2008 Annual Report to Parishioners.

Meetings.

When I first became a councillor we used to meet once every three months, that increased to bi-monthly meetings and then, I suppose to be in line with other councils we decided to meet once a month. We do not really have enough business to require that but it does mean that we don’t have mountains of ‘council tax created ‘ paper to wade through.

However, the problem with setting that schedule is that if we fail to meet every month it looks as if we not performing as we should. Over the last twelve months we decided that because it is always difficult to get everyone together in July as well as August we would skip both of those and we do not meet in December either. We also missed one other meeting for some reason that I cannot remember, anyway we still meet far more often than in earlier times but only eight times during the last year.

Joint Meeting.

Just a couple of weeks before last year’s Annual Report we had the joint meeting of The Raulf Greneway Trust, The PCC and the Parish Council. This was quite successful and saw the setting up of a Village Help Line system. The first recipient (now sadly deceased) was Simon Beck who was a perfect test case. He used it for the best part of year and it seems to have worked although I think the main burden of it fell on Desmond. The most heartening part for me however, was the number of people who were willing to be included on the contact list. There will be others who will be in need of this system in the future, so now it is set up we must ensure that it does not slip off the agenda.

The Bridge.

The saga of the bridge was finally resolved, as you may remember NCC had managed after nearly a year of delay to repaired it and then did a really bad job of it using unskilled labour, which made a complete joke of its status as a Grade One listed monument. After fruitless attempts to get NCC to accept this we contacted English Heritage who made them do it again. This was done and is now I think you will agree very satisfactory.

The Green.

Earlier in the year we employed Chris Wells to level out the most eroded part of the Green and fill in with hardcore. He level was deliberately left low because it is our intention eventually, to cover this with soil and seed it through a honey comb membrane, which should allow the grass to grow despite wear and tear from vehicles. The owners of the pub paid for the work and we shall be seeking a contribution from them toward any future work we need to do. It has been forcefully pointed out to this council that the area used by cars has considerable commercial value to the pub and that we should put an agreement in place with them that reflects this. We have discussed it at length and will get the situation formalised in due course. We must not forget though that they are not the only users or beneficiaries of that area.

The Downs.

As you know we jointly manage Wiveton Downs now with NCC, they contacted us recently to tell us that NNDC feel that a dog excrement bin should be placed up there. Needless to say your council are not very happy about that, firstly I suppose because we do not feel that the management of that area is anything to do with NNDC and secondly because like NCC they are just a bit too keen to litter the place with signs, post, steps seats etc. Having said that we do agree that dog’s mess is a problem up there, not a great problem, but nevertheless something that we really ought to try a bit harder to stop.

Temporary signs have been suggested, signs of a laminated kind could easily be put up all around the site to make absolutely sure they are seen. Reminding dog owners perhaps of the very heavy fine that comes with dog fouling. Whatever we decide to do we want to try and find local solution first.

Village Party.

Although nearly everyone in the village attended I do still need to report that it was, like the first one, a great success. This was of course entirely due the sort of village Wiveton is, always keen to turn out and equally keen to muck in and lend a hand. All the Councillors worked hard as did the ladies of the Parish Room Committee and all those who brought salads and desserts. My thanks to all of them. At present this is a bi-annual event so look for the next one in the late summer of 2009. There are some who would like it to be an annual event (which I suppose it could be) but if it were it might well preclude other events from happening.

Speed Reduction Signs.

We have made slow progress through the year with our speed reduction signs and these are almost ready, I have one here to show you. We do not expect these to meet with universal approval, some who dislike Norfolk vernacular speech may well not approve, but if they get people talking and thereby get noticed they will be effective, their main purpose is to affect people’s driving behaviour and in other places this type of approach has had some success, so let us hope that it works here too.

Flood Warden’s Report.

For the first time since being Flood Warden I actually have something to report. For several days before the tidal surge of the 9^th November 2007 I had watched the BBC’s pressure charts and the GB Wind map to see an ever more focussed forecast for very strong winds coinciding with large spring tides which indicated a severe event. As reported here last year I attended a flood exercise at Cley organised (or perhaps disorganised would describe it better ) by NNDC, witnessing that it became quite clear to me that should Wiveton experience the real thing we would not be well served by the contingencies that are in place at present. If they could not get it right on a calm sunny day they would stand no chance in the dark in a Force 10 gale. In order to be satisfied that I would be able to execute my responsibilities as flood warden to a standard that those at risk have every right to expect, it was clear that we had to have our own flood plan.

In brief it is as follows. The evacuation point for those who live north of Leatherpool Lane is Wiveton Hall and for all those to the south of the Leatherpool Lane, Chapel Lane crossroads it is the Parish Room. Any evacuation would be temporary, once everyone had been accounted for they will all be accommodated in nearby households until the emergency is over, these households have all been identified and know who they are. This avoids those evacuated being carted off to Holt Community Centre where they would probably spend the night on the floor.

On the 8^th of Nov buoys off the east coast of Scotland were recording wind speeds up to 100 mph which set alarm bells ringing for me for the morning tide of the 9^th. As Sods law would have it neither of the deputy flood wardens were in the village that night, but fortunately John Ramm had also seen the forecast rang me and volunteered. The crucial factor for tidal flooding in Wiveton is the Blakeney- Cley sea bank, should this give way our main defence would be the bank across the valley built after the 1953 floods. This is quite a substantial bank but the consequences of a large body of water impacting against it (which is what would happen should the Blakeney bank breach are unknown, in fact probably unknowable, as the size of any breach that might occur in the Blakeney bank are quite unpredictable.

The main task then for our flood wardens is to keep a regular check from either end of that bank. On the 9^th November it was high water at 7.30 am. Woken up by the wind at 4.30 am I went over to Blakeney to discover the tide already across the road, this gave me sufficient cause for concern to decide that the situation, while not serious enough to implement the flood plan proper, did present a very good opportunity to rehearse the first and most important part of it which was to ensure that all those liable to flooding and living in single story dwellings were pre-warned.

John and I waited until at one hour before predicted high water at Blakeney by which time the tide had reached to within a foot or so of the top of the bank and then came back and warned those I have mentioned. They were told that there was very little likelihood that they would actually have to evacuate, but that should they have to, it would be easier if they were up, dressed , and ready and had made whatever arrangements necessary for their pets. Considering that they were all woken up at such an ungodly hour they were all surprisingly grateful to us, and I was very pleased with how smoothly (compared to the NNDC fiasco) it went. The main lesson learned from the exercise was that while we now know with some confidence that it will work, we also know that just a couple of designated wardens is not enough, there is always a likelihood that one or more wardens will be out of the village when such an event occurs. So now all the male members of the council are flood wardens, and the ladies; well of course can be if they wish.

Fluvial Flooding.

Last summer’s heavy rain saw flooding in many places, the Glaven would under normal circumstances have been quite able to accommodate the rain that we had, but in the event several properties came very close to being flooded. The reason for this was not that the river or flood plain could not accommodate the amount of rainfall but that the coast road sluice, which should have allowed the water to get away to sea, was shut. I contacted NNDC’s emergency planning officer and he contacted the Environment Agency and they came from Ipswich to open it. Now in fairness to them they did respond quickly once they knew, but them having to come all the way from Suffolk does beg the question of why the gates are not managed locally.

I spoke about this with the National Trust’s Property manager and discovered that they too would like the main Cley road sluice to be more responsively managed. To enable them to control the water levels in Blakeney Freshes. But I’m sure you can imagine the sort of Fusspot Fanny nonsense we would to run into if we were to ask the Environment Agency if ‘we’ could do it. The National Trust, however, might. There seemed to be no reason why their wardens could not be specially trained to turn a handle three times in a clockwise direction, a four-month course ought to suffice.

To that end I have been trying to organise a meeting with EA. Not confident that they would feel this council important enough to meet with, I had left it to NNDC’s Emergency Planning Officer to do it. I gave him the first set of possible dates in January, but he failed to get anything organised, a month ago I got onto him again but still nothing. I lost my patience last week and sent him a very blunt email that has at the eleventh hour produced a telephone response from EA, the person I spoke to has assured me that a meeting would be arranged with at least two operatives from EA within the next six weeks.

AWA Pumping Station

There has been a long-standing problem with the sewerage system that serves the low-lying properties in Chapel Lane backing up. We managed to organise a meeting with Anglian Water’s representative at the pumping station on the 27^th February along with the residents affected by these pump failures. As far as I could judge it was a constructive meeting, it emerged that the equipment in the pump house is about forty years old and we were told that a case could be made to upgrade it. The engineer said she would find out more about this and come back to us. I asked that she uses the Parish Council as the contact point and we now await her findings. I expect we will continue to wait unless we pre-empt something.

My personal concern is that Anglian Water being a private company with share holders and profits to consider, will consider the cost of a new pump (which is bound to be considerable) set against the relatively small number of properties affected too high and this may result in a promise to send out engineers whenever it happens rather than fixing the problem. Which is basically what we have now.