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.
Exciting updates from the latest meeting include a potential move of the LT bus shelter to officially be within the parish boundary, and discussions about future village improvements like new village gates and daffodil planting. Plus, look out for Anglian Water at the next meeting to address local flooding concerns.
Present
Councillors Stephen Russell (Vice Chairman), Roy Woodfine, Nick Harvey, Will Draper, Roger Castro. County Councillor Andy Mellen for part meeting; District Councillor Richard Winch. 3 members of the public attended.

The Vice Chairman chaired the meeting.

Public Forum

  1. A request from the Neighbourhood Planning Team to move the LT Bus Shelter inside the Parish boundary on paper as it is an asset. At the moment the parish dividing line is down the centre of the roadway therefore excluding the LT bus shelter. Cllr Russell to action.
  2. Cllr Draper requested that ‘Village Liaison Meeting’ has a regular spot on the agenda going forward. Cllr Woodfine requested village gates for LT other end. Mark Tompkins requested daffodil bulbs next Autumn.
  3. CCllr Andy Mellen detailed that the A1088 bridge works were still on course but as they involved cabling work and consideration for the otters, the works might possibly be shelved to next year if the 4 month project slips beyond July 2024. Cllr Mellen also spoke about the real possibility that devolution for Suffolk could happen in 2025 where a local leader/mayor is elected for the county every four years. The local archives (Public Records Office) looks set to move to Ipswich despite numerous pleas for it to remain in Bury St Edmunds.
  4. DCllr Winch announced that Anglian Water would attend the next Parish Council meeting on 16 April. He anticipated a contingent from Platinum Drive attending plus other local residents with flooding enquiries. Cllr Winch suggested compiling a Question List for AW to keep the meeting orderly and under control. The Clerk would invite questions in advance. Cllr Winch also spoke about ‘rural transport’ and wondered if BA would like to join with WlW in completing a survey of residents’ wishes for bus services. Jaynic’s planning application at Stanton was rejected by West Suffolk Planning by 10 votes to 2. Jaynic are still looking for a replacement to CoPart who pulled out recently. It is likely that Jaynic will revamp and resubmit their application along the A143.

Apologies

Richard Morris (Chairman), Bill Woodhall.

Declarations of Interest and Requests for Dispensation

  1. Cllr Draper for 8.3
  2. None

Minutes

  1. The Minutes of the meeting held on 20 February 2024 were signed by the Vice Chairman.
  2. Agenda item 6.2 of the minutes of 20 February. The Chairman of the VH Trustees queried the response of the Parish Council to their request to register the land conveyed to the Parish Council in 1971 to their own name for the first time. The VHC requested that the PC reconsider their original response. After discussion the Councillors agreed to let our original response stand. The Councillors further agreed that Cllr Draper could revert to the VHC with the offer of a joint informal meeting to discuss projects of community interest to ensure that the fabric of the village made progress for residents’ benefit. Cllr Draper action to arrange.

Clerk’s Report and Correspondence

The Clerk gave a verbal report on matters which had occurred during the month. These included pavement parking; dogs on lead; FP11; archiving/shredding 20 years of PC papers; annual streetlight review; various residents letters/complaints; liaison re potential A1088 closure with surrounding villages; joining Facebook for the posting of notices and events; possible owl boxes installation on playing field.

  1. The Clerk spoke about SALC’s recent recommendation that all parish councils adopted a gov.uk domain name and email boxes for parish councillors to avoid them using personal addresses. This initiative, whilst not compulsory at this stage, is recommended. The Councillors rejected the offer of an alternative email address for themselves as the Clerk answered all correspondence. The Clerk would discuss with our website provider One Suffolk.
  2. Cllr Castro reported on his enquiries regarding the length of archiving of PC documents. He advised that 6 years for Agendas, Minutes and financials is optimum which we already have on our website. Cllr Castro would enquire of the Public Records Officer whether they wanted us to submit a hard copy of anything in addition. Meanwhile the Clerk would establish the SLA we have with One Suffolk should any data get lost or damaged and it is our only copy on iCloud. Cllr Castro action.
  3. 21 May at 6.30pm is the date and time for our AGM followed by a normal PC meeting.
  4. Anglian Water to attend the next PC meeting on 16 April – questions to be collated by Cllr Winch and sent to AW before the event. The Clerk to advertise on website and noticeboards.

Environment

  1. Mark Tompkins gave a comprehensive update on the Neighbourhood Plan which the team were working hard on. It was stated that we have to return any grant monies held on 31.3.24 but would be eligible to apply for a further grant after April 2024. The NP team requested a further £1000 as a safety net for any urgent expenditure that occurred in the fallow period between say March-May. This was unanimously agreed. Cllr Russell thanked the NP team for their very hard work so far in this project, seconded by the Parish Councillors.
  2. Extra £1000 granted as a buffer as above.
  3. Spring Clean scheduled for Saturday 23 March at 10.00 – Facebook notices being sent out and noticeboard reminders and website too!
  4. Stage 2 of the playground is now complete and ready for use as requested by 31.3.24. Looks very smart (thanks Lee) but slight question about crossing the wet grass to reach the newly tarmacked area. CIL money to pay for this project.
  5. SID data for last 3 months roughly as expected with one exception – one outgoing car managed to reach 91mph on leaving the village at the Hunston Road end – appalling statistic.
  6. A1088 update – as in Cllr Mellen’s piece above.
  7. Cllr Harvey was reminded about his offer to repaint the telephone box as soon as the dry weather came.
  8. The Clerk to write and thank the 4 ladies who looked after the flower troughs in the village and enquire about commitment for another year and offer of compost, plants or petty cash for supplies.
  9. The Clerk had received the new Alfred le Grice sign for the playing field which would be installed soon. She confirmed that the pest controller had dealt with the moles in the children’s playground but the new grounds maintenance team had been unable to get on the field yet to cut the grass due to the waterlogged conditions.
  10. The first annual inspection report for the playground had been received. Using the traffic light system of red, yellow and green, there were no red warnings, one yellow re equipment that the Clerk was dealing with and the green flags were advisory and so did not need action this year.
  11. Cllr Harvey again explained the problem with the streetlighting in Wilding Road. He had resubmitted an alternative plan which hopefully would be approved and then implemented soon to enable SCC to adopt the roads. To be reviewed again at April Meeting.
  12. Cllr Harvey confirmed that the planning permission submission for the new pitch and car park extension would be submitted this week as a first step. An article had been placed in the Broadsheet asking for residents’ views. It is hoped that Cllrs Harvey and Woodhall would be able to get 3 quotations in time to submit a CIL funding request during the open slot of 1-31st May 2024. Initial expenditure of approximately £4500 + VAT would have to be made to the contractors submitting the paperwork prior to a funding request. Councillors were asked for approval for this expenditure – unanimously approved. Cllr Harvey gave an estimated figure of £200,000 for construction of the pitches and £55,000 for the car park extension. Cllr Harvey was reminded of the necessity to submit a Project Enquiry Form to the CIL Dept in the first instance prior to a full submission.

Planning

  1. To consider a List Building Planning application - DC/24/00847 Holly Cottage, Long Thurlow, IP31 3JB05797, 37 Richer Close, Badwell Ash, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk IP31 3ET – Councillors recorded no objections but expressed concern about the style of windows in a listed property and deferred to Listed Buildings Dept for final decision.
  2. To consider a planning application – DC/24/01215 – 19 St Mary’s Crescent, Badwell Ash, IP31 3DN. The Councillors recorded no objections.

Finance, Governance and Policies

  1. To consider and confirm the issue of payments for the following:
    • £889.65 – Wages
    • £60.00 – Hall hire
    • £49.99 – Norton anti-virus annual charge
    • £2100.00 – Matthew Allen removing of dead trees and brambles on playing field
    • £53.99 – Clerk’s expenses
    • £5.00 – Bank charges
    It was resolved that these payments could be made. Councillors Russell and Draper signed an approval for these to be paid by BACS.
  2. The Clerk confirmed that she would be handling the end of year accounts, the VAT reclaim and the internal audit and all associated paperwork as from 31.3.24 throughout April.
  3. A copy of the VHC accounts were circulated and it was noted that they were in healthy funds.

Next Meeting

Dates of Meetings in 2024 - 3rd Tuesday in the month
16 January, 20 February, 19 March, 16 April, AGM 21 May, 18 June, 16 July, 20 August (if needed), 17 September, 15 October, 19 November, 17 December.

Carole Rose – Parish Clerk
01359 259045
21 March 2024

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