Denton Parish Council
Minutes of the Meeting Held on Tuesday 8th June 2010
at 8pm at Denton Village Hall
Present: Liz Cargill (Chairman), Terry Hanner, Peter Hill, Eddie Winter, Annie Whiteman, Pauline Sandell (Clerk).
Also Present: Dr. Murray Gray (District Councillor), Mr. Tony Cooke (South Norfolk Council Traveller and Gypsy Liaison Officer), Jane Marlow (School Governor at Aldburgh with Denton School), 17 Members of the Public.
1. Apologies
Roger Gibson, Adrian Hipwell, Tony Tomkinson.
2. Declaration of Interest
Terry Hanner and Eddie Winter declared an interest in item 10 as they are members of the Rogerson Trust.
3. Minutes of the Last Meeting and Minutes of the Planning Meeting
The minutes of both meetings were agreed and signed.
4. Travellers
The Chairman explained that the Travellers, with six caravans, had moved on to the Playing Field on Sunday 30th May and that one further caravan arrived later in the week. Liz Cargill, representing the Parish Council and Eddie Winter, representing the Rogerson Trust, had taken a letter to the Travellers requesting that they leave the site by 10am Monday 7th June. The meeting was amicable but the Travellers did not leave. On behalf of the Parish Council, Liz Cargill consulted SNC's solicitor and got together the necessary forms to obtain a court order. She asked a former solicitor to help with the forms. It was explained to the meeting that the first stage of the procedure would be to take completed forms to the Court, these come in three parts; a) a formal claim form claiming possession of the property on behalf of the Parish Council, b) the basis of the claim set out in detail, and c) a statement by Liz Cargill on behalf of the Parish Council, along with a cheque for £150. Subject to the forms being correct, a hearing date to obtain the court order will be given and it is expected that that would not be any later than the end of the following week. Then the documents must be served to the Travellers and a further copy posted at the entrance to the site. The next step would be to go to the hearing to obtain a court order for possession. The Travellers, or a representative, may be at the Court to put forward their objections to being moved and they will be heard by the Court. If the court order is obtained, then the next stage would be to enforce the order and the Parish Council would have to present the order themselves or instruct a bailiff to do this. The court order would instruct them to leave the site forthwith. The documents can be served by a Court Bailiff or a Certificated Bailiff; a Certificated Bailiff would be more expensive, but more adept at handling this kind of situation.
Q) Could the PC move the Travellers without a court order? A) Yes, the PC could instruct a bailiff to remove the Travellers without a court order, but the PC has decided that the Court route is the best way to proceed.
Q) Does the PC have any idea of the total cost that might be involved in removing the Travellers? A) Costings have not been investigated at the moment, possibly just under £1000. Liz Cargill will make enquiries about costs.
Q) What is the time scale? A) The Court hearing should be by Friday 18th June; court order within 3 working days; should a Warrant for Possession be necessary that may take another 3-4 working days. Therefore possibly by the last week of June.
The Chairman introduced Mr. Tony Cooke to the meeting. Mr. Cooke is the Traveller and Gypsy Liaison Officer at South Norfolk Council and he said that the Parish Council were right to take the Court route to evict the Travellers. He said that it was important that even if the Travellers leave of their own accord the PC should continue with the Court Action just in case they moved back on to the Playing Field again within the next 6 months. Mr. Cooke said that the Travellers had requested toilets and he explained that usually toilets are supplied, but on this occasion the Travellers were told that toilets would be not provided as they are camped in an unlawful and unsuitable place. The Police were informed immediately the Travellers arrived and have been at the Playing Field every day. The Travellers have been warned by the Police not to cause any damage. Mr. Cooke was asked how the search for new sites was progressing. He replied that there is a new site at Harford Bridge, Norwich which accommodates 8 families. At the moment there is a waiting list of 36 families. The documents submitted to the Planning Inspectorate by SNC suggesting two further permanent sites, but these have been severely criticised and SNC will be looking again at appropriate sites. At the moment transit sites are not available and the Government has announced that there will be no more funding for new sites. There was concern about the cost to the Parish Council to move the Travellers and a member of the public suggested starting up a fund to ensure that the necessary action is taken. A) Liz Cargill said that the PC had a reserve, but that a fund would be a good idea if it is found necessary.
Liz Cargill thanked Mr. Cooke for coming to the meeting and for his help.
Proposal: Denton Parish Council applies for a Court Order at the cost of £150 and that application is made on Wednesday or Thursday. Proposed by Annie Whiteman, seconded by Eddie Winter. All agreed to Court Order, 4 Councillors for Wednesday, 1 Councillor for Thursday.
It was agreed that once the Travellers had gone some form of gantry would be constructed at the entrance to the Playing Field to stop future illegal entry.
4A. Report from Jane Marlow re School Matters
Jane Marlow explained that she had recently joined the Governing Body at the Alburgh with Denton School as the Sponsored Governor. She had been asked by the Chairman of the Alburgh PC to keep both Alburgh PC and Denton PC up to date on school matters. Jane said that she was very keen to continue to forge links between the two communities and the school. She explained that at the moment there is an Acting Head at the school who had been a senior teacher at the school. To help him with his role as Acting Head, the Governing Body had employed an ex head for 2 days a week with a great deal of experience and the two are working very well together. This situation will continue for the rest of the summer term and into the autumn term. The staff and the Governing Body are very positive at the moment, but with a concern that out of 12 places available for new children attending in the autumn only 5 places have been taken. So at the moment they are looking at ways to promote the school.
Liz Cargill thanked Jane Marlow for coming to the meeting.
5. Matters Arising:
a) Playing Field; Liz had completed the report and said that rabbit holes on the football pitch need some attention. The mound is looking better, but the tunnel still needs filling in. It was agreed to get some soil and deal with these problems. Peter reported that the PlayBuilder representative had visited the play area and was very impressed with the mound and said that it was a good thing to have nettles on it. Eddie Winter to complete the next report.
b) Play Area Project; Annie reported that with a new Government in power and proposed cuts there is a possibility that funding for the play area would not be forthcoming. She will know more at the end of next week. However, if there is some money available Denton would be more likely to get it than other villages because of Denton's positive approach and that they had got things done quickly. It is still hoped to be able to celebrate receiving the funding and a party is planned for 21st August which will be combined with the Woodland Trust 10th Anniversary celebration.
c) Glow Worms; Liz reported that she had received a letter from NCC's Roadside Nature Reserve Dept. who said that they would not designate the verges occupied by the glow worms as Roadside Nature Reserve as they use a tractor mounted suction flail that simultaneously cuts and hoovers up cut material. They will speak to the Highways Dept. to ask them not to cut so often in the summer. If anyone comes across glow worms they should contact the glow worm survey.
d) Any Other Matters; None.
7. District and County Council Matters
Murray Gray said that he thought the PC had acted very sensibly with regard to the Travellers. He commented on the Travellers Document mentioned by Mr. Cooke and said that he had been telling SNC for a number of months that the document would not be found to be sound as there was no evidence of how the sites were found. On the 21st June SNC will decide whether to withdraw the document and start again. He said that transit sites were the responsibility of the County Council.
Five Acre Lane Travellers have been told by the Court that they must leave by the end of July.
SNC needs to save money and has already saved £2million by cutting 40 positions. They also looked into sharing services with Breckland District Council. A grant had been received of £90,000 to do a feasibility study. Having spent £60,000 SNC has decided to withdraw from the whole process. Although SNC is still interested in sharing services, will probably do it on an ad hoc basis.
Although the previous Government decided to grant unitary status, the new Government has taken steps to reverse that decision.
Tony Tomkinson was not at the meeting but had emailed the Clerk regarding the bus route taken by the Diss School Bus. It was still not clear, however, which route the bus took between Denton PO and Alburgh. The Clerk was asked to contact the bus company direct.
8. Questions from the Public
None.
9. Affordable Housing – Updating and Naming
The Clerk had spoken to Peter Ramsdale who had said that the sale of the land was complete and the contractors are liaising with SNC Planners regarding planning conditions such as colour of bricks. Subject to the materials being accepted the proposed start date would be the week commencing 14th June. Peter Hill reported that wires for the traffic speed investigation were down for 4 weeks and have now been removed.
It was suggested that the address for the housing should be Skinners Meadow as it was Malcolm Skinner that had made the land available and his family had been associated with the village for over 100 years. It was agreed that this was a good choice but a final decision will be made at a later date.
10. Contract Between DPC and Rogerson Trust re Playing Field
Eddie Winter explained that to get a 50 year lease the land had to be registered with the Land Registry and a valuation obtained from Durrants. Durrants has said that the rent is far too low; they have suggested £80 per acre for 3.39 acres including the allotment ground amounting to a rent of £270 per year. This figure has been discussed with the Trustees and they have agreed to charge this rent but could make it a condition that they make a contribution towards the play equipment. The coal shed is to be included in that price on the condition that the Parish Council keeps it in its present state of repair.
The rent will be reviewed every five years.
Proposal: Denton Parish Council will accept the new rent of £270 per year. Proposed by Peter Hill, seconded by Annie Whiteman. Three voted yes, two abstained. (Only three of the Councillors present able to vote as Terry Hanner and Eddie Winter are trustees).
11. Planning Applications/Decisions
Planning Application 2010/0752 Fir Tree Farm, Darrow Green Road, Denton. Conversion of Existing Barn into a 2 Bedroom Residential Single Storey Dwelling.
A site meeting had been held on 19th May with three councillors in attendance, it had been decided to approve the application. Area committee had approved it, but as it was contrary to planning policy it should go to main planning committee and subject to arbitorial and ecology reports.
The Clerk informed the Councillors that the appeal in respect of Grove Farm will be heard at SNC on 10th and 11th August.
12. Correspondence
A correspondence summary had been circulated.
A resource pack from Woodland Trust had been received and this will be passed to Ann Carden.
No further action on correspondence.
13. Finance
a. Accounts summary: Circulated by the Clerk, no action required.
b. Annual Governance Statement to be Completed. This was completed and signed by the Chairman with the agreement of the Councillors.
c. Pay the Clerk £89.19 for June 2010
d. Pay Liz Frere-Smith £35 for audit
e. Pay Norse £277.59 grounds maintenance
Proposal: Pay c, d and e. Proposed by Eddie Winter, seconded by Annie Whiteman, unanimously agreed.
f. Audit fee; the Clerk explained that if the income or expenditure in one year goes over £5000 the audit fee would be £120, but if it goes over £50,000 the audit fee would be £400. The Clerk had spoken to NALC about this, but they said that the fee is fixed by the Audit Commission and cannot be waived and that Parish Councils are advised to budget for any increase in the audit fee.
g. £150 Court Fee; it was agreed to make this sum available to obtain a court order to remove the Travellers from the Playing Field.
14. Any Other Business
Peter Hill said that there was a problem with drains at the lower end of Chapelfield and that sewage had been running into someone's drive. These are private sewers and not a Parish Council problem.
Liz Cargill reported that a hedge on Alburgh Road was obstructing the highway and that people were having to drive into the middle of the road to avoid it. Eddie Winter to speak to Vaughan Lewis about it.
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