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Minutes of the meeting of the WICKHAM MARKET PARISH COUNCIL held on Monday 16 July 2012 at 7.30pm
PRESENT: Mrs J Breese, Mr R Cooke, Mrs F Etheridge, Mrs J Evans, Mr G Jones, Mr M Manning, Mr B Nobbs, Miss V Pizzey and Mrs E Salmon.
ALSO PRESENT: Mr B Hall (Suffolk Coastal District Council)
APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE were received from Mr J Ridd, Mr M Roseveare and Mr C Tucker.
MINUTES
The minutes of the meeting held on 21 May 2012 were signed as a true record.
Clerks post - Following the resignation of Mr Biddle as Parish Clerk and Responsible Finance Officer, the Chairman reported that Mrs Joanne Jones had been appointed as replacement. She would begin duties on 1 October 2012.
The report from Mr Bond the County Councillor for Wickham Market had been sent out to all those councillors on email. There were no matters arising.
MATTERS ARISING FROM MINUTES
The finger post had been overtaken by other priorities but it would be dealt with in the future.
Hanging Baskets - With the lifting of the hosepipe ban the hanging baskets were now being watered.
Some thought had been given to the purchase of a fireproof cabinet in which to keep the cemetery records, which were irreplaceable together with the signed copies of minutes. One has been identified as the right size and was engineered to withstand temperatures up to1050c for 90 minutes. The cost was £569.00.
RESOLVED
That provision for this be included in the 2013/2014 budget.
Neighbourhood Plan v Parish Plan - at its last meeting the Parish Council had discussed going ahead with one or both of these type of village plans. It was clear that the preferred one was the Parish Plan which was easier and cost less to put together.
The Council agreed that it should defer final consideration of this matter until its meeting in September 2012 and in the meantime investigate the best ways of creating a Parish Plan.
They noted that, arising from the last meeting, the PCC had reiterated their previous offer to take the lead role in this matter. The Parish Council again thought this was inappropriate.
Village Hall survey - the Clerk reported that a structural survey of the Village Hall had been carried out which indicated that the Hall was basically sound and did not need to be replaced. However there was still a lot of work that needed to be carried out to bring the Hall up to the required standard costing around £180 - £200,000.
The Parish Council agreed that this matter should be deferred until its September 2012 meeting when agreement could be reached on how this issue should be dealt with. In the meantime the Clerk would try and get other village organisations who used the Hall involved in the fundraising process.
OPEN SESSION (commenced at 7.50pm)
It was explained to some members of the public that planning gain was a normal part of the planning process and must never be seen as some sort of bribe by developers. If, as part of the planning process, this village was entitled to a financial sum as recognition of the effect that a new development has on the village, then that money should be obtained if the Parish Council was doing its best for village residents.
The redevelopment of Deben Court had been delayed for financial reasons but Flagship Housing were about to announce their proposals for the property. Mr Hall would try to get this information in time for the Council's September meeting.
Mr Hall reported that the Parma Industries site would go before the District Council Development Control Sub-Committee on 18 July 2012.Housing was an enormous pressure on Suffolk Coastal District Council and until the District Council's Local Development Framework/Core Strategy had been approved then developers would continue to present planning applications. He was working hard to get hi speed broadband into the village (closed at 8pm)
ENVIRONMENTAL MATTERS
Adjacent to the new Co-op site there was a bridleway with a number of old leylandii running alongside the boundary. It would be appropriate to remove these and replace with a more attractive boundary hedge. Efforts had been made to find out who owned the leylandii trees but no information had been discovered. The Co-op was happy to instruct Carters to cut down the trees but before they did so they wanted the Parish Councils formal instruction to do so and confirmation that all steps have been taken to trace the owner of the trees.
RESOLVED
That the Co-op be informed that the Parish Council had made every reasonable effort to trace the owners of these trees and having failed to do so were happy to request the Co-op to ask Carters to remove them. The Parish Council would take responsibility for the work.
The Suffolk Waste Partnership was introducing a new textile recycling scheme to residents over the next few months. This followed a waste analysis that indicated that almost 7,000 tonnes of potentially recyclable textiles was being sent to landfill annually by Suffolk residents. There would be a collection scheme whereby residents would be provided with a specially designed textile recycling bag that could be placed into their existing recycling bins for collection once a fortnight.
POLICE MATTERS
Mr Hoe reported that 6 crimes had been reported since the last meeting on 21 May 2012. This compared favourably with other villages in the area. There was an issue with anti-social behaviour in the village and nine incidents had been reported since the last meeting. The issue of parking outside the school was also being targeted.
The Olympic Torch procession had gone well with no incidents reported.
The Council asked that a notice requesting people not to drop litter on the Hill should be put up.
PLANNING MATTERS
Applications considered since last meeting - Mobile Office, 7 Fullers Business Centre, Riverside View, Wickham Market - retention of one Jackleg Unit for use as a mobile office (renewal of expired planning permission) (no comment)..
Decisions received since last meeting - Land to rear of 131-141 High Street, Wickham Market - Variation of condition 2 of planning permission C11/1558 revisions to approved scheme (permission granted): land and barn rear of 2-6 Little Lane, Wickham Market - demolition of existing barn to facilitate erection of new dwelling (permission granted): 6 Meadowside, Wickham Market, IP13 0UD - erection of summer house (permission granted): Valley Farm Riding School, Valley Road, Wickham Market, IP13 0ND - construction of a new outdoor horse manege adjoining an existing outdoor riding facility and installation of sewage treatment plant (permission granted).
On 11 June 2012 the Parish Council met potential developers of two areas of land within the village, the Glebe allotment site and an area of land in Dallinghoo Road. The Parish Councils initial thoughts were as follows:
The Glebe site - main initial concerns related to access to the site off the High Street and through Yew Tree Rise as a result of a large number of additional cars, the effect of construction traffic on this area, the density of dwellings as proposed (possibly 80-100 houses) and the ability of services, particularly sewerage to cope with the additional numbers. The Parish Council re-iterated its main requirement that the allotments must remain on their existing site and any new development should be around them. These were an important facility for local people and visitors to the area also visited the site.
Dallinghoo Road site - main concerns related to additional cars going along Dallinghoo Road, particularly at times when the schoolchildren were arriving and leaving and again the ability of the sewerage scheme to cope. It was agreed that the potential developers of each site be be advised of these concerns.
Planning Gain - Planning Gain was a mechanism as part of the planning process which recognised that a new development had an effect on the existing village. It usually took the form of a financial sum that was given to the parish council either directly or via the district council, to spend on a specific scheme or schemes eg playarea, village hall. On 2 July 2012 the Parish Clerk met with representatives of Hopkins Homes to discuss the issue of planning gain and how it might relate to any proposed development within the village.
If the current scheme went ahead, subject to final discussion with Suffolk Coastal District Council and based upon their current policy, it was likely that that any commuted sum would be in excess of £30,000.
RESOLVED
That in these circumstances the commuted sum should be earmarked as pump priming finance for the improvement work to be carried out on the village hall.
HIGHWAY MATTERS
It was reported that a length of Broad Road would be closed from its junction with Little Lane to its junction with the High Street from 10 to 14 August 2012. This was to allow a new water connection to be made to the new barn at the rear of Little Lane.
FINANCE AND LEGAL MATTERS
Bi-monthly accounts - May/June 2012 - these were noted and accepted.
Internal Audit Report - The Clerk reported that the accounts for 2011/2012 had been internally audited and submitted to the external auditor. Overall the report was extremely good and had picked up on the need to review the Council's Standing Orders. Revised Standing Orders would be presented to a future meeting.
The other point that was that for one week the Community Account was overdrawn. Every effort was to be made to ensure this did not happen again.
The Outreach Grant project had now ended and the County Council, who funded the scheme, had agreed that the remaining funds ( £1,331) could be given to the Parish Council to spend in a way that reflected the aims of the Outreach Project.
The Parish Council website had now been published and was available to visit. In the coming months some fine tuning would be done with regard to content, presentation etc, but overall the site was good and would be a very useful tool for the Council in the future.
A request was made for pictures of the Olympic Torch day and notice of any up and coming events in the village.
The address for the website is www.wickhammarket.onesuffolk.net
Local Code of Conduct for Members - the Relevant Authorities (Disclosable Pecuniary Interests) Regulations 2012 brought a new Code of Conduct into force for members from 1 July 2012. The various documents had been sent out. The Code has to be formally adopted by the Council and each member must complete a Register of Interests Form. It appeared that the District Council would send out an electronic copy of the form to those members with email. These should be completed on line and returned. They would automatically sit on the District Council's website and a link would be created from the Parish Council own website as it was a requirement of the Regulations that the interest forms should be on both websites and therefore available to the general public.
Members without email would be dealt with differently.
Dispensations to allow individuals to participate even though they have a pecuniary interest would be decided upon by the Parish Council.
RESOLVED
That the Local Code of Conduct for Members made under the Relevant Authorities (Disclosable Pecuniary Interests) Regulations 2012 be adopted with effect from the date of this meeting.
CORRESPONDENCE
Parish Links was a loose amalgam of a number of neighbouring parish councils which got together on a regular basis to discuss issues of mutual interest and importance. It was member led and prior to his resignation Mr Mike Argent was your representative on the joint body. In view of his resignation a replacement needed to be appointed to represent the Parish. The Chairman asked members to consider volunteering at the next meeting.
The Co-op were beginning to market the old shop in an effort to get a user soon after the new one opens. It was understood that they had someone interested who might want the whole unit. As part of their disposal policy the Co-op had suggested that one possibility might be the building (or part) being taken on by the Parish Council for some sort of usage eg indoor market/youth cafe. The Parish Council considered the matter but did not feel that it had the resources or expertise to take on such a responsibility and consequently declined the offer made by the Co-op.
ITEMS FOR NEXT AGENDA
Parish Plan, Village Hall fundraising, Aims of Outreach Scheme, New Code of Conduct, Parish Links
The Parish Council also requested reports from other organisations within the village for the members general information.
The meeting closed at 8.55pm