Draft minutes of the meeting of Boughton Parish Council on Wednesday August 4th 2010 in Boughton Church

 

Members of the public present

Tony Golds, Ann Proctor, Angela Faherty, Sue Pogmore, Fred Watkinson, Janet Savage, Kevin Fisher

PC Sarah Green Parish Liaison Officer for Norfolk Constabulary

 

Councillors Reid ( Chair) Cooper, Wakeling, Pogmore, Proctor, Agate, Coulten

 

Before the meeting opened, the Chairman read from the Parish Councillors’ Guide the passage clarifying the position of members of the public in PC meetings. There is no right to speak unless authorised by the Council. The Chairman cannot authorise this without the approval of the whole Council. Fred Watkinson raised an objection, but was told that comments would be allowed with the approval of the Council.

 

1.     No apologies

2.     AGM minutes – no action required.

3.     Minutes of 7th May 2010 were agreed and signed

4.     Matters arising: a. F. Reid had contacted EA re fishing in the pond. The recreation and fishing director for the East of England confirms that we can set rules as we see fit.. We have no wish to restrict the fishing activity of young people and currently do not have a problem. Post meeting note -Councillors Reid and Pogmore had visited the parishioner with a garden problem and offered full support should the parishioner wish to report the matter  to the police. There had been damage in that area of the village over the past 2-3 years ( village mower sabotaged, theft of and damage to farm equipment , lock-up broken into and petrol stolen)  this gives  cause for concern, the police had been informed of all these events  PC Green  emphasised that any matter of concern or suspicion should be reported to the police. Pond risk assessment the council had discounted the life ring but was considering the provision of a reach pole.

5.     Chairman’s report:

 War Memorial.

The Norfolk Constabulary Forensic dept investigation on our behalf has solved the mystery of the obliterated words of the inscription.

West side of plinth :-

“ In memory of those who fell in the Great War 1914-1918.

This cross is humbly dedicated by the inhabitants of the village”

East side of plinth :-

Malachi – verse 3, chapter 17.

“And they shall be mine saith the lord of hosts in that day when I make up my jewels.”

Bill Miller has very generously offered to have the inscriptions renewed by Mildenhall Memorials. It is hoped that our new minister can rededicate the Memorial during the Remembrance Day service. The forensic officers that worked on this for us have expressed a desire to attend the rededication. 

A letter of thanks has been sent to Norfolk Constabulary. Our thanks must also go to Bill Miller for his work, and we will write to Bill when the work is completed. 

 

 

Conifer hedge.  Playground.

John Adcock has offered to trim this hedge at a price of £40 per cut. Council has agreed, by email, to accept this offer. Maximum two cuts per year. Ratification of this is now required at this meeting.  (Council voted unanimously to accept this.)

Borough Council Tree Officer.

The Borough Council have appointed a new tree officer, replacing Mike Holdsworth with Mr. Tom Thompson.

Horse chestnut tree.  Junction Church lane & Lane to Dublin Cottage

Concern has been expressed regarding the exposed root system of this tree; reversing vehicles, mainly the refuse collection lorries and delivery vans, has damaged the verge around the roots.

The Borough tree officer has inspected the tree and confirms that it is at risk and recommends packing soil around the exposed roots. Martin Edmunds has agreed to help with this work by supplying us with some soil. We will need to place some kerbstones or sleepers along the edge to hold the soil in place and hopefully prevent more damage and erosion. ( By the time of the meeting this had been done and the Chairman would write to Martin Edmunds expressing our thanks.)

Ash Tree  - Playground

The overhanging branches have again become a hazard and need to be cut back. This is currently under discussion with

Borough Tree Officer to establish a method acceptable to him. Being in a conservation area we are required to get his agreement in writing on how, and by whom this work is done. We expect to meet with Mr Thompson in the near future to establish what we are able to do.

 

Fen Report

BOUGHTON FEN REPORT TO PARISH COUNCIL MEETING 04.08.2010

As has now become our custom, we keep a low profile during the summer months, leaving the fen to our summer visitors and all year residents.

We are lucky again this year to have seen marsh harriers and heard cuckoos and nightingales on the fen, and some people have seen otters in Stringside Drain.

As a thank you for assisting us at some of our working parties, we invited the Wereham Wildlife Woodland group to visit the fen on 12th June 2010.  They were very impressed with what they saw, including the resident barn owl, and a roe deer in the reeds.  Some of the footy fans could not make the visit due to a pressing game between England and the USA.  I think history now tells us that we had the better evening.

Following that evening visit, we would like to organise a similar visit for residents and helpers in Boughton.

Later in the year, we will again start on our programme of scrub clearance and other work to maintain the fen. We hope to do this with our willing local helpers, professional contractors and the probation service (although not all at the same time).  The dates for our working parties will be published in the near future.  We look forward to receiving any help you can offer us.  Remember, it is a lot cheaper than a subscription to a gym.

Thanks again to everyone who has assisted in any way with work on the fen. Mark Pogmore

Roads: not much to report. Some holes have been repaired in Stoke Road, but others remain in Wretton Road due to lack of Highways finance. Concern expressed by a parishioner re the effect of a perceived increase in traffic as the cricket field comes into use and also the effect of cars parked on verges. D.Cooper

Dykes:

Not much to report as the dry weather had meant no problems with dykes or drains. Councillor Proctor Suggests that   we should consider  raising the height of the overflow pipe, which would  allow greater water accumulation during winter months to off set the level of water loss during dry summers. . Agreed to monitor the situation over the next winter and then reassess. G. Proctor

Signs and notice boards report:

We now have two magnificently re-furbished village signs thanks to the efforts of Edwina Madgewick and kind donations by Tim & Edwina. Both signs have now been re-erected and are a great welcome to the village.

The phone box has been cleaned inside & out and the Village Sign on the green given a spring treatment of preservative. The notice board will shortly be treated as well. P. Agate

Comments: the footpath from Church Lane to Mill Hill Road needs attention (D. Cooper to cut back the overhanging brambles)

Possible visit to the Fen to be arranged for parishioners following the success of the Wereham visit. Thanks to all who helped. F. Reid thanked MP for arranging this.

6.     Treasurer’s Report   The Jazz picnic had raised over £1000 for village funds. The Audit Commission return had been sent in as required. There was a letter from our insurers re work on the Fen, wishing for further information. Kevin Fisher asked if that implied that previous activities on the Fen had not been covered by the insurance.

7.     Correspondence:

·        request from Victim Support for a donation. Declined  – further information re use of funds to be sought.

·       Phone box: BT state that the status quo still obtains.

·       National Association of Local Councils: Boughton PC is now a member.

·       Chairs for the church: agreed to increase the contribution from the Council by a further £ 500  proposed by P.Coulten  all agreed.

·       Summary of Norfolk Police Authority policing plan leaflet handed out.

·       Parish training session re changes to Local Development Framework date& venue given.

8.     Planning: Hall Farm house permission to replace garage roof with pitched roof granted and also revised planning permission granted for two new dwellings in the garden area.

9.Speedwatch – Councillor Agate

Firstly let me offer a big thank you to all 9 members of the Speedwatch Team who have turned out over the last five months to carry out speedwatch sessions. It is a credit to you all for your perseverance and community spirit for which we thank you on behalf of the parishioners.

You will recall that Speedwatch was set up in response to concerns raised by parishioners regarding speeding vehicles passing through the village. As Speedwatch rules require the support of Parish Council we were pleased to support this initiative.

Some facts;

Speedwatch Operating since March 2010.

30 monitoring sessions lasting some 45 hours have been carried out.

In that time just 12 vehicles have been noted as exceeding the speed at which a record may be made i.e. +36mph. More vehicles were travelling at up to 36 mph

A third of the vehicles recorded were parishioners’ vehicles.

Three quarters parishioners recorded complained about being recorded, although not on the fact they were speeding. Understandably there is concern in some quarters regarding the recording of speeding parishioners. Whilst this is right and proper to record such instances, we are aware this could present a negative atmosphere. However the principle of trying to reduce speeding through the village is sound.

Currently the Speedwatch Team are taking a break. In order to assess the level of support for Speedwatch continuing, we propose to invite all parishioners to have the opportunity to say whether they wish to continue with Speedwatch via a Q & A sheet to be distributed to every household. Once we have the responses the Parish Council will act upon the wishes of the Parishioners accordingly.

In essence we are looking to Speedwatch being run by parishioners, with the backing of the Parish Council, assuming of course there is still the support in the village for the activity to continue. As many of the existing team will be welcome to continue, although a new co-ordinator and assistant will be required as the Chairman and myself will not be directly involved.

We will await the results of the parishioner’s responses before going any further and will report at the next meeting.

9.     PC Sarah Green:  There have been no problems reported over the past eight weeks. All problems should be reported to the police on the non-emergency number.

10.  Next meeting: Wednesday November 17th at 7pm Meeting closed at 7.45

 

 

Questions from the floor were then taken. There was no further information from the Land Registry so that topic could not be discussed.

Fen insurance: concern expressed re the number of volunteers and the use of power tools. Some reluctance to organise working parties until the position could be clarified. To be discussed at next Fen Committee meeting.

P. Agate suggested the purchase and erection of finger posts directing visitors to the church from the pond. (Visitors frequently have difficulty locating our church from the centre of the village)

Safety inspection for the playground now due. Funding for repairs from monies formerly passed to Council from the playground funding account.

Meeting closed at 7.55 pm