Denton Parish Council
Minutes of the Meeting Held on Tuesday 14th April 2009
at 8pm at Denton Village Hall
Present: Liz Cargill (Chairman), Roger Gibson, Peter Hill, Adrian Hipwell, Eddie Winter, Annie Whiteman, Pauline Sandell (Clerk)
Also Present: Mr. Peter Ramsden (Saffron Housing Trust)
1. Apologies
Terry Hanner.
2. Declaration of Interest None
3. Minutes of the Last Meeting
Errata: Spelling error page 1 under b, second line Produlik should read Proludic. The minutes were agreed and signed.
4. Matters Arising:
Item d was discussed first so that Peter Ramsden could leave.
d. Affordable Housing; Peter Ramsden summarized the recent progress of the affordable housing scheme. He then produced draft plans of the proposed design and lay out of the houses for the Councillors to look at. All houses will have the benefit of solar panels. The Councillors comments were:
- The new lay out is OK.
- The general design was too modern and not in harmony with the existing houses in the village.
- They did not like the roof design and it appeared to be too high compared to other cottages in the road. They preferred a conventional apex roof line.
- The exterior finish of half brick and half render was approved.
- Nos. 2 and 4 should have a south facing aspect
- They would like to see pedestrian access at the southern end of the plan (village hall end).
- Nos 3 and 4 appear too large.
- Some Councillors thought that the buffer zone was too small and would prefer to see the houses moved further north.
- Some Councillors thought the windows were too small.
- Extra parking required on some of the open space, the rest of the open space to be low fenced to protect against parking.
- The cladding was discussed at length and it was generally thought that wooden cladding would be high maintenance, but if it was good quality then it would be acceptable.
Peter Ramsden said he would take all these suggestions back to the architect and then the plans would go to the design panel. The Councillors asked to be able to look at the amended design before it went to the design panel. Peter said that he would ask the question, as it was not his decision.
a) Playing Field; April report completed by Roger Gibson. A lot of rubbish had been found in the recycling area; food waste and tin cans. Peter had found paper work within that rubbish that contained the name of a local resident. The Councillors agreed that this was "fly tipping" and, should it happen again, the person would be reported to the authorities. The neighbourhood police will be made aware of this. Liz Cargill to do the next report.
b) Play Area Project; Peter Hill reported that the commemorative plaque from the Millennium Wood was missing, but is with Johnnie Carslake, Glass has impacted into the surface of the car park, no liners in the bins, tree guards are scattered along the path, splits in the monkey bars about 7mm wide, the soil around the pipe in the mound has sunk, exposing the pipe. It was agreed to patch up the soil around the pipe and not to dig it out completely until the play area is refurbished. Johnnie Carslake has sprayed the nettles on the mound. The Chairman said that it was important that a notice is put up in future when spraying nettles. Roger and Peter will deal with the above problems in the next week or two. Roger Gibson to do the next report.
c) Highways; Peter Hill reported on the meeting with Bob Edwards of Highways. Pot holes have been filled in, scheme for road near Trunch House is still in hand although no date yet, he will arrange to get the water away from Norwich Road by arranging for the relevant areas to be dug out, flints are not legal and another letter will be sent to residents pointing this out. He was not hopeful about a speed limit. However, at the Annual Parish Meeting members of the public were very keen to see a speed limit and suggested a petition and a traffic survey. It was agreed that Peter would arrange a rota of people to do the survey.
e) Calor Village of the Year Competition; The day went very well and Peter informed the Councillors that Denton was the smallest village being judged in the region. Eddie proposed a vote of thanks to Peter, Roger and to Jill.
f) Any Other Matters; None.
5. District and County Council Matters
None.
6. Questions from the Public
None.
7. Consultations
Local Government Reorganization; the Councillors were united in preferring to keep the status quo, as the present system works well at the moment. It was agreed that Peter would attend the consultation meeting and a letter would be written after that meeting.
Gypsy and Traveller Development Plan Document; the concern was that whichever site was eventually agreed on it should be kept to a maximum of 5 caravans. Roger and Peter will complete the consultation form.
8. Planning
Planning Application 2009/0514, Denton House, Church Hill – modifications to existing access, erection of gates and walls and proposed new driveway. The Councillors were happy to see the comments made on the last application addressed and were happy to approve the new application.
Adrian suggested that the Clerk to write to South Norfolk Council Planning Department to say that the Parish Council approved the colour of the paint that was intended to be used at Roundhouse Hill.
9. Annual Parish Meeting
Most points raised at the annual parish meeting have been discussed above.
Denton Directory; errors and additional information should be circulated as an A5 insert, it was not agreed to put it in the Parish Magazine, but could be put on the web site. It is important that the public contribute amendments but they will have to be informed of the deadline. Adrian will talk to Johnnie to see if he wishes to continue with the Directory.
10. Correspondence
Correspondence summaries had been circulated.
Local Government Reorganisation; as above under consultations. Peter will attend the meeting on the 23rd April.
New standard form for planning applications. The local list was circulated and will be on the agenda for next month.
11. Finance
a. Financial Monthly Summary: a running budget summary and financial summary was produced by the Clerk for the month of March.
b. Pay the Clerk £88.31 for May
c. Agree to revised Clerk's salary of £88.31 per month to commence May 09 backdated from April 1st 2008 + backdated amount of £3.38.
d. Pay the Clerk's annual expenses of £55.84
e. Pay NRCC £15 annual subscription
f. Pay Bungay Printers £100 for Denton Directory
g. Pay Johnnie Carslake £75 for Denton Directory
Not on the agenda:-
Pay NALC £102.60 annual subscription
Pay NPFA £20 annual subscription
Proposal: Pay b, c, d, e, f, g, +NALC and NPFA. Proposed by Liz Cargill, seconded by Eddie Winter. All agreed.
12. Any Other Business
The Clerk reminded the Councillors that the Joint Parish Meeting was to be held on Friday 15th May 7.30pm at Wortwell Village Hall.
The meeting closed at 10.20pm.