Denton a village in South Norfolk, England

Denton Parish Council

Minutes of the Meeting of the Council held on Tuesday 13th March 2018 at 7.30 pm in Denton Village Hall.

Present: Councillors: Kay Wiltshire (Chair), Terry Hanner (Vice Chairman), Zoe Brown, Peter Grant, Roger Gibson, Kerry Norfolk, Christine Kerr.
Also present: Dr. M. Gray, (District Councillor), Jackie Ellis (Clerk).

1. Welcome by the Chair.

2. To receive and accept apologies from members unable to attend:
Margaret Stone (County Councillor).

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 February 2018 meeting were approved and signed by Kay Wiltshire, Chair, as a correct record.

5. The meeting was not adjourned as no member of the public wished to make any comments.

6. Reports from County and District Councillors:
6. Reports from County and District Councillors Dr. M. Gray, District Councillor, reported:

    Dr. M. Gray, District Councillor, reported:
  • New Parish Boundary has been approved from May 2019.
  • Housing in Long Stratton; the outline application is now in. The bypass is a full application.
  • Hempnall roundabout is a separate application – there is a consultation on line for this.
  • Broadband briefing by Karen O’Kane, the cabinets are being put in and SNC working with an organisation to put up some masts which can also be linked. The aim is to get everybody in south Norfolk to 10mb by 2020.
  • Greater Norwich Local Plan – consultation has been extended a week because of bad weather. Closes on 22nd March, 2018.
    Mrs M. Stone, County Councillor, emailed the following report:
  • Parish Partnership funding: Funds will be decided and allocated within the next few weeks
  • Hempnall roundabout Consultation. Planned for construction 2019. Comments can be made on line.
  • Update on Homersfield Bridge Picnic Site. This is discussed later in meeting.
  • Norfolk Fire and rescue service are recruiting
  • Community Services have asked a Task and Finish group to look at Road Traffic accidents and review prevention tactics.

7. To discuss matters arising from the minutes of the last meeting:
In Good Company – Doris, Denise and Jean were presented with the certificate at the Theatre Royal, Norwich on 23rd February, 2018.
The joint training with Alburgh parish councillors is being held on Tuesday, 1st May on the new General Data Protection Regulations.
Terry Hanner has reported lots of pot holes to NCC. He will also contact Gary Overland this week about the drains in the village which need looking at.

8. To discuss and comment on any planning applications received and related matters:
Rainbows End – Enforcement notice automatically came back into effect from the date of dismissal of the appeal, 5th February 2018.

9. Playing Field Report – Christine Kerr:
There are nails sticking out on the fort roof and it needs replacing as it is breaking up. The tunnel also needs removing as this is damaged; it was not cost effective to have this repaired during the recent maintenance work.
Terry Hanner said that this could be done and a date was arranged for a working party on Saturday, 24th March 2018. Details will be put out on DentonTalk.
Kay gave thanks to Zoe for pruning and reshaping the willow structure.
Kay also gave thanks to Murray Gray for the SNC grant of £300 towards play equipment repairs.
Fenland Leisure completed the playground repairs and maintenance yesterday. They were on site for 3 days. Whilst they were on site on Friday, Kay discussed with them the pedestrian gate access and the very low ground level (worn away) and asked them to fill it in with any soil they had from digging out the new posts, etc. The team leader suggested one piece of Safagrass (rubber matting, grass grows through) would help. The cost of this is £35.00 plus VAT, Kay went ahead and ordered it for them to have on the Monday to complete the work. It was agreed that if we receive the invoice from Fenland Leisure it could be paid before our May meeting.
Norse Grounds Maintenance Contract – we have received confirmation that Roundup ProBio can be used around the posts as opposed to using a strimmer. This will be done 3 times (if required) during the season. No change to the contract cost of £1,076.17 plus VAT. It was agreed to go ahead with the contract which starts in April 2018 until October.
All parish councillors gave thanks to Kay for all the time she has spent organising the playing field repairs.

10. SNC Community Awards – to consider nominations:
Nominations for some of the categories were proposed and agreed. Councillors will provide Kay with information and details backing these nominations and Kay will complete the nomination process via the online forms on the SNC website.

11. Date of May Annual Parish Meeting to be decided and suggestions for a speaker:
It was agreed to hold the next parish council meeting and AGM on 8th May, 2018.
The Annual Parish Meeting will be held later on in May 2018 – the date will be confirmed.
Thoughts on guest speaker – It was agreed to ask Karen O’Kane to talk on Broadband and also ask East Anglia’s Children’s Hospices to give a brief talk following the donation to EACH from Dentill.

12. Correspondence:
None.

13. Homersfield Bridge Picnic Site:
An extraordinary meeting was held on 6th March, 2018 at Wortwell Community Centre. David Denny, the chairman of Alburgh parish council was there to explain the current situation. NCC have offered Alburgh parish council the site for £10,000 payable over 2 years. The auction date has been deferred from April to September to get the £5,000 required. Letters to all Alburgh residents, and to Wortwell and Homersfield residents are being distributed to hopefully elicit contributions.
Wortwell PC explained that they have high budgeted expenses this financial year. Kay explained that Denton PC were in the same position with playground repairs and said that we would look at our finances in a few months’ time to see if we could contribute in any way. David Denny was very happy for his letter to be put on DentonTalk and this will be done.

14. To approve payments to be made and record money received:

    Payments:
  • Clerk salary and expenses £99.30.
  • The Community Heartbeat Trust for AED Cabinet access code Key Fobs £63.60.
  • Kay Wiltshire £7.21 for tin of paint for goal posts on playing field.
    Receipts:
  • £300 SNC grant towards playground equipment repairs.
  • £10 AED cabinet keyfob contributions for additional keyfobs.
Campaign to Protect Rural England Membership is £36.00. It was agreed that Kay will look in to this.

15. Any other matters to be brought to the attention of the Parish Council and for the next Agenda.
Parish Councillors wish to give thanks to Andrew Fairhead, Malcolm Skinner, Simon Winter and Chris Whipps for all their efforts in clearing the roads in the recent bad weather.
To confirm the date and time of the next Parish Council meeting as Tuesday, 8th May 2018. This meeting will be the Annual General Meeting of the Parish Council.
There will be no Parish Council meeting in April.

16. The meeting was not adjourned for public participation as there were no members of the public at the meeting.

17. Close of Meeting:
Kay Wiltshire thanked everyone for attending and closed the meeting at 8.51 pm.

Return to Parish Council Page.

Return to Parish Council Agenda Page.

Return to Parish Minutes Archive.