Restored Sunday bus goes from strength to strength! Having finally got the 65b service back in July, after years when Woodbridge residents were cut off from any Sunday or holiday bus transport whatsoever (including getting to Ipswich hospital for visiting, A&E and minor injuries!) We were told – quite fairly– ‘use it, or lose it’ Woodbridge residents have risen magnificently to the challenge – and as a direct result the 65b will not only be retained at least until March but will also now run 5 times a day in each direction from January, and the service has been extended out to Melton. Again, we must continue to remember that it’s a case of use it or lose it – so when shopping for Christmas, or in the sales – remember to take the Sunday bus!
Woodbridge Rail StationTicket Machines! Sadly, the machine continues to be less than wholly fit for purpose. It spends much of its time out of order or malfunctioning, leaving many Woodbridge residents frustrated – either out of pocket, having had to pay twice for a ticket, or facing a penalty fine for a fare they have paid! I have recently been contacted by a stream of people complaining about this problem , including overseas visitors who found local travel very difficult and some residents who have told me that their only option to this is making a 15 mile round trip to use the machines in Ipswich (as the Saxmundham ticket machine is often also out of action).
Suffok Speed Limit Criteria For some months now I have been part of the crossparty policy development panel working on developing a new Speed Limit Criteria policy for Suffolk. SCC Cabinet will be seeking to approve this today. If approved, the new policy aims to ensure that speed limits are applied fairly, and transparently across the county while reflecting local concerns where appropriate – and enabling local County Councillors to make representations on behalf of the communities they represent.
This would complement the new 20mph policy that the same panel (on which I also sat) developed and which Cabinet approved earlier this year.
Suffok’s Education and Learning Infrastructure Plan SCC is also developing Suffolks Education and Learning InfrastructurePlan. This is of particular interest to me as I have been arguing that there is insufficent bringing together of strategic issues locally. The coverage of the future eduction situation in Woodbridge is not wholly encouraging:
“Woodbridge/Melton
Issue: Potential housing of up to 500 houses in the longer term
Solution: Investigate local primary provision in the area to ensure capacity is available or local schools are able to expland to accommodate growth. Also ensure that local secondary provision, already at capacity, is able to expand as appropriate.”
I have asked for this information to be expanded on, bearing in mind that Farlingaye, designed for 750 pupils, now accommodates around 2000 and that the the physical impossibility of moving this number around the corridors has caused lessons to be reduced to 3 a day for the last 8 years. I understood that these developments aren’t seen as enough to fund a further school, but query what further expansion might be humanly possible in the circumstances!
I also want to understand why the strategic issues of Farlingaye are siloed within Woodbridge/Melton when it has a catchment area of 400 square miles including, for example Rendlesham (where I see further development is also indicated).
Additionally, strategic development of schools seems to stop at the buildings themselves and does not consider the impact on local roads.
Warwick Avenue: That long-awaited resurfacing of Warwick Avenue is delayed again – until March 2015 – but this time there is an excuse! I have been lobbying for this seriously overdue and much-needed repair work for years, and am very glad that it is finally going ahead. The repairs had been planned for the end of 2014, but when cores were taken from the concrete slabs that make up the road, it was discovered that they had metal reinforcement, making hopes of using an in-situ recycling technique impossible. I am now told that the SCC contractors, KMG, will be bringing in a specialist surfacing contractor to remove any asphalt on the slabs, repair the slab joints and lay high density asphalt overlay.
Let us hope this will finally and at long last provide the reliable and stable road surface that Warwick Avenue residents deserve – and for which they have been waiting for such an unreasonably long time!”
County Councillor Surgeries My monthly walk-in surgeries continue to be very successful and well-attended. In October I discovered 14 people waiting for me when I opened. The final Surgery of the year will take place on 20December 2014 10-12 in the library as ever.
Dates for the early part of 2015 will be: 17 January, 21 February. 21 March and 18 April.
Finally,