Stonham Aspal Parish Council

Approved Minutes of the Council Meeting held on Tuesday 20 June 2017 at 7.30pm at the Church, The Street, Stonham Aspal

Present: Cllr Malcolm Leith (Chair), Cllr Ian Wright (Vice-Chair), Cllr Peter Emberson, Cllr Josephine Mitson, Cllr Rob Stevenson and Cllr Jean Timms

Attendance: Cllr Suzie Morley (District Councillor), Cllr Matthew Hicks (County Councillor), Simon Ashton (Parish Clerk) and one Member of the Public

1. Apologies and Approval of Absences Apologies were received from Cllr Tydeman and his absence was approved.

2. Declarations of Pecuniary or Non-Pecuniary Interests by Members There were no interests declared by any of the Members.

3. Approval of Minutes of the Previous Meeting on 16 May 2017 Minutes of the meeting of the Parish Council on 16 May 2017 were received and approved as a true record and signed by the Chair.

4. Matters Arising There were no matters arising which had not been included elsewhere on the agenda.

5. Reports by the District Councillor & County Councillor Cllr Morley delivered her district council report at the meeting. Cllr Hicks delivered his county council report at the meeting. Copies of these reports have been made available at the end of these minutes for information.

6. Contributions by Members of the Public There were no issues raised by members of the public.

7. Consideration of Planning Applications & Decision Notices (a) MSDC 1448/17: Application Received (13 June 2017) Fir Tree Lodge, The Street, Stonham Aspal, IP14 6AL Erection of a treehouse. There were no objections to this planning application. However, there was a concern raised over a potential application for a change of use in the future. (b) MSDC 1222/17: Application Received (6 June 2017) Grove Farm, Debenham Road, Stonham Aspal IP14 6BX Conversion of barn to dwelling (revision to approval under 1709/06). There were no objections to this planning application.

(c) MSDC 1224/17: Certificate Granted (19 May 2017) The Lodge, Grove Farm, Debenham Road, Stonham Aspal IP14 6BX Certificate of lawfulness of an existing use and development. The outcome of this decision notice was noted. (d) MSDC 1455/17: Application Granted (1 June 2017) 3 Wingfield Meadows, Stonham Aspal, IP14 6DG Erection of a two-storey side extension. The outcome of this decision notice was noted. (e) MSDC 1203/17: Application Granted (12 June 2017) Goldings, East End Road, Stonham Aspal IP14 6AS Change of use of land and erection of single storey side extension. The outcome of this decision notice was noted. (f) The Parish Clerk agreed to seek an update on the Stonham Barns planning application for consideration at the next meeting.

8. Finance (a) A response and action plan prepared by the Parish Clerk following the receipt of the Internal Audit Report 2016/17 from SALC was presented to Members for their information. (b) The Parish Clerk confirmed that the completed Annual Return 2016/17 and supporting documentation had been submitted to the External Auditor. (c) The Parish Clerk confirmed that the Exercise of Public Rights of Access to Final Accounts 2016/17 had commenced which was to conclude on 14 July 2017. (d) The Parish Clerk confirmed that a claim for a VAT refund for the period from October 2016 to March 2017 amounting to £152.47 had been submitted to HMRC on 13 June 2017. (e) The Parish Clerk presented a draft application for additional Transparency Code funding amounting to £233.95. Approval to proceed was proposed by Cllr Stevenson, seconded by Cllr Emberson and approved by Members. (f) Payments were authorised in favour of the Parish Clerk’s wages (£306.70), office and personal expenses (£48.10) and income tax (£121.40). Payments to Mid District Council (£78.00) for emptying bins, Stonham Aspal Village Hall (£132.00) for the hire of the Village Hall, Roger Stannard (£30.00) for Recreation Ground maintenance and The Information Commissioner (£35.00) for annual registration were also authorised. Approval of these payments was proposed by Cllr Mitson, seconded by Cllr Wright and agreed by Members.

9. Governance The Parish Clerk presented the updated NALC’s Good Councillor’s Guide 2017 for the attention of Members for their information with the introduction of the Good Councillor’s Guide to Finance and Transparency 2017 to be presented at the next meeting.

10. Highways (a) The Parish Clerk confirmed that a response had been received from SCC Highways following the complaint previously made of a lack of a response following a report of flooding on The Street. The Parish Clerk therefore agreed to submit any future reports separately. (b) The Parish Clerk agreed to contact SCC Highways to identify whether there were plans to introduce a 20-mph speed limit in Mill Green and to make arrangements to repair the broken footpath sign outside Old Rectory Cottage on Debenham Road.

11. Recreation Ground (a) The Parish Clerk presented two draft A4 signs for display at the Recreation Ground. Presentation of the details included in the original quotation for £42.00 had been enabled following a visit to see the supplier. It was agreed to increase their size to A3 with the inclusion of smaller prohibition signs at the foot of the first sign. Advice would also need to be sought from the Recreation Ground Committee Lead on a change in wording relating to the maximum age of users. Approval to commit to an appropriate increase in cost was proposed by Cllr Emberson, seconded by Cllr Stephenson and agreed by Members. Following discussion, the Parish Clerk also agreed to seek advice from SALC on the Council’s position when dealing with potential situations in the future involving visitor behaviour of an unwelcome nature. (b) The Parish Clerk confirmed that the Recreation Ground’s litter bin was being emptied by District Council on a weekly basis.

12. Updates to the Register of Interests A completed Register of Interests form had been received from Cllr Tydeman. The Parish Clerk agreed to submit the information to Mid Suffolk District Council for inclusion on its web site.

13. Neighbourhood Plan Cllr Emberson presented his findings following an initial investigation into the basics of the development of a Neighbourhood Plan. Members agreed to discuss this further at the next meeting before summarising key points and conclusions for parishioners in the September 2017 edition of the Stonham Aspal magazine. It was agreed to invite any interested parishioners to the meeting in October 2017 at which time any final decisions could be made.

14. Consideration of the Review of Electoral Wards of Mid Suffolk District Council Members noted that the Local Government Boundary Commission had commenced a public consultation inviting proposals for new warding arrangements before publishing draft recommendations in October 2017 and making final recommendations in February 2018 before a reduction from 40 to 34 district councillors is introduced at the elections in 2019.

15. Correspondence Received There were no items of correspondence received for discussion that had not been covered elsewhere on the agenda.

16. Matters for Future Consideration There were no other matters raised for consideration at the next meeting. The meeting finished at 9.10pm.

17. Dates of the Next Meetings (a) 18 July 2017 (The Church) (b) 19 September 2017 (Village Hall) (c) 17 October 2017

Simon Ashton, Parish Clerk [email protected] 18 July 2017

Mid Suffolk District Council

Report for The Stonhams Ward – June 2017

Have your say on new council ward boundaries

The independent Local Government Boundary Commission for is asking local people for their help to draw up a new pattern of council wards for Mid Suffolk District Council and Council.

The consultation is the first stage of an electoral review which will re-draw ward boundaries across both districts.

The Commission has also announced that it is minded to recommend that each council should have fewer councillors in future. For Mid Suffolk, that means 34 councillors should be elected to the council in future: a reduction of six. And for Babergh, 31 councillors should be elected to represent the area in future: a reduction of twelve from the current arrangements.

The Commission now needs information from local people and groups to help it to produce a new pattern of wards to accommodate councillors across both districts.

In drawing up new boundaries, the Commission aims to deliver electoral equality for voters in district council elections so that each councillor represents roughly the same number of voters. The review also aims to ensure that the new council wards reflect, as far as possible, the interests and identities of communities across the districts.

Professor Colin Mellors, Chair of the Commission, said: “We are asking local people and organisations to help us draw up new wards for Mid Suffolk and Babergh District Councils. As we develop the recommendations for each council, we will take into account local community identities as well as ensuring electoral equality for voters.

“If you have a view about which communities or neighbourhoods should be part of the same council ward, then we want to hear from you. And if you think a road, river or railway makes for a strong boundary between communities in your part of your district, then this consultation is for you. Alternatively, if you’re simply interested in the way your council is run, just log on to our website to explore our interactive maps and have your say.

“Your views will make a difference.

“We will carefully consider all evidence that is provided during this phase of the review whoever it is from and whether it applies to the whole of your district or just a small part of it.

“Residents will then have a further chance to have their say after we publish our draft recommendations for both councils in October 2017.”

Local people have until 14 August 2017 to submit their views. Further information on the review and interactive maps of the existing wards can be found on the Local Government Boundary Commissions website.

OVO Energy Tour of Britain Returns to Suffolk!

The OVO Energy Tour of Britain is coming back to Suffolk this September, travelling through Mid Suffolk on 8 September: find the route, and all the details on the Tour of Britain website.

New Computer System For Planning

From 5pm 11th May the start of the new planning software installation will begin. We must migrate our existing data across to the new system and we will need to ‘freeze’ our existing software. This work will interrupt normal business activity, such as consultations and publicity.

This will only take three weeks along with testing and for the new system to be set up for launch on the 1stJune.

You can use the online planning system during this time, but at different times during this process we must suspend some services and this will create some disruption. Extensions to consultation periods are being made to cover any difficulties and we have made other arrangements.

History searches and copy document services will be suspended for this time. Duty pre application service will need to be reduced as our access to records will be limited. Our free call back service is also affected and call backs are suspended from 5th May until the 19th May to ensure officers can work on applications and reduce the amount of disruption.

We hope this temporary disruption will not cause too many problems and we shall be doing our very best to meet your requirements during this time. If you have any problems at all, please contact us on Tel 0300 1234000. For response enquiries and responses to applications if online services are not available please email [email protected].

We look forward to a new system that will improve the service in the future and hope you will all start to see these online very soon.

District Councillor Suzie Morley, The Stonhams Ward – 01449 711306 / 07976 92722

June 2017 report for the Thredling Division from Cllr Matthew Hicks

Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service join call to be aware when near water Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service has joined a call by UK fire chiefs to raise awareness of the dangers of everyday activities near water after statistics show nearly 50% of people who accidently drown in the UK never intend to enter the water. NFCC Water Safety Lead, Dawn Whittaker, said: “Most people would be shocked to hear that those people drowning just happen to be near water such as runners, walkers and fisherman. Fire and rescue services are giving advice to people on what they should look out for and how to change their behaviour to minimise their risk of becoming one of these statistics. Messages are posted on social media using the hashtag #BeWaterAware and people are encouraged to share the posts to spread the message. Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service have supported the campaign and operational crews will integrate a prevention message into their educational work throughout the summer months. Zena Williams’ brother Matt Dunnett died in June 2015 after he jumped into cold water at Alton Water. She has given her support to the campaign in an to attempt to prevent such incidents happening again in the county.

94% of Suffolk children offered first choice of primary school 94 per cent of parents in Suffolk have been offered their first choice of primary school for their children this year. Suffolk’s primary school admission figures show that 94% or 7,161 children have been offered a reception place for September 2017 at their parents' preferred school, with 98.5% offered one of their three preferences. There has been a more than 3% increase in the number of children offered their first preference this year compared with last year. Suffolk County Council received a total of 7,621 applications for a place in the Reception year from parents outlining which school they would prefer their children to be educated at from September 2017. This is 299 less than last year because it is a smaller cohort. 97.7% of pupils moving to a junior school have secured their first preference place with 99.34% being offered one of their three choices. The number of people choosing to submit an application online has increased from 78% to 93%.

Suffolk Record Office nominated for Record-Keeping Service of the Year Suffolk Record Office has been nominated for Record-Keeping Service of the year at this year’s Archives and Records Association (ARA) Excellence Awards. The awards celebrate the achievements of record keeping professionals across the UK and their contribution to society. The Award will recognise achievements by an archive, conservation, or records management service within the last eighteen months. Suffolk Record Office has been nominated for the development of its digital preservation system along with their new website and online payment service. Digitisation of records is now being done in- house on wills, marriage licences, gaol books, photographs, coroners’ records and more. This follows the Record Office’s success in being a finalist in the Digital Preservation Coalition Awards last year. In addition to this, Suffolk Record Office has recently secured Heritage Lottery Funding of £538,100 for a new heritage centre in , in partnership with the University of Suffolk. ‘The Hold’ will not only completely transform its ability to care for and showcase the county’s records and collections, but will also promote them and give access to a broader audience. More information about Suffolk Record Office’s projects, including the new heritage centre ‘The Hold’ and the ‘Mapping Suffolk Stories’ project can be found on their website: https://www.suffolkarchives.co.uk/

OVO Energy Tour of Britain! Stage One of the Tour starts in Edinburgh on Sunday 3 September, with Suffolk is gearing up for the arrival of Stage Six on Friday 8 September. The 183km stage travels entirely within Suffolk for the first time, starting from Newmarket and travelling east to finish in . Sponsored by Adnams, the 183km Suffolk stage promises plenty of challenges for the riders. Suffolk Coastal is to host the Stage Finish on Aldeburgh’s High Street in partnership with Suffolk County Council who have brought the Stage to Suffolk. Building on the success of the Women’s Tours, Suffolk Coastal hopes the arrival of the national event will inspire greater leisure, activity and health opportunities for east Suffolk, which is reflected in the Council’s Business Plan. Now with just over three months to go, communities throughout the county are creating a buzz to show their support for this special event.

Matthew Hicks - County Councillor for the Thredling Division Tel : 01728 628176 Mob : 07824474741 E-mail : [email protected]