Badwell Ash Parish Council Meeting Minutes -

Present: Councillors Richard Morris (Chairman), Stephen Russell (Vice Chairman), Will Draper, Nick Harvey and Bill Woodhall. District Councillor Richard Winch and 1 member of the public also attended. County Councillor Andy Mellen attended for part of the meeting only.

Public Forum

None
For future meetings – Report on Village Hall liaison meeting and request for a further litter pick.
Deferred until later in the meeting.
Cllr Winch’s report had been previously circulated to the Parish Councillors and he stressed the importance of the BMSDC Joint Local Plan Stage 2 which will include housing. MSDC has also ringfenced a significant budget for rural bus services. MSDC is also supporting Silver Sunday campaigns which help to tackle loneliness for older residents.

Apologies

Councillors Roy Woodfine and Maciej Siarkowski.

Declarations of Interest and Requests for Dispensation

Cllr Harvey in relation to Item 6.5
None.

Minutes

The Minutes of the meeting held on 12 September to be signed at the November meeting.
Cllr Russell requested an additional sentence be added to Item 6.5 of the Minutes of 12 September to state “the Parish Councillors gave approval for both projects to go ahead”.

Clerk’s Report and Correspondence

The Clerk gave a verbal report on the topics she had been involved in throughout the month which included queries about school bus drop-off points; 20mph village limits; toad facilities; background work for the Neighbourhood Plan set-up.

The Clerk had visited Suffolk Archives in Bury St Edmunds to view the original copies of the Conveyance for sale of the Playing Field, the Title Deeds and Correspondence dating back to 1971. The Councillors requested that the Clerk arrange to have all of these documents digitised (at a cost) to keep with BAPC paperwork. The originals are to remain in the Suffolk Archives indefinitely.
The Clerk had written to Mulberry Homes twice with no response re a potential start date.
The Clerk reported that Badwell Ash had been awarded a small grant of £250 in the Pride in your Place Project to be spent on ‘tidying up the village’. The Clerk would buy new paint and varnish and draw up a list of voluntary jobs for the Councillors to undertake over the next month to justify this award before a completion statement was sent to MSDC.
The Clerk reported that the Parish Council’s arrangements for the Remembrance Sunday service were complete with a wreath purchased for the Vice Chairman to lay, Roy Woodfine had sourced a trumpeter to play Reveille and the Last Post. The service to be on Sunday 12 November at 10.20 in St Mary’s Church and 10.50 at the War Memorial.
The Clerk reported that the paperwork had been completed for the purchase of the Village Hall Drive from the developer. All monies had been paid and we now awaited the return of the transaction’s paperwork from Hayward Moon.
The Parish Councillors voted to adopt NALC’s Model Publication Scheme having previously read the contents.
The Clerk produced a draft of a Freedom of Information policy but the Councillors were not in agreement with the wording so further amendments/corrections to be made, possibly with SALC’s advice being sought.

County Councillor Andy Mellen joined the meeting and went through his report verbally. He announced that the new Highways contractor (Milestone) and the new streetlighting contractor (McCann) had both started work so it was hoped for improvements both in terms of price and speed of work. Cllr Mellen announced a new £100k fund for Net Xero Business Solutions – this fund is being coordinated by the Carbon Charter. Cllr Mellen also shared the Fire and Rescue’s wish to leave the Peterborough and Cambridge partnership (where the current headquarters is based) and set up a new one in this county. The Clerk repeated many local parents’ dissatisfaction with the school bus rules where quite often one child in the family is granted a bus place where the sibling is not. Cllr Mellen noted this and asked for parents to write to him with their queries.

Environment

Cllr Russell gave a brief report to say that an inaugural Zoom call had taken place with the consultants. A first face to face meeting will take place in BA Village Hall on 4 November where the future work will be scheduled. Cllr Russell confirmed that we had received the grant of £10,000 from the Government solely to produce the Neighbourhood Plan and pay all the expenses attached to that. A further grant may be possible in April of next year. Full costs and a balance sheet will be kept by the Clerk. More volunteers to join the NP steering group were needed and would be advertised in the next Broadsheet.
There were no Parish Council volunteers to join the other villages’ sub-groups on the topics of Stanton and the Jaynic/Equation development concerns. The Councillors did however agree that we should keep abreast of the developing situation, particularly with regards to traffic.
Despite Wales introducing a 20mph zone throughout, it is thought unlikely that England will be following suit. It might be more prudent to invest in traffic calming measures within individual villages to aid residents. Cllr Winch stated that some of his other villages were concentrating on improving their village pavements as a way of keeping the village ‘together’ from a safety angle despite the traffic on the roads.
The Clerk produced a completed site plan, description of equipment with photographs and a final quotation for the implementation of Stage 2 of the Playground (first commenced in 2019). The Councillors requested written confirmation that no planning permission was needed but after that were happy for it to go ahead. Confirmation of approval from the Village Hall Trustees would be sought too. The Parish Council have ‘Permitted Development Rights’ on the playing field so planning permission is unlikely to be needed.
Cllr Harvey explained that the lighting for Wilding Road residents should now go ahead, following a lighting system redesign, within the next 2/3 months, after which the pavements could be completed. Cllr Woodhall commented that residents had been waiting well over a year for these works to be finalised.
Cllr Winch was still liaising with MSDC Environmental Health regarding the provision of a litter bin outside the Village Shop. Unfortunately it has been discovered that it is not a legal requirement but should be approached as a ‘voluntary community facility’ by the shop owners. The Environmental Health Officer will continue to negotiate.
No further work had taken place on the Regeneration Project for the Village Hall possible car park and tennis courts. The CIL deadline had now passed and it was suggested that all documentation be prepared for May 2024 which will be the next submission window. The arboreal work identified on the playing field will be undertaken in the first or second week of December. Cllr Draper will liaise with the Village Hall regarding this proposed venture. It would also need village residential approval before submitting with firm quotes, photographs and detailed plans. Possibility of a piece for the Broadsheet will be considered.
No update this month and Cllr Draper questioned whether the village playing field would be in a suitable state to hold a festival next year in any case. Cllr Harvey offered some of his 10 acres for a festival if it was considered suitable. Cllr Draper to further discuss with Cllr Woodfine.
Cllr Russell with colleagues had walked all the footpaths within the Parish and taken photographs and notes. He had communicated with the Footpath Officer at SCC regarding the cutting schedule and ensured that the PC was kept up to date. FP11 was still scheduled to remain closed until February 2024 due to the possible Mulberry Homes house building.

Planning

To consider a tree notification request letter relating to planning application DC/23/04567 – Brook House, Richer Road, Badwell Ash IP31 3DQ. The Parish Councillors discussed this application and were unanimous in the approval of this planning application to reduce the height of three very large trees in accordance with the arborist’s detailed plan.
To consider a planning application letter relating to planning application DC/23/03397 – The Old Vicarage, The Street, Badwell Ash IP31 3DH. The Parish Councillors raised no objections to this request to build a large brick wall to surround the property but requested that two conditions were made, viz, that no further trees were cut down during the erection of the wall and that care was taken to keep exactly to the boundary line facing the road due to the very narrow pavement between the property and the highway.

Finance, Governance and Policies

To consider and confirm the issue of payments for the following:

£603.28 – Sept salary
£830.00 – HMRC Q2 tax
£1,273.20 – Hayward Moon charges for village hall drive purchase
£40.00 – Village Hall hire charge July & September
£54.00 – SALC 6 monthly payroll fee
£75.60 – Neighbourhood plan expense (digital mapping)
£186.00 – Gipping Press (Oct/Nov)
£96.00 – M&TJs (Sept)
£123.27 – Clerk’s expenses
£5.00 – Bank charges

Resolved: It was resolved that these payments could be made. The Chairman and Vice Chairman signed an approval for these to be paid by BACS.

The next Parish Council meeting would be held on Tuesday 14 November at 19.00 in the Village Hall.

Carole Rose – Parish Clerk
01359 259045
16 October 2023

Badwell Ash Parish Council Meeting Minutes