Parish Council Meeting of 16th July 2015

The Parish Council meeting on 16th July 2015 was attended by Councillors Brian Frith, Beverley Humphreys, Jackie Bowers, Gilly Barnes, Claire Jordan and Andrew Coleman. Also present were District Councillor Barry Duffin and eleven members of the public.                   

Some of the main items discussed at the meeting are mentioned here. Full minutes of the meeting are available here - in draft form until agreed by the Council at the next meeting (17th September 2015).

 The following planning applications were discussed:

• 2015 / 1345 – Haystacks, Low Road, Forncett St P – erection of solar panels on garage – no objections were raised.
• 2015 / 1440 – Black Barn, Tabernacle Lane, Forncett St P – installation of external insulated render and extension of eaves – no objections were raised.
• 2015 / 1518– Old Court Form, Wacton Road, Forncett St P – Regularisation application for location of empty gas cylinder tanks in repositioned compound location – Councillors felt there were some concerns regarding this application, which the clerk would convey to South Norfolk Council.

Terry Henderson, as Chair of the Village Hall Committee, presented plans for improvements to the outside area of the village hall. Plans are being submitted to South Norfolk Council.

Community spirit was in abundance at the parish council meeting this month. We welcome Graham Gale as a new parish councillor, Robert Hosea as the new tree warden and John Wilde as the new footpath warden. Thank you to all of these people for volunteering and giving up their time so generously. John is also the footpath warden for Tacolneston and hopes, in the future to maybe arrange some walks in the parish, to ensure paths remain well used and accessible. John encouraged parishioners to report problems with footpaths via the Norfolk County Council on line reporting system as, in his view, reported issues were normally addressed, although action is not normally immediate. If you do not have access to a computer, please report the issue to the clerk and she will submit the problem for you. This is the link for the online reporting form:

https://online.norfolk.gov.uk/highways/

Further good news is that following receipt of an additional £260.00 in donations from generous parishioners, there are now enough funds to secure an additional defibrillator for the village. Adoption of the out of use telephone box at Forncett End has been applied for, with a view to using this to house the defibrillator.

Finally, a Speed Awareness Machine will shortly be installed in the village, hopefully addressing ongoing speeding issues. A small maintenance team is needed to look after the machine, this will involve moving the machine between sites, approximately once a month and also recharging the batteries. Ideally, if four people could be found to help, they could work on a rotation basis. Two people would be needed to attend at a time as the machine is quite heavy. If anyone would like to help, please contact the clerk. 

The next meeting will be on Thursday 17th September 2015. The agenda will be published about a week before the meeting, but if you have any matters to bring to the attention of the Parish Council in the meantime, please contact the clerk, Anne Rayner, on 01508 570700 or by email