When my husband was a very small boy he lived in
Residents of Babergh will, I’m sure be delighted to know, that they do not have to resort to such anti-social methods. Instead, on Sunday 6th January you can take your tree to one of 36 recycling points (all baubles removed). The trees will be chipped and composted, so will support the growth of other plants in the future.
Looking at the list, the nearest point for people in Waldingfield Ward is either the car park at the Kingfisher Leisure Centre in
If it is a nice day I do recommend the walk over the fields that starts from the Long Melford Car Park. A twenty minute stroll takes you to a fairly dramatic weir on the River Stour, and there are good views of the Church on the way back.
‘It is the people themselves, who are incessantly called upon to participate personally in the decisions, not merely by expressing opinions about them in innumerable popular meetings; not merely by voting for or against their exponents at recurring elections; but actually by individually sharing in their operation’
Read on to find out who said this about what, where and when!
The course that I have been attending this autumn in
A recurring theme has been this Government’s commitment to ‘community consultation and participation’, which pervades their thinking on Local Government reform. The idea is that ‘People should be empowered’ to take responsibility for their own neighbourhoods, and that the role of the Councillor is to ‘lead’ and ‘facilitate’ the people in their role. (It was a course for Councillors, so they couldn’t be entirely written out of the equation!)
The motive for taking this approach is cited as concern about general apathy towards local government, whether evidenced by low turn out in elections or unwillingness to participate in community events. It is thought that by empowering people one will stimulate some sort of community spirit.
In this connection we were introduced to two projects that derive from Government ‘thinking’; ‘Participatory Budgeting’ and ‘Transfer of assets to the community’. The first idea is that local communities should be given some of the public purse (or ‘community kitty’) to manage for themselves, and the second is that a number of assets currently owned by councils should be handed over to local people to run.
In my view there are many problems with these ideas, and I, along with the vast majority of participants on the course, am highly suspicious of them.
There is absolutely no guarantee that money or assets passed to the community as a whole will ultimately fall into the hands of those who actually need them. Far more likely is that they will be appropriated by those ‘usual suspects’ who are articulate and can shout the loudest. I believe it is one of the key roles of the elected representatives of the community (i.e. councillors) to make judgements about resources, and to be accountable to the community as a whole. Anything else would result in an unpleasant free for all.
I believe that these ideas are really an attempt to concentrate more power in the hands of central government by diluting and emasculating the power of Local Councils yet further. In the event that local communities fail to act responsibly the perverse result would be to shift the seat of judgement further from the grass roots
This brings us back to the provenance of the quotation that started this post. It was actually written by Beatrice and Sidney Webb about Stalin’s
Nick and I went to St. Mary's Chilton on Sunday to the candlelit Carol Service. This is one of the three services held at the Church every year. The large number of people who attended bears witness to the fact that although the church is in theory 'redundant' it is still held dear by many.
Lead thieves have brought grief to the congregations of a number of
If members of the public should see men working on a church roof, please take vehicle numbers and call the police if you have the slightest suspicion that all is not that it seems, with the proviso of first making sure that they are not in the process of replacing stolen lead!
Best wishes from an ex-Chiltonite.
There are a good many dog walkers in the area! Keep your eyes open!
Colin and I were up bright and early on Thursday morning to take part in an Impact Day organised by the Suffolk Fire Service. The idea of an Impact Day is that representatives of the public services such as the Police, the Fire Service, the DVLA, Babergh Environmental Health, the Education Service, Babergh Anti Social Behaviour team, Litter pickers etc. descend en masse on a locality to try to sort out problems on the ground, and do some clearing up along the way.
We mustered at 7 a.m. at the Big Apple Bowling Alley. All four Babergh District Councillors for the area participated. After a briefing we set off through the gloom to the Springlands Estate where a happy five hours were spent in the pouring rain generally sorting out the area. We manfully strode about revealing endless piles of rubbish in alleyways and hedgerows and a goodly number of untaxed motor vehicles under the bemused gaze of local residents, who had probably not seen so many police officers gathered together in one place at one time since the last Royal Wedding. Colin, Peter and I managed to unearth a Dyson cleaner and a pool table (pictured above). Unfortunately neither was salvageable.
The police made one arrest (a disqualified driver on the Eastern bypass) and also managed to run a potential villain to earth who had secreted himself in a garage and was making suspicious banging noises. We all were told to keep clear as the officers prepared to storm the premises, but at the eleventh hour the suspect was reprieved when it came to light that he was simply mending the garage door on behalf of the home owner.
There was much that was slightly comical about the proceedings, but it would be wrong to be critical. These operations have done a great deal to improve some of the more difficult areas of Ipswich and
So what were the results of the operation? The list was very long, but included: 14 paper delivery children who were discovered not to have the right papers, and thus were uninsured. One truant was apprehended and one missing child found. Trading standards investigated six roadside vehicles for sale and reported two building firms to Scambusters. Enquiries about 24 vehicles with out of date tax discs were sent to the DVLA and 40 homes were checked for safety by the Fire Service. 22 items of graffiti were reported or removed, 46 incidents of fly tipping were found, along with 7 Tesco shopping trolleys. The police stopped two drivers with no insurance and two overweight lorries and representatives from the Environment Agency stopped 12 lorries carrying waste and found one to be without a licence.
On the whole the day was felt to be a success despite the dreadful weather, with a good time having been had by all, except, probably, the man in the garage.
When I first agreed to stand for Babergh it was thought very likely that I would not actually serve a full four years as a Councillor because the Government was calling for all areas to abandon the County Council/District Council pattern. Councils were to be rearranged as larger, ‘unitary’ councils which would undertake the services performed by both tiers of government. The Government then changed its mind (I know that you find this hard to believe!!!), and by the time the election came it was clear that Babergh would probably survive for at least a further four years. Babergh were however signed up to the idea of ‘Pathfinder’ whereby it was committed to trying to save money by sharing services with other authorities, and indeed it was looking very likely that a full merger with another District Council such as Mid Suffolk or St. Edmundsbury was a real possibility.
Well all bets are off now. Hazel Blears has spoken: pathfinder has been halted and Ipswich Borough Council has been told to get back into its box and abandon all ideas of unitary status within its current boundaries. It seems that the most likely outcome now is two unitary authorities for
Objectively, although it goes against the grain to say so, one must congratulate Ms. Blears for this change of heart. There are far too many councillors, a lot of duplication of cost in the current system, and some very strange division of labour (for example the County Council does the roads but Babergh does the road signs!).
I’m not at all sure what this all means for the future political career of yours truly. However, coming from the City I am used to uncertainty. I narrowly escaped being a part of Merrill Lynch’s takeover of Smith New Court in the late 1990’s, leaving Merrill Lynch a week before the announcement that would probably have meant the loss of my lovely office with view of St. Pauls and a new life in a snake pit that contained some of the more exotic reptiles in the City. The thing is to carry on as normal and do one’s best…it ain’t over until it’s over.
P.S. I couldn’t bring myself to put a picture of Hazel Blears on my blog. Instead I have posted a picture of Bury St Edmunds…where we may all be paying our Council Tax in the future.
My son Matthew seems to think that my blog is OK as far as it goes, but is distressed that I have switched off the capability for you, the readers, to leave immediate feedback on what I write. It has to be admitted, that although I am constantly surprised at how many people do seem to have accessed the site from time to time, I am aware that regular readers number fewer than 100, and that therefore the number of ‘nil returns’ in the feedback department may be a bit embarrassing.
However, I do get a fair few e mails in response to posts, and thought it would be a good idea to share some with you today. All three were written after the Folly in Folly Road post on Wednesday evening.
‘Thanks for all the latest. The "creep" in density of the Piggeries is no surprise. I fear the same thing has happened with Chilton Woods. Originally it was to be 700 homes. At the public meeting with the developers, hosted by Acton Parish Council back in April, the developer's representative began by saying 700, subsequently said "700 or so, perhaps 750", and by the end of the meeting, if I remember rightly, a figure approaching 800 was mentioned. Ever since then I have taken it that the new development will have some 800 homes on it and I bet that's what it turns out to be. We shall see.’
By e mail from Great Waldingfield:-
'When agricultural land is worth circa £3k per acre – a farmer only has to permit the run down of his holding and hey presto – in a dozen or so years the value will increase a hundredfold. I can remember the pig farm in use and it was not a pretty sight (or site)! The precedent appears to have been set – run down your agricultural holding – do nothing and trust in the Local Plan. There needs to be some real and tangible planning gain for the local community. Ouch – just fallen off my soapbox so must retire for treatment.'
A regular correspondent from Little Waldingfield:-
'I heard it from you first Jenny.
Extra Extra Read all about it here!!!!'
