Boughton Parish Council Parish Meeting February

April 2013

Boughton Parish Council. Councillors are summoned to the Annual Parish Meeting on Friday 15th Feb. 2013 at 7.00pm in the Church for the purpose of transacting the following business. Items Raised by Parishioners.

1. Open Annual Meeting. F.REID.

2. Apologies

3. Anglian Water. New mains installation. A134.

Implications for Boughton. T.Roberts.

Close Annual Meeting.

Parish Council. Meeting.

Minutes meeting 11th Jan 2013.

Matters Arising.

Chairman’s Report. F.Reid.

Councillors Reports. :-

Highways.

Public Footpaths D.Cooper

Drainage G.Proctor

Signs & Street Furniture P.Agate

Fen. M.Pogmore

Council Vacancy. Co-option.

6. Planning. D.Horkan

7. Correspondence D.Horkan.

Meeting Closes.

Council look forward to welcoming you to this meeting.



Date held:	15^th February 2013	Venue:	All Saints, Boughton
Present:
Dave Horkan (DHO)	Clerk	Apologies:
Frank Reid (FRE)	Councillor/Chairman
Mark Pogmore (MPO)	Councillor	Chair:	Frank Reid
Peter Agate (PAG)	Councillor	Distribution:	BCC
David Cooper (DCO)	Councillor
Geoff Proctor (GPR)	Councillor
Public Members	9 number

| No

Item

Action by

Action date

| | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1. | Minutes of the Meeting – 9th November 2012 | | | | | Minutes of previous meeting, 9th November provided by DHO, agreed, signed and initialled throughout by FRE, file to copy. | DHO | 15/2/13 | | | | | | | 2. | Matters Arising | |

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None

The increase in pond level following a very wet autumn and early winter

has given us cause for concern. Numerous attempts to unblock the over flow have been unsuccessful. County Highways were contacted and they attended just after Christmas to pressure jet the outfall. This resulted in a very small flow into the drain sump, which has now stopped. They predict that the pipe is in fact blocked or fractured due to Willow roots from the nearby tree. The restriction, or break, is approx. 1M. from outfall support structure. Highways have stated they will return during better weather to replace the pipe.

Mower Service.

The village mower has again been serviced by W.J.Hill at a cost of

£95.00 Mr Hill provides a good service. Many thanks also to Mark Solomon for funding this on our behalf. His generosity is much appreciated.

Church Yard Grass.

J.Adcock has been offered this work for 2013 at £38 / cut.

The PCC now sharing this cost is very much appreciated.

Wishing Bucket.

£ 67.00 has been collected so far this year. I would like to record that Tony & Mayrise gold have donated £11 by collecting and saving 2p&1p coins.

I did invite Mayrise to choose a Charity to receive the Bucket takings, and Brambles Animal rescue Centre in Denver was chosen.

Dog Fouling.

The failure of some Dog owners to clear up after their dogs have fouled in a public area is concerning. We currently have a problem around the verges of the Village Green, verges on the corner of Stoke Rd, Church Lane and Chapel Rd.

A number of parishioners have expressed concern and in some cases revulsion. I have spoken to a number of people, and have requested vigilance. Our Police Community Support officer and Borough Council Open Spaces Manager have been made aware. They have both assured us of their full support.

Council noted that the situation has improved since the signs were erected

| | 4. | Councillors Reports | | | | |

i. Highways

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Following the resignation of the responsible councillor, FRE had since met with Andy Wallace, county highways contact, and had evidenced the potholes and damage in the parish, attempts would be made to address but funding was limited and no commitment could be promised at this moment.

| | | | | ii. Public Footpaths | DCO | | | |

Nothing to report, DCO confirmed that the footpath signs were now with Councillor Proctor who would prepare and erect the posts for fixing shortly

| | | | | iii. Drainage | GPR | | | |

It appears that most of the ditches water courses have coped well with the amount of rain we have had.

There are two which have not coped quite as well, the ditch along Crab Lane which runs into the catchpit blocks regularly. It was blocked over the Christmas period and water ran down Crab Lane causing a slippery road surface. The estate at Barton Bendish has now cleared the entrance and it running freely. GPR has discussed this with them and will monitor in future.

The other ditch runs alongside Mill Hill going out of the village towards Cavenham Corner on the left of the cattle buildings, the water cannot get away as bothe exits are blocked. The ditch running East to West between the chicken field and grass field needs cleaning out and the ditch in front of the cottages needs clearing of spoil also.

The pond is also full and the overflow here is blocked, this is being attended to by FRE and the highways authority.

**Clr Sampson joins the meeting as member of public.

| | | | | iv. Signs & Street Furniture | PAG |

| | | The permanent No Dogs sign has been erected on the playground railings.

Following representation from a parishioner and a recent inspection, action will be taken in the early spring to clean the algae from the circular memorial bench under the sweet chestnut tree on the Green.

Thanks to Geoff for arranging the posts for and erection of the direction signs on the footpath from Church Lane to Cavenham Corner.

A new Boughton Wishing Bucket sign has been erected after the weather got the better of the existing one.

| | | | | v. Fen Report | MPO | | | | In my last report, I mentioned that we had won awards from the CPRE. Ten of us attended the award ceremony at the Assembly House in Norwich where we collected both awards. The certificates will be on display here, in the church at a later date.

All of our new interpretation signs have been erected; one on each fen and one in the playground.

Dave Horkan and I attended a seminar about the Wissey Pilot Catchment Project, which is one of sixteen pilot schemes in England and Wales to encourage various interested parties to work together and enhance the usage and enjoyment of the river. A few days later, the steering group met here in BoughtonChurch and followed their meeting with a walk around the fen.

As you may have seen, our roadside trees and bushes have received a long overdue haircut. This was necessary as branches were hanging over the road, potentially damaging passing vehicles and blocking visibility, and it is our responsibility to maintain our greenery. Thanks go to W R Chapman and Son for carrying out the work for us without charge.

Our contractor, Lee Roberts is continuing with our scrub control programme with some work on middle fen.

We had our first winter working party on Sunday 2nd February, where a lot of work was carried out cutting back areas of scrub on Highland Fen and keeping the paths clear. Obviously, the high water levels have restricted work this winter. We are hoping to construct a new piece of boardwalk at the entrance to Highland Fen to bridge the area that floods during heavy rain, which has been quite often this winter.

Work proposed by the Environment Agency and Natural England to assist with retaining water in the fen has been postponed until the autumn, due to the very wet conditions.

The Health Walks Fit Together Group are visiting us again on April 11th at 10.30am. If you fancy a morning walk with a group of people come along. Details can be found on www.activenorfolk.org/fittogether.

Some younger people are becoming involved, with Josh Reardon from Boughton carrying out the community element for his bronze Duke of Edinburgh award with us on the fen. His young muscle power at the recent working party kept us going. The Wereham cub group are also intending to spend time there carrying out work towards their conservation badges.

Spring is just around the corner, so we look forward to seeing the first summer visitors along with butterflies, blossom and other things that make Boughton Fen special.

| | | | | | | | | 5. | Council Vacancy – Co-option | | | | | FRE explained that notice of vacancy was duly advertised as agreed with the electoral officer, as no candidates had challenged for this, movement to co-opt was approved and Andy Beeston was invited to join the Council, proposed and approved.

The resignation of Clr Madgwick has now also led to a further vacancy, following the previous process, FRE proposed Tom Roberts as co-option, seconded and approved.

Andy (ABE) and Tom (TRO) are welcomed to the council and were asked to join the meeting.

FRE explained that all councillors performed specific duties which would be agreed with the individuals in due course following a period of settlement. | | | | 6. | Planning | DHO | | |

Planning process explained in absence of the responsible councillor.

DHO explained that he would monitor proposals as posted to him, would scan the cover page and send to council electronically, dropping off hard copy to GPR. Should the matter be of importance, a planning committee would be convened to discuss if necessary.

| | | | 7. | Correspondence and Financial | DHO | | | |

Precept – DHO explained that the precept had been applied for and acknowledged, the £1,330 precept remains the same as previous 3 years and would include a grant funding of £40 as proposed by KLWN, no significant movements had occurred on Acc since last meeting other than the church contribution for grass cutting £243.75
Café Cluster – To be held in Boughton church, 10 am March 2nd, all council invited DHO to forward flyer
Highways improvement scheme – applications to apply for funding, correspondence handed to PAG to action.
Flyers and donation requests agreed that wishing well fund will be donated to Brambles animal sanctuary as requested, total £80.00 to present.

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Date and Venue of Next Meetings: 3rd May 2013- 19:00 All saints Church Boughton