Category Archives: Woodbridge Tourist Information Centre

Rail, Suffolk Coastal District Council, Woodbridge Tourist Information Centre, Your councillor

Woodbridge Ticket Machine. Not working. Again

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This machine is currently out of service. Abiello Greater Angliaa apologise for any inconvenience this may cause
This machine is currently out of service. Abiello Greater Anglia apologise for any inconvenience this may cause

 

This machine is currently out of service.  Abellio Greater Anglia apologise for any inconvenience this may cause

I’m sure we all remember SCDC’s controversial closure of Woodbridge’s Tourist Information Centre last year. At the time, we Woodbridge residents were all assured that the new ticket machine at the station would be just as effective as the friendly and helpful staff who had been such an integral part of the Tourist Information Centre by Woodbridge  station.

Right.

I have just had to make a 15mile round trip in the  pouring rain to collect tickets from Ipswich because the machine is ‘currently out of service’. This is the second time in 4 days.  Like many of my constituents I have limited transport choices, and am currently suffering from extreme mobility problems.

Some bright spark has just pointed out we could buy tickets on the trains. Why gosh, so we could. Buying my tickets on the train might meaan that travelling to the funeral I am attending next week would cost  a little over £130, instead of the £25 return my prebooked tickets sitting in Woodbridge’s non-working ticket machine might cost, but hey – what is that? a mere bagatelle!

 

Taking the TIC away, and further limiting our choices  by having a non-working  machine has really not benefited all those who most needed it.  Can I give a special thank you to the   SCDC councillors of Woodbridge who made this decision on our behalf. We do remember who they are.

 

Incidentally,  readers, are you as irritated as I am by  the formulaic mantra  whereby a company will ” apologise for any inconvenience this may cause“? What on earth do they mean by  “any inconvenience”?  Are they suggesting that some people will come along to buy a ticket from this non-operational machine and find themselves in any sense convenienced by its lack of action?

Abellio Greater Anglia – if the ticket machine doesn’t work , aren’t you – in your heart of hearts – expecting it  to cause inconvenience to each and every passenger (I unapologetically use the old-fashioned term) who wants to buy a ticket? So, go on -why not apologise unreservedly  to all of us?

Rail, Suffolk Coastal District Council, Transport, Woodbridge, Woodbridge Tourist Information Centre

Strange story of the Woodbridge Station ticket machine

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Four months back,  when I attended the launch of the East Suffolk line hourly service, I  took the opportunity to ask Greater Anglia Customer Service Director Andrew Goodrum  where the proposed ticket machines at Woodbridge station were and when they were going to arrive?

(This was – and remains – a very important question.  SCDC had recently decided to close the Woodbridge Tourist Information Centre in the teeth of opposition from a large number of residents, myself, and all of Woodbridge Town Council,  apart from Cllrs Holdcroft, Mulcahy and Sayle . These three were in favour  despite the fact that older Woodbridge residents would lose ticketing facilities.  Since then the  Centre has been closed and the ticketing facilities have been lost).

I blogged on Mr Goodrum’s helpful reply a couple of days afterwards:    “You will be pleased to know there is absolutely no need to lobby for these [machines] as they have been purchased a while back. They are not yet installed as they need weatherproofing because they are designed for indoor use.”

So, have these machines arrived? No they jolly well have not. And surely it cannot take four months to waterproof a machine, however lovingly you do it!

A week ago I wrote to Mr Goodrum:

You may remember we met at the launch of the hourly service from Lowestoft to Ipswich, back on December 9th.  I was – and continue to be – a huge fan and supporter of this service which is so useful for so many of us in Suffolk Coastal. I use it regularly myself – both to reach Ipswich and to travel north.

On the day of the launch I took the opportunity of bending your ear about the proposed ticket machine which Greater Anglia was due to install on the platform at Woodbridge. You assured me that the machine had actually already been purchased but that there would be a delay in installation as it would need to be weatherproofed.

This was four months ago. I do hope you can tell me that installation is now imminent – and indeed give me an e.t.a. –  as I have a number of constituents who are anxious to use it.  

He has not – so far –  replied.  I am currently following the matter up further

PS This does not solve the equally strange  conundrum of the story in the EADT a day or two before the launch. Our local MP Therese Coffey, and her assistant, Woodbridge Town Council’s deputy mayor (the aforementioned Cllr Mulcahy) were described as having  “joined forces and launched a campaign to urge train operator Greater Anglia to install an automatic ticket machine at the station“.

How could they  launch a campaign to urge the company to install something that the company had already  bought and was already planning to install?

It just doesn’t make sense! 

Libraries, Suffolk Coastal District Council, Woodbridge, Woodbridge Tourist Information Centre

Woodbridge Library needs Friends!

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Save Woodbridge Library - and all the others in Suffolk. We love them and use them
Save Woodbridge Library – and all the others in Suffolk. We love them and use them

After huge protest from Suffolk residents of all ages and backgrounds,  kickstarted by the Lib Dem councillors and the library-loving residents of  Woodbridge, Suffolk County Council’s administration backed down on some of their more worrying  threats. Instead it has outsourced  the Library organisation into an Industrial and Provident Society for the benefit of the community.  This means that the Suffolk Library system has become a member-based organisation  of individual libraries.

Under these new proposals there are no planned closures for Libraries in the County – which is  a (at least  temporary) relief.  However, each of the Libraries will be tasked to make 5% savings on top the savings that are already embedded in the proposals.  This may mean an increase in volunteers, more fund-raising events, or changing suppliers for maintenance contracts. Funding is only guaranteed  by SCC for the first two years. Additionally, those libraries that do not have community groups are run by the IPS and have considerably less autonomy, because they have no representation on the board.
This is becoming a problem in Woodbridge.

Because Woodbridge Library is  run by the IPS , decision-making occurs without any local involvement . A notable example is the matter of the moving in of Suffolk Coastal District services to the Woodbridge Library premises without consultation or consideration of local wishes or requirements.  All moneys earned by the Library go back to the IPS, rather than being spent at the discretion of  us locals.  In the case of the Tourist Information point, neither Woodbridge Library or the residents of Woodbridge were even consulted as to the amount of rent SCDC should be paying(!).  Indeed the whole issue appears to have been discussed between officers without any input from or reference to elected local councillors or the Library itself.

In this case Suffolk Coastal district council wished to save money, and didn’t specifically have  Woodbridge interests at heart. There are rumours that they were offering as low as £2000 per annum rent for the ir occupancy of part of the library – and the Library’s consequent reduction of income-generating space.  Is it best value? If they don’t disclose we cannot know.  A Friends group would help Woodbridge to ensure it gets best value from and for its Library space!

It is now time to set up a Friends of Woodbridge Library group to allow the people of Woodbridge – and the surrounding district – a greater degree of control.

Please contact Woodbridge Library if you want to be part of this -we’d love it if you did! 

Update: it looks like the first meeting will be in the afternoon, 16 March