Denton Parish Council
Minutes of the Meeting of the Council held on Tuesday 13th June 2017 at 7.30 pm in Denton Village Hall.
Present: Councillors: Kay Wiltshire (Chair), Terry Hanner (Vice Chair), Peter Hill, Peter Grant, Zoe Brown, Kerry Norfolk.
Also present: Dr. M. Gray, (District Councillor), Jackie Ellis (Clerk).
1. Welcome by the Chairman.
2. To receive and accept apologies from members unable to attend:
Mr. R. Gibson and Mrs. M. Stone (County Councillor) have sent their apologies..
3. To receive any declarations of interest from members on any item to be discussed:
None.
4. To approve and sign the minutes of the last meeting:
The minutes of the May 2017 meeting were approved and signed by Kay Wiltshire, Chair, as a correct record.
5. There were no members of the public in attendance and so the meeting was not adjourned.
6. Reports from County and District Councillors:
Dr. M. Gray reported:
- The court date for Grove Farm is 30th June, 2017.
- Parish Boundaries – the consultation runs until 12th July 2017. SNC will discuss the various proposals that have been put forward on the 15th August, 2017.
- Planning – Rainbows End certificate of lawfulness for keeping goats has been approved.
- The Better broadband for Norfolk project is supposed to be operational by the end of 2017. The cabinet has not yet been installed. Dr. Gray will be able to give us an update on fibre broadband next meeting.
7. To discuss matters arising from the minutes of the last meeting:
The Army cadets have held their training weekend on the playing field. This went very well with no problems and the playing field was left immaculate.
8. Correspondence:
None.
9. To discuss the schedule of parish council meetings:
At our last meeting Peter Hill proposed having 6 meetings per year instead of 10. This was discussed and it was agreed to leave things as they are and stay with the 10 meetings per year.
10. Playing Field Report:
Zoe Brown carried out the inspection. All was in good order.
The folder was handed to Peter Grant to carry out the next inspection.
11. Parish Boundary Review:
Peter Grant had done a draft letter to request our boundary change as discussed last month and identified on a map the proposed boundary change. Mrs. Wiltshire read this letter out and all councillors were happy with this.
The request and annotated map will now be sent to SNC.
12. Finance – Approval of the Accounts for the year ending March 2017:
A copy of the Accounts for the year ended 31 March 2017 was circulated to all councillors. All councillors were happy with these.
Mrs. Wiltshire and the clerk signed the Annual Return. This will now be sent to Mazars and advertised as per regulations.
13. To discuss purchase of a picnic bench for the playing field, following a suggestion at the APM:
All councillors felt that a picnic bench on the playing field would be a good idea. Mrs. Wiltshire has obtained two quotes; one from B & Q for £65.00 and another from Atlantic for £140.00. After discussion it was decided that Mrs. Wiltshire would go and have a look at the B & Q one and if she thought it suitable it was agreed that this could be purchased.
14. Brief report on South Norfolk Police Seminar – Kay Wiltshire:
Mrs. Wiltshire attended this seminar at Long Stratton on 24th May, 2017. These meetings, at which members of the public will be invited to attend in the future, replace police attending individual annual parish meetings as they do not have the resources. The meetings will be held quarterly in Diss, Long Stratton and Wymondham. There are 5 response officers at any one time (24/7) available in South Norfolk. PC Heather Field is the Beat Manager for Harleston. The clerk has a report on file if anyone wishes to see this.
15. Training:
a) Defibrillator Awareness and CPR.
The Community Heartbeat offer this training at a cost of £175.00 plus VAT. All councillors felt that this would be worthwhile. Alburgh parish council would also like to have this training and it was felt that it would be a good idea to share this. An evening in late September was decided on and Mrs. Wiltshire will contact Mr. Denny, Chair of Alburgh parish council.
b) Councillor Training
NALC offer Chairman training in July 2017 at a cost of £100 plus VAT for two days. Mrs. Wiltshire would like to attend this. All were in agreement.
Councillor training was also discussed.
16. Conservation Volunteers:
Mrs. Wiltshire has contacted Conservation Volunteers. They do work on public green spaces; they come from Norwich and their daily rate is £300 plus VAT.
Brief discussion on the feasibility of having one of the allotments for children to garden.
17. To discuss and comment on planning applications:
Ref: 2017/1096 The Old Dairy, Darrow Green Road, Denton, Norfolk.Parish Councillors had no comments about this application.
18. To approve payments to be made:
Payments made:Clerk Salary £76.80
Norse 6 monthly grounds maintenance charge £595.12
Liz Frere-Smith for Internal Audit £35.00
To receive items for the next agenda, including any other business:
Adopting our BT Kiosk.
The next meeting will be held on Tuesday, 11th July 2017 at 7.30 pm in Denton Village Hall.
Close of Meeting: Kay Wiltshire thanked everyone for attending and closed the meeting at 8.40 pm.