On March 31st I wrote how Babergh had approved the transfer of land on Lady Lane to a Registered (Social Housing) Provider for the provision of a four bedroom house. At the time I mentioned that I did not like proposals whereby I didn’t see a price tag nor was I happy that we were approving in principle a four bedroom house when the greatest need in the housing market is for small (one and two bedroom) houses. I made the (unappreciated) point that we should put two two bedroom residences on the site and thus release two four bedroom houses from those families whose children have permanently moved away.
Orwell Housing have now submitted an application (B/13/01087/FUL) to develop the site with a three bedroom house!
I have written to the Planning Control suggesting that the application should be returned to applicant for further work.
Primarily, because there is a minimal amount of information. There is no design statement, nor is there a history of the site. In particular no reference is made to Council Paper No M148 which authorised a single four bedroom scheme on this property.
Consequently the basis on which this application has been allowed to come forward is flawed.
I wonder if this is a case of casting pearls before swine insofar as you should not put what is valuable in front of those who will reject that which has value and furthermore who will diminish or destroy your gifts.
Should it come forward to the Planning Committee for discussion, I will speak against any recommendation for approval since the application is contrary to the authorised use of the Council’s assets.
Year: 2013
Non-Salary Expenses
The readers of this blog will recall that since July I have been endeavouring to ascertain the level of the non salary expenses of Babergh’s & Mid Suffolk’s senior managers.
The details are published on Babergh’s report No. JAC15 to the Joint Audit
& Standards Committee. See: http://bdcdocuments.onesuffolk.net/assets/Uploads/Committees/Committee-Reports/Reports-2013-14/JAC15.pdf
The details are quite interesting. There is a one off charge of £10,467 for
relocation and removal expenses. Details of the expense are to be provided
later.
Apart from this figure the expenses are £22,073 spread across 13 posts. The
chunkiest category was £3,573 for attending conferences. Conferences are
attended to keep up to date with what is happening in the public sector as a
whole and also in specialist areas and hopefully ensure that the councils are reflecting current and best practice. Training and course fees came in at £400.
Overall I am quite happy with the outcome of my enquiries. My colleagues
enjoyed themselves pursuing detail which had hitherto remained unreported. More details will come out in future reports and each officer now knows that their actions are subject to more detailed scrutiny than hitherto.
Tesco – The Fall Out
The following appears in the November edition of the Hadleigh Community News under the heading “Towards the Deep End”.
“Damian Thompson in The Daily Telegraph on October 9th commented that being bonkers is no longer a bar to political advancement.
Well anyone who watched Councillors support the proposition in September that the Brett Works site should be developed by Tesco would not be strangers to this idea.
Reasons advanced in favour of the development included:
The development of the site as a supermarket would be a long term benefit for our town.
There are no shops in Polstead.
It will raise the profile of Hadleigh.
The introduction of Tesco into the town will benefit out of town residents (especially those from Polstead).
The development will bring people into the town.
There are no good reasons for rejection.
Some councillors once again demonstrated that every time they speak they put the cause of local democracy back by at least five years. It became embarrassing to hear some of the speeches of support for the proposed Brett Works site development.
That being said, the Planning Committee meeting was a very interesting day and brought about a satisfactory outcome. I was glad that I was able to cancel and re-jig my holiday arrangements joining my wife and her cousins a few days late in Croatia.”
The Brett Works Site/Tesco discussion continues with people in Hadleigh grateful for their escape from Tesco but bemused that the margin for victory was so slender.
Plans to mark World War 1 in Suffolk
My good friend Jenny Antill posted the following on her blog yesterday morning:
How is Suffolk County Council going to mark the centenary of the outbreak of World War One in 2014?
This was a question put to the Leader of the Council at Thursday’s Council Meeting. He responded that events would be planned not just for next year, but during the three that follow.
Some 10,000 men from Suffolk died in the Great War, and six men born in Suffolk were awarded the Victoria Cross. Included in their number was Skipper Thomas Crisp, pictured here, Crisp was born in Lowestoft, and he received the award posthumously for his brave defence of his small armed fishing boat against a German submarine. The full story can be read on Wikipedia.
The County Council is working with the Military Covenant Group and the Suffolk Strategic Heritage Forum to plan a range of commemorative events across the county. It is hoped that the community will be closely involved and that the events will be informed by research that is being carried out at the Suffolk Record Office. The archive of the Suffolk Regiment, held in Bury St Edmunds, is likely to be of importance. There will also be projects to raise awareness in schools and colleges, a touring exhibition, and the display of newly digitised material on the SCC website.
Incidentally, Jenny has posted 900 items on her blog since she started in 2007. See http://jennyantillsblog.blogspot.com/
Tick, Tock, Test your smoke alarm this weekend
At 2 a.m. on Sunday 27 October, the clocks will go back by one hour to signal the start of British Winter Time.
This year, Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) is encouraging residents to ‘Tick, Tock, Test’ – a memorable phrase which provides a catchy reminder to prompt everyone into action when changing timepieces throughout the home.
A working smoke alarm can buy the valuable time people need to get out, stay out and call 999. Figures show that people are more than four times as likely to die in a fire if they don’t have a working alarm.
Councillor Colin Spence, Suffolk County Council’s cabinet member for public protection said; “Tick, Tock, Test is straight talking, easy to remember and intrinsically links clock change weekend to testing your smoke alarm.
“A working smoke alarm is a proven life-saver and is absolutely essential in keeping you and your family safe. Worryingly, only half of all householders who own a smoke alarm say that they test it on a regular basis.
“Don’t take the chance on your family’s life. When you change your clock this weekend, please take a few seconds to test your smoke alarm.
By simply pushing the ‘test’ button, people could save the lives of their loved ones.”
No Slouch When it Comes to the Cheeseboard.”
Damian Thompson rarely fails to produce an informed smile on Saturday mornings. Here is an extract from yesterday’s column in the Daily Telegraph:
How fascinating to learn yesterday that the health-conscious President Sarkozy of France took cheese off the menu while he was in office – “except when Angela Merkel was in town”, according to his head chef. This doesn’t strain credulity, I think we can agree. Mrs Merkel looks to me like an extremely determined cheese-eater; I can picture the glint of excitement in her eye as she digs into a ripe Elysée Camembert. She’s partial to British cheese, too. “You should have seen her scoop into the Stilton when she visited No 10,” says my Downing Street source. “It was like a JCB. Even the PM was impressed – and, believe me, he’s no slouch when it comes to the cheeseboard.”
The full column can be found on:http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/damianthompson/100242123/first-they-came-for-the-scientologists/
Warning: The consumption of alcohol
WARNING:
The consumption of alcohol may cause you to think that you can sing
Hands off Hadleigh
Today Tesco’s application to develop the Brett Works site in Hadleigh was defeated by seven votes to six. Bearing in mind that four votes were predictable the result was absolutely first class focusing on the economic impact of our town.
My address to the committee received a heart-warming round of applause from the Hadleigh supporters – and is enclosed).
Floreat Hadleigh
Syria needs liberal capitalism, not missiles
Today’s Telegraph (Business Section) contains a fascinating article by Allister Heath on the Arab Spring debacle and now Syria’s civil war. The article starts …
Abstract ideas matter, of course, but economic forces are usually central to the violent upheavals that regularly tear apart human societies. Sometimes the economic factors are hidden but mostly they are glaringly obvious, as with the rise of Nazism, which followed the catastrophic Weimar hyperinflation of the 1920s and the German economic crisis of 1931.
The economic backdrop to the Arab Spring debacle and now Syria’s barbaric civil war is equally self-evident. With only a small number of exceptions, states in the region have long specialised in economic failure of the most abject kind, seemingly competing to become the most shocking case study in how to squander oil money, ruin a nation’s economy and keep ordinary people impoverished.
Syria’s GDP per person is just $3,289 (£2,122) a year, an abysmally low number; it is no coincidence that it is almost identical to Egypt’s, another country where a small ruling class has mastered the art of kleptocratic exploitation. Add to that a despotic political system, high and rising food prices, a youthful population with little hope of fulfilling its dreams – including many underemployed graduates – and well-organised extremist movements and you get a predictably explosive cocktail.
The article concludes…
The only answer is a complete economic, political and cultural transformation, including an embrace of a real, liberal capitalism, the dismantling of monopolies, a bonfire of privileges and the introduction of genuine pluralism and constitutionally limited government. None of this tells us definitively whether the West should intervene in Syria or not but it certainly confirms that merely lobbing a few missiles at the regime won’t be enough to make a real difference.
The full article may be found on
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/10284077/Syria-needs-liberal-capitalism-not-missiles.html
Clown Doctors
I popped into Endeavour House this afternoon to check on my in-box. It is sometimes just a repository of what seems to be junk mail. So it was with no expectation of being enthused that I opened a brown envelope and saw the Annual Report of Suffolk Artlink.
Suffolk Artlink works to improve the quality of life of people of all abilities through taking part in engaging and inspirational activities. So far so ho hum. But before looking for a bin I flipped it open at pages 18 & 19 to see this project which engages children and young people in hospitals and hospices in clowning, storytelling, music, magic, circus skills and improvisation helping to distract them from what can be a very difficult time.
If any picture can be worth a thousand words – this is it.
Please enjoy and think of the artists who do this work (Dr. Fillie Fidget (Filomena Cristallino, Dr Christobell Misschief (Chris Draude) and Dr. Hyacinth Haystack (Vicki Weitz).
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