Denton Parish Council
Minutes of the Meeting Held on 8th January 2008 at 8pm at Denton Village Hall
Present: Liz Cargill (Chairman), Adrian Hipwell, Clare Valori, Eddie Winter, Pauline Sandell (Clerk). Also Present: Murray Gray (District Councillor), one member of the public.
1. Apologies:
Terry Hanner , Martin Sida-Page, Roger Gibson, Tony Tomkinson.
2. Declaration of Interest:
Clare Valori declared a prejudicial interest in item 13.
3. Minutes of the Last Meeting:
Item 14, last line; Norwich County Council should read Norfolk County Council. The minutes were agreed and signed.
4. Matters Arising
a. Playing Field; Both November and December’s reports had been completed by Liz Cargill. The moles have become quite a problem. It was agreed that Clare Valori would contact Steve Tricknul and ask him for a quote. He would come every day until the problem is clear and then return after a month to check. It was agreed that the problem needs to be dealt with swiftly. The concrete at the edge of the tunnel has become slightly exposed. The SCOPE bin has been vandalized and set on fire. The Clerk has spoken to SCOPE headquarters and they have already sent someone out to report on it. It will be collected and repaired or replaced. The Clerk had also asked if the bin could be made easier to use as the handle is high up and heavy to pull down. She was told that the bin is designed with health and safety in mind, to stop people from going into the bin and getting trapped. It was agreed that the SCOPE bin should remain. Liz Cargill reported that the telephone box had been damaged. Adrian Hipwell said that he had seen engineers working on it. Adrian will do the January report.
b. Composting; Liz Cargill reported that composting credits of £716.18 had been received and, together with the sales of compost, just over £800 had been made last season. No more work on site has been done since the end of last season. Liz would like to start the next season a little earlier than usual on the 30th March and would like to hold the pre-season social early March. All volunteers, householders and any other interested parties would be invited. Liz would like to encourage more volunteers for the collection rota. At the moment there are seven or eight. She would like to have ten volunteers so that over the 30 weeks, each person would only need to do it three times. It was agreed to ask for volunteers in the February parish magazine which would also act as a reminder to people about the composting scheme. Wortwell Parish Council has contacted Liz for advice as they would like to start a composting scheme. Clare suggested that it would be a good idea to do a Christmas tree disposal service. It may be too late for this year, but it was thought to be a very good idea and will be kept in mind for next year.
c. Upgrade of Sewage System: The Clerk had spoken to Anglian Water and had been told that it could cost over £100 per meter to connect to the system at Globe Close. Just the cost of an application would be £192 + VAT. Different levels could also cause a problem and it might be necessary to install a pumping station which not only would have to be paid for by householders but the cost of repairs and maintenance would also have to be met. South Norfolk Council has only a limited budget for the upgrading of its sewage treatment plants and do not have the funds to build in extra capacity. Some discussion took place regarding individual treatment plants, but they could cost around £2000 + installation costs. Adrian Hipwell said that he would speak to the Village Hall committee regarding this problem.
d. Cycle Racks: It was suggested that Webb at Woodton or Taylors at Bungay would be able to carry out the necessary work.
e. Highways: Nothing to report at the moment. It was thought that no work had been carried out recently on Middle Road, or at Pocket Park.
f. Neighbourhood Car Scheme: This was advertised in the Parish Magazine and some people have put their names on the list.
g. Any Other Matters Arising;
No Councillors had attended the car parking meeting held at Harleston.
Joint meeting was successful and the topics discussed were affordable housing, unitary councils and car parking charges.
Clare Valori declared a prejudicial interest in the following subject. Grove Farm Site – although the planning application was turned down, people are still living on site and the white lorry is still parked near the road and marginal activity continues. Pit bull type dogs are loose even though small children under three live in the building. Murray Gray said that unfortunately it does take time to remove people from the site.
It was agreed that Denton Parish Council should write to South Norfolk Council to draw their attention to these facts and to ask them to uphold the planning decision.
With regard to the humming noise at night reported by Liz Adeane, Eddie Winter thought that the problem lies with an alarm system at Hardwick airfield which goes off at regular intervals.
5. District and County Council Matters:
Murray Gray had several reports to make:
Car Parking Charges: The Council will make a final decision on 20th February. Before that it will go before the Scrutiny Committee on 30th January when Harleston businesses and Town Council will present their case.
Safe Neighbourhood Panel: A meeting took place on the 7th January at Harleston. The main issues discussed have always related to Harleston and therefore it has been decided that the next meeting will not be held at Harleston. This will give villages a chance to air their problems and perhaps get together to propose an issue for discussion, such as speeding, as all nearby villages are experiencing speeding problems.
Neighbourhood Forum: The next meeting is to be held on Thursday 10th January at Roydon, 7.40pm. £20,000 will be given out as grants and any organization in the parishes can ask for up to £2000 for a project. Adrian Hipwell will inform the Village Hall Committee about this. The Clerk said that she had not been given any information about this and Murray said he would speak to Mark Bishop.
Unitary Council Issue: The Government has now decided to include Suffolk as possible unitaries. Adrian Hipwell asked why change to a unitary system in the first place. Murray answered that the Government is in favour of a unitary system and that Wales and Scotland have had such a system for a while now. The cost of changing to a unitary system would be very high, but in the long term there would be savings as there would be fewer councils.
Sewage Treatment: The pumping station in Norwich Road, which is owned by SNC, needs to be replaced but this would affect the garden of a resident, and the owner of the garden is not happy about this. The alternative is for it to be on farmland and this may also cause problems with the farmer in taking up valuable farming land. A further problem is that one resident of Norwich Road is having to pay two bills at the moment, one from Anglian Water and one from South Norfolk Council. Once the new pumping station is updated, Anglian Water would take over and only one bill would be issued. Murray asked for the help of the Parish Council to solve this problem. It was suggested to him, that a personal approach to the farmer would be the best bet, so that a site could be suggested that would not be detrimental to the farm.
Gypsies: Although the Council has a list of possible sites within the Waveney Valley, no consultations have taken place yet. There are a number of New Age Travellers in Earsham. The Council had gone to court to get them evicted but the Judge questioned who owned the land. The Council will be back at court on the 23rd January.
Clare declared a prejudicial interest in the following topic. The previously illegal gypsy site at Middle Road will be up for sale shortly and formal tenders will be accepted. There is a rumour that a gypsy organization might be going to offer £50,000 for the site. Councillors were opposed to the idea that it might be sold back to gypsies after four years of legal planning battles and at enormous public cost. Murray said he would look into this.
Mr & Mrs Hill’s planning appeal has been refused. Mr. John Tomlinson is to retire at the end of February.
6. Questions from the Public:
The questions relate to item 7 on the agenda.
7. Affordable Housing.
South Norfolk Council is arranging an open event about affordable housing on 29th January between 5 and 8pm. Jenny Mayne had contacted the Clerk and asked if Abigail Dennington-Price from South Norfolk Council and Adam Ronaldson from Saffron Housing Trust could come to the next Denton Parish Council meeting on February 12th. This has been agreed and they will be put at the top of the agenda.
Murray explained that the previous application for affordable housing was with Flagship, but this time SNC has teamed up with Saffron.
Member of Public questions: Will the scheme be the same as before? This will be discovered at the meeting in February.
Has Malcolm agreed to put forward his piece of land as before? Yes, although Denton Parish Council has written to another land owner as it would be better to site the housing in the middle of the village.
How quickly could this happen? All being well, it could be 2009.
8. Pocket Park.
No work appears to have been carried out so far. Wait until next month before speaking to Highways.
9. Homewatch
We now have a new country co-ordinator. As the Clerk no longer lives in the village it is necessary to find someone else to take over as co-ordinator. The Councillors were asked to think about candidates and the Clerk will advertise in the Parish Magazine.
10. Planning:
Planning Application 2007/2279 Low Farm for a roof over the dairy cows collecting yard has been approved.
Planning application 2007/1705 Denton House for new tractor/storage barn has been refused as the siting in an isolated location will be intrusive and result in the need to create a long access to the detriment of the landscape.
11. Correspondence:
NCC - Teleshopping – Liz Cargill took the information. The Clerk will put the poster up on the noticeboard.
Norfolk Gritting Routes – Clare Valori is concerned about the road by the school. She had already spoken to Tony Tomkinson about this and will speak to Alburgh Parish Council.
A Newsletter from Alan Burrell was noted.
SNC – Launch of low cost housing project on 29th January between 5pm and 8pm. Liz and Clare will attend.
The Chairman had received a letter from Rosedale Funeral Home to say that a collection, that had been taken during the funeral service of Mr. Frost, had amounted to £359.80 and was to be donated to Denton Parish Council for the playing field. It was suggested that a piece should be put into the Parish Magazine to ask for ideas on how the money should be spent.
The Chairman had received a letter of resignation from Martin Sida-Page, as he has just taken a new job in Vietnam. The vacancy will be advertised on the noticeboard, in the village hall, in the Parish Magazine and the Clerk was asked to do flyers for the newspapers.
12. Finance:
a. Pay the Clerk £83.87 for January 2008.
Proposal: pay a. proposed by Clare Valori, seconded by Adrian Hipwell, unanimously agreed.
b. Received £100 from Outney Common.
c. Received £716.18 for Composting Credits.
13. Any Other Business:
The road at Roundhouse Hill is causing a problem again. On the last occasion Bob Edwards spoke to Anglian Water about this. The Clerk was asked to contact Bob Edwards again.
Mr. Carslake will become editor of the Parish Magazine at the end of the year. The Chairman said that she would like to ask him to also take on the updating of the information booklet for newcomers to Denton. It was agreed that the booklet should become a Directory and should be available to all residents, not just newcomers, and should incorporate the information about clubs and societies that is gathered at the annual parish meeting. It was suggested that Matthew Squirrel might be able to help. Clare Valori said she would also be able to help.
The meeting closed at 09.25pm.