Redenhall with Harleston Town Council Clerk: Mrs. L. Ling Chairman: Mrs F. Bickley Minutes of a meeting of Redenhall with Harleston Town Council Held at Harleston Leisure Centre On Wednesday 18th December 2019 at 7.00pm Present: Councillors – Trevor Graham (Vice Chair), Adrian Brownsea, Michael Hardy (arrived during item 9), Carolyn Malinowski and Tom Whatling. Also, Present: County Councillor Martin Wilby, District Councillor Jeremy Savage, Lynda Ling (Clerk), Rosie Riches (Office Assistant) and 2 members of the public. 1. Welcome - Cllr Graham welcomed all of those present to the meeting. 2. To receive and accept apologies from members unable to attend – Apologies were received and accepted from Cllrs Bickley, Kuzmic, Moyse and Pegg. 3. Declarations of pecuniary and other interests – Cllr Graham declared a possible conflict of interest between Harleston’s Future and agenda item 8, following a discussion with District and County Councillors Town Councillors agreed there was no conflict of interest. The clerk had initially advised that in her opinion that there was a conflict due to Cllr. Graham’s connection with Harleston’s Future - it was Harleston’s Future Environment Group that were involved initially in the feasibility study and the clerk felt there was a conflict of interest by association however this was before Cllr. Graham’s involvement. 4. Approval of minutes of the last Town Council meeting, and note the draft minutes of committees • Town Council Meeting of 20th November 2019 • Planning & Development Friday 29th November 2019 • Leisure Centre Management Committee Monday 2nd December 2019 • Amenities Committee Wednesday 4th December 2019 • Finance Committee Tuesday 10th December 2019 Agreement proposed Cllr Brownsea, seconded Cllr Malinowski ALL AGREED 5. Matters arising from previous minutes – Cllr Malinowski – Asked for confirmation of the up-coming Police Surgery, the clerk confirmed it would take place on 29th January 2020 in the social room at the Leisure Centre 6. Presentation from Ian Carstairs regarding Paddock Road entrance to car park – Ian Carstairs was not able to attend the meeting due to ill health; this item will now appear on the Agenda for January’s Town Council meeting. 7. Reports • Police – No current report received although consultation period 16th December to 17th January, Councillors were asked to respond to Lorne Greene by email. Cllr Malinowski suggested that the completed report should be put onto the RwHTC web site. • District Councilor report – Cllr. Savage – Work continues drawing together South Norfolk and Broadland councils, merging two separate IT systems, working together on the Local Plan. In summary approx. 80% of the growth will be in Norwich and the immediate fringe suburbs, 10% will be in the key service centres 35 which includes Harleston, Loddon, Acle, Reepham, Long Stratton, Poringland etc with the remaining 10% in village clusters. The general election count for South Norfolk, Norwich North and Broadland were all counted under one roof at the Norfolk Showground, organised by the returning officer Trevor Holden. Work is being carried out to bring into line the discretionary rate system giving rate relief for small shops, garages and sports clubs in both South Norfolk and Broadland. A proposal on a joint waste disposal system, local authority owned company to run waste collection in both South Norfolk and Broadland. South Norfolk council are supporting the celebrations which mark the 400th anniversary of the sailing of the Mayflower, 4 of the passengers came from Harleston. Following discussions between the planners and developers at the Station Road site concerning the Army Cadet Force it would now appear that a reasonable agreement has been reached which will allow space for the Cadets to train. Harleston should be congratulated on their wonderful festive decorations and the Christmas events. • County Councilor report Cllr Wilby – Congratulations to everyone that was nominated in the recent Stars of Norfolk and Waveney Awards, especially to Scole Nature Trails Trust winning the Community Group of the Year. Norfolk has been ranked top of 28 similar councils in a national independent survey which looks at satisfaction with highways and transport services. Last year Norfolk came 4th but this year was awarded the top spot. Some 33,000 people chosen at random were asked to rate the council’s performance in six areas – road maintenance, public transport, walking and cycling, congestion, accessibility and road safety. The council performed above average in five of the six categories. The results from these surveys help us to plan future work programmes and hopefully maintain this high level of customer satisfaction. The new Hempnall roundabout has now been opened, following detailed works which started earlier this year, the planting of trees, hedging and shrubs is all that remains to finish the job completely. It is hoped that work on the long-awaited Long Stratton bypass could start on site as early as 2020 as long as planning permission is in place and funding agreed. More than 11,000 homes across Norfolk are now in a “No Cold Calling Zone”, recent feedback shows that zones really work with a drop in the number of cold callers seen in 99% of areas. Norfolk Fire and Rescue service is searching for more potential new recruits. Of Norfolk’s 42 fire stations, 39 are reliant on on-call staff, either wholly or in part who can be called upon when there is an incident in the area. Next surgery is at HIP, 10am on 25th January 2020 Wishing everyone a Healthy and Happy Christmas and New Year • Chairman’s report – Cllr Graham read out the chairman’s report in her absence as follows:- Thanks go to the gym staff for their continued commitment and dedication throughout the year. Hopefully they can now see positive improvements being made and the Town Council’s commitment to keep HCLF a force to reckon with. Much gratitude and appreciation of the tireless work which the Clerk and her office team do in supporting the chairman whilst actively promoting the Town Council, also to the maintenance team for their hard work and dedication throughout the year. This has been an extremely difficult year with the sad passing of one of our own, Councilor Mark Betts. I would like to thank councillors for galvanizing and pulling together during this time, my sincere thanks to councillors who have shown real commitment to helping in so many ways. Particular thanks go to Cllr Malinowski for driving the budget forward and keeping everyone focused, also thanks to Cllr Whatling for his continued project management on our Leisure Centre plans. • Councilor reports (for information only) – None • Clerk’s report (for information only) – There are still many road works going on in and around Harleston with traffic controlled by lights as can be seen in the Clerks report. Stage C Regulation 18 Draft Plan Consultation – The draft plan consultation will include the preferred planning strategy for the area to 2036 and the preferred sites they intend to allocate to achieve that strategy. A further round of consultation will take place in early 2020 with the eventual plan expected to be adopted in late 2021. A copy of Action for Harleston’s report on a meeting with Scott Development properties regarding the Briar Farm development has been received and will be 36 circulated in time for the next appropriate meeting. Scott development Properties have requested a meeting with either the Planning Committee or the Town Council to update members on their proposals and answer any questions. 8. Finance • Update on monthly income and expenditure - Noted • Approval of items of expenditure invoiced since the last meeting – Payments made since the last meeting Town Council £8,214.20 Leisure Centre Management Committee £9,406.77 Petty Cash – Town Council £22.02. BACS payments for Town Council £33,644.18, Leisure Centre Management Committee £613.03 Amenities Committee £3,588.48 Proposed Cllr Brownsea, seconded Cllr Malinowski ALL AGREED • Resolution to approve annual SLCC (Society for Local Council Clerks) subscription (£299) This is a shared cost with Earsham PC who contribute £100 being the smaller council. Redenhall with Harleston - £199, Earsham £100. Proposed Cllr Brownsea, seconded Cllr Whatling ALL AGREED • Budget discussion and agreements where required – Cllr Malinowski; the budget is still evolving with a few changes still to be made. Request that each committee has an agenda item to list all reserves required for 2021/22 budget, need to decide the general fund amount. • Discussion on capital projects (if required) – Cllr Brownsea – as chairman of the Amenities Committee, proposals for a Mark Betts memorial have not yet been agreed, this item will be on the agenda for the next Amenities meeting with any decisions brought back to the Town Council. • To resolve to agree the Business Case, including the cost Benefit Analysis, and the Loan Affordability Statement required for the PWLB in support of the council’s application – Cllr Brownsea proposed that the work by Cllr Malinowski is submitted to obtain a loan, seconded Cllr Whatling ALL AGREED • To resolve to agree to seek the approval of the secretary of state for Housing, Communities & Local government to apply for a PWLB loan of £87,885.00 over the borrowing term of 10 years for the purpose of the replacement of the current streetlight lanterns by new LED lanterns. The annual loan repayments will be £8,789. – Cllr Graham explained the proposal to members of the public. Proposed Cllr Malinowski, seconded Cllr Whatling ALL AGREED 9. Previous Resolutions • A motion for the revisiting of the following item has been received (in accordance with Standing Order 9) regarding the following - Emergency entrance onto the Bullock Fair car park from Paddock Road and resolution to agree the Town Council share of cost (£12,405.75) – Cllr.