Draft minutes of the Annual General Meeting of Boughton
Parish Council held on 14th May 2007 in the church (amended)
Present:
Chair: Frank Reid
Councillors: Paul Coulten (Parish Clerk and Treasurer), Peter Agate, Mark Pogmore, Geoff Proctor, Steve Saunders and Pam Wakeling being the
newly elected council for the next four years.
Sixteen
members of the public were also present.
1.
Election of
Officers:
Chairman: Frank Reid proposed
by P. Agate, seconded M. Pogmore. No other nominations were received, and F.
Reid was duly elected.
Vice Chairman: Mark Pogmore proposed by Frank
Reid, seconded Peter Agate. Carried.
Treasurer/ Parish Clerk:
Paul Coulten agreed to carry on both jobs, tribute
having been paid to his work over the initial four years of the Council’s
existence. Proposed Mark Pogmore,
seconded Geoff Proctor. Carried.
Frank Reid paid tribute to
the work done by the retiring chairman, Steve Saunders, both in the four years
of the existing council, and as Village Chairman for three years previously.
2.
Apologies:
Apologies for absence were
received from Sue Pogmore.
3.
2006 AGM:
Minutes
of the AGM of 2006 were read and agreed as a true record. Proposed P. Wakeling, seconded S.
Saunders.
4.
Matters
arising:
a. Register of
parish land. Kevin Fisher had investigated at the Norfolk Records Office, and it was generally agreed that the chalk pit was on Tam
Payne’s land off
5. Meeting of 23rd April 2007:
Minutes of the Meeting of the last Council on 23rd April 2007 were
read and agreed: proposed P. Coulten, seconded S.
Saunders.
6.
Matters arising
:
a. Stoke Road – a
meeting had taken place with Ian Boon of Anglian
Water ( Councillors Reid and Coulten, together with Andrew Faherty
and Jackie Ovel ??) to discuss the fear that the
discharge of water was linked to a perceived drop in the level of the pond.
Evaporation records for the past 2/3 years showed an evaporation rate of 16 mm
per week. Clay stanks
had been put in to prevent water seepage along the drainage pipes, and for the
moment we had to accept this as adequate.
Andrew Faherty has installed a measuring
device in the pond and the level appears stable. No real answer to the problem of water
seeping in
b. Boughton Fen – the
poplars were now down, and wood was available. It was reported that the centres of the
felled trees showed signs of rot having already started. Ian Levitt had been
informed re the felling of the trees, and a date pencilled in for the week
beginning 22nd October for him to come down and mark areas where a
village working party could clear. He had suggested that a chipper by the
roadside was the best way to dispose of waste.
7. Old Parish records:
These have been taken to Norfolk Records Office by Paul Coulten
together with a copy of the CD produced by Kevin Fisher and Peter Agate. So far about £180 had been raised by the sale
of CDs within the village.
8. Retiring Chairman’s Report:
Steve Saunders reminded those present that he had originally been deputy
chairman of the village under Andy Beeston in 2000,
taking over in July of that year. Since
then he had served as chairman of the Parish Meeting and later as Chairman of
the first Parish Council. During that
time he was proud of the following achievements: the replacement of the old village sign with
a unique wooden one carved by Denzil Davies; a home
watch scheme; the refurbishment of the village war memorial; the establishment
of the new play area for village children after a fundraising campaign together
with Karen Short; the introduction of a 30mph speed limit throughout the
village; the establishment of Boughton’s first
elected Parish Council; defeating plans to merge the village with Barton Bendish and Wereham under one
council; the establishment of a good working relationship with the Highways
Dept and the erection of signs warning of the ducks around the village roads;
work to improve the SSSI on Boughton Fen, and a new
drainage system for the pond; the decision to take over responsibility for the
cutting of the churchyard grass; Jubilee celebrations which included the
distribution of commemorative mugs to all village children under 16. He thanked
the village for their support during his tenure of office.
9. Treasurer’s Report:
The precept had been increased for the current year. Responsibility had been accepted for the
churchyard mowing. The current account
now stood at £1669.57, and the reserve account
held £1677,15.
In addition to this, Steve Saunders reported that the play area account
held £1240.91 (plus interest to be calculated) and this would be sufficient to
pay for insurance on the area for at least five years on current figures. The report was adopted prop S. Saunders, seconded P. Wakeling The
treasurer deferred the presentation of a full statement until the next
meeting. This was agreed.
10. Planning:
The Green – reverting to original plans and applying for full planning
permission ( already have outline permission)
The Cottage – three applications (porch on front, garden room at
back, double garage/garden room at side)
The council had no observations on either application.
11. Pride in
Kevin
Fisher had received notice from the EDP that Boughton
had reached the final five in the category for population under 500. A team from the organisers would visit the
village before the end of June for informal assessment – hoping to meet
councillors, clergy, etc. Thanks were
given to KF for his efforts in this matter.
12. Bank Signatures:
Paul
Coulten and Steve Saunders are the current
signatories for the bank accounts, and it was agreed to add Frank Reid, making
any two of the three sufficient to sign council cheques on behalf of the
village.
13. Jazz picnic:
Paul
Coulten asked for help in arranging this, and
received offers from Pauline Lee-Evans, Geoff Proctor, Peter Agate and Frank
Reid.
14. Questions from the floor:
§
tree felling – the
original plan had been to sell the wood, but this had not proved feasible. It was available to anyone in the village
with the facilities to remove it. Rot
had been noted in the felled trunks. The
present untidy appearance of the site would improve
§
Hog Roast -14th July. Permission was granted for an application to
close part of The Green on that date
§
Smell from ditch outside church; comments had been
made by visitors during the recent flower festival and there had been a problem
for some time. Barley House also
affected. Agreed to monitor the
situation for 3-6 months as the recent change to mains sewerage would take some
time to have an effect. If not resolved,
the Environment Agency would be contacted.
§
Tom Roberts had been asked to raise the question
of a tree causing problems behind Jay’s Cottage and its neighbour. The council has no powers in this matter, and
it should be referred to the District Council by the complainant.
§
Barking dogs – the council has no powers.
The
meeting closed at 6.45pm. Frank Reid
asked for future meetings to be held at a later time, and 6.30pm was
agreed. There should be four meetings a
year as a minimum. Frank Reid also
thanked the members of the village who had attended.
The following addendum was added at a subsequent meeting to
clarify the position.
Parish
Common Land – The locations of the The’Old Gravel
Pit’ and ‘Gravel Pit’ have been confirmed from information contained in the
1842 Tithe Map and Apportionment for Boughton, held
at the
Post Meeting Note: These
parcels of land have not been registered under the Commons Registration Act
1965 and it is thought highly unlikely that any common rights previously
enjoyed would continue to exist.
However, the Parish Council are grateful to both Tam and Geoff for their
generous contribution in recognition of the historical context of the gravel
pits