Beckham East and West Parish Council

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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

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Draft Minutes of East and West Beckham Parish Council
Meeting Held on Thursday 12th March 2026

Present. Cllrs. R. McNeil Wilson, (chairman),D. Barrass, R. Batt, J. Dovey. G. Place, T. Toyn,
County Cllr. E. Vardy, Dist. Cllr. Callum Ringer. Stibbons (clerk)

The chairman opened the meeting at 7.00pm.

1. There were no apologies for absence.

2. There were no declarations of interest

3. The minutes of the meeting held on Thursday 8th January 2026. having been previously circulated, it was proposed by Cllr. Dovey that they be approved as correct. This was seconded by Cllr. Barrass and carried.

4. Matters arising from the Minutes.
Two notice boards have been delivered and will be installed during the next week.
The Felbeck Trust agreement has been signed by both parties and will be deposited with the clerk.

5. There were no comment or questions on the agenda from members of the pubic.

6. Reports from Councillors
County Cllr. E. Vardy from May 7th budgets will be in place for small grant applications from parish councils. These will cover Highways or other community benefits. Grants payable are up to £2500, any amount over this to be raised by Croud Funding. Submissions for grants should be made to the County Councillor for the district. Cllr. Vardy left the meeting at 7.16pm

District Cllr. Callum Ringer An update meeting to discuss the A148 is planned for 19th March. Funding is now in place for a 50mph speed limit from Holt to Felbrigg. A final decision awaits consultation with Norfolk County Council.
Planning permission for a round-about at the top of Holway Road has been approved but funds are not available for construction.
North Norfolk District Council have no power over an independent school trust. With the planned closure of the sixth form at Sheringham it will be difficult for pupils from Beckham to travel to North Walsham.
From February 2027 there will be a weekly collection of food waste in North Norfolk.

7. Horsey 3 Community Fund. Cllr. Barriss (chairman of the grants committee)
The grant application has been refused with no reason given. It was agreed to maximise input from other grants and fund raising before re-submitting the application. This would allow for a smaller amount of grant to be requested.

8. Planning. There were no Planning applications to be considered at this meeting.

9. Playing Field. Safety inspection completed. The Hut will be removed.
An email was received from Finding Fitness with the offer of obtaining a grant for the installation of a Monkey Challenge wall. Further enquiries are to be made.

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10. Policy Statements.
Copies of the following updated policies had been sent to members. These included:-
Data Protection, Freedom of Information, Financial Regulations, IT Policy, Risk Management, and Standing Orders.
It was proposed by Cllr. Toyn that these updated policies be approved and adopted. This was seconded by Cllr. Dovey and approved by the meeting.

11. Insurance review.
Insurance cover from April 2026 to March 2027 is due for renewal. Included in the list of additional items covered was a sum of £24156.09 for Playground equipment but there was no cover for the new fence and gate.
It was agreed that Zurich be asked to reduce the cover on equipment by half to include cover for the fence.

12. GDPR review
The meeting was informed that the necessary, signed, agreements needed to comply with GDPR would be reviewed to ensure they were current.
The only details held were those of allotment tenants.

13. Financial matters.
Bank Balances at 12/3/2026.
Current a/c £4815.23 Savings a/c £534.47 Invest a/c £45036 (+£130.78 interest)
The following outstanding invoice are due for approval and payment:-
Greenbarnes Ltd. Noticeboards £2342.76
Zurich Insurance Renewal £666.64
Village Hall Hire (Jan26) £36

Repairs are needed to the water collection tanks on the allotment.
The meeting approved a sum of £100 for repairs.

14 Investment returns.
Cambridge Building Society, who hold the council reserves are not paying a satisfactory return.
The chairman suggested that the council considers placing funds with Insignis.
Insignis gives access to a range of savings products from a panel of UK Banks and Building Societies, all through a single platform. Deposits would be placed on the Parish Council instructions thus managing cash across multiple institutions efficiently.
The chairman will investigate further.

It was agreed to set up internet banking if possible. Any transactions to be approved and posted.

15. Matters for information only or the next agenda.
Agenda items:- Bulletin contributions. Insurance update
Felbeck Trust. Select an area for a tree nursery.

There being no further business the chairman closed the meeting at 7.54 pm.

The Annual General Meeting of Beckham Parish Council will be held on Thursday 14th May 2026