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Present: Mike Oldfield (Chairman)
David Holland
Claire Lawrence
Chris Mitchell
Trevor Carter
Roy Payne
Chris Holland
John Relph (Clerk)
5 members of the public.
1) Declarations of Acceptance of Office. The
following duly elected Councillors completed and signed Declarations of
Acceptance of Office forms:
1. Mike Oldfield of Stableside, Mileham Rd, Litcham (Builder)
2. Claire Lawrence of Lime Kiln House, Back Lane, Litcham (Retired teacher)
3. David Holland of Oaklands Barn, Tittleshall Rd, Litcham (Farmer)
2) Election of Chairman. Mr. Mike Oldfield was
unanimously elected to the post of Chairman and completed and signed a
Declarations of Acceptance of Office of Chairman of the Council.
3) Apologies: None received.
4) Co-options: the following persons were co-opted
onto the council to fill the four vacant Parish Councillor posts.
1. Roy Payne of Russell House, Back Street Litcham. (Architect).
2. Chris Mitchell of Weavers Cottage, Drury Lane, Litcham (Builder).
3. Trevor Carter of Paddock Lodge, Litcham. (Teacher).
4. Christopher Holland of Newling’s Farm, Litcham.
All the above duly completed and signed Declarations of Acceptance of Office forms.
5) Minutes
i) Minutes of a meeting the Council held
on the 19th of March were agreed and signed as a true and accurate
record of that meeting.
ii) The Council considered and approved
a suggestion from the Clerk that he publish the minutes of the Annual
Parish Meeting in their draft form rather than wait a year until they
were approved at the next Annual Parish Meeting in April 2008. The
Clerk will arrange for the minutes to be published in the August
edition of the Church and Village, clearly marked as ‘Draft
Minutes’.
iii) Council further agreed to the
publication of the draft minutes of Parish Council meetings on the
website two weeks after each meeting and after all Councillors had been
given a chance to read them and put forward amendments. If in doubt the
Clerk will withhold the minutes.
This matter will be discussed further at the next meeting especially,
regarding publication of the minutes in the Church and Village magazine
which were sometimes up to three months late.
6) Declarations of Interest:
i) David Holland declared a non-prejudicial personal interest in agenda item 14 ii);
Appointment of Trustee for the Litcham Relief in Need Charity.
ii) Declaration of Interests forms were
handed out to all Councillors who had not received them from Breckland,
for completion and return via the Clerk to Breckland District
Council’s Standards Monitoring Officer within 28 days.
7) Election of Officers and Committees.
i) Mr. Roy Payne was unanimously elected to the post of Vice-Chairman.
ii) A Planning Committee was set up consisting of;-
Mike Oldfield, (Chairman), Roy Payne, and Christopher Holland.
iii) A Finance Committee was set up consisting of;-
Chris Mitchell, Claire Lawrence and David Holland.
8) Representatives of Council to other bodies.
i) Claire Lawrence was appointed Council representative for the Litcham Primary School.
ii) Claire Lawrence was appointed Council representative for the Jubilee Hall Trust.
iii) David Holland was appointed Council representative to the Litcham Relief in Need Charity.
9) Inspection of Council Assets:
i) The Asset Register was inspected and
it was noted that the Carpet Bowls equipment needed removing. Clerk
will adjust Register and submit it for re-approval at the next meeting.
ii) The deeds to Long Meadow were
inspected and it was agreed that the current valuation and rent charged
by the Council were realistic and fair.
10) Inspection of Insurance Policies. The Insurance
Schedule was inspected by the Council and it was noted that it included
£10,000 of Fidelity Insurance and £5,000,000 of Public
Liability Insurance. The Council deemed this to be adequate to cover
the Council’s present activities.
11) To adopt the revised Model Code of Conduct: this
item was postponed until the next meeting to give the Clerk time to
adjust the document in accordance with recently received advice from
the Norfolk County Association of Parish and Town Councils.
12) Standing Orders: the Council resolved to amend
paragraph 28 iii) of the Standing Orders to allow members of the public
and members of the Council to be present at meetings and speak during
public debates on items in which they have a prejudicial interest.
(Clerk’s note: as I understand it you still have to leave the room during voting!)
13) Reports:
i) Clerk reported that he had spoken to
Colin Archer and Roger Warnes regarding the re-routing of the Nar
Valley Way through their land. Both landowners had no objection to the
idea. The new route would run closer to the course of the river Nar and
avoid the footpath running along the busy B1145 Mileham Road.
The Clerk has informed David Mills of NNC Countryside Development who
will continue negotiations with the two landowners involved. David
plans to arrange a walk to try out the new route during the summer.
ii) Clerk informed the Council that as
he and his wife were making plans to move in the near future and
recommended that the Council start looking for a new Clerk. Council
decided that they would prefer a Clerk who was resident in the Village
and asked the Clerk to advertise locally first.
iii) Highways will shortly be clearing
the pavement on the corner of Lexham Road and Pound Lane and will then
consider whether the 30mph sign obscured by the hedge of Litcham
Hall, needs resiting.
iv) The Clerk reported that installation
of ‘Zig-zags’ outside the Primary School should go ahead in
the near future. There are several queries about the configuration of
the lines especially with regard to the positioning of the parking bay
for the school bus. NNC Highways and the school are currently trying to
resolve these issues.
14) Appointments:
i) Claire Lawrence was appointed as second Parish Council Nominee to the Jubilee Hall Trust.
ii) The
Clerk informed the Council that he could find no record of appointments
to the Litcham Relief in Need Charity Trust by the Parish Council since
the it’s inception in 1994 and had confirmed this verbally with
ex-Parish Council Chairman John Mitchell. Tony Green said he was
concerned that the current hiatus has meant that rents had not been
collected and he was worried that the insurance may not have been paid.
Sadie Bailey and Karen Bradley, both co-opted Trustees, agreed and said
that they believed their terms as Trustee probably expired last
February and due to the current problems reappointments had not been
made and urged the council to do all within their power to resolve the
situation.
After a lengthy debate over the
correctness of the appointments made on the 20th November the Council
resolved by a majority of 5 to 1 with 1 abstention to appoint Tony
Green of Symons Cottage , Church Street, Litcham as second Parish
Council Nominee to the Litcham Relief in Need Charity Trust. Mr. Green
duly completed and signed an Acceptance of Office form, a copy of which
will be forwarded to the Trust for inclusion in their minute book.
(para 14 ii) amended 18/6/7)
15) Open Space License: the Council considered the
revised ten year Open Space license for the “Village Green”
opposite the Bull Public House from NCC’s Norfolk Property
Services Department. Two issues were raised:-
1. Did the signing of the License
affect the Council’s Public Liability Insurance cover?
2. Did the license affect the
possibility of registering the land as a “Village Green”?
The Clerk will investigate both items and make enquiries with the Open
Space Society about registering the land as a “Village
Green”.
16) Planning :
i) A letter from an assistant
Development Officer, Breckland confirming planning permission is not
required for installation of memorial bench on the green opposite the
Bull Inn was noted.
ii) A letter concerning the building
work at the “Old Cafe”, now know as ‘The White
House’, had been received from a Breckland Planning Enforcement
Officer which stated that the current work did not require building
consent. The demolished outbuildings in question were within the 115
cubic metre limit allowed for an unlisted building in a conservation
area.
Permissions.
iii) Granting of permission for application 3PL/2007/0268, 23 Church St.;-
Erection of a two storey extension.
iv) Granting of permission for
application 3PL/2007/0231, Birch House, Rectory Meadow;- Replacement of
storm damaged shed including concrete base and surrounding path.
v) The withdrawal of application 3PL/2007/0211/F, Norfolk Cottage, Tittleshall Road;-
Demolition of garage & conservatory and erection of 1 & 2 storey extensions, was noted.
Applications:- none received.
17) Financial Business:
i) The end of year financial
reconciliation for 31st March 2007 was received and approved and duly
signed by the Chairman and Clerk
ii) The financial reconciliation for the
year to date (11th May), was received and approved and duly signed by
the Chairman and Clerk.
iii) Clerk distributed a Summary of the
Council’s accounts for the period April 1st 2006 to March 31st
2007 for approval by the Council at the next meeting .
Receipts:
iv) The receipt £3,937.50p from
Breckland, being the first installment of the precept for 2007-8.
v) The Council approved a transfer of
£3000 from the current account into the deposit account.
Payments:
vi) Two payments of £60.82 to Eon
Electricity for street-lighting power during March and April paid by
direct debit.
vii) Of £56.40 to Clerk for annual
renewal of web hosting by Vision International, paid by cheque.
viii) Of £190.32p to Norfolk
County Services for grounds maintenance of the graveyard, paid by
cheque.
ix) Of £118.67 to NCAPTC for Subscription 2007/8 paid by cheque.
x) Of £39 to Litcham Jubilee Hall for the use of hell for meetings, paid by cheque.
xi) The Council considered a request
from the Open Space Society for a donation towards their “Saving
Commons from Clutter’ campaign and decided to donate £25.
18) Correspondence: the following Correspondence
received since the last meeting was distributed, considered and
actioned were required:-
i) A letter from Litcham Relief in Need
Charity regarding the Parish Council Meeting of the19th March was noted.
ii) Letter from PCC regarding access
from Druids Lane in which they state “The PCC see no reason to
depart from it’s view… on the footpath issue” was
noted and this matter will be discussed at the next meeting.
iii) After receiving an e-mail from
District Councillor Chris Holland regarding street-lighting and the
raised footpath on the Lexham Road the Clerk contacted Highways and
they have agreed that the maintenance of this path is their
responsibility. It will be inspected shortly and any necessary
clearance of undergrowth and maintenance of the surface will be
undertaken.
iv) A thank-you letter and update from ‘Technobots’ was noted.
v) A thank-you letter from Litcham Youth Project was noted.
vi) A invitation from Litcham Primary
School for the Parish Council to send a representative to the inaugural
meeting of the Steering Committee for Children Centre on 16th May at
6p.m. was considered and Cllr. Claire Lawrence agreed attend the
meeting as Parish Council representative. (see also item8-i).
vii) An update from Litcham Allotments and Leisure Gardeners Association (LALGA) was noted.
viii) NCATPC
a) A response from Stuart
Chaplin re: the use of the Bull Inn Meeting Romm for Parish Council
meetings was considered. Stuart stated that although it was not
strictly illegal to meet in the wing of the Bull set aside for Bed and
Breakfast which the Council had been assured was not licensed premises,
it was inadvisable for the Council to have it’s meetings in a
building that was perceived as licensed by the general public.
b) East of England
Association of Parish and Town Councils; Newsletter January 2007.
c) Advance notice of planning seminar 14th June 2007.
d) Copies of “Norfolk Link” newsletter for May 2007 were distributed.
e) Introductory Training session 2007 for new Councillors.
ix) Norfolk County Council.
a) Re: Cattle Grids on the Dunham Road, to facilitate grazing on Litcham Common.
b) Highways: response to inspection with Clerk on 16th March.
c) ‘At Home-Not Alone’ information leaflets.
d) Norfolk Matters.
e) Recycling centres – to be put on forward agenda.
x) Audit Commission: Appointment of External Auditor.
xi) East of England Regional Assembly:
Notice of Regional Gypsy and Travelers Public Engagement Event.
xii) Clerk and Councils Direct newsletter.
xiii) Breckland
a) Correspondence
regarding the Code of conduct had been actioned by the Clerk. The
revised Code will be prepared for approval at the next meeting of the
Council.
b) LDF – Development Choices.
xiv) Standards Board, re: Revised Code of conduct – see 18) xii) a) above.
19) Items for the Next Agenda.
i) Adoption of the new Code of Conduct, (Local Authorities Order No.1159)
ii) Adoption of Revised Asset Register.
iii) Arrangements for the publication of
Minutes, in particular in the Church and Village magazine.
iv) Access to Graveyard extension from Druids Lane (see item 18) ii above).
v) Approval of Accounts, Internal Auditors Report and completion of Audit form.
vi) Revision of Clerk’s Salary.
vii) Dog Fouling Bins on or near the Common.
viii)Registration the Village Green and Open Space issues.
ix) Access to the School Playing Field from Back Lane.
20) Next Meeting
i) Dates for Parish Council Meeting during the rest of 2007were set as follows:
Monday 18th June
Monday 16th July
August - NO MEETING
Monday 17th September
Monday 15th October
Monday 19th November
December – NO MEETING
All meeting will take place in the Jubilee Hall Church Street, Litcham and start promptly at 7.30pm
ii) The date and time of next meeting was confirmed as Monday 18th July in the Jubilee Hall.
Meeting Closed at 10.45 p.m.
Agreed by resolution of the Council on 18th July 2007 to be a true record of the meeting held on 16th May 2007