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Minutes of a meeting of Blakeney Parish Council which was held on Tuesday 2nd May 2017after the AGM, in the Parish Office.

Present:- Rosemary Thew (Chairman), Jenny Girling (Vice-Chairman), Samantha Arlow, Shirley Everett, Barry Girling, Edward Hackford, Neil Thompson & Iain Wolfe.

Clerk:- Tracey Bayfield.Public:- 2.

1. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE–Were received & accepted from Alban Donohoe.

2. DECLARATIONS OF INTERESTfrom members – Cllr Edward Hackford declared a personal interest in the planning item no. v) 8 Langham Road, as a near neighbour.

3. It was proposed & agreed that the followingMINUTES are to be signed as a true record;

3.1.FULL COUNCIL – Tuesday4th April 2017.

3.2.FULL COUNCIL – Extraordinary Meeting – Tuesday 18th April 2017.

  1. GUESTS – Wells Police (Safer Neighbourhood Team)report was read in their absence. There had been no calls to the team since the last meeting specifically in relation to Blakeney, however there have been a number of calls from the North Norfolk area regarding door to door selling, from people claiming to be students selling items such as cleaning products, but when refused it has been reported that these traders have become rude. Several such incidents have occurred in Wells. Should you receive a door to door seller matching this description we would advise you not to purchase anything or engage with them and to call 101 at the time so that checks can be done to verify the seller’s legitimacy.

The Clerk had been made aware of a significant fraud incident in the village recently, which had been shared with Councillors and the public present, and hence there was surprise that it does not form part of the SNT report. This involved over £20K being taken from a bank account. The victim had given permission for this to be shared with the wider community and hence it will appear in the GVN etc.

  1. CHAIRMANS ANNOUNCEMENTS–

5.1.Councillor Vacancy – NNDC have advised that we are now able to co-opt following the resignation of Margaret Benson.

5.2.Sadly we have also received a letter of resignation from Councillor Roger Hall, who will leave us after this evenings meeting, having served as a Parish Councillor for more than 8 years, as he moves away from the village. Members thanked Roger for time and commitment over the years.

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  1. COUNCILLOR REPORTS –

6.1. District Councillor - Karen Ward.

NNDC General: We are still in the period known as ‘Purdah’ ahead of the County Council Elections on May 4th 2017. If you need information on any aspect of Council business, please let me know and I will do my best to get you what you need.

The final recommendations of the LGBCE review of the Electoral Boundaries in North Norfolk have now been published. The total number of District Councillors will reduce from 48 to 40 and the Glaven Valley will cease to be an electoral ward from April 2019. Morston, Blakeney & Wiveton parishes will join Stiffkey, Cley, Salthouse, Kelling & Weybourne to make the new ‘Coastal’ ward. The LGBCE accepted the submissions that Upper Sheringham should not be in this ward, but Stiffkey should. This is a change from their draft proposal.

Planning & Enforcement: There will be a delay in the introduction of the new system for Pre-application advice in force, due to the additional workload of a snap general election. The new go live date is 1st June 2017.

Local Validation Requirements: Almost 45% of planning applications currently received by NNDC do not have all the necessary information to enable the application to be processed efficiently. This creates problems in providing accurate information to consultees, as happened recently with Morgan Cottage. NNDC are therefore looking at creating a Local Validation Requirements which is a compendium of the supporting documents required when making a planning application. An application will not be validated until all this information is available. NNDC are interested in views from interested parties to ensure the Requirements list proposed is proportionate, but comprehensive. You can make your views known on the portal: or by contacting Geoff Lyon on 01263 516226 or .

Roger Howes, the Planning Legal Manager has now retired and his workload has been taken by Noel Doran from Eastlaw.

The Pastures – The two mediators which both parties selected have been contacted and we are awaiting potential dates.

8 Wiveton Road – The Judicial Review is still in progress and we are still awaiting a decision from the Judge. No work can take place in the meantime.

1 Langham Road – Following the discussion at last month’s parish council meeting, I can confirm that the Enforcement Team have been on site twice and double checked all measurements. The structures all conform to the planning permission granted.

8 Langham Road – Despite the planning application being refused, considerable work has been taking place on site. Enforcement have been out to site twice already to check the work and speak to the developer. Action is ongoing.

The Acreage – The owner complied with the Planning Contravention Notice and submitted the information required. This is now being reviewed by the Enforcement

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Team to determine the action to be taken. I will provide an update at future meetings.

Larkfields – The Planning Inspector rejected the appeal and upheld the NNDC decision that large visible dwellings on this side of the coast road are in breach of planning regulations.

Parking in Queen’s Close – A meeting with Victory Housing took place at which they simply told me that the bollard to prevent parking on the green would be going in. I have not finished with this and will be seeking a meeting with those in authority to try to resolve the problem which this action will have created.

Blakeney Parish Council will write to Victory Housing giving their support to this matter being resolved in an amicable and satisfactory way to the residents of Queens Close. This action means that there are now just 2 parking spaces to serve 12 properties, not helped by Victory Housing actively selling the garages/car parking area opposite.

Blakeney Marine Services; I have not asked for this to be taken to Committee. Memorial Cottages; Officer looking to refuse the current configuration, and hence you make like to withdraw the application. Car Park on Field at Langham Road; Officer feels that this cannot be considered until The Pastures scenario is resolved, due to the Open Space status, and therefore you may wish to withdraw the application for the time being.

6.2. County Councillor - Dr. Marie Strong.

Permissive Access Routes: Over the past 10 years many communities in Norfolk have benefitted from permissive access routes where paths have been made available for walking and riding around the edges of arable fields. These paths were provided by farmers with support from a scheme called Environmental Stewardship. This scheme has now come to an end and its replacement does not appear to encourage farmers to continue providingpermissive access. It looks likely that many of these routes will now be closed. Consideration is being given as to how we can keep such paths open and the Norfolk Local Access Forum are working on a programme of facilitating permissive paths. (NLAF represents a variety of countryside interests with regard to improving public access across our beautiful county. NCC Highway Authority forms the appointing body.)

Road Surface Dressing Programme: Norfolk County Council's annual road surface dressing programme worth £10.4m is underway. Over 320 miles of road are set to be surface dressed in a cost effective process which will extend the life of the existing road surface and provide a new skid-resistant surface to help reduce the risk of accidents. People living along routes to be treated will receive notification a day or two before the crews arrive. A 20mph speed restriction is imposed during work and on freshly-laid surface dressing for safety reasons.

Norfolk Record Office: I know many parish councils have accumulated records over the years and do not always have a secure place to store them.

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The Norfolk Record Office is the local authority archive service for the County of Norfolk. The Office’s collections date from the 11th century to the 21st century and contain fascinating material.Contact Norfolk Record Office The Archive Centre Martineau Lane Norwich NR1 2DQ Telephone: 01603 222599 E-mail:

Parish Partnerships: NCC has awarded £370,362 funding for 136 small highway schemes across Norfolk over the last year. A number of parishes in this division have made successful bids in the past and it would be great to see more coming forward.An organisation doing good works for a parish can link up with the local parish council to make a bid – in some instances this means the parish council might need to add very little if anything financially (I would check out the latter if of interest later.) Watch out for news since the list of work which could be accepted may change. I know Tracey will be keeping an eye on the partnership news and I am thinking of discussions with the school, and have just been advised that the school has been given £3k by the ‘Friends of The School’.

  1. OPEN PUBLIC SESSION–
  • New Road pavement – verge being encroached by the undergrowth and vegetation. The Clerk advised that this had already been reported to the Highways Rangers.
  1. PLANNING–

PF = Full Planning Permission

PM = Planning Permission – Reserved Matters

LA = Alteration to Listed Building

i)Application No. PF/17/0534 & LA/17/0540 – Proposal; Variation of condition 2 of listed building consent LA/16/1285 to allow for demolition of wall and erection of replacement at, Morgan Cottage, 97 High Street, Blakeney. (NNDC did not send the Listed Building application/papers with the Full Planning application, and they should be considered together, hence BPC are revisiting this application.) It was proposed & agreed that we have no objection.

ii)Application No. PF/17/0553 – Proposal; Erection of front and rear extensions, alterations to roof including raising height and addition of 6 dormer windows & 3 rooflights to provide first floor accommodation at, 17 Morston Road, Blakeney. It was proposed & agreed (other than 1 abstention) that we have no objection.

iii)Application No. LA/17/0512 – Proposal; External and internal alterations to include demolition of conservatory, repositioning of staircase, replacement of window with patio doors and works to

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facilitate erection of single storey and first floor extensions, and replacement conservatory at, 95 High Street, Blakeney. It was proposed & agreed that we have no objection.

iv)Application No. PF/17/0511(Amended description)– Proposal; Demolition of conservatory and erection of replacement conservatory. Erection of single storey side extension to north elevation to extend kitchen and first floor extension over to provide bedroom and bathroom with associated new windows at, 95 High Street, Blakeney. It was proposed & agreed that we have no objection.

v)Application No. PF/17/0581 – Proposal; Erection of single storey dwelling at, 8 Langham Road, Blakeney. It was proposed & agreed that we object for the following reasons; Overdevelopment of the site, the egress into Queen’s Close given it’s adjacent position to the Doctors Surgery Car Park we feel is very dangerous, the fact that a substantial hedge would have to be removed in order to create this new entrance/exit, (not disclosed on the application form) loss of light to the adjoining bungalow and windows in the top of the property in terms of overlooking (given recent planning thoughts with regard an application for the Memorial Cottages Site, New Road, Blakeney).

  1. FINANCE

9.1. It was proposed & agreed that Accounts totalling £9704.58 are paid.

9.2. Clerk/RFO Report – Limited updates for the beginning of the new financial year, as the end of year accounts have not yet been completed. Nationwide have confirmed that up to £85K is protected under the Financial Services Compensation Scheme as from 30th January 2017.

Further to this evenings report from our District Cllr, it was suggested that the planning application for the Memorial Cottages site and Overflow Car Park on Langham Road, are withdrawn for the time being. This was proposed & agreed.

9.3. It was proposed & agreed to accept the quote to remove the overgrown ivy from The Pastures.

9.4. It was proposed & agreed that we advise The Blakeney Twelve that we are currently unable to accept any Grant requests, until the next round of our Community Fund is open to all applicants, later in the year.

9.5. For the second year running we have not been happy with the condition of our open spaces after the initial Grass Cutting and hence had to approach Norse with our concerns. To their credit they have just been out and spent nearly the entire day removing the dead cut grass from the Playing Field,

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which looks much better and for which we are grateful. However moving forward we need to consider our options. It was proposed & agreed that we need to ensure that the cutting starts no later than the beginning of March each year, and if need be, request that it is cut in February based on the growing conditions.

  1. TRANSPORT ITEMS & REPRESENTATIVES ON OTHER BODIES

10.1.Rosemary Thew, our representative on the Village Hall Committee shared her report from the meeting held on 7th March 2017.

10.2.Iain Wolfe kindly updated the members following the recent meeting of the Blakeney Channel Coastal Community Team since the last Parish Council meeting. Members were also in receipt of the minutes.

10.3.Members each received an invitation from the Blakeney Neighbourhood Housing Society to attend their AGM on Wednesday 10th May 2017. Rosemary Thew & Jenny Girling planned to attend.

11. COUNCILLORS QUESTIONS– There were none.

12. CORRESPONDENCE

12.1. Members each received the invitation to attend the Norfolk Association of Local Councils Conference on Wednesday 24th May 2017. There were no takers.

12.2. Members noted the reply from NNDC with regard the application for Assets of Community Value – The application for the Former School Field, on Langham Road, was successful.

12.3. It was proposed & agreed not to now hold an official opening for the Recreation Equipment given the time passed and the lack of progress by those who hoped to organise high profile sportsmen, due to fixtures etc. (The Clerk will arrange for the sponsor/grant donor signs to simply be installed asap now.)

To note NNDC Planning Decisions Taken & Updates aswell as any Planning Inspectorate Appeals if any.

1)Application PF/17/0169– Proposal; Demolition of single storey side extension and erection of two storey side and rear extensions and first floor front extension at, Thorpe Cloud, 15 Back Lane, Blakeney. Permission granted.

2)Appeal lodged – Application PF/16/1245– Proposal; Demolition of existing house & erection of dwelling at, Larkfields, 144 Morston Road, Blakeney.

Meeting closed at 9.18pm. Chairman ______