FULMODESTON AND BARNEY PARISH COUNCIL MINUTES of the Parish Council meeting held on Monday 4th April 2016 in the Old School Hall, Fulmodeston Present: Mike Marshall (Chairman) Josephine Marston Jacqueline Bryony Nigel Janes Andrew Lee David Parker Mary Runciman David Ramsbotham (County Councillor) Kevin Webb (Clerk) Eight parishioners Apologies for absence - S. Ward (District Councillor) Minutes of the meeting held on 1st February 2016: All agreed that these should be signed as a true record of the meeting. NNDC Report (forwarded by email by Councillor Ward) Sending my apologies and report for Mondays parish meeting. NNDC has released £1 million towards better broadband for Norfolk (bbfn), their are scheduled works across the county in the next rollout and work seems to be progressing well. One of your members contacted me regarding whether their was plans for better broadband areas along Croxton road and Stibbard road. I have been in contact with Karen O'Kane from County council and can confirm that there are plans for a new broadband cabinet that will cover these areas later this year. The current area along Croxton road are receiving broadband from Thursford, hence the slow speeds. At Februarys Full Council the budget was set out and agreed, council tax remains frozen for the forthcoming year with no increase. There are also planned meetings to discuss the upcoming ward Boundaries for our district. As I am aware, there will be consultation with all parish councils regarding this. As always, If you or any members have any queries about anything then please let me know. I have had a couple of parish members approach me on different issues and I am pleased to have helped answer their queries quickly and efficiently. 1/9 NCC Report Councillor Ramsbotham gave details of the present position at County Hall. The Rainbow Alliance has 41 seats, the Conservatives have 41 seats and there are two non- aligned members. The AGM is due to take place in the near future. The 2016/2017 Budget was passed and savings of a further £42M are to be found in the coming year. There is to be an increase of 3.99% in Council Tax with additional savings of £60/£70M needed in the next two years. The public has been asked to report any children who they suspect of being neglected. It is the intention to carry on with the Parish Partnership Scheme this year. Devolution, incorporating Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire, is only a proposal at this stage. The Norwich Northern Distributor Road is due for completion in 2018. Concern was expressed with the policy of converting schools to academies and it was asked whether the land and buildings are being transferred to the ownership of the government. There was also surprise at the creation of the new Enterprise Zone at Egmere although it is known that there will be no further wind farms in North Norfolk. Updated information and matters arising from the minutes (i) Mr. Lee reported that the application made to the British Heart Foundation for two defibrillators had been unsuccessful as all funds had been utilised. It is hoped, however, that a further tranche of money will be announced in the future. (ii) It had not been possible to get a grant from the EDP to assist with replacing the oil tank in the Old School Hall. Attempts were now being made to obtain funds for the further refurbishment of the kitchen. The Chairman expressed thanks to Swanton Novers who are collecting vouchers for Fulmodeston. (iii) The Chairman had written to Ed Mumford-Smith regarding the hedge that needs cutting. This has not yet been done. (iv) A survey has been carried out to provide a faster broadband cabinet for Fulmodeston. Unfortunately, Croxton is still some distance away and is very unlikely to receive 10 Mbs. Mrs. Runciman has been in contact with Karen O’Kane, Norfolk’s Programme Director. Mr. Lee has spoken to Councillor Ward who has advised that Croxton will be receiving better broadband but this appears not to be the case. The cost of satellite broadband is high and not a realistic alternative. Councillor Ramsbotham said that there is a report due out in May which will update the situation. There may also be EU funding. Mr. Lee is to advise Mr. Ward that his understanding of the situation is incorrect. Police Report No Police Report received 2/9 Proposed meeting with Councillor Fitzpatrick to discuss District Councillor The Chairman’s notes on this meeting are below:- Meeting at North Norfolk District Council: Tuesday, 22nd March, 2016: Cromer: Present : Cllr. Tom FitzPatrick [leader of NNDC], Emma Duncan [Head of Legal Services, NNDC], Val Hart [Chair, Swanton Novers Parish Council], Jim Hayes [Chair, Melton Constable PC], Mike Marshall [Chair, Fulmodeston PC], Jeff Smallbones [Clerk, Swanton Novers PC]. Written comments were available from Wood Norton PC. Purpose : To try to resolve the poor, almost non-existent, working relationship between Cllr. Ward and 4 of the parishes in Astley Ward as shown by his refusal to attend any parish council meetings or to consistently represent the communities in the ward for which he was elected. His attendance at NNDC meetings in 2015 was 2 out of 8 'Expected Attendances'. Absent, no apologies : Cllr. Steven Ward [District Councillor, Astley Ward]. Background : Astley Ward comprises the 7 parishes of Briningham, Fulmodeston, Hindolveston, Melton Constable, Swanton Novers, Thurning and Wood Norton. Steven Ward was elected as Conservative District Councillor in May 2015, having previously represented a ward in Fakenham. Fulmodeston : Since May 2015 Ward has not attended any parish council meetings in Fulmodeston or any other parish events. On occasion he has promised in writing to attend and a note to this effect has been put in the parish Newsletters. He has then not attended giving a variety of reasons connected with his personal and family commitments, and stating that parish council meetings were held at inconvenient times for him. On the instructions of the parish council I emailed Ward offering to meet with him at any time and place convenient to him. He did not reply. I sent 3 reminders, none of which received a reply or were acknowledged. It seemed unlikely that Ward ever intended to meet with us, even going so far as to boast that he never felt the need to attend any town council meetings in Fakenham during his term of office. On the instruction of the parish council I contacted the other 6 parishes in Astley Ward. It transpired that 3 were having comparable experiences and were considering a formal complaint to North Norfolk District Council. One council did not wish to make any comment and two did not reply. 3/9 Together with the 3 parishes it was agreed to ask Cllr. FitzPatrick to host a meeting with Ward at the NNDC offices in Cromer at a time and on a day suitable to them. This he was willing to do. As the chosen date [as above] came nearer it became apparent that Ward was not going to attend and that Cllr. FitzPatrick had decided to ask the Head of Legal Services to be present. I would emphasise that none of the parish councils requested this and we were not asked if we agreed. After some discussion we decided to go ahead with the meeting and to use the opportunity to get some legal advice on the situation. The Meeting : Probably the worst local government meeting that I have attended in nearly 40 years of involvement with parish, town, district and county councils. It was obvious from the start, and from the continuing body language of both FitzPatrick and Duncan, that they regarded parish councils as a nuisance and unreasonable in expecting elected councillors to attend parish council meetings or any other parish events. Whilst it is accepted that district councillors are under no legal obligation to attend, nor is it covered in the Code of Conduct or in the Protocol on the Representational Role of Councillors, it should be normal for some sort of connection to be made. We were immediately asked why any elected councillor would want to attend any parish council meeting when they could only expect to be verbally abused, be given at the most two minutes to report and no opportunity to answer any questions from members of the public, who themselves were not allowed to participate other than for a very limited time. Do you recognise Fulmodeston PC meetings from this description? I hope not. We were told that we are out of date and did not understand modern methods of communication [ interesting that we comply with the Transparency Code ] and that Facebook and Twitter are undoubtedly how it should be done. Unfortunately for this argument research shows that Ward had not used either method to communicate on parish and district business in 2015. Ward has sent only one report to all parish councils in the 10 months since his election and claims to hold a ward surgery in Fakenham on a Thursday morning – times and place not available at this point. FitzPatrick and Duncan thought that both of these situations were acceptable. I was accused by FitzPatrick of going to the meeting with the specific intention of making a formal complaint because I had asked if, as Duncan was going to be present, she would also advise us. This was obviously not going to be offered as obviously we were in the wrong. I would re-iterate that Duncan's presence was decided by FitzPatrick without any consultation with the parish representatives. We had also stated quite clearly that we regarded a formal complaint as the very last resort and that the meeting was requested to try to establish a working relationship with Cllr.