PARISH COUNCIL

Minutes of a meeting of the Parish Council held at Church Rooms, Hapton On 20th January at 7.30pm

In Attendance: Mr N Potter (Chairman) Mr Alan Arber (clerk) Mrs Jenna Goodall Browne (Vice Chairman) Mr Graham Bleach Mr Victor Blake Mr Will Howman Mr Norman Clowes

3 members of the public attended plus District Councillor Des Fulcher

Public Participation

The meeting was suspended to allow the public to speak.

District Councillor Des Fulcher gave a report on the Area Action plan to the meeting commenting there had been a lively debate due to certain aspects of the development picked by people at the meeting and he commented discussions were ongoing and the latest information for the Long Stratton Action plan would be updated onto the SNDC website. Councillor Fulcher urged everyone to look at these developments as they would affect our Parish. One of the main points to come from the meeting was the speed limit on the proposed bypass being 60mph as set out by County Council Highways Department. In conjunction with local landowner’s suggestions are being made to consider the quality of local housing and the speed of the proposed bypass. Des Fulcher then said it would be a good idea to contact the local developers with a request that they come to a Parish meeting to put their proposals to our Parishioners. The clerk was tasked with contacting Terry Harper (Norfolk Homes) and Steve Smith and asking them to send over their presentation by email for onward forwarding to all councillors to look at.

Sue Waredale then brought up the problems with Cow Lane and the fact that water was still pouring down the lane if we had significant rainfall. Photos had been taken of the affected area 18 months ago but the situation was still no better. Chairman Nick Potter remarked that Cow Lane was on the agenda in its own right and would be discussed then.

The meeting was reconvened.

1. Apologies

County Councillor Alison Thomas, District Councillor and Kevin Worsley County Councillor sent their apologies and these were duly accepted

2. Minutes of the meeting on 16th December 2015

There were no amendments to the minutes and they were then signed as a true record of the meeting held on the 16th December 2015

3. Declarations of interests

Graham Bleach with regards to the Defibrillators as Phone box is on his land

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4. To consider vacancies on the Parish Council

David Gunton introduced himself to the meeting and gave a short resume of his abilities and would like to serve on the Parish Council and was duly co-opted onto the Parish Council. Proposed Nick Potter, Seconded Graham Bleach Item to be removed from future agendas

5. Correspondence

The clerk read out 2 letters that had been received by the Clerk and had been circulated electronically to all councillors. The first was a letter from the PCC of thanks regarding the installation of the tap and moving of the fence as requested. The second was from Quentin Spratt regarding the use of Hapton Meadow for Car Parking. A discussion prevailed and it was agreed that Mr Spratt should contact either Chairman Nick Potter or Councillor Graham Bleach to get the key for the new padlock and for access to parking on Hapton Meadow for future events. The clerk to contact Mr Spratt to inform him of this decision.

6. Planning

No Planning applications had been received

19. Flooding

This item was moved up the agenda by the chairman due to the many problems the village of Hapton had recently suffered with the significant rainfall. One of the main problems was the water coming from the field onto Sally Bates land. John Barnes had told Graham Bleach that he would plough and furrow the land and build up the bank, which was reported as now done. It was also reported that there were issues with the bridle path and its use for horses as the steep slope off Holly Lane following flooding has uncovered large stones, they do have a gentleman’s agreement to use the edge of the field to avoid this but this may be affected by building the bank up to stop the flooding. It was agreed that the clerk would contact the Environment Agency on the Parish Council’s behalf to attend the site at the top of Cow Lane and see if they can assist in stopping more problems with flooding. Sue Waredale/Peter Kershaw/Nick Potter would be available to meet them on site to get this sorted and alleviate this ongoing problem.

7. Newsletter

The clerk reported that the Parish Laptop has now been upgraded and a template of the proposed Newsletter had been submitted to all councillors electronically and it was agreed that this was fine and the clerk was instructed to start work as soon as possible.

8. To consider payment for use of Church Rooms for the holding of meetings.

The Clerk reported that he had contacted the school with the decision to wait until the lease documents are finalised and reported to the Parish Council. This item will stay on the agenda pending the documents being finalised as agreed at the last meeting.

9. Village Hall

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The Clerk had forwarded electronically the details of three structural engineers to all councillors as requested and it was agreed that Chairman Nick Potter would forward the details of the drawings for the pad to the clerk when he had finished them for the clerk to send to all three structural engineers for them to look at and cost for us. Councillor Jenna Goodall Browne then remarked that we need to keep all the parishioners informed of our plans as they were unware of what was being proposed so the project did not become another white elephant. Councillor Norman Clowes asked that we also get a full estimate for the building from the company proposed so we had all costs known to allow us to get a full idea of the total the project was going to cost. It was agreed this would be a very good idea.

10. Finance  Monthly financial report approved by all councillors  Budget and precept for 2016-2017 approved and precept form duly signed  Payment of Salary and Expenses to Parish Clerk approved £371.65

11. Highways

 Highways Councillor Norman Clowes reported the problem on the Road going from Hapton towards the White Horse cottage as you go down the hill there are two ridges across the road presumably caused by tree roots from the western hedge, these seem to be getting worse and need to be flattened. A parishioner brought the issue of Lorries coming through the village due to their Sat Navs being used and causing a problem when they get to the Low Bridge. It was agreed to look into contacting the Sat Nav providers to check if this information was on their database and hopefully this would stop this problem.  Cow Lane Councillor Graham Bleach said that the staff at Redwings are still using Cow Lane despite many requests to Redwings for this not too happen and asked the Clerk to contact Redwings regarding this matter. The drainage issue was still ongoing and the Clerk was asked to contact Bob Edwards and Jody Thurston (Highways Dept.) to ensure this matter is brought to a swift conclusion.  Footpaths The clerk reported that the letters had gone out to all Landowners regarding their duties and responsibilities for footpaths and bridleways on their land. Peter Kershaw then told the meeting of a new law coming out next year reference footpaths and the way they are managed by landowners which may affect how they are managed.

12. Current Issues a. Tree Warden’s Report The clerk reported he had received an email from Ken Grayling and that there was nothing to report on this issue

b. Defibrillator Graham Bleach declared an interest as the telephone kiosk was on his land. The clerk had added this as a separate item and he would address the meeting under that item.

13. To discuss Bylaws for Hapton Meadow

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The Clerk reported that he now had the forms for submitting the bylaws to the Secretary of State and would get them off ASAP.

14. Parish Council Website The clerk reported that the new website outline had been received and so far he had only been able to set up the initial pages but hoped to do some more work on this in the next few weeks and hopefully have it ready for viewing by the next meeting.

15. To Discuss Faster Broadband for Rural areas

The working party of Nick Potter and Will Howman had received some information from District Councillor Worsley and Councillor Howman will be meeting with District Councillor Worsley on Friday morning to discuss the matter further. He will report his findings to the Parish Council at the next meeting

16. To discuss how we split time/costs between Tharston and Hapton

This was deferred to the next meeting

17. Defibrillator

The clerk reported that he had now received the first defibrillator kit and this was the one to be installed at Willow Farm. Chairman Nick Potter reported that he had spoken to the owners of the farm and they are willing to allow the defibrillator to be installed ASAP. The clerk then reported that the second Defibrillator will be with us in 4 weeks but we will need to purchase a case for this but he will try and get a grant from the BHF for the case. Chairman Nick Potter reported we need to get a part 1 trained electrician to install both defibrillators but the phone box on Graham Bleach’s land needed renovating and the clerk was asked to see if he could get a quote for doing this work.

18. Bus Shelter

The clerk provided details of costs of around £1500 for a new bus shelter and that there was grant funding available but this had finished and after much discussion it was felt that this item should stay on the agenda for when the new round of funding is made available so we are prepared in advance.

20. Surveyors land

The clerk reported that we had received the Tenancy agreement from SNDC and this had been circulated electronically to all councillors. It was discussed with Councillor Jenna Goodall Browne reporting that she thought we only had to give 6 month’s notice of tenancy. Chairman Nick Potter was going to take the plan we had received to the landowner to check the actual layout of the land and report back to the next meeting.

21. Items for the next agenda - Surveyors land - To discuss how we split time/costs between Tharston and Hapton - Flooding

There being no further business the meeting closed at 9.30pm.

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Date of next meeting – 24th February 2016

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