Parish Council AGM

P Ross (Chair) S Churchyard J Goodwin-Tallents Mick and Marion Paines J Rix
J Thomson representing the Village Homewatch, J Yates representing the School Governors, two members of the public and the Clerk. K Weeks the District Councillor was also in attendance.

County Councillor B Spratt who was attending other Parish Council meetings.

Election of Responsible Financial Officer
Mrs Green was asked if she was willing to continue in the post of RFO. As she agreed Mr Paines proposed that she be re-elected, this was seconded by Ms Goodwin- Tallents.
Copies of last years accounts were tabled by the RFO. She explained that £4070.57 had been received during the year and the expenses had been £3563.72 meaning that we had £506.85 to be carried forward to next year and with £216.36 VAT to be reclaimed there would actually be £723.21 to be taken on to next year.
Ms Rix said that as there was £1,947.97 in the bank account would it not be a good idea to move more money into the deposit account. It was generally felt that this was a good idea. The RFO to arrange this.
Ms Rix proposed that the accounts be accepted and Mr Paines seconded this proposal, this was passed unanimously.
The Chair pointed out to the meeting that the accounts have to be audited internally before they go to the external auditors. This has been done by Mr Burrows who does this free of charge. In the past (Year 2000) he has been paid expenses but since then he has not received anything. Mrs Paines proposed that he should be paid £100 for his past years services. After a discussion this was seconded by Ms Goodwin-Tallents and everyone else was in favour.  It was also suggested that in future he should be paid annually.

Mrs Yates had been invited to come and give the report. The School had received two OFSTED Inspections during the past year one for the Education department and the other on behalf of the church.
The School OFSTED said that standards had been raised, with the church inspection saying that there was excellent support for the school and the excellent children had a good Christian ethos.
The musical achievements of the school have been good during the last year with an African Drumming Group and the School Choir attending a musical festival and performing at the Cluster Schools concert.
The School has achieved many awards in the last year including Healthy Schools Status.On 7th February an African Day was held with the children coming dressed in the colours of the South African Flag. The Peace Child was performed by the whole school at Christmas time and the Year 6 School Council arranged a Talent Competition. There had been outings to Lopham Fen and the Seaside.
The Headmistress (Mrs Norgate) tries to include Shelfanger and Winfarthing in the school activities and to this end the Christmas Concert was held at All Saints Church Shelfanger with many children taking part as they do in the special church services, such as at the Harvest Festival.
The After school club continues with many varied activities and the HSA continue to fundraise holding a quiz night. The School is much encouraged by the support received from the Parents and Carers.
The Chair thanked Mrs Yates for her very comprehensive report.

Mr Joe Thomson had come to the meeting to give the report on behalf of the Homewatch.
Following the departure from the village of Mr Dowdell a year ago Mr Thomson had taken over the role of Homewatch Co-ordinator for the village. He has created a special area on the website (a paper copy of which he circulated) Messages are received from Mr Derek Clark, the Southwatch co-ordinator for our area, and these can then be displayed on the webpage. On the page there are also tips to help people keep their property safe and links to various other helpful websites.
On each street there are co-ordinators who also get the messages which they should circulate to their neighbours.
The Chair thanked Mr Thomson for his report and asked if there was any way that the street co-ordinators could be made more obvious so that messages can be passed on more quickly. It was felt that many villagers probably were unaware who their co-ordinator was. It was suggested that a list be published in the Cock Crow, on the notice board and in a newsletter.
Mr Thomson welcomed any help to promote the Homewatch as he felt that there was a lack of enthusiasm in the village.

The Clerk read a report prepared by Mrs Lord. In it she said that since the wheelie bins have arrived in the village we only get £200.00 per year for the recycling whereas before we had been getting an average of £500.00. The fund currently stands at £883.68 with a promise of £500.00 to go towards a piece of play equipment in memory of Kate Wells.
Ms Rix asked how often the glass bins were now emptied as they always seem to be full. District Councillor Weeks thought it was weekly. He will check this out.

Ms Goodwin Tallents made a report on this, saying that the website still exists and is hosted from her house. There is not much activity on it but she urged people to put things on there so that there is plenty for villagers or visitors to see. She encouraged clubs to put their latest activities on there.

Again Ms Goodwin-Tallents reported that this carries on with its monthly meetings, where there are around 25 children each time. Each month there is a different activity for the children.
They have not held many fundraising events recently apart from a recent Jumble/book/toy sale which had been disappointing as not many people turned up. The monthly book sales had also ceased as interest had waned. There will be a book sale at the Village Fete.
They are hoping to buy some new equipment soon, a climbing dome for £3,000 and the safety matting underneath is another £3000. She is hoping to get some funding from the Neighbourhood forum. (£2,000) and would welcome any more ideas for fund raising.

Another report was read from Mrs Lord who stated that the Clock Fund has £511.03 in at present, thanks to the Parish Council and donations from friends.

Mrs Paines reported on the Village Hall saying that the hall is well used throughout the week. The Hall committee had eventually been given Planning permission for new windows and doors, thanks to a reminder from Mr Weeks to the Planning Department to look at the application. They are just waiting to get started on the work now.

P Ross (Chair) S Churchyard D Doherty J Goodwin Mr and Mrs M Paines J Rix. Councillor Game Councillor Spratt 10 members of the public and the Clerk.

Composting is mainly recycling materials and the idea of community composting is to get villages composting to help reduce the amount of landfill.
The scheme needs volunteers to run it and the more there are the more fun can be had!
The bins need to be built (often from old pallets with fronts that can be removed) and sited in the village, not near the watercourse. The garden waste from villagers is collected on a regular basis, in bags supplied by the group and is then weighed and recorded. Anything organic can be composted no household food waste. Woody material needs to be chipped. The compost needs to be turned. It takes about 16 – 18 weeks for the compost to be ready. This can then be used locally or sold.
The setting up costs are low as all that is needed are the pallets, bags and a pair of sack scales to weigh the waste. £43.00 will be paid to the parish for every tonne of waste that they compost. But in order to get the scheme going, once the costs have been calculated an application to the Neighbourhood forum or Agenda 21 could be submitted to apply for funds. Denton and Geldeston are villages which have already got successful schemes running.
The chair then thanked Councillor Game for his time and advised that the information he had left would be circulated to anyone who has shown an interest in the scheme.
It was decided to have another meeting expressly for those interested in the Composting Scheme and to canvas the allotment holders now that the full facts of how a scheme would run are known.

Mrs Ross then advised the meeting that she had spoken to the Dade Charity Committee about the suggestion at their last meeting. The general consensus from that meeting was that they did not want to have the Composting scheme on the Allotments. She then read a letter which had been written before the full facts were know. This said that they were concerned about the rats (which they have paid for the control of) and extra vehicles on the allotment site.

Concerns on pilfering from the site were also expressed and where would the composting site be as some of the land was rented out to a farmer.

Sue Mortimer had come to the meeting with the suggestion that the Parish Council get behind a scheme in the village which would see villagers get reductions in their energy supplies and phone bills
Utility Warehouse would be the supplier. They require the group to have the backing of a larger body behind it and in return the body gets a percentage from the income. The representative in the village also gets a percentage. There is no minimum amount of people needed for the group but the more that join the better. There would be some administrative work involved.
After Discussion it was agreed that a flyer should be circulated to see what kind of response there is from the village.

As the minutes had been circulated these were signed as a true record on a proposal by Mick Paines and seconded by J Rix.

Lay-by Resurfacing The Clerk reported that she had been in touch with Gary Overland from Highways to enquire when the work would be done in the lay-by. She was advised that the department was working on filling all the potholes left after the recent very cold weather. As soon as this work is completed then the lay-by work will be done.

Following the last meeting the Clerk had approached the church asking if they would like the seat in the Churchyard. A letter had been received declining the offer as they already had a seat awaiting location in the church grounds and did not feel they need another one. Other sites were suggested in the letter, or an alternative to the site, of planting some trees and bulbs. As the seat has already be paid for this was not an option. A discussion followed and it was eventually agreed to put a flyer in the next delivery of the Cock Crow, asking villagers for their opinion. The suggested sites were
Triangle of land surrounded by posts at junction of Heywood Road and Rectory Road,
The Playing Field
Town Meadows
Top end of Druids Lane
Grass area overlooking the watercourse opposite Shere Khan on the Springtime bank
All Saints School Winfarthing (the recycling committee to be consulted on this one as they paid for the original seat.
Once the results of this survey have been collated a decision as to where the seat can go will be made. Mr Harries does not want the seat put back at the top of Heywood Road in its original position as it is not safe and he does not want youths congregating on it. The Mann family to be contacted when a decision has been made.

Ms Goodwin said that she had had to contact the police after several horses were spotted in Wash Lane. She thought they had come from The Town Meadows when the traveller horses were put on there. She had spoken to Mr Bulter, and he with the other landowners of the meadows, were trying to stop illegal access to the land as it is a SSSI site.

Councillor Spratt reported that All Saints School at Winfarthing is to have a large sum of money spent on it. He said that the Pupil figures for South Norfolk were good. The New Pulham Roundabout had had problems over the lack of proposed lights on it. Adult Social Services in South Norfolk are good. The Highways department new Ranger scheme is going ahead. The footway in Shelfanger along Church Road should be finished in 2011.

Most of the correspondence had been circulated but there were a few items to bring to the notice of members.
An area SNAP meeting In Harleston on 2nd April. A leaflet called Festival Fusion of all local events large or small for next Christmas season. The clerk reminded members of the Gypsy and traveller consultation document that is currently being circulated. Lastly a survey from the Highway ranger scheme but as we had not had any work done by them we were unable to complete it.

Church Farm – Barn Conversion - applied for High London Farm – proposed new garage/ erection of replacement dwelling – approved.

The RFO reported that there was £2197.04 in the bank account but cheques were needed for the ditch work on the allotments of £230.00 (£200 had been donated towards this) £500.00 for the deposit on the New Village Sign and £645.89 for the half yearly Clerk Salary. This would leave £821.15 in the Bank account. In the savings account there is £1,000.00 It was decided that a group would need to do some fund raising towards the new sign.HIGHWAYS
There were no major places that need attention but there were some suggestions for the attention of the Community Ranger Scheme. The Verge outside M Barnards needs some attention where the drain is. The Gulley at the ford needs cleaning. Salt Bin in Druids lane needs repositioning.

Despite the fact that Mike Bentley the Rural Services Officer missed the first meeting he has now taken on board everything regarding getting the work moving. After a site meeting to establish where the ditches used to be he has liaised with DEFRA to see what work can be done. Mr Bentley has spoken to contractors to tender for doing the ditching work and looking at costings for the posts etc. which hopefully will be erected as soon as possible, onto which temporary fencing will be attached when cattle is put on the ground. Mr Aves from Bressingham is prepared to put some animals on there when the common is made safe. He is concerned about placing a power unit up there but hopefully this can be resolved. The representatives from Bressingham are very helpful. The next meeting is on 23rd March 2009 when looking at funding will be looked at.

Following the flyer in the last Cock Crow there had been very little response to the idea of making the village a Cold Calling Zone. It was therefore decided to put another note in to say that we will be doing this unless the Parish Council is advised otherwise.

The Chair reported that she had made arrangements to meet Sarah Cureton bud due to Family matters she did not turn up on the appointed day but now connections have been made with Zoe Woodhouse who is the reinstatement officer. She has taken over some of the Sarah Cureton’s workload. She came and met with Ron Ross and they sat and poured over the footpath maps. She is very knowledgeable about the paths and knew already the majority of the problems that Ron and Pam Ross had encountered on their walks. She wants to get the paths re-instated and get people using them again. She has proposed that in her new year budget she will provide the village with a Walks Board which can be put up somewhere, so that any potential walkers can look at it and see where the paths should go.
With the promise of the Walks board the chair had written to the Village Hall Committee asking if it would be possible to put the board up in the Car park. The VHC said “No”, they did not want people going and parking there. They are hoping to soon put up some gates at the entrance to deter unwanted vehicles on the groundThe council agreed that the security of the Village Hall was important and perhaps a better place would be in the centre of the village, either on the grass near the Village Sign or perhaps in the Bus Shelter where it would also be protected. When the size of the board and what material it will be is known then a final decision can be made.