- 868 - SAHAM TONEY PARISH COUNCIL MINUTES OF A MEETING HELD ON THE 4 th SEPTEMBER 2017 A meeting of the Parish Council was held on the at 7.30 p.m. at The Wells-Cole Community Centre. Present Mr. B. Hinkins in the Chair supported by Messrs M. Bohn, T. Bunce, N. Creek, J. Laws and Ms. K. Avery. Also present were Mr. C. Jordan (County Councillor) and Mrs. T. Hewett (District Councillor) The Chairman said there is an additional item under Agenda item 13 To discuss CCTV at the land at the WCCC. 1. Apologies for Absence: Apologies received and accepted from Ms M. Baldwin and Mr. R. Harrold. 2. Declaration of Interest in Items on the Agenda: Mr. J. Laws declared an interest in Agenda item 11. 3. Minutes: The Minutes of the meeting held on the 7 th August 2017 were proposed by Mr. T. Bunce seconded by Mr. J. Laws and unanimously agreed. 4. Matters Arising from the Minutes and Action List: Pot holes, weeds in roads in estates and overgrown verges obscuring signposts reported to Highways again work has still not been completed. The Clerk read an email from a new Highway Engineer updating some highway matters. Smell in Richmond Road nothing further heard Bridge from Clayland development to the land at the Community Centre on Agenda Silted drains still outstanding. Metal culverts at the bottom of Hills Road still outstanding Overgrown hedge in The Oval nothing heard re this. Himalayan Balsam Mr. N. Creek reported that the Himalayan balsam starts in Ploughboy Lane and follows the water course down behind Chequers Lane and over the bridge in Ovington Road and then into the Bird Sanctuary and round the allotments and continues to follow the river to Richmond Road. Mr. Creek has spoken to the Environment Agency who said now is not the time to deal with it. In the Spring we can either remove by hand and burn the plants or spray with weed killer but we would have to inform the Environment Agency and use a person qualified to do this work. It was agreed spraying is the best option as there is so much of it but this would need to be repeated for 2 or 3 years. Mr. M. Bohn said there are also a few plants at the top of Coburg Lane. It was agreed to hold a meeting in January to include parishioners to form a plan of action and ask if anyone is a qualified sprayer. Bridge on Cley Lane has been reported and an update awaited. Sunken manhole covers on Pages Lane Highways have passed to Anglian Water for repair as they are not allowed to work on AW property. Reversal of signs outside the Community Centre reported to the WCCC. It was however agreed that the Council considered the signage to be in order as it is at present. The charity is Saham Toney Village Hall.
- 869 - Drainage Report still waiting to hear from NCC Playingfield matters meeting to be held in September. Gym Equipment grant received and money paid to the seller. Suspicious activity in the WCCC Car Park - reported to the Police. 5. Richard Otterway, Development Manager from the Wayland Development Partnership: Mr. Otterway did attend the meeting but was unfortunately called away to an urgent matter before this item. He will attend again in October. 6. Reports from District/County Councillor: Mr. C. Jordan said the councillors from the County Council are going out to meet the public in October and November. There will be two meetings and people can ask whatever questions they wish. He intends to make this a yearly event. Mr. T. Bunce thanked Mr. Jordan for the County Council s part in the new Aviation Academy at Norwich Airport. Mr. Bunce had visited this and it was an excellent facility for those wishing to train in the aviation industry. It is the first of 12 such academies around the country and is well worth a visit. Mrs. T. Hewett said she will ask if any other parishes have a problem with Himalayan Balsam and then a possible joint venture could be used to control it. If 3 or 4 parishes have a problem then the cost could be shared. Councillor Linda Turner has started an Older People s Forum to moderate and mitigate to help the needs of older people. Simple things like the height of seats would make so much difference. A meeting will be held on 8 th September at 1 for 1.30 at Breckland offices and if anyone is interested in attending please let Mrs. Hewett know. Other ongoing matters are the Skills Survey Mrs. Hewett will send details to the Clerk- and the Jobs Fair. There are still two current Appeals in the parish Mill View and Pound Hill and Mrs. Hewett stressed the need for people to comment on these. Breckland do not have a 5 year land supply at present. 7. Time Allocated for Members of the Public to Speak: A parishioner said that he was disappointed that so few people attended the Appeals for the 5 and 35 houses at Richmond Hall and thought someone from the Council might have been there. The Inspector was very fair and allowed the Breckland Planning Officer and the Agent for the development to speak. The Agent had been criticised by the County Council re the impact of flooding as they had only done half of the assessments that should be done. There also should have been 8 surveys re protected species but only 4 had been done the County Council say 8 is a pre-requisite. They also had a site visit with the Inspector. Mr. T. Bunce said that with a council of 8 members 4 of whom work full time there is not always a councillor available to attend such meetings. Mr. S. Rowling, Chairman of Pre-School together with the Treasurer and Secretary attended. Mr. Rowling said he wished to correct the information reported at the last Council Meeting. In both the minutes and a letter received from the Council the words considerable debt and such a large debt had been used in connection with the Pre-school. Mr. Rowling said that at no point has anyone other than members of the Committee been aware of any debt. At the EGM that was held it was reported that there was a trading loss as at 31 st May 2017. Pre-school have been selling its assets and he is fairly confident that there will be no debt when the Pre-school is wound up. It was agreed the Council will put something in Saga apologising for the wording in both the Minutes and Saga Report. Mr. T. Bunce asked if the Pre-school has sold the shed yet as the Cricket Club might be interested in buying this. Mr. Rowling replied the shed has not been sold and they will be holding a meeting with
- 870 - the WCCC and Parish Council to decide what happens to the outside space. He has had interest from several organisations and should the shed become available for sale he will contact those people. Mr. Mark Aitken spoke re the Fete. He has produced a calendar with pictures of the Fete and this will be on sale in the 2 churches and at Su-Bridge. Profits will be divided between village organisations and the Fete account. The committee will be meeting in October to start work on the 2018 Fete. Volunteers are welcome particularly the young as there is a lot of work involved in organising the Fete. Mr. Aitken will liaise with Watton as to next year s date so as try to avoid clashing with another local event. The bus was very popular but some people said access to the bus with the steps proved difficult so next year it is hoped to use two mini buses. The sale of the draw tickets will start earlier. A parishioner asked is the Fete will still be on a Sunday next year and Mr. Aitken replied that due to cricket matches at the Playingfield, it is likely it will be on a Sunday. A lot of people had said they preferred a Sunday. Parishioners said they had been unable to access the photos of the Fete on the Facebook page and Mr. Aitken said perhaps an exhibition of photos could be held. An advertisement will be put in Saga for the sale of the calendars and bags. The Chairman thanked Mark for organising the Fete. 8. Correspondence: Letter from Breckland re Appeal in connection with site adjacent Parkers Primary School, Pound Hill it was agreed to await the comments from the NP Working Group and to then circulate these to councillors. Email from Fete Organiser with detailed accounts of the Fete all councillors had seen these. Letter from Pre-School confirming that all the outside equipment is still insured and warning that councillors should be wary of discussing information in a public forum where that information is presented by a parishioner and is based on rumour and conjecture. 9. To Approve Accounts for Payment: The following accounts are due for payment:- Alan Doubleday - 1030.40 payment for gym equipment (paid between meetings) Broom Hall Hotel - 20 room hire for NP meeting (paid between meetings) Mrs. J. Glenn - 578.23 Salary 486.16 Broadband (3 months) 15.00 Use of home as office 52.00 Postage etc. 25.07 The payment of the above accounts was proposed by Mr. N. Creek, seconded by Mr. J. Laws and unanimously agreed. 10. To consider any Planning Matters: Refusal of permission to Plan 3PL/20178/0888/Oproposed development site adjacent Parker s Primary School. 11. To Discuss Quotes for Reducing the Hedge Height at the Community Centre: Two quotes had been received and it was agreed to accept the quote from Mr. P. Baldwin in the sum of 110. It was requested that the work be done as soon as possible as the Police had requested this to enable them to see the car park from the road. Hedge should be reduced to a height of approximately 3 ft.
- 871-12. To discuss the Bridge from Warwick Farm Development to the Community Centre: Since the last meeting when it was agreed to ask Clayland to put half barriers on the bridge to stop motor cycles using it or we would close it off, further information has come to hand making it inadvisable to leave the bridge open. A letter had been sent to Clayland asking them for information re insurance and the necessary planning permission for the bridge and asking that they reply by 31 st August and no reply has been received. After discussion it was unanimously agreed to write to Clayland informing them that the Parish Council intend to close off the opening to the bridge from the Warwick Farm estate. 13. To discuss the land contamination at the WCCC: Between meetings problems had been experienced with dogs becoming sick after using the dog walk on the land at the Community Centre. Notices had been put up to make the public aware that there might be a problem. The Clerk had contacted the Police, RSPCA, District Councillor, Environmental Health and local vets in an effort to try to find the cause of the problem. However we had been unable to find anything and the local vet and the RSPCA had said that it was unlikely that we ever would. Notices at the land have now been removed. Mr. T. Bunce said cones on larch trees are poisonous to dogs and these are on the land at the WCCC. CCTV cameras. Mr. N. Creek had looked into installing CCTV cameras at the land at the WCCC. There are several points to consider what are we looking for and what do we expect to find. It a large area that would require several cameras and we would need power and the system would need to be monitored and maintained. It would be expensive to purchase and install around 2000 and we need to consider if it is worthwhile. A parishioner said we could not monitor a public area only an enclosed space. After discussion it was unanimously agreed that we would not install CCTV cameras. 14. To discuss where to position the gym equipment at the WCCC land: The grant cheque had been received and Mr. Doubleday had been paid for the gym equipment. It was agreed to hold a site meeting on Sunday 10 th September at 10.00 to decide where to place the equipment. 15. Update on the Neighbourhood Plan To consider Terms of Reference for the NP Committee and Working Group: The Chairman said a full Working Group/NP Committee meeting was held in August to discuss the progression of our NP at Breckland. This was not a very progressive meeting. Mrs. T. Hewett was then invited to a meeting to clarify the points raised between the Working Group/PC and Breckland. Mrs. Hewett kindly offered to help in liaising between both parties. The NP Committee is in the process of re-wording some of its policies and there will be a need in the near future to employ a consultant. A grant application from Locality can be made to cover this. The Working Group of the Neighbourhood Planning Committee had prepared draft Terms of Reference as Breckland Council would otherwise only deal with the Parish Council and not the NP Committee or Working Group. The Chairman proposed the Council accepts these Terms of Reference and this was unanimously agreed. Clerk to send a copy to Phil Mileham and Susan Heinrich. 16. To consider comments on the Local Plan (if received from the NP Working Group): Comments had not yet been received but Clerk will circulate these once they are received for councillors to read.
- 872-17. To consider publishing Councillors email addresses in the Saga and on the website: Our new councillor had asked the Clerk why email addresses of councillors were not on the website and in Saga. Ms. Avery asked if councillors could have email addressed linked to the Parish Council address. Mr. N. Creek to investigate this. 18. To agree any items to be discussed by the Working Group No matters to be discussed. 19. To consider any applications to fill the vacancies on the Council No candidates. 20. To consider reports from outside organisations: - None 21. Items for the next agenda (not for discussion): The following items to be on the October Agenda:- Letter from parishioner re Community Orchard, Richard Otterway from the Wayland Development Partnership. 22. To Confirm the Date and Time of the Next Meeting: Monday 2 nd October at 7.30 p.m at the Wells-Cole Community Centre. The meeting closed at 9.10 p.m. Parish Matters The hedge on Bell Lane on the Mere side is overgrown. Clerk will report. Large pot hole on Pages Lane- report to Highways.