436

COWLINGE PARISH COUNCIL

Minutes of a Meeting of the Parish Council held on 14th January 2019 in the Village Hall

Open Forum for items not on the agenda: Nothing raised.

Present: Councillors: J Giblenn (Chairman), L Aston, J Deeks, L Evans, R Jones, S Smith. Also Borough Councillor J Midwood (part) and County Councillor M Evans (part) and Clerk J Barnett.

Item Action

1 Apologies for absence: Councillor P Davis

2 Receive Councillors Declarations of Interest in any agenda item: None declared.

3 Open Forum for items on the agenda: None.

4 Minutes: The Council approved the minutes from the meeting on 19th November and also the payments made at that meeting.

5 St Edmundsbury Borough Council : Councillor Midwood said that tomorrow evening there will be a full Council shadow meeting. The Boundary Commission appears to have made a pigs ear out of in that it is now in with . Fortunately Cowlinge is in the Ward which is unaffected. The Planning Officer has said that the earliest that the Bridgelands application will be heard is now March. There is now no need for the Parish Council to send a representative, if they wished, as a letter/statement could be read out by her on their behalf.

6 Matters Arising: 1. New Vehicular Activated Sign. Councillor Evans said that she and her husband have taken over the handling of the Vehicular Activated Sign. It is now situated on one of the new poles. They are having initial problems with uploading the data. Clerk said the supplied leads should have a USB connector. 2. New grit bin. Clerk reported that he had sent in the form in November requesting a new grit bin at the bottom of New Lane on the verge at Pound House Green. There was no update yet.

7 Highways: 1. To re-examine the possibility of having ‘No Footway’ signs in the village. Councillor Evans said that there ought to be something to inform/warn drivers that there were no footways/pavements in the village. Councillor Smith said she felt that Cowlinge was very much a rural village so drivers naturally tended to speed more. Councillor Aston

Signed Chair Date 436 437

said that if these signs were incorporated into a set of entrance ‘Gates’ or perhaps planters with a village name sign then it could work. Councillor Smith suggested that Clerk it should go on the Annual Village Meeting agenda for discussion and this was agreed. 2. New Neighbourhood Watch sign. Councillor Jones said that he would prefer it on the pole close to the properties on New England Lane. Clerk to order the sign. Clerk 3. Tillbrooks Hill hedges cut-back. Councillor Deeks said that they were having problems at the moment but that he would let the Clerk know in 3-4 days if they could do it otherwise Clerk to organise with Ken Hutchinson if possible before the March 1st Clerk deadline. Councillor Jones asked that Pound House Green hedges be cut back and if the owners Clerk of Grapevine Villas could be asked to cut theirs too. 4. Councillor Giblenn said that some of the Bradley Road potholes have been repaired but not all.

8 Village Hall: 1. Clerk reported that the serious water pipe burst under the Village Hall had been repaired at a cost of £1195. It had entailed digging a new trench alongside the Hall through the car park and bringing the new pipe into the building through the end wall. The pipe was then taken through the storage cupboard to meet up with the existing pipework in the gents toilet. The stopcock has now moved to the storage cupboard. The work has been done to a good standard. 2. Renovate the front door and frame. Clerk reported that he had emailed the contractor for an update but was awaiting a reply.

9 Tillbrooks Hill land transfer: Bendall & Sons has been appointed as the Parish Council’s solicitors for this project. Councillors had been provided with copies of the contract in advance of the meeting and these were approved for signing. Clerk will have to go to their Mildenhall offices to take the signed Clerk papers and his I.D. There are 2 cheques required at this point which can also be taken to Mildenhall: 1. £100 initial charge for Bendalls and Sons 2. £928.80 also to be made out to Bendall and Sons but which they would hold in a client account for Havebury’s solicitor’s costs (inc VAT). These are included in item 14.3 under cheques for payment.

10 Planning applications: None.

11 Correspondence received to date: 1. Email received opposing the possible village ‘gates’. It has already been agreed to postpone this decision until the Annual Village Meeting to gauge opinion. 2. Thanks received regarding the donation to the Royal British Legion for the Wreath 3. St Edmundsbury Borough Council has again granted discretionary Rate relief for the Village Hall so there is nothing to pay. 4. Clerk has reported the demolished railings just past Jonathan’s Farm on the Newmarket Road and the possible vandalism in Mill Lane

12 Set litter-pick date: The date was agreed at Sunday 24th March. Clerk to produce some leaflets on this and also Clerk details of the Annual Village Meeting that Councillors Aston and Evans offered to take round. LA/LE Clerk to put on Facebook. Clerk Signed Chair Date 437 438

A short refreshment break was taken at this point

13 Set grass cutting contracts: 1. Clerk outlined the grasscutters schedule: Footpaths x 2, village Greens x 2 (x 3 from this year including Tillbrooks Hill), Green Man bridge clearance (occasional), War Memorial weedkill (occasional), Boundary signs x 3, Streetnameplates x 5, triangles x 2, Village Hall grass + spray frontage (occasional), village sign, 30mph signs x 3. It was agreed to keep the same schedule for this year unless Clerk any new areas are agreed at a later date. 2. Verges. It was agreed to keep the same schedule as this year i.e. 3 complete cuts of Clerk the village It was agreed to include extra in this budget for the cutting back of Tillbrooks Hill Clerk hedges.

14 Finance: 1. To set the Budget and Precept demand to St Edmundsbury Borough Council. After discussion it was agreed to maintain the Precept at £14,370 which will permit all items in Clerk budget alternative ‘C’ and also set aside further monies for the reserves which are still too low according to audit advice. Clerk immediately filled out the Precept form online supplied by St Edmundsbury Borough Council with the approved Precept of £14,370 and printed it out and it was signed by both the Chairman and Clerk. This will be forwarded to St Edmundsbury Borough Council on 15th January in time for the Borough’s deadline of 24th January. Clerk 2. To decide on annual donations to village organisations and any worthy outside organisations. It was agreed to follow the previous year’s donations which were £500 Clerk Churchyard maintenance, £30 Accident Rescue Service, £20 St Edmundsbury Newstalk. The annual donation to the W.I. is no longer required as the branch has disbanded due to falling numbers. 3. Accounts for payment. The Council approved 16 payments totalling £4,418.30.

15 Suffolk County Council: Councillor Evans said that the County Council were instituting forward planning against Brexit (the UK leaving the European Union on March 29th). This is in particular regard to the port of Felixstowe that may be required to increase its input substantially should there be delays at the South coast ports. They are also trying to get substantial improvements to the A14 at 7 major junctions. There is to be another Police seminar and Jon Gerrish will be present at that one. They have hired 3 new potholing repair machine which is a great improvement. Councillor Evans was asked about the possibilities of a 20mph limit in the village and also a reduction from 60mph to 30mph on Blackening’s Lane/Mill Lane. Councillor Evans said that a reduction to 20mph would be very difficult as the mean current average speed has to be, she thought, around 24mph (which it is not). With regard to the reduction of a lane to 30mph it would depend, amongst other things, upon the density of the housing and the costs could be between £5-10,000 of which the Parish Council would have to make a contribution. Councillor Evans will send the Clerk the precise criteria for each project.

Signed Chair Date 438 439

16 Village Events: None

17 Matters for consideration at the next Meeting: None

18 Next meetings dates: The next meeting dates are: 18th March, 15th April (Annual Village Meeting – strictly not a Parish Council meeting but Councillors are expected to attend if they can), 13th May (first meeting of the new Council after elections), 24th June (approve accounts from 2018/19), 9th September, 18th November (pre-budget planning). Clerk

There being no further business the Chairman thanked the Councillors for their attendance and closed the meeting at 9.03pm

Signed Chair Date 439