By Geoff Fisher As the meeting on 8 May was the annual meeting of Reepham Town Council, responsibilities for various aspects of the council’s work, such as a personnel committee, councillors responsible for financial checks and allotments and members of the Stimpson’s Piece Working Group, were agreed.
Police Sergeant James Marrison from Norfolk Constabulary attended the meeting and explained that the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 gives councils the power to make Public Spaces Protection Orders (PSPOs) to ban any activities they consider having a detrimental effect on the lives of others.
Broadland District Council has used its powers to put into place a PSPO which relates to the misuse of motor vehicles and covers the whole Broadland District Council area. Under the order, which applies in Reepham, it is an offence to use a motor vehicle in a manner that causes distress to residents, for example by revving engines, performing stunts or sounding car horns unnecessarily. PSPOs can be enforced by the police, council enforcement officers or any other authorised officers and lead to fixed penalty fines of £100.
The PSPOs are in operation 365 days per year, 24 hours per day, and will be in place for the next three years. A review will be undertaken at 12 months to identify the effectiveness of the new Order and whether there needs to be any amendments made. Full details can be found on the Broadland and South Norfolk website.
Market Place parking
The town council continues to be concerned about the parking arrangements in the Market Place, whereby parking is not allowed on the King’s Arms side on a Wednesday morning, despite there being no market, and those attending the Sunshine Café for people with dementia and their carers receiving parking fines.
The town council is working with District Councillor Greg Peck and Jerome Mayhew MP to have the parking restriction on Wednesday mornings removed and the time limit increased from 90 minutes to two hours all week.
Visitor economy strategy
Graham Peers from Broadland District Council spoke about the Broadland and South Norfolk visitor economy strategy, which is looking at attracting visitors to market towns such as Reepham via websites. The town council agreed to consider this further once more information had been received.
Stimpson’s Piece improvements
As trustee of Stimpson’s Piece, the town council continues to improve the outside areas, the community hall and pavilion.
The community hall has been completely redecorated by those involved in the Community Payback programme, who did a very good job, so the hall now looks clean and tidy and is in use for most of the week by various community organisations.
A consultation with young people from the primary and secondary schools and a public consultation session at the Dial House indicated a strong wish for additional play equipment and a skate park.
There were 108 responses to a recent survey with 105 in favour of a skate park. The next stage is to produce a clear development plan for Stimpson’s Piece, which will identify where equipment and the skate park would be situated, with the aim of submitting a grant application by November.
Councillor vacancy
Reepham Town Council has one vacancy. If you would like to help care for the public areas of Reepham and be involved in the decision-making processes, the council would like to hear from you. Please contact the town clerk by email or telephone 01603 873355.
Paul Mitchell, Chair, Reepham Town Council
Geoff Fisher