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Bressingham Parish Council

Draft Minutes of the Meeting held on 12th May 2008

The meeting opened at 7.30 p.m.

Present

Councillors, Chairman Mr D Hodges, Mr R Aves, Mrs S Craggs, Mr D Craggs, Mr R Bartrum, Mrs E Gerrard

Also present was Mrs J Harvey, six members of the public and the clerk, Mike Mortimer.

1 Apologies for Absence

Parish Councillors, Mr N Morley, Mr D England, Dr A Kinnear-King, District Councillor Mr K Weeks and County Councillor Mr B Spratt

2 Election of a new Chairman

Mr Bartrum proposed Mr Aves and Mr Aves was elected Chairman unanimously.

Mr Bartrum proposed Mr Craggs as his deputy. Mr Craggs was elected unanimously.

3 Minutes of the meeting held on the 3rd March 2008

The minutes were agreed

4 Matters Arising from the Minutes

There were no matters arising

5 Declaration of Interests

There were no declarations of interest

6 The Post Office

The meeting was closed to allow the public to speak.

One member of the public asked if the Parish Council had taken any action. The clerk said that contact had been made with Mark Bishop who was co-ordinating action for South Norfolk and that the Parish Council had sent a submission to the Post Office.

Mr Aves, Chairman, expressed concern that the Postmaster was not very interested in keeping the Post Office open and disappointment at the small number of people attending the meeting. A member of the public echoed that feeling. Mr Hodges outlined the action that Trowse had taken in its campaign.

The Chairman wondered if, given the apparent indifference, it was a fruitless task. Mr Craggs expressed a similar sentiment.

A member of the public raised the matter of the future of the shop if the PO closed. She explained that there had been some talk of running the shop as a co-operative and that the present owner appeared willing to remain in an advisory role. The experience of other similar ventures in the area was that using volunteers had been difficult and that paying a wage produced a better result.

Mrs Gerrard asked if grants were available and she was informed that they could be.

The meeting was re-opened and it was agreed to arrange a meeting on the future of the shop on the 9th of June and for a mailshot to be delivered to every house in the parish. The clerk was asked to produce the mailshot wording and get the school to print 350 copies. Various members of the PC agreed to distribute them.

7 County Councillor Spratt's Report

Mr Spratt sent his apologies.

8 District Councillor Weeks' Report

Mr Weeks sent his apologies.

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9 Highways

Mrs Craggs spoke about the footpath repairs on the corner of School Road and Fersfield Road. She queried the planning of the wooden posts and leaving a border unkerbed. A letter regarding the forthcoming resurfacing of High Road was read to the meeting. Mr Craggs asked if the PC was ever consulted. It was pointed out that it was a County Council matter and that the PC was not party to arrangements. A member of the public expressed concern that there was a lot of work done on the drains in High Road but little if any in Common Road. The Chairman suggested the matter be taken up with the CC and some form of complaint made in the Autumn when the extent of flooding was clear

10 Correspondence

There was none.

11 Planning

A schedule of planning applications and decisions was provided.

Mrs Craggs pointed out that since the plan for 9 new houses in Common Road had been rejected 5 homes had been built in the vicinity of Common Road on a piecemeal basis. How many more she asked.

Regarding the name for the new housing in School Road Mr Hodges said he was pleased to announce that the name favoured by the PC, Pascoe, had every chance of being accepted.

12 Finance

A financial report was made available and payments were agreed.

The accounts for 2007/8 were agreed.

13 Any Other Business

The clerk informed the meeting that Mr Craggs had made an excellent job of getting the Parish website up and running again. Mr Craggs asked for information to be sent to him for inclusion. Mrs Craggs asked what reaction there had been at the Annual Parish Meeting to the possibility of adopting a Parish Plan. She was informed that though interest had been expressed nothing concrete had been proposed.

13 Next Meeting

It was agreed that the next meeting should be on Monday 7th July excluding the possible open meeting on the 9th of June.

The meeting closed at 9.35pm