Chilton Woods, public consultation period coming soon.

Within coming weeks members of the public will be invited to express their views about the latest blueprint for the long awaited Chilton Woods development on land to the north of Sudbury.

The consultation is being held in advance of an application for planning permission by Suffolk County Council, which owns much of the land on the site.

Over recent months a series of 'place shaping' meetings has been held for elected councillors, and during the second part of January, local District and County Councillors will have additional briefings at which they will be able to have their say.

While the footprint of the development is likely to remain the same, the plans are different from those presented for consultation by former developers Redrow a couple of years ago.

There are a number of issues about which the views of the public are being sought, including points of road access to the site, and the disposition and nature of open spaces and community facilties.  It is particularly important that residents of Acton, Great Waldingfield and, of course, Chilton, take the time to give feedback, since these communities will be affected by the proposals.

Do take the time to come to one of the consultation events and give your views.  This is a genuine opportunity to shape an important space for the future.

I will publicise the timing of the various public consultation events on this site as soon as they are finalised.

The former 'Redrow' plans

Winter gritting

Any day now I expect some commentators will be telling us that 2015 is, so far, ‘the warmest year on record’.  Indeed, on the whole, this winter has not been too bad so far, so it would be better to get this message of doom out quickly before temperatures fall.

It may surprise readers to learn that so far this winter Suffolk County Council’s fleet of road-gritters have been out and about some 26 times on the 1225 miles of road in Suffolk that are ‘priority 1 treatment routes’, and 12 times on the 845 miles of ‘priority 2 treatment routes’ (additional roads which are treated when it is forecast to freeze after 9 a.m.).  The 34 Priority 1 routes take some two and a half hours to complete.

This year, thanks to the contract with Keir MG, nine new Econ gritters have been purchased to replace ageing ones in the fleet, and a further 29 have been upgraded.  This capital expenditure would not have been possible without the financial advantages brought by the new contract.

It is fair to say that some aspects of the contract have not proved too successful so far, and  urgent action is being taken to put this right.  It does seem however that Suffolk Highways’s preparedness for winter, warmer than average or not, is better than it has been for some years.

Five days left to apply for primary school places

Do you have a child born between 1st September 2010 and 31st August 2011?  Or do you know someone who has?

Parents and carers who need to apply for a full-time place for their child at their preferred primary school for the 2015/2016 school year have until the 15^th January 2015 to do so.  Anyone with children born between the dates above  can apply for up to three schools, either on-line (which is recommended) or using the paper application form.   

An application must be made, even if the child already has a place in a nursery class, pre-school or children’s centre.  Any applications received after the deadline will be considered after all the other applications have been processed. This could mean there are no places left at a preferred or nearby school.

 In 2014, more of Suffolk’s four and five year olds received offers for a place at their preferred primary school than in the previous year.  SCC received 7,632 applications from parents outlining which school they would prefer their children to be educated at from September 2014.  Of those, 92% received offers for their first preference and 97% received an offer from one of their three preferences.   

Any parents or carers who have not yet applied for a school place should apply online or download an application form at: www.suffolk.gov.uk/admissionstoschools or contact Suffolk County Council immediately on 0345 600 0981.

Possible boost for brownfield development in Babergh

It is probably welcome news that Babergh and Mid Suffolk District Councils have made the Government’s short list of potential 'Housing Zones'.   The final ten, from a  list of  29 local authority areas, will be announced in the next few weeks.

Given that Babergh and Mid Suffolk are the only East Anglian councils on the list, I would have thought that there is a good chance that they will make the final cut.

For those of us who are concerned about excessive development, the news is less alarming than it sounds since the housing in question is destined for brownfield sites only.  The designation would mean that the councils would have access to funding for purposes such as decontamination (often a problem on brown field land), infrastructure development and community facilities.  

There is not a huge amount of information available at present, and the councils are being coy about which particular sites they have in mind (although they will have nominated some in their application) . There is no doubt however that becoming a housing zone should accelerate development on appropriate sites which might otherwise prove difficult to bring forward.

It is generally preferable for development to take place on brown field land  because it probably means that there might be some chance of fending off excessive  building activity in nearby countryside for a while longer. 

For those who can access Times on line more information about the Housing Zone scheme can be found here.

Where to recycle your tree

 Once again Babergh and Mid Suffolk District Councils are providing facilities for residents to recycle their christmas trees.

There are 49 disposal points accross the two Districts.  Trees should be under 7 foot tall and have all their decorations removed!

In Cosford there are points in  Cockfield, Elmsett, Monks Eleigh and Whatfield.  Unfortunately it seems that there are none in Waldingfield Ward, but there are disposal facilities in Long Melford and Sudbury.

The last dates for disposal differ, ranging between 6th January and 19th, so it is best to click on the link below to check

Click here to find your nearest disposal point

I am ashamed to say that this year we decided to do without a real tree.  Much to my surprise the family did not complain.  However, it should be said that the artifical minimalist version that replaced our usual needle-shedding monster, lit up well, was very pretty and actually quite stylish!

No new road schemes for Suffolk

I don't know whether to be pleased or not about the fact that none of the additional money for roadbuilding that has just been announced by the Government appears to be destined for Suffolk.

On the one hand it means that there is some chance that our beautiful county might be relatively less ruined by development than other parts of the country.  On the other, it is pretty certain that our roads will not be able to cope with the increased traffic that results from the development that is already planned and expected.

I do wonder whether our MP's are fighting Suffolk's corner effectively in this respect?  We have some new individuals hoping to represent Suffolk in May.  I hope that they will come and speak to us at the County Council and try to understand the issues more thoroughly, so that they don't just make a noise at election time, but also speak authoritatively afterwards.

The Year Ahead 2015

I did not make too many predictions last year, so there was not too much to go wrong!

My prediction that UKIP would top the poll in the European elections proved to be correct.  I am pleased to say however that my wish that our exceptionally hard working Eastern area Conservative MEP’s, Geoffrey Van Orden and Vicky Ford, should be re-elected was granted.  In fact the Conservatives did better in the East of England than in other parts of the country. 

The other poll in 2014, the vote on Scottish independence, also turned

out as forecast.  I said that the result, a no vote, would be ‘quite close’, and in the event it was actually quite conclusively in favour of the Union.  However, events since that time have revealed that the story is clearly not finished yet.

This time last year in South Suffolk we were preoccupied with the deselection of Tim Yeo and the reselection of a new Parliamentary Candidate to fight the seat in May 2015.  On the blog last year I wrote the following:-

‘I am looking forward to supporting a candidate to become our MP, who regards Suffolk as his or her home; spends a good deal of time here in the constituency, working closely with District and County Councillors on the issues that matter to all residents; who does not have expensive and time consuming hobbies; who has a good attendance and voting record at the House of Commons; and who regards his or her parliamentary work as an end in itself, rather than a means to an end.’

From what I have seen so far of our candidate, James Cartlidge, he appears to be likely to fulfil almost all of the above requirements and I am sure that he will be successful in the election in May.

So, turning to 2015, the main question for anyone interested in the political scene is the outcome of the General Election.  As far as I can see most commentators, albeit with not much confidence, are predicting a hung parliament, with few being willing to hazard a guess as to how this might ultimately play out.  It could be that almost all the possible outcomes are so unpalatable that speculation becomes a disagreeable pursuit.

My belief is that, some of the UKippers will see the light between now and May, and faced with the unsavoury prospect of a Europhile Milliband led government supported by the Scottish Nationalists, they will swallow their bile and turn back to the Conservatives.  UKippers in Labour seats are likely to stand firm however, depriving Labour of crucial votes.   Thus while the Conservatives may not have an outright majority they will be the largest party.  I do not think that it is impossible that they will attempt to form a minority administration and, relying on continued improvement in the economy and the promise of a referendum on membership of the EU, engineer another election within months. 

At the County Council we will manage to balance the budget for 2015/16, and spend most of the rest of the year worrying about how we are going to repeat this without raising council tax over the following two years.  I think that the improvements in Education in Suffolk will continue, albeit frustratingly slowly, and accompanied by predictable howls of rage from some sectors of the teaching profession.  Residents will be surprised that High Speed Broadband penetration remains on track, and we will announce several cooperative initiatives with other parts of the Public Sector in Suffolk and beyond.

I will be standing down from Babergh District Council in May, and will watch their election, which coincides with the General Election, with interest.  Despite having some excellent prospective candidates, I fear that the much longed for Conservative majority will remain tantalisingly elusive, although I believe that the party will come very close.  A lot of good work has been done over the past four years at the District level.  The officer structures at Babergh and Mid Suffolk have been brought together, and a relatively strong financial position has been maintained.  However, the fact that these achievements are largely the work of Conservative leadership across the two councils has not been well communicated, and therefore is unlikely to be rewarded in the case of Babergh, which will remain with no overall political control yet again.