Rocklands Parish Council (RPC)

Minutes of Parish Council Meeting held in Rocklands Village Hall

7.00pm on Monday 7th July 2014

 

Present :           David Howie                 Chair

                        David Witt

Shirley Colenutt

Kim Austin                    Clerk

Bill Smith                     District Councillor       

Cliff Jordan                 County Councillor

 

Also present: 2 members of the public.

 

1.   To consider accepting apologies for absence

RESOLVED to accept apologies from Cllr. Jones who was away and Cllr. Steel.

                               

2.   To record declarations of interest from members in any items on the agenda

There were no declarations of interest. 

 

3.   To approve the minutes of the last council meeting on Monday 12th May 2014

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.

 

4.   To discuss any matters arising from the minutes, not on the agenda

Defibrillator. Cllr. Colenutt expressed a concern over obtaining the pin number to access the unit. All will become clear once unit and instructions received. Cost of asbestos surveys for the village hall were discussed and the possibility of the Co-op donating the unit to RPC, who could then install the unit themselves without the need for an expensive survey that wasn’t deemed necessary.

ACTION Clerk to progress defibrillator with the Co-op.

Sport England – Deed of Dedication.

Fields in Trust didn’t call back although they had promised to by 12th May 2104. The Clerk has now spoken to them and found out that they are now speaking to Sports England direct. They confirmed they were changing some wording so that the two Deeds 'worked better together'.

RPC solicitor, Jackie Raggett has been informed and she is pleased to at least know why they hadn’t heard anything from them.

 

5.   To adjourn the meeting for public participation

Meeting adjourned at 7.31pm.

There were no comments from the public.

The meeting re-opened at 7.32pm.

 

6.      To report on Finance

 

6.1       Financial position 

The bank account balances as at Monday 7th July 2014

Barclays Community Account                                                                £    2732.09 

Barclays Saver (Reserve) Account                                                         £       702.01

 

TOTAL as per bank                                                                                £ 3,434.10

 

6.2       Money in since last meeting

2/6       Interest on Business Saver Account                                         £           0.09

                                                                                    TOTAL IN     £       0.09                                                           

6.3       Cheques out (to sign)

M C Business Services   Audit accounts Year 2103/2014                       £         25.00

 

                                                                                    TOTAL OUT   £      25.00 

6.4    Standing Orders

Kim Austin                    Clerk’s wages                                      

Pearce and Kemp          Street lighting                                    

e.On                             Electricity       

 

End of year accounts & Mazars external audit.

Accounts audited by Michaela Canham. Invoice to pay for £25

Waiting for signed off accounts back from Mazars, the external auditors. Deadline was 4th July.

Neither RPC signatories were at the meeting to sign Michaela Canham’s cheque.

 

 

7    To consider planning applications.

 

7.1    Planning outcomes since last meeting

3PL/2014/0302/F        SOUTHGATE/Rocklands Pk Fm/Agri Manager House (47) APPROVAL

3PL/2014/0332/F        PARTNR IN CARE/Anchor Corner/2 bed dwelling (48) PERMISSION

3PL/2014/0281/F         CHAPMAN/The Old Rectory/2 storey ext (46) SUPERCEDED See (50)

7.2    Planning applications pending outcome

3PL/2012/0654/CU      BRECKLAND STORAGE/Swangey/Retail caravans  - (15)

7.3    New planning applications since last meeting

3PL/2014/0489/F        ALGER/ 20 Rectory Road/Single storey dwelling (49) REFUSED

NOTE:  A new application since the last meeting but permission already refused.

3PL/2014/0564/F        CHAPMAN/The Old Rectory/2 storey ext, pool and staff acc (50)

            RESOLVED No objection to this application. A variation in previous application.

7.4    New planning applications since agenda was issued

            None

 

Glebe Cottage - Concerns over demolition. Application to demolish and rebuild had been turned down.  Out of character with the grade 1 listed church. Chris Curtis in planning department had been emailed about the unauthorised demolition of the cottage. Mr. Leslie was now discussing options with the council and a retrospective application being put forward.  It was noted that work on the house had been problematic and underpinning had caused the dwelling to collapse. Thought to be constructed of clay lump on slates and had stood empty for 30-40 years. The RPC agreed that if work was done and village houses were improved – then that had to be good.

 

Tuppins Farm – Planning enforcement now looking at this problem.

 

8       To update on White Hart (DH) and Rocklands Village Shop (SC)

White Hart. Cllr. Howie reported that the pub is open, he had had a good meal there and was welcomed.

 

Village Shop and Post Office (SC). Cllr. Colenutt reported that with the Hingham PO now closed, more business was being directed to Rocklands.  People in Hingham were organising car shares to Rocklands to collect pensions etc.  Local produce was selling well including fish from Bunnings. Heading in the right direction but can always do with more business.

 

9       To receive update on Trees.

There was nothing to report on trees in the village.

 

10     To update on Playing Fields. (DH)

A village fete was held but the weather unfortunately was horrendous on the day.

Cllr. Howie reported that they were looking to update the playground equipment and were applying for grants up to £20,000. If grants successful, may find that the money would have to go through the PC accounts as with previous grants !

 

11  To receive update on Highways

Trod. The trod is better than it was.  Paul Sellick from the council said that the materials used had let the quality of the finished product down.  Remedial work will be done free of charge and the council had agreed to skim/surface W/C 21st July 2014.

 

Ridgeons fencing. Paul Sellick was asked about the problem with Ridgeons fencing whilst he was there. He commented that it may be difficult to change the fence line.  Although it was a chain link fence, at certain angles, the fencing appeared solid and blocked view onto the road when pulling out onto the main road. He agrees there is a problem.

 

Speed Limits.  The ‘ladies’ from school had been out with their cameras, monitoring speeding motorists up at the junction. They are able to provide details of those speeding and 3 warnings would equal a police conviction. 

 

12     To update on flooding

Jetting in Bell Lane.  District Cllr. Bill Smith reported that the drains had been cleared and due to Bill’s efforts, the drains were now also scheduled to be jetted. Thanks to Bill for progressing.

No issues with flooding in the past months.

 

Ponds.  Cllr. Colenutt concerned about the ponds being overgrown and the impact on the where the water would go when it rains, Shame to compromise the situation, now we are on top of the flooding issue.

 

13     To discuss any correspondence

 

23/5/14 Mr Gibbins.  Rocklands resident called about hedges and footpaths needing trimming around Mill Lane.  Cllr. Colenutt reported that the village in general was looking a bit overgrown and untidy.  Cllr. Howie confirmed that the various councils do not have the money now to cut hedges.  Used to be every 6 weeks, now every 6 months.  ‘A’ roads should be maintained by the Highways Agency and ‘B’ roads by Norfolk County Council.  We still have visits from the Highway Rangers but they come round less often.  County Cllr. Cliff Jordan confirmed the lack of money and the cutbacks. The problem at County Hall is horrendous.  Government has given money to the councils but it can’t be used for anything other than repairing potholes.

 

9/6/14 Sonya Cooper: Moving to the village. Has been reading PC minutes on the website and emailed to ask where the parcels of council owned land were. The Clerk replied with details of the 5 parcels recently identified.

 

10/6/14 Pat Robinson: Chapel Green and pond.  A letter had been received from Pat Robinson of Chapel Green Cottage to bring the state of the pond and the surrounding area to the attention of RPC.  It was agreed the area needed a tidy but on this rare occasion where there were 3 councillors absent, it was decided to discuss in detail at the next meeting.  An idea that upkeep of the pond/area could be treated as a school project was raised.  Cllr. Howie would take this idea to Dave Jones, school governor for his thoughts. Otherwise perhaps a working party of volunteers.

                                                 ACTION Clerk to reply to Pat’s letter.

 

14     AOB (Agenda items for next meeting)

A couple of items were discussed at this point.

 

Phone Boxes.  Confirmed Sue Steel would do the phone box.

 

Electoral Rolls. Had been requested but had not been received and were now long overdue. Should be the full copy and not the restricted version. Clerk had already asked again for rolls but would do so again. 

                                                 ACTION Clerk to try and obtain electoral rolls.

 

Watton Medical Practice. A situation had arisen in Watton where 1500 patients had been deregistered. This action may be taken as unlawful. Cllr. Howie thanked Bill Smith for keeping us informed.

 

UK Power.  There had been a power cut in the night and a transformer had caught fire ! The situation had been quickly and efficiently dealt with by UK Power and the electricity supply restored quickly.  Cllr. Howie had written a letter of thanks to UK Power who were very happy to receive it.

 

 

15  Date of next Meeting - Monday 8th September 2014, 7pm, Rocklands Village Hall.

The meeting closed at 8.39 pm.