Denton Parish Council
Minutes of the Meeting Held on 14th November 2006 at 8 pm at Denton Village Hall
Present: Eddie Winter (Chairman), Jo Wright (Vice Chairman), Liz Cargill, Terry Hanner, Malcolm Skinner, Clare Valori, Pauline Sandell (Clerk).
Also Present: Dr. Murray Gray (District Councillor), Mrs Ruth Brown (Harleston Development Partnership) and four members of the public.
The Chairman welcomed Ruth Brown and members of the public to the meeting.
1. Apologies:
None.
2. Declaration of Interest:
Clare Valori declared her interest in item 6.
3. Minutes of the Last Meeting:
Agreed and signed.
4. Village Forum:
Ruth Brown is a Director of the Harleston Development Partnership. She said that in the past the emphasis was on Harleston and the villages benefited indirectly, but now she had decided to work directly with the surrounding villages. With that in mind a meeting was held in September inviting representatives from all the villages and they were asked for positive things and issues within their village. HDP then chose three issues that they would support; lack of new volunteers, grant funding and youth clubs. Three workshops will take place next year to cover these three issues and she invited the Councillors to attend. Ruth said that she would send information about the events to the Parish Magazine. The Councillors felt that Denton already had a thriving community and might not find the workshops useful. Ruth said that it would be very helpful if Denton Councillors could attend the workshops so that the other villages could learn from Denton’s success. Ruth left leaflets, posters and information about the HDP website.
5. Matters Arising:
a. Malcolm Skinner reported that the working party met on the 21st October and carried out a lot of maintenance. He said that more bark was needed and he will arrange to buy some. Some trimming still needs doing and Malcolm will do this when he does Pocket Park. The ‘chicken’ still needs attention. The new shelter is coming on very well. Goal posts have not yet been ordered, Jo Wright to speak to Steve Hipwell and the Clerk said she would look through the Playground Catalogues.
The Clerk reported that an Inspection at the Play Area had been carried out and she was waiting for the report. Terry to do the next report.
b. Composting; The collections for this year have finished and about 15 tonnes have been collected. Liz has collected £100 in cash for the sale of finished compost. The Mow and Grow people are owed £20 and it was agreed that she should take this out of the cash. Liz said that they would like to hire a shredder, at a cost of about £50, to clear this season’s collections and buy one next year. They have a volunteer to do the shredding.
Proposal: Hire a shredder. Proposed by Clare Valori, seconded by Malcolm Skinner, unanimously agreed. It was suggested that the Parish Council could afford to pay someone to do the shredding. However, it is not easy to find anyone to do this. Liz had attended a composting course which she had found very interesting. She asked the Councillors if they would agree to another Open Day at the Composting site for Norfolk Parish Councillors. This was agreed.
c. Village Sign; Terry had been to see Tim Barber and he had suggested using Cedar for the top of the village sign. This could cost £100. The other alternative is to use Oak but leave it unpainted.
Proposal: Use Cedar instead of Oak at a cost of about £100. Proposed by Malcolm Skinner, seconded by Eddie Winter, unanimously agreed.
d. Presentation Evening – Feedback, Village Wind Turbine; The Chairman said that although it was disappointing that the LC:CS cancelled at the last minute, he thought that the Presentation on Energy Saving was very good and he had learnt quite a lot. At the end of the meeting there had been discussion about generating environmentally friendly electricity and the possibility of a village wind turbine.
He asked the Councillors if they thought it would be a good idea to investigate this further. It was agreed that this would be a good idea. The Clerk was asked to organize a meeting of the village to discuss this in the New Year.
e. Any Other Matters Arising; The triangle has been removed and the junction has been re-lined. It was agreed that this is a great improvement. The Clerk had written a letter to NCC about the bus and was awaiting a reply.
Eddie had not done anything about the football, but Clare said that the School had started a football club with after school training by a volunteer and matches would be arranged with other schools. Clare went on to say that the School is thriving with 82 pupils and the new Head was keen to foster every kind of community link and an invitation to all Denton and Alburgh residents to a Carol Service would be going out soon. The School would be using all three Chapel/Churches for services during the year. The School would be grateful for any volunteers to set up a Chess Club or help with reading.
6. Travellers:
The Chairman reported that the Travellers had withdrawn their Appeal and had submitted another planning application. The Residents Committee are meeting with SNC on 10th January. Eddie Winter and Jo Wright will also attend. A letter from Denton Parish Council will be written by Eddie and Jo after they have attended the meeting. They will also write regarding Grove Farm Buildings. Clare Valori asked Alan Burrell to support the Residents by writing a letter to SNC. He agreed to do this.
7. District and County Council Matters:
Murray Gray asked whether Denton had a day time bus service as this was part of the LDF plan to look at the facilities of each village.
8 Questions from the Public:
A member of the public thanked the Parish Council for the support they had continued to give regarding the unlawful Travellers site.
9 Village Speed Limit:
The Chairman had attended the NCAPTC AGM where the resolution regarding speed limits through Norfolk villages was put forward. However, due to the general feeling at the meeting Eddie Winter decided to change the wording and asked that Norfolk County Council should take a more reasonable attitude towards parish council’s requests for speed limits. Health and safety risk assessments should be done instead of waiting for injury or death to occur before a speed limit is considered. The resolution was accepted.
Malcolm Skinner attended the Joint Parish Meeting at Wortwell and asked if the Earsham Ward of Parishes would support our fight to get a speed limit. They agreed to do this and the Clerk read out a copy of the letter that they had sent to NCC Planning and Transportation Department supporting our request. The Clerk was asked to write again to NCC asking them to reconsider and to ask the question ‘How is it that Topcroft has a speed limit but Denton is not able to have one’.
10. Planning Decisions:
Application 2006/2013, Highlands, Trunch Hill, and Application 2006/1908, Mill Farm, Darrow Green Road, have been approved by SNC.
Application 2006/1970 and 1971, The Forge, Globe House, Norwich Road, has been approved by SNC with many conditions. The Clerk informed the Councillors that the plan showing the verge at the boundary had been changed in line with the Highways findings.
11. Correspondence:
SNC – Parish and Town Council Conference on Tuesday 12th December 6.30pm – 9.30pm. Eddie Winter will attend.
Local Works – Campaign for the Sustainable Communities Bill. The Clerk was asked to write to Richard Bacon and ask him, should he be successful in the Private Members’ Ballot, to adopt the above Bill.
NCC – Improvements to the Mobile Library Timetable. Jo Wright said that the Coffee Morning might be changed to coincide with the new Library Timetable. This will be advertised in the Parish Magazine.
SNC - Joint District Member and Parish Training 6th December 5-7pm, Planning Enforcement-Procedures/Actions/Issues. Clare will attend.
Richard Carden, Chairman of the Council – Local Democracy. Next year is an election year and Richard Carden is keen to raise the profile of parish councils to try and encourage more people to serve as Councillors. Eddie Winter is attending a social function on 29th November regarding the same subject and Liz Cargill will also attend.
Government White Paper – Circulate
Environmental Liaison Group Meeting on 21st November and Safeguarding the Environment Policy Development Panel on Wednesday 29th November. Murray Gray was asked if he could ask the Panel to develop a policy for Community Wind Turbines. Murray agreed to raise the matter with the Council.
12. Finance:
a. Pay the Clerk £81.47 for November and December. Proposed by Malcolm Skinner, seconded by Liz Cargill, unanimously agreed.
b. Subscription for Harleston Development Partnership of £5. Proposal: Pay £5 subscription plus £15 donation. Proposed by Malcolm Skinner, seconded by Jo Wright, unanimously agreed.
c. Contract from Norfolk County Services for 2007 Season. Proposal: Agree to the increase in price. Proposed by Eddie Winter, seconded by Malcolm Skinner, unanimously agreed.
The Clerk said that she had just received another invoice from Terry Hanner for materials for the Shelter of £438.67 and although it was not on the agenda it should be paid before the next meeting.
Proposal: Pay T. Hanner £438.67. Proposed by Eddie Winter, seconded by Jo Wright, unanimously agreed. The Chairman thanked Terry for his work on the Shelter.
The Clerk said that she had just discovered that it would be possible to claim recycling credits for the SCOPE clothing bank.
13. Any Other Business:
Terry Hanner said that Mrs Durack was concerned that the footpath between her and the village sign is very overgrown and needs to be cleared down to the Oak tree. The Clerk was asked to write to Highways about this.
Terry Hanner reported that two new stiles on the Walk were causing some concern because of the height. The Councillors felt that it would be better to have kissing gates there. The Clerk was asked to contact the Footpath Officer.
The Clerk was asked to mention in her Parish Council report for the Parish Magazine the Parish Supper and to thank Kath and Terry.
The meeting closed at 10.00 pm.