Stanhoe Parish Council
Minutes of Parish Council Meeting
Held on Thursday, 8th September 2016 at 7.00pm
in the village Reading Room
Clerk to the Council: – Tel 01485 518570
Present:
Mr. D. Lord (DL) Chairman
Mr D. Bridge (DB)
Miss. R. Brown (RB)
Mrs. J. Lord (JL)
Mr. D. Vincent (DV)
Apologies:
Mr M. Roche (MR)
In Attendance:
Mr A. Upton (AU)
1. To consider apologies for absence
The Clerk had received verbal apologies from MR.
2. To consider approval of the Minutes of the last meeting held on 14th July 2016 and the Planning Meeting held on 4th August 2016
No queries were raised and the Minutes were passed and signed by the Chairman.
3. To record declarations of interest in any item to be discussed
No declarations made.
4. To adjourn the meeting to allow for public participation
AU attended the meeting and informed the Council that a new goose had been ‘placed’ on the village pond. RB would confirm whether or not a known local resident had placed the goose on the pond prior to any further action being taken.
AU asked about the possibility of the Council obtaining a defibrillator, to be located on the wall of the Village Hall, indicating that one may be available free of charge from the British Heart Foundation. DL and the Clerk would look into this.
AU advised the Council that the diary entries relating to the Parish Council on Stanhoe.org still reflected the previous Clerk. The Clerk would contact the webmaster.
AU suggested an entry be placed in Saints Alive and on the Stanhoe.org website to ask for a volunteer working party to undertake a ‘tidy up’ around the village pond. DB advised that he had previously undertaken this and would do so again. AU agreed to assist.
5. Co-option of a new Councillor
To be carried forward to the November meeting.
6. Stanhoe Broadband Upgrade
DL had contacted the Programme Director for Better Broadband for Norfolk (BBfN) and established that broadband for Stanhoe was scheduled to be upgraded in the first half of 2018. Notwithstanding, no mention of Stanhoe could be found on the BBfN website. DL would follow this up and also try to establish why there was such a delay in Stanhoe being upgraded.
7. Devolution for Norfolk and Suffolk
Following receipt of a letter from Sir Henry Bellingham MP, and following consultation with Councillors, DL had confirmed on the ‘Have your say’ website that the Council were against the proposals. DL would ensure that Sir Henry was aware of the Council’s views.
8. Rangers Visit
The Rangers, a working party linked to the Highways Department, would visit Stanhoe sometime during the week commencing 3rd October 2016. The Rangers would undertake a number of tasks to include hedge cutting and clearing around and cleaning of signs. More complex tasks, such as the repainting of road markings (Bircham Road/Docking Road junction scheduled for April 2017), clearing storm drains and soakaways and the clearance of gravel on roads would be added to the Highways Department schedule.
9. SNAP
DL may be unable to attend the next SNAP meeting scheduled for 20th September. DV would check whether he would be available to attend. RB understood that Stanhoe had a new PCSO – this would be confirmed by DV at the SNAP meeting should he be able to attend.
10. Compostable food waste bags
These had now been purchased by RB and were available for sale in the Village Hall.
11. Playground
DV had noticed some slight damage to one of the items of play equipment but would be able to repair it and make it safe. The Council agreed to pay DV £16.00 to undertake the repair. The Clerk would establish whether there was any legal/insurance requirement to have the play equipment formally inspected and certified. MR had recently emptied the waste bin on the play area but had yet to come up with a long term solution. Councillors agreed that the contact details on the playground sign required updating. MR knew a local company who should be able to undertake this.
12. Circulation Comment Sheets
DL thanked Councillors for the helpful comments appended to the circulation folder. To ensure comments made were not overlooked, DL would now not see the circulation folder until all other Councillors had seen it. The Clerk would amend the cover sheet accordingly. To ensure information received by Councillors was still ‘current’, the Clerk would email Councillors anything of a ‘short notice’ nature but also still include in the circulation folder. The Clerk agreed to e-mail Councillor’s the weekly NALC newsletter.
13. Councillor Responsibilities
DL was keen that Councillor’s took on personal responsibility for areas/topics where they had a keen interest or idea. DV was already looking after the play equipment and DB had agreed earlier in the meeting to ‘look after’ the village pond. DL would, if necessary, allocate future responsibilities.
14. Speeding in the Village
DV advised, and all Councillors agreed, that speeding in the village remained a concern. DV had been approached by a number of local residents who also expressed concern. The issue would be brought up at the next SNAP meeting. DL would invite Terry Austin, the Speed Watch Coordinator, to brief the Council at a forthcoming meeting.
15. Parish Council Meeting Dates for 2017
These would continue to be on the 2nd Thursday of alternate months. The Clerk would publish the dates for 2017 accordingly.
16. Planning applications and information
No new applications had been received.
17. Financial Report and approval of payments
Up to date income & expenditure accounts, budget report and bank statements were circulated by the Clerk. No queries were raised. Approval was sought and agreed for the payment of the charity donation to the Burnham Market Community Car Scheme, the purchase, for resale, of compostable food waste bags, stationery, and salary due to the Clerk from 1st July 2016 to 31st August 2016. The Clerk took the opportunity to advise Councillors that issues with Barclays Bank regarding the change in Clerk were ongoing but would hopefully be resolved in the near future.
Any Other Business:
18. Village Sign Surround and front of pond
RB asked whether the tidying around the village sign and the front of the pond could be added to the duties of Bill Punter. The Clerk would contact Bill to ascertain his availability/capacity to undertake this additional duty.
19. Stanhoe.org Website
RB asked if any progress had been made with supporting the webmaster. DL had one person in mind, but initially DL would discuss with the webmaster.
20. Hedges along footpaths
RB advised that some parts of hedging towards the Duck Inn were encroaching onto the footpath and asked if this could be added to the Rangers list. The Clerk agreed to e-mail the Rangers engineer requesting this.
21. Sedgeford Poultry Farm
An e-mail from a Sedgeford resident had been received advising that the application regarding the Sedgeford Poultry Farm had been approved. Whilst the Council wished to provide what support it could to the residents and Council of Sedgeford, it was felt it had done as much as it could already.
22. Letter from Sir Henry Bellingham
DL had received a letter from Sir Henry Bellingham, following a letter he had received from a Stanhoe resident, Mrs Austin. Mrs Austin had asked Sir Henry whether the Parish Council could consider obtaining a grant from the Jack’s Lane Community Benefit Fund for the purchase of a speed awareness sign. DL would draft a response and pass to Councillors for consideration.
23. Items for the next Agenda – meeting of 10th November 2016:
- Co-option of a new Councillor (DL)
- Closer liaison with other Parish Councils (All)
- Geese on the pond (DL)
- Stanhoe.org website (DL/WL)
- Defibrillator (DL/WL)
- War Memorials Trust (DL/WL/RB)
- Playground waste bin
No other items were discussed and the meeting closed at 8.55pm.