To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 17 July 2014.

The Minutes of the meeting held on 17 July 2014 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

To receive apologies for absence. 

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Armes, Canham, C Carter, Childerhouse, Goreham and L Monument.

Engagements List - Chairman

17 July 2014 to 24 September 2014

Engagements List – Vice-Chairman

17 July 2014 to 24 September 2014

The Chairman announced that there would be a Special Council meeting held on 25 November 2014 at 2pm to progress the LABV project.

He drew attention to the Recycling Revolution leaflets which were available for Members to take.

With reference to his appointments list he said that he had attended many enjoyable events.  Some of those that were to commemorate the start of World War One had also been very moving.

The Leader of the Labour Group thanked the Chairman for the number of Thetford Festival events that he had supported.

Members are reminded that under the Code of Conduct they are not to participate and must leave the room, for the whole of an agenda item to which they have a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest. 

In the interests of transparency, Members may also wish to declare any other interests they have in relation to an agenda item, that support the Nolan principles detailed within the Code of Conduct.

None.

Unconfirmed minutes of the Cabinet meeting held on 9 September 2014.

When presenting the Minutes the Leader of the Council noted that it had been the last Cabinet meeting that Mark Finch had attended as S151 Officer.  He thanked Mark for all his help and advice in that role.

RESOLVED that the unconfirmed Minutes of the Cabinet meeting held on 9 September 2014 be adopted.

RESOLVED that the confirmed Minutes of the Special Overview & Scrutiny Commission meeting held on 24 July 2014 be adopted.

1)         Task & Finish Group (Minute No 52/14)

It was agreed that the second sentence of the paragraph on page 22 commencing ‘Councillor Kybird’ should be amended to read that ‘…there might be a conflict of interest as the Commissioning body included GPs.’

2)         Adoption

RESOLVED that, subject to the amendment above, the unconfirmed Minutes of the Overview & Scrutiny Commission meeting held on 28 August 2014 be adopted.

RESOLVED that the confirmed Minutes of the Planning Committee meeting held on 7 July 2014 be adopted.

RESOLVED that the confirmed Minutes of the Planning Committee meeting held on 4 August 2014 be adopted.

1)         Schedule of Planning Applications – Item 1: Watton (Minute No 87/14a)

Councillor Gilbert sought clarification of the penultimate sentence on page 45 which said the recommendation of refusal had not been supported.  On the following page it had been resolved to refuse the application.

The Chairman of the Planning Committee confirmed that an amendment would be made when the Minutes were presented to the Committee.  It should have read that the recommendation of approval had not been supported.

2)         Schedule of Planning Applications – Item 2: Dereham (Minute No 87/14b)

In the second paragraph on page 47 Councillor T Monument advised that he had said that Dumpling Green was a pedestrian public right of way and only partly lit, and that cyclists had no right of way.

3)         Adoption

RESOLVED that subject to the amendments above the unconfirmed Minutes of the Planning Committee meeting held on 1 September 2014 be adopted.

Unconfirmed minutes of the General Purposes Committee meeting held on 23 July 2014.

It was noted that Mr Fairchild had been at the meeting and should be included in the list of those in attendance.

a)         Community Governance Review – Weasenham All Saints and Weasenham St Peter – Final Recommendations (Minute No 35/14)

An amendment to point 3 of the recommendation was made to clarify that it was up to the electorate to decide the balance of Councillors on the Parish Council.  

RESOLVED that:

1)                 the Parish Councils of Weasenham All Saints and Weasenham St Peter be merged to form one Parish Council;

2)                 the name of the group of Parish Councils be known as Weasenham Parish Council;

3)                 the number of seats of Weasenham Parish Council be seven; and

4)                 a reorganisation Order be made to effect the changes as set out in recommendations 1, 2 and 3 above to come into force on Thursday 7 May 2015.

b)                 Adoption

RESOLVED that subject to the amendments above, the now confirmed Minutes of the General Purposes Committee meeting held on 23 July 2014 be adopted.

RESOLVED that the confirmed Minutes of the Appeals Committee meeting held on 16 July 2014 be adopted.

RESOLVED that the confirmed Minutes of the Special Appeals Committee meeting held on 25 July 2014 be adopted.

RESOLVED that the unconfirmed Minutes of the Appeals Committee meeting held on 3 September 2014 be adopted.

Unconfirmed minutes of the Licensing Committee meeting held on 30 July 2014.

RESOLVED that the unconfirmed Minutes of the Licensing Committee meeting held on 30 July 2014 be adopted.

To receive nominations for any changes to Committee and other seats from political groups.

Members are asked to note the following amendment to appointments to Outside Bodies:

Norfolk Health Overview & Scrutiny Committee (NHOSC)

Remove Councillor Chapman-Allen as Substitute (as the District Council Members on the NHOSC have to be members of the Overview & Scrutiny Commission)

RESOLVED that Councillor M Chapman-Allen be removed as Substitute Member of the Norfolk Health Overview & Scrutiny Committee.

A replacement would be appointed at the next meeting.

To receive a presentation from the Business Continuity/Emergency Planning Officer.

David Rimmer, Business Continuity/Emergency Planning Officer gave a short presentation to Members on the Council’s role and its legal requirements as a Category One Responder for the community.

Norfolk Prepared Week had been launched at the Forum in Norwich and was aimed at raising awareness and encouraging self-help.  The theme of Breckland’s contribution was Personal and Home Safety.

Packs had been distributed to Members which included information sheets and contact details for more information and advice.  Members were asked to use the sheets to promote the concepts of Personal and Home Safety and to help individuals, communities and businesses to be better prepared.

All of the information was available on the Members Page of the Intranet and on the Council’s website.

Councillor Williams noted that his community had been pro-active and already had its own emergency contact list and Councillor Duigan advised that he was an Emergency Co-ordinator for Dereham but he was concerned about the lack of connection between the parishes.

The Business Continuity/Emergency Planning Officer explained that the Community Emergency Plan would cover that and other aspects were being developed.  He was willing to visit town and parish councils and could offer support and advice.

Councillor Wilkin said it was easy to think that nothing would ever happen but his own village had experienced a plane crash and such things could occur anywhere.

The Business Continuity/Emergency Planning Officer pointed out that it wasn’t always a disaster that could cause an emergency, bad weather was a more regular cause of disruption.

Councillor Turner said that Bawdeswell had a particularly good emergency plan which included a list of local people with four wheel drive vehicles, chain saws, etc.  She was also aware that villages could be used when there were major road crashes, so it was very useful for them to have an emergency plan.

It was clarified that the information packs had not been sent out to all parishes.  The information was available on the website and a pack had been sent out to libraries.  Councillor North suggested that a pack should be sent to tourist information centres as well.

The Leader requested that a link to the information on the Council’s website should be sent to all town and parish clerks as he thought it was worth being pro-active.

The Chairman thanked the Business Continuity/Emergency Planning Officer for his presentation.