Melford Road new crossing

Success !! Suffolk County Council say they are investigating putting in a new crossing near the Chaucer Rd/Melford Rd junction and definately a reduced speed limit after residents have been asking for ages. They may even improve the junction too. I got this on the Town Council agenda and gained their support. This issue came from one of our Lib Dem councillor surgeries. Shows it works.

Threat to Belle Vue Park, Sudbury.

Alot has been in the press about development to Belle Vue much of it inaccurate and speculative but right in wanting to protect it.
This picture shows the battle ground. For the developer to be able to build the new health facility on the BMX site, they need a second entrance on to Cornard Rd. This would take the road through the hedge into the Park, past the public toilets (road safety issue) and bring traffic into the heart of what is a peaceful haven where children can run free at present. No more if this was to happen.

There are no plans to build all over the Park that is scaremongering but this a real threat to the peace and tranquility never mind the small area of the park lost for future generations.

Yes, Sudbury needs a new health facility but not one that takes our public space. Yes,the old BMX site could be used if the development remains in the walled area. (Sudbury Town Council and Gt Cornard Parish Councils are building a new BMX site up near KFC).Yes, there are other possible sites eg Walnuttree and Church Field Rd. Yes, no sale unless planning permission is achieved is a condition.

No planning application has been made yet. The PCT could chose another site. Lets hope the developers realise the battle they will face.

Regional Spatial Strategy or where shall we put more houses?

How many more houses do you think Suffolk needs by 2031? Well if some get their way then it will be nearly 100,000 more than initially estimated.
Next question. Where should we put them? New Eco-town(s)? expand villages? market towns? or large urban areas? Or equitably across all options?

The serious questions are how accurate are the estimates? how many new houses will be due to household growth ie divorce, marriage later, longer life expectancy, more singles and how many due to economic growth? Should it be on greenfield or brownfield?And what infrastructure improvements can be gained to cope with growth in those areas? The County Council told Sudbury last time, " growth will help you get your bypass. I thought then it wouldn't and of course it hasn't."

Social changes and internal migration plus the need for affordable housing means growth but our beautiful county and countryside needs protecting too. A balance is needed.

land question

Residents are concerned about Babergh Council selling a small parcel of land part (12metre sq)of an area of open space on their estate in Ballingdon to a household. Is this sale retrospective? Residents claim the land has been grabbed already. This kind of issue is difficult but residents are also worried about precedent here. They don't want more land being sold later so more housing can be built.

Postscript: land has not been taken already, residents have got together nearly 100 letters of objection and the decision may go to the Secretary of State.

Sudbury Car parks and ticket machines

Residents in the Town centre have been complaining about the new ticket machines in the Babergh car parks. They stop issuing tickets at 5pm and restart at 8am. So what? Well if you are a resident in a small terraced house with no on-street parking or off street parking who has used the car parks for years or a resident in a new flat built because planning policy allows flats to be built without spaces if public car parks are nearby then it does matter. Why? because residents are getting penalty notices for non display of a ticket even if a few minutes late. Its inflexible, residents had no warning and the solution is quite simple either a) machines dispense tickets all day or b) give residents adjoining the 2 car parks a permit valid till 11am (3 hr wait).
Some do not like the machines but parking is still free and they manage the spaces well. People were obviously overstaying the 3 hour limit before.
The County Council really need to help us deal with our traffic problems in a co-ordinated and integrated way. Everything is piecemeal. I think the County Council really don't know what to do about traffic in Sudbury.

Sudbury Tories vote against the need for councillor training.

Last night (14th Oct) Dean Walton a Conservative councillor brought a proposal that councillors should follow standards training, all chairs & vice chairs should have training and the Chair of Council should be limited to 2 years.
Having just been awarded Quality Status I would have thought that Council would have welcomed this and realised they need it but NO!
Council decided that "these proposals are not appropriate and therefore not supported."
All the Lib Dem councillors supported Dean but all his fellow "team mates" voted him down.

So we have a Town Council that thinks training is inappropriate. Unbelievable.

Even a Conservative member of Babergh's Standards Committee voted against training in Standards for councillors !!!

Quality Status

Good news that Sudbury Town Council has achieved Quality Town Council status. This is re-accreditation and all praise should go to the Town Hall staff for their ability to take on new work and challenges.
The process was harder this time and the importance of Community Engagement and a Training Strategy were vital.
Thankfully, the Lib Dems have been holding councillor surgeries once a month with the public.
As for training some councillors of the blue persuasion seem not to want or need any. That is a story for another post.

Sudbury Town Centre improvements ?

This tree was thankfully saved by me from those who wanted to fell it so there was a clearer view of the Town Hall !

The Tory run Town Council had paid for new paving with Suffolk County Council in front of the Town Hall and wanted the tree to go.

The Town Council wants to have a big say with the District Council on how the money from Tesco's recent expansion should be used to improve and enhance the Town centre. Seems perfectly sensible and right to me.

So far we have some good new litter bins, some well used new seats, some new Christmas lights are on the way but what else could it be used for?

The Chamber of Commerce want to use it to set up a Trust to run the carparks free for ever. Unfortunately, this may be difficult as these areas were probably not named in the legal agreement.

Some on the Town Council would like to use the money to redecorate the front of the Town Hall. That might be visually appealing but shouldn't this windfall be used for something that will last and not something that should be in a maintenance budget!

The saga of the Sudbury Town Council land purchase.

Tomorrow evening(14th Oct) the Tory run Town Council will continue with their "what shall we do with this piece of land?" saga.

The story so far?

The previous Town Council had rejected purchase of this piece of land to the rear of the Town Hall due to all the rights of way across it. This Council bought it for over £300,000, borrowing the money over 50years, so there is a land cost of £750,000 before any build costs are added.

What is worse, is they had no idea what to use it for at the time. They did not research the planning conditions on it of which one is an archeological dig.It was totally speculative. It is being used as car parking for staff at present.

Since then: they have drawn a list of possible options with number 1 being an extension to the Town Hall for offices, just in case, we might get more powers under the Local Government Review but there is no guarantee of this.

I suggested that affordable housing should be provided on the site as it has planning permission for flats to be built on it. There is a clear need in the Town too. The Tories decided this should be preference number 3!

At Council, the recommendation from their committtee is to postpone a decision till we know the outcome of the Local Government Review in Febuary. If they had delayed the purchase, I wonder what price we would have got it for now in the current climate!

The taxpayer is still paying a 5 figure sum each year, on the loan, till a purpose is found.

Introduction

Martyn Booth(left) and I are the District Councillors for Sudbury South.
The ward covers Sudbury Town centre and the Ballingdon and Cats Lane areas of town.

I hope you will find this a useful and thought provoking insight to the issues facing the town as well as council stories.

Please get in touch if there are any issues we can help with.


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N Bennett 101 Queens Rd, Sudbury, Suffolk, CO10 1PQ.