MINUTES OF A MEETING OF NARBOROUGH PARISH COUNCIL HELD ON MONDAY 6 FEBRUARY 2012 IN THE CHURCH CENTRE BEGINNING AT 7.30pm

Present:

            Mr D Williams                       Chairman & Breckland Councillor

            Mr A Brinsdon                     Councillor

            Mr S Davey                           Councillor

            Mr B Rayner                         Councillor

            Mr P Wilkinson                    Councillor

Also In Attendance:

            Mrs A Steward                     Norfolk County Councillor

            10 members of the Public

            Mr D Burchell                      Clerk to the Council

1)     Apologies.  Apologies were accepted from:

a)     Councillor D Wallace – hospital

b)     Councillor M Burchell – Immobile due to weather conditions.

2)     Minutes of Meeting held on 4 January 2012.  The minutes of the Meeting held on Wednesday 4 January 2012 were unanimously approved and signed as a true and accurate record of the Meeting.

3)     Declarations of Members’ Interest.  The following Declarations of Members’ Interest were made under the Code of Conduct:

a)     Councillor Davey – Item 10b – Employee of Pentney Caravan Park – personal.

b)     Councillor Rayner – Item 10b – neighbour – prejudicial.

c)      Councillor Williams – Item 10 – Breckland Councillor – personal.

4)     Public Participation.  It was unanimously resolved to suspend Standing Orders to allow members of the public, and the County and District Councillors to address the Meeting.

Standing Orders Suspended at 7.32pm

Standing Orders Reinstated at 8.20pm.

5)     Chairman’s Announcements.  There were no Chairman’s announcements.

6)     Diamond Jubilee

a)     It was noted that:

i)        The programme for the Sunday had been finalised.

ii)      The programme for the Monday was still in a state of flux.

iii)    The two 1948 Olympic Torch bearers had been identified.

iv)    The general feeling was that the lighting of a beacon was pointless due to the low lying position of the village.

v)      The Jubilee Committee would be investigating the possibility of a Jubilee Balloon Launch (consisting of 60 helium balloons) for the children as part of the Monday celebrations.

b)     It was unanimously resolved to:

i)        Offer financial support to the Jubilee Balloon Launch if the Jubilee Committee decided to include this in the Monday celebrations.

ii)      Take on the responsibility of forwarding the names of the two torch bearers to the torch relay organising committee.

7)     Quotation for Works.  It was noted that the quotation for maintenance works to the east bound bus shelter and the east bound bus shelter seat had not yet been received.

8)     Future of Code of Conduct.  It was noted that there had been no further progress on the future of the Code Conduct but that Nalc were hosting a meeting proposing that the replacement Code for Norfolk should be the same for all County, District, Town and Parish councillors in the county.

9)     Warm Norfolk Scheme.  It was noted that to date no one in village had been identified as likely to benefit from the Warm & Well Norfolk Scheme. 

10) Planning Applications:

a)     3PL/2011/1275/F – 1a Meadow Close – Erection of garage block.  It was noted that the application had been approved with the provision that the applicant could neither construct any additional windows or other openings, nor convert the building to any other domestic accommodation without approval from the Local Planning Authority.

b)     3PL/2011/0907/F – Hall farm, Narford Road – letter in reply to Council’s letter of complaint.  It was noted that the Council had received a letter of apology from Head of Planning for the oversight of not giving the Council the opportunity to be represent at the Planning Committee discussions on this application.

c)      3PL/2012/0030/F – Pentney Bowls – variation on condition 3 of approval to increase the number of caravans permitted on site from 50 to 100 for up to 2 three day events:

d)     It was unanimously resolved to object to the application because of the unreasonable increase in the number of caravans.  In addition the Council was not convinced that the site could safely accommodate this increase number of caravans without causing considerable inconvenience to local residents and immediate neighbours.

e)     It was noted that a number of residents were concerned that the applicant was not correctly fulfilling some of the provisions of the approval and that some of the provisions will not have been implemented before the advertised opening dates for events at the venue.

f)       It was unanimously resolved to request that a member of the Planning Authority – an enforcement officer or planning officer – attend the next Meeting to assure the members of the Council and members of the public that implementation of all provisions of the approval were being robustly monitored and enforced.

11) Reports:

a)     Swaffham SNAP.  Councillor Rayner advised the meeting that the notes from the SNAP would be distributed.  In addition it was noted that by redistributing personnel to different operating bases an increase of 50 officers had been achieved in the Dereham District.

b)     Norfolk Constabulary Budget Meeting.  Councillor Williams advised the meeting that the Chief Constable had reported a significant reduction in backroom staff as a result of a sharing policy with the Suffolk Constabulary.  This had enabled the Chief Constable to concentrate on front line policing.  Next year would see the introduction of elected Police Commissioners.  The authority had been offered a one off grant of £1.7 million cash equating to a rise of a 3% in Council Tax in 2012/13, in return for a freeze on the police precept but this was of limited use as it would not create sustainable income.  The authority preferred to raise Council Tax by the maximum permitted rate of 3.9% increasing the annual income for 2012/13 and future years.  Councillors agreed that the option to increase Council Tax by 3.9% was the better of the two alternatives.  

12) Correspondence:

a)     Rural Services Network - News Digest (Distributed)

b)     BDC -  Notice of Adoption of Site Specific Policies – displayed on Notice Board

c)      Police Authority – Police Budget Review (Distributed)

d)     Norfolk RCC – January News Letter (Distributed)

e)     Mike Knights – Willows Incinerator (Distributed)

f)       BDC – Norfolk Warm Well Initiative (Distributed)

g)     Nalc –Neighbourhood Planning – Swaffham 29 Feb – Councillor Wilkinson and Clerk to attend.

h)     Swaffham SNAP – Notes (Distributed)

i)        BDC – Planning & Building Control News Letter (Distributed)

j)        Norfolk Constabulary – Dec Crime Figures (Distributed)

13) Finance.  The following invoices were unanimously approved for payment:

a)     MHB Services Ltd – Lighting Maintenance for January 2012 - £97.76

b)     D J Burchell – January Salary - £460.23

c)      HMRC – PAYE Clerk’s salary - £115.00

d)     Norfolk Training Partnership – Training Councillor Brinsdon - £35.00

14) Village Matters:

a)     Nar Valley Pre School.  A letter had been received from the chairperson of the Nar Valley Pre School expressing the Pre School Committee’s concerns regarding the long term future of the facility.  It was noted that Councillor Ann Steward (Norfolk County Council) had agreed to meet with members of the Committee and that the Committee was due to meet with the County Council Early Years Finance Team to discus the financial future of the facility.  It was agreed that everything should be done to ensure the future of the facility as its demise would be a significant loss to the village and particularly the Community Centre who are the facilities’ landlord.  It was agreed that the Pre School should be included on the agenda for the March Meeting when the results of the meetings with County representatives would be known.   

b)     Ship Inn.  Councillor Rayner informed the meeting that ownership of the Ship Inn had changed again.

c)      Churchyard Trees.  It was noted that faculty for the work on the Oak and Weeping Willow in the extended churchyard had been approved and that the contractor was speaking with Revd Canon Nairn to arrange a time to carry out the work.

d)     Grit Bins.  It was noted that Mr David Brock of Brock House had spread grit at the Old Vicarage Park junction during the recent inclement weather – it was agreed that the council should write thanking him for his pubic spirited action.

e)     Clothing Bank.  Councillor Wilkinson advised the Meeting that the new clothing bank had been installed at the Community Centre.  It was agreed that this should be mentioned in the next addition of the Nar Valley News.

15) Next Meeting.  It was noted that the next Meeting will be on Monday 5 March 2012.  Items for the agenda will include:

a)     Willows Incinerator

b)     Diamond Jubilee

c)      Nar Valley Pre School

d)     Future of Code of Conduct

The Meeting Closed at 9.30pm