At the Annual Meeting of the Parish Council held on Monday 8th May there were present - Mr. J. Nichols (Chairman), Mr. J. Blowers, Mrs G. Soanes, Mrs. T. Townend, Mr. S. Lewis and Mrs. E. Hume.
Pc Boggis, WDC P. Ashdown, SCC Allyson Barron and 17 Parishioners attended.
There were no apologies
The Minutes of the previous meeting held on 10th April immediately after the Annual Parish Meeting were approved and signed.
Mr. Blowers declared a Personal Interest in anything connected with the Skate Park, and Mr. Lewis declared a Personal Interest in the planning application made by Mrs. J. Cooper.
The Chairman handed over to the Vice Chairman to conduct the election of Chairman. Mrs Soanes proposed that Mr. Nichols should be appointed, this was seconded by Mr. Lewis and carried unanimously. Mr. Blowers thanked Mr. Nichols for all the hard work he has done as Chairman of the Parish Council, he also thanked the Clerk. Mr. Nichols then informed the meeting that Mr. Blowers no longer wished to hold the post of Vice Chairman to the Parish Council or as Chairman of the Village Hall Management Committee, and thanked him for his work over the years in those capacities and also for the work he had done in procuring grants for the Village Hall to improve the previous inadequate facilities. Mr. Nichols also went on to say that he thought that the Parish Council should be considering a younger member of the Council to take over as Chairman within the next few years.  Mr. Perks and Mr Wood had both been unable to lodge their nomination papers at the Town Hall within the time scale allowed and had said at the last meeting that they would like to remain as Parish Councillors, the Clerk had contacted the Town Hall and found that it was within legal guidelines for them to co-opted on to the P. Council with immediate effect and this was implemented. The Election for Vice Chairman was next on the agenda, Mr. Blowers proposed and Mrs Hume seconded that Mr Perks should be appointed, this was carried unanimously. Mr. Perks and Mrs. Townend. were elected as the two Village Hall representatives of the Parish Council and Mrs. Soanes was elected to Chair that Committee. There were still 3 vacancies on the Parish Council and the Chairman asked if the Clerk had received any official proposals from nominees to be co-opted onto the Council, as there had been none the chairman asked the members of the Parish Council if they had any proposals to consider. Mr. Blowers informed those present that he had 2 people to propose, Mr. R. Leech and Mrs. S. Jermy. Mr. Perks proposed Mr. S. Rees and Mr. Nichols proposed Mrs. R. Herrivan. As there were only 3 vacancies a vote amongst the Parish Councillors was held and Mr. C. Ffitch was appointed as teller, and Mr. Nichols invited the candidates who were at the meeting, i.e. Mr Leech, Mr. Rees and Mrs Herrivan to introduce themselves. Whilst the votes were being counted Pc Boggis gave the Police report, there had been 13 crimes reported during April, 1 was subsequently deemed to be a ’no crime’ and of the 12 remaining crimes 3 have been detected, 6 of the crimes occurred during the Easter weekend, and the majority of the crimes had been committed in Lound Road area. Mr. Perks asked if the Police had had any success in discovering the identity of the motorcyclist who is proving to be a nuisance and danger to other road users by travelling at very high speed along the B1074, Pc Boggis said that no progress had been made on that at the moment. The Chairman then introduced Mr. Paul Ashdown the newly elected Councillor for WDC, and congratulated him on his success. Mr Ashdown said that obviously he had no report to give as he had only been elected 3 days previously, and he said that is an honour to be able to represent Blundeston and Flixton Parish Council at the District Council, he also said that he had every respect for all the hard and conscientious work that his predecessor Brian Hunter had done, and even though they were on opposite sides of the political spectrum he had nothing but praise for the contribution Mr Hunter had made to local affairs.  The Chairman then asked Allyson Barron to give her SCC report next, she said that the speeding issue is being addressed at County level and B & F Parish Council’s concerns had been noted, although the general issue of high speed is County-wide. Ms Barron also reminded those present about the reorganisation of schools which is being discussed at present and she said that she is on the Policy Development Panel of this review. Mr Ffitch handed Mr. Nichols the results of the election to co-opt 3 new Parish Councillors and the Chairman announced that the successful candidates had been Mr. Rod Leech, Mr Stephen Rees and Mrs Ruth Herrivan. Mr Lewis gave a report on the progress with the proposed Skate Park. 2 more contractors had given estimates one of these is to bring a mobile skate jump with a certain type of surfacing for the subcommittee and children to try as no other Park in the area had this surfacing. A representative of one of the organisations from which a grant is being sought had visited the proposed site and had reported back favourably, Ms Dawson reported in her letter to the Council that she had also had favourable reports back from other funding organisations. The subcommittee requested permission of the Parish Council to use Section 106 contributions towards the cost of the Skate Park, this was granted. The young people involved in the skate park development had requested a page on the Village Website and Mr. Nichols said that he would put on any information they forwarded to him. The Clerk had received the latest report on the repairs necessary at the Play Area, in this it was stated that the toddler swings needed replacing in the next 12 months, Mr. Wood agreed to inspect the rest of the equipment and carry out the minor adjustments required. Mr. Lewis reported that he had made enquiries about the cost of a new wooden floor for the Village Hall and would report back as soon as the relevant information was available.
Planning.
Mr. & Mrs. King 54, The Street Blundeston. Erection of a detached Car Port. A letter from the applicant giving the reasons why he needed this structure, and a letter from a neighbour giving his objections were read out. This application was turned down by a majority vote of 7 with 1 abstention, as it was felt that road safety would be compromised, the Street Scene would be spoiled as the building was well in front of any other in The Street, there is already a garage which could possibly be extended and if allowed the siting of this particular car port could set a precedence for other residents in the Street.
Mr & Mrs Kovac, 3, Micawber Mews, Erection of rear Conservatory.
Mrs. J. Cooper, c/o Oak Farm, - Longcroft, Church Road, Single storey side extension.
These two applications were approved.
Accounts. The following accounts were proposed by Mr. Blowers and seconded by Mr Perks and approved for payment, 
	WDC for quarterly inspection of Play equipment			35. 25
	Suffolk ACRE membership renewal					20. 00
The Clerk reported that the date of the Annual Audit would be 14th July 2006
Correspondence.
W.D.C. had sent details of  the Local Development Framework Site Specific Allocations, the clerk was asked to put this item on the agenda for the next meeting, when each Councillor would be provided with an up to date map of the Village Envelope. A letter had also been received from WDC giving details of the amount of £2427. 00 which was the Section 106 contributions held at present for the Parish Council, these are to be put into the overall funding for the proposed skate park. A copy of the Sunrise Coast Trade Network newsletter arrived. Information had been received regarding the CPRE East of England one day Workshop on LDF Planning processes, it was felt that as the workshop was to be held in Huntingdonshire and two Councillors had been on a local session B & F had sufficient information on the subject at present. The following information had been received and was noted - Norfolk CC Draft Statement of Community Involvement  /  The Office of Deputy Prime Minister, Local Byelaws in England  /  SCC Local transport plan 2006 - 2011  /    SCC Minerals Specific Site Allocations and Issues /  Suffolk ACRE Probert Community Initiative Awards 2006   /  Suffolk View - the newsletter of Suffolk Preservation Society  /  SALC Local Councillor newsletter and various other information  /  SCC Suffolk Lorry Route Network.
Other Parish Business. Mr. Lewis had recently witnessed a young girl with a dog which was fouling the grass outside the Play area, and he had asked her to clear this up, but the girl had no plastic bag, he wondered what could be done to uphold the byelaw by which dog owners can be fined for this offence. The clerk was asked to contact WDC for the relevant information. Mr. Perks expressed his concern at the drastic ‘pruning’ of the large horse chestnut tree adjacent to the pond in Market Lane, he was assured that the owner had contacted WDC Tree Officer who had declared that the tree was diseased and permission from the Parish Council had been sought before the work was carried out.  Mr. Wood said that he was pleased that the matter of the large lorries and traffic speeding along the B1074 is being raised at County level, and he said that the road is gradually being enlarged by these heavy lorries eroding the bank away.
The meeting was opened to the Public but no-one had any comments to make.
The Next Parish Council meeting will be held on Monday June 12th,  there being no further business the meeting closed. 											141