Stanhoe Parish Council
Draft Minutes of Parish Council Meeting
Held on Thursday, 9th November 2017 at 6.00pm
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. M. Roche (MR)
Mr. D. Vincent (DV)
Apologies: None
In Attendance: 6
1. To consider apologies for absence: None. However, DV had to leave the meeting at 6.20pm.
2. To consider approval of the Minutes of the last meeting held on 21st September 2017: Paragraph 11 of the minutes of the meeting held on 21st September 2017 required amendment. Subsequent to the meeting of 21st September 2017 it had been established that the entrances/gateways on Docking Road were not unplanned; one was the re-opening of a previous entrance, the other had the appropriate permission to allow access whist building work was undertaken. The draft minutes were amended to remove all mention of the word ‘unplanned’ from paragraph 11. The Minutes were then 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: Six members of the public were in attendance. The following concerns were raised to the Council:
Broadband – Slow Broadband continues to be an issue in the village, affecting both business and social use. The Clerk would obtain an update from Karen O’Kane, Programme Director for Better Broadband for Norfolk, on the plans and timescales for Stanhoe to receive ‘faster broadband’. Previous advice had suggested that implementation in Stanhoe would take place in the first half of 2018.
Stanhoe – A Conservation Area? – Extreme reservations were expressed regarding the restrictions that would be imposed upon the village should Stanhoe become a conservation area. The reservations included having to give the Borough Council six week’s notice of intent to top, lop or fell a tree over 75mm in diameter, measured at 1.5m above ground and the potential limitations that would be placed upon the repair and maintenance of buildings. Council decided that the discussion regarding Stanhoe becoming a conservation area scheduled to be held at paragraph 15 of today’s meeting would be postponed until the full implications were known and understood.
5. New Playground Equipment: The Chairman had discussed the drawing up of an appropriate Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Chairman of the MEHM Trust regarding the land on which the playground equipment sits. The Chairman of the MEHM Trust was in agreement to a MoU which the Chairman agreed to draft.
6. Station Road Traffic: The Chairman was still to write to the residents living in the properties in the Station Farm area to advise them of the County Council’s response to installing additional signage.
7. Electronic Speed Signs – SAM 2 Update and Meeting with Heacham Parish Council:
The Chairman had now downloaded data from SAM 2 and was in the process, in conjunction with Westcotec, of refining the data to make it more comprehensible.
Members of the Council had met with representatives of Heacham Parish Council to advise on the process involved in purchasing a SAM 2 utilising the Parish Partnership Scheme.
8. Village Noticeboards: DV had provided the Chairman with a quotation for the refurbishment of the existing noticeboards. DV confirmed that he could start the repairs in the coming weeks. Council agreed that in the interests of due diligence other quotations should be sought with regard to future work/repairs where possible.
9. Playing Field:
Access and Security: The Chairman of the MEHM Trust had contacted the grass cutting contractor to reiterate that access to the playing field should only be made through the chained entrance. Whilst concern was still expressed by Council on the ‘open access’ to the playing field it was agreed that, for now, no further action would be taken.
Sign: The Chairman would advise MR of the changes required to the sign to enable the amendments to be carried out.
No Dogs Signs: The Chairman would discuss further with the Chairman of the MEHM Trust.
10. Palisade Fencing Replacement on Burnham Road: Highways had advised that no further repairs would be carried out to the palisade fencing; broken/loose panels would be removed but not replaced. The palisade fencing will eventually be replaced by slabs; this has been programmed by Norfolk County Council and will be done through their routine works.
11. Entrances/gateways on Docking Road: Refer to paragraph 2.
12. E-Mails from Village Residents: Two emails had been received. One email reiterated the slowness of broadband and advised Council of missing rights of way/public footpath signs. The Clerk would obtain a broadband update, as per paragraph 4, and would contact highways, in the first instance, regarding the missing signs. The second email highlighted an issue with a tree growing around the cables fitted to a telegraph pole opposite Fern Cottage on Docking Road. The Clerk had contacted Openreach who advised it was the landowner’s responsibility to manage trees causing an obstruction to Openreach cables. Whilst the Clerk had established the landowner, Council agreed that they would ‘forward’ any letter written by the resident to the landowner. Subsequent to the meeting the Chairman has decided to write to Openreach to express the Council’s concerns with respect to the residents involved.
13. Payphone Kiosk Removal: Following prompting by the Council, BT brought forward the removal of the payphone kiosk which was finally removed on 24th October. RB reported that some cabling from the payphone was still in place; the Clerk would contact BT and ask for this to be removed.
14. Cross Lane Cross: The preservation of the Cross still remains a concern. The Chairman would contact English Heritage to establish what ‘protection’ to the Cross they would support as previous efforts had met with the dissatisfaction of English Heritage and had to be removed.
15. Stanhoe – A Conservation Area: Discussion postponed. Refer to paragraph 4.
16. Fingerpost and Brown Signs for the Reading Room: DV advised Council that it was the intention of the MEMH Trust to place signs at either end of Cross Lane indicating the location of the Reading Room. The Clerk would contact Highways to obtain permission, or otherwise, for signs to be erected.
17. Norfolk ALC AGM – Motion regarding Second Homes: RB had noticed that ‘second homes’ was an agenda item on the forthcoming Norfolk ALC AGM. Stanhoe has a number of second homes and RB enquired how the Council Tax collected on second homes was distributed. The Clerk would contact the Borough Council to seek clarification on this.
18. Noxious Weed Spraying: The noxious weeds opposite the Duck Inn had now been sprayed and spraying would continue on an annual basis.
19. 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 permitted by BCKLWN |
| 17/01589/RM | Mr & Mrs M Roche | Reserved Matters – Construction of one dwelling on land on the west side of Church Lane | Application permitted by BCKLWN |
| 17/01647/F | Mr B Gorton | Single storey garage extension Gortmor House Parsons Lane |
Application permitted by BCKLWN |
20. 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 cheque number 100710 issued to HMRC on 21st September 2017 for £72.20 had not yet been presented.
Approval was sought and agreed for the following payments:
| Chq No | Payee | Reason | £ |
| 100711 | W. Leighton | Salary September and October 2017 | 288.46 |
| 100712 | W. Leighton | Clerk’s Expenses | 48.00 |
| 100713 | HMRC | PAYE September and October 2017 | 72.20 |
| 100714 | BMACCS | Donation | 120.00 |
17. Items for the next Agenda – meeting of 11th January 2018:
To be confirmed
No other items were discussed and the meeting closed at 8.15pm.