MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF SPIXWORTH PARISH COUNCIL held at
7.30pm on TUESDAY 7 AUGUST 2007 at SPIXWORTH VILLAGE HALL

PRESENT
COUNCILLORS:
Mr Ward (Vice-Chairman)
Mr Barrell
Ms Cullum
Mrs Doy
Mrs Holdroyd
Mr Manning
Mr Potter
Mr Sadler
Mr Watson
CLERK: Mrs R. Rose
One member of the public

A note of the items raised in the Public Speaking session is attached to the signed copy of these minutes.

Sergeant Rachel Thrussell (Norfolk Constabulary, Sprowston Sector) and Mervyn Middleton (Community Safety Partnership Co-ordinator, Broadland District Council) attended to speak on the Safer Neighbourhood Team Initiative. A report on this item is attached to the signed copy of these minutes.

MR WARD took the Chair and welcomed everyone to the meeting. He welcomed Mr R. Manning to his first meeting as co-opted Parish Councillor. Mr Manning had signed his Declaration of Acceptance of Office earlier in the presence of the Clerk. He accepted the invitation to serve on the Highways Committee.

1. APOLOGIES were accepted from Mr Fitt (Chairman), Mr Mills, Mr Thompson, District Council B. Kular and County Councillor A. Williams

2. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

Councillor Sadler: as Chair of Broadland Standards Committee and a member of the Broadland Community Partnership (public bodies); a member of the Executive Committee of NCAPTC; Vice-Chairman of the Norwich Airport Joint Consultative Committee; a personal interest in any matter relating to the Code of Conduct or the bodies stated.

3. THE MINUTES of the previous meeting held on 3 July 2007, which had been circulated, were agreed, and signed by the Chairman as a true record.

4. MATTERS ARISING

4.1 (None not covered by the agenda)

5. FINANCE

5.1 Balances were noted.
Cheques and Payments detailed on the attached schedule and totalling £3,145.86 were authorised for payment.

5.2 Application for Financial Assistance
A donation of £75 was AGREED for Norwich & District CAB.

5.3 Finance & General Purposes Committee
The minutes of the Committee meeting held 18 July 2007 were RATIFIED.

5.4 Bank Signatory Mandate
The number of signatories for a community Account was restricted to three. Accordingly the meeting AGREED that these should be the Chairman, Vice-Chairman and the Clerk. Cheques could be signed by any two of these, and the Clerk operated the Council's internet banking.

6. PLANNING MATTERS

6.1 Planning Committee
6.1.1 The minutes of the committee meeting held 3 July 2007 were RATIFIED.

6.1.2 Councillor Doy gave verbal report of the Committee meeting held immediately prior to the Council meeting; the Council AGREED the recommendations on applications made.

6.2 Permissions and Enforcement Matters
6.2.1 The Clerk reported that the application for 4 bungalows on a site at 10 Sydney Road had been refused.

6.2.2 The enforcement case for extension to garden / erection of fence over 2 metres at 33 Redwing Gardens was still pending outcome of appeal.

6.3 Any Other Planning Matters
Councillor Barrell raised the point that 99% of conservatory extensions to dwellings were unobtrusive. However, he queried whether the non-glass materials should be the same colour as on the main dwelling. The Clerk would raise this with the Planning Department at Broadland District Council, and also query whether the replacement of a conservatory with one of the same size required planning permission.

(The member of the public left the meeting at this point)

7. CORRESPONDENCE

7.1 Correspondence List
A list of the correspondence received had been circulated, and was updated at the meeting; all items were available from the Clerk. A list is attached to the signed copy of these minutes.

7.2 Invitations to Meetings
7.2.1 NCAPTC: Meeting to Discuss Norwich Boundary Issues: the Chairman had indicated his willingness to attend this meeting on 23 August in Sprowston if it went ahead.
7.2.2 The NCAPTC AGM would be placed on the Agenda for the September meeting.

8. HIGHWAYS MATTERS

8.1 Maintenance Matters Update
The initial report of maintenance matters using the new system had been made to the Highways department. A total of 41 instances where repair was needed had been logged. The time taken to attend to these would be monitored. Three further forms were handed in at the meeting.

8.2 Any Other Highways Matters
Reports were made verbally about overhanging foliage and the poor state of weed-killing in the village.

9. AMENITIES MATTERS

9.1 Broadland Play Strategy
The meeting had received the minutes of the Working Party meetings held on 11 July and 1 August, and Councillor Doy updated the meeting on a field trip made to various locations in the district to look at the facilities available. It appeared from consultations with the target age group that provision of a youth shelter was the priority, but the Working Party was looking at also providing play equipment designed for the teenage sector.

There was discussion on the ownership and insurance issues of any equipment provided, and it was acknowledged that the Parish Council would be the best authority to deliver the project, using Village Hall land by agreement.

The Broadland District Council officer guiding the Spixworth project had indicated that a pledge of funding from the Parish Council would assist in generating match-funding to deliver an enhanced scheme. Proposed by Councillor Watson, seconded by Councillor Potter and AGREED, the Council would include a £4,000 pledge of funds from the 2008/09 budget.

10. SPIXWORTH VILLAGE HALL

Councillor Potter reported on his and Councillor Fitt's attendance at the Management Committee's AGM and ordinary Committee meeting held on 31 July 2007. Both meetings had been poorly attended by the members and public alike. The Secretary resigned at the AGM, citing his concern that the Village Hall Management Committee was in breach of Charity Commission rules regarding the constituent membership. The matter of a review of the constitution had been raised at the June Committee meeting and should have been included on the agenda for the July meeting.

There followed discussion about the running of the Village Hall complex, and whether it would thrive under a different management structure. Once a likely proposal became clear during discussion of this item, Councillors Potter, Ward and Watson declared personal interests by reason of their involvement with various aspects of the Village Hall.

As a result of the comments made in Councillor Potter's report of the Village Hall Management Committee AGM and July Committee meetings, it was proposed that, in the interests of the parish at large, the Parish Council should actively involve itself in any discussions regarding the future of the Village Hall complex.

The Clerk would try to arrange a meeting with representatives of the Village Hall and Social Club within the next few weeks.

11. POLICE MATTERS

11.1 Crime Statistics
The figures for July were presented to the meeting; 28 calls had been taken by the Control Room from/regarding the parish, and 7 crimes had been logged. The Clerk would seek more information on the rowdy / nuisance behaviour incidents.

11.2 Road Traffic Collisions
The Clerk reported on the locations of the RTCs reported at the previous meeting.

12. NORWICH INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

12.1 Consultative Committee
The minutes of the meeting held 18 June 2007 had been circulated. There had been no further response from the Managing Director regarding helicopter flight paths, but the meeting noted that there had been several complaints about helicopter traffic.

13. STANDING ORDERS

Proposed by Councillor Doy, seconded by Councillor Cullum, the amendment to Standing Order No 69 as outlined in the minutes of the Finance & General Purposes Committee meeting held 18 July 2007 stood adjourned to the following meeting.

14. REPORTS FROM DISTRICT / COUNTY COUNCILLORS

Neither District Councillor was present.

County Councillor Williams had sent his apologies to the Clerk, and at the same time had given his thoughts on future courses of action regarding the Norwich City bid for unitary status. The Government had not endorsed the Norwich bid outright, but had recommended that the Boundary Committee undertake a review of the city boundaries at the earliest opportunity once powers had been granted under the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act. This was seen as giving a cautious green light to the City that unitary status might subsequently be granted.

County Councillor Williams recommended that, if Spixworth still resisted being part of Greater Norwich, it objected on the grounds of its rural status, and that it used organisations such as NCAPTC and similar in its lobbying.

15. AOB

The Clerk would report disturbances by Mini-moto riders on land to the south of Arthurton Road.

There being no further business, the meeting closed at 9.50pm