Dersingham: Village hall project on hold again
DERSINGHAM'S village hall project is on hold until the parish council agrees to fund the chosen architect.
Nigel Kelk attended the September parish council meeting to answer questions on the current status of the project.
It had stalled in April when the parish council had raised concerns that some potential hirers of a new village hall may be refused as the church may veto certain uses for the building.
Due to this, it was resolved that the project would not proceed until assurances had been sought from all involved.
Mr Kelk was asked by Cllr Dick Murrell whether the architect's brief was solely for use on the church hall site – the current proposed location for a new village hall. Mr Kelk responded that the design would have to be applicable to any site. He reported that the community centre site had been suggested as a possible location and that a survey had already been carried out on the church hall site and had found that new foundations would have to be laid if this site was decided upon.
Mr Kelk advised that the project was now on hold until the parish council agreed to fund the architect. Tenders had been sought from three architects and the village hall working party had selected Richard Waite. It was resolved that the appointment of an architect for this project should be discussed at the next meeting of the finance, general purposes and administration committee.
There was much discussion relating to the way in which parish council meetings are run. It was decided that presentations should be limited to 30 minutes each in order that the business of the meetings should not be affected.
Cllr Smith suggested that meetings be limited to two hours, after which any remaining items could be carried over to another meeting. This was not agreed by the finance, general purposes and administration committee. It was agreed, however, that county and borough councillors would be asked to provide a written report at full council meetings.
There would be no change to the amount of time allowed for parishioners' comments at the start and end of each full council meeting.
Councillors agreed the co-option of two new members of the council – Christopher Berry and Allan Maxwell.
County Cllr Janice Eells wished to continue to provide a verbal report on local issues. She advised that highways services may well be affected by the rising cost of fuel and that there was now a backlog of structural maintenance work in the area. She reported that Heacham's Lavender Corner junction had cost 750,000 and that the ongoing work at the Lamsey Lane junction, also in Heacham, had cost 350,000.
Cllr Eells responded to a request for a pedestrian crossing on Chapel Road to allow for safe access to Dersingham Infant and Nursery School.She said two assessments had been carried out by county and that neither instance had met the criteria for the installation of a crossing.
Reporting on the ongoing saga of parking on the grass verges at the junction of Chapel Road and Post Office Road, Cllr Eells reported that the work had been carried out by county, as requested. This was met with some mirth by parish councillors as they reported that a very small area of this verge had been planted, with very small shrubs.
Cllr Eells stated that she had already noted that the work carried out did not completely match the initial request. She advised that she would be taking the matter further at county hall. Parish councillors felt that the area planted and the shrubs used were so insignificant that the area would be either trampled on or parked on by parishioners who did not notice the work carried out.
Cllr Ann Chapman asked whether Norfolk County Council had been affected by recent financial losses in the banking sector. Cllr Eells responded that a considerable sum of money had been involved but that councillors were being kept abreast of any developments and that there was no suggestion of financial impropriety having caused this.
Cllr Dick Murrell drew Cllr Eells' attention to the danger being posed to local motorists by the faded chevrons at the junction of the main road and Mountbatten Road. Cllr Eells is to check with highways engineers as to when this area is scheduled to be repainted.
Borough Cllr Paul Burrall said he had attended the Life Wood inquiry and that more than 100 people had attended the meeting, which was extended to two days to allow people to speak. He reported that the inquiry had ruled that the closed footpaths should be added to the Public Right of Ways list and that these should be reopened to the public imminently.
Between the end of July and the end of September there had been ten incidents of criminal damage, one theft, four incidents of burglary to a dwelling, one incident of burglary to a non-dwelling, one incident of robbery and two assaults.
The meeting was address by PCSO Smith who was concerned that the reported number of crimes would be worrying for parishioners. It was explained that the thefts and robberies had been of mobile phones, the criminal damage was to a chain link fence around gardens and that the assaults were domestic incidents and both involved the same offender.
Cllr Val Brundle expressed concern regarding recent fires set in litter bins in the village. PCSO Smith advised that the police were aware.
The October meeting heard that there had been one incident of criminal damage, one drugs offence involving personal possession, one theft of a motor vehicle and two other thefts. The PCSOs present pointed out that two of these crimes were between a victim and offender who were known to each other.The PCSOs provided an update from Sgt Andy Crown of the Dersingham and Gayton Safer Neighbourhood Team about the MUGA (multi-use games area) discussed at the July meeting. In his report he informed the council that a great deal of work had been ongoing between a number of agencies, all working with the young people of the Holyrood Drive area. He also advised that an adult working group had met regularly to move the project forward.
PCSOs reported on Sgt Crown's behalf that work was now being carried out looking into methods of funding and whether the young people could apply for grants from the Norfolk Youth Fund. His report continued to say that a full consultation was to be carried out over a period of ten weeks with the young people from the Holyrood Drive area and that it was hoped that a visit to similar MUGAs, such as the one at East Rudham, could be arranged for these young people.
Changes to the emptying of litter bins in the village from April mean that the borough council will only pay for the emptying of five litter bins in Dersingham village. Cllr Andrea Smith advised that this figure was based on the population of the village and that if a case of Dersingham as a tourist village could be put forward it may result in there being more bins emptied, free of charge.
Cllr Smith reported that she had undertaken a survey of the most used bins in the village and from this recommended that the five bins to be emptied free of charge should be sited in Station Road, Heath Road and outside the library. It was resolved that Cllr Smith's findings should be put before the finance, general purposes and administration committee for discussion.
The next meeting of Dersingham Parish Council will be held at Dersingham Infant and Nursery School at 7pm on Monday, November 24.
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Weather for King's Lynn
Monday 28 May 2012
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