WATLINGTON PARISH COUNCIL

Clerk :  Colin Vince, 17 Bure Close, Watlington, KING'S LYNN,  Norfolk PE33 0TN

DRAFT MINUTES

Minutes of the meeting of WATLINGTON PARISH COUNCIL held on 15 June 2004 at 7.00pm in Watlington Village Hall.

Present: Cllr Lacey (Chairman); Cllrs Amor, Harris, Leedell and Pike.

2 members of the public also attended the meeting.

Apologies for absence: Cllrs Featherby, Golding, Miller and Toates. Borough Councillor Ansell.

JUN 04/1 Declarations of Interest

JUN 04/2 Minutes of the Annual Council meeting held on 4 May 2004

The Minutes of the Annual Council meeting on 4 May 2004 were agreed and signed as a correct record.

JUN 04/3 Matters Arising from the Annual Council Meeting

The clerk reported that Watlington Information Centre was actively pursuing the matter of the Village Welcome Pack and hoped to report back to the next Parish Council meeting.

JUN 04/4 Minutes of the ordinary Council meeting held on 4 May 2004

The Minutes of the ordinary Council meeting on 4 May 2004 were agreed and signed as a correct record.

JUN 04/5 Clerk’s Report and Matters Arising (Not on the agenda)

The clerk reported that the Council’s funds currently stand at £28,005.13.

The clerk reported that he had looked closely at the documents relating to the boundary between Warren Close Play Area and Rowan Close and was of the opinion that the agreed boundary line at the time of conveyance, despite what the intentions were, did not include the old hawthorn hedge. A letter has been sent to the Borough Planning Office seeking the current developers name and setting out the Council’s concerns about the development on the site.

JUN 04/6  Internal & External Audit of Accounts 2003/2004

Council approved the External Audit Annual Return Statement of Assurance 2003/2004, which was then signed by the Chairman and clerk. The clerk advised that there were no changes in the overall risk management of the Council’s general activities and that he was liasing with Cllr Pike on the play equipment risk assessment.

JUN 04/7 Payments

It was proposed by Cllr Pike, seconded by Cllr Leedell and agreed by Council that the following payments be made:

JUN 04/8 Requests for Grants and Donations

On a proposal from Cllr Leedell, seconded by Cllr Pike and agreed by Council the following decisions were made:

JUN 04/9 Planning Applications

The following decisions were agreed:

The following decisions from BCKLWN were noted:

JUN 04/10 Traffic Management

It was agreed that a decision on gateway signs should be left until the next meeting, when it was hoped that Cllr Rockcliffe would be able to give more details on how the sign at Runcton Holme was funded and he could confirm the pricing he had been given for installing similar signs at the other four gateways into the village.

A brief discussion was held on speed reactive signs and the consensus of opinion was that they were too expensive, though no formal decision was taken.

Council welcomed the news that NCC would be further investigating in the current year the possibility of a 40mph zone along Station Road between the village and Magdalen and that early indications were that such a speed restriction may well be introduced.

JUN 04/11 Highways and Footways Submission to the County Council

The clerk advised that the highways inspector had recently called seeking suggestions so he had been advised of areas of concern put forward before the meeting, namely Church Road highway between the shop and the Recreation Ground entrance causing pedestrian spraying problems in wet conditions, the same length of footway, which is a poor uneven surface, which had also been pointed out when the Recreation Ground Accessibility Audit was carried out and School Road footway, north side, between St Peter’s Road and the Angel Pub where much of the surface is poor and there is a lack of kerbing along much of its length.

At the meeting Cllr Pike added to this list, namely a difficulty for pedestrians crossing from Thieves Bridge Road to Downham Road because of sight lines and the need for a barrier at the edge of the footway on Downham Road at the end of the footpath on the Millennium Green.

It was agreed that the clerk would draw up a complete list of all these items, along with other similar items agreed by Council in the last year, and submit the list to NCC.

JUN 04/12 Rail Station Car Park

The chairman read two letters, from NCC and WAGN, regarding the station car park. Although there are no promises of an upgrade of the size of the site it has emerged that WAGN are now to landscape the existing site on the weekend of 19/20 June.

A brief discussion was held on illegal parking rules and it was agreed that Cllr Amor would seek advice on this subject from the Mobile Police Station.

JUN 04/13 Lease of the Glebe Lands

Council noted that the 10 year lease at an annual rental of £380 a year had now been signed.

On a proposal from the Community Projects Committee, Council agreed the following:

1)     That a separate Parish Council Committee be set up to deal with the management of the Glebe Lands, including the development of the football pitch, and this committee be delegated to incur reasonable expenditure between Council meetings to keep the football pitch project on-going. The committee should seek to co-opt interested members of the community onto the committee.

2)     A site visit by Norfolk County Services to provide expert opinion on the best way to achieve a playable football pitch.

3)     3 quotes to be sought to carry out any necessary works on the site, through the new committee.

It was agreed that the Glebe Committee members would be Cllrs Lacey, Golding, Leedell and Toates.

On a proposal from Cllr Harris, seconded by Cllr Pike and agreed by Council, the Glebe Committee was given an expenditure limit of £1000 from the General Projects Budget to incur any necessary expenditure to keep the football pitch project on-going between Council meetings.

On a proposal from the Chairman, Council agreed to release the £100 grant awarded to Watlington Youth Football Club, now that the container has been painted an environmentally friendly green colour.

A letter from a parishioner seeking a new basketball pitch on the Glebe land was noted.

JUN 04/14 Community Projects Committee

After discussion, on a proposal by Cllr Pike, seconded by Cllr Leedell, Council agreed that the Leylandii hedge on the south side of the Recreation Ground should be cut back to approximately six feet in height from the entrance to the Skateboard Park area to Church Road and that the hedging on Church Road between the car park entrance and the field access gate should be reduced in height to the existing fence level, subject to no serious objections from the Village Hall Committee and the Sports & Social Club and to satisfactory quotes being received. Cllr Pike agreed to assist in dealing with the quote specification.

[At 8.20pm the Chairman closed the meeting for a site visit to the skateboard equipment. The meeting re-opened at 8.27pm]

On a proposal from Cllr Harris, seconded by Cllr Pike, Council agreed that necessary repairs to the metal caging on the Skateboard Park be undertaken and that given the specialist nature of the work, Mr Warren, the local blacksmith be contacted to carry out the work.

On a proposal from the Community Projects Committee, Council agreed the following:

1)     That the Play Equipment Project is phased with a ‘tots’ area being provided first at a cost of approximately £18,000 on the Recreation Ground with a new contour slide to be provided for the Warren Close Play Area at a cost of £3000.

2)     That an additional £1500 be put towards the cost of the Warren Close slide, £500 of this to come from a projected underspend on the insurance budget and £1000 from the General Projects Fund.

3)     To pay for a small amount of pre-mix concrete to cement in a pair of new small goal posts which have been donated by a parishioner to replace the existing posts at the Warren Close Play Area.

4)     That a separate play equipment budget be set up to deal with repairs and to build up funds for new or replacement items. Initial funds to come in part from the current Play Areas/Open spaces budget (this budget to become solely the Open Spaces budget) and in part from the General Projects Fund. The Community Projects Committee, currently overseeing all play equipment, to recommend suitable expenditure to full Council and in an emergency agree urgent repairs in consultation with the Parish Council Chairman.

It was agreed that the clerk would draw up a revised budget to take account of all the changes agreed at the meeting for presentation at the next Council meeting.

It was also agreed that consideration would be given to proving fencing around the Skateboard Park, to give a physical separation from the Basketball Court, this to be considered by the Community Projects Committee.

JUN 04/15 Footway Lighting

The clerk reported that the part funding bid for an additional footway light in Britton Close was out for consultation at the Borough Council.

In the absence of Cllr Miller, the matter of the lighting on Dolcie’s Path was deferred to the next meeting.

The clerk reported that a Phillips Bowl light deflector is missing from Footway Lighting Unit 9011 in Mill Road and advised that this item is not covered by the footway lighting maintenance agreement. On a proposal from the Chairman, Council agreed to the quotation of £95 from McAlpine for a replacement part, funding to come from the lighting repair budget.

The chairman spoke on the issue of the almost daily occurrence of transient power cuts in the village. It was agreed that the clerk would send a letter of complaint to EDF Energy. Councillors were also encouraged to make their own complaints.

JUN 04/16 Environment Committee

The clerk reported on behalf of Cllr Rockcliffe on the completion of resurfacing of Fairfield Lane. Council agreed that a letter of thanks should be sent to JA Brothers for their voluntary work in rolling out the surface.

The Chairman agreed to visit the owner of 52 Downham Road to seek the cutting of branches overhanging the footway in Rectory Road.

Council agreed to the annual spraying of the footpaths under the terms of the maintenance contract.

A letter from a parishioner in Wensum Close was read out regarding the overhanging shrubs on the margins of St Peter’s Road. It was agreed that the clerk would write to the Borough Council to support the need for pruning work and at the same time to request cutting back the shrubbery on the footpath between Britton Close and the St Peter’s Estate.

JUN 04/17 Millennium Green

There was no report to hand.

JUN 04/18 Correspondence for Action

JUN 04/19 Correspondence for Information

JUN 04/20 Members Information

Cllr Pike reminded the Council that £300 is available in the budget for new litter bins and agreed to follow up on this matter. The clerk advised that now that the person clearing the Recreation Ground of litter under the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Scheme had finished his work, he would be asking the Litter Pickers to include the site on their rounds.

Cllr Amor raised the issue of dog litter, especially on play areas. Council agreed that this is a problem, but apart from suitable signage it was a difficult matter to deal with.

The Chairman agreed to pass on the good wishes of the Council to Cllr Featherby.

There being no other business the Council rose at 8.55pm.

The next meeting of the Council is on Tuesday 27 July 2004 in the Village Hall.

SIGNED

Chairman                                                          Clerk                                        27 July 2004