Badwell Ash Parish Council Meeting Minutes

Meeting Date:

Summary
This summary is generated by AI and may contain errors. It does not form part of the official minutes.
Residents voiced strong objections to the proposed MUGA project, and their concerns will be reviewed by the council. Exciting news includes a £7.3m investment for Electric Vehicle infrastructure, with hopes for charging points near the village hall. Additionally, a significant solar farm proposal at Mendlesham is under discussion.
Present
Councillors Richard Morris (Chairman), Stephen Russell (Vice Chairman), Roy Woodfine, Nick Harvey, Roger Castro and Bill Woodall. County Councillor Andy Mellen for part meeting; District Councillor Richard Winch. 10 members of the public attended.

Public Forum

  1. A contingent of residents from Normead House, Badwell House, Lavender Cottage and Cavell Cottage were represented by David Goswell and Annabelle Steele who recorded their vehement objections to the proposed MUGA application. After listening to their verbal objections the Parish Council was issued with written copies of their complaints (filed with these minutes). The Chairman thanked the residents for their observations which would be shared with all the Parish Councillors.
  2. None.
  3. CCllr Andy Mellen spoke about the results of the recent Libraries consultation which would see the successful bidder appointed in November 2024 for implementation in 2025. AM also spoke about the ongoing work regarding the recent flooding problems which he hoped might be concluded this coming Summer. SCC had been awarded £7.3m investment for Electric Vehicle infrastructure and our Parish Council has submitted an application form for consideration for 2 ECPs to be installed adjacent to the village hall for general use – there is no guarantee that we will be successful and this will also involve the VHC.
  4. DCllr Winch stated that Jaynic’s planning application had been rejected for the second time at Stanton although it is likely that they will try again with an alternative submission. RW reported that a 2000mw Solar Farm at Mendlesham had been proposed (this is the size of 425 football pitches) Mid Suffolk are a consultee on this only. Finally Mid Suffolk had received a grant of £800k for a retrofit of council houses covering insulation, ventilation, solar panels and double glazing. Cllr Winch will follow up with Anglian Water regarding their non-attendance at the meeting tonight and ensure that all submitted questions received a detailed written response from AW.

Apologies

Cllr Will Draper.

Declarations of Interest and Requests for Dispensation

  1. None
  2. None

Minutes

  1. The Minutes of the meeting held on 19 March 2024 were signed by the Vice Chairman.
  2. None.

Clerk’s Report and Correspondence

The Clerk gave a verbal report on matters which had occurred during the month. These included end of year accounts; VAT reclaim; CIL year end; internal audit; liaison with Hunston Chairman re roads and SIDs; grass cutting contract; ECPs; S Rose monthly tasks; Facebook registration for notices.

  1. After discussion it was decided not to pursue a gov.uk email registration for BAPC at this juncture and to retain our outlook.com email address. The Councillors requested clarification and reassurance be sought from our website provider, Suffolk Cloud, regarding an SLA agreement and recovery retention policy.
  2. Cllr Castro confirmed that the Bury St Edmunds Archives would indeed be moving to Ipswich but he had been unable to obtain a definitive answer to our Council’s query about retaining paper copies of our documents in addition to the electronic copies required for the statutory 7/10 years. Roger will continue chasing. Cllr Castro action.
  3. Due to two Councillors unavailability for the AGM on 21 May, the Clerk was asked to reschedule the AGM on a date when all Councillors could attend – 23 or 28 May were proposed. Clerk action – 23 May chosen.
  4. The editor of the Broadsheet produced a quotation for future work on the Broadsheet at £150 per edition having previously made no charge over the last year. These were new costs in addition to the known bi-monthly printing costs. This would exceed our budgeted figure. It was agreed to ask the residents whether to reduce the frequency of the Broadsheet from bi-monthly to quarterly to cover these additional costs. The Chairman suggested the Parish Council agree to pay the editor for one edition only while further discussions took place.

Environment

  1. Mark Tompkins gave a detailed update on the Neighbourhood Plan and the future timeline. Once the Draft Neighbourhood Plan was written up, 2 or 3 open days would be planned for public consultation during the Summer. The final referendum is likely to be during 2025. The NP voluntary team continue to do sterling work on behalf of the Parish Council and all residents of our Parish which is very much appreciated.
  2. It was confirmed that £1317.78 of grant money would be returned to Groundwork UK and then a new grant to cover this financial year would be applied for.
  3. MUGA – Following many vehement comments and objections at the start of this meeting along with two Statutory Consultees registering an ‘Objection’ on the planning website, it was agreed that the Parish Council would need to look in detail at this application and consult with possible amendments and remedies following MSDC’s decision. DC Richard Winch commented that he too had received various objections from residents in relation to the proposed MUGA and stated that it would need further public engagement. Cllr Harvey had obtained the preliminary CIL grant forms from MSDC. The Chairman took a vote for continuing which was 5 for and 1 against.
  4. The Clerk reported that the broken Cone climber in the children’s playground was taped up and out of use. Playdale had accepted the complaint re defective equipment and would be sending contractors to replace/repair the equipment asap.
  5. The emergency telephone in the Defib Telephone Box in BA is not working. It has been discovered that the Govt has allowed mobile network operators (MNOs) to switch off 3g networks in favour of future work on the 5g network and above. Therefore our telephone is now useless. The Clerk will ask for a refund for the annual rental fees from Community Heartbeat Trust.
  6. Cllr Harvey confirmed that the problem of new streetlighting in Wilding Road and Symonds Close has been progressed and the gave a date of 7/8 May for final installation. Following the streetlight installation there was no reason why the pavement and road surfaces could not then be attended to and completed.
  7. Cllr Harvey was reminded about his offer to repaint the telephone box and Cllr Morris the Osmo on the 2 noticeboards along with re-gluing the missing wooden title letters.
  8. Cllr Woodfine was asked to source quotes for Village Gates at the East end of Long Thurlow which the residents had requested. It was suggested to keep to wood, to be painted white, as opposed to plastic for uniformity.

Planning

Progress of recent planning applications:

SN/24/00130/SN - Land West Of Richer Road Badwell Ash Bury St Edmunds Suffolk IP31 3EU – Reserved Matters Approved.

  1. To consider a planning consultation request letter relating to planning application - DC/24/01492 - Lavandula House, 25 Ladywood Drive, Badwell Ash, Bury St Edmunds Suffolk, IP31 3GN – The Councillors deliberated this application and no objections were recorded.
  2. To consider a planning application relating to a MUGA planning application - DC/24/01484 - Badwell Ash Village Hall, The Street, Badwell Ash, Bury St Edmunds Suffolk IP31 3DG. No additional comments recorded.

Finance, Governance and Policies

  1. To consider and confirm the issue of payments for the following:
    • £408.13 – SALC annual membership
    • £1244.81 – HMRC Q4 tax and ins
    • £900.00 – MUGA flood risk consultancy
    • £80.44 – 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.
  2. The Clerk confirmed that the year-end financial documents had been completed and now awaited the submission to the Internal Auditor.
  3. Annual Governance statement deferred until the May meeting after the Audit.
  4. VAT reclaim for 2023/24 had been submitted in the sum of £10,499.06.
  5. The half yearly CIL payment of £4,055.84 had been received in April.
  6. The Chairman and Vice Chairman signed the CIL Expenditure Report for 2023/24 as a true and accurate record of our financial dealings under this heading. This will be sent to MSDC as requested and posted on our website.

Next Meeting

Dates of Meetings in 2024 - 3rd Tuesday in the month

16 January, 20 February, 19 March, 16 April, AGM 23 May, 18 June, 16 July, 20 August (if needed), 17 September, 15 October, 19 November, 17 December.

Carole Rose – Parish Clerk
01359 259045
20 April 2024

Share this page

The following links open in a new tab

Updates to this page

Published