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

Present.

Councillors: Peter Smith (Chair),
Nicola Southgate(Vice Chair)
Shirley Colenutt
David Howie
Cath Jones,
David Witt

Clerk: Kim Rushforth

Also present: Seven members of the public and the District Councillor

1. To consider accepting apologies for absence

RESOLVED to accept apologies from Roger Steel - business commitments

2. To record declarations of interest from members in any item to be discussed

No interests were declared

Cllr. Smith opened the meeting with a moments silence for Babs Southgate, who had recently passed away.

3. To appoint a clerk

Cllr. Smith confirmed there were three candidates in response to the advertisement for a new clerk after the previous clerk Lucy Defew resigned. A formal resolution of the appointment was needed. Proposed by Cllr. Southgate, seconded by Cllr. Colenutt and a show of hands from the floor in support of the appointment.
RESOLVED to officially appoint Kim Rushforth to the position of Clerk. Cllr. Smith handed Kim her contract and Terms & Conditions for signing.

ACTION. Clerk to sign and return T&Cs

4. To approve the Minutes of the last Council Meeting on Monday 9th January 2012

RESOLVED to approve the minutes as a true and accurate record of the meeting. The minutes were duly signed by the Chair

5. To discuss any matters arising from minutes

Car parking. Breckland Council had written to say our comments were received and noted
Mount Pleasant Phone Box. ACTION: Cllr Smith to check progress with Cllr. Steel

6. To adjourn the meeting for public participation.

Graham Shadrack of Peel's Farm, Whitings Lane introduced himself as he had a planning application pending and was interested to see if the Parish Council had any comments. Cllr. Southgate confirmed that the Parish Council had no objections to his application for a farm workers dwelling and were impressed with the specialist wildlife reports that had been carried out for bats and newts etc.
The meeting re-opened

7. Finance

7.1 To receive the financial statement from the clerk of the accounts for the year to date
The bank account balances as at Monday 20th February
Barclays Community Account £ 365.44
Barclays Saver (Reserve) Account £ 2000.52

7.2 To acknowledge receipts
Cheque for £1 received for renewal of annual licence (running from 1/1/2012 - 31/12/2012) for agreement between RPC and Mr. Mrs Robinson of Chapel Green Cottage to erect sign. Receipt sent to Mr. Mrs Robinson

7.3 To agree payments
RESOLVED to authorise the following payments . Cheques and paperwork duly signed.
Pearce & Kemp Ltd. (Street lighting maintenance)......Chq 459 .... £44.35.
NALC (Website training for David Howie).............. Chq 460.... £25.00
NPTP (Initial training for clerks for Kim Rushforth)...... Chq 461..... £40.00
HMRC (Paye for Lucy Defew Jan, Feb 2012)............ Chq 462.... £41.60
GW Accountancy Services Ltd. (PAYE Jan, Feb 2012)..Chq 463.... £40.00

7.4 RESOLVED Cllr. Smith and Cllr. Southgate to sign a letter to Barclays Bank to cancel Standing Order for previous Clerk's wages. Last payment was February.

7.5 RESOLVED Councillor Steel should be added as a cheque signatory and Mr Peter Cotes be removed.

7.6 RESOLVED The cricket club's grant from Sport England for £46,500 for new nets and an artificial pitch would need to go through the RPC accounts as they are the owners of the playing fields. RESOLVED Disclaimer written by Martin Walker of Rocklands Cricket Club.

ACTION. Cllr. Smith to contact Rocklands Cricket Club to confirm happy with disclaimer.

8. To consider planning applications

8.1 Planning outcomes
The Clerk described the planning outcomes received since the last meeting.
3PL/2011/1407/F (PERMISSION) Beckett/Woodland Horses/Garage /Wood Store

8.2 Planning applications pending
Cllr. Southgate reported on planning applications pending.
3PL/2011/1418/F Ellis/Chestnut House (PENDING)
Amended plans have been submitted. The extension was now reduced by 3 ½ metres. Neighbour is now happy but requires a decent fence to replace the leylandii that are being removed. Cllr. Southgate thanked District Cllr. William Smith for all his help in this matter.

8.3 New planning applications since last meeting
Cllr. Southgate described the recent planning applications that had been received.
3PL/2012/0094/F Holbrook/Swangey/Storage above garage
RESOLVED No objection.
3PL/2012/0129/F Shadrack/Whitings Lane/Agricultural workers dwelling
RESOLVED No objection.
3PL/2012/0148/CU (NEW) Breckland storage/Swangey/Retail area for 40-50 caravans
A comment was made that there was already a retail area. The Clerk passed the application to Cllr. Southgate for distribution/comment. Deadline 7/3/2012
3PL/2012/0171/F (NEW) Emblen/Chapel Street/Single storey extension
The Clerk passed the application to Cllr. Southgate for distribution/comment. Deadline 14/3/2012

9. Diamond Jubilee celebrations.

Cllr. Witt described the events included in the celebrations to be held on Sunday 3rd June. A 1950s style event with exhibitions, tractors, cars, fancy dress, sports and games, cricket match, tea or barn dance in the hall, refreshments. Cllr. Jones had displayed a poster in the Rocklands shop.
RESOLVED RPC would donate £100 towards the celebrations.
RESOLVED All Rocklands children 17 and under will receive a commemorative mug. This to be funded from £400 donated by the Mann Trust.

10. Tree Wardens

No further updates from tree wardens.
Confirmed that All Saints Church were planning to have a tree planting ceremony for the children on the last day of half term. Too late for saplings from the Queen's estate. Need to include in leaflet of Diamond Jubilee events.
Action: Cllr. Jones and Cllr. Witt to include in Jubilee events.

11. Highways

No updates

11.1Hedge Cutting.
Hedge cutting around the parish had seen lots of clippings and mess left on the roads. Mixed hedges containing hawthorn could cause punctures. Nobody seemed to know who had done the cutting except that it was a red tractor. Cllr. Colenutt suggested advertising in Rocklander to find out who.
ACTION Cllr. Jones to try and find out who was responsible.

12 Flooding

Work has been completed in Low Lane and road resurfaced, but not tested until it rains.
Cllr. Smith mentioned that a few weeks ago, the owner of Cumbria had ditches piped and covered without prior permission from the Environment Agency. The work has now stopped and the Agency are meeting this week to discuss. Possible that ditches will need to be dug out again

13. Correspondence

No correspondence has been received.

14.AOB

District Cllr. William Smith confirmed current policy is not to charge for parking, but due to the need to make savings a review of car parking charges is underway. Any decision is a long way off, and consultation would start when options had been defined. Confirmed Breckland District Council Tax remains the same for the fourth year running and Norfolk County Council for the last three years.

A member of the public asked, if the RPC are trustees of the football and cricket pitches, then are they also trustees of Frank's piece of land as well ? He was not happy as he had heard that half of it was to be sold so would get solicitors involved. It was thought it was to be developed but not sold.

The meeting closed at 7.55 pm

15. Date of next meeting

Annual Parish Meeting- Monday 2nd April 2012. 7 p.m. in Rocklands Village Hall

Meeting closed at 8.15 p.m