Stoke Ferry Parish Council Meeting September

Page 1 of 7 STOKE FERRY PARISH COUNCIL Draft (until approved at the next meeting) Minutes of the Ordinary Meeting held on Wednesday 9 September 2020 at 7.00 pm, Virtually online via Zoom Present: Cllr Sue Lintern (Chair) Cllr Kit Hesketh-Harvey (Vice-Chair) (From 133/20 to end) Cllr Stuart Collins Cllr Andrew Hayward Cllr Trudy Mann Cllr Janet Taylor Helen Richardson (Parish Clerk and Financial Responsible Person) Also, in Attendance Public – 1 Cllr Colin Sampson, Borough Council of Kings Lynn and West Norfolk Cllr Martin Storey, Norfolk County Council Stephen Ward and Alan Lury Representatives from the Bluebell Pub Campaign 150/20 Openness and Transparency Notice The Chair read the notice. 151/20 Aggressive and Abusive Behaviour The Chair read the notice. 152/20 To Receive and Consider Acceptance for Apologies of Absence Apologies were received and accepted from Cllr Donna Stocking, Cllr Gail Reeve and Cllr Mandy Leamon (All personal reasons). 153/20 To Receive Declarations of Interest from Members Cllr Sue Lintern declared an interest regarding Planning Application for tree maintenance detailed within the Clerks report at item 155/20. Cllr Trudy Mann and Cllr Janet Taylor declared an interest regarding the Bluebell public house at item 156/20. 154/20 To Approve the Minutes of the Ordinary Meeting held on 12 August 2020 There were two minor amendments to the draft minutes to clarify that the flowers for the tubs at the War Memorial needed to be red, white, or blue aside to other donations of plants. The second amendment is to clarify that the funding for the Neighbourhood Planning consultants would cost £1600 made up of £1000 from the additional grant funding and £600 from allocated Parish Council budget. RESOLVED: That the minutes of the Ordinary meeting held on 12 August 2020 with minor amendments detailed in the minutes of this meeting be approved as a correct record. (Cllr Andrew Hayward proposed, Cllr Trudy Mann seconded, all were in favour). 155/20 To Note Matters Arising from the Minutes of the Last Meeting. Matters arising and the Clerk’s report was noted as follows: Buckenham Drive Land Transfer –An update was received from the BCKLWN end of August to confirm that they were reviewing options and would response asap. It is hoped that this can be added to the October agenda. Indigo Road Streetlights –The Clerk emailed the Borough Council Planning team mid-August who agreed to investigate it. Page 2 of 7 Website Hosting – The Cost of the hosting was lower at £120 not £144 as presented at the last meeting. NP Grant Grounds Works UK – Confirmed as being paid into the Parish Council’s bank account on 14 August 2020 totalling £5980. Plant Tubs and Cement Works to the Memorial – The Clerk fed back on email to the volunteer the resolution from the August meeting regarding these requests in the horticultural update. There had been some donations of plants since the last meeting and the Parish Council wished thanks to those who had come forward. Grant Funding – The Parish Council was eligible for grant funding from the BCKLWN to the total of £10k in that it received small business rate relief regarding the cemetery as of 11 March 2020. The BCKLWN approached Parish Councils as they had been included in an amended form of the funding which closed at the 28 August 2020. The BCKLWN assessed the application and it was successful and has been deposited into the PC account since. Planning Application Decisions Received 20/00828/F Stoke Ferry the Apiary Furlong Road Stoke Ferry King's Lynn Norfolk PE33 9SU - Demolition of front porch and erection of replacement. Demolition of single storey rear building and erection of two storey rear extension. Application Permitted 31 July 2020 Delegated Decision. 20/00135/TREECA Stoke Ferry Trafalgar House Bridge Road Stoke Ferry King's Lynn Norfolk PE33 9TB - T1 Cherry tree - Fell T2 Prunus - Prune lift canopy thin crown and remove top leaders Tree Application - No objection 20 August 2020 20/01057/PACU3 Stoke Ferry Land and Buildings Immediately N to NE of The Old Farm House Oxborough Road Stoke Ferry Norfolk - Notification for Prior Approval for change of use of agricultural buildings to 5 dwellinghouses (Schedule 2, Part 3, Class Q) Application Withdrawn 24 August 2020 Withdrawn Application 20/01218/F Removal of garage, extension to dwelling and construction of new garage at Cockshill Oxborough Road Stoke Ferry King's Lynn Norfolk PE33 9SY – Application withdrawn. 01.09.20 Notified. Planning Applications Submitted No Consultation Required 20/00155/TREECA Stoke Ferry Trees in a Conservation Area: T 1,2,3. Mixed Cypress. Dismantle, process, and remove. These trees are oppressive, permission is sought to remove and replace them with something ornamental and more in keeping with the ambience of the immediate locale. The Old Bull Bridge Road Stoke Ferry King's Lynn Norfolk PE33 9TB 156/20 To Discuss and Approve Any Actions or Costs in Relation to the Bluebell Campaign Project and a Public Works Loan, to include decisions about public consultation methods The Chair wished to congratulate the Bluebell Campaign Group on the Bank Holiday event. The appeal for the planning application by the current owners of the Bluebell had been refused. Stephen Ward Chairman of the Bluebell campaign, provided the following update: • Thank you to everyone who had helped to promote the Bank Holiday event. • £1200 had been fundraised from the Bank Holiday Event which was positive response by the Community. • The Group was pressing on, the refusal of the planning appeal was good news for the campaign. Page 3 of 7 • The group had applied for seed funding totalling £2.5k from the Plunkett Foundation which would be used to procure a survey on the Bluebell. The survey would allow the group to understand what the costs would be for renovation. It was hoped that results from the funding application would be available very soon. • The group were also preparing an application to the Plunket Foundation for a 50% grant and 50% loan for £100k. The fund is incredibly competitive with lots of funding currently being allocated to Covid-19 related activity. • The group’s Business Plan had been in draft for some time, which included a community benefit statement and an outline share offer. • The prospect of raising the funds to buy and renovate the property was a committed task to raise £180k to purchase the property and potentially a further £100k to renovate it. The group were pleased that the Parish Council were considering a Public Works Loan which would result in the ownership of the Bluebell Pub by the Parish Council and a future facility for the Village. • Similar projects elsewhere had used a model whereby the Parish Council purchased the property and a Community Benefit Society was set up to raise the funds to renovate and run the building. • An offer from the owner to loan the group £100k had been received by the group. The Chair confirmed that the Parish Council had received the same response and would be discussing a reply in due course. The deadline for response had been one month. Following a query Stephen confirmed there had been no communications on the details around the terms of sale with the owner at this point. They had sent a holding email to them, however. There were also conditions within the terms of the sale of the property that would need some focus. Following a query about the group considering part of the building providing holiday lets, Stephen advised that the group had discussed whether B&B accommodation might be possible, but it wasn’t in the Business Plan and the project had not been dependent on it financially, but all options would be considered as the project moved forward. The Chair advised that information had been circulated to the Council on the Public Works Loan and various payment scenarios involved with taking out a Public Works Loan. The Chair shared that the Parish Council would need to gauge public opinion via a public survey and consultation, and currently Parish Councils did not have to hold a referendum to do so. Stephen shared that the group hoped that the running of the pub and profit would go towards any loan the Parish Council took out to make it cost neutral. He added that the group’s idea was a building and a pub for drinking and eating but together with the core proposal of serving the community in other ways. If there were alternative premises, they would be open to explore. Cllr Sue Lintern proposed that the Parish Council hold an Extraordinary Parish Council meeting to gauge how we can proceed with the project and if the Public Works Loan is something the village would like to proceed, all Councillors present were in favour. It was agreed to wait to hold the Extraordinary Parish Council meeting until the group had more specific costs available, possibly in October. Stephen thanked the Parish Council for looking to explore the issue at an Extraordinary meeting and shared that he would be happy to discuss any queries with Councillors if needed. 157/20 To Receive a Neighbourhood Planning Working Group Update Cllr Andy Hayward shared the report from the Neighbourhood Planning Working group as follows: Page 4 of 7 Stoke Ferry Neighbourhood Plan Working Group Monthly report to Stoke Ferry Parish Council Date: 02.09.2020 1. Work since our last report of 10th August 2020 • Due to the lockdown across the village which resulted from the Corona Virus pandemic, we were unable to progress the planned second public consultation day and face-to-face stakeholder meetings. This activity has been replaced by a comprehensive household survey, which the NPWG hand delivered to every private residence and business within the parish, some 500+ properties. • Surveys are due to be returned by the 14th September and four banners have been erected at strategic places within the village to encourage residents to either complete their paper survey or online via the NPWG website. Publicity has also been sought through the local papers (EDP and Lynn News) and through Stoke Ferry’s face-book page. • Two Working Group sub-meetings were held via Zoom on August 4th and 25th. • The sub-Group dealing with the ‘Village Character Appraisal’ has continued apace with a target comple-tion date of mid-September. This work is required input to the Housing Needs Analysis and the Urban Design Codes – two consultancy assignments to be conducted by AECOM. 2. Work planned through September/October 2020 • Analysis of the returned surveys will take place after the deadline of the 14th September. Feedback from the returned surveys will be used to draft a set of policies and as input to the Housing Needs Analysis. • AECOM are scheduled to begin The Housing Needs Analysis work in September. This is a three-month process. • The recent Govt white paper on planning changes emphasises the need for good design in Neighbour-hood Plans and therefore, we intend to advance our application for a grant for Urban Design codes. This is a fully supported financial grant application. • The NPWG are planning to hold a workshop on 17th October to begin drafting the Neighbourhood plan document, review the draft policies and plan the second public consultation day tentatively due to take place sometime in November (dependant on the latest pandemic govt. advice). 3. Consultancy, Funding and Financial costs to-date • Funding: o We have received the balance, £5,972 grant funding. o The Housing needs grant was approved, and the work is being started. o We are also applying for a Technical Grant (Design Codes) from Locality which will cover the cost of a professional urban designer to work alongside the Working Group, harnessing our ideas and local knowledge, and produce bespoke urban design guides or codes for potential development sites. 3. Agreement Needed by SFPC • Agreement that NPWG can proceed with the following funding applications for: o A technical grant to fully fund the cost of providing Urban Design codes RESOLVED: That funding to cover the Technical Grant (Design Codes) from Locality be applied for at no cost to the Council be approved. (Cllr Kit Hesketh-Harvey approved, Cllr Janet Taylor seconded, all were in favour) 158/20 To Discuss and Approve Any Action in Relation to the 2Agriculture Mill Page 5 of 7 Cllr Kit Hesketh-Harvey advised that the Environment Agency had responded to his recent enquiry and they had generally signposted him to the BCKLWN and other Government agencies and in his view were not taking responsibility for the issues that had been raised. He added that he had hoped that the Environment Agency would provide an indication through communications on whether the Mill was relocating from the village. The Chair shared that the latest planning information received earlier that day showed that they had applied for a site in Snettisham which clearly stated that the purpose was for relocation from Stoke Ferry. The application was on the Breckland District Council Planning website. There had been a virtual public consultation and it was unclear what the results to date had been. 159/20 To Discuss and Approve Any Action in Relation to the Old Railway Site, Bridge Road The Developer had advised the Council in August via email to the Clerk that no development would take place on the site for around the next 12 months’ due to soil conditions being ‘soft’. The Clerk had queried with them the material that had been placed on the site that appeared to be ‘rubbish’, but they were advised that it was to build the road infrastructure, however pictures of the material had been further queried and a response was awaited. The Council understood that the site was within the Conservation Area and the Clerk agreed to remind them of this when next in communication. 160/20 To Approve Design in relation to the Village Gates Sign There were four draft designs shared for approval of final design. RESOLVED: That the Gate design 1 shown with letter style type on Gate design 4 show with removal of Welcomes Safe Drivers be approved. (Five were in favour and one were against) Cllr Andy Hayward agreed to send over artwork to the Clerk to receive costs which would be discussed at the October meeting. 161/20 To Approve Any Works for the Norfolk County Council Highways Rangers The Clerk agreed to report the following to the Highways rangers: • Verges needed weeding on Wretton Road and Bridge Road. • Furlong Drove at the junction onto the A134 had hedges that required cutting for a vision splay. • On School Lane by the houses there, there was Wild Dog Rose growing out into the road within the verge that needed cutting. 162/20 To Discuss Remembrance Sunday Arrangements and Purchase of Any Related Items or Costs The Clerk had purchased 19 crosses for Remembrance Sunday as a deadline was provided for end of August by the Royal British Legion due to Covid-19. The purchase of these crosses was approved. (Cllr Kit Hesketh-Harvey proposed, Cllr Stuart Collins seconded, all were in favour). Cllr Janet Taylor and Cllr Trudy Mann agreed to work together on arrangements for the Remembrance Sunday and it was agreed to discuss at the October meeting particularly to review Covid-19 requirements on what was possible for the event this year. 163/20 To Approve Meeting Dates 2021 – All first Wednesday of each month from January to December 2021 including the Annual Meeting of the Parish Council and Annual Parish Meeting in May. Page 6 of 7 RESOLVED: That Dates for the Stoke Ferry Parish Council Ordinary meetings continue to be held all on the first Wednesday of each month from January to December 2021 including the Annual Meeting of the Parish Council and Annual Parish Meeting in May. (Cllr Janet Taylor proposed, Cllr Kit Hesketh-Harvey seconded, all were in favour). 164/20 To Approve Annual Membership to the Society of Local Council Clerks (SLCC) for Parish Clerk & RFO RESOLVED: That the Annual Membership to the SLCC for the Parish Clerk be approved at £53.66. (Cllr Sue Lintern proposed, Cllr Janet Taylor seconded, all were in favour). 165/20 To Approve New Parish Council Report Template RESOLVED: That the template be approved for use. (Cllr Sue Lintern proposed, Cllr Andy Hayward seconded, all were in favour). 166/20 To Approve the Payments The payments were presented for approval as follows: Payee Payment for Net VAT Total Clerk Clerks Wages and Expenses -August 20 (including refund of Microsoft 365 Licence due to expiry £41.99 including VAT with 30% discount) 329.91 7.00 336.91 HMRC Aug-20 69.60 0.00 69.60 Handyman August 2020 - Bins 12.00 0.00 12.00 Grounds Maintenance August 2020 - Grass only cut once due to being brown plus weed spraying 150.00 0.00 150.00 Community Action Norfolk Return of Covid19 Community Response Fund Entirely Unspent Due to Volunteers Not wishing to Claim Expenses 500.00 0.00 500.00 Total 1061.51 7.00 1068.51 The Parish Council applied to the Covid-19 Community Response Fund early on at the onset of the Covid-19 outbreak in order to cover any volunteer expenses, but all volunteers during that time had done so without requesting any expenses for the duration. Norfolk Community Foundation who managed the fund had asked awardees for an update on whether the funds had been spent and if it was unlikely there might be any spend. The Chair had checked with the volunteers and all of them were happy to proceed without making a claim for expenses and therefore it was proposed to return the grant back via approval within the payments to be made this month. The Parish Council agreed that it needed to duly thank the volunteers for the time since lockdown in March and as they continue to do so by assisting residents with errands. RESOLVED: That the payments for August 2020 as presented be approved. (Cllr Sue Lintern proposed, Cllr Kit Hesketh-Harvey seconded, all were in favour). 167/20 Urgent Matters - Chairman The Chair shared that on the October agenda would be the Santa Challenge 2020 but there was a need to start to advertise now. The Chair wished to confirm with the Council that they were happy to go ahead this year with the event and agree a date. All Councillors unanimously Page 7 of 7 agreed to hold the event and on Sunday 6th December. The Chair added that the Pump had agreed to sponsor it again and they were providing a £50 prize for the winner. 168/20 To Receive Urgent items of concern & matters to be included on the next agenda from the Parish Council and note forward items • A design for the Village Map would be circulated to Councillors very soon. • It was agreed to monitor litter in the village regarding additional signage. • FP17 was overgrown at the bottom part near Buckenham Drive and needed attention, the Clerk agreed to ask the Handyman to look at it. 169/20 Cllr Colin Sampson (BCKLWN) and Cllr Martin Storey (NCC), if in attendance They had to depart earlier in the meeting, so the Clerk provided some information on their behalf: • Unitary Council for Norfolk was back on the agenda and to watch this space. • There was a Paint Amnesty at the local recycling centres and to check the website for details. • Both websites for the BCKLWN and NCC had information contained regarding Covid-19 and other matters. • If there were any issues, they were happy to assist and to contact them. 170/20 To Adjourn the meeting to allow for public comments The Chair adjoined the meeting to allow public comments. The only Member of public was asked to unmute or turn their video on should they have any comments and there was noted there was none as it remained muted and with video turned off. The Chair reconvened the meeting. 171/20 To Confirm the Date of the Next Ordinary Meeting – Wednesday 7 October 2020 at 7 pm. The date of the next meeting was noted. 172/20 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 and Approve a HR Related Matter. RESOLVED: That the HR Related Matter be resolved regarding salary and the Local Government Pay Agreement 2020/21. (Cllr Sue Lintern proposed, Cllr Andy Hayward seconded, all were in favour). Meeting Closed at 9.00 pm.