Solar Fund Committee Meeting Minutes 26th May 2016
Present
Julia Dovey
Rosabelle Batt
Denise Lewis
Simon Wakeford
Lorraine Marks
Apologies
Bob Lewis
Kathryn Lord
David McNeight
Anthea Sweeney
Mike Baker
It was announced that Chris Wheeler had decided to step down from the committee. The committee thanked her for all her hard work and noted that she would still like to be involved in a more informal way in future.
Minutes of last meeting agreed.
List of current possible projects taken to the recent Parish Council meeting.
Possible proposed expenditure by Solar Fund Committee May 24th 2016
Parish Council response in blue
VAS sign for Lodge Hill Junction
Approx £3000 ( sum to be confirmed) Funds already committed This is to be paid out of PC funds not Solar Farm
East Beckham Allotments
Allotment driveway/car park £900 ( I estimate received) Expenditure approved work to start asap
Village gates for East and West Beckham
Village Gate pairs x 5 for WB + 3 pairs for E B (Costs to be shared with NCC Highways Dept. We are waiting for a site visit and quote to be able to make an application by December 2016) This is to go ahead but no date as yet
Other traffic calming /road safety measures
West Beckham Green and East Beckham Common
Village Green & Loke work £ ?
Management plan for Beckham Green and east Beckham Common (TCV) £300
Tesco Bags of Help for Green Spaces Grant (£8000+) applied for. Management plan to be obtained if we are not successful. Julia meeting Dr Leech (Environmental) to see if he will have a look at it.
Benches x 5? £2,000 We discussed where to put the. The suggested areas are
- Valley Farm EB
- Allotment field EB
- Village Green WB
- Sheringham Road WB
Bus stop transformation
Parish Maps/Boards £2,000
Defibrillator in W Beckham phonebox £3000? Presentation to E and WB Parish Council at July meeting by supplier. Please attend if you can.
Children’s Play Area
Children Play equipment £10,000?
Proposals for a global sum of £21,200 so far.
To be decided after decisions by PCC
*Possible Reading Room demolition £2,000 This is on hold following message from Father Phil regarding the sale of the site. The Chairman requested that the PC declare an interest to purchase
*Roll of Honour ? (Replacement now stopped by Diocese – alternative to be discussed) The Chairman considered we should go ahead with a replacement and put elsewhere – cemetery would be suitable. The old one can remain outside the church. To be discussed at meeting with Fr Phil in early June
Other potential future expenditure could include:
- work to clear invasive bracken and bramble in our woodlands
- provision of interpretation boards for conservation areas
- bird and bat boxes for conservation areas
- village walk leaflet
- completion of bus stop transformation ie possible repairs,painting, refurbishment and repositioning of noticeboard or purchase of new ones
- oak posts to stop encroachment on the village sign triangle by large vehicles
- publication of newsletters
- running cost of website – is £72 inc VAT pa
- improvements to Broadband speed
Costs incurred so far – Household information sheet £90 and 2 Bulletins £130 + fees for hall.
Expenditure on the list above approved. Next payment into Solar Fund due in October.
Finance for village projects
- We are having trouble completing one of the more straightforward projects, for example the allotment track, because of the difficulty in getting 3 tradesmen to give formal quotes. This is also likely to affect other building work such as the cemetery gates. How can we move forward? As long as we show that serious attempts have been made to get quotes we can proceed without three.
- What happens when there is only one supplier of services or goods such as The Conservation Volunteers or the Norfolk parish maps? How do we get around the 3 quote principle here? We can go ahead and order.
The Chairman expressed that he did not want the committee to lose momentum – John is to arrange the accounts so that specific payments out on the solar projects can be made more easily
AOB
Flashing speed sign/other calming measure to be looked at in October when the next Solar payment is due.
Shop – Julia to speak to Tracy to see if she’s still interested.
Bus stop revival ‘to do’ list
- Find out who owns the area around the bus stop JD
- Remove lower branches of trees that overhang the bus stop and dig out to find out the condition of the retaining wall. Rosabelle suggests contacting Richard Hudson (07748) 380634 JD to follow up
- Rebuild retaining wall where necessary if needed
- Power wash outside of bus stop
- Re-paint outside where necessary
- Paint inside white
- Remove bin
- Plant bank with effective low maintenance ground cover eg ivy? Grass? (needs strimming)
- Relocate refurbished noticeboard – inside? Outside on side wall?
- Consider planters, hanging baskets etc when complete and defibrillator installed
Solar Panel Committee Fund Holiday
May I suggest that we keep to the June meeting as already in the diary (this will give an opportunity for feedback from the meeting with Fr Phil, to decide which projects to work on through the summer and sort out the June newsletter if necessary) but then have July and August off, reconvening in September after the PC meeting. I will sort out a date with Anne and send round an email.
