Wiveton Parish Council.

Chairman’s Report.  27. 05. 2010

Good evening everyone and welcome to our 2010 Annual Report to Parishioners.

We have apologies from Sir Roy and Ann Austen Smith, Peter and Dinah Comins, and Annette Grundy.

I have also to begin with an apology, first for the lateness of this meeting; we would normally have had it a month ago, and second that due to the unexpected loss of our Clerk and subsequent events we also will not be able to give a complete report of our accounts for 2009. However, when they are complete they will appear on the notice board and the web site, if any of you would like seem them just let me know at the end of the meeting and I will ensure that you receive a copy.

The circumstances that brought this about were largely outside this council, but the sudden resignation and a subsequent loss of contact with our clerk, with this report, the AGM, and an external audit imminent this could not have been more ill timed. However, through the good offices of our County Councillor Marie Strong we have been very fortunate in being able to employ the services of Kevin Webb (he is clerk to North Elmham PC and is an ex-bank inspector) to see us through this difficult period.

As the minutes for our last ARP are brief I will, as I know some of you prefer, read through them, they do in any case set a context for some of my report.

Meetings.

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

2009 Village Street Party.

One item discussed at the last ARP was our biannual Street Party; it was decided then to bring the date for it forward to July instead of the usual late August and we might have hoped for better weather, in the event we had a day of violent thunderstorms and torrential rain. That of course made little difference, everyone mucked in and thanks to David Mostyn and Morston Parish Council we had enough tents to still be able to have the party in the Street. It was, as it always is, a great success and I must thank all of you for your generous contributions toward it the food as always was fantastic

Village Green Surface Repairs.

This has been a lengthy process, the timing of the when grass seed has to be sown and the time it takes to grow was further compounded by the contractor (contrary to instructions) putting the original soil back over the membrane instead of new soil. This of course was polluted with salt, petrol, oil etc from many years of cars on it and subsequently the new grass did not grow well. Nevertheless, we are at last beginning to get there, the cellular membrane is working the grass has been treated and is growing and the area will soon be green again.

I wrote this on the afternoon of Sunday 31^st May, just an hour later I was informed that a water main had burst under the membrane which basically means that we will have to redo a large part of that area all over again. When I was on Blakeney Parish Council we dredged 40,000 tons of sand out of Blakeney New-Cut in less time than it has taken to do this!

Anyway, a consequences of the area looking so scruffy for so long and now probably continuing to, has been a general change of heart with regard to the use of the land on Langham Road. Adequately screened this area could be used for permanent parking for some of the Bell’s customers and other users. Toward this end we have begun by planting a hedge on the Glandford Road and will plant another between the two entrances.

However, this idea is not without its problems, during its present temporary period of use, and despite signs telling them not too, people continue to walk round to the pub on the road, and when one reflects on the number and type of accidents that have occurred on this bend in the past it would only be a matter of time before a car coming into the village too fast coincides with people in the road. So if this idea is to be pursued much more will have to be done to keep people safe. A dedicated path along the Green and signs that would indicate clearly enough to ensure that everyone uses it would seem to be essential. This the council think can be done in a way that would not destroy the character and look of the Green. However, it has to be said that it would not improve it.

As with most things, any permanent resolution of the problem will require compromises from my own conversations with parishioners there appear to mixed feelings about this. Some would like to see and end to all parking on our Village Green, others would be happy to just see a reduction. Most seem to think that the ‘Bell’ itself could do more in the way they manage the parking of their own vehicles to ease the problem.

Because of the importance of our Green as the heart of the village conservation area and the first impression people get coming into that end of the village, the council needs a clear indication from all of you as to what would be the best approach to this problem. I would therefore, appreciate the views of everyone here tonight on this proposal.

I should add that it has also become clear to me that there is considerable antipathy in the village toward the Bell and their use of the Green, so I should not need to remind you that this must not influence or form any part of the basis of the decisions we make in respect of this.

Bus Stop.

At the last ARP the Parish Council agreed that the bus stop adjacent to the seat located across from the village green would be provided with a hard standing gravelled surface at the regulation height and slope, which would meet the requirements for disabled access.   Sleepers would also be used instead of kerbstone.  This has now been completed and looks very good

Increase in traffic through the Street.

The growing success of Desmond’s Cafe resulted in a significant increase in traffic through the ‘Street’ at the last ARP there was agreement that something ought to be done about this. One suggestion was that visitors going there should be encouraged to use the Blakeney Road to the main A149 rather than drive through the village.  To this end the council; decided that we should approach Desmond with the suggestion that he might like to advertise his Fruit Farm and Café with a sign on the Glandford Road, which also included direction to it via Blakeney. This has been done and from first reports it would seem to be very effective.

Affordable Housing.

We are continuing to explore what possibilities there might be for this with John Seymour of BNHS. However, there are difficulties, the new LDF precludes all development in small villages confining it to larger settlements like Blakeney. To progress with affordable housing we or rather they, along with Broadland Housing Association need to get an exceptions order. The difficulty is that BNHS have a policy for providing homes for those who were born within their catchment area and of course in our modern and perfectly equal society this is seen as discriminatory and so they would not be given an exception order unless they change their policy and make their houses available to anyone no matter where they come from, which of course would totally defeat the object of their exercise.

Planning.

We have had no controversial planning applications during the last year, we objected to a large house and double garage at Jonellyn, the application for which was subsequently refused by NNDC. The applicants then consulted with us before submitting further plans this process resulted in further plans have now been approved to everyone’s satisfaction.

Village Care Line.

At present we have three Parishioners benefitting from this scheme. However, because interest rates are so low one of the recipients has volunteered to pay for her own to reduce the amount the Greenaway Trust has to draw on its resources. I hope this will only be temporary as the scheme is supposed to be free to all who need it irrespective of their circumstances.

Councillors.

As you all are aware at present we have a vacancy for a councillor having lost Richard Allen. I have always believed the adage that the country gets the government that it deserves and so far this has also been true for this Parish, so I am confident we will get a good response to the flyer that has gone round. Parish Councils may be the lowest tier of local government but they are nevertheless, independent and autonomous. Being a councillor is both enjoyable and rewarding, we may not have a formal statutory role but we do have influence, and have through our VDS and other representations have had a major role in a number of important planning decisions in the past. This apart, as a council we consider our principal function to be a catalyst for village harmony. This village is almost unique in the way it functions, as a community and the Parish Council are proud to have had role in that. So as it said on the flyer it might not be a life changing decision but it could prove to be more interesting than you think. Those who put their names forward can receive their co-option consent forms from me and when the appropriate time has passed we will elect a new councillor from among them.

As our ‘Standing Orders’ are at present this would be done with a show of hands, or a secret ballot which is quite likely to end in a tied vote where I would then have the casting vote, a situation I am understandably anxious to avoid, therefore I am recommending a change to our standing orders for this. It would be as follows. We will produce a small ballot slip with each of the candidate’s names on it with a space for votes beside it. So if for example there five candidates, each councillor will have six votes, three for their first choice two for their second choice and one for their third choice, if there are fewer candidates we would reduce the number of votes to three. The slips would then put into a box and then counted. In this way a tied vote is much less likely and the candidate we choose will have had a majority vote from all the council. This makes the voting anonymous which is always a good thing in a small community.

Next Meeting.

The next meeting will be our Annual General Meeting, normally this would follow on directly after this meeting, but with all that is happening and our being without a permanent clerk we will have that meeting in approx two weeks time the date will be advertised on the notice board. Apart from giving me a breathing space it will also ensure that what we have learned this evening can inform the decisions we have to make with regard to the Green.

Thanks.

All that remains is for me to thank your councillors for all their time, hard work and support throughout the year. In all my years as Parish Councillor I have not worked with a better team.

Godfrey Sayers

Chairman

Wiveton Parish Council