At a meeting of the Parish Council held on Monday 7th July 2003 in Blundeston Village Hall there were present, Mr. J. Blowers (Vice Chairman), Mr. G. Alderton, Mr. S. Perks, Mrs. T. Townend, Mr. T. Prettyman, Mr. S. Lewis and Mr. P. Offord, Councillor Brian Hunter, Pc Boggis and 21 Parishioners also attended.
Apologies were received from Mr. J. Nichols, Mrs. E. Hume and Mrs. E. Socratous.
There were no Declarations of Interest.
The minutes of the previous two meetings, a full Parish Council meeting held on June 2nd and an extra meeting to discuss urgent planning issues held on June 16th were approved and signed.
Mr. Hunter confirmed that he had received confirmation from Mary Keasley at WDC that work was due to commence on the new footpath in Market Lane on July 28th and would finish on August 15th.  Mr Hunter arranged with Mr Lewis to meet on site with a representative of the Highways Department to discuss the pedestrian problems encountered along the Hall Road area of the Village. Adrian Clarke of W.D.C. had contacted the Clerk after receiving the Parish Council’s letter of complaint about the state of the footpath from The Street to Market Lane, he had arranged for the nettles to be cut down immediately and he had discovered that the hedge on the Northern side was the property of those residents of Micawber Mews adjacent to the footpath. He proposed that he would contact them and suggest that they should cut the hedge or he will arrange for it to be done and present them with a bill for the work. Mr. Blowers gave a Parish Team report next, at their last meeting it had been agreed that the Prison would provide the labour to decorate the Village Hall, and a letter had subsequently been received saying that the work would take place between August 12th and 22nd, Mr. Blowers and the Clerk are to meet with Mr. Steve Norman from the Paint Shop on Friday 11th on site to discuss fine details. The Parish Team is still working well and Mr. Blowers asked for any interested parties to contact him, as more members would be welcome. Pc Boggis then gave the Police report. There were 4 reported crimes in Blundeston and Flixton in June. One was the burglary at the Village Hall during the early hours of June 8th, and there was no positive news at the moment on the detection of the culprits, 1 case of vehicle theft, 1 assault at the Prison and one theft of the electric lamps from a gateway in Church Road, which occurred overnight on 28th June. Whilst these 4 crimes are still worrying, during the same period in 2002 there were 9 crimes. Since April this year there have been 14 crimes with 4 of them being detected, and the level of crime has definitely gone down this year. Pc Boggis expressed his disappointment that after a fly tipper had been detected dumping garden rubbish near the telephone box at Decoy Farm by an observant member of the public, and subsequently taken to court with full witness evidence, the case was dismissed. Mr. Perks reported that he had discovered hundreds of gallons of bitumen emulsion had been dumped in Marsh Lane on Saturday morning (5th July), he contacted the Police immediately, but he had not heard anything from them since. He felt that if the incident had been responded to promptly enough the culprits could have been apprehended. The Clerk was instructed to contact the Environment Agency and find out who is responsible for clearing up this toxic waste product which had been spread right across the bridleway and up into the hedge.  
The following Accounts were proposed for payment by Mr. Prettyman and seconded by Mr. Offord. –
		B.M. Shaw (Clerk’s salary April/May/June)	237. 50
			    Plus ⅓ telephone rental		   9.  16  =   246. 66	
		J. Nichols Chairman’s telephone allowance     		9. 16
		Blundeston Roofing and Building (for supplying
		And fixing screw down manhole covers for V. Hall)	         211. 50
The Clerk informed the meeting that the Annual Audit will take place on 12th September and the fact will be published well in advance giving the public specific dates on which the accounts can be viewed. 
Planning The following plan was approved.
Mr. & Mrs. Gorringe, 8 Orchard Close, Single storey front extension.
S.C.C. had written asking for a Councillor or Parishioner to volunteer to act as a Parish Transport Representative no one present was willing to take on this duty at the moment, it was hoped that perhaps someone reading the minutes may feel able to participate. Another letter from S.C.C. informed the Parish Council that a National Bus Stop survey has been carried out with each bus stop being given a Global Positioning Satellite location reference. The letter requested that in order to keep this database up to date any future alterations to bus stops and their associated facilities should be notified as soon as possible. A letter had been received from a Parishioner asking for the hedge from the Plough to the Village Hall to be trimmed, Mr. Blowers reported that this had been done during the day, by himself with the aid of two Parishioners. Atkins Highways and Transportation had provided leaflets giving Roadworks and Traffic Information for May to July 2003. Bob Blizzard had written to the Clerk to include a letter from Alun Michael MP, Minister for Rural Affairs and Urban Quality of Life at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with a set of 8 fact sheets which provide practical information on what Government is doing in rural areas to raise awareness of the work that is going on to improve the quality of life in these localities.  N.P.H. had kindly forwarded an estimate for the supply and installation on an intruder alarm for the Village Hall, it was decided that this should be discussed at the next V.H. Management committee meeting. A copy of the Draft Plan for the Broads Authority for 2004 had been received. A Guide for new members had been received from the Standards Board for England. Mr. Blowers had received information that the Highways Department intend to make the two corners of Orchard Close adjacent to The Street a No Waiting at any time area. Mrs. Townend suggested that these yellow lines would be beneficial if some were also situated on The Street opposite to this junction, the Clerk was asked to contact the relevant authority and see if this would be possible.
Other Parish business. 
Mr. Perks reported that the Road repair in Lowestoft Road has still not been re-repaired. He also wished the Clerk to report that the new and old tarmac joints on the resurfacing carried out recently on the B1074 are not satisfactory. Mr. Offord had been asked if the Parish Council could discover the whereabouts of the old Sports Day cups which were used at Blundeston School, he was informed that the School Governors had asked at the School and the Staff had assured them that the cups were packed away and they would try to find them as soon as possible.
The meeting was then opened for Parishioner input. Mr. Sturman agreed that the Clerk should contact W.D.C. about getting the yellow lines opposite to Orchard Close, and he had found that comments could be made up to 18th July. He also asked for a scaffold board to be removed from The Street where this was being used instead of a dropped kerb, Mr. Lewis agreed to deal with this matter. Mr. Ffitch informed the councillors that indeed the nettles had been cut down within 3 days of the Clerk asking for this to be carried out along the Market Lane to The Street Footpath, but the resulting greenery was left on the path and not cleared away. He also said that as far as he is concerned the hedge along this footpath is the responsibility of W.D.C. Mr. Blowers offered to find out who actually owns the hedge from The Plough to The Village Hall as Mrs. Boyce suggested that it should be cut back at least another two feet to allow pedestrians better safety along that part of the roadway. Mr. Soanes asked what progress had been made in acquiring a grant for safety matting surfacing under the play equipment, he was informed that grants could only be obtained for new equipment and that Mrs. Hilton is applying on behalf of the Village Hall Management Committee for funding for equipment which will probably have safety matting, but Mr. Blowers said that W.D.C. have assured the Parish Council that Sand is a very good safety surface.  Mrs. Pembroke said that she had spoken to a resident of Pickwick Way who confirmed that the hedge abutting his property was the responsibility of the owners of the houses.
There being no further business the meeting closed.