Present: Councillors Sarah Dawson, Donald Harrod, Sue Johns, Clifford Large, Merlin Turville-Petre and 2 members of the public.

1) Apologies: nil

2) Declaration of Interest; nil

3) Village Green Fencing:

Councillors Johns, Harrod and Turville-Petre had met with Richard at the village green. Richard now felt that the telegraph poles looked ‘scruffy’ and wanted to go back to posts. Dan Goff from the Dun Cow had confirmed he would pay for the posts. Richard had sourced the posts and someone to place them.

After discussion the Councillors agreed:

·           Wooden posts would be placed around the green to prevent access by cars onto the central area.

·           The posts would be placed so as to provide a better parking space at the edges.

·           The posts would be secured with concrete to prevent vandalism but left with removable posts (by the area used currently by Anglia Water) to provide access for BT etc.

·           The siting of the existing seat and the notice board would be looked at and relocated if necessary.

Proposed by Sue Johns. “The village green would have wooden posts placed around the perimeter to act as a barrier to cars”. Seconded Clifford Large. Motion carried.

4) Play Area:

Merlin Turville-Petre reported that he had obtained the grant for the play area amounting to £2,500. This would be used for fencing, goal posts etc. Sarah Dawson reported that the Playing Field account had been made dormant due to the fact there was no movement on the account. She suggested buying something with the account for the play area.  Clifford Large suggested a basketball hoop.  Sarah Dawson and Michael Olin were signatories on the account.  Michael Olin had now left the village.  Sarah Dawson will ask the clerk to confirm insurance for the field.

5) Bus Shelter

It was noted that the inside of the bus shelter had been painted by volunteers. The Parish Council expressed a vote of thanks to Mary Beth and Kayleigh.

6) Heath

Sue Johns informed the meeting that there had been new clearance of trees at the front of the heath and a public byway sign placed. She felt the trees had been badly cleared and also remarked that this was not a public byway (The track up to Heath that stats opposite the top of Cross Street.)

Clifford Large as Chairman of the Heath Trustees will look into it and report back next meeting.

Meeting closed at 8.30pm.

Minutes taken by Sarah Dawson.

Present: -

Cllrs. S. Dawson (chairman)   S. Johns.  D. Harrod,   M. Turville-Petre.  

Dist.Cllr. D. Young J. Stibbons (clerk) and five members of the public

 The meeting was opened at 7.31pm

1. Apologies. Cllrs. N. Cary, C. Large,   County Cllr. M. Baker, PCSO Bridges

2. There were no declarations of interest.

3. The minutes of the meetings of 8th July 2014, having been previously circulated, were approved by the members present and signed by the chairman.

4. There were no matters arising from the minutes.

5. Reports.
Dist Cllr. D. Young A small Working Party met in July to consider future changes to the Council Tax Support scheme.   Although the Working Party had little in the way of reliable figures as to the effects of the current scheme, it was unanimously decided to recommend that no further changes are made for 2015-16.

NCC provided the District Council with an update of the roll-out of Better Broadband for Norfolk.  The intention for Salthouse (149 premises) is for work during Oct 14 – Mar 15 following which all will have superfast speeds of 25 Mbps or more.

 Everyone on the previous electoral roll will have received a letter from the council, either to the effect that they have successfully transitioned to the new system of Individual Electoral Registration or that further information is required to enable the transition.   Anyone on the previous roll that is not properly recorded under the new system will still be able to vote in person next May but will lose their ability to vote by post or proxy.

 The recent meeting in Cley with the Council's new Head of Planning was well attended with around 80 people.   Feedback so far has been positive: it was appreciated that Nicola Baker had been prepared to face criticism.

 

Precept for 2015/16. -  NNDC is intending to offer a grant to parishes that accepted the previous grant to help offset the increase per household that would have arisen following the introduction of the localised Council Tax Support scheme.   It is likely to be reduced by 15 – 16% again in line with NNDC's reduced funding from central government.

NNDC's current financial forecast is that they will achieve a small surplus in 2015/16 but that they are facing a deficit of £700,000 in 2016/17 rising to £1.3m in 2017/18.  This reflects continuing reduced levels of support from central government.    To put this in context, a rise of 2% in NNDC's portion of Council Tax would raise around £102,000.   These deficits will require significant savings to be made.

 

S106 contribution for Bard Hill Barns - an application to waive this was deferred at a Development Committee meeting in January 2012. I sent a long note to the Planning Legal Manager and the Head of Planning on 19 July and have chased this up a couple of weeks ago but as yet there has been no response.

 

The prospect of some affordable housing in Market Lane has moved forward.  NCC is prepared to sell the land at a sensible price.   There is some confusion regarding the  overhead power lines since there is a record on file of EDF having offered to the PC to bury them, though that would require a small substation.   I have since confirmed that there are no plans to bury the overhead lines and await further news.

 

6. Co-option of new member. This item was deferred to the next meeting.

 

7. Village Green. Mr. Gayfer can obtain posts for £10 each. Installation would be about £300. There was a discussion on the merits of posts or telegraph poles. It was decided to have a site meeting on Monday 22nd September when a final decision could be made to either have posts or telegraph poles, strengthening up the poles that are there and fixing them more permanently.  Possibly have posts on the corners.

Cllr. Turville-Petre has spoken to Mr. Norman Lamb M.P. concerning parking which is required in Salthouse both in Beach Road and the village. Mr. Lamb will write to both NCC and NNDC.

 

8. Play Area. An application for funding has been submitted to Flagship Housing for seats and goal posts. This application will be considered next week.

Money could also be made available from the Salthouse Playing Field fund.

 

9. Audit The accounts for April 2013/2014 have been approved by Mazars, the official auditors and signed off.

 

10. Correspondence  

·      A  Planning application (REF PF/14/1141), received after the agenda was published, for the erection of a single-storey side/front extension at The Greens, Coast Road, Salthouse was discussed under this item. There was no objection to this application.

·      The chairman of Cley Parish Council is promoting a petition to extend the “No-fly” zone over the marshes. Noted. Reply as individuals.

11. Public Questions.

·      The bottle bank has been emptied into the dust cart. It was noted that glass can be placed in the green bin from 1st. October

 ·      Enquiry regarding Neighbourhood watch. There is no watch in place at present. Police should be contacted if any suspicious activity is observed.

·      The seat on the heath has disappeared. Ed Stocker will be contacted to see if it can be replaced.

·      The site for the memorial bench has been selected. The bench has been delivered and will be installed in the next two weeks.


12. Matters for information only or the next agenda.


It was noted that Mill Drift is a Public Right of Way for walkers, horses and access to farming land, it has never been used for car parking. Cars are now starting to park there and it was decided to monitor the situation and take action of parking persists, possibly by a central, removable post or a “No Parking” sign.

There being no further business the chairman closed the meeting at 8.57pm