Highways, Uncategorised

Highways Work 9th December

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2020-12-09-NA-Plan2-C492 Norwich Road and C496 Ipswich Road (2)
Just Got this from Highways  Cant upload the plan its too large and the routes are obvious

 

Hi All

 

We would like to apologise for the late notification of these works, this is due to the phased planning which has been required to ensure disruption and access restrictions are limited as much as possible. We are writing to inform you of our plans to carry out road resurfacing along C492 Ipswich Road and C496 Norwich Road, Claydon.

 

The works are programmed to take place between 9 December and 15 December 2020, working between 9am and 4pm each day. As we plan roadworks in advance, we schedule extra days to allow for bad weather or other delays beyond our control. If we need to make major changes to our work dates, we will update the information signs on site. Please note: the full length of the road will be closed; however, the works will be carried out in phases to manage access requirements.

 

Phase 1 (9 December) – Norwich Road, Claydon – Between York Crescent & Station Road

Phase 2 (10 December) – Ipswich Road, Claydon – Between Station Road and Church Lane (including part of Station Road junction)

Phase 3 (11 December) – Ipswich Road, Claydon – Between Church Lane and Newell Rise (including part of Station Road junction)

Phase 4 (12 December) – Ipswich Road, Claydon – Between Newell Rise and Old Ipswich Road (including Morgan Court junction)

 

Diversion route 1 – Norwich Road, Old Norwich Road, A140 and A14.

Diversion route 2 – A14, Old Norwich Road and Norwich Road.

 

Access to businesses and properties will be restricted and managed for the duration of the road closure. Staff will be on site to advise road users of the restrictions and arrangements at the point of required access or egress.

 

Request to residents – ‘Should you require the use your vehicle during the above working times, it would be much appreciated if alternative parking arrangements can be made to limit the vehicular access being required. Please allow extra time to your journey as there may be times where access is not allowed, due to ongoing operations.’ 

 

A plan showing the diversion route for these works is attached to this email. When we close the road and put a diversion in place, the route needs to be accessible to vehicles of all shapes and sizes. We make our diversions as clear as possible by placing appropriate signing along the route. The latest updates on our works can be found on our website at “Temporary road closures for Suffolk Highways roadworks” and on One.Network website.

 

There may be times that essential emergency works are required to take place on the highway network without advanced notice – you can follow Suffolk Highways on Twitter for the latest emergency roadwork updates.

 

Please could you use any contacts within your division or parish to circulate this notification.

 

Suffolk Highways

www.suffolk.gov.uk/highways

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My report for Gipping Valley via InTouch May 2020

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Council Status

The pandemic clearly requires a change in where and how we work.  Essentially 100% of the council staff are working from home and almost all work is online.  The overall response to the pandemic is managed through the emergency response structure.  A number of management “Cells” each look after a specific service area.  County, District and other agency staff are working together: some have been re-deployed to teams where demand is high.

Officers have risen to the Covid 19 challenge, the senior staff really have a grip on their areas, have a command of their subjects and are doing a good job.

There are some services where it is difficult to be sure what issues exist and why.  The spread of the virus in care homes is such an area, but action to put the necessary testing in place has been taken. We are told that residents leaving hospital are now assumed to have the virus and are isolated until testing proves otherwise.

The Government has reported the number of care homes which have suffered Covid 19 outbreaks.  In Mid Suffolk it is 55%.  There were some 91 deaths in care homes across the county between April 4th and May 1st.  When Scrutiny looks at quality of the Covid-19 response, we will examine these numbers and make comparisons.

The take up of school places for children of essential workers and those from disadvantaged families is low.  That is a concern and the Children and Young People service is trying to establish if the numbers can be improved.

Latest Government and SCC advice is available online.

Council meetings in the COVID-19 era

Committee meetings ceased when lockdown commenced but briefings switched online.  Now its legal to hold meetings online we are functional again. We held the` first online Scrutiny meeting on Tuesday 12th May.

Online meetings appear to work well, certainly briefings and pre-meetings do.  You will be able to participate in public meetings via the system we are using, Microsoft Teams Live.  The link will be published on the committee agenda.

Walking and Cycling

Walking and Cycling are vital for exercise and a safe way to get to work.  To ensure that residents can exercise safely and maintain social distancing, my group are encouraging the Council to close roads that are used by walkers and cyclists to get their daily exercise.  It has responded by closing Ipswich Waterfront to through-traffic for 3 weeks.

Government grants are available for these actions and as I wrote this Grant Shapps was extolling the virtues of such action and of cycling and walking to work.

If you have suggestions for roads that could benefit from a closure, please let me know and I will pass it on to the Cabinet Member.

District

During this period no one will be evicted for not paying council tax or rent to Mid Suffolk and the Communities team is giving help wherever it is needed.  Families struggling with financial hardship are to be given further support to reduce council tax bills, with letters due to more than 4,000 households in Babergh and Mid Suffolk.

If you have any queries, please ring 07545423808, 01473831306 or Email john.field@suffolk.gov.uk.

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Highways Work on the A14

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Just to let you know that Highways England will be starting night time highways work on the A14 in May, starting on the 11th and taking some 12 weeks in total. They will be replacing some 22km of lanes in total spread over the east and westbound carriageway between Stowmarket and Claydon, a task that involves some 20,000 tonnes of material. The resurfacing will be of the full depth of the road to ensure it then has a 20 year life.

Your County Councillors insisted they considered contraflow working but they demonstrated that the road is not wide enough to support that. Queues during the day would be long and if ther was a breakdown or an accident it would be very difficult to get to for rescue or vehicle recovery.

So there will be diversions between 8pm and 6am on to local roads for quite a number of weeks. There would be speed restrictions on the A140 24 hours a day to allow traffic to run on that during the day.

They would do eastbound first from Stowmarket (Tesco) to the A140 with diversions via Dis (starting at Bury St Edmunds) and via Stonham starting at Stowmarket for the six weeks this phase would take.

They would then do the A14 eastbound starting at the A140 towards but not all the way to Claydon for two weeks with a diversion via Barham and Claydon, Norwich Road and Ipswich Road. Clearly that is a significant disturbance but traffic volumes at night are much lower.

The next operation would be the westbound carriageway from Claydon towards the A140. This would take some four weeks with a night time diversion via Great Blakenham and Needham Market. West bound traffic would access the A140 via Claydon and Barham but trafic from the A140 wishing to go west would go via Stonham to Stowmarket.

For details see the highways letter below

A14 Works J50 Stowmarket to J52 Claydon
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Is our house building out of control under the Conservatives ?

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We all agree that house building must match the growing population, and the government insist upon it. People are living longer, living on their own and emigrating to and within the UK to do vital jobs. However, new housing must be distributed in a way that does not destroy the Suffolk environment we all enjoy.

After much delay the new Mid Suffolk District Council Local Plan is at last nearing completion but just when will it be delivered? . It should have been produced much earlier to guide developers to locations that villages could tolerate.

Continue reading Is our house building out of control under the Conservatives ? →
County, District

Report to Gipping Valley: April 2019

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The turmoil and chaos around national politics and the Brexit disaster coupled with the need to focus on the District Council elections have been a significant distraction this month.  However, there is news from the County, a mixture of good and bad to report.

Investment for Special Educational Needs

In February I reported that the cross-party Policy Development Panel had recommended that the County invests £45.1m in SEND.  This will develop new Special Educational Needs & Disability schools and specialist units in Suffolk. 

I am pleased to say that this plan is going to Cabinet during April with a recommendation to proceed.  Some 800 places in the county to provide pupils the support they need locally will be a leap forward.

Children’s Centres

Less welcome is the news emerging from the cross party Policy Development Panel on the Family Services.  Regrettably this panel appears to be pushed in the direction of significant cuts.  The proposals are secret at the moment, and I can’t report how accurate the leaks in the press are.  However, this looks like an attack on a successful service that has great value.

Continue reading Report to Gipping Valley: April 2019 →
Gt_Blakenham, Leisure, Planning

Snoasis

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Last week at Mid Suffolk Planning

The “Reserved Matters ” for the Snoasis planning application were agreed Wednesday last week. That’s all the details that were not covered when the Secretary of State agreed the application after the public inquiry in 2007. In fact a number of items in the legal agreement, the “section 106” document were changed to planning conditions, a process the government likes as it usually reduces the delay between application and the start of work. However in this case the district council and the developer have taken 10+ years to ge to this point so I wonder just how speedily things will develop from now on. The problem with conditions is that they are agreed at officers discretion so local people have little input.

We were promised that the “Local Reference Group” rather like the Liaison Group that I chair at the Suez EFW plant. I hope that will help to keep residents and the parish group in touch and get the local voice heard.

My input to the meeting as Ward Member

Is this a wonderful opportunity to gain a world class winter sport facility or just a chance to spend further years being assured with little supporting evidence that “finance is in place” while wilfully blind optimism drives a project that is just not viable.  If it were a good business project would we now be 13 years down the road with little to show?

Continue reading Snoasis →
Highways

Road Closure in Baylham

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Just to warn those of you who visit relatives or friends in Baylham, the main way in to the village will be closed for seven weeks from Monday. The Care Centre is connecting its dysfunctional sewage system to the village drains by putting a pipe in a trench up the road.

They won’t use any of the shorter routes across the fields or round the field boundary. The contractor is using “traditional” methods, not fast trenching machines, so seven weeks not two. Thanks guys!

Highways of course just agreed-like in Barham, Claydon and at Hackneys Corner. Trying to get them to look after the residents is up hill all the way. The diversion routes are through Little Blakenham or along Circular Road (Back Street) from B1113. Both 4.3km with few passing places.

We are asking people to come in via Back Street and out via Little Blakenham but not all will do that, its not official, please be careful. Highways have promised to try to grit the road if it’s necessary.
The Care Home is still accessible from the B1113

 

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County Council Election

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County Council Election tomorrow, don’t forget to vote it’s vital for democracy. I am the Liberal Democrat Candidate. I enjoy representing you and I hope you will vote for me.
I have kept you informed through “In Touch” over the last four years letting you know what I have delivered, what the challenges are and what the County is trying to do.
Do you feel I have worked hard enough for you to select me again? I hope so and look forward to a tough four years as the UK changes its position and influence in the world and the County makes its contribution.

For the next four years, My targets will be:

  • To continue to deliver on local issues and needs, tackling problems that impact directly on your life.
  • To organise a Gipping Valley effort to develop a plan for our highways that will allow the housing expansion necessary to meet local needs without creating road chaos.
  • To continue to insist Highways respond to your needs effectively and maintain out roads well.
  • To make sure public transport and park and ride schemes are not further damaged,
  • To ensure the County makes the maximum commitment it can afford to social care, reducing the impact on the NHS of unfulfilled need and using, not hoarding in reserves, the funds it has.
  • To help local groups support and construct new facilities in the area.
  • To remain deeply involved with improvements to the efficiency and effectiveness of County services.
  • Advocating investment where it will cut long-term costs, improving quality of life and reduce demand for services.

John Field

Gipping Valley News from John Field