Denton Parish Council
Minutes of the Meeting Held on Tuesday 10th November 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)
1. Apologies
Adrian Hipwell, Tony Tomkinson.
2. Declaration of Interest None
3. Minutes of the Last Meeting
Item 14, fourth line should read Adrian Hipwell not Adrian Hill. The minutes were agreed and signed.
4. Matters Arising:
a) Playing Field; The October report was completed by Peter Hill. Bark still needs topping up. There were mice in the lower dog bin that had chewed through the bag. Beer cans and broken glass were found around the shelter area. Someone had driven a motorbike or BMX from the car park across the play area and to the shelter and had churned up the grass. The posts supporting the A frame seem to be reasonably tight in the ground now. Malcolm is going to order a load of bark. Roger said that Alburgh PC would be interested in sharing an order with DPC to get a better price. Liz will speak to Malcolm. The annual play area inspection report had been received and Liz Cargill said that most things are low or medium risk, no high risk items. The baby swings need looking at because the links are worn and need to be replaced with carabiners. Peter Hill took the report to look at. Roger Gibson will complete the November report and Liz will complete the December report.
b) Play Area Project; Annie said that she had spoken to many people about grants and all had been very helpful. She had now received application forms and was hoping to apply for a number of different grants which would add up to between £20,000 and £22,000. Awards for All would give up to £10,000. Annie proposed to fill out the application forms and then ask Lisa Irvine to look at them before sending them off. A meeting had been arranged with Gary Howard of SNC at the play area on the 27th November at 3pm to ask his advice on the project. It was agreed that Annie should go ahead with the grant applications.
c) Pool Meadow; The Clerk reported that she had not heard back from BCTV regarding their charges.
d) Any Other Matters; Annie reported that the cheapest tennis court would be £35,000 but it would be recommended to pay at least £50,000. There was some discussion as to whether the Calor competition money should go towards tennis courts. Liz asked for the views of the Councillors; Peter Hill thought it should go somewhere else, Eddie Winter thought the play area more pressing, Roger Gibson asked if we could raise more from grants by not putting in the Calor competition money, Terry Hanner said that tennis courts would be very nice and that there must be other monies available but the Calor money would be a good starting point, Annie was happy to go with the flow, although she felt that it was possible to achieve enough money for the play area through grants, at least for stage one, but she will look to see if grants are available for tennis courts, Liz felt that it would be good to spend the money on something for teenagers and adults, perhaps a hard area for tennis, netball or basketball. Peter Hill said that it would be interesting to know how many people would play tennis if the facility was there. Consultation would be necessary.
5. District and County Council Matters
Murray reported that although SNC had saved money so far it wants to save more and one way of doing this would be to share services with other councils. They are already doing this regarding energy advice. There are proposals being discussed for a more formal link with Breckland Council. With regard to the GNDP Joint Core Strategy for Broadland, Norwich and South Norfolk submission document Murray Gray said that Denton had gone up a category and now will have development boundaries. Some discussion followed when it was suggested that DPC should ask to be in an even higher category. Murray suggested that DPC comment that it is happy with the category that it has been put in provided the development boundary would include land. Peter Hill was asked to put something together.
6. Questions from the Public
None.
7. Affordable Housing
The Clerk reported that a planning application had been submitted and it was hoped that a decision would be made on the 9th December. An overlooking window had been moved and Highways had objected to the footpath access on the south side of the development. The Chairman reported that at the consultation meeting she was asked by the affordable housing review group if a representative from DPC could meet them on Thursday 12th November to advise them on the Parish Council point of view. It was thought that the most important factors were communication, becoming involved at an early stage before plans are drawn up, listening to what the Parish Council is saying. Eddie Winter said that he would be willing to go.
8. Sponsored School Governor
Liz Cargill had received a letter from Clare Valori to say that she has now officially resigned. Therefore the DPC is now in a position to nominate a replacement. It was agreed that Mr. John Wright would make a very good school governor. It was important that the sponsored school governor should report back to the parish council on a regular basis and give a report at the annual parish meeting.
Proposal: Nominate John Wright. Proposed by Liz Cargill, seconded by Peter Hill, unanimously agreed. Liz will speak to Alburgh Parish Council first.
9. Speed Limit
A meeting was held a few weeks ago with Sergeant Dave Howell at the Village Hall and about 15 people attended. It was agreed that the village would conduct a survey of everyone in the village and Liz Cargill is waiting for the survey forms from Sergeant Howell. Overall everyone at the meeting was in favour of a speed limit. Sergeant Howell also suggested that DPC should attend the next SNAP meeting at Harleston and if the survey forms are done promptly it could be put on the next SNAP agenda.
10. Planning Applications
Peter Hill and some other residents in the village had received an anonymous letter regarding the New Dwelling in Norwich Road. The letter expressed concern about the height of the house and garage which is about 2 metres higher than the submitted plans because the ground levels had been built up. Murray Gray explained that in this case the ground levels were not specified at the time of the planning application and therefore it would be difficult for the planning officers to know what they should be. However, the Councillors said that if you looked at the original plans the height of the house and garage compared to Street Farm was much lower than it is now. A letter had been sent to the Planning Department asking them for their comments, but a reply had not been received. Murray Gray said that he would chase it up.
11. Correspondence
Correspondence summaries had been circulated.
The GNDP Joint Core Strategy for Broadland, Norwich and South Norfolk proposed submission document was discussed under item 5.
12. Joint Parish Council Meeting
The Clerk informed the Councillors that there would be a joint parish council meeting on Friday 13th November at 7pm at Alburgh Village Hall. The guest speaker is Mr. John Alban, County Archivist.
13. Finance
a. Decide on precept figure for 2010/11: Proposals were made to increase the precept by £200, £275, £300, and £400. After some discussion the following proposal was made.
Proposal: Increase the precept by £275. Proposed by Liz Cargill, seconded by Terry Hanner. A vote was taken, 5 Councillors agreed to the proposal, 1 disagreed. The proposal was carried.
b. Pay the Clerk £89.19 for November and December 2009
c. Pay SNC £72.45 for the play area inspection report
d. Pay Thomas Rogerson Trustees £170 for rent of playing field.
In addition to the above Adrian Hipwell had presented a bill for £238.63 for cricket nets.
Proposal: Pay b,c.d and additional item. Proposed by Peter Hill, seconded by Roger Gibson, unanimously agreed.
e. Contract with Norse for playing field maintenance.
Proposal: Give a 5 year contract to Norse. Proposed by Liz Cargill, seconded by Terry Hanner, unanimously agreed.
f. Received £1300 from Dentill. The Councillors were very pleased to receive this donation from the members of the Dentill committee which will be used in the play area project. The Clerk was asked to write a letter of thank you.
14. Any Other Business
Terry Hanner said that the ruts at the bottom of Wash Lane were getting bad again. The Clerk was asked to inform Highways.
Liz Cargill said the telephone box did not seem to be working and the glass was broken. She suggested that it might be removed completely. To be included in the next agenda.
The meeting closed at 10.15pm.