Stanhoe Parish Council
Minutes of Parish Council Meeting
Held on Thursday, 21st September 2017 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: 1
1. To consider apologies for absence: Apologies had been received from MR.
2. To consider approval of the Minutes of the last meeting held on 20th July 2017: 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 of interest were made.
4. To adjourn the meeting to allow for public participation: The member of the public in attendance did not wish to draw anything to the attention of the Council.
5. New Playground Equipment: The Chairman had made contact with the Grants Officer of the Jack’s Lane Wind Farm Community Fund (JLWFCF) to establish whether funding could be made available to assist with the purchase of new playground equipment. At present, the Chairman confirmed that the JLWFCF would be unable to support a funding application as the land on which the playground equipment is situated is not owned by the Parish Council – it is owned by the MEHM Trust. It had been suggested that if a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was written between the landowner and the Parish Council regarding the piece of land on which the playground equipment sat then consideration may be able to be given to a funding application. Whilst Council agreed to the drawing up of a MoU, it was with the proviso that it did not involve any legal responsibilities falling under the remit of the Parish Council. The Chairman agreed to discuss the matter with the Chairman of the MEHM Trust.
6. Station Road Traffic: The Clerk had contacted the Highways Department at Norfolk County Council with a view to signs being placed in the vicinity of Station Farm warning drivers of the presence of agricultural machinery and animals. Unfortunately, the Highways Engineer is only allowed to replace or erect signs that are required for legal reasons and was therefore unable to help. The Chairman would write to the residents living in the properties in the Station Farm area to advise them of the County Council’s response.
7. Electronic Speed Signs: DV advised that the SAM 2 sign was now fully operational. Whilst DV would charge and change the battery, and rotate the sign around the four locations, he would be unable to download the data from the SAM 2 as he does not own a laptop. The Chairman agreed to undertake the downloading of data. DV further advised that garden hedging would encroach the sign at one of the locations so, along with RB, would establish the hedge ‘owner’ to enable a request to be made to trim back the hedge. Finally, Council agreed that an entry should be placed in Saints Alive advising residents that SAM 2 was now operational and of the four locations from which it would operate.
8. Village Noticeboards: The Clerk had researched the cost of 2 replacement village noticeboards. Replacements, of a similar style and standard, would cost in the region of £1500 each plus VAT. Council agreed that this was not a viable spend of public money and instead requested that DV provide a quotation for the refurbishment of the existing noticeboards.
9. Playing Field:
Access and Security: Council expressed concern that access to the playing field was not secure as vehicles could access the field from a track off Cross Lane. Whilst not suggesting it had been caused by them, the Clerk would contact the grass cutting contractor to reiterate that access to the playing field should only be made through the chained entrance.
Sign: The Chairman would discuss with MR, who had previously suggested he could arrange for the current sign to be ‘amended’.
No Dogs Signs: Discussion deferred until the November meeting.
10. Community Transport/Go to Town: RB advised that the Go to Town bus was now running to/from Stanhoe. At first sight the official timetable appeared confusing so a simplified version had been placed on Stanhoe.org and would also be included in the next edition of Saints Alive.
11. Entrances/gateways on Docking Road: RB advised Council that an entrance had appeared in the hedgerow on Docking Road opposite ‘The Grange’. In addition, there had been for some time an entrance on to Docking Road from the property being built adjacent to Field House on Church Lane. Clarification would be sought as to whether planning permission was required/had been sought for these entrances/gateways.
12. Young Willow Tree growing in pond edge at the corner of Bircham Road: DB agreed to trim the tree back so that it did not impair the visibility of road users at the junction of Bircham Road/Docking Road/Burnham Road.
13. Stanhoe.org Website: RB, on behalf of the Stanhoe Archive Group, asked whether the Parish Council would be in support of an application for funding being made to the JLWFCF from the Stanhoe Archive Group. The Parish Council gave unanimous support to such an application. RB also advised Council that the webmaster thought it would be beneficial to have a ‘deputy webmaster’ in place. An entry would be placed in Saints Alive to seek a volunteer. Hosting costs for Stanhoe.org would be due again in 2019; RB asked whether the Parish Council would consider contributing to, as yet, these unknown costs. Council agreed to consider a request for funding assistance once costs were known.
14. Request for Funding – BMACCS: The Clerk had received a written request from the BMACCS Coordinator for assistance with funding. Council agreed unanimously to make a donation of £120.00.
15. Planning applications and information: The following applications had been received:
| App Number | Applicant | Proposal | Council Response |
| 17/01519/LB | Mr S Page | Internal Alterations 3 Ivy Farm Bircham Road |
Application supported by Parish Council |
| 17/01589/RM | Mr & Mrs M Roche | Reserved Matters – Construction of one dwelling on land on the west side of Church Lane | Application supported by Parish Council |
| 17/01647/F | Mr B Gorton | Single storey garage extension Gortmor House Parsons Lane |
Application supported by Parish Council – Clerk to send response to BCKLWN |
16. 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. The Clerk advised Council that the Annual Return had now been returned from the auditors. No comments or observations had been made
Approval was sought and agreed for the following payments:
| Chq No | Payee | Reason | £ |
| 100708 | W. Leighton | Salary July and August 2017 | 288.46 |
| 100704 | W. Leighton | Clerk’s Expenses | 19.94 |
| 100705 | HMRC | PAYE July and August 2017 | 72.20 |
17. Items for the next Agenda – meeting of 9th November 2017:
No Dogs Signs (DL/MR)
Playing Field Sign (DL/MR)
Cross Lane Cross (All)
Stanhoe – A Conservation Area (All)
The Chairman requested that the meeting on 9th November start at 6.00pm, with a view to all future meetings starting at 6.00pm. Subject to there being no issues with the revised start time on 9th November, Council would ratify the new start time for meetings accordingly.
No other items were discussed and the meeting closed at 8.50pm.