Rocklands, Norfolk The Villages of Rockland All Saints and Rockland St Peter

ROCKLANDS PARISH COUNCIL

PRESENT:

P. Cotes (Chairman)
P. Leigh (Vice Chairman)
P. Smith
Mrs N. Southgate
Mrs Gibbon

W. Smith, District Councillor

6 Parishioners

1. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

There were no apologies for absence

2. MINUTES

The minutes of the Council meeting of 9 January 2006 were signed as a correct record

3. MATTERS ARISING

The Clerk reported that he had written to N.C. C. regarding the letter in the E.D.P "Rural Bus service saved by subsidy" .The reply was read out to the meeting.
He also reported that he had written to Breckland Council regarding the Open Space audit and the letter had been acknowledged
Regarding the tardiness of the postal service the Clerk had established that "Peter the Post" had been on the second week of three weeks annual leave and that his round was being covered by other postmen. He also discovered that the postmen now had to sort their own round before coming out to deliver the post and that if they had a Special Delivery item which has to be delivered at a specific time they have to break their round to deliver the same. Peter is now back from holiday and as far as the Clerk could see deliveries were back to normal.

4. FINANCE

Receipts	£7358.52
Payments	£2941.64
	£4416.88

Reconciliation

Community Account	£ 700.04
Business Premium Account	£3716.84
	£4416.88

There were no cheques outstanding
To be paid by standing order is the street lighting maintenance bill a sum of £34.31

Invoices to be paid

Annual Norfolk R C C Subs £25.00
This was passed for payment

The Clerk reported that he had received a letter from Barclays Bank informing the Council that there would now no longer be a charge in the event of the account being overdrawn once in each quarter. This they said would prevent customers being charged in the event of a genuine oversight.

A letter had been received from Victim Support Norfolk asking for a donation in view of the Council policy on donations, the Clerk was instructed to write an appropriate letter

5. PLANNING

Planning applications had been received for

Mr & Mrs Thorogood - Rocklands - Rocklands Farm, Mount Pleasant -3PL/2005/1918/F - Conversion of stables to dwelling
The Council had no objections

Shropham - Shropham Quarry, Swangey Lane - Variation of PP C/3/04/3031 to allow operations to continue until 31.3.07 - PP/C/3/2006/3003
The Council had no objections but had concerns regarding the lack of information on the plant to be installed. This has been noted by N. C. C who are in charge of this application.

Planning approval had been granted for

Mr L Brown - Rocklands - Land North side of Watton Road - 3PL/2005/1603/F - Tractor and agricultural machinery shed

Mrs Becker - Rocklands - Stone Barn, Mount Pleasant - 3PL/205/1775/F Proposed new garage

REVIEW OF DEVELOPMENT CONTROL

Councillor Leigh on behalf of Councillor Smith, both of whom had attended a joint meeting with Great Ellingham and Scoulton Parish Councils at Great Ellingham reported that the subject of the possible abolish ion of parish councils and or government from Norwich had been discussed. District Councillor Smith who had also been present had informed the meeting of a White Paper due out later in the year, which would be setting out the Government's proposals. It had been agreed that any proposal at devolution should be strongly resisted. A further meeting of the group had been set for 19 July 2006.

6. HIGHWAYS

Further to the discussion on speeding through the village the Clerk reported that he had had an article put in the Rocklander bringing this matter to the attention of the villagers. Speed humps had been discussed and rejected. Councillor Gibbon had suggested and approached Norfolk County Council to ascertain the possibilities of having rumble strips put in the Street in an attempt to slow traffic. This waits a reply. Flat top humps were also discussed and it was again thought that the cost without suitable evidence of need i.e. road accident statistics would also render this a non-starter. The possibility of villager manned handheld speed cameras was also discussed but it was reported that in some villages where this had been tried it had caused a lot of local unrest.
The possibility of extending the 40mph limit to include the entrance to St Peter's Church was also raised

7. CHAPEL GREEN

The Clerk had received two letters offering garden maintenance help and these were passed to Councillor Smith.

8. ATTLEBOROUGH AREA PARTNERSHIP

Councillor Gibbon reported that she had attended a meeting of the Partnership, which had been discussing transport. It would appear that they have no more influence on the bus companies than the council and in fact no representatives of them had attended. However she had obtained information on various self help groups and car sharing teams whores details have been displayed on the village notice board, are to be put on the village web site and will appear in the Rocklander. The Chairman thanked Councillor Gibbon for her efforts in this matter and also the work she had done in regard to the speeding issue.

9. CORRESPONDENCE

The correspondence was circulated to the Councillors.

There being no further business the meting closed at 8.15 p.m.

The next meeting will be on Monday 10 April 2006 at 7.00 p.m. in the Village Hall and will be the Annual Assembly which will be followed by a Council meeting.