- Present
- Councillors Richard Morris, Chair (RM), Stephen Russell, Vice Chair (SR), Roy Woodfine (RW), County Councillor Andy Mellen (AM).
Public Forum
- A resident from St Mary’s Crescent attended and requested that the Parish Council issue a statement saying that “they would not develop the green spaces at St Mary’s Crescent”. The Chairman pointed out that the Parish Council did not own the Greens and therefore had no need to issue a statement to that effect. The resident then complained about the war memorial, the benches and the new flower trough. He also stated that the minutes from PC meeting were late being published in February which affected his right/interest/ability to attend the PC meeting in March. The Chairman confirmed that the minutes of the PC Meetings are always signed at the following month’s PC meeting and then posted on the website and noticeboards the following day. The resident was not happy and left the meeting. The Councillors suggested that an agenda item be scheduled for June to discuss any further issues/concerns the residents of St Mary’s Crescent might have that they should attend the June PC meeting to discuss in full with the Parish Council.
- The Chairman and Treasurer of the Village Hall cancelled their attendance but requested by email the £10,000 in advance that the Parish Council had promised to provide for improvements to the Village Hall. After discussion the Parish Councillors declined to issue the total sum in advance but were happy to pay ‘on invoice’ ie the cost of the heating at £6750 would be paid by the PC at the conclusion of the works with the remainder of the £10k being made available for the windows/door improvements after that too was completed. The Clerk was asked to transmit this message to the Village Hall Committee.
- None
- Cllr Mellen’s monthly report was circulated to Councillors. Cllr Mellen stated that there were no particular items to be highlighted this month except to say that the national roadworks on the A14 were causing a fair number of problems.
- No report due to upcoming local elections in May.
Apologies
Will Draper (WD), Maciej Siarkowski (MS) and Nick Harvey (NH).
Declarations of Interest and Requests for Dispensations
- None
- None
Minutes
- The minutes of the Parish Council Meeting held on 14 March were approved and signed by the Chairman.
- None.
Clerk’s Report and Correspondence
- The Clerk shared a statement from MSDC announcing the next tranche of CIL money to Badwell Ash Parish Council which was £14,696. This money is to be put towards the Stage 2 Project for the playground.
- The Clerk had deposited all six PC nomination papers at the Election Office in Stowmarket. It has now been confirmed that BA will not require an election for places as we are below the maximum number.
- The proposed new street cleaner had not been dependable or committed so it was agreed to cease his employment before it officially began.
- Winter Warm Fridays ceased on 31 March 2023 and the Clerk had submitted the required final report to MSDC. The cost of these sessions had been £1262 and MSDC had requested the balance of the Grant money be returned to MSDC forthwith.
- The Clerk had sent the agreed £25 to WlW and had received a thank you by return.
- The CPR session run by SARS had been very well attended by 22 residents from Hunston and 2 from Long Thurlow who were very grateful for the opportunity for a CPR and Defib refresher course. The Clerk has sent a donation to SARS as agreed at the last meeting.
Environment
- Cllr Russell gave an update on the NP which included a very successful call with the planning consultants. Subsequently the planning consultants had produced a schedule for the work for a Neighbourhood Plan. They were unable to commence before September due to other work. The Councillors agreed to take this forward on that basis. The Clerk would write a letter of acceptance to the Planning Consultants c/o Rachel Leggett and Cllr Russell would monitor the window for applying for a NP Grant for costs which is likely to open up in May. The Chairman commented that the work carried out by the consultants would make the elements for the Parish Council much less onerous than previously thought which was a huge bonus.
- The Clerk had ordered the stones and compost for the 4 troughs so they should be ready for planting within a couple of weeks.
- BA Festival – no update due to Cllr Draper’s absence.
- The Clerk reported that the grounds maintenance costs would rise this year from £75 to £80 per cut.
- The Spring Clean plans for Saturday 15 April were confirmed – Cllr Woodfine would organise the LT contingent with the other Councillors attending the BA Village Hall at 10.00. Hopefully all would be complete within 2 hours with a good handful of volunteers.
- No significant update on the purchase of the village hall drive. This is due to NO PLAN being available as the Land Registry is running many months behind with their paperwork. The PC Councillors are not keen to go ahead until a defined plan/map is available to confirm what we are buying.
- The octagonal picnic bench has been sited in the children’s playground with grateful thanks to Cllrs Morris, Russell and Siarkowski for their hard work on a pouring wet Saturday! Hopefully the children will benefit from this over the summer months.
- The LT Community speed watch team reported that 9 vehicles of the 90 that passed by were exceeding the speed limit on 13 February. A further speed watch was carried out on 29 March where 8 vehicles out of the 112 that passed were exceeding the speed limit. These were all reported to the Police. BA speed watch cameras continue to record that the speeding within the village is within acceptable limits with just a small percentage of vehicles exceeding 65mph as they enter the zones. Always room for improvement though.
Planning
Progress of recent planning applications are as follows:
- DC/23/01024 The Old Vicarage, The Street, Badwell Ash IP31 3DH – Permission granted
- DC/21/05933 Highbanks, Back Lane, Badwell Ash IP31 3DW – Appeal allowed
- To consider a Planning Appeal Letter AP/22/00094 Land at Dovedale Close, Badwell Ash. The Councillors unanimously agreed that the list of objections submitted to the original planning application should be repeated and sent for consideration by the Appeal Committee. There were no additions or deletions to the original list.
Finance, Governance and Policies
- The Councillors considered the issue of the following payments:
- £631.08 – March salary
- £25.00 – Walsham le Willows planning donation
- £58.18 – Kingfisher yellow grit bin
- £82.80 – SALC 6 months payroll
- £4922.74 – SCC streetlight upgrade to LED (8 lights)
- £55.00 – 2Borders Pest Control – moles in children’s playground
- £91.48 - Clerk’s expenses + new street cleaner’s equipment
- £100.00 – SARS donation for First Aid and CPR session
- All above paid before 31.3.23 – the end of the financial year
- £186.00 – Gipping Press Mar/Apr Broadsheet
- £5.00 – HSBC monthly bank charge
- £747.40 – HMRC Q4 Tax and NI
- £885.00 – Village Hall hire Winter Warm Fridays
- £377.94 – Food, drink, expenses for Winter Warm Fridays
- The Clerk confirmed that all outstanding payments had been completed before the end of the financial year on 31.3.23. In addition the Clerk had completed the internal Audit paperwork and associated I&E reports and these had now been submitted to Mr M Saunders, our Internal Auditor. These should be approved and available in time for our AGM in May all being well.
Next Meeting
Date of next meeting: Annual Parish Meeting and Annual Parish Council Meeting – Tuesday 9 May 2023
Carole Rose, Parish Clerk
13 April 2023
Dates of Meetings in 2023 - Tuesday 9 May (AGM and Annual Parish Meeting), Tuesday 13 June, Tuesday 11 July, Tuesday 8 August (if needed), Tuesday 12 September, Tuesday 10 October, Tuesday 14 November, Tuesday 12 December.