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Bressingham Parish Council

                                                                                                                           

      Draft Minutes of the Meeting held on 2nd March 2009

 

 

The meeting opened at 7.30 p.m.

 

Present

Councillors - Chairman , Mr R Aves, Mr D Hodges, Mrs S Craggs, Mr D Craggs,  Mr D England, Mr RW Bartrum, Mr N Morley

District Councillor, Mr K Weeks and County Councillor Mr B Spratt.

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

 

1      Apologies for Absence

        Parish Councillors, Mrs E Gerrard and Dr A Kinnear-King

 

2      Declaration Of Interests

        None.

 

3      To agree the Minutes of the meeting held on the 5th January 2009

The Minutes were agreed.

 

4      Matters arising from the Minutes

        There were none.

 

5      County Councillor Spratt's Report

Mr Spratt reported that a decision had been taken to take the County Farms back into direct control by the County Council following the unsatisfactory management of the farms by Norfolk Property Services. Considerable concern was expressed over who had been overseeing the company. Mr England agreed to examine a report on the matter provided by Mr Spratt and to report back to the Parish Council

Mr Aves brought up the subject of the poor condition of the roads within the Parish and a lengthy discussion followed in which Mr Spratt agreed  that many roads were in a poor state. He pointed out that the weather had made things worse than normal and the County Council was doing its best with its resources. Mr Morley was particularly concerned about the quality of the work that was contracted out and the monitoring of that work. He asked for a percentage breakdown of in-house and contracted out work but Mr Spratt didn’t have the information to hand.

Mr Spratt offered to get an official of the Highways Department to come to the next Parish Council Meeting which was welcomed and accepted by the Parish Council. Mr Morley agreed to provide to Mr Spratt and Mr Overland of Highways a report of the locations where work was needed.

Parish Councillors expressed disappointment that High Road was not on the gritting route. The continued flooding in Algar Road was another matter of concern and Mr Weeks agreed to approach the Highways Department.

 

6      District Councillor Weeks' Report

Mr Weeks reported that the District Council had embarked on a process of cost cutting and that the rise in its part of the council tax would 2.48%. He drew attention to forthcoming consultation processes on new housing and traveller sites. He was asked if the 12 month ban on travellers using Boyland Common was still in place.  He said that it was as far as he knew but that he would check. Mr Aves asked about progress on the new housing in School Road and Mr Weeks, whilst expressing disappointment at the pace of proceedings, explained that some technical changes had been made to the specification which had meant going back to the Planning Department.

                                                                                       

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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7      Parish Plan

Mrs Craggs reported that the open day dad been a great success and that 120 or more people had attended. Mr Hodges congratulated her on its success. The most common subject of interest, she said,  was speeding in the Parish and that the next step was to organise the questionnaire. Mr England provided the clerk with an outline budget of around £3600 and £4000 for the whole project but pointed out that much of it would come from various grants.

 

8      Highways

It was agreed that the subject had been fully dealt with during Mr Spratt’s report.

       

9      Correspondence

The clerk referred to a letter from Bressingham PCC pointing out that it had received no payment for maintenance of the burial ground in 2008. It was agreed that a payment at the same level as 2007 should be made immediately to Bressingham and Fersfield PCCs and that in future the amount would be reviewed at a fixed time each year.  

 

10    Planning

        A schedule of planning applications was provided.

       

 

11    Finance

        A financial report was made available.

Mr Aves reported that he had not as yet managed to find out from Dr Kinnear-King whether the Town Lands Charity would be able to make a donation to the Fersfield Church Meadow towards the outstanding cost of the fencing. It was agreed that if no such donation was forthcoming the Parish Council should pay the outstanding £400.  

 

       

12    Allotments

 

The Meeting was closed and members of the public were allowed to speak. The allotment holder at Pipers Piece

described the condition of the land set aside for allotments as unacceptable. She said she had found beer cans and needles on the site and damage to her allotment. There was also a great deal of rubbish on the site.

The Meeting was re-opened.

 

It was agreed that the rubbish would have to be removed and a meeting at the site was arranged for Tuesday 3rd March .The clerk was asked to write to the Housing Association concerned.

 Mr Aves announced that a number of residents from Roydon had approached the Parish Council with regard to renting allotments at Pipers Piece. It was agreed that it would be a positive thing for more use to be made of the existing land which was in a poor state. Mr Bartrum agreed to arrange a meeting with the potential tenant of the lower part of the land.

 

13    Any Other Business

None.

 

14    Date of the next meeting

        The date of the next meeting was agreed as11th May 2009

 

The meeting closed at 9.45pm