DRAFT MINUTES SUBJECT TO APPROVAL AT THE NEXT ANNUAL PARISH MEETING IN MAY 2015 Minutes of the Ousden Annual Parish Meeting Held on Tuesday 13 May in Ousden Village Hall at 8p.m. PRESENT:Councillors Ian Harding (Chairman), J Pask (Vice Chairman), G Ingham, A Johansen, Emna Lindsay A Johansen, G Holland Bosworth, B Kitson and C Ingham (Village Hall Management Committee), Derek Redhead (Borough Councillor), Jessica Hulbert (Families and Communities Officer for St Edmundsbury Borough Council) and PCSO Ryan Wilson from the Safer Neighbourhood Team. M Evans (County Councillor) arrived after the meeting closed IN ATTENDANCE: 4 members of the public APOLOGIES: No apologies were received. John Pask chaired the meeting. He welcomed everyone present. He also thanked John Bramwell for his work on the Parish Council and play park. John Pask did the plans and obtained planning permission. John Bramwell raised the money for the equipment. Approval of the Minutes of the Last Annual Parish Meeting The minutes of the last Annual Parish Meeting held on Tuesday 14th May 2013 were confirmed and signed as correct by the Chairman. County Councillor's Written Report. Councillor Evans spoke about the following: Her first year as county councillor has been a challenge as it has been a steep learning curve.has very much enjoyed it not least because it has been such a pleasure to get to know the Clare Division communities better. Thank you to Ousden Parish Council for being so welcoming. It has been a challenging year for the county council too and she feels very strongly that in several key areas SCC must do better in the next 12 months. School attainment is improving but not quickly enough to push us back up the league tables yet. Ofsted inspected the county's education service earlier in the year and were critical. It was unfortunate as we were attacked for not having a strategic improvement plan in place yet Ofsted knew the plan was to be finalised within weeks of their inspection. Results are getting better but she is glad to serve on the Education Scrutiny committee so they can keep an eye on our schools performance and call the education team to account. Another area of challenge is SCC's new highways contract. It has not been a happy story to date but again performance is improving. Councillors, with the
support of the staff working on the ground, have been calling for changes in the way the contract is managed. SCC has recruited more staff to the area offices and has streamlined a bit, but probably not enough yet, the way the contract actually operates. The county council is working this year to a budget with savings of 38m. It is not increasing council tax because it doesn't want to penalise council tax payers. However there are more cuts to come. SCC's grant has been cut by Government and SCC will have to look long and hard at what it does and how it does it. In her role as assistant cabinet member for roads and transport she is chairing a cross party panel reviewing speed limits. They have issued a report setting the criteria for 20mph schemes and are now looking at the higher speed limits. She is also chairing a group looking at the problems of accessibility to public transport. The county council is allowing communities to buy their own vehicle activated signs to control speeding and she is organising a meeting for parish councils with SCC's road safety manager on 25th June. Concerns about the speed of broadband and the pace of the roll out of the Better Broadband programme. From her locality grant she paid for the first defibrillator for the new Wickhambrook-Ousden Community First Responders Scheme. District Councillor, Mr D Redhead presented his report. He spoke about: The last year at the Borough Council which has been busy but frustrating. The joint working of St Edmundsbury Borough Council and Forest Heath District Council has brought a lot of changes some of which are for the better, some of which most certainly are not. Decision making which is now taken by two cabinets. This means that members on the back benches have little knowledge of what has been agreed until after the event, by which time it is too late as full council has now become a rubber stamping exercise only. The Apex is still proving popular but requires an unacceptable level of financial support, three quarters of a million pounds of council tax payers money in the last year. The Rural Initiative Grant is still alive and well. Vision 2031 is now complete and in circulation for comment. Report from the Safer Neighbourhood Team There have been 8 crimes of note in Ousden since the last APM, these are a burglary of a home, 2 burglaries of outbuildings, 4 thefts, one of which was from a person and an arson, where a barn was set alight. There have been two crimes in Ousden since the last meeting. Eggs, money and
honey were stolen from outside a property and there was a break in with jewellery stolen. Report the Village Hall Management Committee. C Ingham and B Kitson presented a report on behalf of the VHMC. They spoke about: The committee which is now reduced to four members. Last year Wendy Bullivant moved from the village and 2 roles were fitted together so that Chris Ingham could continue to act as secretary and also chair the meetings. Other members are Sylvia Pettitt, Barbara Kitson, Julie Pryke and John Pask. The wet winter which has had an impact on the playing field as it remained under water for many weeks. However, the play area survived quite well due to new chippings last year and has now dried out. Both areas continue to be well used. Small repairs were made to items in the children s area and the usual safety inspections have taken place throughout the year. New signs, erected by Suffolk County Council, now indicate the licenced footpaths but dog fouling still presents a problem in spite of bins in appropriate places. The cricketers had a better year weather- wise and are due to play again shortly. They were invited to VHMC meetings during the winter to discuss the rise in fees (from 30-35 per game) but nobody attended. They accepted the rise but then went on to complain about the condition of the grass cutting. At present, they are hoping to discuss the condition of the field but the VHMC is inclined to take a hard attitude to this as it is unable to afford extra cuts to the field as requested. A joint fundraising event Flowers for Christmas by Francine Wilkins- Smith.was held in November with the PCC. It was a very well attended and enjoyable evening. No other activities are being planned this year except Open Gardens which will take up a lot of time but again the PCC is involved so funds will be shared. Thanks are due to John Pask who has audited the books that Barbara keeps so methodically. Thank you, also, to the Parish Council for their funding without which the VHMC could not continue. Although the VHMC is a separate committee it regularly feels that it might be able to operate better as part of the Parish Council and wonder if this is worth considering in the near future. Report from the Bowls Club by Gwen Harding He spoke about: Membership numbers which have decreased by one but which average 11 per week. They played 5 friendly matches, the numbers well down on the previous year due to temporary health problems and the general unavailability of players. The matches which were played were marked with great friendship, food and
fun. The Christmas lunch which took place in January 2014 Their finances continue to remain in the black. New members are always welcome, 7.30-10pm on Monday evenings. The fees is 1.50 per evening with an annual membership of 5.00. Written Report by the Outgoing Chairman Mr J Bramwell The Council would like to thank all those who have attended and reported to our meetings over the past year. We very much appreciate the time and effort involved. I would also like to thank our Clerk and my fellow councillors for their work throughout the year. Highways and Byways The mild weather this winter has meant that the condition of the roads around Ousden is reasonably good. We have reported potholes to the Highways Department and they have been filled fairly swiftly. Excess water running across the roads and subsequent freezing remains a concern and hopefully the Highways Department will attend to the problem. Traffic speeding through the village continues. There has been much discussion of how the speed could be reduced but our current understanding is that most speed reduction measures are both expensive and ineffective. We have requested warning signs on the Hill encouraging vehicles to slowdown but at present have reached an impasse on our desire that the signs should be in the form of 30 roundels. The issue of the footpath from Mill House ending in the middle of nowhere has been resolved by a slight change of direction and linking up with an existing path. Crime Theft from properties remains a concern for many villagers. We very much appreciate updates from the Safer Neighbourhood Team at most of our council meetings. Whilst it is individuals who are responsible for protecting their property the Council would welcome suggestions on possible ways of eliminating these thefts. Village Organisations The Council would like to thank the active members of all the village organisations, including the Neighbourhood Watch, and all those who participate in events and give their support. The Council has provided financial support to the Village Hall Management Committee and would hope that more volunteers step forward to help out the committee, as it clearly unfair that their work falls on only three members. also continues to support the church by paying for half of the electricity bill for St Barnabas chapel. The Council considers it very important that a Remembrance Day
Service is held at St Peter s and we were pleased that a service took place there last year. Grass Cutting Grass cutting of St Barnabas and Pound Green is under contract and paid for by the Council. A new contract was set up last year resulting in a substantial cost saving. Precept Keeping the precept low is becoming more difficult as grants are withdrawn. The Council intends to continue keeping costs as low as possible. And finally I have a little reluctantly resigned from the council to commit more time to advising my clients. Thank you to all councillors and John Pask, in particular, for organising a the gathering at The Fox. I wish all the Council well for the coming year. Parish Council Financial Report Income The Parish Council s income for 2013-14 was 6,976. Of this 4,485 came from the parish council precept. This is the payment from St Edmundsbury Borough Council which forms part of the council tax. The Council also received a grant of 1,345 from St Edmundsbury Borough Council. Unfortunately the Borough Council has decided to phase out its Parish Council Support Grant over the next four years with a 25% reduction each year. This decision will have a huge impact on the Parish Council as it will lose income of over 300 each year for the next four years. The Borough Council has not increased its Council Tax element this financial year, but this has partly been achieved by passing some of its cost to parish councils, who are faced with the possibility of having to increase their precept requests. With careful budgeting Ousden Parish Council has managed to keep any increase in its precept request to approximately 2%. The Parish Council received recycling credits of 904. The Council passed this money on to the VHMC as part of a grant of 1,600 to contribute towards their running costs. Expenditure The total expenditure was 5,966. The main expenditure was for general administration costs which cover the clerk s salary and expenses, training, subscriptions, insurance and the annual audit. The Council continued its support for the PCC by paying half of the electricity costs for St Barnabas.
At the end of the financial year 2013-2014 the balance of the current account stood at 4,281. The balance of the deposit account stood at 4,292. The Council now has sufficient reserves to cover any unforeseen costs. The total balance of both accounts on 31/03/14 was 8,574. Any other issues or concerns which residents would like to bring to the attention of the Council No other issues or concerns were raised. The meeting closed at 8.55pm