Wiveton Parish Council.-

 Chairman’s Report.  18. 05. 2011-

Annual Report.

The Parish Council has met on 8 occasions throughout the past year, we do not meet in July, August or December, and we did not meet in February. -

At the time of the last ARP we had a vacancy for one councillor, we subsequently advertised this and got a very positive response with 5 candidates putting their names forward. Carolyn Newman was elected and she has served us extremely well during the last year.

Sadly for this election she was late (although not by much) getting her nomination papers to NNDC and although she took them in person she was met with a not unexpected “no sorry we cannot accept them its past the mid-day deadline. ‘ Rules are Rules’! Carolyn has made a very positive contribution to the council over the past year and we are going to miss her.

However, as it happened, John Ratcliff had stepped up to the mark again so we had enough people to form a council without having to have an election. Which has saved us some money.

So while I must thank Carolyn most sincerely from all of us for her contribution, it is also a pleasure to welcome John back to the council.

The Village Green.

Last years report on the Green began with the words ‘This has been a lengthy process’ I can report that we are in the final stages, but we are not quite there yet, the physical work is complete but these last stages now rest with John and the NNDC.

There are a few more I’s to dot and T’s to cross, for example we will need a couple of signs like those we have on the Cley Hill path warning people about fast moving traffic before crossing to the pub and also a sign telling them that it is a permissive path. The temporary banking on the south Green will need to be re-profiled at some point and as a few cars are still getting on to it through the space left for a the cutting tractor we will need a locking bar of some kind so access can be maintained for the cutter and for us if we have village events that would cause an overflow of the Langham Road parking area. Norfolk County Services will supply us with a lock for that purpose.

I have also asked for them to come out and re-estimate the cost of cutting as we only have two areas to be cut now instead of three.

Last year we had quite a bit of discussion on how we might reduce or remove parking on the south section of the Village Green; during our discussions Elizabeth Smith, NNDC’s solicitor who was present, informed us that allowing cars to park on a Village Green is illegal. Technically not even the bus shelter should be there. I have to say that we did know this but were pretending that we didn’t. However, her saying it changed that. In any case it was quite clear by then that the majority of those present did not want cars parked on the Village Green anyway.

After the meeting Annette Grundy came up with an idea that seemed to offer a solution. This was to improve the previously informal parking on Langham Road, provide it with a better surface and link it to the pub via a footway across John’s field. As John was agreeable it seemed that at last we had a way forward. Although, at that point we thought it might be something for the future when sufficient cash could be accumulated.

Then suddenly through our clerk’s initiative we received the pleasant surprise of a £1200.00 refund from Barclays Bank and so with most of our precept still intact we realised that providing we were vary careful, we would be able to get on with it straight away.

Highways were contacted as were NNDC, Phil Godwin, NNDC’s Conservation Officer came to see us and enthusiastically offered us his support, however, as we have seen neither hide nor of him or it since.

Two Highways officials visited, one of them twice, and like Phil Godwin also supported the scheme. Although it was not until we were well advanced with the work did they informed us that we would need planning permission, and here lies the real cause of my concern as to how much longer it will take. Things move slowly at North Norfolk and if we wait until permission is granted before allowing people to use the path we perpetuate the serious risk of accidents to people wandering round the bend on the road. Therefore, I think planning permission might have to retrospective.

That the work has proceeded as well as it has and at a much lower cost that we first envisaged is entirely down to Steve and John, between them they have organised a number of small contractors, and orchestrating the work so as to get the best value from each. Steve on occasion employing them for part of the day and then having them finish the day working on the path, we would not have achieved any of this within our meagre resources but for this. Peter Adcock and George Crawley also lent a hand with the physical work and we had a useful monetary contribution from a parishioner. We are indebted to them all.

Bus Stop.

As I reported last year we had to blockade the ‘Village Green’ to prevent NCC’s contractors from gaining access to construct new modern bus stops that they had not bothered to tell us they were going to install. Having managed to chase them off we had nevertheless, to acknowledge that something better than a grass verge was needed; at least on the south side of the road. Using old railway sleepers and a fine gravel surface we attempted to create a workable bus stop that would sit well in its rural surroundings and provided a adequate standing for boarding and alighting from buses, which then almost to the day, stopped coming. This is such a satisfying job!

Affordable Housing. -

With the introduction of the new Local Development Framework any prospect of affordable housing for the local community seems now to have become very remote. When we first explored the idea with BNH a few years ago, before the LDF was drawn up it would have been possible to proceed if a way forward could have been found. However, BNHS, perhaps because they are a charity seemed to think the land in question was to be given to them, negotiations foundered on this not being the case.

Today we would not even be able to get that far, in the new LDF all of Wiveton is designated as open countryside, which basically means that no new private building is permitted. It is nevertheless, possible to obtain what is called an ‘Exceptions Order’, which will allow a limited amount of affordable housing. However, for this to be granted the applicant must demonstrate that the houses to be built will be made available to any that might like to live in them, no matter where they come from.

BNHS’s policy of housing only those who are born or work in the immediate area is considered to be discriminatory and so they would not be granted such an order. So rules that are intended to ensure fairness are having exactly the opposite effect and local housing needs are being overlooked in an attempt to solve housing difficulties in other parts of the country.

Blakeney for example have quite a large affordable housing allocation approx 30 houses being proposed (down from the originally 60) which sounds like good news, but BPC have continually objected to this as they want the housing to be for local people, and not those on the ‘Common Housing Register. What is the Common Housing Register; well if you would like an affordable house, (and where you live does not matter) you can go to NNDC’s web site and sign on to their Common Housing Register, and this is their mission statement in respect of it?

NNDC and housing associations have launched Your Choice Your Home.  Housing association properties for rent and for sale as affordable homes are advertised through Your Choice Your Home when they are available.   To be considered for a property, applicants on the housing register need to make a “Bid” (although the word bid is used, this does not involve any payment for the property). 

Properties are advertised online on the Your Choice Your Home website and copies of the Property Lists which show the adverts for all the properties currently being advertised are available to view at the Council’s office, Victory Housing Trust’s offices and various other locations. 

Here are just a few of the ( situations ) that make applicants elegible for the Common Housing Register.

Need larger home ?

Have been asked to leave?

Unable to afford present accommodation?

Cannot maintain home or garden?

Being harassed?

Fleeing violence ?

Fleeing harassmen?

Being repossessed or evicted?

The reasons required to be on the register give some idea of the areas NNDC are expecting their candidates to come from. I have a suspicion that behind all this there is a philosophy that believes that taking dysfunctional families out of their hostile urban neighborhoods and dropping them into a rural idyll will make them less dysfunctional. I have no idea whether this works, but whether it does or does not it comes down to a question of who is most deserving, the urban dispossessed or those who were born, work and wish to continue to live here. I do not wish to be involved in making that decision.

So if this is to be the only kind of affordable housing that can be achieved here in Wiveton then I for one would not be favour of it. To build housing for those who live and need to continue to live here is one thing, solving the housing problems of Essex are quite another. My recommendation therefore, is that we no longer have ‘Affordable Housing’ as a priority on our agenda until such time as a more just and sensible climate prevails.

Recently John and I have been independently contacted by the Diocese who wishes to explore the possibility of affordable housing (for local people) on part of the Glebe lands within the village. I explained the aforementioned difficulties to them and they are actively seeking a way forward that gets round the problem. Should they succeed then I am sure they will have our support.

The need for affordable housing for ‘indigenous’ people has been made abundantly clear to our local authority time and time again. I use the word ‘indigenous’ because the word ‘local’ has a completely different meaning to NNDC officers than it does to us. Yet all their policies discriminate against it. It really is a crazy situation, apart from the Common Housing Register there are many other bureaucratic obstacles to overcome, for example parishes like Blakeney and Morston who have quite substantial revenues from car parking and boat parking and have explored how they might underwrite some affordable housing are so hidebound by rules that they cannot allocate the money to anything other than the most basic and simple parish needs. They cannot contribute to their Church, to local social groups or charities and they can do nothing to assist in providing social housing for villagers. It’s their money raised from their own resources and someone else is telling them how they can and cannot spend it. Perhaps the new localism we hear so much about will do something to unlock this ridiculous situation.

Planning.

In September Plans were approved for a replacement Garage at Beacon End and in October for a two-storey dwelling at the Fairway. The Parish Council strongly suggested to the planning committee that this building would fit much better into the village scene if its construction were of dark timber boarding with a pantile roof, this was noted and incorporated into the planning permission.

Steel Bottle Banks.

Before we leave the area of urban policy makers we might just spend a few moments discussing the kind of urban mindset that thinks that steel bottle banks on wheels are a good idea, I was going to say in rural villages but I guess vandals could take them for joy rides anywhere!

There are a couple of suggestions as to what we might do about them, clearly it is not acceptable that those who live near them should have their peace shattered by the racket they make.

The first idea was to recruit the support of other villages that are unhappy with them and see if we could not get the old banks back. I see a number of villages disfigured by them as I cycle round the countryside, but I suspect from their positioning that the inhabitants of those villages don’t have a problem with them.

The second and much better idea is that they be moved up onto the new car park on Langham road.

Village Care Line.-

This continues to work well and so far no buttons have been pressed!

 2011 Village Street Party.-

This year is a Party Year, which is to be held on the last Friday in August, which I believe is the 30^th. We do hope you will be as enthusiastic about this as you have always been, donations can be brought to me and any desserts or salads would also be appreciated. We will of course put invitations round to everyone a week or two before

That concludes my report for 2011, except for me to thank the council for their support, and their loyalty and hard work, also our clerk for his dexterity with the bank. I must also thank our District and County Councillors for all the hard work they do on our behalf.