At a meeting of the Parish Council held on Monday 11th December 2006 there were present Mr. J. Nichols, (Chairman), Mr. S. Perks, Mr. J. Blowers, Mr. R, Leech, Mr. S. Rees, Mrs. T. Townend, Mr. S. Lewis and Mr. K. Wood. Suffolk County Councillor Malcolm Cherry, Waveney District Councillor Paul Ashdown and 7 Parishioners also attended.
Apologies were received from Pc Boggis, Mrs. E. Hume, Mrs. R. Herrivan, Mrs. G. Soanes and S.C.C. Allyson Barron.
The minutes of the previous meeting held on 20th November were approved and signed.
There were no declarations of interest.
The Police report was not available as Pc Boggis was attending the Oulton Parish Council meeting but the Chairman gave a brief report from the Northern Parishes Liaison meeting held on 30th November, in that Pc Boggis had said that between April and November there had been 83 crimes reported and 214 incidents reported an increase of 17%, but in the main crime was still low. There had been a 40% detection of these crimes, he then went on to report changes in the Police service starting in March 2007. There would be a “Safer Neighbourhood” scheme starting, and from January Rural North area will have a Community Support Officer and Pc Boggis will just be a part of the Safer Neighbourhood team and no longer attend Parish Council meetings, the Community Support Officer will take over the role of Police representative in future.  WDC Paul Ashdown had two things to report on, he said that in the next few days the P. Council would receive a questionnaire and details about making Planning decisions, he also said that he had contacted Tony Rudd to get confirmation from the Land Registry as to exactly which land is owned at Cockshoot by WDC. SCC Malcolm Cherry reported on the new traffic flow system in place as improvements are made to the approaches and exits to the Bascule Bridge, which is causing problems. He reported that there was no progress with the recycling satellite site but that several other people are supporting him in his endeavors to have a site placed North of the River. Mr. Blowers asked Mr. Cherry if any progress had been made about the constant flow of water along the carriageway on the approaches to Oulton from Flixton, Mr. Cherry said that he would contact the Highways department once again. The Chairman gave a report on the recent Northern Parishes Liaison meeting at which the Eastern Haze Festival organisers gave a detailed presentation. The festival will take place at Somerleyton Estate at the end of July or the beginning of August and it is hoped that there will be more input from the surrounding Villages. They recognised that there had been problems with the weekend in 2006 this was partly due to the venue being brought into use late in the planning of the event as the first choice of venue had been cancelled. They are planning 2007 in plenty of time and are determined that it will be a “Green” event, everything will be recycled and windmills will be used to create electricity. The details have still to be finalised and go through planning and licensing official routes. The Chairman had received details of the up to date Hedgerow Survey for the surrounding area and Blundeston and Flixton were asked if they wanted to continue with their part of the scheme, as Mrs. Dawson had been instrumental in the original survey, the Chairman would contact her and ask her if she would be interested in doing more work on the scheme. The proposed wind turbine scheme at Corton had been discussed and the Chairman of Corton Parish Council said that he would appreciate support from other Councils in objecting to the proposal as it stands at the moment. The Clerk distributed the Rights of Way leaflets ordered after last months meeting.
Planning. There were no applications this month. 
Accounts  - the following accounts were proposed for payment by Mr Perks and seconded by Mrs Townend. 
Nicholsons Solicitors	(Drawing up lease for football field)		293. 75
B.M. Shaw (Clerks Salary October/November/December	237. 50
		1./3 telephone rental			    9. 16
		Ink Cartridges				  23. 97		270. 63
J. Nichols	Chairman’s Broadband Allowance				  18. 00
Newsons Boatbuilders Ltd     repairs to see saw				  79. 90
Correspondence 
The Environment Agency had forwarded a copy of their Coastlines Newsletter, the document dealt with the details of high tides and how they could affect the countryside, Mr. Perks took this to read. The New lease for the Football field had arrived and Mr. Nichols and Mr. Perks were approved by the Councillors as Signatories for the document, this was duly signed and witnessed. A letter from St. Mary’s Church invited a member of the Council to read at the Community Carol Concert on 19th December, Mr. Nichols agreed to represent the Parish Council and the Clerk offered to donate 6 mince pies. The Clerk had been contacted by a representative from Lothingland Middle School who asked for the Parish Councils support for a Committee they had set up to try to reduce the number of cars coming to the School, at present anyone wishing to send their child to the school by Education Authority official transport had to pay £300 per year and one of the ideas put forward was to see if the local bus could be re-routed to allow children to travel on the regular bus service. Cycle Paths had also been discussed. The Clerk offered to attend the meeting with this committee which has been organised for Wednesday 17th January if any Parish Councillors had any suggestions to make, one Councillor asked if parents could be persuaded to car share with other parents on a rota system, another councillor thought that asking the regular bus company to reroute was a good idea. The Chairman said that the Committee should be informed that Blundeston and Flixton Parish Council had tried to get the 30mph limit extended along the route that children cycling to the Middle School would take, but this proved impossible to do. Without the speed restriction this road was far too dangerous for children to cycle along. The Clerk asked if the Parish Council would be prepared to purchase 30 upholstered armchairs, which the Sunshine Club had requested, for use in the village hall. They had reported that their many of their members found the black plastic chairs uncomfortable after a while. It was proposed by Mr. Lewis and seconded by Mr. Wood that the Parish Council should purchase the chairs, this proposal was carried unanimously. 
Other Parish Business. Mr. Leech had read through his Rights of Way leaflet and asked what should be done if a farmer has ploughed up a footpath and not reinstated it, he was informed that he should contact the address on the back of the booklet. Mrs. Townend asked if anyone had requested the large street sign which had appeared at the top of Orchard Close, no one on the Parish Council knew anything about the sign. Mr. Lewis reported that whilst the electrician had been fixing the smoke detectors he had found that there were signs of vermin in the loft space above the committee room, the Clerk said that she would inform the Caretaker. Mr. Wood said that there had been an accident between a car and a motorcycle recently on the way into Oulton from Flixton and part of the fairing from the motorcycle was still on the side of the road, Mr. Ashdown said that he would contact the Fly-tipping Department of WDC and ask them to remove it. Mr. Wood also reported that lorries are damaging the grass verges along the B1074 and actually widening the carriageway.
15 minutes for Parishioner input. Mr. Fftich reported that the dip in Pound Lane really does need filling in, Mr. Cherry agreed to look into the matter and the Clerk was asked to write to the Highways Department too. Mr. Ffitch also informed the meeting that he would be ringing the Church Bell from 8a.m. to 9a.m. on Christmas Morning in aid of Church Funds and was seeking sponsors.