Present
- Present
- Cllr. Leslie Judd, Cllr. Terry Mee, Cllr. Alan Perry, Lydia Kindred (clerk), 1 member of public, who left before item 4.
- Apologies
- Received and accepted from Cllr. James Hardy (Chair) and Cllr. Linda Montgomery (vice Chair). Cllr. Perry agreed to chair the meeting.
- Absent
- Cllr. Hurlock
Declarations of Interest
None
Minutes of Meeting Held on 12th August 2026
These were approved as a true record.
Matters Arising
The clerk has submitted the two planning responses as agreed at that meeting.
Public Forum
A resident raised concerns about traffic and speeding in the village and asked what the Parish Council is doing to address this, as well as why the police do not carry out speed checks locally. He also wanted the Council to apply to Sizewell for funding for a footpath to the Fourways roundabout. In addition, he reported the road narrowing at Hacheston Lodge and expressed frustration that this issue has not been resolved by Suffolk County Council since his time as a Councillor many years ago. He also wanted to know if the Parish Council has submitted an FOI request for a copy of SCC’s 5 and 10 year plan for the area.
A report from District Councillor Noble has been received and circulated.
Chair’s Report
The Chair was not present to give a report.
Clerk’s Report
The clerk will attend East Suffolk Council’s next Town & Parish Council Planning Forum on 16th September and report back on planning changes expected in October, designed to reduce the number of applications considered by committee.
The Annual Governance and Accountability Return (AGAR) is being digitised & it is expected that the 2027 submission will be fully online.
The donated painting of the Church has arrived and the clerk will seek a valuation and add this to November’s agenda.
A site meeting has been requested with SCC Liaison Engineer and County Councillor regarding traffic issues in the village. Dates will be shared when received.
An update has been received from the local hedgehog rescue. The enclosures are in constant use and recently rescued hoglets are doing well. She expressed her thanks again to the Parish Council for the improved facilities.
Dog bins have been requested on the main road at the entrance to the allotment footpath and the layby on Easton Lane. With the purchase, installation and licensing charges, two new dog bins in these agreed locations would exceed £1,000. Service charges to empty them would also then be payable annually. Councillors agreed to look into alternative sites that would not require a licence from Suffolk County Council.
Finances
- The following payments were considered and approved:
- Councillors agreed to pay the clerk’s wages and HMRC when details are received from SALC. The clerk will transfer funds from the deposit account to cover these payments.
- Receipts
- None
- Payments since the last meeting:
- 03/07/2026 Information Commissioner’s Office- (Direct Debit) £47.00
- Bank balances & CCLA deposit funds as at 26th August:
- Community Account: £1,339.19
- Deposit Account: £4,809.98
- CCLA funds: £27,558.81
It was noted that over £80 is now being generated by this Fund each month.
- Bank statements and bank reconciliation
- These were reviewed, and were signed off by Cllr. Perry in the absence of the Examining Councillor.
- Year-to-date accounts
- This was reviewed and spending was mainly in line with the budget. The grass cutting is currently under budget due to the dry season.
- The National Joint Council for Local Government Services (NJC) has reached an agreement on rates of pay applicable from 1 April 2026 to 31st March 2027. As per the terms of the clerk’s contract, it was agreed to backdate the clerk’s pay to the revised rate from 1st April 2026.
Village Sign Project
The working group has met and shared initial ideas on how to progress the project. It was agreed that Cllr Perry will approach the original sign maker to discuss the possibility of renovating the existing sign and to obtain an idea of costs, with a view to relocating this sign elsewhere in the village. It was noted that this sign is now over 50 years old.
The group also suggested several themes that could inform the design of a new sign, linked to Hacheston’s etymology and heritage. It was agreed to invite residents to also contribute their ideas, and all suggestions can be considered again at the next meeting.
Community Website
It was agreed to upgrade the website at a cost of £150 to ensure Council documents are more easily accessible and compliant. Cllr. Perry will also speak to the Village Hall Committee about them having a page on the website, to advertise their venue and upcoming events.
Updates on Traffic and Speeding Issues Discussed at July’s Meeting
A meeting has been requested with the County Councillor and local Highways Liaison Engineer to discuss the traffic problems.
A flyer has been produced and printed to be circulated to everyone in the village with details of who to contact with traffic and speeding issues, asking for Speedwatch Volunteers and reminding people that incidents need to be reported to the police for their Crashmap data. The Chair of the Village Hall has kindly agreed to deliver this with their next leaflet.
The new Speed Indicator Device pole for outside the Village Hall has been ordered. As discussed at the last meeting, the SID outside the village hall will be replaced with a solar-powered one, to the same specification as the other devices in the village. In the interest of pedestrian safety, Councillors authorised the clerk to order one, at a net cost of up to £3,000. The Chair had advised the clerk that he has tried changing the battery in the Speed Indicator Device near the village hall but that it still was not working properly.
A volunteer is needed to extract data from the SID. Cllr Perry offered to look into this.
Insurance
The insurance policy was reviewed and confirmed to be fit for the Council’s needs, providing sufficient cover for all assets, as well as public liability and fidelity insurance. Councillors were pleased to note that the renewal premium has only risen modestly from last year and agreed to accept the quotation.
Recent Planning Decisions
Extension at Ivy Cottage DC/26/2294/FUL- permitted
Variation of Condition Land to rear of Phoenix Cottage DC/26/2106/VOC- permitted
Land south of Glevering Park- solar farm DC/25/2997/FUL- permitted by ESC’s planning committee
Parish Councillors’ Reports on Any Actions
Cllr. Perry was pleased to confirm that the table tennis and basketball hoop at Fairfield Green (purchased using the village’s Community Infrastructure Levy fund) have now been installed and are being used by residents already.
It is hoped that a Council representative will be able to attend the upcoming meeting on the active travel project being considered by a group of local parishes to hopefully be funded by Sizewell C.
Cllr. Mee expressed frustrations with all of the problems to the waste collection services in the village since the implementation of the Better Recycling system in June. These were echoed by other Councillors.
Matters to be Raised at the Next Meeting
The next meeting was confirmed as being 7pm on 18th November 2026.
The acting Chair thanked everyone for attending and closed the meeting at 8.35pm.