At a meeting of the Parish Council held on Monday March 3rd 2003 there were present Mr. J. Nichols (Chairman), Mr. C. Ayers, Mr. P. Offord, Mr. J. Blowers, Mr. T. Prettyman, Mrs T. Townend, Mr. S. Perks, Mr. S. Lewis and Mr. G. Alderton. Pc Hill and 20 Parishioners also attended.
Apologies were received from Mrs. E. Hume and Councillor Brian Hunter. 
The Minutes of the previous meeting held on 3rd February 2003 were approved and signed.
There were no declarations of interest.
The Chairman thanked Blundeston and Flixton W.I. who had purchased the microphone and speaker equipment, with a donation from the Local History Society, as a gift to the Village Hall, which together with the loop system bought by the Parish Council, would be a great asset to meetings held in the Village Hall. 
Before the matters on the agenda were discussed the Chairman sought the approval of the Councillors to close the official meeting at the point on the agenda set aside to discuss the proposed plan to build 5 dwellings on a plot in Lound Road and allow members of the public to air their views on this matter at that juncture. Mr. Alderton proposed, Mr. Blowers seconded and it was unanimously decided that this was acceptable. Mr. Offord then gave a brief report on the rescheduled Northern Parishes Liaison meeting held on February 20th. This meeting was poorly attended, with representatives from Somerleyton, Lound and Blundeston being the only ones to turn up, and as a result no major issues were discussed, the next meeting will take place in Blundeston Village Hall. The Chairman had spoken to the owner of the white van illegally parked at Queensway and he had been told that it must be taxed or removed. Residents of nearby properties had expressed their gratitude to the chairman that the rusting car left there for so long had been removed recently. The next item on the agenda was one carried over from the previous month to allow Councillors to consider the matter, namely the initiative from the Countryside Commission to grant up to £10,000 for a scheme to Get your Community Moving.  No–one had any ideas for this and it was agreed that there was no specific need for such a scheme in Blundeston, as the idea seemed to be more for areas with no public transport whatsoever. Mrs Hume had tried to contact the person in charge of the Flood Warning System at the Broads Authority and had had no success so far, she would report to the next meeting on this matter. The revised draft of the Waveney Local Plan had been received together with a letter explaining that in July 2002 the Government announced its intention to abolish Structure Plans and Local Plans and replace them with Local Development Frameworks. It is expected that this legislation will be enacted by 2004. WDC would like any comments the Council may have on the content of this Local Plan by 14th April 2003. The Chairman outlined some of the contents relevant to Blundeston at present, including the point that new developments would not be permitted unless the Water Supply and Drainage systems were considered adequate. The new Suffolk Development Plan states that Waveney as a whole needs to build 335 new houses each year up to 2016, making a total of 4,700 in the next 13 years. This development would be concentrated in Lowestoft and the surrounding Market Towns. Some small-scale development is included in the larger Villages and Blundeston is classed as one of these. The definition of infill was explained in the document at being the building of up to two dwellings between existing buildings. The provision of affordable housing is acceptable where the site is within or abutting the physical limits of a Village, is not obtrusive and is necessary for local needs. In conclusion the Chairman said that Blundeston is quite clearly defined as a larger Village and in line for small-scale development and infill. Mr. Hunter had reported to the Clerk that he had been able to requisition £2,500 from Locality Funding from S.C.C. he had also been promised £500 from W.D.C. which together with the £1,000 from the Parish Council would cover the cost of the new footpath along Market Lane and it is hoped that the work will commence in the near future. 
Accounts. The following account was proposed for payment by Mr. Blowers and seconded by Mr. Perks.
Waveney Fencing (repairs to the chain link fencing around the tennis court, which had been cut by vandals to allow access to the court. Restreching the top wire along the Playground area and replacing the fencing around the stile.)						£293. 17.
Planning. The chairman then closed the official business meeting to allow members of the public to have input to the discussion before a decision was taken on the proposed plan by D. Jermy to erect 5 dwellings on land adjacent to “Brambles” Lound Road. 4 letters from residents of the surrounding area objecting to the proposed development for various reasons, were read out, these mainly objected to the overcrowding of the site, the extra traffic 5 dwellings would bring to an already busy area of the Village, the loss of wildlife and flora, and the questionable capacity of the sewerage system. The Chairman reiterated that Anglian Water maintain that the system is adequate for the proposed 7 residences on the Pippins site, so it is certain that they would consider that the system could cope with these five proposed dwellings. A Parishioner then asked if Anglian Water had come up with any answer to the problems of flooding and sewerage leaking out during stormy weather experienced by the Village in the past few years. The Company have inspected the system at various points in the Village and have not given any report to the Parish Council on the results so far. The Chairman then closed the Public meeting and the Parish Councillors adjourned to the rear of the Hall to inspect the Plans. After consideration it was proposed by Mr. Lewis that the plan should be rejected on the grounds that it was not in keeping with the surrounding area and he suggested that it should be recommended that a smaller development would be more pleasing. Mr. Offord thought that 4 bungalows would be a more acceptable development. Mr. Perks asked if an ecological survey had been carried out on the site, Mr. Nichols said that presumably because the land in question was agricultural land and it could reasonably be ploughed up and seeded at any time there was no need for an ecological survey. It was decided that the clerk should state that the plan had been rejected on face value, large executive houses are not in keeping with the other Bungalows in Lound Road, and to express the Parish Council’s concerns with the ability of the present sewer system to cope with this number of dwellings. The Parish Council would also like to be able to speak at the relevant planning committee meeting at W.D.C. Mrs. Townend seconded this proposal and it was carried unanimously. A letter from W.D.C. had been received informing the Parish Council that Badger Building had lodged an appeal against the decision of W.D.C. to refuse planning permission to construct 6 dwellings on land off the Pippins.
Correspondence A letter had been received stating that the Parish Council were responsible for the repair of the fence around Peto’s Pond, the clerk was asked to contact Walton Garage for details of the car which had damaged to fence. The letter also reinforced a previous answer the clerk had received that Waveney D.C. does not erect mirrors on Highways, but they did give an address to get information if the residents were still willing to finance a mirror. A reassuring letter had been received from defra stating that the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport had made clear that it is not the Governments intention to impose unnecessary regulatory burdens on Village Halls, and such facilities will be exempted from the fees associated with the provision of entertainment licenses. The East Anglian Daily Times had written and informed the Parish Council that there is going to be a new edition of that paper which will concentrate on North Suffolk and they would like to know of any news from our community. 
Other Parish Business.
Mr. Ayers had attended a Broads Authority meeting concerning footpaths in the area, and as a result they will forward to him large scale maps of the Flixton area and he will “walk” the paths and mark any problems on the map and return it to them. Mr. Offord had received a complaint regarding the state of the public footpath alongside Holly Nurseries; he had walked along there and agreed that it was in a terrible state. It was flooded and was in dire need of complete refurbishment, the Clerk was asked to contact Adrian Clarke of W.D.C. and inform him. Mr. Blowers informed the Councillors that W.D.C. had removed the conifer in the verge adjacent to the Play area, which had become dangerous and had in fact lost large branches, which had blocked the road twice on separate occasions during recent gales. Unfortunately they have confirmed that the oak tree in the corner of the play area is in fact the property of the Parish Council, a decision on this tree will be taken later. Mr. Lewis reported that the Valentine’s Disco had been a great success and as a result the committee had raised enough money to cover the costs of the “Party in the Park” due to be held on June 14th as part of the Village Celebration week. Mr. Blowers asked that the members of the Committee should be officially thanked for all their hard work in raising this money. The Chairman reported that he had recently walked along the pavement along Lound Road and this was now in an appalling state of repair and was in fact dangerous. The Parish Council have been making requests for this to be repaired for almost 8 years now, the Clerk was instructed to contact W.D.C. and ask them to send out a surveyor to inspect this and arrange for the repairs to be carried out as soon as possible. The letter should also request that something be done about the flooding along Market Lane between St. Guthlac’s and the A12 where water collects and stands to quite a depth when rainfall has been relatively light. Mr. Perks offered to inspect the damaged fence surrounding Peto’s Pond and remove the pole, which is sticking out at a dangerous angle.
The meeting was then opened to the public.
As there was no further business the meeting officially closed at 8.50p.m.