Councillors on Babergh’s Strategy Committee today (January 15th) backed the adoption of a new document aimed at providing guidance to preserving and, where possible, enhancing Sudbury’s conservation area.

The appraisal document has been the subject of extensive consultation in recent months as Babergh has sought the views of both local groups and the general public through both a public display in the town and a meeting held at the Town Hall in November of last year.

According to Rich Cooke, Babergh’s Planning Policy Manager “the Sudbury Conservation Area Appraisal document is the most extensive evaluation of the relevant parts of the town centre that has been carried out in nearly 40 years. This version provides an updated evaluation of what makes the area so distinctive and important”.

“We have been  pleased with the level of interest in the issue and were especially heartened to receive such positive comments from both the Suffolk Preservation Society and Sudbury Town Council.

The finished version now becomes an important ‘guide’ by which planners and others with an interest in the area can consider future developments and improvements in a way that is sensitive to its unique character.

“The amount of time and resources – and the breadth of the consultation undertaken – demonstrates just how seriously Babergh takes the conservation of the architectural heritage in Sudbury”.

Copies of the Sudbury Conservation Area Appraisal will soon be available on Babergh’s website (www.babergh.gov.uk), from Babergh’s Hadleigh HQ and from the offices of Sudbury Town Council.

A Sudbury-based private hire vehicle operator has been ordered by Sudbury Magistrates’ last Friday (7^th November) to pay over £1000 in fines and legal costs in a successful prosecution brought by Babergh District Council.

Steve Dove of Sudbury, a licensed operator who trades under the name "Steve's Cars", was reported to Babergh for picking up passengers outside of a hotel in Lavenham in March this year in a car that did not have a vehicle licence.

According to Lee Carvell, Babergh’s Licensing Officer, this offence could have serious implications for any member of the public using the vehicle. “Before any vehicle is given a licence it is subject to thorough safety and suitability checking that involves a test more detailed than a regular MOT. Equally, driving a vehicle without the appropriate licence invalidates any existing insurance policy”.

James Buckingham, Babergh’s Principal Environmental Protection Officer explained that “the Council is determined that the process of licensing private hire vehicles will be effectively controlled. The Law and licensing processes are in place to protect the public from the use of vehicles that could be unsafe and unfit”.

“We are pleased by the outcome of this hearing as it also sends out a strong message to anyone else thinking of putting profit before the safety of passengers” added Mr Buckingham.

“Babergh has publicly pledged to try and get Hadleigh the community facilities it deserves. I’m delighted to say that we are now about to deliver on that promise!”

Cllr. Nick Ridley, Chairman of Babergh’s Strategy Committee was speaking after councillors gave the thumbs up today (18th September) to spend £2m in building a brand new community building linked to the existing Hadleigh swimming pool.

The facility is designed to appeal to as wide range of users as possible and will include a dance studio, a fitness studio, a community area (including a stage) and a social area for more casual uses.

If the resulting planning application is approved by Babergh’s Development Committee, the £2m project – the biggest non-housing scheme undertaken by the Council for many years – could open as early as the winter of 2009.

“We have already widely consulted with local people to ensure the building can offer something for virtually everyone. This ‘green light’ now means the project can speed forward to finding someone to build and run the facility. If everything goes according to plan, local people could well start seeing the foundations being dug soon after the New Year” explained Cllr. Ridley.

Cllr Ridley added that Babergh was still hopeful that the Council’s partners in the town would be prepared to make contributions – including financial ones – in support of the facility.

Babergh District Council’s Strategy Committee is due to debate (on 18th Thursday September) two exciting initiatives – one in Sudbury and one in Hadleigh – which if approved could make a major contribution to the vitality of each town centre.

The first involves getting the thumbs up for Babergh officers to begin the tendering process to build a brand new community facility in Hadleigh. This is due to be located next to the existing swimming pool and is earmarked to comprise a dance studio, a fitness studio, a community area (including a stage) and a social area for more casual uses.

Once the designs have been completed and if approved by Babergh’s Development Committee, the £2m project – the biggest non-housing scheme undertaken by the Council for many years – could open as early as late 2009.

The second, which is only at a very initial ‘ideas’ stage, is for outline backing for a scheme aimed at building a new GP practice and retirement complex on the site of Belle Vue House and the adjacent derelict swimming pool site at Newton Road, Sudbury. There is also the potential to acquire land in Sudbury town centre to contribute to a future substantial mixed use development.

Babergh recognises that some concern has been expressed that green areas of Belle Vue Park will be taken up in any such possible project. However, Babergh can confirm that the concept would have only a minimal impact on green spaces within Belle Vue Park itself.

This is a concept that is still in the process of being developed – and one that will be looked at in its totality, involving as it may both the land currently owned by McCarthy & Stone and the site of both Belle Vue House and the old swimming pool.

If backed by Councillors on Thursday, Babergh will aim to meet with Sudbury Town Council and others as soon as possible to more fully explain the potential of the scheme.

In both cases, the town councils, residents and others will have the chance to formally make their views known once any resulting planning applications have been received.

According to Mike Hammond, Babergh’s Deputy Chief Executive “Babergh has always been very supportive of both of our market towns and we believe that through working with other partners, including the respective town councils, both of these exciting initiatives has the potential to deliver real benefits to local people and improve the vibrancy of each centre”.

On receiving a tip-off that a derelict Sudbury property had been occupied by squatters, Babergh District Council environmental protection officers acted quickly last week to remove them and secure the house from further intruders.

The property had been the scene for a noisy party attended by an estimated 40 youngsters on Saturday 9^th August, with another party planned for the following Thursday.

Having inspected the property the day before, Babergh issued a Prohibition Order on 13^th August which required the squatters to leave immediately as the Melford Road house – owned by Crellson Grange Ltd. of Brentford - provided no fire protection to the occupants.

Babergh’s officers considered that if a fire had broken out this fact, together with the exposed electrical wiring and rotted floorboards, made the property a potential death trap.

Once the Order had been issued, the squatters promptly left the building. However, the contractors charged with boarding up the building discovered that gas was still being supplied to the property – although the gas pipes had been removed creating the possibility of an explosion should a naked light have been lit in the building.

According to Tom Ost, Babergh’s Senior Housing Standards Officer “our main concern was for the physical safety of the occupiers and any visitors to the house. Any parties held at the property would cause noise nuisance to neighbours and substantially increased the risk of injury, potentially fatal, to revellers.”

“This incident should send a clear message to owners of properties of the inherent risks of leaving them empty for long periods of time, especially if members of the public can easily gain access. There are many options available to make use of such properties to provide affordable homes for the community and prevent them becoming problems for neighbours.”

Babergh District Council today (1^st August) welcomed the £2000 fine (plus £1223 costs and victim surcharge) imposed on a Hadleigh couple who had pleaded guilty to placing meat on the market when it did not have the required health marks.

In March, working on calls from an employee and a local resident that Mark and Anne-Marie Rothwell, previously of Pierpoint’s Butchers in Hadleigh High Street, had taken possession of ten pig carcasses from a supplier other than a licensed abattoir, officers from Babergh’s Food and Safety Regulation Team removed the items before they could enter the food chain. At a hearing soon afterwards Sudbury Magistrates’ Court formally condemned the meat, which was then incinerated.

Babergh then took the decision to prosecute Mr and Mrs Rothwell, who had been running Pierpoint’s Butchers for four months at that point, for processing the meat – which amounts to ‘placing it on the market’ within the meaning of the law.

Mr and Mrs Rothwell were both fined £1000 each and ordered to pay costs of £596.50 each plus £15 victim surcharge each. The Magistrates felt that this was a “serious breach” of food hygiene legislation.

Emma Richbell, Babergh’s Senior Food & Safety Officer, welcomed the outcome of today’s hearing: “Babergh is pleased that Mr and Mrs Rothwell were found guilty. It is a fundamental requirement of this business that a butcher only receives animal carcasses that have been slaughtered in a licensed abattoir and which bear the appropriate health marks. This is to ensure that any meat is free from potentially harmful diseases or veterinary drug residues”.

Explaining that Babergh’s concerns and actions were designed to protect the public regardless as to whether the meat was for public sale or, as claimed by Mr and Mrs Rothwell, for private use, Ms Richbell continued “Babergh is aware of many farmers who routinely send their own stock to licensed slaughterhouses which then goes on to butchers for cutting and return to the farmers. However, in this case the normal checks that are so essential to ensuring that such meat is safe were being bypassed”.

“The meat could potentially have gone into the wider food supply as it was clear to Babergh officers during their initial visit to Pierpoint’s Butchers that cuts from the pigs were being mixed up with that from other, licensed sources”.

John Rainer, Babergh’s Food & Safety Regulation Manager, sought to allay the fears of the general public that this type of action might be commonplace.

“In my 28 years as an environmental health professional I have never come across a case where a butcher sought to bypass the use of a licensed abattoir for carcasses in their possession. Food businesses in Babergh are run to high standards and I am confident that our established butchers would not even consider handling meat that has not been through the required legal controls”.

Swift and decisive action by a Suffolk district council – plus the support of numerous parish councils and other bodies – looks set to have saved no less than 28 rural phone boxes earmarked for removal by BT.

Councillors on Babergh District Council’s Strategy Committee yesterday (31^st July) gave the thumbs up for officers to confirm with BT the list of phone boxes that should be retained – and the reasons for their retention.

In early April BT embarked on a consultation exercise identifying 43 phone boxes that the company believed should be removed due to their low usage levels. Babergh promptly informed the relevant parish councils and over 200 community groups requesting views as to whether they agreed with the closure – and evidence to the contrary if they did not.

According to Neil Henry, Babergh’s Economic and Community Development Manager, who co-ordinated the campaign “a very small number of councils were in agreement with BT, but the vast majority from Stratford St. Mary in the south to Thorpe Morieux in the north and from Chelmondiston in the east to Sudbury in the west felt that their phone boxes were essential services that just could not be lost”.

Data showed that many of the phone boxes were actually well used – with some having over 100 calls made from them in the course of a year.

The Babergh Community Safety Partnership has organised three free mobile skate park events – over the next few weeks- to give kids taster sessions in skateboarding. Participants will not only have the chance to show off their talent on the slopes but also learn new tricks from the coaches.

The Babergh Community Safety Partnership will also have musical dance mats to try out and a mobile police pod to explore and will be security marking bikes for free.

In addition to the skate park Babergh District Council Sports Team is providing multi-sport activities to keep everyone on the move and a mobile food van to keep everyone full of energy.

There will also be lots of information on sporting activities and healthy lifestyles for parents and kids alike.

The events are to take place:

Monday 4th August: 9 - 2pm East Bergholt, High School

Monday 11th August: 9- 2pm Great Waldingfield, CEVC Primary School

Monday 25th August, (Bank Holiday): Shotley, Ganges Play Park off Lloyd Road.