At a meeting of the Parish Council held on Monday 10th January 2005 there were present Mr. J. Nichols, Chairman, Mr. P Offord, Mr. J. Blowers, Mr. G. Alderton, Mrs. G. Soanes, Mrs. E. Hilton, Mr. S. Lewis, Mrs. T. Townend and Mr. K. Wood. 4 Parishioners also attended.
Apologies were received from Mr. S. Perks and Mrs. E. Hume. 
Pc Boggis and Councillor Brian Hunter were attending Oulton Parish Council meeting first and would arrive at around 8p.m.
The Minutes of the previous meeting held on 22nd November were approved and signed.
There were no declarations of interest.
The chairman opened the meeting by giving a brief report on the recent Northern Parishes Liaison meeting, which had been held in Blundeston on 9th December. The bus service from Carlton Colville to J.P.H. was discussed, this included the frequency and the difficulties experienced in Back Lane, Lound, the service did not appear to be very well used at present, although each Parish Council felt that in time more people would use it once Parishioners got used to the timetable. Representatives discussed the slow response to correspondence from Parish Councils to W.D.C. and the fact that there seemed to be no improvement in this so far. Councillor Hunter spoke about Planning and told those present that if no objections are received to Planning Applications those particular applications are not forwarded to the Development Control Committee and are passed by the Planning Officers, which will speed up some applications. Mr. Nichols then went on to explain that a decision had been made to co-ordinate a fund raising event in aid of the Tsunami disaster appeal, and it was felt that the Parish Council should organise the event with other Village Organisations helping, there had not been time to liase with each Councillor on this decision as time was of the essence in this case, and the event was held on Saturday 8th January between 10a.m. and 12.30. There had been a very good response and a total of £1,671 had been raised, this together with £490 raised by Blundeston Primary School on Friday 7th will be forwarded to the EDP/Unicef Tsunami Disaster Appeal. The Chairman thanked all those who had helped with this effort and gave advance notice that another fund raising event is scheduled for New Years Eve 2005 as everyone agreed that the victims would need further support for years to come. St. Mary’s Church, Blundeston had collected donations for the past two Sundays and a total of £159 had been gathered, this will go into a pool with the other 5 churches in the Somerleyton Group.
Planning.
The following three plans were all approved –
Mr. & Mrs. Underdown, Avoca, Market Lane,	 -  Front and rear extensions to bungalow.
Mr. Heelas, Birchwood, Lowestoft Road         	 -  Side extension to bungalow.
Mr. L. George, Haversham House, Dickens Court.	 - Single storey rear extension.
Accounts. The following account was proposed for payment by Mr. Offord and seconded by Mr. Lewis.
	W.D.C. Grass cutting			£549. 63
Correspondence.
PC. Boggis and Councillor Hunter arrived at this point and the Chairman invited them to give their reports. Pc Boggis gave the Police report and said that during December 6 Crimes, 2 of these were connected with HMP, 1 was a theft from a Motor Vehicle, 1 a theft of a Motor Vehicle, 1 of dangerous driving causing a 3 car pile up and one of damage to the Village Notice board. He reported that Suffolk Constabulary had recruited 7 Community Support Officers and they are at present undergoing training, when training is completed they will be operating in Lowestoft, not in Rural Areas. Councillor Hunter reported that the new W.D.C. Chief Executive will be taking up his post in March and the members of the Council are looking forward to the appointment of new Officers. Mr. Hunter reported that he had received several applications for Locality Funding from organisations in Blundeston and these were being considered at the moment and a decision on the distribution of these grants will be made in the next two weeks. A letter had been received from Pc Hill explaining that due to hearing problems the Police Medical Officer had removed him from operational duties immediately, therefore Pc Hill would no longer be able to carry out his role as Community Police Officer for Rural North. This was a great disappointment to the Parish Councillors, Pc Hill had been the Community Police Officer for Blundeston for 15 years, and a great rapport had been built up between Pc Hill and members of the community. He had had dealings with the School in the past and many of the youngsters knew him, it was felt that he would be greatly missed. The Clerk will write a letter to the Sector Commander and to Pc Hill expressing the Parish Councils regret over the forced retirement of Pc Hill from active duty and telling of our satisfaction during the time he was our Community Police officer. A booklet from W.D.C. Note on Implementation of Open Space had arrived, in which the open space areas in Blundeston (along with several others) was criticised as in need of improvement. Suffolk Preservation Society Magazine had been received, as had Suffolk Hedgerow Survey newsletter. SALC Magazine and Course information had arrived. A copy of The Sunrise Coast handbook had been received. A letter from W.D.C. regarding a Section 106 Contribution towards open space had arrived and the Clerk was asked to write and ask if the money could be spent on repairs to the Play Equipment. Mr. Wood informed the Councillors that due to complications he would not be able to carry out the necessary repairs to the Play Equipment, Mr. Lewis agreed to discuss the works needed with Mr. Wood and he would endeavour to complete the repairs. Information had arrived from Networking East. Details of Road Closures due to road works in Lowestoft had been received from W.D.C.  SALC had forwarded an invitation to attend a meeting to discuss the East of England Plan, this will be held on Monday 24th January in the Council Chamber at the Town Hall, Mr. Nichols agreed to attend. 
Other Parish Business
Mr. Alderton had contacted the Highways Department about the poor state of Market Lane which had recently been resurfaced but had had no reply, so the Clerk was asked to contact the department again, and ask once more for the white lines to be re instated on the sharp corner near the new footpath. Mr. Blowers reported that the improvements to the Bowls Club facilities were progressing well. The two buildings (new clubhouse and toilet block) are now in place, the site has been levelled, and water and electricity supplies will be connected shortly, this has been possible with grants from Waveney Forum, Suffolk County Council Locality Funding and a £3,000 grant from Awards for All which is specifically for the connection to the mains sewers, (previously the players have had to use a caravan type toilet). A donation from B & Q of sanitary ware and kitchen units has also been promised. Mr. Blowers was concerned about the amount of running water on the B1074 at the point where the Council have erected ICE warning signs, it was agreed that the reason for this was that the ditch needed clearing out. Mr. Lewis had been approached by parents of youngsters who use the pit at the rear of Queensway to ride their off road motorcycles if they could flatten some of the slopes. Mr. Lewis was told that if he would inspect the area and could see that no damage would be done to trees and shrubs and none removed, it was agreed that some work could go ahead.
The meeting was then opened for Parishioner Input. There were no matters to discuss under this section.
The next meeting will be on February 28th. There being no further business the meeting closed.