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Bressingham Parish Council

DRAFT Minutes of the Meeting held on 7th September 2009

The meeting opened at 7.30 p.m.

Present

Councillors - Chairman , Mr R Aves, Mr R W Bartrum, Mr D Hodges, Mr D Craggs, Mrs S Craggs and

District Councillor, Mr K Weeks.

Also present were several members of the public and the clerk, Mike Mortimer.

1 Apologies for Absence

Parish Councillors, Mr D England, Dr A Kinnear-King, Mr N Morley, Mr B Spratt

2 Declaration of Interests

There were none

3 To agree the Minutes of the meeting held on the 6th July 2009

The minutes were agreed

4 Matters arising from the Minutes

None

5 County Councillor Spratt's Report

Mr Spratt was unable to attend.

6 District Councillor Weeks' Report

Mr Weeks reported that August was, as usual, a quiet month but that SNDC's efficiency programme was continuing with voluntary redundancies. He informed the meeting of the results of the Community Pub of the Year competition, the winner in the local area being The Cock in Diss. He said that the bidding week for the new housing had passed and he hoped local people had applied. Mr Craggs asked if one week at the height of the holiday season was long enough and Mr Weeks sympathised. When asked about the transparency of the selection process he explained how the system worked.

In response to concerns about the posts and general untidiness at the corner of Fersfield Road and School Road Mr Weeks agreed to try to establish which organisation was responsible for its maintenance and endeavour to find out what the reasoning was behind the installation of the posts.

7 To consider applicants for the post of Parish Councillor

There were two applicants and both received considerable support and both deemed thoroughly worthy. Oneconsideration was that the Fersfield element of the parish continued to be represented and Mr I Cattermole was unanimously selected to be co-opted onto the Parish Council. Hope was expressed that in the event of another vacancy the second candidate would be encouraged to stand.

8 Parish Plan

Mrs Craggs explained that the Plan was still awaiting a decision from SNDC on additional funding of £500 which would take the total to £2500 and cover the start-up costs of the Plan.

It was with regret that she announced that the fundraising beer and music event had had to be cancelled as it had been felt inappropriate to use funds already donated to buy beer and the response from local businesses to a request for cash had been very limited though many had offered support in kind.

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9 Highways

Concern was expressed over the limited number and quality of repairs that had taken place despite the considerable time a number of Councillors and members of the public had spent with Mr Overland of the Highways department. One particular problem raised by a member of the public was towards the northen end of Common Road and the Parish Council agreed to pursue the matter but also welcomed the intention of the person concerned to write to the local MP.

On the matter of the flooding on Algar Road the meeting was assured that the required work was to be carried out imminently.

10 Correspondence

Two requests for charitable donations had been received. There was also a request from the Village Hall Association for a contribution towards essential hedge cutting. It was decided that no contributions to national charities be made at this stage but that the request from the Village Hall for £500 should be met.

11 Planning

A schedule of planning applications was provided

12 Finance

A financial report for the July/August period was made available.

It was agreed that the budget for 2010/11 should be increased by an amount reflecting inflation and the clerk was asked to provide figures for consideration at the next meeting.

Payments to to Bressingham PCC (£315) and Fersfield PCC (240) were agreed.

13 Allotments

Mr Aves reported that he hoped the allotments would be ready to hand over to tenants by the end of September.

The clerk was asked to write to a neighbouring landowner pointing out that the dividing hedge needed cutting, asking his views and proposing that the PC cut the hedge if nothing was heard within 7 days.

14 To consider setting up sub-committees

As a number of Councillors had been unable to attend the meeting it was agreed that the item be postponed.

15 Any Other Business

The situation regarding Boyland Common was raised and all agreed that it was essential to deal with the

problem of illegal encampments and the damage to the common.

16 Date of the next meeting

It was agreed that the next meeting should be on the 2nd of November.

The meeting closed at 9.25