County Cllr. S. Botikofer Dist. Cllr. D. Young and Five members of the public.
The meeting opened at 7.30pm
1.Apologies None
2. Reports.
District Councillor D. Young. - The full report can be found at the end of these minutes.
The main topics of the report were as follows.
Cabinet meetings – decided -
To continue with the £2m investment in the Egmere Business Zone.
To the “Hold the Line” approach to the Mundesley Coastal Management scheme and progress the Cromer Coast Protection Scheme phase 2. A Coastal Adaptation Officer is to be recruited for a two year contract.
Full Council.
£600k in “Extra Care” housing in Fakenham.
A variation to the Norfolk-wide arrangements for waste recycling has been agreed.
Planning permission has been granted for the erection of the replacement Splash leisure centre.
The updated Medium Tern Financial Strategy identifies a current deficit in 2019/20 of £319,000, increasing to £2.1m in 2022/23.
The Planning Policy manager recently held two meetings for town and parish councillors regarding the progress of the Local Plan to cover 2016-2036. The current requirement is to build 10,800 homes in North Norfolk over the 20 year period.
County Councillor S. Botikofer.
Most Libraries will now avoid closure, the exception being those libraries which are not currently used to any great degree. There is an on- line petition running at present to oppose the further cuts in Children's Services.
Norfolk County Council are supporting the campaign on mens health.
Ewan Carr (Norfolk Wildlife Trust) – manager of Cley marshes-
From next spring car parking charges will be in operation at the Cley centre.
For members of NWT and residents of Salthouse and Cley there will be no charge. There will also be free access to the marsh by obtaining an Annual Card at the centre.
Parking charges for other visitors will be £3 per half day and £5 per day.
3. Declarations of interest. None
4. The minutes of the meeting held on Tuesday 4th September 2018. It was proposed, seconded and resolved that the minutes be approved. The chairman then signed the minutes.
5. Matters arising from the Minutes. There were no matters arising.
6 Victory Housing The parish council are keen to maintain the diverse population of the village and are attempting to stop the sale by Victory Housing of properties they own in Salthouse.
A meeting has been held between Victory Housing, the District Council and Salthouse parish councillors to seek a way forward. The three possible solutions were :-
(1) Explore other housing associations to see if they would take on housing in Salthouse.
(2) Salthouse forms its own housing association, possibly using the Wells business model.
(3) District council could support Victory Housing to maintain the current houses, with the proviso that the houses do not then get sold later.
A mortgage cannot be obtained on these houses which are of non-standard AIRDY construction.
The parish council will ask the Chief Executive of Victory Housing to set up a moratorium of any houses considered for sale in Salthouse.
7. Playing Field The monthly safety inspection was satisfactory.
8. Financial matters.
Bank Balances at 6/11//2018 Current a/c £7458.40 Savings a/c £4680.96
The provisional Budget for 2019-2020 was presented to the meeting.
It was agreed to increase the precept by £100 and the budget was then approved.
The following invoices were approved and cheques signed:-
Norfolk County Council Half year Rents £1190
J. Wright Grass cutting £200
9. Correspondence Centenary of WW1 Armistice – commemorative gift of Flanders poppy seeds.
10. Matters for information only or for the next agenda.
DC Report
Salthouse Parish Council 6 November 2018
The September Cabinet decided to press on with the £2m investment in the Egmere Business Zone against the wishes of the Scrutiny Committee's Asset Management Working Group, which argued for an independent review of the business case, based on its reservations regarding risk and a yield currently envisaged of only 1.62%. Consequently a motion was put to Full Council that Cabinet reconsiders its position at its next meeting. This motion was passed. Cabinet's meeting on 1 October nevertheless decided to ignore the wish for an independent review
September Full Council agreed without dissent the investment in "Extra Care" housing in Fakenham and the £600k improvements to toilets, both as mentioned in my previous report.
The October Cabinet agreed to support the "hold the line" approach to the Mundesley Coastal Management Scheme and to progress the delivery of the Cromer Coast Protection Scheme Phase 2. A contribution of £25,000 has been budgeted towards the cost of the Head of Coastal Partnership East, a partnership arrangement with Great Yarmouth and East Suffolk local authorities. It also agreed to recruit a Coastal Adaptation Officer on a 2 year fixed term contract.
Cabinet also agreed to lease land and create a car park at Bacton. The creation of the car park is expected to cost £30,000. The cost of a 25 year lease was not disclosed but is expected to be covered by parking charges.
Cabinet also agreed to discuss with North Norfolk Beach Runners the possibility of arranging "Mammoth runs", namely a marathon and half marathon as part of the promotion of the Deep History Coast.
Full Council did not meet in October, but a second Cabinet was held at the end of the month. Half-way through the current financial year, Officers are anticipating a full year underspend against budget of £160,000. Repairs to the roof of the Cromer building were mentioned a year or so ago and following the tender outcome, the sum of £607,000 has been allocated from the Capital Projects Reserve. The updated Medium Tern Financial Strategy identifies a current deficit in 2019/20 of £319,000, increasing to £2.1m in 2022/23.
The present contract with Citizens Advice Mid Norfolk is to be extended by 15 months to 31 March 2020. This is in line with the decision of the County Council, who jointly fund the contract, to realign all their similar funding arrangements to a common date. The contract is seen to be working well.
A variation to the Norfolk-wide arrangements for waste recycling has been agreed. It will cost NNDC around an extra £80,000 p a and is due to higher than anticipated levels of non-recyclables put in the green bins.
The Council has recently announced that its car parks will be free on 11th November to facilitate attendance at Remembrance Services. Also that planning permission has now been granted for the erection of a replacement for the Splash leisure centre. Work on relocating the skate-board park will commence shortly.
The Planning Policy manager recently held two meetings for town and parish councillors regarding the progress of the Local Plan to cover 2016-2036. The current requirement is to build 10,800 homes in North Norfolk over the 20 year period. This equates to an average of 540 pa which is considerably higher than achieved in the past. Some 2,000 of these homes would need to be "affordable". The great majority of new development will take place in the major towns, with over 2,000 expected to be in North Walsham. It is yet to be decided to what extent development may be allowed in some of the larger villages and whether a "St Ives" style restriction on new-builds being for permanent residents only would work in practice.