Those of the January Meeting Were Approved and Signed

An AGM MEETING of the PARISH OF SNETTERTON was held at World Horse Welfare Visitors Centre on Monday, 8th May 2017.

Present

Trevor Watkins, Lea – Anne Haine, Amanda Skinner and Des Skinner asmembers of the Parish Council,Norfolk County Councillor Philip Cowan and three members of the public.

Apologises

Helen Foley (Chairman)

Minutes

Those of the January Meeting were approved and signed.

Appointment of Officers

Chairman - Helen Foley

Vice Chairman - Trevor Watkins

Both were willing to re stand for re election , this was proposed and approved

Appointment of Snetterton Circuit Representative

Trevor Watkins was proposed and approved

District Councillors report

Please see Appendix 1

Councillor Cowen was also asked about the future of the Snetterton Recycling Centre – he explained that this was a County Council matter and not a District Council one

Highways and Byways

It was reported that Funding for the footbridge over the River Thetbetween Snetterton Mill Common and Larlingby Norfolk County Councilis not available

Bio Mas Energy Plant

A Liaison meeting has been requested for June – Date TBC

With regard to Broadband, as the plant is still not fully operational and it has been decided that more modules will need to be installed than previously thought there is some concern a wind check needs to be carried out on the platform

Compliance monitoring for the plant operation is hoped to be complete in early June

The Environmental report was presented See Appendix 2

Finances / Audit

As of 31st August 2017 £1632.39 the Account for the year has been finalised

Planning

The Proposed Petrol Station is still undecided.

MSV Circuit update

The next liaison meeting is 19th April

Residence evening 14th June

Winter Fair 5th November planned £10 to include Craft Fair, Beer Festival, Track Driving, Car Club procession and Firework Display.

Next Meeting

Monday 9th October, 2017 at 6:30pm at the Visitors Centre, World Horse Welfare.

There being no further business the Vice Chairman declared the meeting closed at 7:30pm.

Appendix 1 Councillors Report Breckland Council 2016-2017

Breckland Council has continued to provide high quality services whilst maintaining the lowest district council tax in the country. As part of the government’s change In funding policy we are set to receive £3.3m less from central government in 2017-18, compared to 2010-11. So to help make up this shortfall we took the difficult decision to raise district Council Tax in Breckland by £4.95 a year from April – the equivalent of around 10p more per week.

The £4.95 rise is based on a Band D property but, as the majority of residents in Breckland (77%) live in properties rated Band A-C, most people in the district will see their District Council Tax rise by less than £4.95.

By way of comparison, for every £1 of council tax collected, 76 pence goes to the County, 14 pence to the police, 5 pence to towns/parishes and 5 pence to Breckland

Our aims and objectives for the district are set out in our 4 key strategies

v Supporting Breckland to develop and thrive.

v Providing the right services at the right time and in the right way.

v Developing the local economy to be vibrant with continued growth.

v Enabling stronger, more independent communities.

This year we have seen the completion of the regeneration scheme at Riverside in Thetford that has provided an hotel, cinema and restaurant complex on a key site in the centre of the town that employs close on 100 local people and contributes to the local economy in a variety of ways, whilst north of Dereham in Mileham we have completed the first of two housing schemes. The second in Attleborough will commence on site in the near future

We have secured funding for work to commence on the A11 corridor to begin the process of delivering more highly skilled jobs to the district and the Thetford Enterprise Park has moved a step closer to realisation

We are working with other public sector bodies to make access to services across a range of disciplines to be more user/customer friendly and continue to work with health partners to further the healthy living agenda across the district

Our new local plan is nearing completion and is being prepared for its final round of consultation prior to being submitted to the secretary of state for ratification and we are hopeful that this will be adopted by this time next year.

We continue to lobby for better provision of services in the district and have seen a vast improvement in the provision of faster broadband services throughout the year. This programme of work continues and more rural communities are schedule to see an improvement in the months ahead. We have earmarked and ring fenced some £950,000.00 to assist in the provision of better broadband services to hard er to reach communities

This year we are embarking on a market town initiative whereby we are seeking to assist the 5 market towns and the hinterlands that they support to provide an appropriate and meaningful provision of local services.

All of the above are of course in addition to the core business of waste collection, recycling, environmental protection, food safety and hygiene, planning and a myriad of back office functions that are provided by our officer corps.

Appendix 2 Snetterton Biomass - Environment Agency Update - April 2017

I promised to give you a periodic update on our regulation of the power station at key milestones.

I’ve been made aware this week that the site is moving from the commissioning to commercial operational phase, following a contractual handover from equipment suppliers/construction team, so this seems as good as time as any to provide a written report.

I am arranging another inspection/meeting at the site, early next month, to agree how/when the necessary permit commissioning reports will provided to the Agency.

When I have had a chance to review and assess the monitoring reports (discharges to air/water) would probably be the next time I would report back on compliance monitoring at the site during commissioning phase. I suspect that will be in early June at the earliest but I can confirm once I have formally received from the operator.

There has been no significant issues discovered, or notified to us, to date and the commissioning work has largely followed that outlined in pre-operational reports provided, and assessed by ourselves, in August last year. The operator has informed us of any deviations from the commissioning plan.

Clearly noise and light pollution issues remain, as well as concerns on discharge to the River Thet, and these are key areas to focus on but my visits/inspections to date have revealed an openness to identify, and correct, issues when they are raised directly with the operator by myself or through their complaints system.

A good example is the re-engineering of the start-up injector, completed on the 1 March 2017, to mitigate noise issues from this equipment when the power station re-starts.

From experience noise from industrial processes will be always be present during operations and these will impact certain members of the community who are particularly sensitive to specific levels. The operator will have to manage the process to mitigate this possibility, even with engineering solutions in place, so we will be requesting further updates on how noise is audited and controlled throughout the lifetime of the permit. As I stated previously, noise is best mitigated if biomass power stations are maintained and operated at base load (continuously) without the need for ancillary equipment, like the injector, to be used from ‘cold’ starts.

Perhaps at a meeting in June I could elaborate on our summary of compliance and enforcement action taken during the commissioning period but happy to provide a periodic update like this when I have the information at hand and

Neil Goudie

Regulatory Officer, Combustion & COMAH Sectors

Environment Agency

East Anglia Area