Town council debut.

On Tuesday I attended my first Sudbury Town Council meeting. I found the experience refreshing and certainly a stark contrast to four years of enervating afternoons spent in the Council Chamber at Endeavour House.

For one thing the room at the Town Hall in which the Council meets is a fine one, with lovely swathes of Sudbury Silk adorning the walls.  I was concerned however  bythe way in which the seating is arranged at meetings as political parties line up opposite one another.  Is such a set up conducive to reasoned debate and consensus?   Does politics really have to be so prominent at this level of local government?  It is probably not up to a New Girl to complain too vehemently at this stage but I really do not think so.

I learned a few interesting facts at the meeting that may well be of interest to readers.

Firstly, now that the police station (sadly) no longer has an open desk, any lost property found in the Town should be taken to the Town Hall.  I am not sure what happens at weekends, but in these times of austerity finders and losers will just have to wait until Monday I suppose.

Secondly, the imminent closure of Babergh’s offices in Hadleigh, is, it appears, not all bad news for residents of Sudbury and the surrounding area.  Arrangements are to be made so that Babergh’s services can be accessed from the Town Hall.  I am not sure exactly what that will mean in reality but at least it seems that we will not all have to troop off to Ipswich for help and advice.

Thirdly, when I was tramping around the town prior to the election in January more than one resident spoke to me about the pedestrian crossing on Melford Road.  I understand that there have  been several accidents here, and I have noted that, despite quite reasonable signage at least from the north, for some reason the crossing is not very visible to drivers. On Tuesday, at the council meeting,  I raised this with County Councillor, John Sayers, and he, having raised the matter with County Highways with little success to date is now meeting our Member of Parliament James Cartlidge to see if further pressure can be applied from that direction.

How wonderful to be able to pass matters on to councillors at a ‘higher level’!