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Draft Minutes of East and West Beckham Parish Council
Meeting Held on Thursday 11th July 2024
Present.
Cllrs. R. McNeil Wilson, (chairman), D. Barrass, R. Batt, J. Dovey, R. Lewis, G. Place, T. Toyn,
J.Stibbons (clerk)
The chairman opened the meeting at 7.00pm.
1. Apologies County Cllr. E. Vardy, Dist. Cllr. Callum Ringer.
2. There were no Declarations of interest on items in the agenda.
3. There were no Comments and Questions on the agenda from members of the public.
4. Reports.
Written reports were received from the County and District Councillors and are attached to these
minutes.
Felbeck Trust
The chairman and Cllr. Dovey had a meeting at the West Beckham Allotments with the Felbeck Trust.
The plants are looking in a very good condition.
A new information board has been installed.
The Felbeck Trust had come second at the recent annual Norfolk Biodiversity Awards for habitat creation / restoration work at W BOA – providing county-wide recognition. They also came first in the Group awards.
Community relations with neighbouring residents at each of the sites is good.
No Turtle Doves have nested yet but they have started nesting on Kelling and Salthouse Heath. Qualified bird ringers are now working with the trust and have created net rides through the boundary hedges at WBOA which are closed off with slip rails when not in use.
Roe Deer have been visiting the site. Two ponds have been constructed on the site and a hide has been installed for use by members of the public.
East Beckham common has been opened up at the top (the South west corner of the common) and the volunteers have created a small dew pond and extra seating in this area.
The ten year programme will soon be completed. To maintain future grants they need more than a six year agreement with the Parish Council. Ideally a long-term agreement with match funding for the upkeep of the projects would be ideal.
Broadland Housing
It was noted that members of the Parish council were not invited to the opening of the Broadland Housing site. The Parish Council have been supporting the affordable housing developments.
It was noted that a bicycle rack will now be provided instead of a bin store and a second site access has now been created over the footpath.
The parish council agreed that as Mr. Ed Mumford-Smith was no longer involved in the project it would be helpful to invite his successor to the September parish council meeting.
5. The minutes of the meeting held on Thursday 9th May 2024. having been previously circulated, it was proposed by Cllr. Toyn that they be approved as correct. This was seconded by Cllr. Barrass and carried.
The chairman then signed the minutes.
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6. Matters arising from the Minutes.
Wheatsheaf. It was agreed to ask District Councillor Ringer to progress the application to establish an Asset of Community Value (ACV) If the Wheatsheaf is to stay open if needs a good tenant to make it successful.
7. Horsey 3 Community Fund.
Cllr. Barrass has investigated the requirements for application to the fund. There are several chances to bid and it would be beneficial to carefully consider what the most useful project would be to the parish.
Initial suggestions were play equipment, a sensory garden or outdoor exercise equipment. Improvement of the East Beckham allotment track was also suggested. One of the categories for consideration was special Nature and environment projects.
It was decided that councillors would each consider their own ideas and discuss at the next meeting in September. It was felt that any application should try to be unique. There would probably be many schemes for play areas and footpaths which would reduce the chance of our application being successful.
8 Gov.uk website There was no interest in having individual council emails for members.
9. Allotments
All the plots at the top of the track on the right have been cleared.
Plots near the car park need clearing but most other plots are fully let.
10. Playing Field
The bench is in poor condition.
It was agreed that any new purchases of play equipment made in the future should be metal, the wooden equipment is very prone to rot.
11. Financial matters.
Bank Balances at 11/07/2024:–
Current a/c £2060.65 Savings a/c £4556.29 Investment a/c £46440 + interest £524.42
The following invoices were approved for payment:-
J. Stibbons Salary and expenses £664.60
HMRC PAYE £140.40
Bodham Village Hall Rent £54
Playsafety Inspection £93.60
12. Village Hall
Bodham Parish Council have approved a grant of £750 towards the installation of solar panels on the village hall which Beckham parish council agreed to match.
13. Correspondence The following correspondence was sent to members by email:-
NALC News update
Ørsted’s Community Benefit Funds – Spring 2024 Newsletter
14. Matters for information only or for the next agenda.
The Horticultural Show will be held on Saturday 20th July.
There being no further business the chairman closed the meeting at 8.27pm
The next meeting of Beckham Parish Council will be held on Thursday 19th September 2024
