At the Annual meeting of the Parish Council held on Monday 13th May, there were present Mr. J. Nichols, Mr. J. Blowers, Mr. G. Alderton, Mrs. T. Townend, Mr. P. Offord, Mrs. E. Hume, Mrs. E. Socratous, Mr. C. Ayers, Mr. T. Prettyman, Mr. S. Perks and Mr. S. Lewis, Pc Boggis and WPc Gorrod and 32 Parishioners also attended, Councillor Brian Hunter would be arriving later.
There were no apologies.
The Clerk opened the meeting by welcoming the new Parish Councillors and asking for nominations for the post of Chairman. Mr. Blowers proposed and Mrs Socratous seconded that Mr. Nichols be appointed, there were no other nominations and the proposal was carried unanimously. Mr. Nichols took the chair and welcomed Mrs Townend, Mr. Lewis and Mr. Prettyman and congratulated them on being elected to the Parish Council, he informed the meeting that 38.5% of the population of Blundeston had voted in the recent Elections, which was higher than the National average. Mr. Nichols then asked for nominations for the post of Vice Chairman, Mr. Offord proposed and Mr. Alderton seconded that Mr. Blowers be appointed, there were no other nominations and the proposal was carried unanimously. The next item was the election of representatives to the Village Hall Management Committee, Mr. Offord proposed and Mr. Blowers seconded that the two present representatives (Mr. Perks and Mr. Alderton) carried on in this post. There were no other nominations and the proposal was carried unanimously.
The minutes of the previous meeting held on April 8th were approved and signed.
The Clerk then handed out the Declaration of Acceptance of Office forms to all the Parish Councillors and informed them that the Register of Interest forms would be ready for them to sign within the next few days these have to be completed before June 2nd.
The Chairman gave a report on the Northern Parishes Liaison meeting held at Blundeston on 9th April. Mr. Nichols told the meeting that these were informal and useful meetings involving the Parishes of Hopton, Lound, Ashby, Somerleyton, Herringfleet, Blundeston, Corton and Oulton, giving an opportunity to discuss common interests and issues. At the latest meeting Adrian Clarke of WDC spoke about the difficulties the Council face with the ever-present problem of abandoned cars and fly tipping and the enormous costs involved. He informed the group that there is a new EC proposal that new cars will have an end of life deposit costs payable to the manufacturers. Pc Boggis had given a report to the meeting and in answer to complaints that the local beat officers cannot be contacted with problems which are not urgent, gave a telephone number of 01986 835197 which would reach either himself or Pc Hill either personally or a message could be left for either officer, but in any emergency 999 should be called. A representative from the Environment Agency will attend the next Liaison Group meeting with advice on fly-tipping problems. The problem of Coastal Erosion at Corton was discussed at the meeting. The Chairman then reported on the Hedgerow Survey meeting at Somerleyton which was very poorly attended, this is a National Survey and Simon Phillips is co-ordinating the work in this area, Gary Ackers gave a presentation and showed the results of a previous survey to the meeting, and told those present that Suffolk are leaders in the field with previous surveys carried out in the County being used as a template for the National Surveys. Mr. Phillips hopes to combine the local areas and all parishioners can be involved, either as individuals or in groups, the findings will be recorded on simple forms with a tick list. The Chairman reported next on the progress with organising the Jubilee Celebrations in the Village. The Songs of Praise on Sunday 2nd on the Millennium Green will have the Beccles Salvation Army Band providing the music, and then on Monday 3rd there will be a football match between the Plough team and Blundeston Magpies, there will be a children’s Fancy Dress competition, the winner will then officially open the Millennium Green. There will be fun sports, a tea party, a tug of war, a bouncy castle, go carts and a Beer tent, then in the evening there will be a barbecue and a Dance. Medals will be presented to the winners of the races and the competitions and all children under 16 years old resident in the Villages will receive a commemorative gift. An application to close part of the road in Hall Lane to allow the children joining in the festivities to cross safely from the Village Hall area to the Millennium Green has been officially rejected as WDC have received an objection which states that there are no satisfactory other routes for through traffic. This is believed to be totally incorrect and the Parish Council will appeal against this decision. The councillors then considered the quotations received for the new fence at the front of the Village Hall and the gate across the playing field at the rear of the Hall. Mr. Lewis declared an interest and took no part in the discussions. Waveney Fencing quoted £1127. 72 +VAT for the fence and £191. 23 + VAT for the Gate, Blundeston Roofing Quoted £1200. 00 +plus VAT for the fence and £300 plus VAT for the Gate. It was proposed by Mr. Perks and seconded by Mr. Alderton that the Waveney Fencing quote should be accepted, this was approved and the Clerk was instructed to order the work to be done as soon as possible.
Accounts The following accounts were proposed for payment by Mrs. Socratous and seconded by Mr. Blowers
Trueline Road Markings Limited381. 81(Car Park Markings)
Cornhill Insurance682. 66(Annual Premium)
W.J. Jermy and Sons200. 00(Rent for Playing field)
The Account for Waveney Asphalt of £12,691. 13 was disputed as the surface had had to be laid over a two day period due to the fact that the manufacturer in Norwich had a machine failure, two Councillors were not happy with the finish this produced and proposed that the account should not be paid in full, but other Councillors stated that as this was no fault of the Contractor the account should be settled. It was decided that Mr. Lewis and Mr. Perks should inspect the finish and if they agreed that it was satisfactory, the Clerk should pay the account immediately.
Planning The Following Plans were approved.
Mr. L. George, Haversham HouseRear extension
Mr. B. Codling, 10 QueenswayCreation of a vehicular access
Mr. P KirbyShort Road2nd Floor extension
The plan submitted regarding Mr. R. Leech 12 The Street, could not be properly considered as the Council had only been supplied with drawings showing the present building and no drawings of the proposed extension had been included.
The Plan submitted by Kam Leisure for a change of use of Lake and Woodland at Lakeside Rise to Commercial Fishing Business was considered next. Mrs. Hume declared an interest at this point and took no part in the proceedings. Councillor Brian Hunter arrived during the initial discussions and the Chairman pointed out to those present that Mr. Hunter could not make any comment on the matter, as he is a member of the Committee who will consider this proposal, but he would listen to the comments made by the Parish Council and Parishioners and make them known to the Committee at the appropriate time. Some residents of Lakeside Rise had visited the Chairman and pointed out that the locals have great reservations over the increase in traffic in a heavily residential area, and the danger to children both from the extra traffic and also the fact the access gate could left open at any time allowing children to play in the Lake area. A letter from residents of Flixton in the White House Farm area was read out, as one proposed access route is from the lane to White House Farm. This is a very dangerous area to emerge onto the B1074, right on a blind bend. It is anticipated that people fishing all night will use camper vans and tents etc, which could lead to further development in the future, i.e. toilet blocks etc. Car Parks are proposed both at the Lakeside Rise side and the Flixton side of the Lake. The Chairman then closed the meeting to allow Mr. J. Marquis to represent the residents affected by giving a resume of their objections. Mr. Marquis told the meeting that 74 residents have signed a petition of objection; one reason is that there is no room for 30 cars being allowed to park in a narrow cul-de-sac, which is already full at weekends and Bank Holidays with resident’s cars. There are grave suspicions that there may be further development if this plan is approved i.e. a clubhouse and log cabins may be added. Mr. Nichols thanked Mr. Marquis and formally opened the meeting again. The councillors were not happy with the clarity of the drawings and it was not clear exactly how many car parking spaces were being considered, one councillor had read in the local paper that 300 were being sought! It was felt that the White House Farm entrance is already very dangerous, and any further use of this road with a plan of this scale would have a detrimental effect of the wildlife in this area. The Council decided that they would object to a commercial fishing business with its associated implications, and the Chairman and Clerk would meet to prepare the Council’s official letter of objection.
Correspondence Details had been received from SCC regarding a Passenger Transport Scheme.
Other Parish Business Mr. Blowers said that now the Tennis Court was complete a new committee of key holders and people willing to organise the booking of the court now that several different sports could be played would need to be formed. He also reported that Skateboarders who had previously broken off the handrails had been using the ramp at the Village Hall at 1.30a.m, Mr. Blowers had heard the disturbance and rang the Police, fearing damage was been done to the Bus Shelter yet again, and the congratulated the Police who responded quickly, but the culprits had not been caught. Mr. Blowers also reported that graffiti had been painted on the inside of the Bus Shelter, the caretaker had offered to paint over this, but it was decided that pale coloured masonry paint would provide a better background for the offenders to repeat the process. Mr. Blowers was asked to instruct the Caretaker to purchase some brick coloured paint and charge the Parish Council for this. Mr. Perks informed the Council that he had seen 3 cased of illegal tipping since the last meeting he had himself removed some of this, and asked for Mr. Hunter’s help in getting the metal boat removed which had been dumped at Marsh Lane.
The meeting was then opened for Parishioner Input A Parishioner said that he had witnessed a Yellow and Green 6 Wheeler tipper pass his house full of rubbish and return a few moments later empty, so he presumed that this was the culprit at the Marsh Lane site, Mr. Perks said that indeed this vehicle was guilty of several incidents of fly tipping over the past 6 months and the Police have been informed of this fact, the names of those individuals concerned was also known to the Police, but the offences are still occurring. Another Parishioner added her comments to those of Mr. Marquis and elaborated more on the danger to the flora and fauna in the woodland surrounding the Lake if a large development should take place. Mr. Hunter then told of his progress with the problem of the Road Closure refusal for the Jubilee Celebrations, the Council Officers are prepared to discuss the situation and come to a compromise, i.e. fluorescent jackets will be provided and barriers will be loaned to enable members of the Jubilee committee to supervise people crossing the road. The Chairman thanked Mr. Hunter for his help, but stated that the offer was not really good enough and that the statement that there was no other suitable through route for traffic was ludicrous. The Parish Council will contact the Highways Department and try and sort the matter out. There being no further business the meeting closed.
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