Earlier this month my neighbour Jane Basham catalogued the activities and services available at the Children’s Centre. The list is very impressive as follows:
Access To Suffolk Library Services;
Autism Suffolk Parent Group;
Birth And Beyond;
Breast Feeding Workshops;
Career Advice And Support Service;
Child Health Clinic And Sensory Babies;
Child Health Clinic;
From Floor To Four;
Inbetweenies;
Infant Massage;
Made Of Money;
Making & Creating;
Marking;
Mini Maulers;
Parentcraft;
Place To Raise Child Protection Concerns
Rise & Shine;
Sing & Sign;
Snap Drop In Service (Housing Related Support);
Swap Shop (For Clothes);
Targeted Family Support Practitioners,;
Targeted Financial Support;
Time For Me;
Time With My Dad;
Walkers & Talkers;
Weaning Group;
And then she tells us that “it all FREE”.
Except that it isn’t. It doesn’t fall like rain from the skies. It must be paid for and if we wish to continue the services then the taxpayer has to put their hands in their pockets. The County’s consultation is about reviewing the way we provide services to the people who need them in the most effective manner possible. It is also about ensuring that residents get the best value possible.
The more responses the County receives to its consultation, the better informed they will be.
Author: Brian Riley
Unfortunate Error
The Scotsman reports that Aberdeen City Council accidently sent out a publication to 20,000 households that read “Newshite” rather than “Newsbite”, forcing the authority to issue an apology. “An unfortunate oversight in the production process for the front cover has focused a lot of welcome attention on this excellent publication,” said a council spokesperson
Streets Belong To The People, Roads Belong To Everyone – Benton Street
Over the past two days I have delivered letters to every household in Benton Street as follows:
“For a number of years we have experienced increased traffic on Benton Street using the street as a throughway to and from the A12. The incidence of overweight vehicles seems to have abated with the installation of improved signage at Copdock and at the East Bergholt/Hadleigh turn off, but we are still experiencing goods vehicles and private cars using us as a convenient short cut for the surrounding villages. Worse, drivers seem to think that they can drive on the pavements without regard to the residents.
A number of ideas have been circulating for some time. These include a bypass via Hook Lane, railings and a pinch point chicane/ priority traffic system.
Suffolk’s Economy Skills & Environment Department have suggested that we try a pilot programme of installing a priority traffic system between 50 and 60 Benton Street. The priority system would consist of pavement build-outs on each side of the road (see plan below). This will ensure that drivers are aware that it is not possible to pass each other in this narrow section of Benton Street and formalise the requirement to give way to oncoming traffic. Additional parking restrictions would need to be introduced to allow queuing in advance of the build-outs and approximately 7 parking spaces (including 1 advisory disabled bay, which is currently not being used) would be lost. However there would be facility to offset this loss by revoking some of the parking restrictions further along Benton Street.
If these proposals are pursued, SCC will introduce an experimental priority system, using temporary water filled barriers, for 6-12 months to confirm the effectiveness of the proposed treatment.
If you feel that Benton Street should remain the same, please tell me. Similarly if you want change, then please let me know which of the choices is most acceptable and if you have other ideas please share them with me.
A larger version of the plan will be on display upstairs in the Library at 10 a.m. on Saturday 13th September when this informal consultation will end. “
So far the feed back (on the street) has been positive.
However I would like written feedback so that we can go ahead with firmly based actions.
Faux Sans Culottes
Readers of this blog will be aware that Suffolk County Council are reviewing the provision of Children’s Centres and are consulting on the proposal to merge the Hadleigh service with that of East Bergholt and close the building in Hadleigh.
A number of Hadleigh residents contacted me asking me to vote against the proposals and Jane Basham, Labour Party Parliamentary Candidate for South Suffolk has criticised me for not speaking at the Council meeting and for voting for the proposals to consult.
Now to anyone who is interested I will explain how democracy works. Basically every lead party holds pre meeting meetings. These are for the members of the lead party to ask questions particularly those which might be awkward and which could provide unnecessary comfort to the opposition. The system lets matters of concern to be dealt with, so that the necessary majority can be obtained. For the lead party the Council Chamber is for decision making. For the opposition parties it is a forum to advance their views and where necessary embarrass the lead party. The purpose of opposition is to become a lead party. The purpose of the lead party is to retain the voters’ confidence and hold on to office.
Thus the criticism of me is unwarranted. To anyone who asks I will tell them that prior to the pre-meeting meeting and the Council meeting itself I obtained from the Leader of the Council a firm undertaking that the consultation would be genuine and not an exercise in giving democratic legitimacy to a decision already made. I received the same undertaking from the Portfolio Holder.
I like criticism of me to be unfounded in reality. What I do not like is for the Labour Party Parliamentary Candidate for South Suffolk complaining that the documentation has been hard to find. Why not then ask the County Councillor where the documentation is to be found and if necessary obtain hard copies? Instead we have a campaign based on noise and dust. Beyond saying that the Centre should not be closed, there are no arguments or articulated facts to substantiate that view. Instead a large number of parents and families are destabilised and unnecessarily stressed.
I am more than willing to work across parties. With the help of others I obtained the restoration of the later evening and Sunday bus services to and from Ipswich. I took a major role in resisting (and defeating) the application from Tesco to build another supermarket in Hadleigh. And so on.
There is an on line petition and last time I looked it had 189 signatures. The Bus Service team gathered over 4,000 signatures. The petition complains about the consultation taking place over the summer holidays. Well, if your summer holiday extends to the 16th October then you probably don’t need the services of the Children’s Centre. Then again the petition support preamble states “I am going to speak to Suffolk County Council and find out how to make representation to a consultation which does not appear to have any point of access”. But page 12 of the Consultation Documentation clearly states that you can respond on line or by Freepost Mail (and gives the addresses concerned).
And what of the Labour Party Parliamentary Candidate for South Suffolk?
I can find no trace of her having ever held elected public office. She ran for the office of Police & Crime Commissioner in 2012 and was a candidate in this year’s European elections. She was unsuccessful in both contests. She was Chief Executive of ISCRE (Ipswich and Suffolk Council for Racial Equality) in 2010-2011 during which time the organisation ran a deficit of £77,907 by spending £496,556 when there was only £418,649 coming in.
So I won’t be taking criticism or advice from Ms Basham. She is not my kind of politician as she obviously prefers to shoot from the lip rather than from the hip.
Brett River Children’s Centre
How to have your say
• Visit: http://www.suffolk.gov.uk/consultations and complete the online questionnaire
• Hard copy questionnaires are available from local children’s centres from the beginning of August, or on request by calling: 0845 603 1842. They should be completed and returned it to:
Children’s Centre consultation
Freepost
RTAC-HSKL-CSAY
SUFFOLK COUNTY COUNCIL
IPSWICH IP1 2EB
If there are difficulties in obtaining a paper copy of the consultation document please let me know.
• Email: ChildrensCentre.feedback@suffolk.gov.uk
All responses must be received by the end of Thursday 16 October 2014.
What happens after the consultation?
Once the consultation closes, all views will be analysed and the results reported to Suffolk County
Council’s Cabinet at its meeting in December 2014.
In the meantime I have delivered a copy of the consultation to the Labour Parliamentary Candidate for South Suffolk so that she can be fully informed.
Heather Quinlan R.I.P.
Yesterday I went to the funeral service of Heather Quinlan. I had known Heather and her late husband Bernard ever since we moved into Hadleigh. They were very nice people and full of hidden depths. Heather died after a short illness and was just shy of 79. She had an eventful life which included being a child prisoner of war in the Far East and being a graduate of Girton College, Cambridge. Along the way she became a mother of five children and stepmother of a further three.
The order of service included the following extract from John O’Donohue’s Eternal Echoes “May You Awaken”
May you awaken to the mystery of being here and enter the quiet immensity of your own presence.
May you have joy and peace in the temple of your senses.
May you receive great encouragement when new frontiers beckon.
May you respond to the call of your gift and find the courage to follow its path.
May the flame of anger free you from falsity.
May warmth of heart keep your presence aflame and may anxiety never linger about you.
May your outer dignity mirror an inner dignity of soul.
May you take time to celebrate the quiet miracles that seek no attention.
May you be consoled in the secret symmetry of your soul.
May you experience each day as a sacred gift woven around the heart of wonder.
In the current times of forever running around –(when do the retired get a day off?) it is always worthwhile to be reminded that one should take time to stand still and reflect upon one’s being and purpose.
John O’Donohue is also the author of Anam Cara – Spiritual Wisdom from the Celtic World.
God bless you Heather, may thanks for your friendship and introducing me to “May You Awaken” and reminding me that I have Anam Cara on my bookshelf.
Brett River Children’s Centre
The consultation document is now public and available on http://www.suffolk.gov.uk/your-council/decision-making/consultations/consultation-children-s-centre-services-across-suffolk/
Hard copies will be available at the Children’s Centres from 1st August. The consultation runs until the 16th October.
More comment later…
Brett River Children’s Centre
In an ideal world, politicians (on behalf of the people) would set the policy, civic officers would work up proposals and then with everything being synchronised the world would march on to a new and better existence. But mankind are not angels and we are not perfect and quite often there appears to be a mismatch between what was said, what was heard and what was produced.
We can all agree that the Council’s functions include striving for continual improvement in servicing the needs of the residents and the concomitant mandate to provide value for money. Thus the provision of children’s services is scheduled by Suffolk County Council for review and remodelling as necessary.
And then the mismatch occurred between desire and action. At the Council meeting on the 17th July it was proposed that the Council would consult on merging the Brett River Children’s Centre with Cherry Blossom Children’s Centre, East Bergholt and close the building currently used by Brett River. When I first read the document at home there was an outbreak of expletive driven thunder and lightning and got ready to ride off into battle.
I subsequently obtained from my Council Leader an unequivocal undertaking that this was to be a genuine consultation and not a cynical move to give democratic legitimacy to a decision already taken. I promised a robust response to the consultation. Similarly before the main Council meeting I obtained the same undertaking from the Portfolio Holder. And at the main meeting he stated that he did not become elected in order to reduce services and close buildings.
The consultation period will run for two months to get us over the Summer holidays. The consultation document will be available on line and in hard copy. I am arranging to obtain hard copies of the consultation document so that it is fully available to all concerned.
If a hard copy is required then please respond to this posting
Am I bothered by all this? Yes I am – because officers cannot know my locality as well as I do. Similarly I am not as familiar as they are with their areas of expertise. That is why they are employed. But I am elected to front up for Hadleigh’s residents whether they vote for me or not.
There are a number of flaws in the consultation document and the ideas on which it is based.
My role is to protect and promote the well being of our town and I am always open to ideas. To support me in my endeavours I need as many people as possible to respond to the consultation. Responses can be by email or letter to the Assistant Director – Early Help and Specialist Services. Responses can be short and pithy or they can be as detailed as an E.U. regulation. What matters is that we show that our needs cannot be met by merging with East Bergholt.
As soon as the consultation is published, I’ll put details on Facebook and on this blog – then we can go forward together towards the smell of smoke and the sound of gunfire. What we should not be doing is responding to half truths and the hysterics of the ignorant whose agendas may not be in chime with our own.
Hadleigh & District Angling Society (HADAS)
Fishing is the largest participatory sport in England. In Hadleigh we are blessed with a number of nearby commercial sporting fishing ponds and we also have the Hadleigh & District Angling Society (HADAS). I allocated £500 from my County Councillor’s Locality Budget for the purchase of fishing tackle for the junior section of the club. They were used for a taster event held on the 12th July. The taster was very successful. Over fifty children turned up along with their parents and guardians to enjoy a nice gentle day in the fresh air. The fishing tackle will be retained for use at future organised matches and events for juniors.
The HADAS committee is full of hands on people who value their heritage and wish to pass it onto future generations. Hence my willingness to use the Locality Budget to support the junior fishing activity and to part fund their (previously enjoyed and lovingly restored) grass cutter.
The Society was established in 1929 to bring together people with a common purpose to preserve, and try and keep available fishing for local people. Membership of the Society in its first season numbered twenty two. The Society was temporarily disbanded during the Second World War, and was reformed in 1947. Over the years the Society has expanded their fishing rights along the Brett River and over local ponds and reservoirs.
Hadleigh Open Gardens
The Friends of St. Mary’s are the fund raising arm of The St. Mary’s Hadleigh Church Trust – a charity formed to assist with the benefit and upkeep of the Church building and its surroundings.
Today they hosted the second Hadleigh Open Gardens Day – sixteen gardens were open to the public throughout Hadleigh. We opened our garden last year but this year we stood back and put our focus elsewhere. I had in any case seen some of the gardens as I delivered the “garden pack” to a few exhibitors.
s Lunches (an innovation this s Lunch as well as taking the money.
The food department served over fifty meals, so despite the poor weather and competition from the World Cup, Wimbledon and the Rugby Club Beer Festival I think they did quite well. The event attracts people from outside Hadleigh and last year we even had visitors from Texas. Elsewhere in the Church were the home made cake and plants stalls.
Next week the Deanery are holding the fundraising event Stand Up for Chairs. This is focused on raising funds to purchase the chairs which are to replace the pews. Over thirty thousand pounds has been raised so far but more is required.
The Church currently has a selection of chairs on display and you have the opportunity to vote for your preferences.
So turn up on Saturday and if you can’t find as excuse to spend money on the stalls then just donate it!
I look forward to seeing you there.
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