Badwell Ash Parish Council Meeting Minutes

Meeting Date:

Present
Councillors Richard Morris, Stephen Russell, Will Draper, Maciej Siarkowski, Roy Woodfine and Nick Harvey. 8 members of the public also attended.

For the AGM the outgoing Vice Chairman was asked to conduct agenda item 1.

Election of Chairman and Vice Chairman

  1. Councillor Russell proposed that Councillor Richard Morris was re-elected as Chairman. This was seconded by Councillor Woodfine. Voting was unanimous in favour of Councillor Morris acting as Chairman which he agreed to undertake. and signed a Declaration of Office. Councillor R Morris signed the Declaration of Acceptance of Office.
  2. The remaining five Parish Councillors signed their Declaration of Office and confirmed to the Clerk that they had forwarded their newly completed Register of Interests form by email directly to MSDC.
  3. Councillor R Morris then proposed Cllr Russell for the position of Vice Chairman. This was seconded by Councillor Draper, and unanimously voted on.
  4. William Woodhall (Bill) had applied to become a Parish Councillor and his application was successful and he was co-opted to join the Council with immediate effect. Councillor Woodhall was warmly welcomed by the other Councillors and signed the requisite forms.
  5. The results of the District Council election saw Richard Winch succeed as a District Councillor for the Green Party. Richard succeeds Richard Meyer who retired at the recent election. The PC will look forward to meeting Richard at a future PC meeting.

Public Forum

  1. A request for further equipment for teenagers/adults was made in addition to the children’s playground. The Chairman confirmed that this was very much part of the Stage 2 plan to be implemented as soon as possible. Further baby equipment was requested for the children’s playground but the Parish Council regarded this section as complete for the time being. A suggestion for ‘Cars on the Green’ for Badwell Ash was raised and Councillors Draper and Woodfine are exploring the possibilities for this.

Apologies

  1. County Councillor Andy Mellen.

Declarations of Interest and Requests for Dispensations

  1. None
  2. None

Minutes

  1. The Minutes of the meeting held on 11 April 2023 were approved and signed by the Chairman.
  2. No matters arising.

Clerk’s Report and Correspondence

  1. The Chairman confirmed that Clarke’s of Walsham had generously agreed to sponsor three editions of the Broadsheet per annum; thus leaving the remaining three editions for others (The White Horse, Perfect Paws etc) to sponsor. The Broadsheet continues to receive high praise from many residents.
  2. The two versions (long and short) of a Draft Social Media policy had been circulated to Councillors. The Chairman asked the Councillors to make a note of which document was preferable in order that it could be adopted and added to our Policy library to become effective. This subject to be carried forward to the June PC meeting.
  3. It was suggested that our current 7 Councillors could each be responsible for an element of Council work to aid efficiency and work commitment. To date the following are in place:
    • Cllr Russell – Neighbourhood Plan and Footpaths
    • Cllr Woodfine – Long Thurlow
    • Cllr Morris – Broadsheet
    • Cllr Siarkowski – Finance with the Clerk
    • Cllrs Draper & Woodfine – Festivals/Events
    • Cllr Harvey – Playing Field
    It was agreed that for the time being all Councillors would be involved in planning applications within our parish.
  4. The Clerk requested all Councillors to give her as much advance notice of holidays/planned absences as possible to ensure that all meetings could be quorate and avoid the need for last minute cancellations.
  5. As requested the Clerk had written to all residents of St Mary’s Crescent regarding the matters raised by one resident. The letters had been hand delivered to every house in St Mary’s by Cllr Siarkowski and the Clerk and the item would be listed for the June agenda as proposed.
  6. MSDC had requested the remaining balance of the grant money from the Winter Warm events held over the winter to be returned to them. The Clerk had therefore repaid MSDC the sum of £2037. The Winter Warm event had taken place over 17 consecutive Fridays between November and March and had seen attendance of between 6 – 24 residents each week.

Environment

  1. Cllr Harvey confirmed that Richard Pratt was willing to undertake a drone survey of the entire playing field before the PC put together the proposed plan for the regeneration project. To date the PC had received a very competitive quote for the groundworks and the Chairman had had a meeting with a play equipment/outdoor machine company so a good start to this project. As noted in previous minutes, it is proposed to use our current CIL money for this major project which will see huge prospects and benefits to all the residents of the villages. As soon as the drone survey results are known, detailed plans can be drawn up and discussed.
  2. Cllr Russell is in discussions with a grass roots football charity organisation to look into the possibility of providing a five-a-side football facility in the middle of the regenerated playing field above. Further work and discussions are ongoing.
  3. The Clerk reported that Prolectric would be installing one further solar streetlight on the front corner of the village hall on 31 May 2023 which will add a little more light to both the front and side entrances of the village hall. This solar lighting scheme has been totally funded by the Parish Council on behalf of the Village Hall.
  4. The Clerk reported that the welding fault to one of the yellow gates to the children’s playground had been rectified and was all now in good order.
  5. The bird box project for residents was nearly complete with many grateful residents pleased with their new box. The PC are awaiting the last batch of boxes from the supplier but these will be too late for nesting purposes this year.
  6. The Great British Litter Pick had been undertaken by the Parish Councillors, their families and some willing residents and children with 11 bags of rubbish collected which was a successful outcome. It was noted that the majority of the rubbish, easily identified, came from the arterial roads to our villages (ie thrown out of drivers’ windows once the takeaway/drink had been consumed). Very little rubbish came from the individual roads within the village.

Planning

Progress of recent planning applications are as follows:

DC/22/05701 land east of Hunston Road, Badwell Ash – RESERVED MATTERS GRANTED

  1. To consider a planning application letter relating to DC/23/01605 – The Reservoir is located between the villages of Hunston and Badwell Ash. The Councillors discussed this planning request and were unanimous in their approval of this scheme which addresses wildlife issues, potential flooding and general enhancement to the ecology by way of deciduous woodland. It was resolved to approve this application.

Finance and Policies

  1. The Clerk shared two hard copies of the LGA Code of Conduct for Councillors with Cllrs Harvey and Woodhall for their perusal and return when finished.
  2. The Parish Councillors unanimously resolved that the Parish Council meets the conditions of eligibility set out in the Schedule to The Parish Councils (General Power of Competence) (Prescribed Conditions) Order 2012, thereby enabling it to use the General Power of Competence. This will remain valid until the annual meeting following the next ordinary election in May 2027.
  3. The annual review of the Financial Risk Assessment and Asset Risk Assessment had been circulated to the Councillors prior to the AAGM
    1. Financial Risk Assessment – After review the Councillors unanimously approved this and it was signed by the Chairman
    2. Asset Risk Assessment – After review the Councillors unanimously approved this and it was signed by the Chairman
    They would be reviewed again in May 2024.
  4. The Councillors had reviewed the Annual Receipts and Payments Statement for 2023/24 in accordance with 5.6 of the Financial Regulations. This was signed off by the Chairman.
  5. The Clerk reported that the Internal Auditor had completed his audit of the financial dealings for the year and these had been approved. The Chairman and Clerk signed the requisite AGAR forms and the Clerk would now submit these to the external Auditor for their approval.
  6. To consider and agree the payment of the following:
    • £603.48 – April salary
    • £2037.06 – repayment of Winter Warm grant to MSDC
    • £384.74 – SALC annual membership subscription
    • £973.55 – Suffolk County Council annual streetlight costs
    • £153.82 – Glasdon dog litter bin for finger post at Durham House
    • £397.44 – Printed4You coronation mugs (part of £2k pledge)
    • £206.00 – Kingfisher replacement grit bin for Back Lane
    • £158.84 – Clerk’s expenses including gravel and compost
    • £5.00 – HSBC monthly bank charge
    It was resolved that these payments could be made. The Chairman signed an approval for these to be paid by BACS.

The next Parish Council meeting would be held on Tuesday 13 June at 19.00 in the Village Hall.

Carole Rose – Parish Clerk
01359 259045
18 May 2023

Share this page

The following links open in a new tab

Updates to this page

Published