resolution excluding the press and public from the meeting in accordance with Section 1(2) of the Public Bodies (Admission to Meetings) Act 1960 by reason of the confidential nature of the business to be transacted. To discuss any urgent HR issues, Contracts or Legal Proceedings. To discuss HR related topic. Resolved.

Meeting Closed at 9.25 pm