Pakenham Parish Council : Minutes - 15th January 2001

PAKENHAM PARISH COUNCIL
Minutes of the meeting held on MONDAY 15th JANUARY 2001
AT THE PAVILION AT 7.30p.m.

Present: Cllr. D. Dorling Chairman; Cllr. J. Mangnall; Cllr. B. Chester; Cllr. L. Couper; Cllr. A. Cox; Cllr. H. Painter; Cllr. P. Smith; Mrs. P. Griffiths, Clerk.

APOLOGIES: Apologies were received from Mrs. V. White, Borough Councillor, who was ill.

MINUTES:-
The last word of the Borough Councillor’s report was changed from “housing” to “transport”, then the minutes of the meeting held on 6th November 2000 were signed as a true record.

MATTERS ARISING:-
Councillor Dorling referred to the minutes of the P.C.C, held in October. It appeared that there was still some confusion as to who was responsible for the upkeep of certain areas of land in the vicinity of the church. Councillor Chester said that he would endeavour to arrange a meeting with the P.C.C. in order to clarify the matter.

BOROUGH COUNCILLOR’S REPORT:-
i) Councillor Mangnall read Mrs. White’s written report. With regard to the planning application for a new village hall, she said this had been pencilled in for the February meeting, but there was some work to do before the plans were brought before the committee. Objections had been received from neighbouring properties on the grounds of noise and parking. Councillor Painter enlarged on this, adding that there might have to be limitations on the use of the hall and patio area in the evenings because of the noise problem. Lively discussion took place as to how these limits might be enforced. Consultations would be taking place with an acoustics engineer to reach an agreement on the design and structure of the building so that the noise problem was eliminated as much as possible before construction. A leisure grant application had been submitted for £10,000 this year and £10,000 from the 2001/2 budget.
ii) With reference to the local government electoral review, the Commission had recommended that Ingham be in with Pakenham, plus a new parish ward of Honington Base.
iii) Mrs. White had arranged to meet with Jim Nunn of Suffolk C.C. Highways Dept. at the beginning of February to ascertain the money available from the government for road maintenance, etc. They would be looking for input from the parish council in prioritising the work that needed to be done.
iv) Concerning the change of land use at Anderson’s pit, Mrs. White said that she had spoken to Mr. Wake, the enforcement officer at St. Edmundsbury Borough Council. He had made a site visit and it would definitely not be a digger training centre. If pigs were put there, there were several restrictions and planning issues that would need to be addressed.
v) A letter had been sent to Mt. Simon Pott, Suffolk County Councillor, requesting details of the Suffolk County Council Locailty Fund.

POLICE MATTERS:-
P.C. Kidd said that the last reported crime had been in October and this had since been detected. He had spoken to Max Bacon about the village Neighbourhood Watch scheme and this seemed to be in operation.

PLANNING APPLICATIONS:-
The following new application had been made and there were no objections from the parish council:- 

i) Application to erect a dwelling on land adjacent to Belvedere, Fen Road, Pakenham.

ii) Application to erect a village hall following the demolition of the existing hall in the Street, Pakenham.

iii) Application to construct a pedestrian access ramp at the Sports Pavilion, off The Owell, Pakenham.

FINANCE: -

BURIAL FEES:-
The fees were reviewed and the council agreed that they should remain as presently constituted.

CORRESPONDENCE:-
SALC had sent details of forthcoming seminars. Councillor P. Smith volunteered to attend the one on planning on 23rd May and the clerk said she would like to attend the one on financial procedures on 14th March. This was agreed.

ANY OTHER BUSINESS:-

i) Councillor Cox said that footpath No. 1 was very boggy at the Suffolk Agri-centre end. The clerk was asked to write to the rights of Way Officer at St. Edmundsbury Borough Council requesting that road planings be applied.

ii) Councillor Dorling mentioned that a double access was being built to his house and also to Brook Cottage. He had received permission from the highways department and no planning application was needed.

iii) Councillor Mangnall said that Mrs. J. Travers had telephoned her to say that PVC windows had been installed in Telegraph Cottage which was within a conservation area. This was noted.

DATES OF NEXT MEETINGS:-
It was agreed that the next meeting be held on 5th March 2001. Following that, the annual meeting and annual parish meeting would be held at the Village Hall on 30th April 2001.