Rocklands Parish Council
(RPC)
Minutes of Annual Parish
Meeting held in Rocklands Village Hall
7.00pm on Monday 7th April
2014
Present : David Howie Chair
Nicola Southgate Vice Chair
Shirley
Colenutt
Cath Jones
Kim Austin Clerk
Bill Smith District Councillor
Also
present: 4 members of the public
The
chair Cllr. David Howie welcomed everybody to the Annual Parish Meeting.
1. To consider accepting apologies for absence
RESOLVED
to accept apologies from Cllrs. Roger Steel and David Witt who were both away.
2.
To approve the minutes of the
last parish meeting (Annual Assembly) on Monday 8th April 2013
RESOLVED to approve the minutes that had been
circulated prior to the meeting, as a true and accurate record of the
meeting. The minutes were duly signed by
the Chair, Cllr. David Howie.
3.
To discuss any matters
arising from the minutes, not on the agenda
There were no matters arising from the minutes.
4.
To hear the Chairman’s
report
The
chair Cllr. David Howie delivered his report.
The past year has been one where the
village has been drawn together to maintain and improve its community.
The council has been able support a
number of projects, in particular the successful take over of the village shop
by the community. Everybody involved should be very proud of their achievements.
This could not have been done without the tremendous backing of the villagers,
and of the surrounding villages, and in particular, the help Alan and Elaine
Johnson have provided.
The Trod, is another project, which was
raised Laura Spratt, a Rockland’s villager at a council meeting. With help from
Councillor Cath Jones and local funds being made available, the trod has now
been built by Highways and crossing the road at this point has been made much
safer.
The Village Hall with some committee
changes this year, continues to prosper. Most of the work at The Playing Field
has been completed and it is hoped that this excellent facility will be used
more by the village.
The school continues to achieve very
high standards and all child spaces are filled.
The recent opening of The White Hart
public house, was a surprise, but welcome, and hopefully it will remain open
and prosper.
The Telephone box libraries are working
well, but the boxes will need some maintenance.
Councillors have paid active parts in
many of the projects.
The precept again had to be raised to
ensure we could cover our costs and meet demands. The Rockland’s precept still
remains one of the lowest in the area.
There have been a number of planning
applications throughout the year and all have dealt with in a professional
manner by the councillors. This shows that the village is one where people wish
to live and improve their properties. There will, I suspect, be many more
applications to build in the coming year which will require parish councillors’
attention.
There have been a number of highway
matters that have been hard to resolve, or that have remained unresolved.
One matter of concern is the lack of
attendance by the public at Parish Council meetings and I feel that the general
public should be encouraged.
I would again like to commend our Parish
Clerk Kim Austin for her work, and in particular the work involving The Playing
Field grants.
5.
To receive reports by County
& District Councillors
No report was received from the County Councillor,
Cliff Jordan.
Cllr. Bill Smith started his report by saying that
Breckland Council had had a new leader this year in Michael Wassell (Councillor
for Watton). They also have a new Chief Exec, Anna Graves who will be starting
next month, following the retirement of Terry Huggins. Anna comes from Market
Harborough.
This year had seen the controversial boundary
review. There had been a reduction in
councillors from 54 to 49 and so the councillors’ areas of responsibilities had
grown. Cllr. Bill Smith had taken on two more parishes (Snetterton and Quidenham)
so now had 10. All Saints were to join
with Wayland.
The ‘town’ wards were being treated the same as
the ‘rural’ wards.
Council tax remains as it is, for this year and
next year. A chance for the council to close the gap on a now £1.3 million
funding gap. Cllr. Smith was certain the gap could be further closed over the
next few years.
Breckland Council had been awarded a Customer
Service Excellence Award for achieving a score of 54/55. This is an award which
the council are very proud of indeed.
Cllr. David Howie thanked Cllr. Bill Smith for his
report and for his interest in the village.
6.
To receive comments from
the public
There were no comments from the public
The meeting closed at 7.13pm.