A Council Meeting was held on Wednesday 10th July 2019 and commenced at 7.45pm in the village hall. The Chairman, Mr. Arthey welcomed the following Parish Cllrs. to the meeting – R Corcoran, M Hainsworth, B Howe, R Howe and A Sturgeon (latterly). Also present were District Cllr. L. Jamieson (in part) and Mrs V Waples (Clerk). A statement was read out indicating that, in accordance with the changes in legislation, the public and councillors were permitted to film, record, photograph or use social media in order to report on the proceedings of the meeting. A full transcript of the statement is available from the Clerk upon request.
Apologies of Absence
- There were no applicable apologies of absence.
- Noted that County Cllr. James Finch had submitted his apologies and had sent a written report to the Clerk.
Declarations of Interest
- There were no declarations of interest for the agenda under discussion. There were also no declarations of gifts of hospitality received exceeding £25.
- There were no requests for dispensations for the agenda under discussion.
- Council to agree to the request from Mr. James Moore to sign his Declaration of Acceptance of Office prior to the September Meeting – Cllrs. agreed that approval be given and asked the Clerk to ensure the forms were signed prior to the next meeting.
Minutes of Previous Meetings
Minutes of the Annual Parish Council Meeting of 15th May 2019 and extra-ordinary Parish Council Meeting of 11th April 2019 were approved by all as true and accurate records and signed as such by the Chairman.
Parish Matters
To receive updates on items raised at previous meetings
- Kersey Crossroads – moved on since last meeting – the Chair had sent round the email trail regarding the crossroads – prompted by the accidents that had happened. The Council also considered the letter from Kersey Parish Council on the possibility of having joint action to improve the visibility and highways safety on the A1141 crossroads. It was noted that many Lindsey residents now drive through the Kersey Street to access the A1141 road to Hadleigh as opposed to using the crossroads. It was agreed that combined action may see results sooner rather than later – stronger leverage by working together. It was suggested that one solution might be to ensure that, on the roadside edge where the grass grows, the areas was cut down finely, and matting and stone placed on top to prevent growth. Issue is that this will only work for the flat bit and that the bank should or ought to be cut back. The Council agreed that signage would be appropriate in the right place and SLOW written on the Highway would assist with raising awareness. The Parish Council agreed that it would support improved signage as long as the signage does not impair visibility itself. Cllrs. agreed to also ask James Finch along with Robert Lindsay for funding for this project. Council was also in agreement to support Kersey Parish Council by highlighting the issue of speeding and this particular junction by placing an article into the next Lindsey newsletter and on the Lindsey facebook.
- Beacon Brazier – meeting noted that the pole needs to be concreted into the ground or sleeved as opposed to being held in place by stays. Discussion followed and it was agreed that this would be progressed over the coming month. It was further agreed that the sum for this would need to be finalised with monies reallocated from within the overall budget for village expenses. A retainer fence should also be required to avoid any potential impacts from vehicles etc. Quotations for the work would be sourced and forwarded to the Clerk.
Public Forum
- To receive a report from County Councillor James Finch – Council noted the report as submitted which can be read at Appendix A.
- To receive a report from District Councillor Leigh Jamieson – Council noted the report as submitted which can be read at Appendix A. He further drew the meeting’s attention to:
- Kersey Crossroads
- Local Plan - Consultation starts on 22nd July and lasts for 10 weeks. No longer any allocations marked for Lindsey.
- CIL Bids – next round starts in October.
- Swimming pools at Hadleigh and Sudbury are offering free swimming places for under 16s during the summer holidays.
- Ipswich Northern Bypass out for consultation from 5th July until 30th September.
- To receive comments from the public present on agenda items – there were no members of the public present.
- To receive comments from the public present on any other issues concerning the village – there were no members of the public present.
Correspondence
To receive and consider correspondence as itemised:
- Suffolk Community Awards – Council to consider nominations for one or some of the 15 awards – council declined to nominate.
- SALC - Babergh area forum notes – to note that this has been previously circulated to all.
- BDC/MSDC - Joint Local Plan – to note that the draft local plan consultation will now start on 22nd July and last for 10 weeks. The Parish Council will have a meeting within this timescale and will respond accordingly.
Clerk’s Report
- To consider schedule of receipts received since the last meeting – Paper A – there were no receipts received since the last meeting.
- To consider and approve the verified items awaiting authorization as per the schedule submitted – Paper A - Council was in agreement that those items identified should be paid, aif. A full list can be found at Appendix C the end of these minutes.
- To consider and receive the bank reconciliation to date – Paper B - the bank balance showed funds to the value of £1,249.31 taking into account the approved cheques as identified in agenda item 7ii above.
- To consider the 1st Quarter Budget Monitoring Report – Paper C – the council noted that the year currently stood at 3% over the budget.
- To note that a security certificate has been added to the council’s website – it was noted that this had been added to the website and would be free of charge until renewal.
Planning Applications
(note planning applications not circulated prior to meeting).
- To consider the following planning applications:
- DC/19/02879 Proposal: Householder Planning Application - Erection of wooden frame garage (following demolition of existing outbuilding) @ 5 Canada Cottages, Lavenham Road, Lindsey. Retrospective planning application as this has already been built. It is close to the roadside and a significant structure. Note the mobile home in the garden is now hidden by the new garage. The PC has concerns at the cumulative impact of proliferation of buildings and their use in this area. The Clerk to respond in this manner, aif.
- To note the following planning applications determined by BDC:
- DC/19/01412 Planning Permission - Full Planning Application - Conversion of barn to 1no. dwelling and the erection of a two bay cartlodge (re-submission of DC/19/00229) @ Thatched Barn, Rose Farm, Rose Green, Lindsey.
- DC/19/01413 Listed Building Consent - Conversion of barn to 1no. dwelling and the erection of a two bay cartlodge (re-submission of DC/19/00230) Thatched Barn, Rose Farm, Rose Green, Lindsey.
- BDC/MSDC - Joint Local Plan – to note that the draft local plan is available to view via the following link: https://www.babergh.gov.uk/assets/Strategic-Planning/JLP-Reg18-2019/Council-v1-BMSDCJoint-Local-Plan-Preferred-Options-Reg-18.pdf Page 430 – Lindsey Church – Page 431 – Lindsey Tye – both classified as Hamlets – LPC to the pleased that there are no development sites within the village as the allocations under the SHELAA were not supported. PC supported a BUAB for Lindsey Tye, and the PC is also pleased that there should be one for Lindsey Church using the same methodology. Principal is that there is a presumption of development within settlement boundary. The land that was submitted under the SHELAA, having been assessed under the deliverability tests, was then looked at in terms of preferred development with the results coming forward in the Draft Local Plan.
Parish Councillors’ Reports
To receive reports on village issues from Councillors present –
- It was questioned as to who had put red hogging down on the verges leading to Folly Farm? Agreed that this allowed people to drive over the bank, but in general the Parish Council had no objections to this.
- Highway edges – a number had been trimmed by persons unknown for which the Parish Council was very grateful.
- Highways Self Help Scheme – the Clerk agreed to send over the details of the scheme being sponsored by SCC Highways.
- Grit Heaps – all grit must now be stored in grit bins if on the roadside.
There being no other business the Chairman declared the meeting closed at 9.03pm.
DATE OF NEXT MEETINGS Parish Council Meeting Wednesday 11th September 2019 commencing at 7.30pm in the Village Hall, Church Road, Lindsey.
To resolve that under the Public Bodies (Admission to Meetings) Act 1960, the public be excluded from the meeting due to the confidential nature of the business to be discussed: there were none to be discussed.
Appendix A – County Councillor James Finch Report
New electric vehicle charging points to be installed in Suffolk - Currently under construction, Suffolk Business Park in Bury St Edmunds has announced that it will explore ways of working with Plug In Suffolk, the UK’s first fully open public electric vehicle (EV) fast charging network. Installing EV charging points at the site will be an incentive for potential tenants, customers and visitors. Plug In Suffolk, launched earlier this year, is a project run in partnership with Suffolk County Council, Stowmarket-based EO Charging, and renewable energy provider, Bulb. It aims to install up to 400 EV charging points across the county at 100 business premises, car parks, hotels and anywhere that EVs could park for a short amount of time. This will make Suffolk a national leader in EV infrastructure. The fast charging points supplied by Plug In Suffolk do not require any registration, membership or apps - drivers simply park, plug-in and charge using contactless payment.
Suffolk County Council seeks solutions to bus funding challenge - On 19 June, Suffolk County Council met with representatives from Suffolk’s bus operators to see whether they can run a number of bus services without public subsidy. This follows a reduction in the amount of public money available. The meeting, involving 11 of Suffolk’s biggest bus operating companies, follows decisions taken in February 2019 on how to save £13 million from Suffolk County Council’s budget, including £340,000 from the authority’s passenger transport budget. A new, fair and thorough set of criteria was adopted in May 2019, including passenger numbers, subsidy per single ticket, integration with other services, the number of entitled students using a service, and the percentage of journeys made by concessionary pass holders. Of the 211 bus routes currently operating throughout Suffolk, 61 are subsidised by public money. 23 of these will have their public funding removed. This does not mean that these services will necessarily end, just that public funding is no longer affordable. A full list of the affected routes has been published on Suffolk County Council’s website www.suffolkonboard.com and includes services where the council is currently paying a subsidy of £12.64 per single ticket which equates to over £25.00 per round trip.
Applications open soon for museums trainee programme - on 17 June, applications opened to become a trainee at one of five partner museums across Essex and Suffolk. The High Street Museum and Christchurch Mansion, Ipswich, along with partners at Colchester Museums, the Long Shop in Leiston, Palace House in Newmarket, and the Museum of East Anglian Life in Stowmarket are seeking applicants for one-year posts – thanks to a National Lottery Heritage Fund grant. Transforming People to Transform Museums welcomes applications from local people, aged 18+, with a GCSE grade C in English (or equivalent) and no paid museum experience to join their teams in discovering, interpreting and sharing museum stories and collections. Nine, one-year placements are available from October across a number of sites. Successful trainees will receive a bursary of £14,400 per year (paid monthly), visit all other partner museums through the extensive training and partner day events, and will be expected to complete a Level 3 Diploma in Cultural Heritage.
Suffolk’s Health and Wellbeing Board has committed to tackling poor mental health in Suffolk - On 14 June 2019, Suffolk’s Health and Wellbeing Board demonstrated their commitment to tackling poor mental health by signing up to the Prevention Concordat for Better Mental Health. Working closely with Public Health England, Suffolk’s Health and Wellbeing Board is making significant steps towards promoting good mental health and preventing mental health problems. The Prevention Concordat marks the first-time agencies across the community and care sectors have come together to make prevention a priority for mental health. So far, 92 organisations representing all sectors have signed up and committed to action. The commitment from Suffolk’s Health and Wellbeing Board includes work to improve people’s mental health, including preventing suicide, social prescribing initiatives and a pilot for a new online resource supporting young people aged 16-24.
Chairman of Suffolk County Council hits the county “walking” for Suffolk Mind - I am proud to have been the Chairman of your County Council for one month. Having launched the programme at the Suffolk County Show at the end of May, I have attended many events during June representing your county as its Civic Leader. These are some of the highlights of the year coming up:
- Sponsored walk along the Stour Valley Path from Newmarket to Cattawade
- A Thanksgiving Civic service in the Cathedral at Bury St Edmunds on Sunday 26th January to highlight the needs of all in our rural county.
- The formation of a Suffolk Youth Choir with an inaugural concert in Snape on 7th April
Appendix B – District Councillor Leigh Jamieson Report
Kersey Crossroads - A couple of weeks ago I received an email from a Hadleigh resident who had been involved in an accident exiting this junction. On the morning that he emailed me his wife had witnessed another accident here. I raised this matter with Robert Lindsey who managed to get Highways to cut the tall grass to improve visibility. This is obviously not a solution and only makes the area safe until the grass grows again. Robert has liaised with Highways regarding changing the speed limit in this area, but Highways state that the junction fails to meet 4 of the 8 criteria that are required. They have suggested updating the road signs and perhaps painting SLOW on the road, but this will come at a cost and Robert has requested a quote from Highways for the work. However, Robert is not willing to cover the full cost of this work, but may be happy to contribute. He has suggested that perhaps Lindsey and Kersey chip in a third each as well, if this is the way the Parish Council wish to go.
Joint Local Plan - The draft Joint Local Plan document was approved for consultation last week by the council and is available to view on the Babergh Mid Suffolk webpage below https://www.babergh.gov.uk/planning/planning-policy/new-joint-local-plan/ The consultation period starts later in July and should be open by the 22nd. This period will run for 10 weeks, and I encourage members of the Parish Council and village to take the time to view this document and send in any comments that they feel are pertinent. These will be taking into consideration before the next stage of the process. You’ll see that both Lindsey and Lindsey Tye have been classed as a Hamlets.
The Local Plan is laid out in three parts – Strategic Policies, which set out the policies that address the councils’ priorities and focuses on things like Housing Needs, Affordable Housing, Climate Change, etc. Then you have the Non-Strategic Delivery Policies or Local Policies. The first section focuses on detailed policies for management and delivery of types of development. The second section of Part 2 is the Non-Strategic Place and Allocation Policies, which details policies for specific places and neighbourhoods. This includes new housing and land allocations, provision of infrastructure and community facilities. The third section includes the new maps for each town/village, and you will see that Lindsey and Lindsey Tye do not have any allocations specified at this stage.
Local Planning Applications DC/19/01413 & DC/19/01412 – Rose Farm – listed Building consent & Planning permission - Conversion of barn to 1no. dwelling and the erection of a two bay cartlodge – applications granted
CIL 123 - The next bidding round for CIL 123 funding will open on the 1st October. The last round ended on the 31st May and there were only four bids submitted. Application forms and details of how and what to apply for are available on the Council website. The process involves a bit of work, but successful bids have been made by Lindsey and Preston St Mary among others. It may be worth considering any infrastructure projects that could be undertaken in the village sooner rather than later so that the appropriate evidence can be obtained.
Appendix C – Financial Report
Items received since the last meeting:
| Income Description | Nett | VAT | Gross | Ref | Power |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total Income | £0.00 |
Items to be Authorized for Payment
| Expenditure Description | Nett | VAT | Gross | Ref | Power |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10.07.19 Clerk’s Salary & Expenses | 302.31 | 0.00 | 302.31 | 450 | LGA 1972 s111 & s112 |
| HMRC – Paye 1st Qtr 2019-2020 | 64.00 | 0.00 | 64.00 | 451 | LGA 1972 s111 |
| ICO – Data Protection Fee | 40.00 | 0.00 | 40.00 | 452 | LGA 1972 s143 |
| Total | £406.31 |
Financial Report
| Date | £ |
|---|---|
| Opening Balance 15.05.19 | 1655.62 |
| Add Income Received June -July | 0.00 |
| Less Expenditure Incurred June -July | 0.00 |
| Less Expenditure from verified list 10.07.19 | 406.31 |
| Closing Balance 10.07.19 | 1249.31 |
Bank Reconciliation
| Community Account Statement – 29.03.19 | 515.02 |
|---|---|
| Less unlogged cheques * At 10.07.19 | 1321.21 |
| Plus unaccredited income At 10.07.19 | 2055.50 |
| Reconciled Total | 1249.31 |
*
- 444 £185.20
- 445 £333.79
- 446 £80.00
- 447 £135.06
- 448 £80.85
- 449 £100.00
- 450 £302.31
- 451 £64.00
- 452 £40.00