Denton Parish Council
Minutes of the Meeting Held on Tuesday 9th June 2009
at 8pm at Denton Village Hall
Present: Liz Cargill (Chairman), Terry Hanner (Vice Chairman), Roger Gibson, Peter Hill, Eddie Winter, Annie Whiteman, Pauline Sandell (Clerk).
Also Present: Dr. Murray Gray (District Councillor), Mr. Tony Tomkinson (County Councillor), 4 members of the public.
1. Apologies
Adrian Hipwell.
2. Declaration of Interest None
3. Minutes of the Last Meeting
Proposal: The minutes are a true record of the meeting. Peter Hill proposed and Eddie Winter seconded, unanimously agreed. The minutes were signed.
The Chairman suggested that item 7 (affordable housing) be brought forward before matters arising, this was agreed.
7. Affordable Housing
The Chairman reported that the Design Panel had not agreed the design and had reported back to the architects with their findings. Copies of the report had been circulated to the Councillors. Mrs Ziegler, the prospective buyer of Thanksgiving Cottage, had contacted the Chairman, Saffron Housing Trust and SNC to discuss with them her desire to buy a piece of land from Mr. Skinner which would act as a buffer zone between Thanksgiving Cottage and the proposed housing. She would then be prepared to give this piece of land to the village for allotments, wood etc. Mrs Ziegler wanted to know if this proposal would have the backing of the Parish Council.
The Councillors were not happy with the design or the layout of the housing, although some changes were made after the last meeting with Peter Ramsdale. Roger Gibson pointed out that initially a leaflet was given to the Parish Council by SNC/Saffron which had a picture of a house on the front cover and the Councillors had expected the architect to keep to this kind of style. The Councillors, members of the public and the landowner all agreed that the architect's design is not harmonious with the rest of the village. The Chairman felt that the Parish Council should have been consulted about the design from the start and that discussions should have taken place before the plans were sent to the Design Panel. Thanksgiving Cottage owner's daughter said that her mother was very unwell and was unable to live in the house any more so it was very important to her that she sells the house. However, if the scheme goes ahead as it is, with three houses butting onto her mother's cottage, it makes the house unsaleable.
It was suggested that the layout of the housing should be linear, or if the housing is slightly set back from the road have a run-in along the front. It was noted that houses in Upland Terrace have at least 35 metres between each building.
The Chairman said that the best way forward would be for a meeting to be arranged and to invite all concerned. Those people that should be invited are: Dr Murray Gray, Saffron Housing Trust, Highways, Architect, Planning Department, Parish Council, Mr. Skinner, Immediate Residents, Abigail Dennington-Price. It was agreed to do this, and Murray was asked to arrange it. Liz Cargill will speak to Mrs Ziegler.
4. Matters Arising:
a. Playing Field; May report completed by Liz Cargill. Rabbits have been digging large holes in the base of the mound, big enough for a child to get a foot stuck into. Terry will fill it in. The mound itself needs some attention and Terry agreed to strim it. The Clerk was asked to contact Norse to see if they could arrange the grass cutting just before the judging day of 15th July. Eddie Winter to do the next report.
b. Play Area Project: Annie reported that a meeting had been held last Wednesday and that quite a few attended. They discussed the purpose of the Group and the intention to formulate a plan which they will submit to the Parish Council for approval. The work would be done in several phases. The Committee would then look at how they would raise funds. They discussed the feed back from the questionnaire and whether to start with an area for toddlers or make it broader for all ages. The general feeling was that rather than do the first phase for just under 5's, they also want to do something for the older children as well. Another meeting had been arranged for next Monday but in the meantime they were asked to go away and do a sketch plan for phase one and phase two and hopefully by the September Parish Council meeting they will have a plan to put forward with costings. Annie was asked about fencing the area and she said that a lot of people will not use the area unless it is fenced.
c. Pool Meadow: It has been reported that the nettles are very bad along the path and the Clerk was asked to ring Norfolk Council to get them cut. Peter has not been able to ask Ken to repair the mower yet.
d. SNAP Meeting; Peter Hill had attended the meeting and he reported that the second part of the meeting concerned the grants that were awarded by South Norfolk Council for community projects. £2000 for each project is available and it was decided to apply. The next SNAP meeting will be at Harleston on the 13th August.
e. Joint Parish Meeting; Liz Cargill had attended and said that a sergeant from the Harleston Community Police was there who said that he was keen to help villages and said that Denton PC could contact him at Harleston if they want some help with the problem of speeding in the village.
f. Any Other Matters;
Peter Hill; fly-tipping. He had informed the community police officer about the rubbish left at the recycling centre and had passed on the paper work that he had found.
Peter Hill; Calor Competition. Peter had been contacted by the Calor Competition Coordinator who said that they would like to present the cheque and plaque on the judging day (15th July) and had asked Peter to allow another 30 minutes for the presentation. Peter suggested that the marquee should be put up for the presentation so that people can come and watch. Calor will be taking photos.
The Clerk; Deer Signs. The Clerk reported that she had spoken to Mrs Charnick and told her that the Parish Council did not approve of having deer signs on the road. However, the Clerk had today received an email from Bob Edwards, Highways, to say that Mr. Charnick had once again asked for deer signs and he wanted to know if the Parish Council had authorized this. The Councillors agreed that they would not authorize the deer signs. The Clerk to inform the Highways.
5. District and County Council Matters
Tony Tomkinson; Tony said that he was successful in the elections and that he would be representing all the residents of the village, regardless of political persuasion, for the next four years. Tony congratulated the village on winning the Eastern Region heat of the Calor competition. He said that NCC would be willing to help with obtaining boards for the judging day and asked Peter to let him know in good time what he wanted. He suggested that NCC put out a press release about the Calor competition if the Parish Council would like that.
Murray Gray; SNC are trying to save money at the moment. Fewer planning applications has meant a drop in income. The Planning system has moved from three areas to two areas, but resulting in longer planning meetings.
Annie Whiteman commented that she found the District Council's consultation web site very difficult to use. Murray said that there had been no feed back about that.
6. Questions from the Public
Malcolm Skinner offered to spray the nettles at Pool Meadow with Graze-on. The Councillors accepted his offer.
7. Speed Limit Survey Peter has not been able to organize this yet. Tony Tomkinson suggested that an investigation needed to be done to get hard evidence of number and speed of vehicles. The Clerk was asked to write to Mike Jackson to ask for an investigation to take place. Tony was asked if it would be helpful to do our own survey first, but he said that only if we could get evidence of the speed.
8. New Planning Applications
None.
Planning decisions; Denton House, Church Hill – approved with conditions.
10. Correspondence
Correspondence summaries had been circulated. The Clerk was asked to contact NALC to ask about the next lot of Councillor training sessions for Annie and Peter. Liz Cargill asked Murray if SNC were doing anything about food waste. He replied nothing at the moment.
13. Finance
a. Financial Monthly Summary: a running budget was produced by the Clerk for the month of May.
b. Pay the Clerk £88.31 for June.
c. Pay Norse £261.24 for 6 months grounds maintenance.
Proposal: Pay b and c Proposed by Eddie Winter, seconded by Peter Hill. All agreed.
d. Peter Hill explained that the Post Office had received a bill for the repair of the telephone line to the Chapel. The trees had rubbed on the line and broken it and the Post Office is the only user of the telephone. The Chapel will not pay the bill as they do not use the phone. The Postmistress was sent the bill by BT and she had no choice but to pay it, £280 + VAT. Peter Hill will be writing to BT to say that the bill should not be sent to the Postmistress and line repairs should be the responsibility of BT. The Councillors thought that the line rental should cover repairs and Terry Hanner said that BT had repaired the line, without charge, about two years ago when a branch broke the line.
Proposal: Parish Council to write to BT in the first instance, and then if no joy ask Richard Bacon for support. Proposed by Eddie Winter, seconded by Peter Hill, unanimously agreed.
e. The Clerk informed the Councillors that the cost of emptying the dog bin was to increase by 3% from £52.86 to £54.44.
12. Any Other Business
Peter Hill; Peter reported that he had completed and sent the sustainable communities form to SNC. This form relates to the status of Denton.
Letters have been sent to residents who have boulders outside their properties and also a letter to No.1 Globe Close who had two ramps into his property. The ramps have been removed and all but two people have removed the boulders.
Liz Cargill; Liz reported that 5 1/4 tonnes of garden waste has been collected. She was unhappy that SNC was advertising brown bins and she plans to put a piece in the Parish Magazine about this.
The meeting closed at 9.55pm.