Just imagine!

Instead of a vista of old mattresses, piles of hardcore and burnt out cars, the threat of boy racers and other unwelcome visitors, Chilton airfield is transformed!

Where fly tippers and customers from MacDonald’s, intent on casting aside their polystyrene containers, used to roam free, a miracle has taken place!  Birds sing in the woods, Children, secured from harm, play in the glades where wild flowers flourish. Residents of nearby dwellings walk their dogs, and horses and cyclists share the broad and grassy rides with deer and badgers.   Meanwhile at the ‘Chilton Woods Outdoor Auditorium’, Sudbury Amateur Operatic Society is rehearsing its forthcoming production of ‘Where the wild things are’.

This vision of the future of Chilton Airfield was just one idea that came out of Babergh’s recent consultation on producing a Green Infrastructure Policy for Sudbury, Chilton and Great Cornard.

We all had a wonderful afternoon drawing ‘green crescents’ round the periphery of the town, mapping footpaths and cycle tracks, and recommending the protection of various plots of precious green space, including Peoples Park.

How fantastic it would be if all these dreams could be realised.  No doubt one or two of them will be.

Recent experience however has taught me not to invest too much hope in ‘consultations’.  It seems that often they turn out to be a fraud; regarded as displacement activity for District Councillors ‘and other stakeholders’  who are assumed to have too much time on their hands.  

Meanwhile the real decisions are made elsewhere,while the lorries rumble on and oafs continue to strew their rubbish across the countryside.