Parish Council - Minutes 20th July 2009

J Rix (Chair) D Doherty Mick and Marion Paines P Ross and the clerk

S Churchyard J Goodwin District Councillor Weeks and County Councillor Spratt

There was no one wishing to use the 10 minutes public speaking time
The Chair opened the meeting by welcoming everyone and then apologised to Mrs Pam Ross for not publicly thanking her for all the hard work she had put into the role of Chair for the last two years.

As the minutes had been circulated these were then signed on a proposal by D Doherty and seconded by P Ross that they be accepted as a true record, everyone else agreed.

Footpaths
Mrs Ross said that there had still been no word from Zoe Woodhouse but once she gets back from her holiday etc, she will contact her if she still has not heard from her. Many of the paths have been cropped over and this needs to be addressed.
Bus shelter
Mick Paines asked the clerk if she had sent a letter of thanks to Mr Ivan Cotton. The clerk replied that she had done so.
Grass Verges
The clerk said that she had written to County Hall about the mess that the grasscutters had been making when they cut the verges and asked if the Parish Council could be told when to expect the cutters. No response had been received.
Mr Paines mentioned that the verges on Common Road had been cut on one side of the road but not the other. The clerk to contact Gary Overland and ask if he can advise who to approach about this matter.
Village Sign
Mr Colin Mobbs had raised money at the fete for the Sign he had raised £37.00 and the winner of the bowls game had donated his £5.00 winnings to the fund. Mrs Lord had offered to do a sponsor swim in October for the fund. Mrs Ross proposed that the Parish Council accept Mrs Lord’s offer and Mr Doherty seconded this proposal. Everyone else agreed. Mr Frank Paice had offered to sponsor the fund for £100 from his business and had suggested that other businesses be approached. The chair agreed to contact other village businesses and ask if they would be willing to sponsor the sign as well. A plaque could then be made showing the business who had donated sponsorship monies. An appeal to be put on the website also.

The chair asked if a spread sheet could be drawn up showing the monies donated to the sign. The clerk agreed to do this.
Boyland Common
The Clerk reported that she had just heard that Mr Mike Bentley who has been a great help in getting the work on the Common underway, is to be made redundant soon. He is unsure at this time where his future will be, but he will remain at SNDC until the end of August as least. He has put in a grant application for funding (electronically) to get the work started on the common, he needs a paper copy so will be seeing the clerk for a signature the next day. Mr and Mrs Paines asked the clerk to make sure that any work (such as putting cattle on the common) will not make the application void. The Council do not want anything to jeopardise the grant.
The travellers who are currently on the common have been granted permission to stay until September when they will be moving to a permanent site at Harford. The mother is pregnant and expecting in August. The Parish Council would be unable to move the family because of her condition.
Mr Aves has agreed to put some cattle on the common to deter any more travellers.
No Cold Calling Zone
As the Council had been told that they were unable to make the whole village a No Cold Calling Zone the Clerk has obtained some No Cold Calling stickers which residents can put on their windows or doors. These were available at the fete for collection and there are plenty left for residents to have if they wish.
Composting Scheme
To date there has been no response to the letters sent out asking interested residents to form a committee and undertake the work. There will be mention in the next Cock Crow and Newsletter. If there is no response after this publicity then it was decided the scheme will be dropped.

Item 3 text to follow after meeting.

No report

There were only a few items to be brought to the meetings attention.
A thank you letter from the Citizens Advice Bureau
A letter advising of a consultation on the Regeneration of St Stephen’s street Norwich.
A promotional letter for the Forum in Norwich
A letter from the Service provider for the Scope Textile Bin at the Village Hall. The contract for collecting for Scope by Terimpex Ltd is coming to a close and the company would still like to keep emptying the bin for different charities.
The meeting held a discussion and decided that they would still like to have the “Scope” bin. The clerk to advise Terimpex that we do not wish them to empty the bin when the contract finishes and to contact Scope and ask them to what the situation is with regard to continuing with them.

A copy of a letter written to the Planning and Transportation Department of NCC by Mrs Linda Leeder regarding the fact that the Council was going to cut the Bus Service to the village. Mrs Leeder wrote saying that the proposal to cut the service and advise passengers to use the Flixibus (which you have to ring up and see if it is available at the time and day you need to use it) was not acceptable as it just would not be convenient enough for passengers. Upon receipt of Mrs Leeder’s letter the Department decided not to cut the service at all for the time being.

Applenook – proposed single storey dwelling- Approved with conditions
Malvern Lodge – Erection of New Porch – Approved
Street Farm – demolition of Agricultural building to be replaced by Eco-dwelling and garage. - Approved with conditions
Saffron – unauthorised extension – ongoing

The RFO reported that cheques were needed for the next grasscutting invoice at £243.74 and £208.15 for the Clock maintenance. A discussion ensued regarding the Memorial Clock fund. The Parish Council gives the fund donations and then when the invoice for the maintenance is due, the money is then given back to the Parish Council account. It was agreed that this account is not now needed as the next major service should not be for many years to come and so there doesn’t need to be any ongoing fundraising. The amount for the annual maintenance is covered by the precept. The Clerk was asked to speak to the signatories on the account and suggest that the account is closed and the remaining funds put in the Deposit account, to be saved for the next major maintenance.
The RFO reported that there is £1070.84 in the deposit account to which £500.00 is to be added towards the village sign.

The clerk was asked if there had been any follow up after the meeting regarding the Community Rangers. The clerk reported that she had had a long talk with Gary Overland before the meeting giving the councillors thoughts on the scheme but she had not had any feed back from the meeting. We still do not know when the rangers will be actually coming to the village. There was one item to be added to the list of jobs for the rangers the Common Road sign needs fixing back to its post.

AOB text to follow after meeting.