We had a useful meeting with Jane Storey on Friday night. At the end both parties had a better understanding of each others position and of what should be done better next time. We have insisted that the Friends should be involved in any management committee for the Local Nature Reserve and our continued belief that ownership by a public or trust body would be in the best interests of local people. With the Government responding to pressure and changing direction we remain hopefull.
Rede Wood Latest
The latest word from the County (below) shows that they have taken no notice of local wishes. Not surprising but disappointing. We might hope that the “Big Society” would lead to early notice, discussions and time for communities to get organised and raise funds. No chance! Continue reading Rede Wood Latest
Rede Wood
Latest news is that the County Tories have decided to sell the wood to a private bidder. This is only the second time a Local Nature Reserve has been sold in this way. The Friends of Rede Wood will meet tonight to decide what action they will take
The County Council are selling a Local Nature Reserve!
The County Council want to sell a Local Nature Reserve, Rede Wood on the borders of Henley, Barham and Claydon. The professional view of the wood is that “It is a fairly typical small semi-natural boulder clay woodland of about 18 acres consisting of pendunculate oak, ash, some field maple, with a hazel dominated coppiced under-wood It has an interesting and important flora, largely connected with the coppice-with-standards management system. This includes 38 species that are believed indicative of ancient woodland and 30 species listed in the UK Biodiversity Action Plan are present mainly species of bird and mammals.”
The County have already sold the adjoining but seperate High House Farm buildings and farmland for which we believ they have received a good price and have received a round of bids for the woodland from both private and public organisations. Continue reading The County Council are selling a Local Nature Reserve!
Fire Control move to Cambridgeshire
The Conservative dominated Public Protection committee has endorsed the decision to move Suffolk’s Fire Control to Cambridge, in spite of the views of all opposition parties that the decision was premature and ill considered.
Liberal Democrats at Suffolk County Council challenged the Cabinet decision which was originally made on 7th December and called it in to be reconsidered a special meeting of the Public Protection committee. The control room, which is located at the former Colchester Road Fire HQ has to move to allow the County to sell the property. A number of options for a new control had been considered, including relocating to the former Police control room at Adastral Park or the secondary control room in Felixstowe. However these were dismissed in favour of the move to Cambridgeshire. Only 8 of the 23 control room staff will be required by Cambridgeshire and they will face a 150 mile round trip to work each day. Continue reading Fire Control move to Cambridgeshire
Housing at Gt Blakenham
The Government via the Homes & Communities Agency has given the go ahead for loans of £5.4 million for 81 affordable and 40 private housing at the Mason’s Works (SnOasis) site in Gt Blakenham. The affordable homes will be 56 social rented and 25 shared ownership and will be built by March 2012.
The £5.4 million is made up of £3.9m for the 81 affordable homes and a £1.5m loan to help fund the private market housing. This development will provide a valuable boost to local employment in the building industry and help meet local housing needs.
Incinerator or “Energy from Waste” in Gt Blakenham
Sita, the preferred bidder, are moving ahead with public exhibitions and consultation at their own risk in advance of contract placement. Unfortunately the first meetings will be complete by the time you read this. I have emphasised to them the local concerns about traffic, health and the size of the incinerator building. It is about 40 metres high. They aim to make a planning application by December.
Road improvements
Money is allocated to each district in Suffolk to be used to improve road problems that effect residents quality of life. In Mid Suffolk some £150k was divided between a common sum of £59k and ten county councillors at £10k each. That sounds a lot but road improvements cost a lot. This year we will have less due to the state of the economy. I have used my last year’s budget as follows but please let me know what should get priority this year.
Footpath from Gippingstone Road to rear of Bramford Primary
The district council has quoted approximately £6,000 for the easement to allow the County to surface the path past Cherryfields to the rear of Bramford Primary School. The total cost now exceeds the available funding by a considerable amount so I have asked for the MSDC charges to be re-assessed.
Lighting for the Bus Shelter that serves Hill View Business park
The bus shelter on the Old Norwich Road is in a very dark spot and worries the employees at the park and the people at Growing Places. I have asked for a street light to be installed and now that we have found where the power feeds are it will be completed soon.
Speeding
One of the vehicle activated signs, the one in Barham, will be funded from this budget.
Reduction of Anti Social Speeding in Villages
Our project to settle the debate on the most effective way of reducing anti – social speeding is progressing well.
Six vehicle activated electronic signs are now on order together with two additional speed guns and two new speed signs of the “Sid” type for the police.
After examining the first crop of speed records from villages, the team decided to change allocations. Bramford will have enhanced police enforcement activity. Somersham, Gt Blakenham, Barham and Claydon will have one electronic sign each and Henley two signs due to the high speeds past the school and approaching the busy blind junction in the village centre.
This is, in our view the best allocation based on present data but is not set in stone and may well be adjusted as the project progresses.
Scrutiny
This month we looked at the problems with alcohol consumption. Many of us enjoy a social drink but a minority take consumption to excess. I am sure we have all seen pictures of young people staggering about town centres and fights outside pubs and clubs.
We tried to get a better grasp of the issue, particularly the cost to the individuals, the health service and the economy. Of these the cost of long term health problems was the most significant, some £26 Million for hospital admissions and £729,000 for A & E visits.
A number of Health Service programmes are underway to identify people at risk earlier and get them the help they need.
We were impressed by the trading standards actions to reduce sales to those under age and the responsible attitude of the Co-Op who are making their staff training programmes available to smaller retailers.
The most obvious area for County activity is education. Schools, both primary and secondary have PSHE (Personal Social & Health Education), which covers issues like a sensible approach to alcohol, in the curriculum. Unfortunately it is not mandatory so some schools, we were told, don’t spend much time on it. We will be emphasising the importance of the subject to school governors.