At a meeting of the Parish Council held on Monday 23rd May 2005 in the Village Hall Blundeston there were present Mr. J. Blowers (Vice Chairman), Mr. P Offord, Mr. G. Alderton, Mr. S. Lewis, Mrs. G. Soanes, Mrs. T. Townend and Mr. S. Perks. Pc Dave Boggis, District Councillor Brian Hunter, County Councillor Malcolm Cherry and four parishioners also attended. 
Apologies were received from Mr. J. Nichols and Mr. K. Wood.
The minutes of the previous meeting held on 25th April were approved and signed.
There were no declarations of interest from the Parish Councillors but Mr. Hunter declared an interest in any planning matters that arose during the meeting. 
Councillor Hunter introduced S.C.C. Malcolm Cherry who would be representing the Parish Council along with other P.C’s in the area at County level from now on along with Councillor Alison Barron who unfortunately could not attend the first part of the meeting and would be arriving a little later. Mr. Hunter reported that the 2 remaining vacant Corporate positions have now been filled at W.D.C. and he said that there would be a great advantage to Parish Councils in having 3 representatives of Local Government attending meetings as one or other should be able to be present at every meeting. Mr. Blowers thanked Mr. Hunter on behalf of the Parish Council and Parishioners for all his hard work and efforts as our County Council representative for many years. Pc Boggis reported that in April there had been 11 reported crimes in Blundeston and Flixton, of these 5 related to HMP. 5 crimes had been detected and 2 had been subsequently classed as ‘no crimes’. The clerk had reported to K. Wood that damage had been done to the recently repaired roundabout which was as present awaiting a new bearing before being mounted back on to its’ spindle, this damage had been caused by the whole roundabout being lifted on to the top of the old seesaw and banged down so heavily that the metal stays had been bent on the roundabout. He was amazed that this damage had been done in this way, as he had had to use a JCB to lift the roundabout because of its great weight.  He had inspected the damage and said that he should be able to repair it once more, and he wished his disgust to be reported in the minutes over the wanton vandalism done to this and the other play equipment. He had arrived at the play area to inspect the new damage and witnessed several youngsters riding bicycles up the slide, one youth was on the small rocking horse and had bent it right down to ground level and others were generally misusing the equipment on the play area. It was generally agreed that the work the contractor had carried out in clearing the undergrowth and weeds around the Village Hall and Play ground had made a great deal of difference to the appearance of the area. He will start work on the repairs to the slide steps and repainting the equipment after the half term holiday.
Planning. The following plans were discussed and approved.
Mr. Aldred and Miss Abel, 62, The Street, Blundeston. Erection of a rear conservatory.
Mr & Mrs. C. Harris, The Retreat, Lound Road single and two-storey side extension.
The Clerk reported that a site meeting at Virginia Cottage had been arranged by W.D.C. for 13th June and two members of the Parish Council had been invited to attend. Mr. Perks asked if more than two members of the PC could attend site meetings. The Vice Chairman asked Mr. Hunter if he could clarify the situation. Mr. Hunter pointed out that the purpose of site meetings was purely to allow the Planning Committee to acquaint themselves with the site of the proposed planning application, and then return to a meeting at a later date to discuss the application. No discussion of the proposal whatsoever will take place at the site, although members of the Committee may ask someone with local knowledge pertinent questions.
Alison Barron arrived, was introduced by Malcolm Cherry and was welcomed by Mr. Blowers on behalf of the Parish Council and Parishioners. Mrs. Hilton also arrived at this time.
Accounts The following account was proposed for payment by Mr. Perks and seconded by Mr. Lewis.
	B.M. Shaw   		Gift for Pc Hill	£25. 00
				New analysis book	  21. 00  =	£46.00	
Correspondence
Details of the Results of the Suffolk Acre Housing Survey, which had been distributed with the Parish Plan Questionnaire, had been received, and Mr. Blowers read a Summary. This stated that 44% of the survey forms were returned which is a high return rate for a postal survey. 62% of the households said they would support a local affordable housing development for local people. The results do not show a need for Local Authority Rented properties. There is however a perceived need for smaller properties for the aging population and some first time buyers. The latest copy of the Environment Agency Newsletter had been received. Notification of an exhibition to be held in Bury St. Edmunds Celebrating Suffolk’s Changing Landscape, which will take place on 15th and 16th July, had been received. This project had been begun during the winter of 1998 and updated last year, the Clerk pointed out that Blundeston and Flixton W.I. had won an award for their section in this project and part of their work was on permanent display in the Village Hall. More information had been received regarding Trafalgar Weekend this was handed to Mr. Lewis. Mrs. Hilton took the invitation to a seminar on Play Equipment from Kompan Ltd. A Questionnaire had arrived from the Broads Authority, it was agreed to wait until Mr. Nichols had returned before attempting to complete this. Mr. Offord pointed out that even Parishioners who had lived in Blundeston for many years were unaware that Blundeston was part of the Broads and in fact has 21 acres of tidal water in the Parish. South Norfolk County Council had forwarded a copy of their Local Development Framework statement of Community Involvement Draft. Mr. Blowers then invited Malcolm Cherry to address those present, he said that he is looking forward to serving the local community and will attend as many of the Parish Council meetings as possible. Alison Barron said she greatly admired the beauty and tranquillity of Blundeston and Flixton and stressed how important it was to try and preserve this; she also looked forward to working with Blundeston and Flixton Parish Council. 
Other Parish Business.
Mr. Perks said that he would like to make the two new County Councillors aware of the problems of speeding traffic along the B1074, he has always been conscious of the problem but having worked at a property in Flixton recently, was horrified at the speed at which some of the traffic used the road bearing in mind that there is a 30mph speed limit through the hamlet. Alison Barron said she was fully aware of the problem as she used the road at least twice a day and she would take the Parish Councils concerns on board and report to the C. Council. Mr. Wood had mentioned to the clerk that he and his wife had that day seen an enormous articulated lorry using the road, the lorry was the largest that they had ever seen, and it was only just able to negotiate the corner outside their property. It had been discovered recently that the satellite navigation system used by lorry drivers tells them to use the B1074 as a route to Norwich from Oulton Broad. Mr. Alderton asked the Clerk to contact Adrian Clarke once again regarding the rubbish dumped along the side of the footpath from The Street to Market Lane, and to ask for the nettles to be trimmed back as they are as bad as ever once again. He also said that he would contact Mr. Clarke himself by telephone in the meantime. The Clerk had met with the representative from the Refuse Department and agreed the position of the two trial Dogs Mess Bins. The Clerk had also contacted the owner of the property alongside the footpath from The Street to Market Lane and asked for the hedge to be trimmed, comment was made that although this appears to have been done, the hedge has not been cut back nearly enough and is still causing a problem. The Vice Chairman gave a brief report on the latest Northern Parishes Liaison meeting, during which a presentation of holiday vouchers had been made to Pc Hill. It had been established that a satellite refuse site would be set up on the North Side of Waveney once the Wilde Street Site was closed. A resident of Lakeside Rise had asked Parishioners to be vigilant as there has recently been a spate of ‘drug dropping’ where someone throws drugs over the perimeter fence at HMP and due to someone being suspicious of two people behaving oddly an arrest had recently been made. 
15 minutes for Parishioner input.
Mr. Ffitch reiterated the statement that the footpath from Market Lane is virtually impassable, and the pile of hedge trimmings dumped there by the workforce who cut the hedges, is now being added to by local residents, making the place look very untidy. He had also had complaints from Parishioners about the amount of Horse Manure on the Village Roads, no-one knew what could be done about this problem. Mr. Ffitch then reported that after over 20 years of voluntarily cutting the grass in St. Mary’s Church yard Brian Durrant had recently decided that he would no longer be able to carry out the work. Everyone agreed that the churchyard had looked impeccable during this time and that Brian and his wife Margaret had made a wonderful job of keeping the grass around all the memorials neat and tidy. Since Margaret’s death two years ago he had carried on doing the job on his own and it was now just too much for him. Mr. Ffitch asked for volunteers to help cut the grass, which unfortunately has now become very tall, to contact either Barbara Shaw, Iris Mayes or himself to make up a working party on Saturday 4th June, to get everything tidied ready for the Flower Festival and Teddy Bear Parachuting on 11th and 12th June. Sam Perks agreed to see to keeping the grass around the Pound and the Village sign neat. Mr. Edwards reported that the recently built grups which had been made along the road from Blundeston to Lound are now so full of debris and grass that they are no longer able to allow the surface water to run into the ditch, the clerk was asked to add this matter to the letter to the Highways Department. Mrs. Oldman reported that the public Footpath from The Pippins through to Meadowlands is now overgrown and virtually impassable. There being no further business the meeting closed.