HOCKWOLD-CUM-WILTON
PARISH COUNCIL
MINUTES
OF THE PARISH COUNCIL MEETING HELD IN THE METHODIST SCHOOLROOM ON TUESDAY 10th
FEBRUARY 2004 AT 7.30 pm
Present: Mr D Owens ) Chairman
Mrs P
Raburn ) Vice Chairman
Mrs I
Adams ) Hockwold Parish Council
Mrs
Linda Arbour )
Mr T
Gossage )
Mrs K
Stratford )
Mr R
Allsop )
Mrs T
Sismey )
Mr M
Denney )
Mr
Martin Storey ) District
Councillor
1.
MINUTES
Resolved: That the Minutes of the meeting held on the
13th January 2004
previously
circulated be approved and signed by the Chairman. This was proposed by Mrs Raburn and seconded by Mrs Stratford.
2.
MATTERS ARISING AND CORRESPONDENCE
Playing
Field: Four members of the council Mr Owens, Mr
Gossage, Mr Allsop and Mrs Raburn
declared an interest in this matter.
The clerk had written to the Customs and Excise and also spoken to the
Audit Commission, who had no objections to helping the playing field as long as
the VAT people were in agreement. A
letter has been received from the C& E.
As long as the council has placed the order, received the supply,
received a tax invoice in their name, paid for the equipment from council funds
(including funds warded to you – for example, lottery funds). It was generally felt it would be all right
for the council to act for the playing field in view of this ruling. It was proposed by Mrs Sismey and seconded
by Mrs Arbour that the council should do this if the funding was forth coming, a
vote was taken, everyone agreed with one abstention.
Audit: A letter has been received from the Audit
Commission informing the Council that the Audit had taken place and there were
no comments or complaints. The clerk
put a notice on the Notice Board to this effect and a copy of the Audit Statement
– this has to be on the notice board for 14 days.
C.A.B.: A letter has been received from the King’s
Lynn CAB asking for funding. After some
discussion it was decided as before to say no, as we support our local branch
in Brandon.
Highways: A letter has been received from the
Highways Department informing the Council that they will inspect Weeting Road
and programme any necessary grip cleaning required. They have also passed a copy of the letter to Highways dealing
with Weeting, so the whole length of the road can be checked.
2
SCC
– B1112:
Letter received from the SCC re the closure of the B1112 apologising for not
letting the parish know of the closure, as normally Councils in neighbouring
counties are informed of road closures.
A copy of our letter has been passed to their Head Office. The chairman said he stopped to ask why it
was not possible to have temporary traffic lights for such work? He was told it was now a government
directive that roads have to be closed both sides because too many road workers
have been killed in the past doing such road works.
Planning: A leaflet for each councillor has been sent
from the planning department entitled ‘Parish Councils and The Development
Control Process’. Copies given out to
councillors.
Electricity
– Lighting:
A letter has been received from Powergen who purchased TXU Energi last year,
informing the council that our un metered supply has been transferred to their
system. They ask for a new Direct Debit
form to be completed so that our monthly charged can be put on their billing
system. Mr Owens and Mr Gossage will
sign the form at the end of the meeting.
N.C.A.P.T.C: Two meetings are to be held entitled ‘Risk
Assessment’ this is to help to establish your parish requirement for a risk
assessment. The first meeting is in
Downham Market on Wednesday March 17 9.15 to 12.30 and the second in Upton on
Wednesday 14 April 12.45 to 16.00 - no
councillor was available to go.
The
2004 Handbook is now available, councillors all had one for 2003, so it was
decided not to replace them this year.
A
Spring Seminar and Update is to be held on March 16 at the George Hotel
Swaffham on the current initiatives challenging parishes, at a cost of £25.50
for one delegate and £46.50 for two delegates.
NORFOLK
LINK issue No 141 – copies given out to councillors.
Norfolk
Constabulary: The council has received a list of contacts for both the
Police and Police Authority; the clerk will give all the councillors a copy of
this list.
Wind
Turbine Development: A letter has been received from the WNBC informing the
council that the landscape assessment and capacity study on wind turbine
development is now complete, and is available on CD if required.
West
Norfolk Road Safety Committee: Copies of the latest minutes and an
agenda for the next meeting of the committee has been received. The next meeting was on the 29 January
2004!!!
CountyLife
Companion:
This association is developing a new free information service website for use
by businesses and residents of Norfolk.
The clerk has the address if anyone would like to make use of this
opportunity.
Stock
Transfer: The BCKLWN decided to ballot council tenants regarding a new
form of landlord and about improving homes to meet modern standards at a
meeting on the 27 November 2003.
The
initial views of tenants seem to indicate support for a transfer to a housing
association. This is in the very early
stages of a process that could take two years to complete. Mr Storey said he had been to one meeting
regarding the matter and agreed tenants there did support a transfer. It was decided to leave the matter in
abeyance and see what transpires in the future.
3
Parish
Boundary Review: Mr Storey asked the council about this matter at the end of
last year, Hockwold loses three small bits of land to Feltwell and gains two
pieces of land from Feltwell, which in fact, when looked at on a map makes
sense and tidies up the borders of the villages.
NCC
Booklets:
Several copies of this booklet has been received which includes timetables for
Norfolk Green Bus Services and A10 Road Closures. Councillors to take a copy if they wish.
Dog
Fouling:
Mr Owens reported that he had a very angry parishioner on his doorstep
recently, accusing him of having his name printed in the village magazine in
regard to dog fouling. The chairman
assured him that his name was not in the magazine!!
Standing
Orders:
The Chairman has, at long last, received a copy of the latest Standing Order
for Parish and Town Councils. This is
29 pages long, and is also being sent to him on disc. It was agreed that copies be given to councillors to read, and
then they can decided which standing orders relate to this Parish Council.
Norfolk
Matters: Copies of the Jan/Feb 2004 issue of the NCC
Newsletter have been given out to councillors.
Norfolk
RCC: A copy of Jan 2004 Issue 72 of SIGNPOST has
been received.
Documents
placed on the Side Table: The following leaflets and information has been placed on
the table for councillors to read and take away if they wish: Transport
Partnership Annual Report; Leaflet re Funding Information Day; Leaflets for
training workshops in February and March 2004; Village of the year Competition
Information; Magazine for Riverside Owners:
Rubbish Bin Collection Information; Standards Board Agenda for 2
February 2004 Meeting.
3.
PLANNING
APPLICATIONS/PERMISSIONS/REFUSALS
Ref:
2/03/2382/F - Mr & Mrs Ellison, 48 Main Street, Hockwold. Conservatory extension to dwelling –
PERMISSION RECORDED.
4.
BILLS OF ACCOUNTS
Payments:
10.02.04 BCKLWN – Dog Waste Bin emptying £
28.99
Viking Direct
– Stationary £
87.98
Asset Management Services – Lights
Maintenance £
91.71
Audit Commission £141.00
NCAPTC – Standing Orders £
14.98
Mr M Moore – Bus Shelter £ 18.00
Mrs G M Taylor Wages & Allotment
Commission £262.71
Receipts:
20.01.04 Mr M Enefer – Allotment Rent £160.00
It
was proposed by Mrs Raburn and seconded by Mr Gossage that these accounts be
paid.
4
5.
ANY OTHER BUSINESS
Flint
Wall: Rebecca John of 155 Main Street has been in
touch with the Chairman regarding the removal of a flint wall and
outbuilding. It was agreed that she
should be advised to contact the Planning Department at King’s Lynn regarding
the matter.
Street
Sign – Adders Lane: The street sign has still not been erected, the clerk will
contacted the Borough Council and ask when it can be expected. The Chairman will try to find out where the
missing Adders Lane sign is, that was taken down some years ago.
SCC
– Wilton Bridge: Each side of this bridge there are some rather bad dips in
the road and also one near the RSPB Reserve, they have been getting worse
monthly and nothing seems to be done about them. The clerk will write to the Suffolk County Council Highways
Department about the matter.
Bus
to Thetford: Mr Owens has not been able to speak to Brandon Partnership
about this bus coming through Hockwold, as Mr Bishop has been ill. He will do so as soon as possible.
Post
Office:
Councillors had taken note of conditions regarding backing and driving out from
the forecourt of the post office and did not feel there was any difficulty.
Lagoon
– Church Lane: The clerk has found out that the lagoon belong to the
Borough Council and not Anglian Water and is expecting to hear from them
shortly regarding the safety – It is inspected weekly.
South
Street:
Several parishioners have complained that carrot tractors have been using South
Street instead of turning into Main Street.
After some discussion it was agreed that the clerk would write to Mr
Murfitt at the Old Chicory Factory and ask if he could help with this matter.
Car
Parking: Cars are persistently parking on the grass
in Main Street near the College Road entrance, so that motorists have
difficulty in seeing if the road is clear to pull out. It is difficult to know how to stop this,
as if they park on the road it makes the roadway very narrow.
Gritting: The last piece of Main Street to Station
Road is never gritted, could this be done.
The clerk has written to Highways on numerous occasions regarding this
matter and each time they have refused, saying that Malts Lane is the main
roadway.
Motorcycling
Youths: Two young boys have been seen riding up Mill
Lane on cross-county bikes, and are under age, sometimes they are accompanied
by an adult. It was agreed to put an
article in the magazine and the clerk will contact the police about the matter.
Mobile Police: The mobile police unit go to Feltwell every month, they also go to Weeting but not Hockwold, the clerk will speak to Linda Peckham the Feltwell clerk and find out when they are due next, the chairman will then go and see them.
5
Station
Road:
Parishioners have been asking about the possibility of getting a 30mph speed
limit on Station Road. The council has
written and asked many times for this, but the request has been refused, saying
this part of Station Road is not residential enough.
Unadopted
Roads:
Parishioners living in such roads pay the same council tax but the roadway is
not looked after. There is nothing that
can be done about this, although they could pay to have the road made up, it is
generally felt that they no the road is unadopted when they move there.
Mr
Storey explained that the majority of the council tax goes to the NCC for
Education, Fire and Police Service and Highways, the Borough Council is left with
a very small part of the money, which has to be spread about.
Mill
Lane – Clay Pit: Young Children have been going into this field to play and
in one part of the field there is some corrugated iron which could be dangerous
for the children. It was pointed out
that this field is private and the children should not really be playing there,
so there is nothing the Parish can do about the matter. It is really up to the parents of the
children concerned.
6.
DATE OF NEXT MEETING
It
was agreed that the next meeting of the council will be on the 9 March 2004
at 7.00pm
Followed
by the Annual Parish Meeting at 8.00pm.
As
there was no other business the Chairman closed the meeting at 9.05pm.
DISTRIBUTION:
One
copy to each member of the Council
One
copy to Mr J Norris Norfolk County Councillor
One
copy to Mrs C Sharp District Councillor
One
copy to Mr M Peake District Councillor
One
copy to Mr M Storey District Councillor
One
copy to Downham Market Police Station
One
copy for the Web-site.
Two
Copies for display within the village
.