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Minutes of the meeting of the WICKHAM MARKET PARISH COUNCIL held on Monday 16 March 2009 at 7.30pm
PRESENT: Mr M Argent (Chairman), Mr G Plater (Vice Chairman), Mrs P Bell, Mrs J Breese, Mrs J Evans, Miss P Johnson, Mrs S Lewis, Mr M Manning, Miss V Pizzey, Mr M Roseveare, Mr C Tucker
Also present: Mr B Hall (District Councillor)
Mrs C Aitchison (County Councillor)
In attendance: Mr J Hoe
- APOLOGIES were received from Mr P Revett and Mr J Ridd
- DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST
Mrs J Evans declared a personal interest in Item 7 Car Parks.
- MINUTES
The minutes of the meeting held on 19 January 2009 were signed as a true record.
- Mr Dan Gaul, Head of Service Development Shelter and Safety at the Suffolk County Council gave a short briefing on changes to service delivery at Lehmann House and the Jasmin Project.
Suffolk County Council (SCC) was looking at ways of meeting future day care service needs of elderly people. It had been found that the demand for day care services had reduced and as a result SCC had looked to transfer them to local organisations but this had not been as successful as hoped.
The funding and risk implications for local people hoping to run the Jasmin project had been too high to contemplate. The best way forward was going to be to work with a number of groups rather than one project based service.
With regard to the Lehmann House day services, those for the frail elderly had already moved to Mills Meadow in Framlingham whilst those for special needs were about to move. It was hoped that the SCC could work with local parishes to provide the kind of services they felt were a priority.
Mr Gaul was interested to know if the Parish Council had any proposals that would help the local elderly persons to retain as much independence as possible.
The Parish Council felt it was a sad day for the village, when day care services were being removed at a time when the elderly population was growing.
Mr Hall was concerned that all future day care services would come from Woodbridge or Framlingham allowing these towns to develop the provision of day care services whilst Wickham Market would stagnate. He felt the reason why demand for services had fallen was the cost.
It was agreed that Mrs Bell should discuss the situation further with Mr Gaul and report back to the next appropriate meeting.
- MATTERS ARISING
The Clerk reported that he was investigating the possibility of providing brown tourist signs to the centre of the Village. This was also being discussed by the Wickham Market Partnership.
- BOUNDARY REVIEW
Suffolk Coastal District Council had indicated that the current revised LGR timetable was as follows:
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- Boundary Committee for England (BCE) to publish any further draft proposals for the structure of Local Government in Suffolk; Norfolk and Devon on 19 March 2009
- BCE to receive representations on these draft proposals until 14 May 2009
- Final recommendations from the BCE to the Secretary of State by 15 July 2009
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Therefore, Parish Liaison meetings on 30 March 2009 had been organised to provide Town and Parish Councils with a detailed picture of whatever proposals were announced by the BCE on 19 March, leaving Town and Parish Councils sufficient time to make their own representations back to the BCE by 14 May 2009. Mr Plater was intending to attend the meeting.
- CAR PARKS
7.1 The Chairman had received a complaint about car's queuing to get on to the Hill Car Park and causing an obstruction to vehicles wanting to enter or exit Broad Road and there should be appropriate signing.
He had responded putting into context this Council's role in such matters and indicating that it was Councillor Andy Smith at Suffolk Coastal District Council that should be informed of the problem and that there was a reluctance by the Parish Council to erect any more signs on The Hill which was a conservation area.
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RESOLVED
That a letter be written to Dr Carolyn Barnes at Suffolk Coastal District Council advising her that queuing is a problem at the entrance to The Hill car park, despite her assurances to the contrary, and ask what action she is prepared to take.
7.2 Mr David Coles had indicated that, because of other commitments he was no longer able to water the hanging baskets throughout the village during the summer. The Clerk reported that he had spoken to Suffolk Coastal District Council about taking over the watering but the “guesstimated” cost was far in excess of what the watering currently costed.
Mr Manning was asked to speak to Mr Coles to ascertain if he would continue the watering for an increased sum and report back to the Clerk
The Chairman was authorised to take appropriate action in the light of the response from Mr Coles.
- OPEN SESSION - COMMENCED AT 8.14pm
A member of the public asked if the Council was taking any action in relation to SpringClean Suffolk 2009. She was advised that other organizations in the village would be carrying out these tidying up exercises and any additional help would be welcomed.
Mrs Aitchison reported that the County Council had increased council tax for 2009/2010 by 2.45%
She continued that with regard to Capital Transport Schemes, the Suffolk Coastal District had been allocated £200,000 which had been divided up between the county councillors in the District giving them each about £12,000. The county councillors would each decide which schemes to support.
The public session closed at 8.21pm
- POLICE MATTERS
9.1 Alcohol Designation Orders - At its last meeting the Parish Council had authorised expenditure of £100 on the purchase and erection of 5 signs indicating the areas in which drinking was prohibited. The police had indicated a need for a further 3 signs at an additional cost.
RESOLVED
That the sum of £150 be spent on the purchase and erection of 8 signs.
9.2 Mr Hoe presented his police report on the crime figures for January/February 2009 which showed an increase of two crimes over the same period in 2008. Anti social behaviour in the village ,particularly on the allotments, was a problem. This was not included in the crime figures due to the lack of sufficient information which Mr Hoe indicated was vital to take action.
Speeding in Broad Road was still causing concerns and would be monitored. The problem seemed to be specific vehicles rather than specific times. Parking outside the Co-op stores by vehicles not showing disabled badges was still a matter for concern. This problem would receive special attention as genuine badge holders often could not find space near the stores.
The mobile police unit had been present and were promoting Police Direct. His attendance at the unit enabled the PCSO's to patrol the village during these times.
10. WICKHAM MARKET PARTNERSHIP REPORT
No report had been received.
11. SPORT AND LEISURE
11.1 Wickham Market Youth Football Club (WMYFC) - The WMYFC had started constructing a new pavilion on the playing field leased by the Parish Council from the Suffolk County Council. To enable the work to begin the Parish Council had to agree to sign a “Licence to Carry Out Alterations” from the Suffolk County Council. This licence lays down the legal framework for the building works and a similar licence was signed prior to the tennis courts being built.
The Suffolk County Council required that the Parish Council should meet all of its “reasonable legal and surveyors fees” which were £525.
There was a sum of £1,735 in the 2008/2009 budget as a contribution towards the cost of the pavilion from which the County Council costs would be taken.
11.2 Wickham Market Football and Social Club (WMFC)
A request has been received from the Wickham Market Football Club for permission to carry out some works on the football field area to allow the Club to meet the requirements of the Suffolk Football Association for promotion into the Senior Division of the Ipswich and District League.
The Parish Council felt that it should be recognised that the playing field was available to all members of the public not just the Football Club. Whilst it was happy to support the Club at its current level of football it did not want to see the area developed any further should the Club get promotion. In these circumstances the Club needed to think about its long term future.
Some of the works would make ground maintenance harder thereby increasing costs, there was concern that permanent dugouts would be misused etc. Generally the Council did not like the proposals and
RESOLVED
That the Wickham Market Football Club be advised that the Parish Council will not approve any of the proposed works.
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11.3 Basketball Court - Work has started for the extension of the basketball area into a full size court. The area now needed tidying up with a number of large ruts needing filling.
12. PLANNING MATTERS
12.1 Planning Permission had been given for change of use from shop to dental practice at Crown House, Crown Lane, Wickham Market IP13 0SA.
12.2 An application from 15 California, Wickham Market IP13 0JL for the erection of a two-storey extension had been received. No objections to the application were submitted.
12.3 Local development Framework - Outdoor Playing Space Parish Schedule
The Council was advised that an extract from the above document had been received relating to Wickham Market. The extract was in relation to play areas and sports grounds. The overall findings indicated that the village was reasonably well provided with these facilities but there was a need to bring the Simons Cross play area up to LEAP standard and to investigate the possibility of providing a play area in the north eastern part of the village.
It was felt that Suffolk Coastal District Council was unlikely to provide what it was recommending but efforts should be made to review the Simons Cross play area. It was agreed that Mr Tucker would talk to the chairman of the playing field committee.
13. ALLOTMENT MATTERS
It was reported that the Community Payback Scheme had cleared all the brambles on the Glebe site to stubble level. However there was still a large number of self seeded trees. One quote for a digger to remove these was £172.
11 new plots had been created and 8 had been allocated, cultivation would start when the brambles had been removed. The new tenants had agreed to share the cost of scraping the bramble crowns out.
The Council congratulated all parties on the work done on the Glebe and
RESOLVED
That a grant of £172 be given to the allotment association to meet the cost of the digger to remove the trees.
14. CEMETERY MATTERS
The work on filling the cracks in the pathway had been carried out. Mr Manning reported that he had received compliments from the public on the condition of the cemetery.
15. HIGHWAY MATTERS
15.1 Bus shelter - it was reported that notification had been received from Suffolk County Council that in the spring it would erect a bus shelter on the High Street near the junction with Spring Lane (site of the existing bus stop). They also plan to build out the existing footway.
However one of the local residents has indicated opposition to the proposal and wanted the shelter on the proposed site and not outside her property. This was the site opposed by the conservation officers. The Parish Council having heard the objections agreed with many of the comments made, particularly the narrowing of the road at this particular point which they felt would cause problems. In addition they could not understand why the Conservation Officer would object to a shelter on one side of the road and not on the other. Both sites were in the conservation area.
They felt that their original request to site the shelter outside no 177 High Street was still the right one and that further consideration should be given to this site. This was particularly true as the objector to this site had indicated that his objections to the site outside 177 High Street revolved round the sign post that had been erected that prevented lorry access to his premises. If this was removed then the situation might change.
RESOLVED
That Suffolk County Council be requested to give further consideration to the site outside 177/179 High Street, particularly if removal of the sign post meant that the original objections were withdrawn.
15.2 Save Our Rural Roads (SORR) - Mrs Breese reported on a meeting of SORR on 12 February 2009. This related to such issues as HGV levels on the B1078, a branch of SORR was being established to cover Beccles, Debach enterprises site which SORR felt it had good grounds for challenging any further development on and lorries related to Gressingham Foods.
The Council agreed that it did not require senior representatives of SORR to attend a future meeting as Mrs Breese did such a good job of reporting back.
There was some concern that SORR was a single issue organization and that in the difficult economic times care must be taken to ensure that any action does not threat local jobs or the economy.
16. FINANCIAL AND LEGAL MATTERS
16.1 Bi-monthly accounts - January/February 2009 - these were received and noted.
16.2 Application for grant - a request had been received from the Ufford First Responder Group for a grant towards the purchase of a new defibrilator.
The Group of volunteers act on behalf of the ambulance service in responding to medical emergencies within Ufford, Wickham Market and some of the smaller surrounding villages. They are normally first on the scene to give medical aid before the ambulance arrives.
The cost of the new defibrilator was £1,700 and Ufford Parish Council had already given a grant of £500. The Group was requesting that this Parish Council at least match that sum.
Having noted that approximately 70% of its calls were to Wickham Market the Parish Council:
RESOLVED
That a grant of £500 be awarded to the Ufford First Responder Group
16.2 Save our Rural Roads - The Parish Council was asked to approve two payments of twenty pounds for 2008 and 2009 as this Parish Council's contribution to Save Our Rural Roads.
RESOLVED
That two payments of £20 be made to Save our Rural Roads in respect of 2008 and 2009
17. CORRESPONDENCE
17.1 A letter had been received from Suffolk Coastal District Council (SCDC) announcing a funding opportunity for town and parish councils in the District.
SCDC had received a windfall grant from a government scheme called the Local Authority Business Growth Initiative (LAGBI) and had agreed to allocate £150,000 of this as a support fund for projects coming forward from a number of designated communities within the District.
This would be called the Economic Development Support Fund and would support packages of projects and initiatives to encourage business growth and ensure the vitality of the district's economy.
Councillor Hall stated that the Fund was aimed at regeneration to help local businesses and was aimed at groups of businesses rather than individual ones, any scheme to be considered needed to be promotional. It was important that Wickham Market got its share of any funding available.
Unfortunately the businesses in the village did not present a cohesive unit which might be improved by the formation of a Business Association. Mrs Evans would approach the Suffolk Chamber of Commerce and Suffolk ACRE for advice on setting up such an Association.
17.2 An email has been received from an individual who runs an Italian Food Market seeking to bring the market to the village. Details of what is proposed will be given at the meeting.
The Parish Council felt that this would be a welcome attraction to the Village but the ideal site for it was on the Hill car park.
It agreed that the offer should be pursued and the Clerk was asked to write to Suffolk Coastal District seeking their views on closing the Hill car park for one day to site the market. Mrs Evans volunteered to show the organizer around the village.
17.3 Notification had been received that the Good Neighbour Scheme's Annual General Meeting would be on 1 April 2009 at 7.30pm in the Committee Room at the Village Hall. The organisation was inviting any parish councilor to attend if they wished.
17.4 Mr Tucker reported that the visit to Sizewell had been arranged for the afternoon of 13 May 2009. Members would need to be at the security lodge by 1pm leaving the site at about 4 to 5pm. He needed to know in advance visitors shoe sizes.
The meeting closed at 9.55pm
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