Pakenham Parish Council : Minutes 19th March 2014

PAKENHAM PARISH COUNCIL
Minutes of the meeting held on Wednesday, 19th March, 2014 at 7.30pm
Pakenham Village Hall

Present: Cllr H Painter (Chairman), Cllr M Sargent (Vice-Chairman), Cllr C Palfrey, Cllr D Dorling, Cllr I Brookman and Cllr R Griffin
Six Members of the public attended, Mrs S Brown (clerk) took the minutes.

1 - Apologies for absence: Apologies received and accepted from Cllr M Bagnell

2 - Declarations of interest:-
Declaration of interest received from Cllr Painter for item 17a. Blackbourne Centre, Thurston

3 - Public Forum:-
A member of the public asked for the opinion of the Parish Council on principal residential development at Grimestone End, Fen Road. Bearing in mind a third of this would have to be of affordable housing and it was outside of the settlement boundary. The Chairman advised the Parish Council would need more detail and could only judge when they saw the plans. The Council advised this had been one of the suggested sites for affordable housing given to Suffolk Acre and St Edmundsbury. The planning officer Peter White had excluded this site at a meeting held with the Parish Council to look at sites for affordable housing in the village.

4 - County Councillor's Report:-
Cllr R Hopfensperger attended and gave her report. Pakenham is next on the list to be upgraded for faster broadband. If Council are interested the better broadband officer is available to attend a Parish Council meeting to answer questions. Council asked if he could attend the June meeting. The clerk to forward the date of the meeting to Cllr Hopfensperger. The clerk to forward the details to the village newsletter if people wished to attend to ask questions. SCC are making grants available to eligible business for apprentices. Clerk to give details to the village newsletter. Cllr Hopfensperger was made aware of a number of Highway issues including a pothole on the corner of Thurston Road and Upper Town and the recent repairs on Fen Road were washing away. Cllr Hopfensperger was also asked to deal with blocked gullies causing standing water on the A143 at the bottom of Hungry Hill during periods of heavy rain. It was asked if Broadway and Thieves Lane are on the programme of works to be resurfaced. Cllr Hopfensperger to follow up.

5 - Borough Councillor's Report: Cllr. Spicer sent his apologies.

6 - Police report:-
PCSO Jade Morton attended and gave her report: Since the last meeting there had been two crimes of interest both oil related. So far undetected they were still an ongoing investigation. The three main priorities are: speeding, more checks will be carried out now the bad weather has passed. Hare coursing, if anyone sees an event taking place to contact the police immediately. To detect, prevent and deter offences of burglary. The theft of catalytic converters and cable theft was also a problem in the area. PCSO Morton advised she was moving on to become a PC and Pakenham would have a new designated PCSO starting in April.

7 - To Consider the approval of the minutes of the last meeting:-
The minutes of the meeting held on 19th February were approved and signed as a true record.

8 - Reports from previous meeting:-
Overgrown Hedgerow:-
The PVH & PFA reported the playing field margin had been trimmed by Mr Bryant for £150. The Parish Council had agreed to pay half of the cost.

9 - Clerks Report:-
SCC had been informed again of the broken footpath sign on Bull Road. Highways had been informed of the overgrown hedge obscuring the 30mph sign on Pakenham Road. Street Lighting SCC advised they had been awaiting supplies of lamps and other materials which were going to be delivered imminently when the works should be completed. The clerk to continue to chase. Clerk attended an information day at SALC – a new finance regime was being introduced in 2017/18 Parish Councils will be able to appoint their own external auditor who will need the appropriate qualifications. BDO will continue to undertake the external audit until that time. Areas of concern were highlighted the external auditors look for. It was also suggested it was good practice to initial invoices. Council agreed for this to happen. Pension implications were explained and even if the clerk did not wish to join a pension all Parish Councils must register when they get to their staging date.
Electronic banking can be used although a number of safeguards must be put in place before stopping of the two signatories on cheques. The clerk was asked to follow up Mr Reynolds enforcement case.

10 - The Fox Public House:-
Cllr Painter advised he had contacted Helen Lindfield Communities Officer at St Edmundsbury who was looking into the monies that may be available to help with the possible purchase of the meadow behind the Fox public house. C.Cllr Hopfensperger advised she would be happy to support it. She advised Transformation Suffolk at SCC could help with developing community amenities.

11 – Planning:-
Applications:-
DC/14/0225/VAR : Plot 2 Broadway Shetland Boats.
Variation of condition 12 of planning permission SE/11/1174
Council discussed Cllr Griffin proposed objecting to the application this was seconded by Cllr Brookman.
Clerk to contact planning to ask the status of the boat yard and if it needed planning permission to carry on as a boat yard and if there were time constraints when work could be carried out in the boat yard.

Granted applications:-
DC/13/0846/HH : 33 The Owell

No further applications had been received

12 - Land Ownership nr. Allotments:-
Cllr Brookman had located a number of original deeds at the record office. The deeds covered areas the Parish Council had purchased, including the land for the cemetery. The deeds for the land at the BT exchange were not found. They also showed the purchase of the playing field by the playing field association and a sewer had been placed across it and under the road to join the sewer at the Owell. The Dell had been left as a gift in perpetuity. The deeds will not be released but Council can obtain copies at approximately 37p each. Council agreed for these to be purchased. Mr Harnor asked if a copy could also be purchased for the PVH & PFA. Council agreed to this request. Cllr Brookman to purchase the copies.

13 - BT Kiosk Light:-
The clerk had contacted BT they replied the light is 8 x 25v fluorescent tube. It is up to the Parish Council whether to replace it or not, there is no obligation to do so. Council discussed and agreed to replace the bulb. The clerk to contact Tony Edgar of St Edmundsbury electrical to carry it out. The clerk to send a letter of thanks to Mr & Mrs Rowles who repainted the BT kiosk.

14 - Tree Hazard Assessment Report:-
Council agreed to have all the works highlighted in the report undertaken. Clerk to contact Urban Forestry, Wayne Jarvis Tree Service and Chris Hunter Tree Services for quotations to be supplied for the next meeting.

15 - Grass and Hedge Cutting 2014/15 & 2015/16:-
Three quotations had been received. Council discussed and agreed to accept the quotation from EFMS. Clerk to contact all parties to let them know of the decision

16 - Representation on PVH & PFA:-
Cllr Palfrey agreed to be the Parish Council's representative on the PVH &PFA committee.

17 – Correspondence:-
The Blackbourne Centre, Thurston – clerk read out the letter received from the Blackbourne Centre asking for a donation for the Day Centre which helps some of the elderly of Pakenham. Cllr Sargent proposed donating £50 this was seconded by Cllr Brookman.
Clerks and Councils Direct – this was circulated.
An email had been received from PVH & PFA a band stand was being discussed for the village. The Parish Council supported the idea of a band stand.

18 - Finance Report & consider payments to be made:-
Deposit account cleared balance - £6656.12
Current account cleared balance - £7673.83
uncleared balance £2598.02 (not including item 18g).
An income and expenditure breakdown of the budget: 2013-14, actual spend
and budget: 2014-15 was circulated to Councillors.
Cllr Painter proposed payments to be made seconded by Cllr Brookman:-

19 - Councillors' reports and items for future agenda:-
Cllr Painter brought to the attention of Council on behalf of Cllr Bagnell: an article in the church magazine asking for donations for farmers in the Somerset Levels a number of parishioners had approached him that donations should be for all members of the community in the area. The article was distributed to Councillors for information. Mr Harnor of PVH & PFA advised Council the bottle bank is to be placed at the corner opposite the BT exchange for a trial period of 6 months.

20 - Date of next meeting:-
Wednesday, 23rd April 2014 in the Village Hall at 7.30pm

There being no further business the meeting closed at 9.20pm.