WIVETON PARISH COUNCIL

Chairman: Mr Godfrey Sayers

Clerk’s Address: Morning Flight

42 High Street

Blakeney

NR25 7AL

Tel: 01263 741576

E-mail: wiveton@glavenvalleycouncils.co.uk

6^thJanuary 2008

The next Parish Council Meeting will be held on TUESDAY 15^th JANUARY 2008 in the Parish Room at 7.30pm.

A G E N D A

1 Reports for information:

Councillor Brettle (if present)

Councillor Derek Baxter (if present)

PC Ken Durrant (if present)

2 Apologies

3 Declarations of interest relating to items on the agenda

4 Minutes of the last Meeting

5 Matters arising for information

6 Correspondence

7 Finance

8 Planning

9 Village Green Surface Repairs – Progress Report

10 Cley Beach Car Park, Café, Memorial; Shelter, East Bank Road Report

11 Flood Warning Consultation Report

11 Parish Land

12 A O B

13 Parishioners Question Time

The next meeting will be held on TUESDAY 19^th FEBRUARY 2008 AT 7.30PM

Tricia Temple-Crowe

Clerk to the Parish Council

Minutes of Wiveton Parish Council Meeting held on Thursday 22^nd November 2007 at 7.30pm

Present: G Sayers (Chairman), G Woodhouse, M Wakelin, P Adcock, R Allen,

J Ramm and S Beal

In attendance: Councillor Brettle, Councillor Derek Baxter and the Clerk

Declarations of Interest The Chairman and Steve Beal declared an interest in item 11 Parish Land.

1 Minutes

The Minutes of the last meeting held on the 16^thOctober 2007 having been distributed in advance were approved and signed as a true record

2 Matters Arising

2:1 Affordable Housing No further progress to report.

2:2 Purchase of Village Signs The Councillors agreed that the wording for the new village signs should be in a traditional format i.e. ‘Slow You Down’

2:3 Flood Sirens The Chairman in his role as a Harbour Commissioner gave a report to the Councillors following the proposals by the Environment Agency to replace the current flood warning siren system. A complete review of the flood warning siren system is to be undertaken along the coast. It is felt that the Environment Agency has a great deal of work to do to improve their current flood warning procedures. All the Flood Wardens in the coastal villages that are affected by the Environment Agencies proposals have been invited to attend meetings organised by Ace Dann to discuss the current and future flood warden procedures.

2:4 Flood Warning Report The Chairman gave a detailed report on the recent severe storm and surge tide and emphasised the need to ensure that although the risk was perhaps minimal in Wiveton a flood warning plan and the procedures to be followed was in place. Due to the possibility that the Blakeney Bank might be breached due to the recent surge tide and storm, the Chairman with assistance from John Ramm had felt that it was necessary to warn parishioners who lived/slept on the ground level of the possible danger. Those parishioners who were advised of the possible danger were grateful to Godfrey and John for warning them and it gave them comfort to know that the situation was being monitored on their behalf. Godfrey felt that it had provided an excellent opportunity to test the flood warning procedures in place for Wiveton and the parishioners would now be consulted to consider any revised procedures.

The flood warnings issued by the Environment Agency had been a cause of considerable undue concern to many people and it was felt that the current flood warning procedures actioned by the Environment Agency must be redefined to avoid unnecessary concern and panic.

Another area of concern was that of fluvial flooding emphasised the heavy rains of the summer was the operation of the Cley road sluice gate. The Environment Agency needs to be encouraged to allow these gates to be operated locally as in the past as their response to flood ing due to heavy and sometimes suddn rain fall is just not quick enough..

3 Correspondence

Brendan Joyce Director of NWT Re the Beach Road Café, Memorial Shelter, Toilets and Car Park At the last meeting Richard Allen had expressed concern regarding the NWT’s future plans for the Beach Road Café, Memorial Shelter, toilets and car park and the Beach Road. It had been agreed that clarification on the future of this areas would be obtained from Brendan Joyce, The Director of the NWT and a response was received that that the area was under consideration.

3 Correspondence

Brendan Joyce Director of NWT Re the Beach Road Café, Memorial Shelter, Toilets and Car Park – Continued

A further letter has also been received from Brendan Joyce regarding the recent tidal surge and storm damage to Cley Beach Car Park, Café, Memorial Shelter and closure of the East Bank Road. The same concerns had been expressed by Cley Parish Council and it was agreed that joint meeting of Wiveton Parish Council and Cley Parish with Brendan Joyce will take place at 7.00pm on the 8^th January at Cley Social.

N C C Norfolk Matters

Go East – Consultation on the assessment of the plan under the European Habitats Directive.

CPRE Light Pollution Guidance Notes and Standard Clause

4 Finance

N N D C – Parish Election Charges £209.15.

5 Parish Land

John Ramm informed the Councillors that following a further inspection of the allotted land some improvements have been carried out and the area is much tidier. A proposal has been put forward for discussion to allow some of the allotted land area which at the moment is not used due to excess surface water to be, if it can be drained, for temporary use. Mr Gomer has relinquished his allotment and the remaining area has been divided into two allotments instead of three to make the allotments shorter and wider. The lower allotment area will retained as a wetland conservation area.

7 Parking on the Village Green

The Chairman had been in contact the National Trust to ask their advice regarding the necessary material needed to carry out some of the repairs to the surface of the village green. The National Trust had indicated that the repairs could cost a considerable amount of money. Steve Beal and John Ramm agreed to measure the surface area that is in need of repair to enable a price for the purchase of the sections which are sold in square metres to be obtained.

The Councillors agreed that this would also be an appropriate time to meet the owners of the Wiveton Bell to hopefully negotiate their possible contribution towards the essential surface repairs as much of the damage to the surface of the village green is due to the area being used as a car park for visitors to the Wiveton Bell

8 A O B

Finger Post The Chairman was disappointed to report that the new finger post which was put in place only a few weeks ago has already been vandalised which seems to be a continuing problem. Every time a new signs is provided it is either removed or damaged.

MEETING DATES FOR 2008

Tuesday 15^th January

Tuesday 19^th February

Tuesday 18^th March

Tuesday 15^th April

Tuesday 20^th May

Tuesday 17^th June

No meetings in July and August

Tuesday 23^rd September

Tuesday 21^st October

Tuesday 25^th November

No Meeting in December

Report from Councillor Brettle

Councillor Brettle had very little to report to them meeting other than to inform the| Council that discussion are taking pale regarding the unitary boundaries and that recently a meetings had taken place following the recent flood and the continued provision of flood sirens.

Report from Councillor Derek Baxter

Special Education Needs Provision

Norfolk County Council is calling on the public to help shape the future of special educational needs in the county. The Council is looking to transform the way it supports children with special educational needs by improving access to services and locating facilities closer to where they are needed. A consultation has been launched to ask children, young people, parents, schools and people working with children where they believe complex needs schools and Specialist Resource Bases should be placed. All of the County's special schools are to become complex needs schools and will aim to provide placements for children within the area where they live. Complex needs schools will be able to support a wider range of children and young people with special educational needs between the ages of 2 and 19. In addition to this, units within mainstream schools will become Specialist Resource Bases and will be remodelled and, where necessary, relocated. Each

Base will have enough facilities to support between 8 and 10 full time or equivalent, children or young people.

The County Council will not be asking children and young people to move from existing provision where that is not their choice. The consultation, which runs until December 9th, will suggest possible sites for the complex needs schools and Specialist Resource Bases and will also ask the public where they believe such resources should be placed. The consultation document is available online at www.norfolk.gov.uk/SENStrategy.

Upgrading of Norfolk Street Lights

Norfolk County Council has signed an agreement with private firm Amey to upgrade 50,000 street lights across Norfolk and 12,000 illuminated signs and bollards, plus maintain them for the next 25 years.

This Private Finance Initiative (PFI) worth more than £150 ,millions in total over its 25 year life, provides for the replacement of roadside street lights across the County, as well as maintenance, repair and replacements for the duration of the contract, with work set to start next February. The agreement includes the potential to dim lights on major routes when traffic volumes are low together with other efficient technology to reduce energy use.

The agreement also includes roadside lights previously maintained by King's Lynn Borough Council and allows for similar arrangements in the future with other District, Town and Parish Councils if required.

The investment will transform the quality of Norfolk's street lighting stock and has almost £80 millions of Government grant. Many of the old street lights are coming to the end of their planned life and this major project will allow large scale replacement to be carried out quickly and effectively through a private company partnership. There will also be environmental benefits with the new equipment. In the contract, specific requirements for energy saving materials and reduced light spillage have been made, which will benefit the local environment.

Used Cooking Oil
Have you ever wondered what to do with used cooking oil? Norfolk County Council will soon be offering a new solution to this common household problem. From 5 December, all householders in the County will be able to dispose of it safely into special containers at 18 recycling centres located throughout the County. And, by doing so, they will help the County to generate clean, renewable electricity.

A unique process developed by Norfolk company, Living Fuels, enables used cooking oil to be recycled, purified and converted into biofuel to generate electricity for businesses and homes. It has been calculated that 225,000 tonnes of used cooking oil is thrown away each year in the UK. Norfolk's share would be about 3,500 tonnes and if it was all collected and refined, the resulting biofuel could generate more than 13,000 megawatt hours of electricity per annum. That would be equivalent to the annual average consumption of a town the size of Cromer.

Although most homes individually don't generate large amounts of used cooking oil, the wider environmental benefits of collecting this waste County wide are huge. It is best not to pour cooking oil down the drain or sewers which inevitably leads to blockages and odour and may also pollute water courses. It is also not advisable to put used cooking oil in a domestic dustbin as it can cause spillages leading to odour and pollution problems. It is recommended that people hang onto their empty cooking oil bottles to provide a suitable container to transfer the used oil to. The cooking oil collected at the recycling centres will be taken to a licensed waste facility at Hockwold, operated by Living Fuels, where it will be converted into biofuel to generate green electricity.

Norfolk continues to raise recycling figures

A new breakdown of figures released by Defra reveals that Norfolk is the third best County in the country and the top in the Eastern Region for recycling. In 2006/07, Norfolk councils recycled 26.1% of household waste, less than half a per cent behind the leading national county Somerset ((26.5%).

Figures released also place Norfolk in the top three counties nationally for low household dustbin weights, at 297kg per head, not far behind Cambridgeshire (267kg).

The figures highlight how Norfolk has continued to increase recycling performance, exceeding national targets and keeping well ahead of the national average for both recycling and minimising waste.