Harkstead Parish Council – DRAFT Meeting Minutes

Details

Date: Monday August 13 2007 @ 7.30pm

Location: HARKSTEAD VILLAGE HALL

Councillors Present: Margaret Harward, James Day, Patty Shone, Brian Excell

Additional Attendee(s): District Cllr. Dave Rose, County Cllr. Dave Wood, 3 parishioners and

clerk.

Minutes

1. Apologies – Cllrs. William Wrinch and Peter Hornsby.

2. Minutes – meeting July 9 read, amended and signed. Minutes –meeting August 5 not read

out, no one had a copy. Cllr. Excell asked that his disapproval of this meeting be minuted.

3. Matters Arising –i) despite further chasing, clerk still not had a response about moss on River View road pavement, nor from Anglian Water about water on The Street. Will chase again. ii) No reply from county ref; overgrown footpath to the shore at Copperas Reach (FP30). Will chase again. A discussion followed about footpath being inaccessible for wheelchairs. Dave Wood said there were very few designated FP’s for wheelchairs and none were on the Peninsula.

4. Minutes –meeting August 5 not read out, unfortunately no one had received their email copy. Cllr. Excell asked that his disapproval of this meeting be minuted.

- ADJOURNMENT –John Pollet and Angel Fleming Brown raised concerns over following footpaths – FP30 (Copperas Reach), FP26 – unsafe steps, no handrail, FP38 – continues across field from Shore Lane – totally overgrown, FP47 crosses field from Rose Farm towards Church Lane – totally overgrown. Clerk will email county.

- Dave Wood reported that Ipswich Unitary Bid has been accepted and it’s now up to the borough council to demonstrate the financial viability of their proposal. If it goes ahead, there would be repercussions locally for other Suffolk wards and councils. Dave also reported that there’s a new government grant scheme giving 13 to 19year olds the opportunity to develop and create media projects and lastly Dave said Suffolk libraries are inspiring young people to read through the holidays, in conjunction with Woodland Trust. On returning books, they initially receive seeds to grow, and a folder of stickers activity sheets etc. The idea being that each book read gets a token, the more tokens given out the more trees the Woodland Trust will plant, up to 20000 in the autumn.

5. Millennium Green – Inspected by Cllr. Hornsby – balance beam appears to have been damaged by the mower. Cllr. Excell and Tony Leeson will sand it down. Basketball hoop is missing and backboard broken – clerk to enquire about cost of replacement. ROSPA are inspecting in September. Clerk to contact them to meet with Brian Excell during inspection.

6. Planning Applications – Aquarius, Ipswich Road, pitched roof over flat roof – site meeting during following week. B/07/1237 – HMS Ganges spine road – PC’s to look at paperwork before final comments. This road will run from top of Bristol Hill to the marina area. Without a new road being put in the 150 new homes cannot be built. So far councillors concerned about removing TPO’s (tree preservation orders) and hedges.

7. Code of Conduct – formally adopted by Parish Council and registers of interest were signed, then to be returned to Babergh.

8. HMS Ganges – Dave Wood had been to recent meeting and said despite other reports Suffolk County hadn’t agreed anything as yet. Brian Excell had been to the exhibition and thought it looked a quite reasonable development proposal.

9. Financial Report –Current Ac. - £213, Bus. Prem Ac. £4347, Savings Ac. £1545. Expenditure this month – Village Hall amended invoice for April, May room hire £26, HMGT donation from sale of gangmower £40, clerk’s expenses from April 1 to June 30 £255.24 and War Memorial refurbishment by Graham Jay £300. Expenses agreed and cheques raised and signed. Audit paperwork had been sent to Lubbock Fine. Clerk to contact Barclays Bank as more signatories are need for cheques.

10. Correspondence – i)Obscured road at Freston, clerk to write to landowner and copy to SCC. ii) Appears to be waste water running to the shore in the area tested by AW last year, Clerk to ask them to check it out again and to liaise with Brian Excell. iii) New library van times to be posted on noticeboard.

ADJOURNMENT – John Pollet said that since the Evening Star had featured Harkstead Shore as a number one spot for picnics, Shore Lane had been blocked recently by parked cars and if needed and emergency vehicle wouldn’t have been able to get through. Clerk to contact Evening Star, tell them there is no parking nearby for the shore, mention the ‘waste water’ possible pollution and also the problems trying to be resolved re: beach parties, litter etc. Clerk to also ask Mayhew Farms to plough field edge again top stop parking.

11. Any other business – Brian Excell concerned meeting not advertised – email failure between clerk and Margaret Harward, each thought the other was responsible. BE – asked about PC’s assets, was mower included and what about health and safety aspect of training people to use and maintain it. Mower is on asset register and no formal training has ever taken place. BE – hedges obscure Village hall sign opposite Church Lane and overgrown onto the green, land owner for both is the Wrinch family, BE to speak to them. Patty Shone said Hedgerow Survey needs to be got underway. Agenda item for next meeting.

12. Date next meeting – Monday September 10 at 7.30pm.

Being no other business meeting ended at 9.15pm.