Agendas and minutes | Skeytonvillagehall

SKEYTON PARISH COUNCIL MEETINGS

SKEYTON PARISH COUNCIL ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

Held at Skeyton Village Hall on Thursday 16th May 2019. 7.45.p.m.

Present: Chairman Cllr: M. Hicks, Vice-Chairman Cllr: J. Hughes, Cllr: S. Bunting,

Cllr: A, Morton, Cllr: D. Scott, Parish Clerk Diane Fields and two Parishioners.

1. Apologies

Apologies were received from Cllr: I. Stevenson, District Councillor Saul Penfold and Norfolk County Councillor John Timewell.

2. Election of Offices.

Henry Randell was co-opted back onto the Parish Council.

Cllr: M. Hicks was proposed by Cllr: J. Hughes for the role of Chairman and was

seconded by Cllr: S. Bunting.

Cllr: J. Hughes was nominated for Vice-Chairman by Cllr: S. Bunting this was seconded by Cllr: D. Scott.

The North Norfolk District Council and Parish Councils’ Register of Members’ Interest

Forms were duly completed and signed. These would be taken to the Returning Officer along with the co-option paper. Declaration of Acceptance of Office forms were also completed.

3. Minutes.

Minutes from the Parish Council meeting dated 5th February 2019, were signed

and accepted as a true and accurate record of proceedings.

4. Matters Arising.

a)Rural Crime. A local farmer was woken the other evening to find his barn on

fire. A lady in a white car saw the blaze. The police, fire brigades and paramedics

came. The Police the last to arrive. Fortunately, no live stock or persons were

injured. The Police think it could be arson. It was also reported by a Councillor

that the Police think there is an organised gang from London in the area, watching

properties, seeing what can be stolen. Several farmers and land owners have had

valuable machinery stolen. A parishioner reported some shifty looking men going down his drive to collect a black golf.

One of the parishioners at the meeting said “He was a retired policeman just moved to the area, and if he could help in anyway with this spate of crime he would”.

He knew how stretched the Police were and still had contacts that could get into the system. It was agreed the Clerk would e-mail P. Davison, The Community Engagement Officer for a break down on crime committed in the Skeyton and surrounding area.

It was also reported that a woman was stopped in her car by a man who told her she had damaged his car. Apparently, this was the fourth incident of this kind in the

area of Skeyton. “Skeyton Chat”, which is a group on Face Book, has been set up for

residents to report any crime issues.

b) Village Sign. Still on-going. It was noticed that the second Village Sign in

Scottow had been erected and the Chairman would e-mail the maker of

the signs to see what progress had been made with regards to Skeyton’s

sign.

5. Correspondence.

An e-mail has been received regarding The Norwich Western Link update but as yet no preferred route has been chosen.

6. Planning.

Consultation on First Draft Local Plan (Under Regulation 18), Supporting

Documents, & Call for Sites in ‘Small Growth Villages’ has been received.

Drop in centres have been set up commencing from 7th May to 31st May 2019.

where members of the public can find out more about the proposals.

A Public Consultation Poster has been erected on Skeyton’s Notice Board.

7. Finance

Accounts Section 1 Annual Governance Statement and Section 2 Accounting Statements have been agreed and signed. The exemption Certificate will then be posted to JKP Littlejohn.
Bank Statement. Current Account £2535. 02
Insurance of £71. 00 has been paid to Drayton Insurances, no increase on last year.
£98. 75 has been paid to NALC
Precept for 2019-20 has been received.
Clerk’s Wages and Tax has been paid.

8. Highways

The Parish council has complained to the Highways regarding a build up of soil

along the road called Crossroads. The Highways state they will not do anything about this till summer. The road is very narrow and at either end of the road is a sign saying “not suitable for heavy goods”. The Council believes the build up of soil

could be caused by the weekly collections made by the refuse trucks. The trucks being wide and crushing down the verges then when it rains the crushed down soil

is then deposited to the middle of the road. Perhaps a smaller refuse truck could be the answer.

Also, we are still waiting for the Reflector Markers to be replaced along the Norwich

Road.

Several weeks ago damage was caused to the road on the bridge on the Tuttington Road. This was repaired quite quickly, but not done properly and there is still a lump in the road.

As the Council has not had any luck with the Highways regarding these matters, they have asked County Councillor John Timewell to step in and help.

9. Any other business

It was reported that several strange vehicles have been seen in Skeyton. The drivers looking suspicious, even drugged. The Police are asking people to be vigilant and to report any strange behaviour or sightings to www.norfolk.police.uk

A report from District Councillor Saul Penfold has been received he was unable to attend the meeting.

I was delighted to have been re-elected as Liberal Democrat North Norfolk District Councillor for the Worstead Ward at the District Council elections on 2nd May 2019. It is a privilege to represent this Ward and the Parish of Skeyton in particular.
North Norfolk District Council now consists of 30 Liberal Democrat, 6 Conservative and 4 Independent Councillors.
Boundary changes at this election have meant that the number of overall Councillors has reduced from 48 to 40 and that the area that I represent in the Worstead Ward now consists of the parishes of Worstead, Westwick, Skeyton, Swanton Abbott and Scottow.
During the past year I have attended Parish Council meetings, supported Local residents to the best of my ability and provided a “bridge” between residents and their District Council.
I am continuing to support the community in Skeyton through local casework on behalf of residents including planning, housing, road safety issues, better broadband coverage and environmental improvements. This often involves working with John Timewell, my County Council colleague.
At NNDC I have voted on a range of important issues affecting the District Including declaring a ‘climate emergency’ to budget setting, mostly recently for the financial year 2019/20.
I work as a member of NNDC’s Big Society Fund Grants Panel which gives grants to capital projects that enhance our local communities and as a member of the Market Towns Initiative, which provides funding to projects that are improving our four market towns – North Walsham, Stalham, Fakenham and Holt.
I am also part of NNDC working group which together with partners from Norfolk County Council and Broadland District Council, is looking to support Schools develop their travel plans, incentivise non-car transport to schools and improve road safety around all of our schools.
I have helped to secure better Broadband provision for residents with the Ward and have joined Parishes in the ‘Big Spring Clean’ events.
I am very happy to be contacted on the mobile number or email address below.