PARISH COUNCIL

Minutes of the Meeting of the Parish Council held at Church Rooms, Hapton On 25th September 2019 at 7.30pm.

In Attendance: Mr Nick Potter (Chairman) Mr Alan Arber (clerk) Mr Victor Blake Mrs Jenna Goodall Browne Mr David Gunton Mr Des Fulcher Mr Graham Bleach

6 members of the public were in attendance.

Public participation

Standing Orders were suspended to allow the public to speak.

A Parishioner asked how much was left of the original S106 monies for the Tharston meadows development and if there was any left would it be spent in Tharston as the original documents decreed. Parish Councillor David Gunton would look into this A Parishioner also asked if the Parish Council would agree that the repayment of the brick’s money from the original village hall scheme would be agreed by them also as a Parishioner had requested her money back. The clerk would assist with this Alison Thomas reported that the roundabout was on schedule and would hopefully be completed by the end of November. A question was raised on if the funding for the NDR Link road would be favoured over the Bypass in the Major Road Network funding pot. Alison Thomas replied that they were from different pots of money so no it would not hinder the Long Stratton Bypass Funding. Alison also reported that the budget times was upon County Council and they were looking at a new scheme called the minimum income guarantee which is a means tested way of ensuring that people would be guaranteed the minimum they were entitled too before their benefits were taken into account. Finally, Alison reported that a new residential reasonable care centre had been opened in Cromer to get elderly people home earlier after a stay in hospital. Barry Duffin then reported that the go for it grants were still available as well as a litter collecting grant and he would send details to the clerk for the Parish website.

Standing Orders were reinstated.

1. Apologies

Ben Dewhurst sent his apologies as he was ill. All agreed to accept

2. Minutes

The minutes were agreed as a true record of the meeting of 17th July and 20th August 2019 and were duly signed by the chairman.

Proposed. Nick Potter Seconded. David Gunton All Agreed.

3. Declarations of interests.

Nick Potter items on Agenda item 6.

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4. Planning Applications.

• To discuss the Planned Open Space Land Adoption. No comments were made. • Planning Applications. • 2019/1852 – No comment

5. Finance 1. To approve payment to Parish Clerk Alan Arber for July and August salary and expenses £484.11 and £632.88 2. To approve payment to the PKF Littlejohn For External Audit £240 3. To approve payment to Wacton Village Hall for hire of hall for extra ordinary meeting £6.00 4. To approve payment to Gary Bentley for Parish Maintenance in July and august £135 5. To approve payment to HMRC for 3 months Tax and NI £383.45 6. To approve payment Pride Press for Newsletter £499.00 7. To approve payment to David Gunton for Laptop repair in July £40.00 Proposed Nick Potter Seconded David Gunton. The clerk took the council through the latest financial position and reported that the council was in fine financial condition and produced a full financial report for all councillors. Proposed. Nick Potter Seconded. David Gunton • The chair then commented that The Parish Council had received the External Audit back and commented that it was perfect with no issues reported. The clerk was thanked for his excellent work on the audit. • The clerk’s hours were discussed as due to the many projects being undertaken his hours had increased a lot. It was agreed to monitor them over the next three months and discuss this issue at the budget meeting in December.

6. To receive and update on The Hapton Sheep.

The Parish Chairman took the meeting through the horrendous issues regarding what had happened to these sheep over many months and made comment that he was suspending the meeting for 20 minutes to allow the public to put their points across and for the clerk to minute the bullet points.

Standing Orders suspended

A Parishioner gave an excellent breakdown of the issues and her worries on what had happened to the sheep using her extensive knowledge of working with animal’s.

The main bullet points raised were as follows.

• The sheep were still suffering • There had been no substantial response from Trading Standards, Norfolk County Councils Complaints Department or MP Richard Bacon since the Chairman raised this issue • The RSPCA were not interested in the issues at all • Many calls had been made regarding the issues of the sheep with very little responses

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• The chairman had followed the correct procedure in reporting this issue with little or no substantial response from The MP Richard Bacon or Trading standards. • The main issue was one of cruelty and the individual concerned was known to undertake this type of movement of animals many times. • The sheep had been housed at Hapton, Loddon, Hoxne and with again no help from Trading standards who had attended the sites on many occasions with no feedback given to questions asked. • A parishioner had contacted the local press to inform them of the problems and issues and no reply had been received yet. This was not done by The Parish Council • It was commented that the issue was subject of a Judicial review but no information on who was subject to the Judicial review had been given. i.e. The Individual or Trading standards. • Finally, how do we find out when the court case would be heard.

With the 20 minutes up allocated to this it was agreed to decide how we move forward on this with Chairman Nick Potter given the authority to continue with this and County Councillor Alison Thomas would also look into what was happening and report back if possible and it did not prejudice the judicial process.

Standing orders reinstated

7. Highways.

• Highways Issues.

No Highway issues reported. Des Fulcher commented that he had spoken to Richard Dolman regarding the major road network bid, who replied that he was awaiting conclusion of this.

• To discuss the proposed long Stratton development and the adoption of the open space.

The Clerk had emailed Norfolk Homes and the plans have been re-drawn and James Nicholls had replied thanking the clerk for his email and that plans were moving forward by no timescale was given on the re-submission of the plans.

8. To receive an update on Current Issues and to consider any necessary action. Tree Warden’s Report No report Footpath Wardens Report No outstanding issues reported.

9. To receive an update on the Long Stratton Neighbourhood plan

David Gunton reported that members of Tharston and Hapton parish Council had attended a meeting of Long Stratton Town Council recently and it was asked that this meeting accepted the changes made on Tharston and Hapton Parish Councils behalf in chapter 6 be accepted. It was also noted that the next Parishioner consultation weekend would be on 12th and 13th November at Long Stratton Methodist Church from 10 am to 4pm.

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Proposed David Gunton Seconded Des Fulcher

All agreed to accept

10. To discuss the purchase of a parcel of land for community use.

The clerk had tried to get the planning application done using the SNDC Planning portal but had as yet not been successful as the system would not allow him to do it. Chairman Nick Potter would undertake to visit SNDC to get them to help ASAP

11. To discuss Parish Projects. • Newsletter. The clerk reported that the newsletter was now printed and three invoices still needed paying and he would send invoices to all these companies ASAP • SAM Machines. The clerk and Victor will download the SAM Machine this Sunday to get up to date figures for the next meeting. • Phone Box The Phone box needed to be sited at Tharston Meadows and the clerk had visited the site and located a good spot for this. The clerk was asked to speak with the developers to see if they could assist with the siting of the phone box as it was very heavy and needed a crane if possible. The clerk had not been able to action this request so he would do ASAP • Surveyors Land. The Parish Council would not be progressing with this so it was agreed to take this item off the Agenda • Defibrillator Training. Ben Dewhurst commented that he had spoken to his contact and the gentleman will take the training at a date to be confirmed. • Parish Councillors and Clerk training. The clerk would be attending the SLCC National Conference on the Parish Councils behalf to increase his networking and knowledge • New Play Area No comments made • Village Hall Fundraising. No comments made

12. To discuss Speeding in the village and the setting up of a speed watch group.

The clerk commented that had received two sets of the paperwork back but needed to get the other four ASAP for sending to The Police to start the process. It was hoped this would be done asap

13. To discuss the setting up of a Parish Social Media account on Facebook.

The clerk commented that many parish councils were doing this and getting information out to the parishioners this way. It was agreed that a page would be set up for Tharston and Hapton Parish council ASAP. 14. To discuss the donation of a bench by Hapton history Group

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David Gunton commented that the Hapton history group would like to donate a bench to be sited on Hapton Meadow and it was agreed to accept this donation and add it to the Parish Council Asset Register Proposed Nick Potter Seconded David Gunton all agreed to accept

15. Public participation.

Des Fulcher commented that a fundraising event would be held at Mayfield’s Care Home on Saturday 30th October and all were welcome to attend.

16. To receive items for the next agenda.

Chairman Laptop Parish Council email addresses. Next Parish Meeting Wednesday 16th October 2019.

There being no further business the meeting closed at 8.50pm.

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