Please find below issue No.2 of the Land Management Updates, courtesy of the Wissey Water Quality Group (part of the Wissey Partnership), and the Lark, Little Ouse & Thet sub-catchment partnerships.
The newsletter contains farm advisor updates, relevant news and upcoming events, plus the latest water quality report. I hope you find this useful.
With the elections looming in May 2019, there may be residents/parish councillors who are thinking of becoming a District or Parish Councillor; with this in mind, Breckland Council are holding a Prospective Councillor event on Tuesday, 12 February 2019 from 6.00pm at the Breckland Council Conference Suite in Dereham (light refreshments will be available from 5.30pm).
Further details of ‘How to become a Councillor’ will be available soon on the Breckland website: www.breckland.gov.uk and a programme of what to expect at the prospective Cllr event will follow in due course.
As you may have read in this newsletter I am leaving my position as Clerk to the Parish Council. I have thoroughly enjoyed my years on the Council and have met and spoken to so many lovely people in and out of the village in this role. I originally started on the Council in 2003 and then had a break in 2007/8 while I launched my village publication that some of you may remember which was called ‘Speak Up Magazine’. The birth to my forth child meant I just no longer had the time necessary to continue to produce the magazine, and I was lucky enough to be offered the position of clerk again in 2009 and have thrown myself into the role for the last 4 years. I have been very fortunate to be involved with a very pro-active council and one that cares about their residents. I hope that if you have spoken to me about an issue you were concerned about, or had a request for the council, that I have dealt with your issue promptly and with care and attention, as I always tried to give the best advice possible.
I will continue to help out with litter picks and be a volunteer of the friends of the village, and I am a Governor at the Primary School so I will still be active round the village.
Thank you to all those that have supported me in my role over the years, and the lovely messages I have received from residents wishing me well for the future. I would like to say a big thank you to my councillors for their support and friendship and I’m sure that will continue.
I would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year, hopefully 2014 will bring luck and prosperity to us all!!
Fran
Mundford Parish Council
Vacancy
Clerk & Responsible Financial Officer
Mundford Parish Council is looking for an enthusiastic, organised, self motivated and personable individual to take over the role of Clerk and Responsible Financial Officer from the current post-holder as soon as possible.
The successful applicants must have basic accounting skills, and be computer literate with knowledge of Excel, Word & the Internet.
The Parish Council holds 12 public meetings a year. Main responsibilities include: preparation of Agenda in consultation with the Chair, and posting on the village notice board, attendance at meetings and production and circulation of minutes, attendance at other meetings as and when required, advising the Council on its statutory responsibilities, ensuring all councillors are informed of communications to the Council and dealing with the same as per the Council’s instructions, implementation of the policies and the instructions of the Councils, maintenance of accounts and preparations of cheques, preparations of budgets and financial reports, preparation of annual accounts for audit purposes, operating PAYE & RTI systems in accordance with HMRC requirements, submission of Council comments on planning applications, posting information onto the website. In addition the Clerk will manage allotments that are soon to be in the Council’s possession.
Previous experience as a Parish Clerk would be an advantage. Whilst they would preferably be CiLCA qualified and have a good understanding of Local Government procedures, training will be provided. The hours are 15 per week working either from the Parish Office or from home whichever suits the successful applicant. Salary will be paid in accordance to experience and in line with the National Joint Salary Scale, which will between SCP16-SCP23 (£8.63-£10.60 per hour) depending on experience. Deadline for applications is 10th December 2013, interviews will take place on an individual basis.
To register an interest please contact Mr Stefan Eyres (Chair) on 07980 367879 or the Clerk, Fran Brown on 01842 879130 or using the contact form on the left. Applicants will be asked to supply a relevant CV.
Anti-social Behaviour and Crime in Mundford
As mentioned in the Chairman’s report, there have been a quite a few incidents of anti-social behaviour in Mundford recently. Some may think eggs being thrown at windows is kids just having fun and shouldn’t be taken too seriously, but the Council disagree. People can feel intimidated and scared, and often think they are being targeted. I have had a meeting with our local PCSO from Thetford and she is aware of the current issues in Mundford, however she made clear that it is important for people to report incidents to the Police on the 101 number as soon as they happen. This gives them a clear picture on what is happening in the village and may mean we get more Police presence in the village.
The Council are also disappointed to report that there has been a burglary in Swaffham Road recently. We are fortunate that Mundford has a very low crime rate, and we live in a lovely area, however we cannot afford to be complacent and if anyone sees anything they feel is suspicious please report this to the 101 number. I personally had my bicycle stolen from outside my house in early October and I reported this to the Police immediately. They were very thorough, and gave me some good advice for the future.
Community Speedwatch
I am delighted to say that enough volunteers have come forward to allow the Community Speedwatch scheme to go ahead. At the time of this going to press a meeting has taken place with the volunteers and a PCSO from the Safer Neighbourhood Team at Thetford to discuss the way forward with this project. A risk assessment will take place on the sites suggested for the speedwatch team and volunteers have been asked to complete security check forms. We are hopeful that this scheme will begin monitoring traffic speeds in December. I will ensure regular updates are mentioned in the newsletter. Thank you to those that have come forward to help, but there is still time to join the group! Please contact me at the below number if you are interested.
Website
The Mundford Parish Council Website www.mundfordparishcouncil.co.uk is regularly being updated and the Council would love you to have a look! There is plenty of interesting information on there for you to read and photos to look at, as well as Parish Council news and events in the village. Mundford resident Carol Lewis was a winner of our Pride of Mundford award in October and a photo of this plus previous winners are on the website. There are new photos of the village on the site and we are currently working on updating the home page. If you have any suggestions for the website or would like to add anything then please contact me and I will forward this to the Council.
The Council are aware that the grit bins are either getting low or have run out of grit. We are waiting to hear from Norfolk County Council Highways on when another delivery will take place to re-fill the bins. Obviously there is great demand for these services so please understand that it may not be done for a few days. Please be very careful when walking round the village.
The Parish Council are delighted to announce that three new grit bins are now available. The new locations are Fir Close, Brecklands and Adeane Meadow.
There are now 9 grit bins in Mundford. The Parish Council would like to remind residents that the salt and sand mix provided by Norfolk County Council within the bins is for highway use only. It should never be used on private drives and paths. It is also only meant to be placed on footpaths.
The Council are very grateful to Mr Paul Lynch for organising the volunteer gritting programme for Fir Close and the Brecklands. Mr Lynch and his team of helpful volunteers will be gritting the footpaths in these areas when there is severe weather i.e snow. The Council would like to point out however, that the only reason we managed to secure the grit bins in these two estates and to have them filled was because Mr Lynch and his volunteers came forward to help with this project. In line with NCC Highways policy, the grit is only to be used in severe weather only and not just for icy weather.
