At a meeting of the Parish Council held on Monday 20th March 2006, there were present, Mr. J. Nichols, (Chairman), Mr. P. Offord, Mr. G. Alderton, Mr. J. Blowers, Mrs. G. Soanes, Mrs. E. Hilton, Mrs. T. Townend, Mr. S. Lewis and Mr. S. Perks, Councillor Brian Hunter and 19 Parishioners also attended. County Councillors Malcolm Cherry and Allyson Barron had informed the Clerk that they would be arriving later due to Council business in Ipswich. 19 Parishioners also attended.
Apologies were received from Mrs. E. Hume.
The Minutes of the previous meeting held on 6th February 2006 were approved and signed.
Mr. Blowers declared an interest in the agenda item Skate Park Initiative, Mr. Hunter declared an interest in all planning matters.
There was no Police report. Mr. Nichols alerted the Councillors to a problem he had discovered with the Nomination Papers for the elections due to be held on Thursday 4th May. Because of some difficulty with Postal voting papers the actual nomination papers, posters etc., will not be published before Friday 24th, these will then be posted to the Parish Clerk for distribution and are due to be handed back in at the Town Hall before noon on 3rd April, giving a space of only 9 days From publication for them to be filled in and returned. This process is usually allowed to take place over a period of 4 weeks and the Chairman was most concerned as he could see a problem if someone was away on holiday for 2 two weeks during this period they would not have an opportunity to apply for nomination. W.D.C. Report Brian Hunter told those present that the District Council had unanimously accepted the proposal for a Great Yarmouth and Waveney Primary Care Trust, and he reported that every Parish Council in the District voted for this PCT, but he said that the final decision would be made by the Secretary of State. He said that he did not want to elaborate more on his stance with regard to the Housing Stock Transfer as his views had been widely published, but every Council Tenant was now in possession of a voting paper. Great discussion was also taking place regarding the site of the New Civic Campus which will be shared by two other Authorities to defray costs. The Chairman gave a report on the Northern Parishes Liaison meeting held on 21st February in Blundeston Village Hall, the presentation by Malcolm Dixon and Barry Reed from the Planning Department of W.D.C. was very good, they reported that they had a target that 90% of planning applications will be approved by Planning Officers themselves and therefore not go before the Planning and Development Committee of the Council. It was further proposed that a target of 95% should be aimed for. The rest of the meeting was taken up with fly tipping problems and general Parish Council matters. Mr. Perks had attended a Planning Informing Session held on 13th March at the Town Hall, he said that this had been very interesting, the whole planning process was outlined from start to finish. He had found the item relating to what criteria should be applied by Parish Councils when discussing a Planning Application very informative and it was decided that the notes he had been given would be discussed further at another Parish Council meeting when there was not such a heavy agenda. Mrs. Soanes is due to attend another of these informing sessions in the near future, and it was hoped that she and Mr. Perks would bring some further information to the other Councillors, Mr. Perks said that he thought it was a pity that only two people from each Council were offered places as he felt that all Councillors would benefit from attending one of the sessions. Mr. Nichols and Mrs. Soanes had attended a Quality Lunch in Lound V. Hall this was to explain how a Parish Council could acquire Quality Status, this matter was also felt to need lengthy discussion and it was decided to hold the matter over until a later meeting. 
Planning ~ 
Mr. D. Cains, 12 Orchard Lane, construction of single storey side extension.
Mr. & Mrs. Tantony, Autumn Cottage, Church Road, construction of single storey side extensions, rear conservatory and detached garage. 
The two above plans had already been approved by the planning sub committee with provisos, as they had arrived immediately after the previous Parish Council meeting.
Mr. R. Gooch, 73, The Street, single and first storey side and rear extensions and replacement of detached garage. Approved 
Mr. & Mrs. K. Jary 1-2, Flixton Road, Construction of single storey rear extension to form orangery and insertion of a dormer window. Councillors did not feel that they could comment on the orangery as no drawings of it had been supplied  but they saw no problem with the dormer windows.
Mr. M. Osborn 1, Osborn Cottages, Market Lane, Variation of Condition 6 - insertion of 3 velux windows.
Mr. D. Steel 4, Osborn Cottages Variation of condition 6 -insertion of 3 velux windows.
These two applications were refused as condition 6 specifically said that no windows shall be constructed in the south and north facing roofs and west end gable elevation of the buildings without prior written consent, and several neighbours had expressed a desire that no windows should be put into the roof before construction even began.
Accounts ~ the following accounts were proposed for payment by Mrs. Soanes and seconded by Mr. Lewis.
	W.D.C. charge for Rospa inspection of Play Area					£64. 63
	B.M. Shaw, Clerks Salary Oct/Nov/Dec/Jan/Feb/March 		475. 00
			Plus 1/3 telephone rental		        		18. 32		493. 32
	J. Nichols  (allowance for 6 Months Broadband rental)				  36. 00
	100 X 2nd class postage stamps purchased by Clerk 					  21. 00 
Correspondence
A letter had been received from Ms. Wendy Dawson who had read the Parish Plans final report and she offered to organise the fundraising and oversee the development of a skate park at the side and rear of the Village Hall, providing that she had the backing of the Parish Council and that a Parish Councillor would work alongside her during the progress of the project. The Chairman had been made aware of a new Government Guideline which would prohibit the use of skateboards in certain places, ie pavements and roadways, he had also been told by Ms Dawson that the main funder for the venture would probably be Wren Recycling and their deadline for funding requests was 7th April, so the item needed to be discussed at this meeting. Mr. Lewis volunteered to represent the Parish Council in this undertaking and four other Councillors offered their support. Mr. Offord said he was very concerned that the 
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facility may encourage hooligans from other areas and that they would disrupt the local youngsters. The Chairman, closed the meeting and opened it up to the public to enable Ms Dawson to elaborate and Mr. Blowers left the meeting.  Ms Dawson said that since her original letter she had discovered that the skate park could cost up to £50,000, which she felt certain would be funded mainly from Wren, she had also been told that she would probably be able to have a grant of £5,000 from Suffolk County  Council and that she does not foresee that any other funding would be necessary. She has contacted builders who are specialist in this field and they told her that a new surface - SK8board - reduces noise and is graffiti proof. She told the meeting that she and several of the children present had visited other skate parks in the area and none of them had supervisors they were simply another piece of play equipment. Mr. Maddock said that he had serious concerns over the noise the park will engender, and he felt that he and his neighbours suffered enough disruption from the Village Hall and Play area as it was. Another parishioner reiterated  Mr. Maddock’s concerns and he said that he could foresee the Parish Council having to pay a lot of money in maintenance. Ms. Dawson said that this new type of surfacing is maintenance free, she also offered to keep the P. Council informed of developments each month, two young people gave representation and said that they would be very pleased if a park was built in the Village. The Chairman closed the meeting to the public and Mr. Wood proposed and Mrs. Soanes seconded that the Parish Council should back the project, 6 Councillors voted in favour, 1 against and 1 abstained. It was confirmed that a planning application would be needed. Mr. Blowers returned to the meeting. The Chairman then invited Allyson Barron to give a C. Council report and thanked her and Malcolm Cherry for making every effort to attend Parish Council Meetings. She reported that she had been in Ipswich with Mr. Cherry attending a meeting regarding the Primary Care Trust, this will go before the Secretary of State at the end of the month. The Chairman declared his disgust at the fact that two members of the public had left in a noisy and disturbing manner during Ms. Barron’s report and he thanked the many young members of the public for being polite and staying, and asked if they would like to leave now, as he was aware that they had to attend school in the morning.  There was a slight pause whilst the youngsters and some of their parents left the meeting. South Norfolk Planning Services had sent a Statement of Community Involvement. The Broads Authority had sent details of their Local Development Scheme. A Copy of Suffolk Scene had arrived. Suffolk Preservation Society had sent details of the progress of their “Whose Maters Voice?” scheme. A copy of the Waveney Local Development Framework had been received. W.D.C. had sent details of their Scrutiny Committee Meeting. S.C.C. had sent a letter saying that new Road Signs would be erected soon and another letter giving notice of the completion of the repair works to the bridge on the footpath at the rear of White House Farm, Flixton. Rospa had sent a report on their playground equipment inspection and  this was given to Mr. Wood who is the Parish Council weekly inspector of the equipment. SALC had sent details of their Delivering Change 2006-20011. Notice had been received that the next Area Forum would be on March 22nd at 7.30p.m. at St. Michaels Church Hall, Hall Road, Oulton Broad.. An new batch of leaflets had arrived from the Highways Agency East of England Roadworks and Journey Planner Scheme. The Chairman said that he would like to report on the Virginia Cottage Planning issue and give an update on the state of affairs. He outlined the situation over the Building Inspectorates decision  to approve the application, and he read out a letter from Stephen Archer, Corporate Director of Regeneration and Environment at W.D.C. explaining that the Parish Council should have requested to attend the site visit, and in the past it has always been the responsibility of interested parties to request copies of Decision Notices from the Planning Inspectorate direct, however the new WDC Statement of Community Involvement states that the Local Planning Authority will notify third parties of decisions and this was overlooked by the Planning Team. 
Other Parish Business.
Mr. Offord said that the ditch on the South side of Market Lane needed cleaning out, as the flooding situation had been bad again during the recent bad weather. Mr. Lewis reported that the Disco in aid of the Party in the Park had been well attended and had raised £400, Kevin Smyth dealt with the bar arrangements and Mr. Lewis had thanked him on behalf of the Parish Council. Mr. Perks said that a motorcyclist was using the B1074 on a regular basis and was travelling so fast that it was impossible to read the registration number on his bike, several attempts to do so, even so far as trying to photograph the offender and attempting to stop him had failed. Allyson Barron reported that the matter of speeding along this road had been discussed at County Council level. Mr. Perks reported that a resident of Lowestoft Road had felled a large number of Silver Birch trees and dumped the trunks on Parish Council land along Cockshoot Pit, the Clerk was asked to write and ask the gentleman in question to remove these. 
15 minutes for Parishioner input.
Mrs. Mayes said that there was a very large pothole in Pound Lane which could be very dangerous for a cyclist at night. Mr. Edwards reported that the name plate for Short Road was missing. Mrs. Anne  Reeve said that she and her neighbours in Market Lane would like to thank the Parish Council for all the help and support they had received over the Virginia Cottage Planning Application.
The date of the Annual Parish meeting was announced as April 10th at 7p.m. when all Village Organisations are invited to give a report and any Parishioner may take part in the meeting, this will be followed immediately by a meeting of the Parish Council.
There being no further business the meeting closed. 

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