The membership of Sproughton Parish Council as at 20th
June 2008 is:
David
Cheeseman
742131
Simon
Curl
Chairman 747114
Colin
Davis
741018
Michael
Everett
742334
Michael
Fenwick
744416
John
Kitson
226790
Rosalind Lavington
Vice-Chairman 748478
Simon
Lavington
748478
Penton
Lewis 601211
Richard
Searle
241204
Clerk: Sue Frankis
463852.
Click here to e-mail the Clerk.
In January 2008 the Parish Council appointed Ms Jane Draper as the
Tithe Barn
Warden.
The Warden's official
mobile 'phone number is available to hirers of the
barn.
News item - May
2008.
There are
currently two vacancies on the
Parish Council. Anyone interested in putting
their name
forward for consideration is asked to contact the Parish
Clerk.
The time and place of the next Parish
Council meeting is give under Events. Recent
Parish Council Minutes may be seen at the
end of this page.
Members of the public are welcome to attend Parish Council meetings
and we allocate time
for the public to ask questions. The Parish Council also
organises open Public Meetings from time to time on specific
issues. For example, during 2004, three such
meetings addressed:
the Tithe Barn,
the SnOasis developments at Great
Blakenham (traffic effects), and
the Sproughton
Parish
Plan.
Approximately 60 residents attended the last Annual Parish
Meeting in the Tithe Barn on 1/5/07.
The Annual Report for the year ending 31st March 2007 is given
towards the end of this page.
The 2008 Annual Parish Meeting will be held in the Tithe Barn at
7.30pm on Tuesday 6th May.
A list of Council-appointed
representatives, and of the responsibilities of individual
Councillors as at 8th May 2007, is as follows:
Cooper Trust
(Almshouses)
Mr D Barnes
Cemetery
Mrs S Frankis
Suffolk
ACRE
Mrs R Lavington
Suffolk Association of
Local
Councils
Mr D Cheeseman
Tithe
Barn Panel
Chair
Mrs R Lavington
Transport Panel
Chairman
Mr S Lavington
Footpath & Cycle Path
Wardens Mr S
& Mrs R Lavington
Tree
Warden
Mr S Lavington
Allotments
Mr S Woolf
Millennium
Green
Ms D Bradbury
Internal
Auditor
Mr P Orriss
Reading Room and Caretakers House
Charity Mr S Lavington, Mr M
Earey
Handbell
Ringers
Mrs R Lavington
Green
Sproughton (cutting our carbon footprint)
**
Mr Peter Lee
Age
Concern
Mr J Bates
Suffolk Preservation
Society
Mr D Cheeseman
School
Governors
Mrs M Woolf
Local History
Recorder
Miss D Bradbury
Responsible Financial
Officer
Mrs S Frankis
Babergh Crime
Reduction
Mr M Fenwick
Parish Plan
co-ordinator
Mr C Davis
Web-site
co-ordinator
Mr
S Lavington
SnOasis Parish
Group
Mr S Curl
Playing Field Management
Cttee Trustees*
Mr C Davis, Mrs J Everett
* The Playing Field Management Committee is described
here.
** Green
Sproughton ('cutting our carbon footprint') was set up as a
panel
of Sproughton Parish Council in May
2007.
A full list of Sproughton village
organisations will be found
here.
The most-recent Annual Report,
presented to the Annual Parish Meeting
on 6th May 2008:
SPROUGHTON
PARISH COUNCIL
Annual Report of the Council for the Year Ending 31st March
2008
Council Details
The Clerk to the Council and the Responsible Financial Officer
of the Parish Council is Mrs Sue Frankis.
There are 12 'seats' on the Council.
Councillors for the year were; Simon Curl, Rosalind Lavington,
David Cheeseman, Colin Davis, Andrew Didham, Jenny Everett, Mike
Fenwick, Simon Lavington, Penton Lewis, Richard Searle, Andrea
Wedgwood and Stephen Woolf. At the Annual Parish Council meeting in
May 2007, Simon Curl was elected Chairman, and Rosalind Lavington
was elected Vice-Chair of the Council.
The Council meets in the Barley
Room, and has met as a full Council on 9 occasions during the year.
Councillors have made 79 attendances out of a possible 102. One
Councillor has attended all 9 meetings, 2 Councillors attended 8, 6
Councillors attended 7, 1 Councillor attended 6, 1 Councillor
attended 5 and 1 Councillor attended 1. Cllr Andrea Wedgwood and
Cllr Stephen Woolf resigned during the year. Grateful thanks go to
both for their work and time as Councillors. As at 31st
March there were 2 vacancies. The Council has placed public notices
in order to seek co-option of 2 Councillors.
Meetings are open to the public, and
the Council is pleased to have in regular attendance at its
meetings Sproughton’s 2 District and 1 County Councillor together
with PC Austin and the Police Community Support Officer.
The Council has 6 Panels that deal
with specific matters. These are Transport, Tithe Barn, Finance,
Tithe Barn Bookings, 'Green' Sproughton and the Shop Panel. The
Council has one committee; the Planning Committee.
Allotments
The Council administers the
arrangements for the letting and management of the allotment
gardens adjacent to the Wild man public house. The Council has a
lease with the Felix Thornley Cobbold Agricultural Trust for this
purpose. The annual rent charged to the Council by the trust is
£301.94. The Council currently charges allotment holders £1.65 per
rod per year. There are currently no vacant allotment plots and
there is a waiting list of 3 people.
Burial Ground
The Council authorises burials and
the erection of memorials. It is responsible for the management of
the burial ground and continues to maintain it to a high standard;
grass and hedge cut, paths swept and cleared.
Churchyard
The churchyard of the parish church,
All Saints, is ‘closed’. Babergh District Council is responsible
for the maintenance of the churchyard. Maintenance continues to be
carried out in accordance with an agreed management plan. The plan
seeks to conserve and enhance the valuable natural habitat of the
churchyard and at the same time keeping it tidy. This work is done
in partnership with Babergh District Council and involves local
volunteer labour to cut and rake the conservation areas. Simon
Lavington remains instrumental in this work.
Village Caretaking
The Council employs Mike Herbett to
carryout Burial Ground and village green maintenance and grass
cutting, with caretaking and ‘odd jobs’ in the Tithe Barn. The
Council is grateful to Mike for his continued high standard of
work.
Tithe Barn
Management
The Council is responsible for the maintenance, improvement and
use of the Tithe Barn. The Barn is an important village resource,
which has significant historic and community importance. The Tithe
Barn Panel considers matters of maintenance and improvement. The
Tithe Barn Bookings Panel considers requests for bookings and use
of the Barn. This panel includes parishioners who are close
neighbors of the Barn. The Parish Council has appointed Jane Draper
as Tithe Barn warden, to assist with hiring arrangements and
management, and to ‘meet and greet’ hirers.
Planning Applications
The Council is consulted by Babergh
District Council (the Local Planning Authority) on planning
applications in the parish. The Council has been consulted on 47
planning applications during the year (a 34% increase on the
previous year, and an 88% increase over the last 2 years). To date,
27 have been approved, 4 refused, 1 refused but subsequently
approved at Appeal by the Secretary of State, 6 withdrawn and 9 are
awaiting a decision by Babergh.
The Council continued to take an
active role in the Snoasis public inquiry with the Community
Alliance. The inquiry closed in June 2007, and a decision on
whether to grant planning permission is expected to be made by the
Secretary of State by 9th May 2008. Proposals for
Broadmeadow were considered at a public inquiry in June 2007. The
Council gave evidence at the inquiry with respect to concerns over
traffic increases in the village. The Secretary of State has now
decided to refuse to grant planning permission. The Council is
currently considering pre-planning application proposals for the
SWISS Centre on the A1214 near to Tesco.
Transport Panel
Simon Lavington is
chairman of this Panel, and under his able management it remains
proactive and effective. The Panel reports to the Council, and is
made up of a mix of councillors and non-councillors.
Simon Lavington will give a
brief oral report at the annual meeting.
Tithe Barn
Panel
Proposals to convert the west store
to a community shop, replace the barn floor and insulate its walls
and replace the midstrey doors have been given planning permission.
Ros Lavington, the Panel chair, remains active in seeking grant
monies to progress the works. The Panel is working closely with the
Green Sproughton Panel in developing proposals for grant
applications.
Green Sproughton Panel
Peter Lee is the chairman of this
new Panel. ‘Green Sproughton’ is all about cutting carbon use,
environmental awareness and improvement. The initiative was
launched last year in the Tithe Barn. Sproughton is the first
village in the UK to sign up to the Nottingham agreement on carbon
reduction. The Panel is actively promoting environmental awareness,
ways of reducing carbon use, and seeking grant funding streams for
projects. The recent Spring Greens event and village litter pick
were successful in further raising awareness, providing information
on recycling, composting and energy reduction and clearing
considerable amounts of rubbish from our village spaces.
Council
Finance - See the appended account reports.
Summary
The Council remains active on local
issues and seeks to work in an effective and efficient way.
Activity of the Council is published on Council noticeboards and in
the Community News. Council and community information is also
available via its website
(www.sproughton.suffolk.gov.uk).
Sproughton benefits from having a very good Clerk, active and
resourceful Councillors and a supportive and active community.
Recent Parish Council
Minutes.
MINUTES OF THE
MEETING OF SPROUGHTON PARISH COUNCIL HELD AT THE BARLEY ROOM, LOWER
STREET, SPROUGHTON ON 11th FEBRUARY 2008, AT 7.30PM
Councillors present:
Cllr S.Curl Cllr D.Cheeseman Cllr
C.Davis Cllr M.Fenwick Cllr P.Lewis Cllr R.Searle
Mrs S. Frankis, Clerk & Responsible Financial Officer
County Cllr Kathy Pollard
District Cllr Peter Jones
District Cllr Nicholas Ridley
Police Community Support Officer
116 APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE TO BE
RECEIVED
Cllr A.Didham, Cllr J.Everett, Cllr
R.Lavington, Cllr S.Lavington, Cllr S.Woolf
117 TO ACCEPT MEMBERS DECLARATION
OF INTEREST
No declarations of interest were
received.
118 TO CONFIRM AND SIGN THE
MINUTES OF THE PARISH COUNCIL MEETING HELD ON 7th JANAURY
2008
The minutes of the meeting held on
7th January 2008 having been circulated to all members were
confirmed and signed as an accurate record of the meeting.
119 MATTERS ARISING
There were no matters arising.
The meeting was adjourned at 7.35pm
to receive a report from the Police Community Support Officer and
District Cllr Nicholas Ridley.
The Police Community Support Officer
advised that there had been three reported crimes in Sproughton,
during December 2007; the theft of a trailer from a property in
High Street, the theft of bricks from a property in High Street and
the theft of boulders from a property on the Farthing Road
Industrial Estate.
Nicholas Ridley advised Babergh
District Council's Strategy Committee continues negotiations for
the sale of East House. He advised that the Boundary Committee has
now published its terms of reference, which could propose a Greater
Ipswich and a single unitary for the remainder of Suffolk.
7.50 pm The Police Community Support
Officer left and the meeting was reconvened.
120 TO RECEIVE THE REPORT OF THE
PLANNING PANEL
A list of planning applications and
recommendations made by the Planning Panel since the last meeting
had been circulated to all Councillors and noted.
121 FINANCE
(i) To Approve Payments and
Budget Position
The statement of payments for
January 2008 was approved.
(ii) To Consider Grant
Requests
Sproughton Parish Council has
received a request for a grant from the 1st Sproughton Brownies.
The Council unanimously agreed to offer a grant of £475.00 to the
1st Sproughton Brownies. The Council unanimously agreed to
reallocate £311.50 from the general reserve account to the heading
'S137'.
Action: The Clerk is to
forward a cheque to the 1st Sproughton Brownies.
(iii) Appointment of the External
Auditor
The Clerk advised that the Audit
Commission has appointed BDO Stoy Hayward LLP as auditor to
Sproughton Parish Council. The appointment will be for a five year
period, commencing with the 2007/2008 accounts. The Council agreed
to accept the appointment.
122 TO RECEIVE THE REPORT OF
'GREEN' SPROUGHTON
No report was received from the
'Green' Panel.
123 TO RECEIVE THE REPORT OF THE
TRANSPORT PANEL AND RELATED TRAFFIC ISSUES
(i) Cllr S.Curl advised that
Sproughton Parish Council had received additional information
relating to planning application number B/07/01011/FUL/FB. The
Council unanimously agreed that the draft response, prepared by the
Transport Panel, should be forwarded to Babergh District
Council.
(ii) Cllr S.Curl advised that the
developers of the former British Sugar Factory, Sproughton, JG Land
& Estates, have approached Sproughton Parish Council requesting
its participation in preparing a development brief.
Action: Cllr S.Curl is to
draft a response.
The meeting was adjourned at 8.15pm
to receive a report from County Cllr Kathy Pollard. She advised
that she has not officially been informed of the proposed SWISS
Centre development. Cllr S.Curl advised that Sproughton Parish
Council has not formally been notified of the proposed development.
Kathy Pollard referred to the unitary issue and advised that the
Boundary Commission will not consult publicly on proposals.
8.20pm The meeting was
reconvened.
124 TO RECEIVE THE REPORT OF THE
TITHE BARN PANEL AND RELATED MATTERS
(i) Cllr R.Searle advised that
Babergh District Council has issued a 'Certificate of Completion -
Full Plans' for the Barley Room/kitchen development.
(ii) Cllr R.Searle advised that the
leaking roof over the glazed walkway and the damaged Norfolk gable
on the West Store have been inspected by four builders. The Council
awaits estimates for the repair work to be done.
(iii) Re. minute no: 07/08 111(iii).
Cllr R.Searle advised that permission to relocate the wheelie bins
to the car park area has not been granted. The Council unanimously
agreed to purchase three metal bins to replace the plastic wheelie
bins. The wheelie bins will be kept in the West Store.
(iv) Cllr R.Searle advised that the
Clerk has secured a one year contract with the Tithe Barn
electricity supplier. The agreement was made prior to the recent
energy charge increases.
(v) Cllr R.Searle advised that the
Parish Council organises the Senior Citizens Lunch Club as a
community facility and not as a profit making scheme. The profit
from the sale of alcohol at the lunch club contributes towards the
costs of providing this service. He reminded the Council that a
charge to hirers was introduced for the use of the Premises
Licence, when alcohol is to be sold, in order to recoup the
expenditure incurred in obtaining the licence. The Council
unanimously agreed to charge the Senior Citizens Lunch Club a
'peppercorn' charge of £1.00 per annum for the use of the Premises
Licence and £1.00 per annum for the hire of the Barley Room.
8.35pm County Cllr Kathy Pollard
left the meeting.
Cllr S.Curl advised that it is time
to consider the remit and regularisation of the Tithe Barn Panel.
Cllr S.Curl advised that the Parish Council has received
notification from Mike Herbert that he intends to increase his
labour charges. The Council agreed to accept the proposed
increase.
125 REQUESTS FOR MEMORIALS AT THE
BURIAL GROUND
There were no requests for
memorials.
126 PARISH PLAN UPDATE
Cllr C.Davis advised that the aim is
to complete the analysis of the completed questionnaires by the end
of February 2008 and to present a draft report at the next Parish
Council meeting.
127 TO AGREE THE TIMES, DATES AND
VENUES OF PARISH COUNCIL MEETINGS FOR THE PERIOD APRIL 2008 TO
MARCH 2009
The proposed list of meeting dates
was approved.
128 TO AGREE THE TIME, DATE AND
VENUE OF THE ANNUAL PARISH MEETING
The next Sproughton Annual Parish
Meeting will be at 7.30pm, on 6th May 2008 at the Tithe Barn, Lower
Street, Sproughton.
129 TO AGREE THE TIME,
DATE AND VENUE FOR THE NEXT PARISH COUNCIL MEETING
The next Sproughton Parish Council
meeting will be at 7.30pm, on 17th March 2008, at the Barley Room,
Tithe Barn, Lower Street, Sproughton.
130 MATTERS RAISED BY
MEMBERS
Cllr M.Fenwick asked if the Parish
Council's procedure for assessing planning applications could be
reviewed.
Cllr P.Lewis advised that the
residents of Poplar Lane do not receive the 'Community News &
Views' publication.
Action: The Clerk is to raise
the matter with the editor of 'Community News & Views'.
Summary of Actions
121(ii) To Consider Grant
Requests
Action: The Clerk is to
forward a cheque to the 1st Sproughton Brownies.
123 TO RECEIVE THE REPORT OF THE
TRANSPORT PANEL AND RELATED TRAFFIC ISSUES
Action: Cllr S.Curl is to
draft a response.
130 MATTERS RAISED BY
MEMBERS
Action: The Clerk is to raise
the matter with the editor of 'Community News & Views'.
The meeting closed at 9.25 pm
Chairman :
_______________________________ Date:
_____________________________