Prevention is better than cure

Did anyone else watch the BBC "on the Case" programme about eyesight? When a BBC team with an optician did a spotcheck in Aylesbury (where 9 out of 10 haven't had a eye test in the recommended last 2 years) the results were quite shocking.

And the main reason was the eye test fee costing normally £20.

I wonder what the result would be in South Suffolk? I must admit I'm guilty as the day before the programme I had my first test for too many years. Yet it was all the other checks that the optician did eg diabetes, cateracts that mean we shouldn't avoid this MOT if you will.

Government shouldnt put financial barriers in the way of preventative health care.

IMF slates VAT cut. Gordon should have listened to Vince.

The International Monetary Fund has said the VAT cut is not seen as an incentive to spend. It does presume you have the money to spend.
Now Vince Cable and the Lib Dems did try and get this £12.5 billion Budget item overthrown. Did the Tories support us ??
Vince and the Lib Dems suggested that this money would be better spent giving a real stimulus to the hard pressed sectors of the economy eg construction by using the money to expand the green economy such as energy efficiency of homes and schools/hospitals, public transport infrastructure and building zero carbon social houses and having a win, win by creating and protecting jobs, reducing fuel bills and cutting climate change gases.
Did the Tories support this??

Public buildings need to lead the way

Government owned buildings are some of the worst for energy efficiency and carbon emissions. This is a story which will not get much coverage.
Yet, tackling climate change needs the Government to lead the way and set the example. If individuals are to improve their homes and cut emissions by changing behaviour then we need to be confident that our Government is doing exactly the same and even more.
The worst offender, the Dept of Energy and Climate Change!! The defence is........ sorry there isn't one. The longer we take to act, the more painful it will be.
Government needs to start putting Nicholas Stern's review at the centre of everything.

Forgotten roots

What has happened in this country when 2 amazing turnarounds occur in the same week.
Fistly, Labour threaten to charge interest on Social Fund loans given to the very poorest and often needed in an emergency. I watched an agitated Neil Kinnock on TV struggling to contain his anger and disbelief that a Labour, sorry New Labour government was considering it.
Its like a Victorian attack on the "undeserving poor."

Secondly, the war that has begun between the Police and the Conservatives who have seen themselves traditionally as the party of law and order. Clearly there is a bit of a ceasefire at present but when Boris started interferring in the Met, then unrelated, the police arrest and investigate Damien Green Tory MP and the Mail newspaper (long term Tory friend) starts running stories on the business interests of the wife of the senior police officer investigating Mr Green. Potentially, it all starts looking like a steady long term relationship heading to a messy divorce.

Interesting times lie ahead.

Should politics enter into it?

A friend asked me why politics were involved in the Town Council?
Well till May 2007 when the Conservatives got a majority it hadn't for the 8 previous years I'd been on it.
The Mayor was shared between Labour, Conservative, Lib Dem and Independent. Issues were discussed on merit and no one opposed something just because a member from another party or none suggested it. The Chair of Committees were shared out on merit not on political logo.
Now, all Chairs and Vice Chairs are Conservative (apart from one vice chair which was an accident!), the Mayor and Deputy is always Conservative and often a block vote of 11 out of 16 occurs. Even pre meetings occur to make decisions on how to vote on issues. Sometimes you wonder whether discussion and debate is worthwhile when some councillors nod in agreement with you and then vote in a totally different direction. Even worse they tell you the trouble they would get into if they did vote with the Lib Dems.
For the record our Lib Dem councillors can vote freely, we have no pre meetings, we often vote together as we share similar views but this is a Town Council dealing with very local issues. We will support a Conservative members good idea, I just wish it was reciprocal

Sudbury Town Council and next year's council tax.

The latest draft of next year's budget for the Town Council makes some unhappy reading. A whopping 11% increase is forecast by the Tory run council. Unfortunately, they have committed themselves to a number of new spending issues without thinking about the budget to come.
I have got in the budget (again) the funding of Eden's youth club for an extra night and I hope this isn't going to be a victim just like last year when the Tories took the funding out for it right at the last moment.
Many councillors say that youth facilities need to improve so I hope they are good to their word.
There is also the funding for the new PCSO officer part funded by the Council. This was an idea supported by all on the Council but again no one listened about the effect on the budget and what might need to be reduced or delayed for another year.
Then, of course, there is that land to the rear of the Town Hall, costing a 5 figure sum in interest, with no money set aside to do anything with it, mind you, could they afford to?
The Town Council might be a small part of your council tax bill but each year the same Tory councillors say we must not be over inflation. Well that worthy aim might be quite painful to get to this year. If only some councillors thought about whether we can afford this or how it can be paid for before they said yes lets do that.
Seeing the big picture is distinctly and sadly lacking.

Babergh Council tax increase.

Babergh District Council's council tax is likely to increase by 2.9 - 3.5% for next year(2009-2010). The economic down turn has made it a difficult task with constant changes to interest rates affecting investment income but there will be some real service improvements as Babergh is entering the free swimming for the retired scheme set out by the Government.
On Babergh there is a healthy cross party consensus that council tax rates should be as near to the inflation rate as possible and even below it if we can but without damaging services.
Unfortunately, Babergh is only approximately 10% of your bill but being the collecting authority it often gets the blame when there are big increases.

Tory Fiasco over schools in Clare.

Conservatives are at each others throats again, this time over schools in Clare.

The Tory run County Council has refused parents wishes and their own party policy on a new secondary school in Clare.

Yet the inepitude started earlier.

Firstly, they decided to close excellent schools such as Clare Middle and Stoke by Nayland Middle School.

The key piece of evidence that children in the 2 tier system that achieve 7 B grades at GCSE would only get 6 B's and 1 C grade in the 3 tier system! Oh and of course, it was nothing to do with money!

Next they forgot that students from Clare middle school go to both Haverhill and Sudbury Upper schools. So when they started reorganisation and the foolish decision to close Clare Middle school they did the Haverhill pyramid first and decided to do the Sudbury pyramid later, forgetting those students from Cavendish, Glemsford, Hartest that then go on to Sudbury. Where would they go?

Next by reorganising, they put alot of schools on a death sentence that makes staff recruitment and retention very difficult and will see some schools being half empty for a number of years.One has to fear what might be the educational consequence.

What we need are all local secondary schools to be well resourced and quality schools. Choice would create winners and losers and as school funding relies on student numbers, the consequences for other local schools are quite evident.
It is apparent that parents have produced an excellent document and case for a secondary school remaining in Clare. The consequence for Clare's sustainability and viability could be negative.
Finally, the move to more vocational qualifications could make it very dificult for a small rural secondary. There will be many students moving between different schools and the West Suffolk College to be on a Vocational course as no one school can provide the full range. The times in schools are changing, hopefully the new curriculum will be for the better but thats for another post, another day.

December is a quiet month!?

December is a bizarre council month. The Town Council only has the fortnightly planning committee and Babergh managed a half an hour long Full Council today. I just wonder how many members in full time employment attended that one ? The journey to and from Hadleigh would have been longer!
Council meetings might be short on the ground but the bad weather brings concerns over trees near homes and planning issues never go away though the economic downturn is definately meaning there are fewer applications at present.

What to do with Belle Vue?

I see that someone is calling for the Town Council to go back to Belle Vue House and be the centre of an amalgamated Sudbury, Cornard and Chilton and that the Town Hall could be used for community use.
Firstly, Chilton doesn't want it. Why would a small parish want to go in with 2 big partners. The future is partnership working as we do by employing the 2 Community Wardens.
Secondly and most importantly, the Town Council would have to purchase Belle Vue House as this building would be transferred to the new Unitary Authority.
So why did the Town Council speculatively buy that piece of land behind the Town Hall - only for new offices!
Why would they purchase Belle Vue House for "new offices" too?
As for amalgamating Sudbury and Cornard, some councillors would like the "power", the kudos, or even to be Mayor of both? But no one is talking about it because its not needed.
Everything can be done by partnership working.
They might border each other but Sudbury and Cornard are still different communities.
Bigger is not always better.
Anyway, till the new Unitary authorities for Suffolk arrive we dont know what extra responsibilities the town council/parish councils will get if any at all.

Babergh tries to limit future housing growth

At Strategy Committee the other day we were considering demands to increase housing growth for the South Suffolk area beyond existing levels. The Government really wants this for 2021-31. EERA also want us to consider where the new houses would then go.
Martyn Booth and I argued that we should not accept this increase in growth rate. Our infrastructure in towns such as Sudbury,Cornard and Hadleigh has not been improved by County or Government in fact we had seen services lost due to centralisation. Any increase in growth would most likely go into the market towns. This would be unacceptable.
The Committee totally agreed and it was good that we had total cross party support.

If Brown is to save the world?

Fans of the BBC2 series "Heroes" will know that to save the world Gordon Brown will have to save the cheer leader. But finding a cheer leader for this Government might be a problem for this Primeminister!

chance of a western bypass?

The announcement that nearly 100 road schemes across the East of England are bidding for just over half a billion pounds upto 2019means that we will be lucky to get our much needed relief road.
Suffolk County Council may have put it on a list but alongside 9 other Suffolk schemes means the odds are small.
At the same time, Suffolk have struggled to do any traffic management in the town. This was a precursor to getting a bypass. BUT here is the sting in the tail. If we are unlikely to get a bypass for another 10+ years minimum then what traffic management are they going to put in to deal with the traffic growth with existing housing development or any other ones? What are your plans Conservatives at Suffolk? Do you have any? Or as your tactic of promising every market town that needed a bypass knowing full well the funding wouldn't be there so you could blame the Government for it, been found out?
Why not be honest with communities and bid for what is actually achievable rather than being disingenuous. We need some solutions to our traffic, a bypass would help us to make roads safer to promote cycling and walking but some radical, new ideas are needed in the mean time?

First the Community Hospital, next post offices, then the tax office, finally the magistrates court?

The Government has announced the closure of South Suffolk's only tax office. So what? many would say but in a rural area the centralisation of services whether due to cost cutting (or is it efficiency gains?) or the greater use of the internet rather than face to face has a detrimental effect on an area where public transport is infrequent and poor for many.
But it isnt just tax offices, we have already lost several post offices and the threat still hangs over the use of local justice in our only Magistrate court and exactly where will some of the beds that are in Walnuttree hospital end up being?
Services in rural areas are more expensive to deliver so the pressure to centralise is obvious but the social cost and the financial cost to the customer in time off work or even the environmental cost in travelling further mean officals need to have a rethink.
Our market towns grow, our rural population grows but the services move further away. Not all are ICT gurus or even trust the security of some sites and some may even want to leave their homes and reassuringly talk to someone(!)
In a rural area like South Suffolk our market towns of Sudbury and Hadleigh need to be service centres so other visits and money is spent here. Government needs to understand rural areas better.

"No" to Chilton Quarry

Great news that the second proposal to build a Quarry at Chilton has been refused. An appeal is due on the first application in the New Year.
When the Police oppose an application on road safety grounds then I really think that officals should listen and proposers of the scheme realise that this is a no go.
There is a little sting though that campaigners need to think about. The Chilton Woods development will need a source of aggregate etc and the soil removed from the site will need to be disposed of. Lorry movements from that are going to be a problem for Sudbury and the villages on the A134/131. There is a need to think how this will be minimised.

Christmas Lights

Friday night saw the new Christmas lights turned on in Sudbury successfully. The layout is different to previous years, they use alot less energy and they give a better ambience. Please give your views on what you think.