Old Buckenham Parish Council

 September Parish Council minutes

The following notes have been written by the blog editor from the draft minutes and may therefore contain information that is amended at a later date.

Old Buckenham Parish Council met on Thursday 15 September at Old Buckenham Methodist Church. Those present were councillors Naomi Bailey (Chair), Andy Nicholls, Jonn Hicks and Doug Irons. Apologies had been received from Terry Cook. Also attending were Rachel Noyes (Clerk) and five members of the public.

Changes to the Parish Council. Steve Milner has resigned after 10 years on the Parish Council, Adrian Joel has resigned after 24 years and Mike Farrington has resigned after three years. The Parish Council would like to thank each of them for their work and contribution to the Parish Council to help manage and improve our Parish. New members are needed for the Parish Council. At present there are five councillors out of a possible eleven places and need a minimum of four councillors to meet the quorum. The Clerk has written article for newsletter. Andy Nicholls suggested targeting individuals, rather than an open approach to everyone.

The minutes of the meeting held on Monday 22 August were approved (3 in favour, 1 abstain). Jonn Hicks has completed the Declaration of Personal Interests.

Financial matters. The Community account balance £28,693.51. Income this month was £435 from film company.

Payments for approval were approved (4 in favour) and totalled £1,111.60. These included:

R Noyes (salary): £309.50

Gemini Accounting (fees): £200

Spire Solicitors (searches for Prince Harry’s Wood): £300

A Baker (Handyman): £120

PWL Services (playground work): £75

E Jolley (Community car): £57.15

D Hannah: £49.95 (Community car).

Proposal to accept was approved (4 in favour). A query was raised about two payments for S Barker. No invoices had been received by the Registered Finance Officer (RFO) and the Clerk to contact S Barker to resolve by next meeting. A further query was raised regarding what work the handyman has completed this month, as there cannot have been much grass to cut back. The Clerk to liaise with John Fernihough from the Green Working Party who manages his work.

Councillors’ reports. Edges of Rod Alley Pond will be cut back as causing visual difficulties for drivers pulling out of Hargham Road. Difficulty of site access requires hire of additional machinery. Cost is £250 + VAT.

Meeting with High School to discuss staff parking on Abbey Road arranged for Wednesday 21 September. Chair, Clerk and Terry Cook to attend.

Attleborough’s Health Care Report launch on Monday 26 at 7pm in Attleborough Town Hall. This is to release the Health Care report coordinated by AttCare, which the Parish Council donated £500 towards. Damaged ‘Give Way’ sign on Hargham Road/Crown Road junction reported. Broken finger post by Church Rooms reported. Both are listed to be repaired/replaced by Highways but could take six weeks. Broken manhole cover reported on Green, opposite Gamekeeper. Was replaced by Highways within two days.

New Priest in Charge starting soon. Service of Licencing on Tuesday 25 October at 7.30pm in Banham Church. Terry Cook has offered to attend.

Conflict in schedule for Village Hall for October 2023 Parish Council which means meeting will have to change date or venue. The Clerk to arrange alternative in time.

Contacted village Handyman to request a quote for allotment work (clearing overgrown vegetation and repairing taps). No reply yet, but will chase up. Additional workmen suggested to contact for quotes.

Received a reply from second email to Breckland to request information regarding notice to neighbours of planning applications, particularly regarding applications 3PL/2022/0434/EU and 3PL/2022/0433/F after the Parish Council received complaints from some neighbours. Reply explained which properties were notified, which were the 4 that have a border with the property. It was also explained that they are only legally required to notify neighbours or place a site notice but in this instance they did both. Clarification is needed as to which properties exactly claimed they were not notified. The Clerk to follow up.

New planning applications. Old Buckenham Airfield, Abbey Road. Erection of Six No Solar Electric Aircraft and EV Chargers, continued permanent stationing of office units (3PL/2022/0937/F). Proposal to support was approved (4 in favour).

Castle House, Castle Hill Road. The conversion of the existing single-storey detached out-buildings to provide two-bedroom annexe accommodation ancillary to Castle House (3PL/2022/0998/F). Due to location, application affects New Buckenham but property lies within the land of the castle, which is within the Parish of Old Buckenham. Historic buildings consultants have no objections or problems. Proposal to support was approved (4 in favour).

St Marys Chapel, Castle Hill Road. Conversion of the existing detached out-buildings to provide additional bedroom accommodation and new flat roof kitchen link between the out-building and Victorian chapel extension, with minor internal alterations to the Victorian chapel extension (3PL/2022/0996/HOU and 3PL/2022/0997/LB). As with previous application a proposal to support was approved (4 in favour).

Land at 608360 291240 Cuffer Lane. Change of use of land from agriculture land to mixed use of agriculture and leisure and domestic use (retrospective). Erection of fencing, entrance gate, chicken feed store, chicken coop and earth bund and alterations to existing pond (retrospective) (3PL/2021/1690/F). Have objected to this application strongly previously. New Buckenham Parish Council have informed Old Buckenham Parish Council that a lot of this work has been carried out already. Councillors highlighted the need for consistency. Proposal to comment in support of New Buckenham Parish Council and reiterate our objections to the application was approved (4 in favour).

Cuffer Lane. Erection of a New Agricultural Building Letter and response to public comments (3PL/2021/1528/F). Same comments apply as previous application. Proposal to comment in support of New Buckenham Parish Council and reiterate our objections to the application was approved (4 in favour).

Planning decisions by Breckland Council. The following application has been considered and the application has been approved:

Thatch Cottage, Cake Street. Single storey side extension (3PL/2022/0841/HOU).

The following application has been considered and the application has been refused: Land adjacent Snetterton Farm, Banham Road. Self build three bedroomed dwelling, detached timber garage and ground mounted solar panel array (3PL/2022/0750/F).

Jubilee tree planting. Resident Brian Simms first suggested planting seven trees as part of Platinum Jubilee celebrations, one for each decade of her reign. He attended the meeting to explain some of the information he had found through discussions with a local arborist. There are several types of trees that are traditional English trees that could be suitable: silver birch, aspen, bird cherry tree, crab apple, dogwood, white oak (royal oak) and whitebeam. The Queen’s favourite tree was a tulip tree. Location and arrangement also needs to be considered. Arborist has also kindly offered to plant them free of charge. A good local supplier of trees has been suggested but would need to ensure availability of species chosen. Once trees and location are decided, a plaque would need to be commissioned too. Other British trees (with Welsh, Northern Irish and Scottish origins) could also be considered. Care would be required after initial planting and future maintenance costs would also need to be considered. The Clerk to liaise with Green Working Party to discuss suitable trees and locations and investigate costings. A resident kindly offered to sponsor one of the trees. Proposal a budget of £1500 for tree purchase was approved (4 in favour).

Pub Rental Agreements. As Steve Milner has resigned from the Parish Council, Naomi Bailey has stepped in as Chair to help with the work. Thanks to Terry Cook, Doug Irons and Steve Milner for their work so far on the matter. Doug Irons had emailed out all of the proposals and proformas to councillors. Meeting took place to finalise applications received from the Ox and Plough. There is one application for the year-round use of the Green to put benches out in a designated area. A second application is for the use of an extended area of the Green for Two Wheel Tuesday between Tuesday 5 April 2022 and 25 October 2022. There is also to be an additional payment for individual events that are hosted on the Green by the Ox and Plough throughout the year. The Landlord of the Ox and Plough wished to highlight that the total cost of the benches and Two Wheel Tuesday was a lot greater that he understood after the initial meeting. With the current rise in energy and the general cost of living, he felt that it was an excessive increase and unfair to the business. The benches are also there for the benefit of the village, whether they purchase a drink from the pub or not. In order to progress the agreement, he was happy to sign it at stated costs but wished to make views known to the Parish Council.

Doug Irons explained that there has never been a formal agreement between the Ox and Plough and the Parish Council for the rental of the Green. Ultimately, the Parish Council are responsible for it and so, for insurance purposes, a clear and detailed agreement was required. The price had been the same for a long time and it was felt that they didn’t fairly reflect the area and amount of use. Any income from the rental of the Green would be used specifically for the maintenance of the Green. In future, there is the possibility of adjusting the Two Wheel Tuesday cost, based on the number of events held that year due to the weather. Alternatively, Andy Nicholls suggested the option of fixing it for three years. Doug Irons explained that the document would be reviewed every year and so that can be decided in the future but the initial agreement for this year needed approving first.

Proposal to agree the two Village Green Applications for Lettings from the Ox and Plough with fees as stated in document was agreed (4 in favour). The Parish Council Chair and the Ox and Plough Landlord signed the agreement. The Parish Council Green Committee are currently arranging a meeting with the manager of the Gamekeeper to complete their Application for Letting.

Puddledock VAS sign. Highways have previously suggested the Parish Council could purchase a Vehicle Activated Sign (VAS) for Puddledock corner. The full cost for this is £7000 but 50% could be paid for by Norfolk County Council through the Parish Partnership Scheme (PPS). The District Councillor has also offered to donate some funds from his Personal Councillor Budget, should the PC wish to purchase it. This would result in a cost to the Parish Council of up to £3500. Councillors felt that local residents knew how to drive that corner safely. The Parish Council was there to represent the Parish and its residents, and Councillors felt that it was a lot of money that wouldn’t really benefit the Parish residents. A proposal to not purchase the VAS sign was agreed (4 in favour).

New burial site for Old Buckenham. Has been discussed at previous Parish Council meetings and Annual Parish Meeting in July. The Church Graveyard is running out of space and could be closed to burials in approximately. 18 months. The Parish Council is a Burial Authority and so can create a new burial site, if they wish. The Parish Council felt that more information was required on the finances of setting up and managing a burial site before a decision could be made. It was highlighted that money is made annually by the rental of land through the Highways Surveyors Land Charity which could be put towards it. The Clerk to write to Breckland to enquire about any land they have that they would be willing to donate/sell to the Parish Council. Jonn Hicks to report back in December meeting about research over areas of land that could be possibly donated/purchased by the Parish Council.

Parish Council roles and responsibilities. Proposal to accept John Hicks as Vice Chair was approved (3 in favour, 1 abstain).

Village website. The Chair explained that the current Parish Council website is a little basic and needs a lot of changes. Proposal to have a new Parish Council website was approved (4 in favour). The Clerk to investigate quotes for building a new website and also liaise with the High School to see if there are any students who would be willing to help build/run the website.

Items for next agenda. These would include Jubilee trees (final plan of trees and locations), new website and the allotments.

The next Parish Council meeting will be held on Thursday 6 October at 7.30pm in Old Buckenham Village Hall.