West Dereham Parish Council

Minutes of West Dereham Parish Council Annual meeting held in May 2010

MINUTES OF WEST DEREHAM PARISH COUNCIL ANNUAL MEETING

HELD AT THE VILLAGE HALL ON WEDNESDAY MAY 5TH 2010

Present: Mrs C Cann - Chairman, Mrs D Berry, Mr R Drew, Mr B Glover, Mrs R Marsters, Mr P Murfitt, Ms A Richardson.

Mr R Rockcliffe - County Councillor

2 members of the public

1. No Apologies for Absence.

2. Election of Chairman

Mrs C Cann was proposed and seconded and with no other nominations Mrs Cann was elected to remain as Chairman.

3. Chairman signed declaration of acceptance of office.

4. Election of Vice-Chairman

Ms A Richardson was proposed and seconded and with no other nominations elected as Vice-Chairman. Ms. Richardson stated that she is happy to act as Chairman at meetings should Mrs Cann not be in attendance but has no intention of standing as Chairman in the future.

5. Declaration of Interest:

None declared.

6. The minutes of the meeting held on 01/04/10 were confirmed as a true record of the meeting.

7. Matters Arising from the minutes:

It was requested that it be noted that Brown & Co. are not acting for the owner of the land where the Broadband mast may be erected (as was suggested in notes previously distributed regarding this project).

7.1 Playing Field goal posts

Discussion took place regarding the height of the goal posts and the condition of the grass in the goal mouth at West Dereham Playing Field. The height is felt to be acceptable but possible options for repairing the goal mouth will be considered at the June Parish Council meeting when further advice regarding reseeding or turfing the area will have been obtained.

7.2 Bus shelter maintenance

The Parish Council has allocated money in the budget to repair the bus shelter. A specification of work needed will be compiled before the June Parish Council meeting. Tenders can then be sought.

7.3 Broadband Update

Andy Ambridge, Norfolk County Council Information Technology Officer, attended the meeting to give a report on the proposed mast for West Dereham which will provide the village with Broadband connections. The proposed mast will broadcast the three common types of Wi-Fi known as "B", "G" and "N". "N" has the greatest range of the three, so will be best for receiving the Wi-Fi signal at a greater distance. As this is a pilot project it is not known how far from the mast a signal will be detected. Only laptops purchased in the last few months are likely to be able to receive an "N" type Wi-Fi signal.

To access the Wi-Fi system users will need to log on using a card as with the Library Service.

The pilot will run for the length of the contract with BT (at present four and a half years) and it may be that repeater stations will be added to the system to allow more users, further from the mast, to receive a signal. The pilot is being run to discover a realistic range for the mast and how many repeater stations are needed.

Planning permission must be obtained for the mast and it is envisaged the mast may be erected in August 2010.

8. Reports

Chairman's Report:

* The Annual Parish Meeting was held on Thursday April 22nd. Reports were given by the Chairman of the Parish Council, the secretary of the Parochial Church Council, the secretary of the Village Trust, the treasurer of the Village Hall, the secretary of the Heritage Group and the representative of the allotment holders. As last year, a pamphlet will be produced to distribute to households in the parish containing the reports and other Parish Council information.

The Chairman gave the following report:

Parish Council Website - www.westderehamparishcouncil.org.uk

* The Council had organised a free website provided by Norfolk County Council, but it was decided a professional site should be established and this is now up and running. All Parish Council minutes are posted on the site along with matters of general interest.

* The Parish Council has agreed that local businesses can advertise on the website for a set fee of £25.00 to offset costs, and all local businesses will be approached.

Parish Council Computer and Filing Cabinets

* Money has been allocated in the 2009/10 and 2010/11 budgets towards purchase of a computer for use by the Clerk of the Parish Council to undertake Council business.

* Two filing cabinets have been purchased to house past Parish Council papers and these are installed in the Village Hall.

Display Boards

* On request the Village Trust purchased display boards for use by all village groups. These are used at each monthly Parish Council meeting to display papers that may be of concern, such as planning applications.

Standing Orders and Financial Regulations

* The Parish Council adopted Standing Orders and Financial Regulations in June 2009. These included requirements to present updated Parish Council accounts and a Village Hall report at each monthly Parish Council meting.

Seminars and Conferences

Councillors have personally funded attendance at all training events and conferences

Events attended:

* May 09 - Borough Council Local Development Framework briefing attended by Chairman and Clerk

* June 09 - Campaign for the Protection of Rural England Conference attended by Cllr. Masters

* July 09 - Norfolk Association of Local Council's Summer Conference attended by the Clerk

* Sept. 09 - Norfolk Association of Local Councils AGM attended by the Clerk

* Oct. 09 - Norfolk Association of Local Councils - Parish Councils and Local Charities workshop attended by the Chairman, Cllr. Masters and the Clerk

* Jan. 10 - Borough Council Planning Training attended by the Chairman and Cllr. Marsters

* March 10 - Borough Council Further Planning training attended by the Chairman.

Burial Rules

Rules relating to management of West Dereham Cemetery were established by the Parish Council in September 2009. Details will be posted on the website.

* Headstones are not to exceed 3' 6" in height or be wider than 3'

* No double headstones, footstones or kerbs are permitted in order to facilitate grass cutting

* Artificial flowers are to be removed or replaced after 6 months; no planting on graves is permitted.

Paper Recycling Bank and Salt bin

Both the paper bank and salt bin by the bus stop have been removed as they were considered unsightly. The salt bin was being used as a dog waste bin and paper can be disposed of at Crimplesham. Consideration was given to the installation of a dog waste bin but due to ongoing costs it was agreed not to provide a bin. Households were informed, via a leaflet drop, that dog waste can be included with domestic waste if it is suitably wrapped.

Allotment and Farm Business Tenancy

All allotments are rented and there is a waiting list. The Farm Business Tenancy is due for renewal and the terms are being reviewed by the Parish Council.

Village Hall

The Parish Council has awarded a second annual grant of £750 to the Village Hall and has completed the first full years rent for the use of the Village Hall for Parish Council meetings.

Police Surgeries

Regular Police surgeries are now held in West Dereham Village Hall. Every household in the village has been notified of the dates which are also on the Parish Council website.

Grass Cutting and Hedge Trimming

In June 2009 the Parish Council agreed to extend the grass cutting contract to cover more areas of the parish and some hedge cutting. Areas now included are the allotment path, the path between the Village Hall and the Old School, areas around village seats and extended areas in the Churchyard.

Planters

Permission has been received from Norfolk County Council Highways Department to place planters along the road between the Village Hall and the Old School. Wood has been purchased and Cllr. Murfitt has constructed the planters.

Goal Posts

The goal posts at the Recreation Ground have been fixed in place and further work is under consideration.

Broadband

* County Councillor Mr. Richard Rockcliffe has championed West Dereham as a pilot study for remote rural areas.

* In November 2009 Norfolk County Council made budgetary provision for installation costs of £43k and an annual fee of £22.5k to give West Dereham Broadband.

* A repeater station at Hilgay School and three repeater relays were expected to provide broadband for most of West Dereham. However, the area of expected coverage now appears to be less than envisaged originally. Details at item 7.3.

Glazewing

* Glazewing continues to be discussed at all Parish Council meetings. On June 15th 2009 members of the Parish Council met with directors of Glazewing. Notes of the meeting were sent to all households in West Dereham. Mr. Jon Miles stated at that meeting that if Glazewing were to expand it would not be at the West Dereham site. In December 2009 the Miles brothers and Nigel Manning, Managing Director of Glazewing, attended the Parish Council meeting and answered questions from villagers and Christopher Fraser MP.

* Responses to two planning applications, one which relates to storage of skips alongside the river, are awaited. The Parish Council has regularly chased these applications which have apparently have been with Norfolk County Council's legal department for most of the year.

* Vehicles travelling to and from Glazewing continue to use all routes into the village and regularly drop scrap metal debris on the roads.

Mineral Extraction

* In June 2009 Norfolk County Council granted planning permission to Frimstone to quarry 12.5 hectares (MIN 32/WAS 56) of a 21 hectare site which is technically still under consideration in the emerging Norfolk County Council Minerals and Waste Development Plan Document.

* The Parish Council is in correspondence with Frimstone regarding the timetable of operations for the new quarry and has enquired when masking bunding and associated planting will be undertaken.

* Notice has been received that site MIN 114, on the Crimplesham side of Lime Kiln Road, which had been classed as an unacceptable mineral site, has been reduced in size and is now to be reconsidered for possible future extraction. The Parish Council has written to Norfolk County Council asking for justification of the sites reconsideration.

Local Development Framework (LDF)

The LDF is the Borough Council's consideration of how land in the Borough will be developed over the next twenty five years.

* In March 2010 the Chairman met with Alan Gomm, member of the Borough Council's LDF team, to ascertain the location of areas of land in West Dereham that have been submitted as possible development sites. Maps of these five/six sites offered by two local landowners have been displayed at recent Parish Council meetings.

* Public consultation on sites submitted for the LDF has not yet begun but the Parish Council has offered initial objections to the Borough Council on the grounds of density, lack of infra-structure and highway concerns.

Precept

Notice was given to every household in the parish in September, October, November and December 2009 that the Parish Council would discuss the precept at meetings and would set the precept in December 2009. The 2010/11 precept was set at £7258, a cost of living increase only on the 2009/10 precept.

Since the Annual Parish Meeting the Chairman and Clerk have attended an informal afternoon at Lynford Hall with Sarita Presland from the Norfolk Association of Local Councils. Useful information was obtained and the date for the NALC Summer Conference was noted (July 13th 2010). Training sessions for Councillors were also advertised. It is possible a local training session will be arranged by Weeting Parish Council and the Clerk will provide information regarding this in due course.

Clerk's Report

* It was noted reference continues to be made in the Villlage Pump to the paper bank at West Dereham. This was removed some time ago and the editor of the Pump will be asked to remove reference to it.

* Pot holes throughout the parish have been reported to the Highways Department.

Village Hall Report

* Tenders are being sought for the work planned for the Village Hall.

* Grant applications are being made and Mrs. Marsters is to meet with the CVSA for advice regarding completing the grant application forms. Match funding may be needed from the Village Trust.

* The first phase of the redevelopment will be to install new toilets.

* West Dereham Heritage Group has been awarded a Lottery grant of £12000. This money will fund a dedicated archive room in the refurbished hall.

Glazewing Report

A copy of the report provided by Paul Norris was presented to Councillors.

Glazewing had previously passed details to the Clerk regarding an incident which occurred in the village on 38/04/10. A vehicle attempted to deliver a scrap tanker to Glazewing but on leaving the site spilt red paint onto the road. Glazewing's permit does not allow liquids to be accepted (other than those associated with End of Life Vehicles) and therefore the tanker had been rejected. On leaving the site the tanker developed a leak spilling the contents along the road. Glazewing offered the driver assistance to bung the leak but this was refused. The incident was reported to the Environment Agency.

9. Accounts were presented and accepted for payment.

Cheques for approval of payment:

Payee Net VAT Gross

Environment Agency 15.78 15.78

Stoke Ferry Timber 79.00 13.83 92.83

Methwold High School - copying 10.45 10.45

NCAPTC 110.41 110.41

CGM 198.84 34.80 233.64

Clerks salary 212.80

Hall keys 20.00

NALC - book 5.00

Internal Audit 35.00

9.1 The accounts for the year ending 31/03/10 were accepted by the Council and the 2010 Annual Return form was duly completed and signed.

9.2 It was agreed to continue to appoint Mr Barry Fox as internal auditor.

9.3 It was agreed that burial fees should not be raised at the present time but that fees should be reviewed annually.

9.4 The Parish Council will draw up a tender document for the land at the allotments and the vacancy of the land will be advertised. It was agreed to produce a map of the land at a cost of £35. Research will be undertaken to locate the deeds for the land and it was suggested ownership of the land should be registered.

It was suggested the Parish Council should consider changing banks and enquiries will be made regarding this.

10. Correspondence

1. Borough Council Standards Committee - Appointment of Members

2. BCKLWN Council meeting agenda 29/04/10

3. Your Council Magazine

4. Norfolk Link Pamphlet

11. Planning

No Planning applications received for consideration.

12. Review of Standing Orders and Financial Regulations

This item will be an agenda item for the June meeting.

13. Other Reports - for information only:

13.1 Pot holes reported along Station Road (Stokes Bridge) and Hilgay Road.

13.2 A vote of thanks was given for Mrs. C. Cann for providing tea, coffee and biscuits for all Parish Council meetings.

OPEN FORUM

* Concern was raised regarding the reduction in opening hours of the recycling centre at Crimplesham. The Borough Council is monitoring fly tipping in the area as it is suggested this has increased since the opening times were altered.

* A suggestion was made to erect mirrors at corners in the parish where visibility is poor. The Highways Department however do not permit mirrors.

Parish Clerk