Minutes of Parish Council Annual Meeting, 16 May 2012

Present:  Mrs Pat Clare (Chair, presiding), Mr P Wright and Mrs M Button (Councillors), Mr D Blake (District Councillor), Mr B Ansell and Mr M Balmer (outgoing and incoming Clerks) and 5 Parishioners.  Apologies from Mr A Gunson (County Councillor).

12.27  Pat Clare declared herself willing to stand again as Chairman, and there being no other nominations, this was seconded by Paul Wright.  Pat Clare was thus re-elected as Chairman and completed her Declaration of Office, witnessed by the incoming Clerk.  Neither of the other Councillors wished to stand as Vice-Chairman and the post was left vacant.

12.28  Appointment of Representatives

Village Hall liaison – Mary Button
Church/churchyard – Paul Wright
Allotments – Roland Kaye
Footpaths and Green – vacant since Alan Ives’ resignation and to be filled when new Councillors join
Noticeboard – Paul Wright
Parish Plans and Pits Trust – All Councillors
Finance and Internal Audit – Chris Dix

12.29  David Hamblin was co-opted onto the Council and completed his Declaration of Office, witnessed by the incoming Clerk, who will send him a Registration of Financial Interests form within the next day or so.

12.30  The Chairman welcomed Mike Balmer as the new Parish Clerk and thanked Brian Ansell for his contribution over 10 years, and the guidance she and the other Councillors had received.

12.31  Minutes of the meeting held on 29 March 2012

The minutes of the above meeting,which had been circulated beforehand and placed on the website, were approved and signed.

12.32  Matters Arising

There were none.

12.33  Matters arising from the Annual Parish Meeting

Parishioners asked for an update on the Planning Application for Staines Barns.  This had been unresolved for several years.  The Clerk was instructed to write to the Chief Executive of South Norfolk Council, copied to Paul Whitham and Tim Barker, and Derek Blake, drawing her attention to the lack of a decision and asking that one be made soon.

Flooding was still a problem on Church Lane around Claxton House and into Ashby St Mary.  The Clerk was asked to contact the Highway Rangers copying in the Ashby Clerk.

There was no news on access roads for Claxton House, once the Dementia Unit was operational.

There was increasing evidence of fly-tipping on the road down to the Beauchamp Arms.  Though this was in Carleton St Peter, it could spread into Claxton if not controlled.  It was also noted that this road was private, and therefore not the responsibility of the County authorities.

There is a current dispute in Rockland St Mary concerning the footpath off Church Lane via Lambs Court which could affect residents of Claxton.

12.34  Correspondence

The outgoing Clerk tabled a short list of correspondence which had been circulated to Councillors or received prior to the meeting.  Items included:

South Norfolk Place-Making Guide on DVD plus a questionnaire
SNDC – Eastern Rivers Neighbourhood Board at Poringland on 30 May at 8pm
Coldham Hall Family Festival on 2 June between 12-4.30pm
Quality Standards for Older People
NALC – Norfolk Link
NALC – Joint Summer Conference 3 July 9.30-14.45
NALC – Parish Clerks and Councillors at Loddon Trios Cafe on 10 May from 10-12 noon
NALC – How Hill Trust Ludham on 8 June 10-3pm
Initial Training for Clerks and Councillors
NCC – Mineral Sire Specific Development Plan

Clerk/Councils Direct

12.35  Planning

There were no new applications

12.36  Finance

A detailed schedule had been made available to parishioners.

a) The bank balance at 13 April was £1,753.93.

b) Receipts – SNDC Precept £2,000, VAT refund £85.49.

c) Grants – there was a new application from the Fair on the Yare Committee for a grant to cover the Public Liability Insurance premium of £231.08.  The request had been received the day before and no-one from the Committee was present to put their case.  After discussion the Councillors agreed that it should be paid, but that the Clerk should, in a covering letter, explain that in future the Council would like time to consider such requests, and would be interested to know what steps had been taken to find the best value-for-money.  The Clerk was also asked to suggest that in future the Committee might hold back some money for such contingencies.

d)  Payments

Cheque No Payee Description Amount
100211 B Ansell Clerk’s salary and expenses £ 421.19
100212 HMRC Clerk’s PAYE £ 71.40
100213 C Dix Payroll services £ 70.00
100214 National Playing Fields Assoc Subscription 2012-13 £ 20.00
100215 C Dix Internal Audit £ 60.00
100216 Norse Commercial Services Grass cutting (6 months) £ 179.34
100217 Fair on the Yare Insurance grant £ 231.08
100218 Zurich Insurance £ 212.26

On a proposal from Paul Wright, seconded by Pat Clare, the schedule was approved for payment.

e)  Statement of Accounts

The outgoing Clerk tabled the Accounts and Statement.

On a proposal from Paul Wright, seconded by Pat Clare, the Accounts were adopted and both outgoing Clerk and Chairman duly signed off the Accounts under Section 1.  After the outgoing Clerk had read out Section 2, this was signed off by the incoming Clerk and Chairman.  The Internal Auditor, Chris Dix, had completed Section 4 and the External Auditors, Mazars, would complete Section 3.

12.37  Parish Land & Property

The outgoing Clerk had worked with the Land Registry and had secured the deeds to the Village Hall site and building.  The registered value was low since the site was only permitted to be used for the community, and had no actual commercial developmental value (eg for housing).  The deeds were with the incoming Clerk along with the papers on the Warren (the Green).

Date of next meeting – Wednesday 25 July 2012 at 7.30pm

Dates of remaining meetings in 2012

Wednesday 19 September – Regular Parish Council Meeting
Wednesday 21 November – Regular Parish Council Meeting

The meeting closed at 2115.

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