KPC Minutes December 2006
Minutes of the ordinary meeting held on Tuesday 5 Dec 2006 in the Village Hall.
Present: Alan Young (in the Chair)
Peter Kaye
David Spencer
Karen Herbert-Okey
Norman Dodd
Sally Dodd
County Councillor Wyndham Northam
1. Apologies
Graham Jones (District Councillor)
2. Declarations of Interest
MADRA - Karen Herbert-Okey and Norman Dodd.
Pigneys Wood - Peter Kaye
3. Minutes
The minutes of the last meeting held in November were reviewed. Norman Dodd proposed that these minutes constituted a true record and that they be accepted. This was seconded by Peter Kaye and was carried unanimously. The Chairman initialled and signed these minutes.
4. Matters Arising
(a) Notice board
A quote of £650 for a new larger notice board had been received. This was discussed and it was proposed by Norman Dodd and seconded by David Spencer that this be accepted. This was carried.
Action: The Chairman/Parish Clerk
(b) Hedge/Grass cutting
The Parish Council discussed the general state of hedging. It was agreed that Karen Herbert-Okey along with David Spencer perhaps with some assistance from Andrew Claydon, should review the current state. The Parish Clerk stated that he had received a bill for grass cutting for next year of £449.08 plus VAT. This was discussed, Karen Herbert-Okey proposed this be accepted, and this was seconded by Norman Dodd and carried unanimously. The Parish Clerk was tasked with establishing just what the contractor was responsible for cutting, both of hedges and grass verges.
Action: Parish Clerk
(c) Village Plan update
The Council reviewed the progress so far, and just what had been achieved in a very short space of time. What was needed now was to form sub-committee(s) to carry forward the issues and projects determined by the village in conjunction with the production of an overall Village Plan. The Clerk read out a letter from the Norfolk Rural Community Council (NRCC) offering the sum of £1,000, on the understanding that this was matched, and NRCC acknowledged in any publicity. It was proposed by Karen Herbert-Okey, seconded by Norman Dodd that this be gratefully accepted. This was carried unanimously.
The Chairman stated he would like to go on record and publicly record a vote of thanks to every one in the village who got involved with preparation of the Questionnaire, the delivery and printing, and indeed to everyone who had attended the village meetings; it was heartening to see such an excellent attendance in the village hall. A special vote of thanks goes to Chris Heath for the loan of his IT equipment. This enabled the team to present the data gathered from the Questionnaire in a more meaningful way to the audience in the Village Hall.
The Current production costs stood at £94.40, it was proposed by Peter Kaye and seconded by Norman Dodd that this be paid. This was carried unanimously.
Action: Parish Clerk
5. Finance Statement
The Parish Clerk outlined the current financial situation. With all known bills paid there is £969.12 in the current account, and £2,744.45 in the deposit account.
The Clerks remuneration was agreed.
Action: Parish Clerk
6. Planning
Nil.
7. Correspondence
On circulation.
The Clerk agreed to distribute the correspondence more often as some items had not been actioned in time.
Action: Parish Clerk
8. Village Matters
Village Website
Norman Dodd state that he had reserved www.knapton.eu as the proposed website for the village. Norman proposed that he would now proceed and set the site up. The cost would be in the region of £100 and annual maintenance in the region of £60 to £100 (to be confirmed), this was seconded by Peter Kaye and carried unanimously. There was some discussion on the advertising of this site locally when it was up and running.
Action: Norman Dodd
Pygneys Wood
The Clerk read out a letter that had been received from Mike Cunnington of the North Norfolk Community Woodland Trust (NNCWT) seeking some funding for 2007. The Council considered this request, and discussed the subject at length. In view of the current plans and projects in hand it was felt that the Village was not able to give a grant this year, but would do their utmost to consider requests in the future. It was proposed by Norman Dodd and seconded by David Spencer that the Clerk replies to the letter explaining the Councils decision.
Action: Parish Clerk
Homewatch
With recent resignation of Brenda Lancater, we needed a Councillor to take on the roll of Neighbourhood Watch overall co-ordinator. The Chairman thanked Sally Dodd for kindly accepting this position. It is thought that Sally will call a meeting of all co-ordinators some time in the New Year to re-establish the reporting structure.
9. Reports
County Councillor Wyndham Northam presented the following report to the Parish Council.
Cold Calling Zones. In an attempt to discourage unscrupulous builders etc calling on householders, especially the elderly who are often coerced into signing contracts for unnecessary works the County Council Trading Standards Dept are promoting a scheme to set up No Cold Calling Zones. If requested by Parish Councils they will send an Officer to the P.C. to explain the scheme and set up the Zone if required.
Fire and Rescue Service. Emergency Response Standards. Following public consultation the majority of responders favoured Option 1 in which where a life was at risk in a fire incident an Appliance would arrive at the incident within 10 minutes of the first call being received by the Fire Control Office. All other incidents where a life was at risk an appliance would arrive within 13 minutes. Should a second appliance be required this would arrive within 15 minutes of the first call received.
Malicious Calls. During the last six months 345 calls were received, due to the expertise of our Control Staff under one third were attended. This has saved the Fire Service possibly in excess of £100,000 operational costs.
Free Smoke Alarms. The service is promoting the fitting of Smoke Alarms. If requested a member of the service will visit the home, carry out a fire risk assessment and if appropriate fit an alarm free of charge.
The Budget 2007/08. Last year Central Government reduced the amount of grant they estimated we required by £25Million. This year they estimated we required £202Million.Then they applied their "dampening" method and reduced the grant to £181Million so Norfolk is once again shortchanged to the amount of £21Million.
The White Paper on Local Government. The County Council wishes to continue the present successful but further enhanced two tier system. Norwich City Council is making a bid for Unitary Status and in its bid it will try to take over parts of Broadland and South Norfolk District Councils. Broadland D.C. has already written to the Minister objecting to this bid by Norwich highlighting the poor record of the Norwich City Council. On a budget of £20Million due to bad management they are expected to overspend by £2Million by the end of the year. It is estimated a change to Unitary status would cost in excess of £12 Million which will have to be paid by the local Council Tax payers. It will also mean a tremendous upheaval of services, the setting up of another Adult Social services Directorate, Children's Services Directorate together with the duplication of Officers and staff plus office premises etc etc. Parish Councils are being invited to a Seminar at County Hall at 5.00pm on the 10th January 2007 to discuss this issue.
10. Date of next meeting and agenda items
Next meeting to be held on Tues 2 Jan 2007, at 1930 in the Village Hall.