These notes have been written by the newsletter editor from the draft minutes and so may contain information that is amended at a later date.
The councillors present at the meeting on Thursday 7 December were Adrian Joel (Chairman), Rona Boggia, Sarah Hornbrook, Jon Hicks, Phil Little, Paul Philips, Andy Nicholls and Ben Devin.
Also attending were Gemma Frost (to take the minutes) and four members of the public.
Apologies for non-attendance were accepted from Steve Milner and the parish clerk Hilary Clutten who was on annual leave.
The Council approved the minutes as a true and accurate record of the meeting held on Thursday 2 November. The minutes of the meeting on Thursday 16 November were amended to read “The meeting was then adjourned by the Chairman as the Clerk had left the meeting”.
Sarah Hornbrook expressed disappointment that grant applications had not been circulated as expected. With the above amendment, the minutes were agreed as a true and accurate record of the meeting.
Matters arising from minutes. It was agreed that having a defibrillator in the telephone kiosk is not too close to the Village Hall defibrillator. The telephone box is a more central location in the village and therefore deemed an appropriate location. Phil Little has looked at the glazing in the telephone box and confirmed he is still happy to replace the glass with polycarbonate. This was a minor amendment so listed building consent probably was not necessary but the Council must check before undertaking any work.
There has been no response yet from NCC regarding the upgrading of the path at the village hall. The Village Hall committee have confirmed they will not accept responsibility for necessary improvements. It was agreed buses could not use recreation ground behind the village hall as ground is not hard enough and could cause further traffic problems in the car park.
The next parish council meeting in January will be the precept meeting, precept details need to be with Breckland Council by Monday 29 January.
Public participation relating to agenda items. Members of the Green Management Working Party gave a report. It discussed the cost of ID tagging and mapping of every tree including ownership so that a database can then be formed for future use. The identification of every tree would help both the members of the public and the Council. John Davison has agreed to do the tagging. Owners would not be financially responsible but will be asked for contribution.
Sarah Hornbrook reported that it was agreed a tree survey should have been done before responsibility moved from Green Rights to the working party. Only ash trees had previously been mapped and there was no documented professional tree survey already completed. The working party wanted to confirm it had permission to pursue registering the Green with Defra - this is not to make a registration, purely to look into what is available.
Location of a village Christmas tree has been finalised and will be placed on the Green in front of the Ox and Plough.
A date for a liaison meeting between the Village Hall committee and the Parish Council would be agreed in January.
Planning. Rona Boggia and Adrian Joel attended the Attleborough ADP meeting and both expressed their thoughts to the developer. Adrian Joel had a meeting with Simon Wood at Breckland Council in November and expressed the concerns over land in the parish of Old Buckenham being in the Attleborough SUE. There was to be a meeting with the developers in December and this item was on the agenda. The proposal is that they will not build on this small piece of land in the Parish, this can be conditioned in the planning application.
Sarah Hornbrook and Ben Devlin suggested the original issue, which was the road and the traffic, has been lost and that we needed to talk to Breckland Council about the link road. The Chairman confirmed it is his understanding that there is a loan on the table from NCC to fund the link road and negotiations are taking place also with HCA regarding a loan. It has been confirmed that the link road won’t be dependent on building of houses.
Attleborough Town Council is looking to implement time-limited parking in Queens Square car park, possibly in the Spring 2018. At the same time NCC will be looking to turn Surrogate Street into to two-way traffic.
Local planning. Beckwood, Stacksford. Appeal against the refusal of Breckland Council to allow the erection of a house and garage. Council had voted to support but subsequently refused on lack of sustainability grounds. The application has now gone to appeal.
9 The Yard, Old Buckenham. Planning permission given for the office building. Council supported and Breckland has approved it.
Poplar Farm. Smaller single story building. Council agreed to support this application.
Chairman’s report. Susan Brown has resigned from the parish council. The Chairman has advised Breckland Council of the resignation, a notice of vacancy has been posted on the notice board and if there has been no call for an election by Wednesday 27 December, the position can be advertised to co-opt a new councillor.
District Councillor’s report. The Chairman confirmed that five new BT fibre optic boxes are being installed throughout the village. These are being phased in over the coming year.
Parish Councillors’ reports. Rona Boggia reported on Chapel Green School. They have 63 pupils currently but this will increase in future to 110 pupils. There are five pupils and two teachers per class and most children also have ‘one-to-one’ helpers. Ben Devlin added that when the Parish Council first looked at the figures, teachers and one-to-one helpers were not taken into consideration so numbers are higher than initially thought. This led to a discussion around the traffic increase caused by the school. Sarah Hornbrook asked if figures from a main road traffic count were available so that these can be used to compare to a count again after the school is open. It was confirmed that Steve Milner has such figures.
Andy Nicholls raised concerns regarding the burglaries and dog thefts which have happened both in Old Buckenham and surrounding towns and villages of late. The Council felt that there is nothing the council can do other than asking everyone to be extra vigilant.
Paul Philips raised two items. He had attended a meeting with the residents of Doe Lane and Ben Devlin regarding the Old Buckenham Country Park. Paul Philips explained that he had attended merely to observe in case any issues were brought to the Parish Council at a later date. He also asked if it was possible to put visibility mirrors to aid both walkers and drivers coming out of the stud and or Harlingwood Lane to Cake Street. Unfortunately if Parish Council put these mirrors up they would be liable if an accident occurred so this is not an option. Andy Nicholls noted that a hedge, previously requested to be maintained and taken back to boundary to improve visibility, had still not been done. The Council agreed to write to Highways and bring their attention to the lack of action being taken. The Chairman raised an email from Ray Bayfield regarding dogs on leads but it has previously been agreed not to discuss this topic again. The Chairman also gave recognition to children from the High School for cleaning the war memorial.
Working Parties. A report from the Green Working Party has been given earlier in the meeting by members of the Working Party and they were thanked for their work.
The Council agreed to approve the supply and erection of a Christmas Tree on the Green at a cost of £480 plus VAT, to approve the purchase of lights for the Christmas tree, to approve a donation to the Ox & Plough for the cost of electricity for the Christmas tree and to agree a final cut of the Green this year at a cost of £500.
A quote for the resurfacing of Post Office Terrace at a cost of £1060 was also considered. Would the offer of 22 tons of stone reduce the final cost? The Chairman confirmed that we should have three quotes but we we can proceed with two. There was some debate around the material choice and the look that this leaves. Sarah Hornbrook did not feel that this was the best option. The Council resolved to approve spend of up to £999 (eight in favour, one against), to spend £50 on producing feedback leaflets on the Green to be inserted in the Six Villages Newsletter, to spend £400 on obtaining ownership tags for the trees on the Green and to agree survey and recording and mapping of the Green. Sarah Hornbrook expressed concern that more and more money going was outdoors on the Green and queried if all this work really needed doing. Jonathan Kemp felt that an initial spend is needed to get the Green in a good state, after which costs would reduce. Ben Devlin questioned what the new map will provide as there is already a map of trees. Andy Nicholls added that this is more than just a map, all trees will be number tagged making identification easier and it will help resolve issues as to whom owns what. Some green right owners own trees on the Green, it will make identifying these easier. Ben Devlin suggested this is deferred to another meeting where Rosemary West’s map is brought in and Sarah Hornbrook asked for more details regarding what the survey includes to also be brought to the next meeting. The Council resolved to defer this subject to the January meeting (six in favour, three against).
It was agreed that the Green Management Working Party should research Defra registration and grants as long as this was only research. The Council have no appetite to go back to the way it was before when Defra were involved (five in favour, one abstaining, two against).
Highways matters. Gemma Frost provided information on personal experience of a near miss. Suggestions raised to improve school road crossing situation included a 20 mph speed limit, speed humps, asking police to do a speed watch, school signs on Abbey Road and a parking exclusion zone. After a formal request from Andy Nichols it was agreed to contact local MP, Tom McCabe, NCC Highways and County Councillor Stephen Askew. All were in favour.
Welcome Pack. Someone needs to take this on board. Paul Philips agreed to help.
Village Odd Job person. Andy Nicholls has spoken to Ivan Kerridge and he is interested on an hourly basis. He has own public liability. Rates £20 per hour for first hour and £15 per hour thereafter. Andy Nicholls would manage the Handyman jobs. Council agreed to put on list for next meeting
Items for next meeting . These would include amount for handy man, tree tagging, welcome packs and a meeting with Village Hall management committee.
The next Parish Council Meeting will be held in the Village Hall, Old Buckenham at 7.30pm on Thursday 4 January.
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