Minutes
- Present
- Cllr Steve Plume (Chairman), Cllr Eoin McNamee (Vice Chair), Cllr Debbie Kemp, Cllr Will Durrant, Karen Grimwood (Parish Clerk), District Cllr Adrienne Marriott, Suffolk County Cllr Chris Chambers and six members of the public.
1. To Receive and Approve Any Apologies for Absence
None
2. Councillor / Parishioner Engagement
- To receive the County Councillor's report — See attached report. Cllr Chambers left meeting 7.25pm
- To receive the District Councillor's report — None
- To receive questions from members of the public (allow 15 minutes). - GT Blakenham FC wanted to know where his young team can have a kickabout. The last time that they played on the village hall recreation ground they were asked to leave. Concerned as there is nowhere else to go. Two representatives from the village hall committee responded by advising that as long as there is no pre-booked football match being played they have no problem with the recreation ground being used for a kickabout for anyone to use.
3. To Approve the Minutes of the Annual Meeting of the Parish Held on 12th May 2022
Approved
4. To Receive the Chairman's Annual Report
See attached report
5. To Receive Any Other Reports
- Claydon High School - See attached report
- Suffolk Constabulary — See attached report
- Gt Blakenham Village Hall - See attached report
- Claydon Primary School — See attached report
Great Blakenham Parish Council
Karen Grimwood
Clerk to Great Blakenham Parish Council
Email: pc@greatblakenham.suffolk.gov.uk
Phone: 07508830777
Parish Council website: www.greatblakenham.suffolk.cloud
Date: 13/05/2023
Great Blakenham Chairman's Report
Annual Parish Meeting
Thursday 11th May 2023
Welcome to the 2023 Annual Parish Meeting and thank you for attending. I'd first like to say a hearty congratulations to King Charles III on his coronation, long live the king.
There's no need to dwell on the state of the nation and our little parish suffers no differently from the rest of the UK. Whilst it's only a very small gesture, your Parish Council has for the 5th year running not placed any additional financial requirements on you, we have maintained the same precept, this is in reality a small benefit to all. We can only do this by strict financial control and ensuring we get the best value for any projects we undertake. In summary we started the year with £268,867.18, we finished the year with £215,610.85 and total outgoings were £119,109.71, the additional funds came via the precept and CIL monies.
It's fair to say that whilst we have to have financial security in case of emergencies, we will maintain that the parish council has reserves for 6 months. We also have money earmarked for projects which we revise but we are always happy to listen to anyone's ideas from you that could improve the parish.
I'd like to recognise our long-standing district councillor, ex-county councillor and our part-time parish councillor, John Field who after being a robust supporter of our parish for 22 years has deservedly retired, we all wish him the very best for his future relaxing endeavors. After a wave of green washed over Mid Suffolk at the local elections we still have a Liberal Democrat district councillor, Adrienne Marriott, congratulations on your success.
I'd also like to give my fellow councillors a well-deserved thank you. We couldn't do what we do without willing candidates to stand and help support the parish.
After a trying year for myself, I was both pleased and relieved to appoint a new clerk late in 2022, Karen has quickly taken control of her clerking role, being the financial officer and contact point for all. I'll be the first to admit I was a poor clerk for the majority of last year. So, it's now in our clerk's safe hands and sorry for the mess I left.
As of March 2023, there were 1862 names listed on the electoral roll for our parish and we have a sizable number of children as well. The last development Gipping View on the south side of Stowmarket Road may appear to be our last for a while. This development caused some concern over the long-term stability of the allotments. These allotments were a focus for us over the last scorching summer, a complete revamp, fencing, sheds, and a car park extension, it does look great now and the plot owners are doing an excellent job with the facilities. We now have a waiting list, and we are in a strong position to retain this as it's turning into a rather rare open space in the village with the last 2 decades of developments.
Talking about open spaces, we have the possibility of being heavily involved with what is a generous gift. The developers of Port 1 have purchased the "Water Meadows" over the small bridge at the end of Mill Lane, in support of reinvesting in the parish for the land they have built on for the development on Blackacre Hill. Apologies if this caused concern with it being advertised as a park but it's in its early days and we are referring to it as the water meadow project. We believe the project has the backing of BMSDC and their views align with ours, returning the land back to and for nature.
As well as eagerly expected land project, we have been working with the biodiversity officer for BMSDC. We have tried to identify as many areas as possible that could benefit from allowing wildflowers and grasses to grow, two areas have been earmarked, the bank along the south side of Bramford Road had a long overdue groom last year, we hope to encourage back the natural growth that we would expect to see in this part of Suffolk. Hackneys Corner land managed by the Parish Council is under the "No Mow May" project and the north side of Hackneys Corner was also getting the treatment, but it seems that BMSDC didn't get the word to the contractor as the grass was cut in April. On this site we are planning to plant trees to replace those that were reduced last year.
Suez is still producing power from waste, in 2022, they processed 283,038 tonnes of waste (Household 234,579t and 48,459t), this generated 199,434 MWatt hours of electricity of which 177,090 MWatts was exported and spent £680,360 with Suffolk suppliers. They should be commended for their engagement with the parish and local authorities, they do set the benchmark for local support and engagement. As well as their Peregrine falcons successfully rearing four young last year for the first time, it demonstrates how nature adapts and wildlife can be supported in modern industrial areas. As well as the falcons, they have a nice wildflower area, beehives and a large pool of water (for firefighting) which has its own inhabitants, ducks, dragonflies and damselflies. Thanks to Suez for designing its plant with wildlife in mind.
Last year we installed a memorial bench beside Moses Walk, thanks to Mr Pont, the owner of the land, for allowing us to site it there. The circular bench has an English Oak in the middle as a living memorial to our late Queen Elizabeth II. We will install plaques once we can confirm the tree will remain healthy. As well as the bench, more recently we had a new bus stop shelter installed on Bramford Road for westbound travel.
We have exhausted sites for Dog Waste bins, but it does sadden me when I see dog waste only feet away from a waste bin. Please can owners of dogs, clear it up and bin it. We've agreed to have new hi-visibility lighting installed at the zebra crossing on Stowmarket Road, there have been a few near misses on that crossing especially in the winter mornings when the sun is directly in the eyes of vehicles heading east.
We saw a change in the village with the Chequers PH closing its doors and offering the lease to the open market. It reopened as the Chequers Indian Lounge. It's looking like a very successful enterprise which I can highly recommend for a night out. Needless to say, we are pleased we have a viable business in the village rather than it being closed or demolished for more housing.
The landfill which was run by Viridor that is now Valencia doesn't yet appear to offer the same level of engagement with the local community or local authorities, we have reached out to them but yet no movement. They are looking at installing a solar farm on the site which hasn't reached the stage of planning yet, but our concerns are with the opportunity that "Valley Ridge" was offering. That development has gone noticeably quiet since the environmental agency extended the license on the landfill. The location of these two sites means that one has a direct impact on the other, watch this space.
We have continued to maintain a good presence on social media which helps us to get messages out where possible as well as our own website. What we are looking for is how to raise our engagement with the parishioners, any ideas are always welcome.
At the May meeting we will be discussing the recent survey that was put out by the village hall committee, disappointing that out of the 1800+ residents we only saw around 32 responses, maybe the survey didn't get the publicity it needed? In summary there were a few common themes, one, improving the use and look of the village hall, two, too much dog waste in the village, this will only stop when owners do what needs doing and three, rubbish, we have litter pickers but with the likes of landfill and recycling plants in the parish it's a thankless task.
As always, we are looking for more councillors, we have three vacancies (at time of writing) if you wish to join a friendly team, with a desire to improve the parish think about asking our clerk for details.
Kindest Regards
Steve Plume
Chair for Great Blakenham Parish Council.
Claydon Primary School May 2023
This academic year has seen us have our long awaited Ofsted Inspection back in October. We feel as a school it is a fair report and a true reflection of us currently as a school, highlighting the changes and the journey we have been on under new leadership over the last three years. Some of the highlights from the report are below;
Pupils are proud to attend Claydon Primary School. They consider that it is a special place to learn and be with their friends. The school's 'five C's' of culture, community, character, curriculum and collaboration thread through its work. These help pupils to make the right choices. They all strive to 'be the best they can be'.
Leaders have high expectations for pupils to do well. Pupils build trusting relationships with adults. They are respectful, whether working in class or playing outdoors. Pupils enjoy their learning. They willingly help and support one another. As one pupil said, 'Everybody respects everyone at this school.'
Pupils behave well. Low-level disruption is rare. Pupils consider that bullying does not occur at their school. They know what bullying looks like. Pupils know that if it did happen, adults would deal with it quickly.
Pupils take part in different local events. This helps them to think about the needs within their local community. It encourages them to be active citizens and to understand their responsibilities in the wider world.
The majority of parents appreciate how staff work with their children. One parent reflected this, describing the school as 'a great school with a strong sense of living its values and where demonstrating the right behaviours is as important as academic achievement'.
The above statements highlight our commitment to the community that we serve, and we will continue to strive to be a school that the local community can be proud of. To read the full report please visit our website; Claydon Primary School Ofsted report Oct 2022
May is always a busy month in school as there are various statutory assessments taking place. The week beginning the 8th May has seen our year 6 pupils sitting their end of Key Stage 2 SATs tests. Our year 6 pupils have been working extremely hard all year round, and have engaged positively in the additional tutoring and support on offer in addition to their usual school learning.
It is vital we support our year 6 pupils as much as we possibly can to successfully make the transition to High School — academically, but also from a social and emotional aspect. We therefore wish our year 6 pupils good luck in their SATs. This month we also have Year 2 pupils participating in their end of Key Stage 1 SATs, and year 4 pupils in the relatively new statutory Multiplication Tables Check. All these assessments are a good national benchmark for our pupils and us as a school.
We have been delighted with the experiences the pupils have had this academic year, as 'Broader Experiences' is one of our key curriculum drivers for our pupils here at Claydon. We know our children are capable of doing great things beyond school. We believe that at Claydon Primary our children learn best when they are offered exciting, memorable and immersive opportunities. We are passionate about ensuring that even from a younger age they are exposed to a range of possibilities - we want to broaden their horizon and influence their aspirations. These fresh and broad experiences are aimed at developing semantic rather than purely episodic memory.
This year has seen a range of experiences, trips and events on offer for the children, a few are listed below;
- Cross Country Event at the Royal Hospital School, 48 children in years 4-6 took part with two first placed finishes
- Colchester Zoo trip
- Theatre trip to watch 'Wind in the Willows'
- Christmas Crafts at Barham Church
- Anti-Bullying Ambassador training
- Residential at Hilltop for Year 6 and Blaxhall for year 4
- Colchester Castle trip
- Opportunity to learn Brass instrument or violin in year 4 for all pupils
- Bowling
- Swimming for years 4, 5 and 6 and a huge range of Sporting events have been attended by pupils
A highlight though has to be our first ever trip to Wembley Arena for our school choir - 44 children -, as they took part in 'Voice in a Million' along with over 5,500 other children. A truly memorable experience, that they will never, ever forget.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank pupils, staff, Academy Committee members and the HSA for their continued hard work and to parents/carers for their ongoing support. As a school we look forward to building further links within the local community we serve so proudly.
Louis Collins
Headteacher
May 2023
Claydon High School continues to be oversubscribed and we are keen to explore future growth alongside our primaries to ensure that local families can access their local 'catchment' school.
The school is returning to normality post-Covid with events, trips and visits but some challenges remain with sickness bugs and germs! We hope the summer will bring some respite.
We have a number of student initiatives including our School Council, Green Team, Student Leaders and Duke of Edinburgh volunteers. We are always looking for local people or companies who can support the school with related activities or providing careers and work experiences so please do be in touch if you can offer some expertise. Likewise, our students are keen to support community groups where they can, so we welcome reciprocal requests.
A major concern we have currently is the impact of local roadworks, road closures and congestion on student punctuality and attendance. We share parental frustrations when bus routes change or do not pick up students on time, or at all, but we have no control over this and often do not know until a parent contacts us. We would be happy to work with local councillors to make appropriate submissions regarding the A14 and other local roads and the detrimental impact of poor infrastructure on our school and its community.
Ms Maéve Taylor
Headteacher
Suffolk County Councillor — Chris Chambers
99% of pupils receive a preferred primary school place on National Offer Day
99.18% of children were offered a place on National Offer Day at one of their three preferred primary schools and 95.78% were offered a place at their first preference school.
Suffolk County Council received 7,056 applications from parents and carers indicating which primary school they would prefer their child to join in September 2023.
Families who applied online can log on to the Admissions Portal from today to see the school their child has been offered. They will also receive an email to confirm this offer.
Historic half a billion-pound devolution deal hands Suffolk regeneration and skills powers to level up.
Suffolk will be devolved power over their Adult Education budget, so they can shape provision in a way that best suits the needs of the local community and will receive immediate support to build new affordable homes on brownfield sites, as well as more capital funding to improve energy efficiency in houses.
The deal will also see Suffolk County Council handed control over a £480 million investment fund — this will be guaranteed for the next thirty years. This will enable the county to drive growth and plan for the long-term with certainty as it looks to level up and unlock its full economic potential.
Suffolk will also get a directly elected leader of the council. This not only provides a single person who is accountable to the people of Suffolk but gives the county a local champion who can attract investment and be a stronger voice in discussions with central government.
Record number of residents help shape county council budget
Each year, councils everywhere engage with their residents about how much money they plan to spend on public services, in order to set their annual budget. Suffolk County Council was no different with a budget that funds services from gritting roads during the winter, to providing Family Hubs and keeping the most vulnerable people safe and well. The budget for Suffolk County Council services in 2022/23 is £625 million.
Between early October and the start of December, the county council collected a total of 2,617 responses. From this feedback which was made up of a wide range of individuals, it saw that social care for both adults and children were the two top areas where people feel the council should be spending more, with mental health services the next most important area.
Just behind these areas, residents want more to be spent on the county's roads and pavements and local bus services.
Council to protect frontline services and increase funding in budget
Adult care services and children's services received £47m more funding as part of Suffolk County Council's £685m budget that was passed by Council in February.
Despite an incredibly challenging economic climate, the council was able to produce a balanced budget. This will protect the services that people rely on the most and continue to care for the most vulnerable, which accounts for 75% of the whole budget.
Adult care services will have £34m more in their budget, and children's services will have a further £13m. This will help with the extra expense needed to meet the huge increase in demands for services, as well as higher costs due to inflation.
Some of the service areas where people also said they wanted to see more money spent, will receive additional funding:
- £700,000 for SEND services to support new recruitment, which is on top of the £1.1m invested this year
- £500,000 for Highways: to use environmentally friendly weed treatments, and stop using glyphosate which can damage wildlife
- £110,000 for tree management: to support the 'right tree right place' policy, having an appropriate inspection regime and supporting the resulting tree management requirements.
- £45,000 for Citizens Advice: to support work during cost of living challenges
Simple scheme to buy solar panels returned for Suffolk residents
Solar Together Suffolk, a scheme which has helped over 1,500 homes to install solar panels and batteries, opened for new registrations on 22 August 2022.
The scheme helps homeowners feel confident that they are paying the right price for a high-quality installation from pre-approved installers, whilst increasing their independence from the grid and reducing their carbon emissions.
Solar Together Suffolk is supported by Suffolk County Council and all local borough and district councils. From 22 August 2022, Suffolk residents could register for free with the group-buying scheme, with no obligation to go ahead with an installation: www.solartogether.co.uk/suffolk.
It is open to anyone interested in:
- installing new solar panels (with the option for battery storage and EV charge points)
- adding battery storage to an existing solar panel array
The innovative scheme builds on four years of the highly successful Solar Together programme run across the UK. To date, Solar Together Suffolk has:
- installed 17,900 solar panels at over 1,500 Suffolk households
- retrofitted over 200 batteries
- avoided carbon emissions totalling 28,730 tonnes of CO2 across the county.
Next round of new SEND places agreed by Cabinet
On October 11th the Council's Cabinet agreed a new wave of funding to continue its programme to provide places for children and young people with SEND.
The £3 million agreement marks the start of Phase 3 of the Capital Programme to create three additional specialist units providing 42 additional places for students with special educational needs and disabilities.
This follows Phase 1 of the programme which created 825 new places across Suffolk and Phase 2, which was signed off in June 2022, and will create up to 73 new places.
So far, £45 million has been allocated by Suffolk County Council to deliver the new places for Phase 1 and Phase 2 - £15 million of which has been provided by the Department for Education.
In addition, Cabinet also agreed to support the Department for Education's High Needs Provision Capital Funding (HNPCF) for 2023/24 of £7 million to be spent on the development of units attached to mainstream schools to support students with social, emotional, and mental health problems and speech, language, and communication needs. This will create up to 168 new spaces and is an addition to previous funding agreed from the Department for Education in 2022/23 for up to 78 new places.
Great Blakenham Village Hall May 2023
The management committee has instructed Playquip to refurbish the playground. Some equipment will be reused but will be updated to safety standards. The new equipment that will be installed providing a more inclusive experience and more accessible to all. The timeline for the work will be 18th June 2023 — 8th July 2023 hopefully all ready to use for the start of the summer holidays.
Suffolk Constabulary - Inspector Matt Breeze
Information gained online Hadleigh I Suffolk Constabulary
All my Safer Neighbourhood Teams in the South-West locality (Ipswich West and Hadleigh) work hard to make sure our communities remain safe places to live, work, travel and invest.
Police Constables on the teams support PCSO colleagues in focussed patrol and problem-solving work, working closely with partners and our volunteers. Our PCSOs develop areas of specialism as we work hard to combat the hidden out-of-sight harm in our communities.
Neighborhood Priorities
- Targeting theft from motor vehicles to reduce the number of offences, the fear of crime and to keep our communities safe
- Speeding and the anti-social use of vehicles, to increase road safety and to make the community feel safer and more supported
- Anti-social behaviour in local shopping areas, to make the community feel safer and more supported