Old Buckenham news

Parish Council minutes for January

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

Old Buckenham Parish Council met on Thursday 8 January 2026 at Old Buckenham Methodist Church. Those present were Councillors Naomi Bailey (Chair), Doug Irons (Vice Chair), Stan Burton, Steve Gowers, Pete Twissell and Darren Butler. Apologies for non-attendance had been received from Lesley Evison, David Taylor and Steve Askew (District and County Councillor. Also attending were Megan Elvin (Clerk) and Julia Aitken (RFO) along with six members of the public.

The minutes of the meeting held on Thursday 4 December 2025 were approved (6 in favour) after a slight amendment needing to be made under Pete Twissell’s report regarding the village hall. The land is owned by the Parish Council. The Village Hall Committee are currently searching for the official documents stating this for administrative purposes. The amended minutes of the meeting held on Thursday 6 November 2025 were also agreed (6 in favour).

Public participation not relating to the agenda. Children had been seen on the previous Sunday jumping on the ice over the pond near the shop. Should there be safety warnings? The Parish Council will check if it can do this and/or provide buoyance aid. Something could be put out to social media, ponds are deep and parents should advise children not to play on the ponds.

Financial matters. The Barclays Community Account now holds £24,495.52, the Lloyds Community Account has £3,645.79 and there is £2,998.90 jn the Barclays Charity Account. Payments for Approval totalled £4,089.02 which included £107.45 to the community car drivers, £39.50 for the Clerk’s DBS Check and £1,792.97 to Breckland Council.

A meeting is planned for Monday 12 January between Naomi Bailey, Doug Irons, Megan Elvin and Julia Aitkin to discuss the financial side of things. Steve Gowers and Pete Twissell to attend to complete an internal audit. A proposal to consider using an accountancy software was approved (5 in favour 1 abstained).

To approve budget for Precept 2026/27. Total amount requested for the Precept is £31,779.91. The budget was not increased greatly last year which is why this year it is a large budget. The estimated total contribution from the Parish Council to a Council Tax Band D property will be £57.72 for 2026/27. (This makes it ten monthly instalments of £5.77 which is an increase of 48.5% based on last year’s budget.) This was approved (6 in favour).

Councillors’ and District Councillor’s reports. Steve Askew was unable to attend the meeting and so had sent a written report of his activities. This consisted solely of news from the County Council and will be available when minutes are approved.

Pete Twissell reported that he had carried a repair to the gate at the war memorial. Steve Gowers said Speed watch had been collecting data over the last year over 70 sessions. Cars have started to slow down. Still a problem of speeding especially down Hargham road and Attleborough Road and he would like to have a brainstorming session regarding Speed watch with the volunteers. Road signs that need clearing have still not been done and the Clerk to contact Highways again regarding this.

New planning applications. The Homestead, Old Buckenham: Variation of conditions 2 and removal of condition 9 on pp PL/2024/1120/RMIN – Revised front porch design for plot 1, garage sizes slightly under requirements of condition 9 (PL/2025/1886/VAR). No issues and a proposal to agree was approved (6 in favour).

The Cottage, Loss Wroo, Hargham Road. Remove Existing Conservatory and Erection of a Rear single-story extension (PL/2025/1793/PAH). No issues and a proposal to agree was approved (6 in favour).

Community Car Scheme. Doug Irons took on the task of amending the Community Car Scheme following previous co-ordinator stepping down and a current driver taking on the role in the interim. Our insurance company have advised that we need a risk assessment and to continue minuting the financial side of things. Need for a councillor to take on the co-ordinator role and one month given to make a decision on this.

Green Working Committee. Naomi Bailey had a phone call discussion with the chair of Green Working Committee. The chair is doing a lot of the admin work herself and some of her committee are not always able to help with the computer side of things. She wanted to know if the committee could be expanded to provide more help. Foundation of committee at the moment is two Green Right holders, two Parish Councillors and two  public members. The suggestion was to increase the public members by four to make the committee ten. Green Rights holders in the village are very few. It was proposed that either Lesley Iveson or Stan Burton move over to become a Green Right holder section of the committee and a new councillor comes on to replace that role. Darren Butler is to take on the role of the councillor committee. The Clerk is to contact the Lord of the Manor to ask regarding having a proxy to attend the meetings as per lease of the Green agreement.

Their next meeting is Thursday 15 January and planned volunteer day is Sunday 17 January. Stan Burton has drawn up a risk assessment that the volunteers need to read and sign. The person who is heading the volunteer day will be the one to organise this each volunteer day. The Clerk to re-do the Terms of Reference.

Ottomer Pond. The private land side of the pond is going up for auction. The estate agents has not been very forthcoming with advising buyers what needs to be completed.

Parking. School parking has increased again. Naomi Bailey to send an email to the schools again advising use of the car park behind the Gamekeeper between 2.30pm and 3.30pm.

Precept Grant application approval. Both the Village Hall and the Old Buckenham Players had applied for £1000 Precept Grants. They were each asked for more information before the grants would be considered. Both were then agreed (five in favour, one abstained due to interest).

Old Buckenham Heritage Group. No update to give. Will chase one more time but currently not gaining large interest.

Benches on the Green. Discussion is being held regarding the ownership of the existing benches outside the Ox and Plough pub. The current agreement is until April 2026 but it is under the previous tenant’s name. Until ownership of the benches is established, the Parish Council cannot get involved. They can remain until April.

Repairs to the Green. Written in the agreement for TWT it is stated that the repairs to the Green should be carried out one month post event or the Parish Clerk notified in writing why this can’t be done. The Parish Council were promised repairs would be completed early December, then before Christmas. They have still not been done. The Parish Council have now decided that they will proceed with the repair to the Green and get three quotes. The invoice will then send to the previous leaseholder to reimburse this payment. Should this not be paid the Parish Council will take him to court. The Clerk to contact Dave Tranmer regarding this.

Two Wheel Tuesday. Doug Irons to talk with new leaseholder of Ox and Plough to see if this will be going ahead and to get the wheels in motion regarding application for it.

Fen Street traffic/speed. The Clerk to chase for a fixed quote of the costs and what they will be doing with this money. To remain on agenda until we have a firm answer.

Solar Farm. No update to give as waiting for Solar Farm representative to come back with a meeting date.

Volunteer recruitments and Meet and Greet morning. No longer need to provide funding for the cost of hiring village hall – they have kindly offered use of the hall for free. To be discussed further for what Parish Council will provide for councillor volunteering.

Footpaths. A one-off payment made many years ago for the instillation of the footpath as well as maintenance. Need to find evidence of this. Look to getting three quotes for the reparations of the path ourselves.

Puddledock Corner update. Waiting for the contractor to come back with date to start the work. Naomi Bailey will chase.

Resurfacing outside post office. When weather is better, the potholes will be re-filled. In the meantime the Clerk to get quote for the full car park to be resurfaced

Post Office drainage. First estimate to repair drainage is £1500. Who should pay for this? Letter should be sent to the property’s owners of all the houses to advise that it is the water running off their roof that is causing the issues to the Green. Parish Council does not have the funds to repair the drainage themselves.

Public participation, agenda items only. A parishioner was concerned about Ottomer Pond. Appreciates everything that has been done. The pipe between the two properties is blocked. Why have we not been proactive and enforced the cleaning out of the pipe that is blocked to be flushed through? There is a dispute as to who owns the ditch. The problem now is getting the landowner to do their side of things. Wanted to know what we can do next – the more people who complain to the local flooding authority, the more likely something might happen.

Next agenda. Subjects to be discussed should include Ottomer Pond, Solar Farm, Community Car Scheme, Green Working Committee,   resurfacing outside village shop, drainage and embankment on Hargham Road/Post Office Terrace, Parking, repairs to the Green, Volunteer Meet and Greet Day and Footpaths.

The next Parish Council meeting will be on Thursday 5 February in Old Buckenham Village Hall starting at 7.30pm.