Denton Parish Council
Minutes of the Meeting Held on 11th March 2008 at 8pm at Denton Village Hall
Present: Liz Cargill (Chairman), Peter Hill, Adrian Hipwell, Eddie Winter, Pauline Sandell (Clerk). Also Present: Murray Gray (District Councillor), three members of the public.
1. Apologies: Roger Gibson, Terry Hanner, Tony Tomkinson.
2. Declaration of Interest: None.
3. Minutes of the Last Meeting: The minutes were agreed and signed. It was noted that the numbering of the minutes in November and October 2007 had been duplicated. The Clerk was asked to renumber the minutes from the 13th November 2007.
4. Matters Arising:
a. Playing Field; The report had been completed by Terry Hanner; litter-bin had been upended again by the shelter, broken glass on the basketball court - this needs an eye kept on it. Moles are still a problem and Liz said she would ask Clare for the telephone number of Steve Tricks so that the Clerk can contact him. The car park is getting very worn with a number of holes and it was agreed to investigate the possibility of putting down road plainings. The Clerk was asked to get a quote from Askews for 20 tons of road plainings and to contact Malcolm Skinner to ask him for a quote for to level the car park. The Clerk had spoken to SCOPE a number of times about changing the bin and has at last been told that the bin will be changed on Friday or Monday of next week. A current Wickstead brochure was provided by the Clerk and it was agreed to circulate this and decide at the next meeting which piece of equipment to buy. Clare Valori to do the next report.
b. Composting; Liz Cargill reported that a Working Group Meeting had taken place. The new season will start on 6th April. Malcolm Skinner had modified a mechanical sieve to be used at the site. For health and safety reasons Keith will operate the sieve. Additional work for the shredder had been discussed, i.e. providing a shredder service in the village. However, it was generally felt that the volunteers already had enough work to cope with. The Group would like to buy some lids for the bins. It was suggested that lorry curtains would do a good job and Peter Hill offered the ones that are in his field. The Group also wanted to buy a grain thermometer, but Eddie Winter said that he had one that the Group could use. The Group also suggested that Malcolm should be given a gift of wine for modifying the sieve. This was agreed by the Councillors.
Liz suggested that it would be a good idea to have display boards for the compost scheme but also for general village use. Liz will research costs. The pre-season social will be held on Thursday 17th April. Adrian said the Blackhand Cyder Society will supply some cider.c. Update on Sewage Problem at No.3 Uplands Terrace; The Clerk reported that as a result of the letter to SNC, she had received a telephone call from the Environmental Protection Team who said that they would contact Mr & Mrs Rodwell directly to investigate the problem.
d. Highways: The Chairman read out an e-mail from Bob Edwards regarding Middle Road, including a map of drainage at Middle Road. The Chairman will take the map to Clare Valori and ask her about it. The ongoing problem of the grups was discussed. The problem being; there are too many, when they are dug out the edge of the road is being eroded, not all of the grups are doing the job of draining water from the road. Peter Hill will speak to Highways.
e. Homewatch: Ken Ashton has agreed to take this over. The Clerk reported that Derek Clarke, the South Norfolk Coordinator, will attend the Annual Parish Meeting.
f. Any Other Matters Arising; Annual Parish Meeting – Adrian gave his apologies. Denton Directory, community oil scheme and affordable housing will be discussed at the Meeting.
5. District and County Council Matters:
Murray Gray had the following reports to make:
Sewage Treatment Plant: still working to get it updated. The Council are talking to the landowner about putting a track at the back of 5 and 6 Uplands Terrace to access the pumping station. The funding for this project is not enough, more money needs to be released and Murray Gray is working on that.
Neighbourhood Forum: The next meeting is on the 3rd April in Harleston.
Safe Neighbourhood Action Panel: The next meeting is to take place at Alburgh Village Hall at 7.30pm on 17th April. It is planned to have one meeting in future for both the Neighbourhood Forum and SNAP.
Car Parking Charges: Decision will be delayed until May.
Post Office Closures: These will be announced on 26th March.
Sale of Middle Road Site; Nothing to report yet. The Council is not going to evict the Gypsies at Earsham as it is too costly. They will stay there until another site is found.
South Norfolk Council has been graded as ‘excellent’.
6. Questions from the Public: The problem with aggressive dogs at the Earsham Gypsy site chasing and biting people using the right of way was discussed. It was thought that this is less of a problem now.
7. Affordable Housing: The Chairman reported that SNC had said that a new survey form would have to be created and at the worse scenario this may not be ready until the end of May. It was agreed to contact Abigail and ask if this could be moved forward, and offer to copy the form ourselves. Murray Gray said that he would also chase Abigail on this. An offer of a piece of land has been received from Malcolm Skinner. The Councillors discussed other parcels of land that might be suitable for affordable housing and agreed to contact the owners enclosing a pamphlet. A member of the public was concerned about the sewage treatment for the new houses. It was also noted that people are concerned that the shared-ownership option may be a problem when they come to sell their part of the house. Could this be more difficult to sell? Murray did not think that this would be a problem as Saffron would be able to consult the housing register and find someone. With regard to the cap on salary of £25,000, it was thought that this was too low and it was agreed that Denton would want to put a higher level than that.
8. Denton Directory – Costings, Grant: The Clerk was asked to get a grant form from the Neighbourhood Forum. With regard to costings, it was thought that 300 copies would cost around £120. Although a grant would help out in the first year, it was agreed that some form of money raising would be needed to fund it yearly.
9. Planning:
Nothing to report.
10. Pride in Norfolk Competition:
Peter Hill had listed various things of interest and asked for comments. Playing Field, community oil buying, toilets at the Church, summer camp, another extension at the Village Hall, and the fete could also be mentioned. This could be discussed at the Annual Parish Meeting.
11. Correspondence:
Items on the correspondence summaries of 3rd and 11th March were noted. The following action was taken:
SNC - Poster asking people to support their local post office. To be placed on the noticeboard in the Village Hall.
Waveney District Council - Norfolk Minerals and Waste Local Development Framework Consultation had been passed to Liz Cargill.
Norfolk County Council - Norfolk Minerals and Waste Local Development Framework Consultation had been passed to Liz Cargill. The waste site at Earsham was discussed. The Consultation will be circulated.
12. Finance:
a. Review the effectiveness of the internal audit system and assess the risks facing the council: The Councillors reviewed the internal audit system and felt that the six monthly checks by the Financial Supervisor, and the annual audit by Liz Frere-Smith was effective. However, it was agreed that a monthly summary should be brought to the meetings showing budget figures, actual figures and bank balance. The Councillors agreed that any risks facing the council would be managed by the monthly reports by the Proper Officer and the monitoring carried out by the Financial Supervisor.
b. Pay the Clerk £83.87 for March 2008.
c. Pay the Clerk £24.96 adjusted salary as agreed at November meeting.
d. Pay NRCC £15.00 annual subscription.
e. Pay SNC £60.30 for dog bin servicing.
f. Agree CPRE increase from £26 to £28 per year.
Proposal: pay b.c.d.e. and agree to CPRE increase. Proposed by Eddie Winter, seconded by Adrian Hipwell, unanimously agreed.
13. Any Other Business:
Eddie Winter had been to a meeting at South Norfolk Council regarding plastic bags. He would like to encourage the village to economize on the use of plastic bags. It was reported that the light is on in the telephone box at all times and was this necessary.
The meeting closed at 09.55.