Present: Mrs Pat Clare (Chair, presiding), Mrs M Button and Mr D Hamblin (Councillors), Mr M Balmer (Clerk), Mr A Gunson (County Councillor) and 23 Parishioners. Apologies from Mr P Wright (Parish Councillor) and Mr D Blake (District Councillor).
13.36 Election of chairperson
Pat Clare declared herself willing to stand again as Chairman, and there being no other nominations, this was seconded by Mary Button. Pat Clare was thus re-elected as Chairman and completed her Declaration of Office, witnessed by the Clerk. Neither of the other Councillors wished to stand as Vice-Chairman.
13.37 Appointment of Representatives
Village Hall liaison – Mary Button
Church/churchyard – Paul Wright
Allotments – Roland Kaye
Footpaths and Green – vacant
Noticeboard – Clerk
Parish Plan and Pits Trust – All Councillors
Website – Clerk
Finance and Internal Audit – Chris Dix
13.38 Minutes of the meeting held on 20 March 2013
The minutes of the above meeting, which had been circulated beforehand and placed on the website, were approved and signed.
13.39 Matters Arising
There were none.
13.40 Matters arising from the Annual Parish Meeting
There were none.
13.41 Planning
There were 4 new applications [but see *** at the end of this record], as follows:
Land north of Hall View, Church Lane (2013/0795) request to convert stable block into residential dwelling.
1 Staines Barns (2013/0796 and 2013/0797) covers internal and external works relating to refurbishment of building and conversion to create single dwelling as shown on drawings approved under planning permission ref 2011/0180/F dated 21 April 2011 and 2011/1645/F dated 11 October 2012.
3 Staines Barns (2013/0799) covers Internal and external works relating to refurbishment of building and conversion to create single dwelling as shown on drawings approved under planning permission ref 2011/0181/F dated 21 April 2011.
Councillor Mrs Mary Button declared a personal interest in all the above, owing to the applicant in 2013/0795 being her son, and her husband having carried out work on the site of 2013/0796, 0797 and 0799. However all the above applications had been notified only 2 days previously and the full information pack had not yet been received. In addition the withdrawal of Mrs Button meant that, with only two Councillors remaining, the meeting was inquorate. Therefore no discussion could take place. There was one intervention from the floor which was rejected. Given that there was clearly some concern in the village about these applications, the Council resolved to hold an Extraordinary meeting timed so that comments could be fed in before SNC’s deadline of 4 June. The Clerk will liaise with Councillors and advertise the meeting (which would be open to villagers to attend) on the website and noticeboards and by word of mouth.
13.42 Finance Report
A detailed schedule had been made available to Councillors and parishioners alike.
a) The bank balance at 15 May was £3,331.30. Budget and bank statements had been circulated separately to the whole meeting.
b) Receipts – First half of 2013-14 Precept (£1,876.00) and Council Tax Benefit grant (£247.00) were both received on 26 April.
c) Grants – none.
d) Payments
| Cheque No | Payee | Description |
Amount |
| 100238 | Norfolk Rural Community Council | Additional membership fee (increase) |
£5.00 |
| 100239 | Zurich Municipal | Insurance 2013-14 |
£106.00 |
| 100240 | M A Balmer | Salary (Apr-May) and Admin (Apr-May) |
£290.61 |
| 100241 | Norse Commercial Services Ltd | Grass-Cutting at Warren |
£182.39 |
| 100242 | Norse Commercial Services Ltd | Grass-Cutting at Village Hall |
£193.20 |
| 100243 | Christopher Dix | Payroll services 2012-13 |
£100.00 |
| 100244 | Christopher Dix | Internal Audit and Accounts 2012-13 |
£75.00 |
| 100245 | HM Revenue & Customs | PAYE for Clerk Apr-May 2013 |
£57.00 |
On a proposal from Pat Clare, seconded by David Hamblin, the schedule was approved for payment. Pat Clare signed all 8 cheques and Paul Wright will sign them when he returns to Claxton.
13.43 Statement of Accounts
The Clerk tabled the Accounts and Statement. On a proposal from Pat Clare, seconded by David Hamblin, the Accounts were adopted and both Clerk and Chairperson signed off the Accounts under Sections 1 and 2. The Internal Auditor had completed Section 4 and the External Auditors, Mazars, would complete Section 3.
13.44 Update on Parish Plan
The Clerk confirmed that there had been no progress since the last Council meeting and that a copy of the current Plan was available to be viewed after the meeting.
13.45 Report from Clerk
As instructed at the March meeting he had contacted South Norfolk Council about the rat problem and received a response on 11 April asking for details of land ownership, which he had passed to the Councillors on the same day. The Chair had confirmed Claxton Manor were dealing with the problem. He had also passed concerns about potholes in Church Lane to Adrian Gunson.
He had also been asked to contact the Village Hall Committee about their AGM, and was reminded that the 2012 AGM actually took place last July (which he acknowledged he ought to have known as he had been present). The date of the 2013 AGM will be decided when the Village Hall Committee next meets. It will be advertised on the village website.
In addition he had have chased Norse about cutting the grass on the Warren (they had recently cut the Village Hall), and also chased SNC about emptying the dog-bin. The Warren had been cut the previous day.
13.46 Correspondence
The Clerk tabled a short list of correspondence which had been circulated to Councillors or received prior to the meeting. Items included:
- County Council Notice of Election
- South Norfolk Clean Sweep
- Broads Authority’s proposed Strategic Priorities for 2013/14
- Biodiversity News in Norfolk No 24 (March 2013)
- Norfolk RCC Training Courses
- Clerks and Councils Direct (May 2013)
13.47 Items for next Agenda
The Clerk confirmed he had two – a proposed review of historic footpaths, and a proposal for a letter to Claxton’s MP about poor broadband prospects. There were no others.
Extraordinary meeting to be scheduled and notified on the website, notice boards and by word of mouth.
Date of next regular meeting – Wednesday 10 July 2013 at 7.30pm
Dates of remaining meetings in 2013
Wednesday 18 September – Regular Parish Council Meeting
Wednesday 20 November – Regular Parish Council Meeting
The meeting closed at 2140.
Clerk’s note
*** There was a fifth application (2013/0798) which was inadvertently omitted from this list, but which is subject to the same handling as 0796, 0797 and 0799.
