As we finish the year, I thought I would share a success story.
The B1070, Benton Street, Hadleigh, Suffolk is infamous for its road problems. It was not designed for a lot of traffic. It is a classic horse and cart road from Manningtree to Stowmarket and Bury St. Edmunds. The volume of heavy traffic on the road has increased as a result of Felixstowe becoming a major port. We now have over 3,000 vehicle movements a day. Much of this is personal vehicles accessing and exiting the A12. But there is also a significant volume of Heavy Goods Vehicles (HGV’s).
For over twenty years Benton Street has enjoyed a weight restriction due to the number of old buildings – some dating from Tudor times. HGV’s are banned because they damage the old brickwork, overhanging buildings and lime washed walls.
Traffic coming from the West is properly advised that there is a weight restriction on the road into Hadleigh. No such warning was on the road from the East (Ipswich and Felixstowe) only an advice to avoid East Bergholt.
Coming off the A12 on the Eastern side there are now four signs within a hundred yards, pointing out the weight restriction and HGV traffic is now directed back onto the A12 to find a more appropriate route.
Full marks to the County’s , Skills and Environment Department.
There are now no excuses for dragging an HGV through Benton Street.
Eternal vigilance is price of liberty and I fully expect the Benton Street Squeeze supporters to continue monitoring the situation and reporting (a much reduced volume of) incidents to the County’s Trading Standards.
hadleigh
Cashmobs Suffolk
On Saturday, January 4th 2014 Cashmobs Suffolk – a new community initiative to stimulate our flagging High Streets – is coming to Hadleigh.
Struggling shops get our sympathy. Huge multinationals moving into our local area raises our ire and anger at the destruction of the local economy. We complain on social media and decry the decline to our friends. But what do we actually DO about it?
Cash mobs actually go beyond our online complaints. Cash mobs use actual hard cash, spent in a local shop.
So how does it work?
It is all done through the local community grouping together and using their combined networks to spread the word about the local shop that needs support. It generates real cash for bricks and mortar businesses in the local community. The community gets together and decides to spend £10 or thereabouts in a local shop on a designated day. The local shop gets business that would have otherwise gone to a multinational chain of shops and the local community is energised.
It is a simple concept. Shop locally. Buy from local shops to keep the local economy alive. Cashmobs aim is not just about bringing the community together but also about supporting Suffolk¹s independent shops and boosting the local economy.
It’s a concept that has been highly successful in America and has been set up in Suffolk by two local business women, Sue Hall and Eileen Brown, and they are running it on an entirely voluntary basis.
Their message, to spend at the nominated shop in Hadleigh, is being spread through social media particularly through the Facebook page at http://facebook.com/CashMobSuffolk
Other UK towns ¬ including Hadleigh have had Cash Mob events in the past, but Sue and Eileen are planning to take this right across Suffolk visiting different towns across the country on a monthly basis.
Hadleigh and Felixstowe have been selected for January 4th and February 1st respectively but there are plans to go to Lowestoft and west Suffolk later in the year. In time we would like to introduce this initiative across Norfolk and Essex too as well.
Retailers selected for the Cashmob, obviously get a one-off boost but in the US it’s been found to have a positive long term spin-off for other local businesses too as consumers visit other local shops in the town.
So nominate a local Hadleigh business on the Facebook page at http://facebook.com/CashMobSuffolk, look out for the nominated business and spend that tenner in the shop on Saturday January 4th 2014.
Happy Cash mobbing!
Blog courtesy of the Hadleigh Chamber of Commerce
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.
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
Visions & Priorities
It is generally accepted that organisations which have a clear vision and values have greater chances of success than those whose vision and values are unclear and blurred.
One of Babergh’s Strategic Priorities is to shape, influence and provide the leadership to enable growth whilst protecting and enhancing our environment. One of the outcomes flowing from this priority is that Babergh is open for business and a champion of the local economy.
So it was with some surprise that when visiting the Council’s office foyer in Corks Lane I saw “Take One” boxes advertising theatre and amusements in Norfolk.
I’m always irked when I see pamphlets in Hadleigh promoting Lavenham and yet I never see any leaflets in Lavenham promoting Hadleigh despite Hadleigh Town Council offering to supply as much literature as needed.
Babergh has spent considerable time formulating its vision and priorities. If you want to bring the vision and values to life we all have to “live the brand”. It’s part of the why and how you work. You can see living the brand in any High Street bank where all staff conform to the dress code. It reinforces the values represented by the brand.
So why aren’t Babergh staff living the brand and sharing the values? Why do we promote activities outside of Babergh and even outside Suffolk? Babergh has plenty of attractions and if you are so minded go to http://hadleigh.onesuffolk.net/assets/Tourism/Town-Guide-2011.pdf for a copy of Hadleigh’s Town Guide.
Perhaps running Babergh is like running a cemetery: you’ve got a lot of people under you but nobody listens.
Out of the Frying Pan – April
Recently Babergh’s full Council discussed and approved a proposal that a vacant piece of land in Lady Lane (just up from The Green) be transferred to a Registered Provider (of Social Housing) and that a four bedroom house be built possibly with a capital contribution from the Council.
At no time were we given an estimate of the land value. Nor were there figures to indicate the financial implications of the proposal.
I dislike giving approvals when I am not aware of the potential price tags. Similarly we were not told why the Council was ignoring its own policy which states that the greatest need in the housing market is for small (one and two bedroom) and medium sized (three bedroom) houses.
If we built two two bedroom houses we could then relocate two families who no longer need their four bedroom houses – their children having flown the nests.
Joined up thinking was not in evidence that day. On the one hand we were being asked to approve a scheme for a four bedroom house. On the other long term Hadleigh residents are being encouraged to move from their “empty nests” to smaller housing elsewhere.
It is not the first time that policies have been pursued without regard to local needs.
One department is busy implementing under occupancy penalties and another does nothing constructive to reduce its incidence.
The paper presented never mentioned why the Council thought there was a need for more four bed room social housing accommodation in Hadleigh. The Babergh Development Framework Core Strategy (2011- 2031) Submission Draft is quite clear as to perceived housing demand. What is the point of having policies and then ignoring them?
I have asked about the intended Registered Provider and why it was so important that they are the recipient of this particular property.
National Mushroom Day is not until October, but I have the feeling that I am being kept in the dark and covered with opprobrium.
This post first appeared in the Hadleigh Community News for April 2013
Supporting the High Street
Mary Portas writes how people can be categorized as watchers and doers. Watchers watch (and criticize)
and doers do. There will always be those happier about talking about the death of the High Street than actually doing something about it.
The Hadleigh Chamber of Commerce are only too aware of the situation of our High Street, especially now that Morrison’s have opened and new shopping habits are being formed. The Chamber is working hard to create a High Street for the twenty first century.
Monday evening sees the second of a series of meetings (at Hadleigh Town Hall) with retailers to plan ways forward. Hadleigh now enjoys a population of 8,000 people which roughly equates to 4,000 families. If each family resolved to spend £25 a week in our High Street (and it’s not that difficult to find what you need at a price which is affordable) then we are looking to a boost of £100,000 coming into the High Street shops. We enjoy first class butchers, florists, farm fresh green grocery, wine merchant, bookshop, pet food shop, health food shop,delicatessen with artisan breads and cheeses, picture framer and decent and welcoming pubs. The High Street is one of the reasons why we chose to move here. For that reason alone we should support it vigorously. The High Street also brings social interaction, a chance to meet your neighbours and friends and to catch up on their news.
So tomorrow’s jobs include ordering the Easter lamb from the butcher and also a nice piece of brisket for slow cooking during the week.
Money has to go somewhere and if it doesn’t go in our neighbourhood then it goes somewhere else – not always to our benefit!
Hadleigh Local Shopping Loyalty Card
Whilst many major companies are lawfully avoiding UK taxes, they are nevertheless depriving our Exchequer of the revenues needed to provide the services and building we need – and they are also attacking our own home grown business which find it difficult to compete against people who pay little or no tax. So it’s no more Starbucks for me. In future I’ll look for Costa (owned by Whitbread).
I’m going to try to give up Amazon and instead use our local bookshop The Idler.
Hadleigh has its own Local Shopping Loyalty Card. Collect a card and get it stamped ten times by local participating retailers (look for the window decals). Hand in the card when completed and participate in a monthly cash draw (£250 in December). If we do not support our local shops – then one day they will not be there.
Babergh Core Strategy
This week saw Babergh District Council consider its Core Strategy. In many ways it is an admirable document setting out how the District might develop over the next twenty years. However, deep within its detail are what could be considered serious threats to the Hadleigh’s well being. Kathryn Grandon moved an amendment to the approving resolution pointing out that the commercial area allocated on the map is in the wrong place. The commercial area should not have to share street space with residential areas. Residential streets should not be sharing space with diesel lorries accessing their places of business twenty four hours a day. An illustrative map indicated the possibility of an industrial corridor to the east of Hadleigh. This will become an eastern barrier to further development since no one will want to be separated from the town by a commercial area. The commercial area should not be alongside the residential area. Instead it should be on a site having easy access onto the A1071 (the town by-pass) Once again we have a community being led by the Council but not in a way which will enhance its future prospects. The amendment went down by more than thirty votes to six. One of the Liberal Councillors for Hadleigh voted against the amendment citing the need for a decision to be made. The Core Strategy has now been approved and has been published to the Towns and Parishes for further consultation. Then it goes to the Planning Inspectorate for comments and approval. Meanwhile people similarly minded to Kathryn and myself are looking at how one influences the Planning Inspectorate – as Babergh does not appear to be listening.
What No Bunting!
We have no street bunting in Hadleigh for the Queen’s Jubilee.
According to the Suffolk Free Press Town Clerk has said that “the authority has been informed the bunting was not allowed in the (High) street which is a conservation area, for fear of the damage it would cause to historic buildings. Under health & safety regulations, and due to the listed buildings we can’t put the bunting up”.
But yesterday the E.A.D.T. reported that the Town Clerk had confirmed that the reports were simply untrue. Instead “It would be physically impossible to attach it (the bunting) at a high enough level for vehicles including big lorries that regularly use the road to avoid it. Meanwhile the Town has commissioned the local Brownie and Guide groups to design and make bunting which will be zig-zagged across the street this week end when it is closed to traffic. If this is logistically impossible it will be draped from the buildings instead”.
Apparently Long Melford which is equally historic has bunting. There is no across the street bunting in Hadleigh but plenty on our buildings.
The newspaper advertising boards say it all:
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