At a meeting of the Parish Council held on Monday 23rd August 2004 there were present; Mr. J. Nichols, Chairman, Mr. G. Alderton, Mr. P. Offord, Mr. J. Blowers, Mrs. G. Soanes, Mrs. E. Hilton, Mr. S. Perks, Mr. S. Lewis and Mr. K. Wood.
Apologies were received from Mrs. E. Hume, Mrs. T. Townend, Pc’s Hill and Boggis and Councillor Brian Hunter.
There were no declarations of Interest.
The minutes of the previous meeting held on 26th July were approved and signed.
A report from County Councillor Brian Hunter was read which informed the Councillors that the Lothingland ward would now be allied with Lowestoft - St. Margaret’s ward. Councillor Hunter has objected to this proposal. The Police report had been delivered to the Clerk and it was noted that there had been 3 crimes during the past month, a shed was broken into and its contents stolen and another involved a horse in a paddock in Flixton being injured by an unknown person. The chairman reported that a resident in Barkis Meadow had had a hosepipe and reel stolen, but had not informed the Police, Mr. Nichols said that every such incident should be reported to the Police so that a better idea of crime levels and patterns could be built up. Mr. Wood reported that he had spoken to a representative of the Highways department who had said that the office was aware of the problem of motorists not obeying the 30mph speed limit along the B1074 from Oulton Village and through Flixton. He said that the repeater signs were definitely all at the legal distant apart limit and they will consider the removal of the large 30mph sign on the boundary of Flixton and Oulton, as this is not necessary along with all the repeater signs. The Parish Council are therefore hoping that the Police will enforce the speed limit once any remedial work has been carried out. Notification had been received that that the next Northern Parishes Liaison meeting would be held on 23rd September at 7.30 in Oulton Community Centre. It is hoped that Mr. Jessup from W.D.C. will be attending to clarify the situation with the hand over of Play equipment inspections and repairs due to occur in the near future. Councillors Hunter and Devereaux will attend to give an update on the Planning Procedures. Mr. Blowers gave a brief report on the latest Parish Team meeting, and said that he felt that there was great value in this liaison between the Parishioners, the Police and H.M.P staff, as a result of discussions at these meetings the Police have agreed to keep a closer eye on the Village Hall and its surroundings.
Planning; the following plans were considered,
Miss K. Neary and Mr. M. Tillett, 67 The Street. Conversion of part of existing Garage to hairdressing salon.    This was rejected on the grounds that there would be increased street parking in an already congested area, which has been the subject of a Highways inspection and procedures have put in place to establish double yellow lines on each corner of Orchard Close and it’s junctions with The Street, plus yellow lines in front of the houses opposite to this junction.
Mr. O Kleyn, Greenways, 7 The Street. Single storey rear extension. This was approved.
Mr. D. Osborn, 30  Earth Lane, Lound construction of detached house with integral garage on land adjacent to The Oaks, Lound Road. There was a great deal of discussion over this plan, as the building had already commenced and several anomalies had been discovered. One proposal was that this new application was an attempt to redress a mistake and it was considered to be a matter for Building Control to sort out, another proposal was to accept this plan on face value, as Building Control would have been made aware of the situation already. A vote was taken and there were 7 votes in favour of approval, 1 against and 1 abstention, the application was therefore approved.
Mr. & Mrs. Holmes, Pickwick House, 2, Dickens Court Single storey side extension. This was approved.
Mr. D. Beer, 47, Lakeside Rise. Two Storey side extension.	This was approved.
Correspondence.
A letter from the Chief Executive’s Unit of the Suffolk Drug Action Team had been received and this included a guide to Suffolk’s Drug Services and listed Self-help groups and other affiliated offices in the area. Various items of interest had been received from SALC including Common Land rights ruling advice from NALC. There was also a note giving details of the Pay scale for Part time Clerks, which prompted the Chairman to remind the Clerk that her salary had not been reviewed for some years, she was asked to consult this document and put an item on the next agenda to allow the salary to be reviewed. A letter had arrived from the Boundary Committee for England, this was to inform the Council that they are recommending that SCC should have 75 Councillors representing 63 divisions, but that there should be changes to division boundaries in order to improve electoral equality. This is the matter that Councillor Hunter is objecting to as mentioned in his report earlier in the meeting. An invitation had been received from Carlton Colville Parish Council to attend a meeting, The Chairman agreed to endeavour to attend. Defra’s Rural Strategy 2004 had been received from Bob Blizzard, Mr. Wood took this information to read and he will report back to the next meeting. The Clerk had received information from Transco regarding the damaged gas meter door, it appears that the Village Hall Management are responsible for replacing the door, Mr. Lewis agreed to deal with this matter and get the door replaced. A large envelope containing W.D.C. Comprehensive Performance Assessment, Self-assessment documents and Ambitions for Waveney had been received, Mr. Blowers took these to read and report back to the next meeting.
Other Parish Business
Mr. Alderton had made enquiries to Anglian Water about the results of the recent survey they carried out in Market Lane, but had received not reply. Mr Offord said he was surprised that there was not much water in the Millennium Green Pond, and suggested that the Highways Department should be approached to fit a gully leading into the pond to take the surface water which flood right across the road outside the Village Hall during stormy weather. He would also like the Clerk to enquire when the next verge cut would be made as only one cut has been carried out so far this year. Lound Road was flooded again during a recent heavy downpour and the Clerk was asked to enquire when the work to alleviate this problem would be carried out, as it has been promised for over two years now. The new gully constructed on Lowestoft Road to drain surface water into Cockshoot pit appears to be upstream of the flooding problem area, the Clerk was asked to seek reassurance that when the resurfacing work is carried out on this road the surface water will drain away into this gully. The Clerk was asked to inform Adrian Clerk about the obtrusive hedge along Church Road, it is now so wide that pedestrians have to walk along the road to get past, previous requests to the owner of the property have fallen on stony ground. Mr. Lewis agreed to repair the fencing around the tennis court, this has had the lower stretcher wire unscrewed to allow non members of the Tennis Club to lift the chain link and gain entry to the court.
There being no further business the meeting closed