Town jottings
At the meeting of Southwold Town Council held on 25th May 2010
Policing
Since last meeting of the Town Council, there had been ten reported crimes:
• One case of theft of an unlocked bicycle from outside the United Reform Church.
• One case of minor assault in the Harbour area.
• One case of attempted theft involving interference with the coin mechanism to washing machine at the laundrette.
• One case of breach of a restraining order.
• One case of theft of wheels from an unroadworthy car.
• One case of theft of a hasp and padlock from an advertising display at the laundrette
• One case of cash stolen from an insecure car parked in Cumberland Close.
• One case of minor disturbance caused by a customer in a pub.
• One case of assault at a beach party.
• One case of theft of lead flashing from business premises.
By way of comparison, there had been 16 reported crimes for the same period in 2009 and eight in the same period in 2008.
Cllr Miller had been puzzled recently to see no fewer than three police cars in attendance at what appeared to be no more than a minor disturbance outside his local pub. He linked this apparently disproportionate response to an article in the local press about substantial reductions to come in Police coverage in Suffolk. PCSO Irvine assured him that there was no intention to cut Police coverage in Southwold (as this was only two hours a day anyway, one hour in the morning and one in the afternoon). As regards the pub incident, this was probably the result of the new hub system, where the nearest and the next-nearest Police cars attended incidents. There were no boundaries and it was based on satellite positioning. It was resulting in two or three cars attending an incident, when before it had only been one or two.
Cllr Tucker wanted clarification about the opening hours of the Southwold Police Station. A local resident had reported to her that they had gone down on two occasions in the period when it was meant to be open (as stated on the Station), only to find it closed both times. PCSO Irvine confirmed that the official hours were 10 am–11 am and 6 pm–7 pm, but that there would be occasions when staff would be called away. If this was the case, then anyone wanting the Police should press a button on the outside, which would put them through to a controller who would then get someone to attend them within ten minutes. Cllr Tucker noted that the local resident had been put through to Halesworth when they had done this.
The meeting passed on its thanks to PCSO Tracey Mason for all her work and its wishes for good luck in her next step in life.
A new year, new people. . .
With a new Town Mayor and a new year comes the need to appoint committees and representatives for that year to come.
• The current personnel of the Policy and Finance Committee were reappointed for the new year (ie all councillors).
• The Traffic Management Committee is to be made up of Cllrs Winter, Bryant, Webb, Baggott and Tobin.
• The following representatives were appointed:
– The Recreational Development Council: Cllr Winter.
– The Harbour Users’ Association: Cllrs Winter and Tobin.
– SALC Area Meeting: Cllr Winter and the Deputy Mayor (Cllr Sue Doy).
– The East Suffolk Travel Association: Cllr Bryant.
– The Allotment Holders’ Association: the Deputy Mayor.
– The Summer Theatre Management Committee: Cllr Webb.
– The St Edmund’ s Hall Management Committee: the Deputy Mayor.
– The Blyth Estuary Group: the Town Mayor (Cllr Sue Allen).
Miscellaneous matters
The meeting considered a request for permission to bring a gallopers’ ride to the Klondyke for a fortnight in the summer. It was agreed to look into the matter more fully and make a final decision at the next Policy and Finance Committee meeting.
The meeting was informed by Suffolk that the planned road resurfacing of Queen’s Road would not now be going ahead as the granite kerbs would not be in place in time. It would be postponed until after the summer.
Finally, the Town Clerk (Mrs Jenny Hursell) had some positive news: the confused situation with the marshes had now been sorted out, so the transfer of the Kilcock Cliff Toilets, the Klondyke, the Putting Green and the marshes back to the Town Council was now going ahead.
At the meeting of the Policy and Finance Committee held on 15th June 2010
A new year, new people. . . Part 2
• Cllr Ladd was elected Chairman of the Committee for the year to come.
• Cllr Betts was elected his Vice-Chairman.
• There was a bigger turnover in personnel when appointing the following subcommittees as there was a rule that 50% of each should change and there had been no changes last year:
– Accounts, Best Value and Standing Orders (Cllrs Bryant, Baggott and Betts, and the Town Mayor).
– Employment Panel (Cllrs Tobin and Baggott).
– Planning Panel (Cllrs Winter and Windell, and the Deputy Mayor).
• Cllrs Winter, Bryant and Webb were nominated to act with the Town Clerk as the Town Council’s bank signatories for this year.
Planning matters
Refusal recommended
• Lavender Cottage, Youngs Yard (construction of a ‘granny annexe’ garden room). One letter of objection had been received, and refusal was recommended on the grounds of overdevelopment, out of keeping with the street scene and problems with access to shops
• 53 St Edmund’s Road (construction of two dwellings and minor alterations). This application was a source of considerable concern, generating half a dozen letters of objection and a much larger than average attendance by the public at this meeting. Refusal was recommended on the grounds of overdevelopment, impact on neighbours due to the ground level, and it was infill. Comments would also be made on the impact on parking and an existing tree preservation order.
The word from Waveney
The meeting was informed that Waveney had given its approval to proposed developments at The Vicarage, Eversley Gym, 10, 10a and 11 East Cliff, Barley House and 10 East Cliff, 9 Church Street, 15A Lorne Road, 1 Chester Road, 2 Market Place and the Adnams Brewery. Permission was refused for the development at Child’s Yard.
Further items
Waveney wanted comments from the Town Council about an appeal against its decision to take enforcement action in relation to residential dwellings at the Southwold Business Centre. The appellant was arguing that, as the Centre was in a residential area, it could therefore support a mixture of housing and industry. The Chairman (Cllr Ladd) felt that the Town Council had done all it could in this matter
Waveney had also responded to queries about the Hopkins Homes Mill Lane development and the Goymour Homes site. It was happy with what Hopkins Homes was doing for the swallows at Mill Lane. It was looking into the issue of boarding around the Goymour Homes site, but the Town Clerk had not heard any more. The district councillors were asked to chase this.
Other matters
There was an interesting variation on the usual declarations of interest by councillors: an e-mail from Waveney brought the meeting’s attention to the issue of family relationships. All understood this and indicated that they had no relatives on the Town Council, other than the mother-daughter relationship of the Deputy Mayor and Cllr Baggott.
With the Klondyke, the meeting agreed to put £1,000 towards repairs and a hard overskin for the skateboard park, having been informed that Suffolk Cllr Goldsmith had found £1,000 to put towards it as well. The other important financial issue was the question of making up the balance required to order the climbing equipment, as had been previously agreed. The possibility of Section 106 and Section 111 money going towards this was being explored. The big problem was that this would not be available straightaway or quickly and the Town Council was committed to this equipment, particularly it was on a special offer that would expire in October. The Town Clerk reminded the meeting that it had budgeted £10,000 towards this, of which only £1,000 had been spent. Only £2,000 was in fact needed (the discounted project price was £21,254 and a donation of £10,000 had been promised). The meeting therefore agreed in principle to advance the money to make up the balance (which could then be made up by Section 106 money or another way if there was a problem with that), so that the Town Council could go ahead and order the equipment.
Cllr Windell reported on the proposed gallopers’ ride in the Klondyke. It was to stand on the grass area next to the skateboard area up towards the car park end. It would be an old-fashioned fairground ride dating from 1885. It was run by a father and son business based in Ipswich and they wanted to operate the ride for two weeks: the last week of July and the first week of August. As regards concerns about noise, the music only came on with the ride, it was a proper organ and they had agreed to finish at 9.30 pm. A price had also been agreed. There was also to be big bouncy slide, which they would be willing to pay extra for. It would also only be there for the two weeks and kids apparently loved it. There would also be a small caravan on site for security, freeing the Town Council of any responsibility. The meeting was very positive: the feeling was that it was a bit of fun and it agreed to give permission. The price was to be renegotiated to include the slide.
Cllr Tobin reported the seafront railings. Southwold was a major tourist place, but the railings looked absolutely terrible. There was currently no money for them, as had been the case for the last five years. In fact, the railings had last been painted 16 years ago! He was looking into ways of getting funding from both Waveney and Suffolk, but the relevant Suffolk officer had said, not confirmed, that Suffolk would provide paint for free. Cllr Tobin therefore proposed a community solution: groups would take responsibility for each section. In principle, a lot of people were interested (three groups were already putting teams together). There would be no money involved; it would be a pure community project. The idea would be to do this every few years. Suffolk would provide insurance. He wanted permission to pursue this. Cllr Bryant noted that the railings also needed repairs as well as painting: there had been a nasty incident recently where a lady had leant on some railings, which had given way and she had nearly rolled down the bank. Other voices felt the community should not have to do this as it did not own the railings and there ought to be the money. However, the Town Clerk reminded them that they had been saying this for the last five years. In the end, it was agreed that Cllr Tobin further investigate a trial with one team doing one section. It was also agreed to support trials of an alternative material to cast iron for railing posts.
Action was happening with the poplars in North Road. After years of inactivity (at least four), in which the trees had been allowed to get out of hand and become dangerous, Waveney Norse was going to be instructed to remove them, by implication all of them. This was not to the taste of the meeting, who felt it was too drastic. Surely they could just cut them back? The Chairman felt it was criminal to cut down healthy, established trees. He felt uncomfortable as it seemed to be the easy way out. The meeting was not happy with what was proposed, so it decided to seek its own advice from a tree surgeon (as had been done with Mights Road) and also write to Waveney Norse to prevent it from taking precipitate action.
Action was also happening on Blyth Road. The Town Clerk reported that they now had all the money that was needed. Both Anglian Water and Mr Murray had increased the amount of money they were pledging. Work was due to start in July and work was underway on putting together a maintenance agreement. Both the Town Clerk and the Common Trust were congratulated: the former for her tenacity in preventing this issue being kicked into the grass, the latter for playing a pivotal role in bringing this to a successful conclusion.
Sadly, no action was happening with the Town Pump. It had looked hopeful a month ago, when the loss adjustors had felt the claim for a certain amount was reasonable. However, this was then thrown out by Zurich, ignoring their own loss adjustors. The talks were still going on. The Town Clerk had been assured that money would be found for an electricity supply for the Pump, but it would not happen this summer.
