Parish Council - Annual Parish Meeting 29th April 2008

REPORT OF THE ANNUAL PARISH MEETING HELD ON 29 APRIL 2008 HELD IN THE QUEEN ELIZABETH HALL

Present:: Cllrs. S. Henderson (Chairman), L. Lattimer, S. Harris, K. O’Hara, R.Barrett, S. West, S. Cole.

Apologies: Cllrs. G. Paterson (previous engagement), M. Carlos (parents evening)

Also present: 17 Members of the Public, District Cllr. Wilkins.

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REPORT OF THE ANNUAL PARISH MEETING 24.04.2007.

The report of last year’s meeting was read out: Mr. Ashton proposed to accept it, seconded by District Cllr. Wilkins. The report was duly signed.

ACTION BY

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(cont)

CHAIRMAN’S REPORT:

The Chairman welcomed everybody and reported that it had been a reasonably good year. Due to the election, the Council lost 5 councillors, unfortunately, but they have all now been replaced.

FOOTPATH: has now been completed, the bollards around the green have improved the site, the school has been invited to create a village sign to be placed on the green

SPEEDING: speed checks by the Traffic Department are inconclusive, with some drivers over the limit, but within the tolerated limit.

YOUTH SHELTER: was erected in July last year, but has been badly vandalised and will be removed for the time being, because it is unsafe.

CHILDRENS PLAYAREA: repairs were carried out and it was tidied up, but, again, unfortunately, that was badly damaged by vandals

LOTTERY GRANT: it reached the final committee stage, but despite Cllr. Barrett’s hard work, did not get honoured.

QUEEN ELIZABETH HALL: is still self sufficient, a small amount of the grant is still available.

PROBATION SERVICE: will start in the next month, repairs will be carried out, the playing field tidied up etc. etc.

PLANNING: quite a few applications for new dwellings to fill in big gardens etc. were received (trying to beat the LDF). The Council’s recommendations were accepted in some cases, not in others.

BRIGGATE MILL: the land has been claimed by a “new” resident. With the Briggate Residents Association and North Norfolk District Council attempts are made to get a response from the owner.

CHAIRMAN’S REPORT:

WORSTEAD FESTIVAL: some “old hands” are left, but new members are urgently needed. Spare time: contact the Worstead Festival!!!

The Chairman thanked the old and new members of the Council who are always are at the sharp end of the stick and thanked the Clerk for her work.

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SUMMARY INCOME AND EXPENDITURE 2007 / 2008:

High costs of the shelter: this was due to the assembly and installation of it. A suggestion was made that it could have erected by volunteers.

S137: this was explained as miscellaneous.

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SUGGESTIONS/IDEAS

One member of the public felt his daughter’s complaint with regards to the video about the damage to the shelter was not treated with the necessary respect. She had felt unhappy and ridiculed.

The Councillors present emphasised that they had not ridiculed the issue or the person in question. The suggestion about setting up a Youth council in cooperation with the Youth Club was made to the young people present. It is unfortunate that whatever the Council tries to do, it will be spoiled by some.

The same member asked what the Council is doing about drink driving and sexual acts being performed in public places. These are issues for the Police, the Council has no powers to do something about these.

Another member asked what was happening with the grit chambers near the Hall. The Clerk informed him, it was left with a third party, but would investigate this.

A question was asked what the Council was doing about Briggate Mill:

Chairman Henderson represents the Council within the Briggate Residents Association. District Cllr. Wilkins advised again to join Open Spaces who could help with legal matters to have the site adopted as a village green, this could include the Fairstead at the school. County Council’s Legal Dept. is looking into this as well. The Council may have to be the overseer with Honing Parish Council.

It seems almost impossible to get other authorities involved when it concerns fly tipping in the waterways at the site.

The divisional Fire Officer will be contacted about the fire hazard next to a residential property.

One member of the public suggested to call a meeting with Philip Burton, NNDC, to trash out the problems at Briggate Mill and the reluctance to do something about it. This may be looked into.

A complaint will be lodged about the way the elected members of the Development Control East responded to the planning application for a polytunner on the Briggate Mill site coming before the Committee

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PARISH PLAN:

Mark Ashcroft, the Chairman of the Steering Group, had kindly agreed to do a presentation on the progress of the Parish Plan.

He explained the Parish Plan is a Government and DTI sponsored deal to find out what people in rural areas need and would like to see. He presented the Parish Plan of Colby and Banningham, as well their questionnaire.

Two events were held in September ’06 to get feedback from the parishioners what they thought is important. From the information derived from these events a draft questionnaire has been compiled. The draft will be handed out to some members of the public to find out whether the questions are easy to read, understand and answer.

The Parish Council will have to look whether they can deal with certain issues, like transport, although almost all issues should be possible as part of the Action Plan involving other authorities.

The final questionnaire will go to every member over 8 yrs. old of every household and will have to be delivered and collected by personal callers. There is the possibility to complete the questionnaires on the web as well. Once this has been done the collected information will have be transcribed and the Parish Plan with its Action Plan for the next 5 to 10 years can be compiled. At a previous meeting it was suggested that the Design Statement would become part of the Parish Plan.

Cllr. Lattimer wondered if the questionnaire was anonymous, because of the Data Protection Act. They are anonymous, but will have a running number, which will act as a raffle ticket.

Mark will need lots of volunteers for the delivery, collection and transcribing. It was suggested to him to ask Adult Education for the lap tops, so people can work together on this.

The meeting closed at 20.45