July 2008

TOWN AFFAIRS

Jottings
at the meeting of the Southwold Town Council on 27 May 2008

The latest crime figures
WPC Wendy Summerfield informed the meeting that very little was happening. There had been just three crimes since the last Southwold Town Council meeting:
One case of vandalism at the Primary School – youths had apparently been getting in and causing damage
One case of possible theft of a purse from a lady in a shop (there was a question over this, but, as there had been a similar event in Beccles, it probably was theft).
One case of damage to a motor vehicle.

She reported that there was some graffiti around the town, but that it was being taken in hand. For instance, on the following Saturday (31st May), the most recent graffiti to appear in Southwold would be cleaned off the walls in question by those responsible for it.

Cllr Miller noted that there had been much activity with helicopters and the lifeboat the previous Thursday. There was a rumour that they had been called out for a suicide. Was it true? PC Summerfield replied that there had been an incident with a man who had mental health problems. He had tried to harm himself but had been rescued, not before harming one of her colleagues (who was OK). The man had been sectioned under the Mental Health Act.

Property matters

The Manor House
The meeting considered the application for planning permission to make internal alterations to this property and add a rooflight plus Listed Building Consent for this. Cllr Webb recommended refusal. Cllr Bryant noted that they had no problems with the quite extensive internal works, but it was the rooflight that was the problem, it was out of keeping with the listed building. It was the only thing they objected to. The meeting therefore decided to recommend refusal.

Southwold Service Station site
Next on the agenda was an application by the developers to revise the approved scheme for 18 apartments and four cottages on this site. Cllr Windell reported that quite a few internal and external changes were being proposed, including an additional dormer and skylight and a lantern skylight, which would alter the external appearance of the building from that for which planning permission had been granted and would also appear to make the building higher than originally proposed. They had no problems with the internal changes; it was the external ones that were the problem. The meeting therefore recommended refusal but felt that a site meeting with the developers to discuss the issues could be profitable.

The word from Waveney
The Town Clerk (Mrs Jenny Hursell) informed the meeting that Waveney District Council had given permission for the developments at Woodleys, 3 Blackshore, 15 East Cliff, the Boating Lake, 28 North Parade, 2 Stanley Cottages, 28 Pier Avenue and 94 High Street, and had refused permission for the proposed development at the Garden Gallery.

Other matters
The meeting also looked at the issue of delegation of planning decisions to officers. A letter from the Audit Commission to Southwold Town Council, dated 15th May, stated that it did not set local government policy. This was at variance with Waveney District Council’s own statement that the Audit Commission was pressing it to reach a target of 90% of all decisions being made by officers. Clearly both could not be right. The Deputy Mayor (Cllr Ladd) noted this was also contrary to the stated objective of moving towards more local accountability. Cllr Tucker suggested that the Council write to Waveney, asking it to confirm what its policy was. This the meeting agreed to do.

Personnel matters
The following appointments for the coming year were made:
Policy and Finance Committee: all councillors.
Traffic Management Committee: the Town Mayor (Mrs Teresa Baggott), Cllr Bryant, Cllr Webb, Cllr Betts and Cllr Tobin.

Councillors were also appointed to act as Council representatives in outside bodies, as follows:
The Recreational Development Council: Cllr Winter
The Harbour Users’ Association: Cllr Winter and Cllr Tobin
SALC Area Meeting: Cllr Winter, Cllr Webb and Cllr Doy
ESTA: Cllr Bryant
The Allotment Holders’ Association: Cllr Doy
The Summer Theatre Management Committee: Cllr Webb
St Edmund’s Hall: Cllr Betts.

A knotty problem
The issue of Japanese Knotweed raised its head again. The meeting considered a letter of 21st May from Strutt and Parker informing the Town Council that they were seeking £3,000 in compensation from the Environment Agency for its recent occupation of their land in Botany Marshes. The crux of the letter for the meeting was that the Agency had said it believed that the problem with Knotweed contamination had been solved, that the area was thoroughly cleared of the plant and that there was therefore no need to enter into a ten-year monitoring agreement. Councillors were not impressed. Cllr Winter felt that, if the Environment Agency was so sure the land was free of Knotweed, it should have no problems with entering such a monitoring agreement. The Deputy Mayor agreed, adding that Knotweed problem had not existed before the Environment Agency had started its work. Cllr Miller added that it was clearly stated that the land was no longer contaminated – either they believed the Agency or they did not. Cllr Bryant added that if they were so sure, why did they not give a concrete assurance? Cllr Tucker felt they needed to be assertive in this matter rather then be pushed around by the Agency. She was also concerned about taking their assurances, which no one totally believed. The meeting therefore agreed to write to the Environment Agency, noting its comments, but stating that, if there was a recurrence of the Knotweed problem, Southwold Town Council would hold the Agency responsible for this.

The Healthy Living Centre
The ball continued to roll on this. The Town Mayor reported that at the meeting she had attended it was made clear that the aim was to encourage support from 1,000 people (they currently had about 500) and then to set up a Steering Committee to take the lead in pushing the Centre forward. This Group was necessary as matters had grown beyond what just three doctors could handle. They thought people were being put off by the idea they were asking for money. This was not the case. The Deputy Mayor had attended the site appraisal meeting. The preferred option appeared to be the former Eversley School playing field in Reydon. Its strength was its location – there would be room for the Healthy Living Centre and a care home despite the site being surrounded by buildings on all sides. They had been assured there was the space. He had also chaired a public meeting about the Centre. This had been overwhelmingly positive about what was proposed. Progress was being made: a Community Interest Company had been set up. Happily, money did not seem to be an issue as Waveney and the PCT were behind it and providing funding. As a result, he felt there was little doubt that the Centre would be built. As a result, it was important to get involved, if only to ensure an influence on the development and also to enhance it. The doctors really wanted us to be behind it and involved in its running. They wanted a similar model to that of Southwold Hospital. The only question mark was the impact the proposed local government reorganisation might have on all this. It was therefore important to get moving as quickly as possible on this project. The Deputy Mayor felt it was a great project and was pleased to be involved.

Put those posters away!
The meeting wound up condemning the recent spate of people’s pictures going up all over the town to mark events like birthdays. The problem was that they were not being removed by those responsible for putting them up after their usefulness had ended. This the meeting did not want. It had proved expensive for the Town Council. Some pictures had recently been attached to the Town Pump with parcel tape, which had taken the paint off when they were removed. It would cost £600 to repaint the Pump. The fact that some people seemed to have no respect for others’ property was also deplored. The Deputy Mayor felt it was no different from graffiti and was bordering on a criminal offence. He had thought about a poster saying ‘no posters’, but that would defeat the object! More seriously, Cllr Winter added that fly posting was an offence like fly tipping. It was noted that this was not a new problem and had been commented on before. It had been decided before that councillors would remove all posters they saw. Clearly, the Town Mayor felt, it was necessary for councillors to keep doing this. The meeting also agreed to write to the people responsible for sticking pictures on the pump as their identity was known. Cllr Tobin undertook to look into special paints.

At the meeting of the Policy and Finance Committee on Tuesday 10th June 2008.

As if to compensate for the relatively thin content of the meeting of Southwold Town Council on 27th May, this meeting was an epic one. The main points of interest were:

Flint Cottage
The item that generated the most public interest (and filled up the Town Hall meeting room for part of the meeting) was the proposed development at Flint Cottage. Those attending were able to view a scale model of the proposed development of the land adjacent to Flint Cottage. Mr Bull used the public forum to read out a letter of objection, which felt that the proposed building was a neo-Georgian pastiche that would have a negative impact visually on what was otherwise the best stretch of Georgian buildings in the town. He expressed his own continuing opposition to what was proposed, reiterating his arguments first made at the Southwold Town Council meeting held on 29th April. He added that there still seemed to be confusion about the true height of the building – the model seemed to imply the development would be smaller in comparison to the Lord Nelson and Flint Cottage than the drawings suggested. The applicant, Ms Goddard, who was present with the architect, Mr Bennett, made a plea for the Council to reconsider its original decision in the light of the model. She had been disappointed by the comments of the Council in the previous meeting. Much care and consideration had been given to the proposal and she felt that the development, which was to be a full-time home, would add to the area. She was born in Southwold and was back to look after her mother. She informed those present, in answer to concerns about the load this would have on the cliff, that the engineer had calculated that the overall load with the development would actually be less than it was at the moment. She did not feel that a modern house would be appropriate, hence the Georgian style. Mr Bennett added that, in answer to the assertion that the drawings were not entirely to scale, they in fact were to scale and entirely accurate. After considering all this and the scale model, the meeting felt there was nothing that affected the Town Council’s decision of 29th April to recommend refusal and this would stand.

Other planning applications
The meeting then swiftly and efficiently dealt with the other (quite long) list of planning applications to be considered. It recommended approval for the development at Lake House, North Road (two dormer windows on its front elevation of plus three velux windows to its rear elevation and window to its west side), Landing Stage S05E (replacement of a fixed landing stage with floating stage), 8 Stradbroke Road (replacement single-storey rear extension) and 19 Park Lane (erection of a front porch and side extension, plus Listed Building Consent).

It also recommended approval for the proposed timber summerhouse at 21 Station Road, but was going to ask that it be stained/painted a darker finish that would be more in keeping with it being in the Conservation Area.

Approval was also recommended for the single storey rear extension and rear dormer window at 23 Station Road, but the meeting also wanted a comment to be added about concerns that the passageway between 23 and 25 Station Road was not wide enough for the passage of wheelie bins.

Finally, the meeting recommended refusal for the application to combine the two dwellings at White Lodge and Little White Lodge, South Green into one building, and construct a two-storey extension, build a cellar, add a roof lantern and other alterations. Although he had no objection in principle to merging the two buildings, Cllr Windell was felt that the proposed lantern would spoil the roofline and there would also be problems with digging out a cellar in what was an unstable cliff. He felt that these comments should be forwarded to Waveney with the suggestion that Waveney initiate a moratorium on construction on the cliff face. Cllr Bryant agreed with all this, also noting that torrential rain had caused slippage in the area several years ago.

The word from Waveney
The Town Clerk (informed the meeting that Waveney District Council had given permission for the developments at 82 High Street, 94 High Street, The Old Mill, 10 North Green, Landing Stage S23 and 45A High Street, and had refused permission for the proposed development at Fisherman’s Hut B05.

Other matters
The meeting was apprised of a letter from Waveney District Council dated 22nd May and related documents relating to an appeal by Paul Bradley Associates against Waveney’s refusal to grant planning permission for security gates at the rear of 60–62 High Street. The meeting did not feel this changed anything and stood by its original decision to recommend refusal of this application.

Further to the request by Mr Temple in the Annual Meeting on 12th May for the Council to consider using Section 106 money from the Station Road development for the Pavilion, the meeting was pleased to note that Waveney’s Section 106 Officer had agreed to the Town Council’s request to do just this. The Town Clerk added that the RDC had been asked to provide invoices to back up their application for this money.

Steady as she goes
After originally trying to follow the intention outlined in a Standing Order to achieve a greater turnover of the councillors sitting on each of the subcommittees and panels, and after some wrangling and confusion, it was decided it would be much easier to keep things as they were for now and to look anew at the Standing Order for the future. The subcommittees and panels will be made up as follows for the next year:

Accounts, Best Value and Standing Orders: Cllr Winter, Cllr Betts, the Town Mayor and Cllr Tobin.
Estates: the Deputy Mayor, Cllr Bryant, Cllr Tucker, Cllr Allen and the Town Mayor.
Employment Panel: the Deputy Mayor and the Town Mayor.
Planning Panel: Cllr Bryant, Cllr Webb, Cllr Doy and Cllr Windell.
Blyth Estuary Group: in the only change, the Town Mayor will sit on this instead of the Deputy Mayor.

A fishy matter
Further to previous discussions over whether Crabapple could sell fish or not, the Chairman (Cllr Ladd) reported that he and the Town Mayor had met with the owner of the shop to talk this over. The owner had indicated that she was no longer intending to sell fish where she had wanted originally, but was considering selling the fish separately from the fruit and veg on the Queen Street side of the shop. The Town Council would keep in communication with her and would consider her new plans when they had been drawn up. However, this part was currently in a poor state. The meeting was informed that the Town Council was intending to spend money on repairs, but was currently awaiting a decision by the Conservation Officer about tiles for the roof before it could proceed. The Deputy Mayor was confident something would be agreed, particularly as it had been confirmed that fish would not be sold in a mixed environment, which had been the main issue for the Council to begin with. This problem had been solved for the time being.

Local government changes
As agreed in the meeting of 29th April, councillors had held an informal meeting on 20th May to consider the Boundary Committee’s various proposals for the reorganisation of the structure of local government in Norfolk and Suffolk. The meeting confirmed that their preferred option was for three unitary authorities in Suffolk: Ipswich, East Suffolk and West Suffolk. The meeting was in favour of the idea that Southwold, Reydon and other parishes on Waveney’s southern boundary get together to present a united front against ‘Yartoft’.

With the pressing need to get moving on the transfer of assets in the light of the impending changes, it was noted that Waveney was not responding to pressure from the Council on this. A further meeting was suggested, but Cllr Windell reminded those present that such meetings had been held before with no result. The transfer of the harbour was also a matter of concern as nothing appeared to be happening there and the plans were slipping behind as a result. It was agreed to have a Harbour Group meeting in the next few weeks and to put the draft advertisement for trustees on the agenda of the next Southwold Town Council meeting. In the end, it was agreed to ask Waveney to move with greater urgency on transferring assets

The Klondyke
The meeting was informed that the Southwold Millennium Foundation had agreed in principle to take over the Klondyke once it had been transferred back to Southwold Town Council and develop it as a recreational area. However, it was concerned about the financial aspects of it and the business plan, particularly the viability of the skateboard park. Cllr Windell felt a solution would be, as Waveney was considering transferring the land to the Town Council, for the Council itself to take over the running of the Klondyke.

The Chairman reminded the meeting that there was currently a bit of a hold up with this. The skateboarders wanted to tackle the Klondyke in stages, with the first step being to tidy it up for the summer. They had sought permission to do this from Waveney, but so far there had been no response. It was a bit of a ‘chicken and egg’ situation. The Chairman therefore recommended that the Council should hold making a decision on what to do until it had actually been transferred.

Stella Peskett
The Chairman was happy to inform the meeting that progress was being made with the Stella Peskett Millennium Hall. The power was on and the floors had been laid. There were still some issues with sewerage, fire escapes and the front ramp that needed addressing, but he was confident that these would be resolved soon. It was almost complete internally. He was hoping to pin down an opening date in the next few months.

Southwold Town Garage
As agreed in previous meetings at the beginning of the year, the Estates Subcommittee had looked at what to do with the Station Road Garage site. They had looked around it and spoken to the current tenant. It had become apparent that the best solution was to keep the Garage on in that site as there appeared to be little spare space for anything other than the Garage. The meeting therefore agreed to revert back to the original plan of offering the owners of Southwold Town Garage a ten-year lease on the expiry of the current lease next year.

Mights Road Car Park
Cllr Betts had come back with some costings for the surfacing of the proposed car park at Mights Road. These ranged from £97,713–£208,863 (for a shingle surface) to £147,000–£315,000 (for an asphalt surface). VAT, fees, land survey charges and contingency would be on top of this as would a toilet block with drainage, which would put them back by a further £152,750.

In the light of all this, finding the money was going to be important. One way would be to make the car park pay for itself, and ways of charging and employing people to collect the money were being looked into. For instance, the downside of asking Waveney to collect the fees was that it would take 50% of them. Cllr Tobin suggested that private car park operators might be worth approaching. Suffolk County Council had also written to the Committee about potential funding, and it was planned to approach Beth Derks for any fund-raising suggestions. The Chairman was optimistic: after all, the Stella Peskett Millennium Hall had cost in the region of £450,000, so it should be possible to get the money for the Car Park.

Positive moves for the Blyth Estuary?
Cllr Tobin reported on a meeting he had attended on 9th June with Mrs Barbara Follett MP, who was responsible for the East of England. Sea defence work at Felixstowe had been looked at, but Cllr Tobin had had the opportunity to make a report on the Blyth Estuary to her. Mrs Follett’s approach to this potentially held out some hope. Cllr Tobin understood that she had come to get things moving and wanted the Environment Agency to take a more positive approach and work with local communities, rather than just saying that nothing could be done because of a lack of money. There was to be a further meeting with Mr Phil Woolas, the Floods Minister. Cllr Allen added that the Blyth Estuary Group had also had a good meeting with the Environment Agency and Natural England, where it had been agreed they would draw up contingency plans.

Miscellaneous
Further to what had been decided at the Town Meeting on 17th March about community emergency planning, Cllr Tobin informed the meeting that he had had a meeting with the Community Emergency Co-ordinator. They agreed that Southwold and Reydon ought to designate ten people each. These would know what equipment was available and where it was located etc in times of emergency. It was planned to have an open forum about this in mid July to see what people could offer. Cllr Tobin thought that, within six months, a written plan would also be in place, all residents would have a booklet and it should all be up and running.

Cllr Tobin, on behalf of Cllr Tucker who was not present, also informed the meeting about the latest developments with the proposed Town Sign. The designer had had great problems liaising with engineers, so he had approached his own structural engineers to get the ball rolling again. A report should be ready within a month and it was hoped that the Sign would be in place by the end of the year.

Cllr Doy reported on the Four Towns Bus. Things were looking good: a new driver was being trained, attendance figures were good, Kessingland had decided to join the scheme and it had been granted money for its youth work. Cllr Tobin noted that, as they were people in Reydon who wanted to use the bus but did not know where it was, that its promotion could perhaps be improved.

Have your say about any of these stories?