At a meeting of the Parish Council held on Monday 15th January 2007 there were present Mr. J. Nichols (Chairman), Mr. J. Blowers, Mrs. R. Herrivan, Mr. J. Blowers, Mrs G. Soanes, Mrs T. Townend, Mr. S. Lewis, Mr. S. Rees, Mr. R. Leech and Mrs. E. Hume. W.D.C. P. Ashdown and S.C.C. A. Barron and 9 Parishioners also attended.
Apologies were received from S.C.C. M. Cherry, Pc Boggis and Mr. S. Perks.
The minutes of the previous meeting held on Monday 11th December were approved and signed.
There were no declarations of interest.
Pc Boggis had given a written Police report to the Clerk and in this he wished all Parishioners a Happy New Year which he hopes will be relatively crime free for all residents. Pc Boggis outlined the changes in his role as from 18th March 2007 when he will become part of the Safer Neighbourhood Team for the North of Lowestoft. Sue Kershaw will be the Community Support Officer for the Blundeston area (plus the other neighbouring villages) and she will begin independent patrol on 2nd February, as of now no means of transport has been provided and so it seems that CSO Kershaw will be patrolling on a bicycle, making her highly visible. As there had been no crime report at last months meeting figures for November and December  were as follows - 7 crimes were reported for Blundeston and 0 for Flixton, of the 7 crimes 3 relate to the Prison and whilst they were all serious assaults they do not impact on the local community. 1 crime relates to a person of no fixed abode who claimed to have been threatened by a car driver, another relates to a drink driver caught in the Parish and another was a burglary at the local Primary School when a computer was stolen. During early January the Police helicopter was working over the Village because 2 males were suspected of trying to get drugs into HMP, one was apprehended but the other escaped, the first suspect was later released without charge as no offences could be proved. WD Councillor Ashdown gave his report next, he reminded those present that the next area Forum would be held in Blundeston Village Hall on Tuesday 23rd January at 7.30. He reported that WDC were aware that part of the land at Cockshoot was owned by them and asked if the map provided could be marked with the exact location of the Silver Birch trees which had been reportedly dumped on WDC land. He mentioned that the new proposals for the Local Development Framework Questionnaire included information about the proposed new 3rd crossing. Mr. Ashdown also said that he would be bringing the Chief Executive for a walk around the Ward on 14th February in order to acquaint him with the area and its assets and problems. He had also discussed the matter with Councillor Cherry of the still outstanding Satellite Waste Disposal site which was promised for the Northern Area once the Wilde Street site closed, and this had been minuted at a Planning Authority  meeting. SC Councillor Barron brought extra copies of the Rights of Way Leaflets, and said that she is now on the SCC Development Control committee, and that she will be attending a School re-organisation meeting on Tuesday 16th January. There had been many letters of opposition to the recommended change from 3 tier to a 2 tier system. Mrs. Townend reported that there had been a meeting to which parents were invited at Lothingland School to discuss the situation and she wondered if this was an initiative taken by that school or if it had been countywide, Mrs Barron said that the latter was the case. Mr. Nichols said that he had gathered that there would be no government funding for all the rebuilding and re-organisation, so where would the money come from? Mrs. Barron said that she was unsure at present as the information is not yet available but she would like to dispel the rumours that surround the scheme and hopes to be able to present a clearer picture shortly. Mrs. Herrivan reported that she had heard that some teachers at Middle Schools had already been given notice, and Mrs Barron said that this was the sort of rumour which could be cleared up in the near future. Mrs. Dawson was invited to give an update on the Skate Park, Rural East have taken up our case for funding and they have had 100% success rate with other projects. Blundeston and Flixtons’ submission has to be lodged by the end of January, but all is going well and it is hoped that building could begin in the Spring.
Planning 3 copies of Waveney Local Development Framework had been received and these were on display. The Chairman gave a summary of what this document contained, he said that the documents are proposals which would be the standard until 2021 replacing the previous Local Plan. In Blundeston there are 3 proposed areas for development and the Chairman pointed out that all these had been presented for development by the land owners not the Parish Council, and that they are not actual planning applications. WDC is seeking sites, and no decisions have been made. The process is that the District Council are now seeking local views on the most appropriate sites. As a whole in Waveney, far more sites have been put forward than are actually necessary. The 3 sites identified in Blundeston are plot on the field on the west side of Pound Lane which forms a triangle towards Lakeside Rise in Hall Road, this plot could hold 191 dwellings. The second site is on what is known as the Glebe field adjacent to the Millennium Green and this plot could have 51 dwellings. The 3rd site is adjoining Pickwick Way and is basically in two parts, if the whole site is considered 81 dwellings could be built, but the smaller part of the site, which was discussed at an earlier Parish Council meeting could hold less than 15 dwellings. The Chairman then closed the Parish Council Meeting and opened it to the Public for their comments. One Parishioner said that he thought the idea was horrendous, 322 dwellings could mean 644 cars, and the infrastructure of the Village could not possibly cope with such a large influx of new housing. There were several other vociferous comments and then Mr. Nichols thanked the members of the Public for their input and re opened the Parish Council meeting. Parish Councillors reiterated the comments made by members of the Public and said that in the Parish Councils reply the fact be should highlighted that Blundeston cannot be classed as a “Larger Village” in common with Corton, Kessingland and Wrentham and other such villages, as the criteria of good public transport, local shops, a doctor’s surgery, social and recreational facilities and employment possibilities did not apply to Blundeston and Flixton, this would then decrease the number of houses which could be built within the two villages. The Chairman had provisionally drafted a response which he read, he said that the Parish Council strongly objected to the inclusion of the three proposed sites as the potential number of dwellings would be totally out of character with the village and impose an intolerable burden on community facilities. The proposed sites do not meet any specified or demonstrable local need and neither would they contribute anything to the local rural economy. He also pointed out that each of the proposals fell well outside the current guidelines for development even in the “Larger Villages” category. He added that two of the proposed sites were on prime agricultural land and would represent a serious loss of amenity value and potential ecological damage. Development of these sites would dramatically change the character of the rural landscape and result in a serious loss of countryside outside the current village ‘envelope’.
The Parish Council unanimously endorsed the Chairman’s reply and it was agreed that it should be forwarded as read. The Chairman agreed to attend a Workshop for Parish Councillors regarding planning, to be held at the Town Hall, Mrs. Soanes also expressed an interest but would confirm later.
Accounts .
The following account was approved for payment, proposed by Mr. Rees and seconded by Mrs. Soanes.
	Gopak Limited,	30 upholstered chairs and trolley	£1295. 24
Correspondence
W.D.C. had forwarded a publication entitled Reflect on Regen - Winter 2006. Details of the next area forum on Tuesday 23rd January in Blundeston Village Hall. A new Parish Newsletter entitled Involve. Refreshed Strategic Direction and Performance Indicators and an application to Hire the Village Hall for Local Elections on Thursday 3rd May. SALC had written saying that the Parish Council had been unsuccessful in applying for a free laptop computer. Nicholsons Solicitors had returned the lease for the Playing Field and the Clerk explained that an accompanying letter explained that the Parish Council had to register and pay Stamp Duty on the land, after contacting the Land Registry and Income Tax Office she had discovered that there is a special department dealing with stamp duty. After several fruitless attempts to contact this department, Nicholsons agreed to undertake the task of registering for the Parish Council, this will incur a cost of £50 for the Stamp duty and £150 solicitors fees, the Clerk had subsequently discovered that this was because the land was being leased for 10 years, a lease of 7 years or less incurs no Stamp Duty charge. Notification had been received saying the Next Northern Parishes Liaison Group will be held on Thursday 15th March at Oulton Community Centre at 7.30pm. 
Other Parish Business Mr. Blowers reported that the light on the North side of the Village Hall had been left on all night last Friday. Mrs. Hume said that the 30mph signs on the Northern entrance to Flixton on the B1074 had been cleared of overhanging branches and were now clearly visible, but it was also reported that the hedge adjoining the Prison Wood needed a severe trimming back as it was now level with the edge of the carriageway and constricting the passage of large vehicles which then had to swing out over the white line in that area. The Clerk reported that she had contacted BT about the dirty state of the telephone kiosk in Orchard Close and was told that the company no longer employ people to clean kiosks on a regular basis, and that the only time they are cleaned now is if a fault is reported, but as some of the graffiti was of an offensive nature the representative said that she would send an engineer out and he would check the equipment and clean the kiosk.
15 minutes for Parishioner input
Mr. Alderton brought the attention of the meeting to the fact that he had written a letter to the Parish Council asking for support with regard to the proposed building of properties on his land North of Pickwick Way which included low cost housing in keeping with requests identified in the recent Parish Plan, and this letter had not been read out. The chairman apologised for this oversight, but pointed out to Mr. Alderton that the Parish Council had already agreed to the building of 15 properties on the smaller part of this proposed site and mentioned in this their reply to be sent to WDC.  A parishioner complained about the state of the land owned by the Charity Trustees backing onto the Bungalows in The Pippins, the Chairman said he would raise this matter at the next Charity Trustee meeting. Complaints have been received about cars being parked on the pavement along The Street, the Clerk was asked to contact Pc Boggis about this. There being no further business the meeting closed at 8.35pm