Latest Old Buckenham Parish Council notes

Parish Council in January

These notes have been written by the blog editor from the draft notes and so may contain information that is amended at a later date.

Old Buckenham Parish Council met on Thursday 4 January in Old Buckenham Village Hall. Those present were Councillors Naomi Bailey (Chair), Pete Twissell, Stan Burton, Steve Gowers, Lesley Evison, David Taylor, Doug Irons and Ali McWilliam. Also attending were Jonn Hicks (Clerk) and nine members of the public. The District and County Councilor Steve Askew also attended for a short while. There were no apologies for absence.

The minutes of the meeting held Thursday 7 December 2023 were approved (4 in favour, 4 abstain).

Financial matters. The Community account balance was £25106.41. Payments for approval totalled £2358.07. These were approved (8 in favour) and covered Suggitt Farm Services £1800, hire of Village Hall £16.25, salary of Clerk and RFO £541.82 and John Frost for community car journeys £73.80.

Councillors’ reports. Steve Gower said the SAM speed sign has been relocated to Hargham Road. He was going to place it on Attleborough Road but the hedges there are over grown and need cutting back. He will speak to the contractor renting the land to ask for it to be cut. Future Community Speedwatch members are awaiting training later in January and then it will be up and running.

Doug Irons reported that the content has been sent to web designer and awaiting reply. He has also asked Parish Council about the renewing of policies but the Clerk has moved this to a February due to having to finalise the precept for the coming year. Also asked that the Parish Council should prepare earlier for the Remembrance Sunday service earlier this year as no road closure was put in place last time. The clerk has been reimbursed by Norfolk Police for road closure that did not happen. Stan Burton has a PA system he will lend for this year’s service.

Naomi Bailey said the Christmas tree light switch on was a success and thanks Stan Burton for the PA system and the switch. She has responded to correspondence with resident regarding the benches around the Ottomer Pond.

Steve Askew reported that there is flooding in all areas of the village with drains and ditches being overwhelmed due to the large amount of rainfall this month. NCC Highways have the road drains in the village on their schedule but we must be patient because, due to the severity of the weather, they are extremely busy. The pothole issue on Grove Road will be rectified once the weather dries up.

Green Report. Both Naomi Bailey and Steve Gowers were contacted by numerous residents on Christmas Eve regarding the flooding situation of Ottomer Pond. Sandbags were delivered and an appeal was posted on social media asking for residents to help fill them and place around the pond to try to contain it. They were very disappointed with the response of the village to help those in need. Thanks go to David Keable (our village postman who lives in Attleborough) for his help and Mark Ward for supplying the sand bags. It was also reported that there was an emergency meeting to discuss the situation and how we could prevent the problem in the future. A submersible pump has been borrowed and will be running for a week to try to reduce the level in the pond. It was also discussed about locating the overflow pipe from the pond which has been unsuccessful in the past and replacing this with a new pipe running from the pond across the Green into the ditch by the High School. This suggestion was then put to the Parish Council and was agreed. All voted in favour of investigating further. The clerk is to speak with contractors to gain a price for the works and then to seek funding from NCC and Breckland. If it is needed to borrow the monies this will have an effect on the precept for the following year.

Planning applications. Westward, The Green. Proposed change of use of existing barn and outbuildings to single residential use (3PL/2023/1204/F). The Clerk to ask for an extension of time to comment as details of application had only just arrived. This was agreed (8 in favour).There were no amended applications, planning decisions by Breckland Council or planning appeals.

Precept. The Clerk presented the figures and the Parish Council voted to keep the precept the same as year 2023 (8 in favour). The Clerk is to fill in request and submit the forms to Breckland before the end of January.

Public participation. This was not on the agenda due to the Parish Council having to discuss the 2024 precept and the issues of flooding within the village.

Items for next agenda. These would include final precept figures, flooding, policies, the Solar Farm, Green issues update and the footpath from the Village Hall to Chapel Green School.

The next Parish Council meeting will be on Thursday 1 February starting at 7.30pm in Old Buckenham Village Hall.