Minutes of April meeting
These notes have been written by the blog editor from the draft minutes and so may contain information that is amended at a later date.
The Chairman welcomed everyone to the April meeting. Those present were councillors Adrian Joel (chairman), Rona Boggia, Terry Cracknell, Sarah Hornbrook, Steve Milner and Andy Nicholls as well as the parish clerk Hilary Clutten and five members of the public.
The council members resolved to suspend all Standing Orders not forming part of Local Government legislation until the Parish Council again consists of eleven members. The council also resolved to carry out the co-option of additional parish councillors by secret ballot during 2017/18. Apologies for absence had been received from Jonathan Kemp and Ben Devlin.
Minutes of the March meeting. These minutes were agreed as a true and accurate record of the meeting.
Matters arising from the March minutes. There was a discussion about the self-employed handyman. It was agreed that the hourly rate should be £12 per hour plus public liability insurance and detailed invoices.
Public participation. The points raised included speed checking on Doe Lane, the Quinquennial inspection of All Saints Church and that this is the last year that the Lottery will consider giving funds to places of worship, a lorry had been seen accessing the new school site via Hargham Road and whether the Attleborough Link Road would mean more traffic to Old Buckenham.
Update on the Green. The Clerk and Sarah Dye had distributed notes from the last Working Party meeting. The Lord of the Manor has now signed the agreement for the Parish Council to manage the Green; the Clerk will contact Council’s insurers to add to public liability cover. More dog bins are needed on the Green and there have been offers to buy four new ones. Once the best positions have been agreed, Breckland will be advised for emptying purposes. The purchase to be agreed at the May PC meeting.
John Fernihough has contacted Enterprise Inns about the potholes in front of the Gamekeeper to ask if they are willing to contribute to the cost of repairing them. Two trees on the Green were attended to by the Green Right Proprietors at a cost of £1200. A free survey of the remaining trees is to be carried out. The mole contractor has captured a number of moles and work will continue for eight weeks.
The Working Party hopes to have a management plan available in draft for the next parish council meeting when conservation will also be looked at. A new member of the Working Party is required; this needs to be a resident from the village. The Chair will try and obtain some ‘dogs on leads’ notices from Breckland Council. A lot of rubbish is being thrown out of cars onto the Green. It is hoped to involve Stanley Burton in doing some work on Mill Farm Pond as he has done this in the past. The Players have been given permission by the GRPs at an earlier date to put a banner on the Green before their plays. It was noted that the Young Offenders now do work, free of charge, again and Norfolk Wildlife have a group of people looking at ponds. Alison Frank agreed to obtain some information for the next meeting.
There has been an indication that should the electricity cables be put underground then the current wayleaves for the Green may cease.
Planning applications. The Cart Lodge, Cake Street – agreement of reserved matters following outline planning permission. Andy Nicholls left the room whilst his application was discussed. The Parish Council agreed to support this application and Andy Nicholls returned to the room.
25 Hargham Road. Single-storey rear extension. The Parish Council agreed to support this application.
The Gamekeeper. Signage and new lighting. It was not possible to tell if proposed lights were up-lighters or down-lighters and if there would only limited use, eg during opening hours. The Parish Council will support application if these points can be clarified. Permanent sign on the Green needs to be clarified and agreed with the Green Right Proprietors.
Financial report. The Parish Council agreed to pay membership of CPRE for 2017/18 at a cost of £36. The Parish Council also agreed to continue membership of Community Action Norfolk at a cost of £20 for 2017/2018. The Parish Council agreed to add Sarah Hornbrook, Andy Nicholls and Hilary Clutten to the list of fsignatories to the Barclays Bank account.
Chairman’s report. The next meeting of the Parish Council will take place in the Church Rooms as the Village Hall is needed for the Norfolk County Council elections on that day.
District Councillor’s report. The Breckland Local Plan continues to progress and should be confirmed later this year. The Chair and Steve Milner attended a Breckland Local Plan Working Party meeting in March where the Historic Characteristics Report was discussed and the report recommended that the Attleborough Road site in Od Buckenham of ten houses should be withdrawn. This will be recommended as part of the Local Plan that goes to Breckland Cabinet and the full council. This will leave 20 houses allocated in St Andrew’s Close which means that the balance of the original allocation of 15 will need to be achieved through permitted development over the next 20 years.
Parish Councillors’ reports. Andy Nicholls reported that the level of the ditch in front of the Asparagus Field has gone down but one on the way to Attleborough is looking high. The Highways’ condition on his planning application has now been discharged as work has been completed. He thanked the Parish Council for the donation towards the cost of the football club lighting. Terry Cracknell reported that he had now heard from the Breckland Monitoring Officer that there was no case to answer in respect of the complaint submitted by the previous Clerk. Sarah Hornbrook asked that Highways be reminded about the footpath signs.
Old Buckenham Neighbourhood Plan. Sarah Hornbrook reported that whilst there had not been a meeting there had been an offer of help from Tim Bornett. He had attacheded certain conditions including that meetings should be held in the mornings which was not suitable for some of the existing member of the Working Party. The Clerk was asked to thank Tim Bornett for his kind offer and say that there were conditions that the Parish Council could not agree to. It was agreed to look at this issue when the Parish Council was complete again, perhaps at the May meeting. Sarah Hornbrook said that an external company could cost the Parish Council £110 per hour but there might be particular aspects of the plan where Tim Bornett may be able to help with.
Attleborough Neighbourhood Plan. Terry Cracknell reported that this was going through consultation with Breckland Council.
Road Safety Working Party. A meeting of the Working Party had taken place in March. One of the problem issues has been trying to get the use of a small part of the Primary School’s playing field as a car park/dropping off point for buses and pupils. There is a concern that the wording of the agreement has been misconstrued and that it was simply meant to stop the access road being used as a public access. It was agreed to do a Freedom of Information request for a copy of the agreement and obtain a copy of the will if subsequently required. There has been another letter from George Freeman MP and he needs to be thanked for his letter. There will be a meeting on site with George Freeman MP and Norfolk County Council on Friday 28 April at 5.30pm.
Play Area. Kerry Talbot has sent off the grant application form for the fencing and hopes to hear something in six to eight weeks. Some of the play equipment needs refurbishing and the Clerk has the new spare steering wheels for the tractor.
Recreation Area. There was a discussion about the siting of a container by the Scouts on the land leased from the Village Hall Management Committee for recreational purposes. The Parish Council felt unable to make a decision without further information such as whether the container would be insured by the Scouts, will a gate be put in the fence for access to the container, would the Scouts be prepared to do some jobs in the village, what size was the container, what colour will it be, will the container be removed if the Scouts no longer have a need for it and will the container be removed if the Parish Council makes a request. The Clerk is to consult with the Village Hall Management Committee. A grass cutting quote has not yet been received and Andy Nicholls agreed to obtain this.
Highways. Matters discussed included cutting of verges and speeding on Doe Lane. A number of reports have been received from the current Highway’s Engineer who is about to take over responsibility for a different sector of Norfolk roads. Extensive patching work has been carried out on roads in the village and more patching is programmed for Cake Street which will be carried out within 6 to 8 weeks. Some kerbing and drainage work has also been carried out outside ‘Evergreen’ to address a longstanding flooding problem. Some kerbing and associated carriageway work has been programmed for outside Old Hall Farm Cottage and it is hoped that this will improve drainage into the existing gulley. The signage on Hargham Road is to be altered to discourage HGVs using this as a short cut between the A11 and the B1077. This is for information only, the weight limit will not be affected. An experimental weight limit is being progressed at Harling and it is possible that this may make Hargham Road more attractive to road hauliers. An application to plant in the highway is required for the replacement tree in Stacksford. Apparently the original tree was infected with honey fungus and there is a strong possibility that the replacement may suffer from the same disease.
Village Hall car park. The Parish Council declined to pay a bill of £300 plus VAT for the carrying out of a drainage report in the car park as it had not resolved to carry out this work at its last meeting. It was suggested that the invoice be sent to the Village Hall Management Committee.
Awards evening. It was agreed to discuss this at the next meeting.
Telephone box. The purchase is still going through the BT consultation process. It was agreed that someone from the Community Heartbeat Trust should be invited to a meeting later this year to talk about the provision of a defibrillator.
Mobile phone mast. There are four possible sites in the area for a new mast, two of which are south of Old Buckenham. Developments are awaited.
Items for next meeting. These would include the Green, an Awards evening, update on the telephone box, mobile telephone mast, Chapel Green School, the Neighbourhood Plan, the Village Hall lease for the Recreation Area and co-option of new councillors.
The date of the next Parish Council meeting will be Thursday 4 May, to be held in the Church Rooms, Old Buckenham.
