PULHAM ST MARY PARISH COUNCIL

Clerk to the Council:

Gillian M Childs
"Kenegie"
Mill Green
Colegate End Road
Pulham Market
Norfolk, IP21 4XG

[Note: these are draft minutes and are subject to ratification by the Council at its May meeting]

Minutes of the Meeting held in the Village Hall, Pulham St Mary on

Tuesday, 11th April 2000 at 7.30 pm

1: Apologies: Cllr Mrs J P Chapman and Mr R Johnson (County Councillor)

Present: Cllrs: Mr M Worden (Chairman), Mr M Ashpole (Vice Chairman), Mr A M Mills, Mrs H Clutten, Mr J Colby Clarke, Mrs V J Pegnall, Mr C Burridge, Mr J Halliday (District Councillor). Clerk was in attendance.

Members of the Public: none

Magazine Report to be written by the Chairman.

2: Minutes of last meeting of 14th March 2000 having previously been circulated, were approved and signed by the Chairman.

3: Matters arising:
a) Reletting vacant allotments: Mr Colin Wickham has confirmed he only requires one plot. Therefore Clerk will confirm to Mrs Megan Lawn that the second plot is available to her. It is hoped that spraying will take place this week, followed by ploughing. Plots should be available in 6-8 weeks from spraying.
b) SW Area Forum - 29 March - Sth Nflk House: Both Mr J Colby Clarke and Mr J Halliday attended this meeting during which Police Inspector Dale Cooper, who is committed to be in office for at least 2 years, advised that Parish Councils or Clerks should expect a contact from their Community Police officer on a monthly basis. The question of audits, car parks and the Community Plan were also on the agenda and discussed during the evening.
c) Planted area outside shop: Clerk has ascertained that to purchase quantity of bark required direct from the Garden Centre would cost £30. In addition, this would need to be transported and spread. Oakes Nurseries have quoted £50 to supply and spread the bark, as well us tidy up the whole area and replace some of the planting that does not appear to be progressing very well. It was agreed to accept Oakes Nurseries quotation after the Chairman has pursued one more line of enquiry regarding possible supply of bark.
d) Government response re possible abolition of Parish Councils: In light of the replies received as a result of our letter to Central Government which had previously been distributed to all Councillors, it was agreed to take no further action as this stage.
e) Condition of pavement area in Church Close: Clerk had contacted NCC who confirmed they now had the matter in hand.

4: Correspondence: The following items were on circulation to Councillors:
a) NCAPTC Training Opportunities - Spring
b) A Wild day out Holkham 14 May
c) NCAPTC Subscriptions rates
d) Common Land - consultation - closing 10 April
e) NALC - Local Council Review
f) NCAPTC - Norfolk Link 2/00
g) CPRE Subscription - it was agreed to renew this next month
h) Pulham Village Orchestra - workshop donation - a £50 donation was agreed
i) NCC - Questionnaire re Norwich Bus Station - this was completed by Councillors
j) SNC - April mtgs and Environmental Health & Leisure Charges
k) EDP Village of Year competition - it was agreed not to enter this competition

Additional correspondence received:
l) Royal Norfolk Agricultural Association - invitation to Tea with Rt Hon Gillian Shepherd. The name of Mr & Mrs Cyril Burridge will be put forward.
m) NCC - Norfolk Local Transport Plan - Rural Area Strategy meeting 2nd May at Dereham. It will not be possible for PSM to be represented at this meeting.
n) NRCC - Questionnaire on multi-purpose service outlets in community - Clerk to complete.
o) Eastern Electricity - new supplier name - 24seven.
p) Pat Hepple - Starston Parish Council - notification of Car Rally - 6th May (Since determined route will not be through Pulham St Mary)
q) SNC - Increase in Car Mileage Rates for Beckvale Community Car. Increases agreed as follows: Hospitals + 30p : Diss + 20p : Harleston + 10p : Surgery + 20p. Pulham Market Parish Council have already agreed to these increases and confirmation is still awaited from Starston.

5: Public Forum:
The meeting did not adjourn as no members of the public were present.

6: Chairman's Report:
The Chairman advised Councillors that with the Annual Meeting scheduled for May, if anybody else felt they would like to take on the responsibility of Chairman, he would be willing to step down because at present, he did not feel he was able to fulfil the job to its full capacity, due to work commitments. This did not appear to be the opinion of the Councillors present. On other matters he reported that roads in Pulham St Mary were scheduled for surface dressing in the Summer. Clerk was asked to obtain a quote from SNC for mole eradication service mentioned in their recent leaflet. Vice Chairman had attended Jt Parish Council's meeting in Pulham Market and it was reported that this had been very well attended. Next meeting will be responsibility of Pulham St Mary and date had been agreed as 28th September commencing at 8.00 pm (following Brownies). Suggestions for topic to be discussed would be required in near future.

7a: Sports & Recreation Report:
Mr Mills advised Councillors that first cheque to pay for Building Regulations application to SNC was required. The timing of spraying South Green needs to be discussed with Ray Collings and the work put in hand as required. The South Green area has been rolled. The North Green Play area perimeter fence has been damaged again behind the Wendy House. The same applies to the toddler area fence. It seems this is suffering from use as a football goal. Ray will be asked to repair it once more and then consideration needs to be given to what to do about it in the future.

7b: Tree & Footpath Warden:
Nothing specific to report this month, but mention was made of a couple of missing signs which Mrs Pegnall will investigate.

8: Accounts:
a) Request for a donation to Sth Norfolk Victim Support. Clerk confirmed that a £50 donation was last given in March 1999 and it was agreed that a further donation of £50 should now be given.
b) 1999-2000 Receipts and Payments: Clerk distributed end of year figures showing total income of £13,373.06 against expenditure of £8344.29. This, together with brought forward from 98/99 of £19,422.17 gives a total of £24,450.94 to carry forward to current financial year. These figures will be presented at Annual Parish Meeting, including a breakdown of the earmarked expenditure items.
b) Adoption of the income and expenditure account for the month of April was approved by the Council as follows:

INCOME: Nil

EXPENDITURE:

Eastern Electricity

 £44.79

D/D - April 2000

G M Childs

 £258.97

Salary & Expenses March + telephone

Cash for C Musk

 £28.00

4 wks Maint

NRCC

 £8.50

Subscription

NCAPTC

 £102.56

Subscription

Local Council Review

 £9.99

Subscription

Pul Mkt Parish Council

 £17.00

Rolling Sth Green

SNC

 £283.33

Bldg Regs application

Petty Cash

 £25.00

Float

TOTAL:

 £778.14

BALANCE after presentation of the above will be £23,672.80.

9a) County Councillor:
No report.

9b) District Councillor:
Mr Halliday confirmed that SNC Policy Committee had written a letter to Barclays Bank, copied to Gordon Brown (Chancellor) voicing their serious concerns over closures of branches. SNC's Best Value review of sheltered housing is being held up as a national example of Best Value. Environmental health "Gold Level" Top Spot awards for premises involved with food have been awarded to Pulham St Mary Kings Head and also Womack butchers in Pulham Market. The steps outside the Council Houses in Station Road are in the Council's plans for improvements. The Joint Parish Councils meeting had been very lively and a successful evening. At the NCC Southern Area Committee meeting in Diss a presentation on Highways Maintenance had been given by the Area Engineer, Philip Whitworth who explained that there was a backlog of projects in the area requiring maintenance, but inadequate funding at present. There was to be a site meeting on 7th June concerning the Planning Enforcement Report on 12 Brick Kiln Cottages.

10: Planning:
a) Mr N C Cundy, Pear Tree Cottage, North Green Road - renewal of temporary permission - change of use of garage/workshop to micro brewery
b) Mr & Mrs R Collings, 45 Norwich Road - erection of conservatory to front of dwelling

These 2 applications were discussed at the meeting and were both approved.

11: Funding for pavilion at South Green:
Following a discussion with SNC, Cllr Mills was uncertain that an application for funding from the Parish Council would achieve the desired result. However, following discussion regarding possible amount of funding required, it was agreed to leave this in abeyance until further meetings with SNC had taken place.

As the time was approaching 9.30pm, the proposal by the Chairman to extend the meeting to discuss the additional items was seconded by Cllr Halliday and agreed to by Councillors.

12: Request from Parochial Church Council for dog bin in Churchyard:
The Chairman had received a request that the surplus dog bin be sited in the Churchyard. Councillors were happy to give the bin to PCC on the understanding that they were responsible for arranging emptying with SNC.

13: Costing on new Finger Post:
The supplier has apologised that he is experiencing problems obtaining a suitable cast but is still working on this and will contact us as soon as possible.

14: Councillors response to meeting with Trustees of Pennoyers School Charity:
Cllrs Halliday and Pegnall updated Councillors on the meeting they had attended on 29th March, a written report on which had previously been distributed. Clerk was asked to write to all the Trustees wholeheartedly welcoming their recognition that Pulham St Mary has a specific claim on the charity but stating that there needs further exploration on the question of the split of proceeds and also make up of Trustees. The next course of action would be for the Parish Council and the Trustees to sit down together to explore the options to ensure, when the Trustees approach is made to the Charity Commission, it would be with the total support of the Parish Council.

15: Date of next meeting: Tuesday, 9th May, 2000.

The Annual Parish Meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, 18th April.(Apologies Cllr Clutten)

There being no further business, the meeting then closed at 9.50 pm.

Signed:...............................................................

Date:...................................................................