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Minutes of the Meeting of the Welney Parish Council

held in the Parish Hall, Welney

on Tuesday 5th August, 2008 at 7.30 p.m.

 

Present

Cllr.K.Goodger (Chairman)  Cllrs E.Allen, T.Bennett, M. Brown, S.Kerr, and V.Pratley, and the Clerk. 

Also present were: Dist. Cllr.D.Pope

 

1.  Apologies for absence

Apologies for absence were received from Cllrs., C.Freer and G.Tomkins and D.Cllr.V.Spikings, C.Cllr.H,Humphrey.

 

2.  Declaration of Interest

     There were no declarations of interest at this stage..

 

.3.  Minutes

The minutes of the Meeting held on the 1st July, 2008, having been circulated to all councillors, were approved and signed by the Chairman as a correct record of the meeting,

 

At this point the Chairman was called away from the meeting and the Vice-Chairman took the Chair for the rest of the evening.

 

4.  Matters Arising.

 

1.   Post Office Services for Welney

Following the last meeting a further letter had been sent to the Post Office asking for information regarding their decision to site the mobile post office at the Lamb and Flag

Car park and stressing the fact that the Parish would like to see the mobile unit at the Church.  No reply had yet been received, but Cllr.Bennett informed the meeting that he had visited the Post Office at Upwell (who would be responsible for the running of the mobile unit)    He advised the meeting that it appeared that any arrangements for Welney were dependent on the outcome at Beachamwell.   Beachamwell had applied to have the post office facilities in their Church, but if this proved not to be successful they may require to have the mobile unit and alternative arrangements might need to made for a post office facility at Welney.  Initially if the mobile unit comes to Welney it will be sited on the Lamb and Flag Car Park but this could be altered later.  Arrangements would be announced in due course, but it was unlikely to

happen until the beginning of September.  Council would be kept informed.

 

2.   Annual Fund Raising Event

It was agreed to include this item on the agenda for the next meeting, when the possibility of including a notice in the Welney News could be discussed.   This notice would relate to a public meeting for suggestions for a fund raising  event.  The Parish Council could initially oversee the arrangements for such an event, but a committee would need to be formed.

 

3.   Stock on the River Banks

Cllr.Pratley advised the meeting that there had been no problems recently with stock on the river banks.

 

4.    Speed Guns and SAM Monitoring

The Clerk confirmed that following the last meeting she had contacted the SAM Project and had received an e-mail confirming that Welney has been added to their programme for a further visit in due course.

 

Enquiries were still ongoing with regard to a further 30 mph Flashing Sign for the Wisbech end of the Village, and as soon as any information is to hand Council will be advised.

 

The Clerk also confirmed receiving a telephone call from the Police Community Support Officer who visited the Parish Council in June.  She advised that the Police are proposing to visit the School area in the morning and afternoon when the school reopens in September to walk the road with the children to make drivers aware of their presence and hopefully encourage motorists to slow down.  The Police are also running a pilot scheme at Upwell where volunteers are manning speed cameras.  The cameras register the speed of traffic and another person makes a note of the vehicle registration numbers.  A log is then collated and passed to the police.  It is in the early stages but once they have trailed it, she promised to put us in touch with the Clerk at Upwell and we can then possibly run a trial at Welney if we have volunteers to run the cameras.  As soon as further developments are received Council will be informed and Cllr.Allen confirmed that he would be happy to be a volunteer.

 

5.   Home Security

Cllr.Tomkins rasied this matter at the last meeting, but as he was not present, it was agreed to include it on the Agenda for the next meeting.

 

5.  Public Participation

The Vice Chairman then adjourned the meeting for pubic participation.  Dist Cllr.Pope asked a question relating to the Welney News and this was dealt with.  The  vice  chairman then reconvened the meeting.

 

6.  First Time Sewage for Welney

The Clerk confirmed that she had received various e-mails from Anglian Water and copies had been circulated to Councillors.  From the e-mail dated 16th July it was confirmed that they are hoping to start in Christchurch in January 2009 and Welney in March 2009 with a completion date of September/October, 2009

 

7.  Meeting Reports

1.   Cllr.Bennett confirmed that unfortunately had had not been able to attend the Southern Area Road Safety Meeting at Downham Market.

 

2.   Cllrs.Bennett and Brown had attended the open day at Denver Sluice on 17th July. Cllr.Bennett gave a brief report of the visit  which was both interesting and enlightening and he gave details of the work carried out to the little eyes at Denver Sluice and how they were proposing to deal with the water flow into the tidal River Ouse.

 

3.   Cllrs.Brown and Bennett also attended the meeting at King’s Lynn Town Hall regarding the re-organisation of local government, on 4th August.  We have until the 26th September to make representations regarding the proposals for Norfolk and it was felt imperative that we should put forward our thoughts.  As some members of the Council were missing, it was agreed to recommend everyone to read the literature  which they had been sent, and to put the matter on the agenda for the next meeting, so that a letter could be formulated to be sent to the Boundary Commission and the Secretary of State.  It was also agreed to put a report in the Welney News so that the public were aware of the situation.

 

8.  Finance.

The Clerk confirmed that Mr. Ian Shirley had now completed the Internal Audit of the Parish Council accounts and the Annual return has been sent off to the Audit Commission.  She advised the meeting that we had never given Mr. Shirley anything in the past for his hard work and it was agreed to purchase a Wine Voucher, which councillors would contribute towards at the next meeting.

 

The following accounts had been received for payment, and on the proposition of Cllr. Brown, seconded by Cllr. Pratley,  and agreed, the cheques were signed:

    

Welney Croft Cricket Club

Half years cutting of the grass on the playing field

Cheque no. 100988                                          362 . 50

 

Fenland Fire Appliance Company

Servicing the Fire Extinguishers at the Pavilion

Cheque no. 100989                                            44 . 36

 

Borough Council of King’s Lynn & West Norfolk

Emptying Dog Bins 1.4.08 to 30.6.08

Cheque No 100990                                             49 . 03

 

DA Pest Control

Mole Control on the Playing Field

Cheque No. 100991                                            40 . 00

 

Mrs.P.Copeman – Clerks Salary and Expenses:

Salary                          255 . 68

Postage    & Telephone                  31 . 75

Cheque No. 100992                                             287 . 43

 

     Paid by Direct Debit – 16.7.08

E-On –Street Lighting Charges                                   59 . 81

 

The Clerk confirmed that she had received a quotation from MHB Services Limited for work required to Units 9027 and 9028 near Suspension Bridge at Welney.  Both units had damaged bowls  which were in need of replacement and the quotation was for £130.00 plus VAT

Following a discussion it was proposed by Cllr.,Brown, seconded by Cllr.Allen and agreed that we accept the quotation and ask for the work to be put in hand.

 

Following the last meting, Dist Cllr.Pope had made enquiries at the Borough Council relating to the recycling  credits which we had received.  He confirmed that the Borough Council do not pay recycling credits for bottle banks only for paper banks, and our paper tonnage was vastly down on the previous years. Council had always understood that the payments were the other way round and we were paid for the glass but not the paper.

 

9.  Parish Hall

1.   The electricity meters were checked before the meeting but there was notcash in them.

.

2.   Cllr.Brown checked the water leak in the Gents Toilet and as it was a very wet evening it was impossible to know whether this had been repaired.  It was agreed to ask Cllr.Goodger as he had said he would look at the problem.

 

3.  The Clerk then asked if the letting procedures for the Parish Hall would be discussed.  She advised that it has never been the policy to take a booking deposit from anyone hiring the Hall but over the last couple of months there had been two parties booked (one an adult party and one a child’s party)   On both occasions she had waited at home for the key to be collected but no one arrived, and following telephone calls was advised that both had been cancelled, but no one had thought to cancel the booking for the Hall.    This meant that the hall could not be let to anyone else on those dates, and it was possible that bookings could have been missed.  After a brief discussion it was agreed that consideration should be given to asking for a deposit at the time of the booking and the Clerk agreed to find out information from neighbouring halls and bring this along to the next meeting.

 

10. Proposed New Community Centre

     The Clerk confirmed that nothing had been heard from the Environment Agency regarding the

purchase of the Parish Hall Site.  Further contact would be made with Mr. George Shelton of the E.A. in the hope that there would be some concrete information to report to the next meeting.

 

An email had been received from Mr. Denis Tuttle of Norwich confirming that he had now heard from the Environment Agency with regard to the flood risk assessment for the proposed new site for the Community Centre.  This assessment is a legal requirement when building any community building, and will be quite expensive, but Mr. Tuttle was looking into the possibility of anyone at Norfolk ProHelp being able to assist with this.  He promised to report back as soon as possible.  Hopefully further information would be available for the next meeting,

 

11.  Playing Field

The Charity Commission Annual Report Form for the year ended 31.3.08 has been completed on line and a copy is held in the file.

 

12   Correspondence

1.   Marshalls Charity, Welney – Nominative Trustees up for re-election – Mr. John Scott and Mr. John Frost.  After discussion it was proposed by Cllr. Kerr, seconded by Cllr. Allen and agreed that the two persons should be re-elected.

2.   BCKLWN – 28.7.09 Local Government Re-organisation Meeting at King’s Lynn Town Hall on 4th August at 7.30 p.m.

3.   Norfolk County Council 24.7.08 Draft Proposal to create a single unitary council for Norfolk and Lowestoft.

4.   The Boundary Commission 7.7.08   Structural Review of Norfolk and Suffolk Draft Proposals.  Representations required by 26.9.08

5.   Wash Estuary Strategy Group – Wash Week 2nd to 10th August, 2008-08-13

6.   Lincolnshire Biodiversity Partnership – Ponds and Amphibians Survey Guidance Notes and Survey Form.

7.   BCKLWN – Standards Committee – Minutes of meetings

8.   Western Watch – Crime Figures and reports for the Month of July

9.   BCKLWN – Proposed Removal of Public Phone Boxes. Details of the procedure required to remove a public phone box.  Only one in our parish is the phone box by Rutland House at Tipps End.

10.           CPRE – Copy of Norfolk Voice Summer 2008.  Green Buildings in Norfolk Open Days in 2008 – 11th to 14th September.  Also Autumn Supper 16th September at Dersingham Church Hall.

11.           Essex and Suffolk Water – Denver and Wash stakeholder Meeting 16th September 2008 at Ramada Hotel near King’s Lynn at 1 p.m.  Invitation to the meeting – Cllrs. Bennett and Brown expressed a wish to attend.

12.           Downham Market Area Local Action Group – Minutes of meeting held on 11th July.  Next meeting 8th August.

13.           Fenland Leisure Products – Postcard with details of ordering play equipment

14.           NCAPTC – Boundary re-organisation.  Meeting in King’s Lynn 19.8.08.  Annual General Meeting 28.8.08 in Norwich..

15.           Downham Market Local Action Group – Agenda 8.8.08

16.           NCC Hazardous waste Amnesty Days – King’s Lynn 11th and 12th October, 2008

17.           BCKLW N – Proposed removal of payphones by British Telecom.  Further consultation period to 25th August, 2008.

 

13.  Plans and Planning Matters

The following planning application had been received:

Mr. W. Whitehouse of Luton  Ref No. 08/01786/F

Erection of two mobile homes as Holiday Homes on land at Bedford Bank, Welney

This application appeared to be identical to the previous application earlier in the year  which was subsequently withdrawn.  It was agreed to send a similar letter expressing our concerns and also mentioning the query relating to the ownership shown on the plan, across which the waste water pipe was to pass.

 

14.  Highway Matters.

1.   Following the last meeting the Clerk confirmed that she had written to Christopher Fraser MP apologising for the unfortunate wording in the letter sent to him previously.  Nothing had been heard but he is being kept fully up to date with developments on all matters

 

2,  It was understood that the white lines have now been repainted on the  A.1101 near              Kendrick Cottage, Suspension Bridge and as previously mentioned the police and SAM have been asked to monitor speeding traffic along this stretch of the road.

 

3.    A letter had been received from the Environment Agency setting out the Road Closure Notification procedure when the Wash Road is to be flooded.  The information was noted but it was agreed to contact Highways as it appears that some of the signs are still being interfered with as the Sign indicating the road was flooded at Lotts Bridge Cross Roads has been open for at least a couple of weeks.  It was understood that Highways were intending to put padlocks on these signs and they would be asked if this had been done

 

4.   It was also agreed to ask Highways to reconsider the speed limits on the Wash Road following the fatal accident that had occurred there recently.

 

5.   Cllr. Goodger requested that Highways be asked to take some action regarding the High hedge at the Rutland House Corner at Tipps End, following an accident with two vehicles that evening.  Also to ask them to attend to a curb  stone at the Bedford Bank West.

 

15.  Environmental Issues.

     Nothing to report at present.

 

16.  W.A.S.H. Committee

A meeting of the WASH Committee had been arranged for Friday 25th July at 7.30 p.m but due to various circumstances this had to be cancelled.  A new date would be arranged as soon as possible and it was hoped to arrange an open meeting  around Harvest Time

 

17.   Parish Action Plan.

The Clerk confirmed that she had received a telephone call from Trevor Bray to remind Council that he still has three or four boxes containing all the Action Plan Questionnaire papers.  Cllr. Bennett agreed to contact him to arrange collection and then all the papers could be incinerated.

 

18.  Items for next Agenda

1.   Overnight parking of Lorries on the Lamb and Flag Car Park.

 

.

There being no further business the Vice Chairman thanked everyone for attending, and declared the meeting closed at 9.24 p.m. 

 

 

Signed… …K.Goodger ………………………………… (Chairman.)         

 

Dated ……  2/9/08………………………………….

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