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Draft Minutes of East and West Beckham Parish Council
Annual General Meeting Held on Thursday 14th May 2026
Present. Cllrs. D. Barrass,(chairman), J. Dovey, G. Place. T. Toyn
County and District. Cllr. Callum Ringer. J. Stibbons (clerk)
The meeting opened at 7.10pm.
1. Apologies for absence. Cllr R. McNeil Wilson, R. Batt,
2. Election of Chairman and Vice-chairman for the coming year.
It was proposed by Cllr. Dovey that Cllr. McNeil Wilson should be asked to continue. This was seconded by Cllr. Place. There being no other nominations this proposal was approved.
It was proposed by Cllr. Toyn that Cllr. D. Barriss should continue as Vice-chairman. This was seconded by Cllr. Dovey and approved.
3. Declarations of Interest. Cllr. Barrass declared an interest in item 12.
4. The minutes of the meeting held on Thursday 12th March 2026. having been previously circulated, it was proposed by Cllr.Toyn that they be approved as correct. This was seconded by Cllr. Dovey and carried.
5. Matters arising from the Minutes.
The new notice boards have been installed. The council wanted to thank Stuart Thurtle, Geoff Place and Andrew Clarke for collecting the boards and fixing them in place.
The hut has been removed from the Playing Field.
6 There were no Comments and Questions on the agenda from members of the Public.
7. Reports County and District Ringer The chairman congratulated Cllr. Ringer on his recent election to the County Council.
Cllr Ringer began by detailing changes in County Council boundaries, The new Erpingham Division was created and he succeed in being elected as County Councillor for this division
This has been a quiet period for district council business due to elections. The report also touches on the County Council election results, the new council’s inexperience, and ongoing local issues.
Cllr. Ringer then commented on the updated A148 road safety proposals, presenting data on accident hotspots and a funded proposal to reduce the speed limit. The timeline for this implementation is uncertain, but it is expected to go through a consultation process. Other road safety initiatives in the wider network are mentioned, including funded and unfunded elements for crossing points and improvements to existing infrastructure like bus shelters and signage.
Cllr. Place reported that the seat in the playing field had been vandalised. It was agreed that the seat should be repaired and placed near the notice board on the Sheringham Road to replace the existing seat which needed to be removed for safety. 8 Update on Grant Applications. A further application cannot be made to Grantscape until the next application period has passed.
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Other funding opportunities are being investigated including a Lottery grant and funding from the County Councillor.
The grants committee will meet and report to the next meeting.
9. Planning . There was no planning applications received after the publication of the agenda.
10. Bulletin. It was suggested that the bin collection rota for East and West Beckham should be included as not everyone has online access.
11. Playing Field Safety Inspection by Playsafety is scheduled for June.
At the March meeting the insurance renewal cover was discussed as the player equipment was quite a large amount. It was decided to reduce the equipment cover and include cover for the new fence.
When contacted, the insurers could not agree to do this until we informed them which play equipment we were reducing, Were we destroying it? Was it staying there? If it is staying there and is no longer in a satisfactory condition it will not be covered by the policy.
The clerk added the cover for the fence for an extra charge on the premium without other changes.
The meeting agreed to discuss equipment safety and insurance at the next meeting after having seen the June Playsafety report.
12. Felbeck Trust Tree Nursery It was agreed to offer two plots on the East Beckham allotments at the same rent as the other allotment holders (I.e. £25 per plot).
13. Financial matters.
Bank Balances at 14/5/2026: —
Current a/c £4643.83 Savings a/c £537.47 Investment a/c £45036.37
Outstanding invoice to be approved and cheques signed
J. Stibbons Salary and expenses £803.83
HMRC PAYE £166.14
NALC Subscription £127.06
Zurich Insurance of Playing Field fence £75.73
Audit.
The Certificate of Exemption from full audit, The Accounting Statement and The Annual Governance Statement were approved by the meeting and signed by the chairman and clerk.
During the discussion of the Annual Governance Statement it was suggested that there was a need for a formal risk register, beyond individual risk assessments, to cover broader organizational risks.
The low interest rate on the current bank account is also discussed, with the decision to defer further discussion on Insignis and the interest rate to a future meeting. The meeting concludes with a brief mention of the Ramblers Association’s request for parish councils to audit footpaths.
14. Correspondence
The Ramblers Association’s request for the parish councils to audit footpaths was noted.
15. Matters for information only or for the next agenda.
Use of Notice Boards Risk Register.
There being no further business the chairman closed the meeting at 8.37pm
The next meeting of Beckham Parish Council will be held on Thursday 9th July 2026
