Blundeston and Flixton Parish Council - Chairman's Annual Report 2007 – 2008.

General
The Parish Council has met a total of twelve times since the AGM last April although there wasn’t a meeting in February. The average attendance of the 11 eligible Parish Councillors has been 9, exactly the same as the previous year. However attendance did drop to a very disappointing low of just 4 in May which was surprisingly still quorate, the minimum requirement being just 3.
I must congratulate three of our councillors on achieving 100% attendance namely the Vice Chairman Sam Perks, John Blowers and Steven Rees. I am afraid that I didn’t match up to that and last year missed three meetings, which is certainly my worst record ever, but I did have reasonable family related excuses. I would personally like to thank all those Parish Councillors who have attended on a regular basis for their support and commitment throughout the year in particular to Sam Perks the vice chairman, who has ably stood in as chair in my absence and also to Glynis Soanes, Sam Perks and Simon Lewis for their work on the Village Hall management committee.

In 2006 we received specific guidance on the serious issue of Declarations of Interest in any agenda items. Such interest can be either personal or both personal and prejudicial. In the former case the councillor is not permitted to vote on the issue and in the latter he/she is not permitted to be present in the room when the issue is discussed. This was followed up in October by a requirement from The Standards Board for us to adopt a Code of Conduct for all Parish Councillors which embraces this and other issues.

We continue to have excellent support in our community from the Police who are always either present at our meetings or send in a report. From April 1st last year policing arrangements in the northern area changed and in that context we have been pleased to welcome Police Community Support Officer Sue Kershaw. She is frequently seen around the village on her (very green) electric bicycle and has really got herself involved with the youngsters through the Skate Park committee, a tennis tournament and by just being around and approachable.

We are always pleased to see members of the public at our meeting and we do afford time for your input which we value. You are our eyes and ears for local problems and we do our best to resolve them satisfactorily. We now have a public session at the start of each meeting, a change made during the year which seems to work well. The average attendance over the year has been 9 with a high of 17 in September and lows of 3 in November, December and March.

Once again I must record my thanks to our ever- present, overworked and patient Clerk who also has a 100% attendance record. Indeed it would be difficult to hold a meeting without her. It is, as I have said many times in the past, a thankless task, having to serve at the frontline and first point of contact for all Parish Council matters which includes the mountains of correspondence, books and leaflets we get from all sorts of bodies. Her salary has been recently reviewed and now equates to 12 hours work per month on SALC scales. So as you can imagine Barbara certainly represents good value for your money. She also does an excellent job for the village as secretary to the Hall Management Committee having to cope with all the bookings, and all the problems associated with those bookings. Barbara, together with Iris also ensures that there is a comprehensive report of our monthly meetings in the Lowestoft Journal.

The minutes of our meetings are also posted promptly by me on the village website (www.blundeston.org.uk), as draft minutes until approved at the following meeting. The Agenda is not on the website but it is posted on all the Village notice-boards at least seven days prior to each meeting. Publication and retention of the minutes on the website complies with our legal obligation under the Freedom of Access to Information legislation. You will find the minutes, and my annual reports, dating back to April 2002 all in rtf. which makes them easy to download and view.  The village website does also generate a number of enquiries about various aspects of our village, and during the year I have had enquiries from as far a field as USA, Canada and Australia. Unfortunately I don’t have a ‘hits’ box so I can’t tell you how often it’s looked at. Some organisations have a page on the site but not all of you have done that but if you give me the material then, as I have said many times before, I am quite happy to create a page or pages for you, there is no charge, the only thing I am not permitted to do on the site is to openly advertise commercially.
As a result of the website and the regular Parish Council reports in the Journal you should all know exactly what we have been discussing and deciding on your behalf throughout the past year. However I will, very briefly remind you of a few of the issues which I see as most important and interesting during the past year. 

Planning
We have discussed a total of 37 planning applications during the year, including four at a planning sub-committee meeting last week. Again we always allow time for any views from members of the public present or in writing before we come to a decision. Most of the applications are minor additions to houses and tend not to be controversial. We have objected to the mobile telephone mast at the Plough and also a Satellite dish at the Prison. We also had to respond to our own application for the Skate Park. We have also been concerned about the increasing tendency for what used to be called backland development and was not permitted. We have now been told that we to prevent this the village development envelope should have been drawn across the back of the large gardens in the village!
In relation to planning there is still the ongoing issue of the Waveney Local Development Framework which should now be nearing the end of it’s final consultation period! During the year a further site specific proposal for development land was added for the village namely the Homestead Nursery, Lound Road, Blundeston. The Parish Council strongly objected to the inclusion of this site and commented that it was yet another large site proposal and totally out of character with the village. We also commented on the proposed inclusion of land to the North of Blundeston Road, Corton. We considered that development of a large number of houses on this site would have an adverse effect on the traffic volumes using this road. This road is used by Blundeston residents for access to the A12 Lowestoft. It is already extremely difficult to get on to the A12 at this junction and any increase in housing density in this area would only exacerbate this problem.

B 1074 Road, Flixton. The ongoing problems with this road have not been off our agenda at all over the past twelve months. Unfortunately the road is a rat-run through to Norwich from the North end of Lowestoft and it now seems that it is a favoured short route for those being guided by satellite navigation systems, in particular heavy goods vehicles. These problems have all been exacerbated by the traffic chaos in Lowestoft and Oulton Broad during the periods of bridge closures and other road works. Recently there was an accident involving a parishioner having to be cur from her car and she has independently made representations to both the police and the local authority. Speed checks on this road during April and June of last year showed that only 27% were travelling within the speed limit, 68% were travelling between 32mph and 50mph whilst the remaining 5% were travelling in excess of 50mph. These checks were carried out between 9am and 10am on a weekday which is not the worst time for this stretch of road. If translated into fines the two checks would have generated in excess of £9,000 which as Mr Wood has pointed out would more than pay for the cost of monitoring it. There is an ongoing problem with speeding motorcycles on this road particularly on a Sunday morning. Our Flixton representatives continue to keep a watchful eye on this ongoing problem as do our district and county councillors but at the end of the day there appears to be no easy solution.
One good piece of news for the road is that finally, and after many years of persistent badgering, the local authority have hopefully cured the problem of water flowing across the road near Flixton Holes, the site of a fatal accident on ice some years ago. The ditch on the south side has now been cleared, the solution which we have been putting forward for many years. We also hear that much of the road is due to be re-surfaced during this financial year although that may well not help as far as speeding is concerned.

Fly Tipping
This continues to be a problem around the village with the entrance to the old fruit farm and Marsh Lane being target areas for the offenders. The problem has not been helped by the closure of the Wilde Street re-cycling site and our District and County Councillors are continuing to fight for the promised satellite site in the northern area but there now seems little prospect of that happening in spite of the earlier promises. Back in July the EDP highlighted WDC as one of the dirtiest areas in the region in relation to dumped rubbish. Items dumped  have included the usual household rubbish including food waste, and burnt out cars. WDC are always prompt in removing such items from public areas but there are problems when it occurs on private land such as the fruit farm. I find all this very sad when you consider the waste disposal facilities we have because one of the things that WDC do really well is collecting rubbish on a weekly basis.
I must emphasise that anyone seeing dumping occurring should try to get as much information as possible on the spot – vehicle registration, description of the perpetrator etc and report it quickly to the police. That is the only way to get a prosecution.

Skate Park
I must pass on the grateful thanks of the Parish and in particular the youngsters, for all the hard work and persistence of Mrs Wendy Dawson in providing this superb facility. I know that it has been a battle for her at times; finding the funding, solving the planning issues but at every hurdle she has always found either a way round it, straight through it or over the top. The facility was up and running after a number of delays, by early October. It is obvious to anyone who has been and watched, how much her efforts are appreciated, and for me the incredible skill of the youngsters on bikes and skateboards. An organising committee has been formed and the users are very much a part of this and have taken on board the responsibilities of ‘ownership’.

Other Issues
Highways – road surface at the junction of Church Road and B1074 was first raised back in February of last year but still no action.
Simon Lewis has been pursuing the possibility of a footpath between the Village Hall and Short Road probably on the opposite side to make this stretch safer for pedestrians.

Parking: These problems are regularly brought to the attention of the Parish Council at our monthly meetings, either directly by parishioners or more often by a Parish Councillor as a result of representations from parishioners. This is a particular problem in parts of the Street but there are also issues in relation to the School.
In the past all the householders in The Street have been contacted to consider whether they could park their vehicles off The Street in order to ease the obvious congestion there at certain times of the day. We have also considered the problem of parking in Short Road and also near the junction of Church Road and The Street. We had site visits to these spots some three years ago and double yellow lines were considered. However at the time they were not regarded as a practical proposition, not least because of the difficulty of enforcement. 
The problem will not go away,. It will only get worse because the roads in our village were not designed for cars and many of the houses, particularly in The Street, do not have provision for off road parking. 

Sewage There is an ongoing problem with the sewage in parts of Lound road but little progress with Anglian Water on this one. We are also concerned about the constant flooding of parts of this road during times of heavy rainfall when the storm drains an ditches do not appear to cope.
Vandalism – There have been a few incidents over the year the most serious of which was in late February when there was considerable damage in and around the Bowling Green.

Football. We are grateful to John Blowers for seeking out the funding and purchasing the junior goalposts which can be moved around to create varying pitch sizes for casual Games. These are now extensively used and much appreciated.
Thanks also to Kevin Jones who on a contract keeps the playing fields and Millennium Green in good order.

Budget. Finally, I will give you brief details of our proposed budget for 2008 – 2009 which will give you some idea of how your Parish Precept is spent.

Open spaces – Playing field, Children’s play area, Tennis court:
	Grass cutting / general maintenance				1300. 00
	Rent of playing field (15 year lease)				   300.00
	Insurance (Skate Park)					   450.00
	Annual and quarterly inspections of play equipment		   220.00
		Total							 2270.00

General Administration
	Public Liability Insurance etc.				1100.00
	Clerks salary							1200.00
	Chairmans allowance for Broadband				  100.00
	Suffolk Acre subscription					    20.00
	SALC Subscription						  300.00
	Donations (Church grass cutting)				  150.00
	Annual Audit							  220.00
		Total							3090.00

Grand Total								5360.00

I haven’t covered everything and if I have forgotten something important then I do apologise, but I am sure that someone will remind me.

John Nichols
Chairman

Village Hall
As usual it has been a very busy year , the Hall is used nearly every day , morning afternoon and evening by people of all ages, from the Play Group to the Sunshine club.
The fire doors at the back of the hall have been replaced, with help from the Scouts and the wire cage outside has  been erected to stop footballs damaging the new back door.
We have managed to get a grant of £10.000 for help with replacing the whole of the floor and we are hoping to get a further grant to replace the boiler and update the heating.
The work on the floor has been given to Total Build and the work is due to start on August 4th 2008 and will take 3 - 4 weeks to complete, then we are hoping to paint the inside of the hall and volunteers will be needed.
We would like to thank Mr & Mrs Fox for all their hard work over the past year.

Glenis Soanes
Chairman