Stonham Aspal Draft Minutes of the Annual Parish Meeting held on Tuesday 15 May 2018 at 7.00pm at the Village Hall, Stonham Aspal Attendees: Cllr Ian Wright (Chair), Cllr Peter Emberson, Cllr Josephine Mitson, Cllr Rob Stevenson and Cllr Charles Tydeman (Stonham Aspal Parish Council), Cllr Suzie Morley (Mid Suffolk District Council), Cllr Matthew Hicks (Suffolk County Council), John Ince (Stonham Aspal & Mickfield Parochial Church Council), Simon Ashton (Parish Clerk) and seven Members of the Public 1. Welcome by Stonham Aspal Parish Council’s Representative Cllr Wright welcomed everyone to the meeting and confirmed that there would be opportunities to raise questions with the speakers of the relevant items. 2. Agreement of Minutes of the Previous Annual Parish Meeting on 16 May 2017 Minutes of the previous Annual Parish Meeting on 16 May 2017 were received, approved as a true record and signed by the Chair. 3. Report by Stonham Aspal Parish Council’s Representative Cllr Wright delivered the Parish Council’s Chair’s report at the meeting. A copy of the report has been made available at the end of these minutes for information. 4. Report by Mid Suffolk District Councillor Cllr Morley delivered her report at the meeting and responded to several questions. A copy of the report has been made available at the end of these minutes for information. She confirmed that she had previously escalated the outstanding matter of the outcome of the Stonham Barns hybrid planning application and was awaiting a response. The Parish Clerk agreed to invite the MSDC Chief Executive to provide an update at a future Council meeting and to copy the correspondence to the Cabinet Member for Planning. 5. Report by Suffolk County Councillor Cllr Hicks delivered his report at the meeting and responded to several questions. A copy of the report has been made available at the end of these minutes for information. 6. Report by the Parish Council’s Neighbourhood Plan Representative Cllr Emberson delivered his report at the meeting and explained that the success of the development of a neighbourhood plan would depend on the level of interest expressed by volunteers within the village who could provide suitable expertise to the process. He advised that it was also not uncommon for the process to cost in excess of £10,000. Cllr Morley agreed to invite a MSDC Neighbourhood Plan representative to the Parish Council’s meeting in July 2018 and Cllr Emberson agreed to prepare a submission for the Community Council’s magazine. 7. Report by Suffolk Police’s Stowmarket Safer Neighbourhood Team’s Representative A representative of Suffolk Police’s Stowmarket Safer Neighbourhood Team was unable to attend the meeting to present a report. 8. Report by the Village Hall Committee’s Representative Cllr Tydeman delivered his report at the meeting which included an appreciation of thanks to those providing their time and energy to manage the operation of the facility. The Village Hall had recently been subject to modernisation works and it was hoped that further work would take place on the car park, outside drainage and a bar facility. 9. Report by the Community Council’s Representative A representative of the Community Council was unable to attend the meeting to present a report. 10. Report by the Recreation Ground Committee’s Representative A representative of the Recreation Ground Committee was unable to attend the meeting to present a report. However, confirmation of the availability of £192.34 for the financing of future projects was received from the Recreation Ground Committee’s Representative. 11. Report by the Metcalf Charities’ Representative Cllr Wright delivered the Metcalf Charities’ report at the meeting which included a brief history of the origins of the charity and responses to a few questions. A new Chair and Clerk were also required following the recent departure of those previously in the roles. 12. Report by the Women’s Institute’s Representative Cllr Mitson delivered the Women’s Institute’s report at the meeting. A copy of the report has been made available at the end of these minutes for information. 13. Report by the Parochial Church Council’s Representative Mr Ince delivered the Parochial Church Council’s report at the meeting. A copy of the report has been made available at the end of these minutes for information. 14. Report by the Parish Council’s Suffolk Neighbourhood Watch Representative Cllr Stevenson delivered his report at the meeting and explained that there was currently no registered neighbourhood watch scheme within the village. He confirmed that anyone interested in representing the village could receive support from the Suffolk Neighbourhood Watch Association. Details of the scheme and a copy of the Neighbourhood Watch Co-Ordinator’s role description have been made available at the end of these minutes for information. 15. Public Forum Further discussion took place in connection with the activities at Stonham Barns. The meeting finished at 8.50pm. Simon Ashton, Parish Clerk Stonham Aspal Parish Council [email protected] 15 June 2018 STONHAM ASPAL Parish Council Parish Council Report for the Annual General Meeting 22 May 2018 The key points of note are as follows: 1. Stonham Barns a. Stonham Barns continues to expand the range of facilities available. b. SAPC has little or no influence on any dealings between MSDC and SB and what planning applications are approved. c. The impact of SB continues to inconvenience residents along The Street and other residents in the general vicinity. 2. School Parking a. Parking at and around the school is continues to be limited and not ideal. b. Parents have been making efforts ease the problem for local residents. 3. Play Ground a. The Recreation Ground renovation is now complete and various snagging issues have been sorted. 4. Village Hall a. After the great efforts of the Village Hall Committee we now have a refurbished hall. The improvements are very welcome. b. The next project is to renovate the exterior. If you can please support future fundraising efforts. 5. Recycling a. Thank you to everyone who uses the recycling bins located by the recreation ground. b. However, can we ask that rubbish is not left by the bins. 6. Superfast Broadband a. Broadband services have improved significantly over the last year and most residents can now received “superfast” broadband. 7. Debenham Road/Scotts Hill a. The drainage along Scotts Hill continues to be a problem. This will be an ongoing issue for the coming year, even though there has been some recent patching-up of the road surface. 8. Mid Suffolk Strategic Development Plan proposal a. Whilst investigating the Neighbourhood Development Plan one our Parish Councilors came across a proposal from MSDC. It would appear Stonham Aspal is provisionally designated as a “core village” therefore open to greater development potential, on a par with the likes of Claydon and Debenham when it comes to development. This isn’t widely know about and people may have a view and/or concerns. 9. A special thank you to: a. SCC Councilor Matthew Hicks b. MSDC – Councilor Suzy Morley c. PC Clerk Simon Ashton Malcolm Leith 22 May 2018 Mid Suffolk District Council Report for The Stonhams Ward – Annual Report Merger As you no doubt have heard the merger with Babergh has been put on hold. One of the major reasons was because the County Council have decided to consider unitary government. The County Council have engaged Respublica consultants to investigate the way unitary government might work in Suffolk. The review is also to consider how an enhanced two-tier system might work. Move to Endeavour House This was successfully completed in October/November and staff are well settled in now with the options of working from home, at the office or at any of the access points in Stowmarket and Subury. Most of the staff appear to be happy with these arrangements. We have also moved to having one phone number and one email as contact which, after a few teething problems, appear to be working very well. If anyone is having problems with this new system, then please let me know. Needham Market HQ Site There were two evenings held in Needham for anyone to go along and see what we have planned for the site. Two options have been considered for the site, consisting of a 100% residential development, or a mixed residential and retail development, each striking a different balance, with associated masterplans drawn up. The proposals the Council are considering would see much of the existing offices – the non-listed buildings in particular – demolished and a new development built in their place and on the former office car park. The Needham Market School Site This consultation was held in conjunction with the HQ site consultation and most people who commented were for the change of use for housing although there were worries regarding the access. Locality Budget This year all District Councillors were given £6,500 to spend as their Locality budget. £250 from all Councillor’s (Total of £10,000) went towards the purchase of a new vehicle for the Rural Coffee Caravan (http://ruralcoffeecaravan.org.uk/) which was stolen. The rest of my locality Budget went to: • Creeting St. Mary o Antique Parish Map Digitisation - £350 o Recreation Ground - £1000 • Earl Stonham o Hedgehog Creche - £500 o Village Green Fence Posts - £350 • Stonham Aspal o Village Hall - £1000 o Debenham 1st Responders CPR Kit for Stonham Aspal - £500 o Recreation Ground - £1000 • Stonham Parva o Recreation Ground - £1650 I hope all those people have found the money useful. New Council Homes MSDC has built 29 new council homes this year, 23 in Great Blakenham a mixture of 1 bed flats and 2 or 3 bed houses, 11 of these being shared ownership, and 6 in Laxfield were opened in March, they consist of 2 x 2 bed District Councillor Suzie Morley, The Stonhams Ward – 01449 711306 / 07976 927226 houses and 4 x 1 bed flats.