Minutes of a Meeting of Oulton Parish Council

MINUTES OF A MEETING OF OULTON PARISH COUNCIL

held on Tuesday 6th March 2012

1. Present: Mr. R. Bryan, Mrs. P. Clifford, Ms. L. Ferrari, Mr. P. Killingback, Mrs. J. Morgan

In attendance: Councillor D. Harrison

Apologies: Mr. M. Phelps, Ms. A. Shaw

2. Minutes: The minutes of the meeting held on 26th January were approved and signed.

3. Declarations of Interest: There were no Declarations of Interest.

4. Matters Arising: i) The documentation to state that the asbestos had been correctly disposed had not yet been received. The Clerk would contact the firm.

ii) The report on broadband provision had not yet been received from Mike Hemsley.

iii) The Clerk would speak to John Gay in August about trimming back the hedges. Paul Killingback and Matt Phelps were prepared to do further work in clearing shrubs. The Clerk would contact the grazing tenant again about the ragweed.

iv) Box Day Account - the signatories had yet to be changed. The account would be sent to the Clerk. It was decided those running Box Day should be able to ask for money from either Mr. Bryan or Mr. Killingback to the amount of £200. Any sum requested above that amount would have to have Parish Council approval.

5. Opportunity for Member of the Public to speak: Councillor Harrisontold the Parish Council that Broadland were not increasing their budget. The redesign of Aylsham Market was now complete and the community centre at St. Michael's Hospital was nearly complete.

6. Financial: A cheque was signed for the Clerk's salary and expenses amounting to £340.14 (salary £320.00 and expenses £20.13).

A discussion was held on the possibility of holding a reserve fund. It was proposed that there should not be a separate account but that over the coming years monies, possibly from marquee hire and glass recycling, should be held in reserve and ring-fenced in case the Parish Council should have to pay for a bye-election or something similar. Mr. Bryan would discuss the issue with Broadland and report at the next meeting.

7. Any Other Business:There was concern about the condition of the pond in The Street, as a number of dead fish had been identified there in recent weeks. A parishioner was planning to speak to Christopher Harrold and the Parish Council would wait to see what his comments were.

8. Date of the Next Meeting: This will be held on Monday 16th April. It was agreed that the Annual General Meeting and Annual Village meeting would be held on Thursday 24th May.