Stanhoe Parish meeting MAY 2026
Good evening.
May I take this opportunity to thank all the Councillors and Clerk for their hard work over the last year.
I look forward to continuing working with you all. Being any sort of Councillor can be challenging yet very rewarding.
Since the last AGM a couple of you are new Councillors, so I would just give you an update as to what roles I have within the Borough Council.
I am the Chair of the Homeless and Housing task Group. I am the Vice Chair of the Licensing Committee. I sit on the Appointments Board, we have had some really good candidates apply for many of our higher tier management posts, some have been difficult to call as all the candidates had very good experience and skills. I also sit on the Local Plan Task Group, the Environment and Community Panel, the CIL spending panel and last year I was voted as the
Deputy Leader of the Conservative Group. Being a Cllr I sit on 2 outside bodies, one being the Burnham Overy Harbour trust and the second one being West Norfolk Girls School trust. I am always at the end of an email or telephone if anyone has any issues. I do try and respond within 24 hours and like to give the residents an answer to their queries quickly. This is just a snapshot of my role, I do also try and attend as many Parish councils as I can. I have 6 Parish Councils within my ward.
I am also a Parish Councillor where I live, a trustee of the Village Hall and the Alms-house trust. I also Chair Burnham Market Surgery Patient Participation Group.
Over the last 12 months the Borough Council has started to see change and the future of the Borough is changing. This is because of Local Government Reorganisation. It will mean that rather than a Borough and County Council there will be one council doing the roles of both Councils. There will no longer be County and Borough Councillors there will be one person doing the role. As you know Norfolk has been split into 3, which Is the best option for the residents, in terms of finances and the services provided. The Borough will stay until 2028. Unitary elections will be next year2027. The Government will develop a statuary change order to create the new Council.
This will be laid out before Parliament in the summer and signed off late Autumn this may be subject to change ….unitary will go live in April 2028.
I am still receiving emails about the increase in the 200% council tax. The Borough only receives a very small portion of this. We are using the extra money for our Homeless and Housing strategy.
In the Budget there is a provision of half a million pounds for community projects. CIL will be much more difficult to access.
Planning Changes are coming into force in September I believe. Planning Committee will meet once a quarter and it will be Chair of Planning and the Assistant Director making planning decisions. There will be no option for Borough Councillors to call applications in. Parish Councils must be a strong voice for any applications in their village.
The Local Plan is now being reviewed the Last one took 9 years the Government have said that this one has to be done in 30 months. Our housing delivery numbers have been increased from 554 to over a thousand. This doesn’t include windfall sites. If the Council doesn’t build them, we are financially penalised. LOCAL PLAN – the Government, in setting political targets before analysis, are reducing the weight of public opinion. I recommend each Parish sends a representative to training sessions, (currently arranged for 15th and 22nd June).
It is worth watching the Local Plan task group meeting 19th May on You tube. In our call for sites this is asking developers and landowners if they have any land and so far we have had 750 plus sites that have come forward.
I will attach the Local Plan Task Group agenda from last week there is lots of useful content.
Last Thursday night we welcomed in our new Mayor for the municipal year.
This is just a snapshot of things happening within the Borough.
If you have any queries or questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.
With Best Wishes Cllr Sam Sandell.
Borough Councillor for Burnham with Docking