At a meeting of the Parish Council held on Monday 15th August 2005 there were present - Mr. J.Nichols (Chairman), Mr. P. Offord, Mr. G. Alderton, Mr. S. Perks, Mr. J. Blowers, Mrs. G. Soanes, Mr. S. Lewis, Mr. S. Perks and Mr. K. Wood. One Parishioner, Pc D. Boggis, Councillors Mrs. A.Barron, Mr. M. Cherry and Mr. B. Hunter also attended.
There were no apologies for absence.
The Minutes of the previous meeting, held on Monday 27th July were approved and signed.
Brian Hunter declared an interest in any Plans to be discussed; there were no other declarations of interest.
The chairman welcomed the County and District Councillors and Pc Boggis, and said how much there presence at Parish Council meetings was appreciated.
Pc Boggis, reported that there had been 13 crimes during the month of July, 1 of these had been detected, 10 of the reported crimes occurred during the night of 26th/27th July, 7 of these were motor vehicle crimes and of these 7, 5 vehicles were unlocked at the time! One garage had been burgled and this had been unlocked too, Pc Boggis stressed the importance of securing all buildings and vehicles especially at night. 3 further offences were committed on the same night in Corton. A parishioner had reported to Mr. Blowers that she had seen 2 men leaving her garage during the night, but she had not reported this to the police as she thought that they would arrive too late to apprehend the persons, Pc Boggis stressed that in such cases, members of the Public should dial 999 immediately. Councillor Brian Hunter gave a brief report on the recent Planning refusal of the proposed building of a new house at the rear of Virginia Cottage. He also said that the Coast Protection Scheme will be opening during the week which will give Corton another 20 years protection, during which time it is hoped more plans will be put forward to give more protection to the coastline. He reported that W.D.C. are carrying on with the Local Strategic Plan in which a large number of Parish Council issues have been addressed. Mr. Offord reported how appreciative he was for the assistance given to him when he called at the Town Hall recently to ask a member of the Highways Department why BT needed District Council permission to place traffic lights in Market Lane to enable their workforce to repair the Telephone lines recently damaged by lightning.
Mr Offord was assured that permission was not needed in such cases. The lightning strike had resulted in some residents in Market Lane being without landline telephones for 6 weeks. Mr Hunter said he would pass Mr. Offord's thanks on to the appropriate persons. County Councillor Cherry said that he and Councillor Barron were very pleased with the attendance at the meeting with the Highways department on 27th July, all the problems discussed will be followed up and not allowed to be shelved. Repeated signs will be replaced along the B1074, Market Lane will be resurfaced in September at the Contractors expense and the grups along the road to Lound will be cleaned out. Everything raised by Blundeston and Flixton Parish Council had been addressed.
Further to the meeting, held in Lound, the Clerk had received a reply to other Highway matters, Nicki Childs will investigate the necessity for a ‘Leading to Micawber Mews’ nameplate at the entrance to Pickwick Drive. The Culvert on B1074 has been inspected and is deemed to be in a satisfactory state. With regard to the dropped kerb entrances to the Village Hall being resurfaced in lieu of W.D.C. paying a rent for using the Parish Council land for housing a site office and portaloo for the duration of the kerbing of Lowestoft Road, Mr. Oldman had no record of the agreement which was made between Mr. Beldon and the Parish Council as Mr. Beldon has now left the Council. The Clerk was asked to look through the minutes for reference to this, and Mr. Hunter said that it could be minuted that he remembered the agreement being made. It was suggested that if the District Council could not provide this work in recompense, a bill for land rental should be presented. Mr. Blowers and Mrs. Soanes attended the Local Forum Meeting on 2nd August. and had discussed the disturbance at the Party in the Park and what could be done to provide adequate policing at functions of this kind. It was suggested that in future a letter should be written to the Chief Inspector giving him advance warning of such events and requesting Police presence. B1undeston Cricket Club received a grant at the Forum Meeting.
Planning. The following plans were considered Mr. and Mrs. D. Cockell, Hawthorns, Church Road, Blundeston - erection of a rear conservatory. Mr. P. Cleveland, 26, Lakeside Rise - Movement of existing fence to property boundary. These two plans were approved.
Mrs. J. Jermy, The Beeches, Lound Road - construction of a bungalow at land at "Southview", Lound Road, Blundeston. Mr. Alderton proposed refusal on the grounds that this land is outside the Village Envelope, the existing house was permitted for agricultural workers housing, permission for this building could set a precedent, and refusal was given to a proposed dwelling on the land adjacent several years ago. Mr. Wood seconded this proposal. A vote was taken with 6 for refusal, 1 against and the Chairman abstained.
A letter had been received informing the Parish Council that the new property adjacent to 46 The Street will be known as 42 The Street.
Correspondence. South Norfolk Council had written in respect of the Housing Act 2004 seeking the assistance of the Parish Council in locating small areas of land that could be used for Gipsy and Traveller accommodation. They had listed the criteria and one was that the site should be within 15 kilometres of the Harleston and Bungay area of the Waveney Valley, Blundeston was clearly outside this limit and it seemed likely that we had been mistaken for Flixton near Bungay yet again.. S.C.C had sent details of the new Community Mediation Service which provides impartial, independent and confidential mediation services to help resolve disagreements between neighbours regarding, noise, anti-social behaviour, dogs, parking, boundaries and verbal abuse. Details of the agenda for the next Northern Parishes Liaison Group had arrived. This will be held on 1st September  at Oulton Community Centre. Suffolk County Council had sent some leaflets giving the facts about the present Fire Brigade Union Industrial Action. The Broads Authority had forwarded a copy of the Local Development Framework Statement of Community Involvement.
Other Parish Business.
Councillor Cherry said that speeding vehicles had been discussed at the Local Forum and he appealed for support for him and his fellow Councillors in their campaign to get speed limits upheld in this area generally. Mr. Wood commented on the speed of motorcycles along the B1064, and he asked Pc Boggis if the trailer parked on Church Road is illegally parked. He stated that it is not attached to a vehicle and at night it seemed to be quite a hazard. Pc Boggis said he would look into the matter. Mr. Lewis reminded those present that the Party in the Park Committee had organised a Ceilidh for 22nd October in the Village Hall. Mr. Blowers informed the meeting that the Prison Staff had recently worked in the Churchyard to cut the grass, and had removed all the mown grass and generally tidied up after the work. Mr. Ffitch had asked the Chairman to pass on his thanks to all those persons involved in the work to clear up the churchyard recently.
15 minutes for Parishioner input. A Parishioner asked if the owner of the hedge on the corner of Pickwick Drive could be asked to cut the hedge as it was blocking the view of drivers looking for Micawber Mews. It was generally felt that hedge owners were allowed to let them grow to at least two metres, and as it was in hand to have new road signs on the corner the problem may be resolved anyway.
There being no further business the meeting closed.