Cockfield cleans up!

Parish Councillor Janne Cutting-Keyton receives the Suffolk Village of the Year award.

2012 has been a bumper year for awards in Cockfield.

Not only did the parish win the Babergh and Suffolk Village of the Year competitions, it also received an award from the Suffolk Wildlife Trust for its Earl's Meadow project, and a prize for the best Parish Magazine.

I was lucky enough to be invited to the awards ceremony yesterday afternoon. An excellent tea was enjoyed by all as prizes were distributed by representatives from corporate sponsors UK Power Networks, Babergh District Council and SALC (The Suffolk Association of Local Councils).

To read more about Cockfield's success and the competition go to the village's website here.

Thursday's elections, a failure of democracy?

People in the media have suggested that the very low turnout in Thursday’s elections for police commissioners was a blow for democracy.  I don’t agree.

A refusal to vote in some circumstances can give a louder message than going out to vote, and I think that this was the case this time.

The level of information provided by the Government about the purpose of the new Police Commissioners, and the nature of the Police Authority, the body that they have replaced, was insultingly sparse.  Were the Government to be fully committed to the idea of police commissioners, should they not have had enough respect for the intelligence of the electorate to make sure that it was properly informed?

It is wrong to assume that everyone will look on the internet to find out information about candidates standing for election.  It is still the case that many people do not have access to computers. Moreover, if the reason for an election is not properly understood it is unlikely that people will bother.

In order to vote people need information.  In my view it is a sign of maturity and sophistication in an electorate, if, when they neither know the candidates or understand the issues,  they decide not to vote.

Not a failure of democracy at all…just a failure of communication and lack of commitment to their own policy on behalf of the Government.

How much austerity can a community take?

Riot police in Spain

Listening to the radio this morning, and hearing about the strikes against austerity that are taking place in parts of Europe today,  I was reminded about my time working with debt clients when an advisor at Citizens Advice.

Over 50 percent of our casework involved people with debt problems.  Our task was to try to help people to budget so that they could gradually clear their obligations.  At the same time we would contact their creditors to try to organise an affordable repayment scheme. This sometimes involved the company writing off part of the debt in order to receive at least some of the money owed.

It was generally accepted by experienced money advisors that a person might be able to stick to a regime of austerity for up to about 5 years. If however repayments needed to stretch beyond that period, then it was unlikely that the individual would be able to cope,  and that bankruptcy was a more realistic solution for them.

How different is the situation of a country full of individuals to that of one individual?  Places such as Greece and Portugal have signed up to austerity regimes lasting 20 to 30 years.  It is hard to believe that whole communities can be expected to manage that which we knew from experience at the CAB our debt clients could not.  How long will it be until Europe as a whole realises this and accepts the necessity of default?

Quiz night to fund 2013 Festival and Fayre.

Spurred on by the undoubted success of the Diamond Jubilee Celebrations in Great Waldingfield earlier this year, the same 'production team' is planning a Mid Summer Fayre and Music Festival in the village in 2013.

On 24th November a Quiz Night to raise funds for the event is to be held in the Village Hall.  Tickets priced £7 will include a jacket potato with chilli or beans.  Teams of up to six people are invited, and people are invited to bring their own additional refreshments (with glasses and bottle opener,)

Tickets, entry forms and more information are available from Joan on 07913 085019.

Questions about speed.

Last week I went to a workshop on speeding run by Suffolk County Council.

Whenever people are asked about the problems that they encounter in the community speeding is generally high on their list of gripes.  However, what the public perceives as speeding is often at odds with what the police regard as a speeding offence. Moreover, sometimes what appears fast to a pedestrian is actually a vehicle travelling at what, judging by the statistics, is actually a safe speed. 

One problem, I believe, lies in the way that the statistics underpinning speed limits are collected.  Only ‘recorded injury accidents’ are counted when considering changes.  No account whatsoever is taken of damage to property or to vehicles for example.  Sharing data with insurance companies might actually reveal that places regarded as ‘safe’ by the authorities are not really ‘safe’ at all. Potential damage to pedestrians or children is not looked at either.

Speed alone moreover, is not always entirely to blame for accidents. It is often regarded as something of a catch all, but other factors, such as generally inattentive and thoughtless driving, narrow roads, bends and poor visibility, often pose an equal danger to life and property.  

It is an interesting fact that in the 90’s Suffolk was at the forefront in taking measures against speeding.  It was the first county to carry out a wholesale review that led to the introduction of 30 mph limits in almost all towns and villages.  Now however many people, or at least many vocal people, seem to think that we need to go further and introduce 20 mph limits in many places across the county.

Guy McGregor, the Cabinet Member responsible for roads and transport at the County Council has recently carried out a review of speed limits across Suffolk and on the whole, with a few exceptions, has concluded that he is happy with the current situation.  However, we learned that there are some pilot schemes underway where 20 mph limits are being ‘suggested’ to motorists and the results of these should be known in the spring.

I use the word ‘suggested’ because currently the police will only enforce 20 mph limits in strictly defined circumstances, and in general therefore they are really only advisory.  I believe it would need a change in the national law to alter this situation.  There are also concerns that driving at 20 mph increases air pollution, noise levels, and petrol consumption...so it is hardly a Green solution. There is a school of thought that plugging away at trying to change driver behaviour is a better way forward.

What I found encouraging about the workshop was that, perhaps driven by lack of funds to undertake safety engineering works, the authorities are beginning to question the way that they look at the issue of speed in particular, and at road safety in general.  However, it has to be said that more questions than answers were raised during the session!

Scrap metal bill in Parliament yesterday

I was pleased to see that the Scrap Metal Dealers Bill, which tightens up the law and strengthens penalities for dealing in stolen scrap metal, passed through the House of Commons to its Third Reading yesterday.

It was a private members bill, the Government in its wisdom apparently unable to find time for it in its official legislative programme,

Under the Act local authorities will retain their licencing powers over scrap dealers, but these are enhanced, and both local officials and police will acquire improved rights of search and entry.

I wrote about this issue on the blog some time ago following a spate of thefts of lead from church roofs locally.  I am sorry that there had to be so many incidents across the UK before action was taken.  These were not confined to the theft of lead from church roofs, but also of copper wiring from railways and the metal parts of war memorials.

Adopted phone box finds new role

Some time ago Little Waldingfield's telephone box was declared to be 'no longer required' by British Telecom.  The box was subsequently formally adopted by the village, and has now taken on a new lease of life.

An Information Centre for the community it contains all sorts of leaflets on local matters and also has various notices adorning its interior.

As can be seen from the pictures, resident Rick Ridgeon has done a fantastic job in refurbishing the box.  I understand that the work took quite a long time so all credit to him!  I am sure that you will agree that the phone box, now restored to its former glory, looks wonderful, and is also serving a useful purpose.