Acton Annual Parish Meeting

Safe from encroachment?

 The Annual Parish Meeting at Acton, held on Wednesday evening  was attended by a relatively small, but very engaged group of residents.

The Chairman of the Parish Council, Lyn Bloomfield, commented that the year had been a relatively quiet one for the village, but that community spirit is alive and well in Acton.  The highlight of the year was the planting of the Jubilee Oak and burial of a time capsule marking the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee last summer.  Lyn noted the continued work that is taking place on the Barrow Hill Wildlife area, and said that volunteers are always needed to help at the site, which has been described as the only refuge in Acton for a wide range of wildlife. Information here.

Questions were asked about signage at the school, and also about the poor quality of lighting along the High Street.  It was noted that the High Street is in fact the worst lit area in the village!  Personally I am not that keen on too much street lighting.  We do after all live in the countryside.  In any event it was explained that although the Parish Council aims to continually improve the quality of the lighting this is not that easy due to expense, and also due to uncertainty with regard to the whereabouts of the electricity source.

Time was devoted to a discussion of the Chilton Woods Development.  At last year’s Annual Meeting residents had been upset by new proposals that the development should extend to the North of the original site, taking up land within Acton and encroaching on the settlement of Newmans Green.   

Those present at the meeting werer pleased to hear that, due to efforts made after the meeting, the plans had been changed and the footprint of the development is now back where it used to be.  However, given the recent withdrawal of the developer, Redrow, doubts were expressed as to whether the plans, as envisaged, would ever be realised.

A concern remains that if Babergh Development Plan is held up for too long as a result of doubts about the viability of the site, any part of the area could be up for grabs. This is due to the fact that if Babergh fails to adopt the plan quickly, the National Planning Framework, and the associated free for all for developers that this offers, comes into play by default.

A very positive report was given by the Chairman of the Village Hall Committee.  The Hall is now used by a wide range of organisations throughout the week and the financial situation has improved such that it is now possible to purchase new items before the old ones break rather than afterwards.   

The AGM of the Village Hall Committee will be at 7.30 on April 30^th.

The Annual Fete will be held on Saturday 6^th July this year and the Hall Committee would be pleased to hear from anyone who is interested in getting involved with the organisation or who has ideas for activities and stalls.

County Councillor Colin Spence and I both gave brief reports on our respective organisations. Mine will be posted up on this site once the last Annual Meeting has happened towards the end of May.