What on  earth is happening down at Melton Hill, with the old Suffolk Coastal District Council office site?

Crucially, what on earth has happened to the consensus masterplan created after the Community Planning weekend? To remind  people, it looked like this, retaining the old buildings, the trees and the Drummer Boy at the front…

Now people are asking how – and by what stretch of whose fevered imagination – has this consensus magically transformed into the below (current) plans for Melton Hill?

All old buildings, trees and even the Drummer Boy have been demolished, cut down and removed in favour of giant  5 &6 storey cheese wedges  – suitable for an urban setting – that will dwarf the rest of the town, impact adversely on National Trust’s historic views of the  riverside and town from Sutton Hoo , alter completely and irrevocably the skyline of the town, and create a completely mendacious ‘piazza ‘ area pictured as a bustling metropolis with people dashing to and  fro. Strange. After all, who, apart from residents, is going to be walking in this large open space, and why?  We may suspect we are not in Kansas, Toto – but this is not  Docklands .

(Though one does wonder whether, in a couple of year’s that space may be earmarked to become another tower….)

Talk about  having “des idees audessous de sa gare!”

To top it all there is not enough parking allocated for the – greatly increased – (now there’s a surprise – how often does that happen in Suffolk?) number of residential units planned.  How will this impact on a town already chronically short of parking , and where the District Council Offices  have traditionally opened their car parks at the weekend for public events?

And who will be able to afford to live here?

So what should you do if you are concerned?

I would urge the residents of Woodbridge to take this matter up with their  District Councillor – but the democratic deficit that exists in this area since the last boundary changes  is so egregious as to hardly need mentioning. Instead of the four councillors you had- one for each ward (Farlingaye, Seckford, Kyson and Riverside) -you now have three for a larger Woodbridge and district:  Cllrs Hedgeley, Holdcroft and Mulcahy – all of one party, by your express wish. By an arrangement  they have between themselves, Cllr Hedgley deals with the rural villages, leaving Woodbridge town represented by Cllrs Holdcroft and Mulcahy.  And  Cllr Holdcroft (amidst a proliferation of other hats including Town Councillor) is SCDC Cabinet member and on the SCDC Planning Committee and is therefore unable to comment on planning matters. As I  say, this leaves you with a sgnificant democratic deficit.

All I can therefore do is to suggest you approach your one remaining available District Councillor  -Cllr Mulcahy-  to tell her what you think and ask her to take action on your behalf over this!