Previous
Minutes

Bungay Town Council - Council Minutes

These minutes are as up to date as the information we have been given.

Minutes of the January meeting of this Council held at the Riverside Centre Bungay Staithe on Monday 21st January 2008 at 8pm.

Present were Clls Groom (in the chair), Fisher, Bedingfield, Blowers O’Neill, Brook, Cloke, Evans, Jervis, O’Neill, Shepherd,Ward, Warnes and Woods

Also present were Cll Rose, WPC J Thomas of the Suffolk Constabulary, the Press and 1 member of the public.

1. Apologies
Apologies were received from Clls Palin and Thompson.

2. Interests
No interests were declared.

3. Minutes of the last meeting
The minutes of the meeting held on 17th December 2007 were approved and duly signed subject to it being noted on page 1388 that it was Primary Care Trust(PCT) rather than Patient Care Trust.

4. Matters arising
the Clerk confirmed that no reply had been received from the PCT. Cll O’Neill to follow up.

5. Correspondence
The following correspondence was received:-

Black Dog Arts thanking Council for donation and giving details of forthcoming events.
Suffolk County Council giving history of the loke off Hillside Road East.
Information from Cll Rose about work of Fadoo and proposals to extend their youth financial awareness work to Bungay. Cll Rose was considering a grant to Fadoo from the Locality Budget.
Section 106 Working Party report for December.
Copy of Suffolk Preservation Society response to SCC waste issue report.
WDC stating that funding to refurbish the seats in the Council Chamber was not available at present but would be considered for the future.
WDC re planning time targets. To be considered by the Planning Committee.
Order and Regulations Relating to the Conduct of Local Authority Members in England. To be considered by the Finance & General Purposes Committee.
Brains of Bungay Quiz. Agreed that Clls O’Neill, Woods, Palin and Thompson were nominated (the latter 2 subject to availability).

6. To receive planning decisions from WDC
The following plans were considered:-

DC/07/1905/AND, Mr & Mrs Rice, non illuminated advertisement consent and retention of double sided advertisement panel, Pineview Farm, Flixton Rd. Refused: large and obtrusive.
DC/07/1904/FUL, Mr & Mrs Rice, siting of portacabin for retail use, Pineview Farm, Flixton Rd. Refused: contrary to planning policy.
DC/07/1894/FUL, Managing trustees of Emmanuel URC, provision of access ramp & disabled parking facilities to existing church hall, Emmanuel URC Hall, Upper Olland St. Approved.
DC/07/1879/FUL, Executors of Mr W Meen, construction of 3 dwellings with garages, 22 Annis Hill Rd. Refused: access would harm the character of Annis Hill and result in removal of large extent of mature hedge.
DC/07/1689/LBC, Mr & Mrs Mayhew, replacement of dormer window, insertion of 1 new window, blocking up of 2 gable windows, alterations to door and internal alterations, 7 Earsham St. Approved.
DC/07/1947/FUL, Mr M Evans, provision of new drive to property, Waveney Cottage, 7 Outney Rd. Approved
DC/07/1941/FUL, Mr & Mrs L Moller, construction of 2 dormers to rear and alteration of existing dormer to match, Orchard House, Upland Hall Farm Rd. Refused: poor design.
DC/07/1886/1888/FUL, Nangle, listed building consent, erection of cart lodge to replace existing garden store, The Tower Mill, Tower Mill Rd. Approved.
DC/07/1918/AND, The Original Factory Shop Ltd, non illuminated advertisement consent, provision of 1 fascia sign, 1 projecting sign and window decals, 40 St Mary’s Street. Approved.
DC/07/1371/2/COU, Mr J A Barnes, change of use from storage to beauty saloon and greengrocers to tyre fitting service and store, Hillside Garage, Hillside Rd East. Approved.
It was agreed that the WDC Planning Enforcement Officer be asked to deal with the unauthorised advertising sign on the front of Wightmans.

7.To receive a report from the Finance & General Purposes Committee
A meeting of this Committee was held on 7.1.08. Present were Clls Groom, Fisher, Blowers O’Neill, Jervis, O’Neill, Shepherd and Woods. Apologies were received from Cll Brook. The Committee considered the following matters:-

Printing and associated costs relating to the launch of the Bungay Partnership. These were approved.
The Clerk reported on lease proposals received from a solicitor acting for the Canoe Club. A response to these was formulated and had been relayed to the solicitor acting for the Club.
An estimate was received for providing the Council with a web site and related facilities and information was received about the apparently free provision provided by the publicly funded OneSuffolk organisation. It was agreed that these alternatives be considered further.
The following balances were reported:-
Lloyds TSB, £5658.31 and £48.23. Scottish Widows, £23474.29(call a/c) and £86676.93(60 day a/c)
The following payments were approved and cheques duly signed:-
Black Dog Arts, donation, £300(section 137); Optua, donation, £75.00(section 137); C M Stanforth, bus shelter cleaning, £79.70; Mr A Newberry, litter pick and Riverside, £100.87.

8. Environment Committee
A meeting of this Committee was held on 7.1.08. Present were Clls Groom, Fisher, Bedingfield, Cloke, Evans, O’Neill, Shepherd and Ward. Apologies were received from Cll Thompson.

Clls Groom and Fisher were appointed chair and vice chair of this and future meetings of the Committee. Future meetings would be held on the usual committee evenings subject to there being business to consider.

It was recommended and agreed that Saxon white paving slabs be the principal material used on the proposed new paving works on the west side of St Mary’s Street. It was noted that it would be beneficial if the electricity supply in front of the Fleece was under-grounded but this was not part of the scheduled works.
Cll Shepherd had noted that the pavement on the west side was in poor and possibly a dangerous condition. Cll Evans said that he would ask Mark Kerridge of SCC if improvement on this side could be made on safety grounds.
It was agreed that Bungay would participate in the Suffolk Hedgerow Survey.
Cll Ward was in contact with Suffolk Wildlife Trust about this and local volunteers were required.
It was noted that Clls Cloke and Ward were to attend the next meeting of the Carbon Footprint Group.
Cll Ward reported that the Group would be promoting life choices that would enabled people ‘to live with less oil’ thus reducing the carbon footprint.
Cll Brook noted that a reduction in through traffic would partly achieve this.
Agreed that SCC should be prompted to ensure proper reinstatement of the highway by utility companies on completion of work.
It was agreed that members should bring specific problems to the attention of the Council so that SCC could be contacted.

9. Traffic Committee
A meeting of this Committee was held on 3.12.07. Present were Clls, Groom, Fisher, Evans, Jervis, O’Neill, Palin, Shepherd and Woods. Apologies were received from Cll Brook and Thompson. Cll O’Neill and the Clerk declared interests in relation to specific resident parking proposals.

It was agreed to recommend additional resident parking schemes for the following locations:- Rose Hall Gardens, Bardolph Rd, Southend Rd, Laburnam Rd, Flixton Rd, St Johns Rd, Garden Close, Beccles Rd and Flixton Rd. In suggesting these additional locations it was acknowledged that resident support for schemes in these locations would have to be established during the public consultation process. It was noted that sufficient signing would have to be put in place to ensure that the waiting and residents parking restrictions were enforceable.

10. Report on local policing matters 
A report was received from WPC Thomas. She reported that police officer time was not available to record accidents which did not result in personal injury. She suggested that SCC may have information on accidents of this sort. In response to members questions she reported as follows:-
2 fixed penalty notices had recently been issued for breaches of the one way lorry ban. Breaches of the one way traffic ban in Bridge St were very rare.
During the course of the current safe cycling campaign fixed penalty notices had been issued for breaches of the law by cyclists.
She was not aware that local police had, as was reportedly the case in other parts of the country, used water to reduce alcohol consumption among drinkers moving between licensed premises in the town.

11. Riverside Centre Report
The Clerk referred to the meeting of the Finance & General Purposes Committee and consideration of the sub lease proposals and noted that he was continuing to press WDC about the Council’s head lease.

12. Council Representatives 
Cll Brook asked about the damaged bus shelter in Earsham Street. The Clerk said that the incident had been reported to the Council’s insurers. It seemed that repair was unlikely to be practical and he therefore intended to ask the manufacturer to inspect the damage and to either advise on the cost of repair or replacement.
Cll Shepherd reported on the temporary power supply failure at the pumping station at the back of Bridge Street and the discovery of an unauthorised garage at this location. This had been reported to the Broads Authority.
Cll Ward said that dead trees were to be cut down on the land adjacent to the Wharton Street car park and their roots removed when the resurfacing work was carried out.
Cll Cloke reported that the Youth Association were working on improvements to the skate park and were hoping to provide playground facilities for younger children and the disabled. Bungay High School pupils were helping to keep the skate park clean.
Cll Bedingfield reported that the new Beccles CAB office would be opening on Monday. At that point Bungay CAB days would reduce but because of increased activity Bungay would still have more time than before the temporary closure of the Beccles office.
Cll Evans reported that Mr M Daniels of WDC had replaced Mr I Gregory on the Town Council/WDC working group.
Cll Jervis reported that the Tourism Group would meet at the Fisher Theatre on 23/1/08 as previously advertised.
Cll Fisher advised that the Festival Committee would meet at the Council Chamber on 30/1/08.

13. County Councillor’s Report 

14. District Councillors Report
Cll Woods said that he and Cll Groom had attended a meeting of the Bungay Bowls Club committee who were concerned that WDC proposals for the future of Honeypot Meadow may lead to displacement of the Club. They had assured the Club members that no proposals in relation to the Club land had been formulated. Council members spoke in favour of the Club remaining at that their present home.
In response to a question from Cll O’Neill about re-organisation at district council level, Cll Woods said that he did not consider that Bungay should be part of a ‘Yartoft’ option.

15. Cheques for payment
The following payments were approved and cheques signed:- 1st Bungay Sea Scouts, donation for clubhouse repairs, £1000 (section 137); Mr A Newberry, litterpick and Riverside, £102.14; H M Revenue & Customs, VAT payment, £260.90; Scottish Power, electricity account, Riverside, £410.42; Bungay Printers, £225, printing costs partnership.

16. Other business 
Cll Warnes said that the sleeping policemen on the approach to the Riverside Centre needed to be illuminated.
In response to a question from Cll Bedingfield, the Clerk confirmed that the Council were responsible for maintenance of the War Memorial.
In response to a question form Cll Shepherd the Clerk reported on the role of the Broads Authority in the planning process. For land within the Broads Authority area he said they were the planning authority and this had long been the case.
Cll Groom reported that he had persuaded a local development firm to demolish and remove the old guide hut and hoped that another firm would provide security fencing, both this work being carried out at no cost to the Guides.

The meeting closed at 9.45pm.

www.bungay-suffolk.co.uk