Minutes of the Parish Council Meeting

Meeting Date:

Summary
This summary is generated by AI and may contain errors. It does not form part of the official minutes.
Residents will be interested to know about the new Suffolk Solar Power Panel scheme and potential funding for electric charging points. Excitingly, a £60,000 grant has been secured to tackle gum on pavements. Additionally, the playground's new fencing is complete, ensuring a safer space for children.
Present
Councillors Richard Morris (RM) (Chairman), Clive Hawkins (CH), Clive Morris (CM), Stephen Russell (SR), Lesley Yates (LY), Will Draper (WD), County Councillor Andy Mellen (AM), District Councillor Rick Meyer.

The Chairman commenced the meeting with a minute’s silence to mark the sad passing of HM The Queen on 8 September 2022.

Public Forum

  1. Five members of the public in attendance.
  2. No requests for additional agenda items for the next Agenda.
  3. Cllr Mellen’s monthly report was circulated. Cllr Mellen wished to highlight the Suffolk Solar Power Panel scheme which is currently being offered. (The Clerk will post details on the noticeboard). Cllr Mellen also highlighted attention to the funding for electric charging points (which the Clerk will explore).
  4. Cllr Meyer’s report was circulated. Cllr Meyer reminded all present to ensure they registered with the Council to ensure they had the ability to vote. He also highlighted two projects – one which is exploring setting up a battery collection service locally and the second regarding a grant they had received of £60,000 to tackle the problems of gum on pavements.

Apologies

None.

Declarations of Interest and Requests for Dispensations

  1. Cllr Yates re 5.6.
  2. None.

Minutes

  1. The minutes of the Parish Council Meeting held on 12 July and the Planning Meeting held on 9 August were approved and signed by the Chairman.
  2. None.

Clerk’s Report and Correspondence

  1. The Clerk had received a letter of complaint from a resident in Long Thurlow that the proposed site for the new defibrillator and noticeboard was going to be adjacent to the bus stop and not in the centre of the village.
  2. The deadline for contributions for the next Broadsheet is 16 September. The Clerk would relay any items of importance from tonight’s meeting across with immediate effect. The sponsorship option for costs over and above our bi-monthly agreed figure appeared to be going very well.
  3. The Chairman formally welcomed Mr Maciej Siarkowski to the Parish Council. Mr Siarkowski was co-opted following the retirement of Diane Donat earlier in the year.
  4. The Clerk reported the renewal for our annual insurance with Zurich was £531.56 compared to £523.35 last year. The Councillors voted unanimously that this should be renewed immediately.
  5. The Clerk highlighted a proposal that the Parish Council should share the monthly grass cutting costs with the Village Hall Committee. Cllr Hawkins responded that the Village Hall did not have any surplus funds to put towards this. After discussion it was agreed that the Parish Council would continue to pay the monthly charges alone for both pieces of ground – the playground area (owned solely by the Parish Council) and the large rectangular field (owned jointly by the Village Hall Committee and the Parish Council as Trustees).
  6. The Clerk informed the Councillors that the fencing to the playground had been completed and was a huge success. It would keep the children safe whilst at play and keep dogs out. The last two pieces of play equipment could now be ordered along with a rainbow picnic bench for this area. This would then fully complete Stage 1 of the Parish Council’s long held plans for the playground. The Councillors confirmed their approval of this final expenditure. Attention could then be concentrated on Stage 2 which would cater for teenagers and adults. The Parish Council need to wait for the approval of the Village Hall Committee before plans could be discussed on this rectangular piece of ground. The Councillors are going to consider the pros and cons of allowing dogs on the playing field either on leads or off. No final decision has been made and dogs should NOT be taken onto the playing field until such decision is published.

Environment

  1. After lengthy discussion it was decided that wildflower planting would look lovely for approx. 2 months of the year and then untidy for the remainder of the year. Plus it was inadvisable to have volunteers planting wildflowers on the verges so close to traffic. Instead it was suggested that the PC bought four large flower troughs to be placed at strategic points in the village in an attempt to highlight the flora and fauna. The Clerk would purchase these using CIL funds and volunteers would be sought to care for the individual troughs throughout the year.
  2. A proposition was put forward by Cllr Yates to have a Christmas tree and lighting erected in the middle of the village. Unfortunately there was no electrical supply available either near the war memorial or the village hall and with energy costs going through the roof, this idea was deemed as being uneconomic.
  3. A resident had complained about the overgrown hedge at the bottom of Orchard Alley pointing out the difficulty and danger of crossing the road to the village hall side. The hedge has since been cut by the householder which had improved the visibility.
  4. The proposed village gates for Long Thurlow were hopefully going to be made and erected in the next few weeks as we had confirmed this job with a new supplier who holds the required NRSWA licence to work on the highway.
  5. The Chairman reported that he had now fully restored the Long Thurlow noticeboard which would in future be located in the bus shelter in Long Thurlow. Roy Woodfine has very kindly offered to re-site this in LT with the help of others.
  6. Cllr Mellen had very generously donated £1400 from his Locality Budget towards the purchase of a solar-powered defibrillator for Long Thurlow. The Parish Council formally recorded their thanks to him for this kind offer.
  7. The SID reports this month showed a worrying increase in speed of cars leaving either end of the village – the highest recorded speed was 76mph which is twice the 30mph throughout the village and indeed even higher than the 60mph allowed outside of the village boundaries. This would be reported to the Police for their advice and further action.
  8. A date for a joint litter pick and bulb planting project has been chosen as Saturday 12 and Sunday 13 November at 10.00 on both days. This would be well advertised in the hope of attracting many village volunteers to either litter pick throughout the village or, if they preferred, to plant bulbs around the perimeter of the playing field.
  9. A communication had been received from MSDC endorsing cycling activities which are being grant funded to encourage cycling as a healthier, happier and cleaner option. The Clerk will follow up and report back.
  10. The Quiet Lane project has again been raised. We were unsuccessful in attracting funding when it was first launched in 2020 and we are not aware it is currently live at the moment. The Clerk will verify.
  11. Cllr Russell provided the first formal update on the Neighbourhood Plan project the Council is embarking on. His report is attached to these minutes but will also be available for everyone to read on our website under a new heading of ‘Neighbourhood Plan’ (website: badwellash.suffolk.cloud).
  12. The Chairman reported that the offer of a free bird box for all residents living within the Parish had been a success and he was working with Simon, our installer who is an expert and a member of a number of bird related societies including the Suffolk Barn Owl Group as well as working with Action for Swifts. The approximate cost of this will be in the region of £2600 with the funds being allocated from our CIL funds.
  13. The Clerk has done some research on solar lighting (as opposed to traditional wired streetlighting) which is a fraction of the cost of mains streetlighting and obviously has no further on-costs attached. The Council are open to requests from residents for extra or new lighting in their part of the village.

Planning

Progress of recent planning applications are as follows:

  • DC/22/04180 Land North of The Broadway, The Broadway, Badwell Ash, Suffolk IP31 3DR – Discharge of Condition 10 – APPROVED
  • DC/22/02611 Pattles Barn, Badwell Green, Badwell Ash, Bury St Edmunds Suffolk IP31 3JG – Discharge of Condition 4 – REFUSED
  • DC/22/03718 Orchard House, Richer Road, Badwell Ash, Bury St Edmunds Suffolk IP31 3DQ TPO – APPROVED
  • DC/22/03453 Broadway Bungalow, The Broadway, Badwell Ash, Bury St Edmunds Suffolk IP31 3DR – Conditions 3,4 and 6 – APPROVED
  • DC/22/02248 Croft Cottage, The Street, Badwell Ash, Bury St Edmunds Suffolk IP31 3DH – REFUSED
  • DC/22/03899 Hawthorns, Long Thurlow, Badwell Ash, Bury St Edmunds Suffolk IP31 3JA - APPROVED
  1. To consider a planning consultation request letter relating to planning application DC/22/04191 – Cleeve House, Long Thurlow IP31 3JA (TPO). The Councillors voted unanimously there was no objection to this proposal.
  2. To consider a planning consultation letter relating to planning application DC/22/04424 – 1 Old Vicarage Drive, Badwell Ash IP31 3DU (TPO). The Councillors voted unanimously there was no objection to this proposal.

Finance, Governance and Policies

  1. The Councillors considered the issue of the following payments:
    • £279.80 – August salaries
    • £90.00 – M&TJs grass cutting
    • £240.00 – PKF Littlejohn (external auditor)
    • £2844 – Sitefix (contribution to new village hall front doors)
    • £57.00 – NBB recycled (replacement for burnt planks for picnic table)
    • £36.00 - Meeting room hire village hall
    • £65.32 – Clerk’s expenses
    • £14875.20 – C&W Fencing (playground)
    • £531.56 – Zurich annual insurance
    • £181.00 – Top Hat printers for Broadsheet
    • £5.00 – monthly bank charge
    It was resolved that these payments could be made. The Chairman signed an approval for these to be paid by BACS.
  2. The Clerk confirmed that all of the Parish Council’s policies and procedures had been reviewed, retyped and were now posted individually on our website for reference.

Next Meeting

Date of next Parish Council Meeting – 11 October 2022 (Joint Meeting of Parish Council and Village Hall Committee) – all welcome.

Dates for Parish Council Meetings 2022 – 2nd Tuesday of the month 8 Nov, 13 Dec

Carole Rose, Parish Clerk
16 September 2022

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