PARISH OF GREAT FINBOROUGH

Date of next meeting: see Village Diary.

Report from the November Parish Council Meeting
District Councillor's report
John Matthissen informed us that another batch of brown bins for garden waste recycling has arrived, and will be distributed to those on the waiting list. Mid Suffolk District Council has a finance gap, and will be deferring filling vacancies by one month. Uncertainty continues for Mid Suffolk council tenants since any change to unitary status may cover all Suffolk. All MSDC housing stock is being assessed and options examined. Many other local authorities have transferred their housing stock to Housing Associations. Sue Green has more details.

Police report November's Newsletter carried a report from PC Richard Calver telling us of changes to the Safer Neighbourhood Teams. PCSO Claire Cox remains on the team covering Great Finborough. She was able to report no crimes in our parish. Her report also carried a warning about a postal scam involving a company called PDS (Parcel Delivery Service). This is an old scam, closed down in December 2005, and the company fined £10,000. Her advice with such scams and chain e-mails is to bin them!

Triangle opposite the school
Debbie Ball told us about the meeting she and Rodney Self attended with the County and District Councils. She explained the various options for improving this area, including relocating the bus stop there from its current position outside Chaplins. As always, finding the money is difficult, so Debbie is going back to Suffolk County Council with some of the Parish Council's proposals to see what is viable.

Extension of 30mph limits
A request has been made to extend the 30mph limit near Borough Lane to the other side of City Lane. A previous request to extend the limit in Valley Lane has also been made. I have now written to the County Council requesting this and suggested a site meeting to determine final positions, if they are in agreement.

Boundary Changes - Buxhall to Great Finborough
MSDC has asked for any new representations concerning the proposed boundary change involving moving 25 properties from Buxhall to Great Finborough. The Parish Council view is to support the proposal which, given that many of the properties appear to be in Great Finborough anyway, and there has been confusion over addresses such as Boundary Cottages are opposite the school! Voters also have to travel to Buxhall to vote, a three mile round trip, rather than just down the road to Pettiward Hall.

Parish Council Meetings 2009
Please note the dates of the next Parish Council meetings for 2009 are:

You will find the details in the relevant Village Diary during the year.
Dave Norman, Clerk to the Parish Council

County Councillor's Report
Democracy in Meetings
Suffolk County Council has agreed to allow members of the public to ask questions at future Council meetings. The public will have a 20 minute window to ask one submitted question, and a supplemental if required. The next full Council meeting is 11 December. If you wish to submit a question, it must be sent to Democratic Services in Endeavour House by midday on the fourth day before the meeting. Please contact Penny for a name, or she will submit it for you. All other meetings are open to the public unless there is a legal reason for an item to be discussed in confidence. The public will also now be allowed to speak on Public Rights of Way issues.

Footpath
The footpath between Stowmarket and Onehouse is to be extended and upgraded at last. I'm not sure exactly where the work is to be done, or when, but will find out for the next Newsletter.

Fire Action Plan
The Fire Service has launched a draft fire action plan, which has nine main priorities. Comments are welcome. The draft, and how to respond can be found at www.suffolk.gov.uk/policingandpublicsafety/fireandrescueservices/fireactionplan/draftfireactionplan.htm .

Suffolk Bill of Rights for Older People
All Councils across Suffolk, as well as the Primary Care Trust and the Police, have signed up to the Suffolk Bill of Rights for Older People.

Stansted Airport
Stansted airport has announced plans to expand capacity from 25 million to 35 million passengers per year, resulting in an additional 23,000 flights. This comes during the time the NATS consultation over aircraft stacking is in progress, and the recent announcement that two parallel public consultations over the second runway may take place later this year.

Local Government Review
Concerns have also been expressed about whether the local government review would continue in light of the economic downturn (aka recession!), but the Boundary Commission and Government have confirmed it will continue, since they believe unitary authorities will save money.

'Your place' - Mid Suffolk Locality Pilot has reached the voting stage. Later in the meeting, the Parish Council voted for the Drinkstone and Onehouse parishes to represent us, but also expressed concern that the geographic spread was too wide. I've subsequently found out that the boundaries were, in the words of the Localities Team at Suffolk County Council, 'based on the new Police boundary for the Safer Neighbourhood Team (SNT).'

Suffolk County Council - Heavy Goods Vehicle Incident Reporting Procedure
Suffolk County Council, as the highway authority for most of the roads in Suffolk, has developed a procedure to deal with incidents on the roads involving heavy goods vehicles. This process has been developed with the assistance of Suffolk Police, Highways Agency, Freight Transport Association and the Suffolk Association of Local Councils. The type of incidents to report might include inappropriate parking overnight, causing unnecessary obstruction when parking to deliver goods, heavy goods vehicles travelling through a weight-restricted road, or travelling through unsuitable minor roads. An incident is reported using the form to be found at https://www.csduk.com/CSD/Transportandstreets/Trafficmanagement/gBizProduct.htm?ProductID=PHGV01.

Further copies are available by contacting the Suffolk Association of Local Councils (SALC) or Suffolk County Council. Contact details on the back page of the leaflet: http://www.suffolk.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/5D5DFC17-5F95-4D14-B39B-441BC37E7A5F/0/15213SCCLorryManLeafV5.pdf.

Having filled in a form and sent it to the Environment and Transport Department, the incident is recorded on the 'HGV Incident Database'. Details will be forwarded to the relevant haulage company to take action. Depending on the details reported these may also be reported to Suffolk Police or the Eastern Region Traffic Commissioner, and further action may be taken.

Where heavy goods vehicles are repeatedly recorded travelling through weight-restricted roads or bridges, Suffolk County Council Trading Standards officers will target these roads as part of their routine checks. Action will be taken with those companies who are found to be illegally using these roads. As part of this initiative, signing may be introduced to advise drivers. In addition the Freight Transport Association will be kept informed of incidents involving its members. And finally, if you find faults on street maps or 'satnav', please e-mail msahelpdesk@ordnancesurvey.co.uk Penny Otton

'The Triangle' opposite the Primary School
We know that quite a few residents were sad to see the old Chestnut tree removed from the triangle opposite the school. As the tree was in an advanced stage of disease and classed as unsafe, we had no option but to ask for the tree to be removed.

To look at the piece of land now as we drive along the main road or turn to Buxhall, the triangle looks very bare and uninspiring. A meeting has taken place between Suffolk County Council, Mid Suffolk District Council and the Parish Council to decide on replanting for the triangle. With funding this could become a very attractive feature of the village and not the eyesore it is now.

The Parish Council has been lent a book of trees and shrubs to discuss different ideas at the next Parish Council meeting and if you have ideas and opinions about planting then do come along. Hopefully a decision will be made in January so work can start in early Spring; the best time for planting.
Debbie Ball on Behalf of the Parish Council

News from your District Councillor - John Matthissen
Tree Planting
Thanks to everyone who donated trees or helped with tree planting at Shelland Green recently. We planted 120 trees including ten Oaks. As well as filling gaps in the hedge along the green we planted four female Black Poplars to complement the long established male trees around the green. The Black Poplar is a rare native species, of which Suffolk is the largest stronghold. There are about 430 left in Suffolk; only 80 of which are female. We are glad to have helped the County Council to add to this number.

Further planting schemes to exceed my target of 'a tree for every vote' are planned for the new year and next winter. If you have seedling native trees in your garden please save them into pots during the winter; and let me use them around our villages in future seasons.

Mid Suffolk South Community Board update
This pilot project may explore the way forward for local involvement when the reorganisation of Local Government goes ahead. Eleven of the 39 parishes put forward nominations for the Board, and I am pleased to say that Onehouse parish councillor Ron Raisey has been chosen as one of the six representatives. There will also be representatives of the District and County councillors, as well as police and health service nominees. More of this when we know the future shape of councils in Suffolk. Seasons Greetings to everyone
John Matthissen

Please get in touch if you have a problem with which I, as your District Councillor, may be able to help. Telephone between 9am and 9pm, on 01449 771742, email to john.matthissen@midsuffolk.gov.uk or write to me at 3 Wash Lane Corner, Great Finborough, Stowmarket IP14 3BJ