John Whyman's August report
I’m sure you will all share my deep sadness at the loss of my friend, colleague and staunch supporter of our communities, Cllr Dave Busby. My most sincere condolences go out to Domenic and his family. Many tributes have been written following Dave’s passing, I was particularly touched by the piece written by Deborah Saw, our deputy council leader. Deborah’s observations and comments were so insightful and written from the heart.
I’ve known Dave for over 30 years as a friend, associate and latterly, colleague councillor. I remember, like it was yesterday, Dave turning up on the Netball Courts in Hadleigh, literally dressed up as the famous BT ‘Busby’ in readiness for a ‘5 a side’ charity match – then and now, Dave would always push back at the limits… Dave introduced me to the Liberal Democrat’s and, if it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t be a district councillor today. His wise, if not, direct counsel on matters he knew significantly more than I certainly did, will no longer be ‘on tap’ to me. I, our friends, councillor colleagues and all those who you touched their lives will miss you Dave Busby….
On Neighbourhood Planning, it gives me much pleasure to congratulate the Capel PC team and particularly Michael Hole, our lead member for planning in Capel, for getting an A* from the Independent Examiner when the CSM NDP was submitted and now, passed, by the IE with ‘flying colours’. Michael and the PC NDP team have been well supported by the BDC Planning Team and, again, particularly by Paul Bryant. A public thank you to everyone who has made, over the last 12 months, such huge strides to get to where we are today. Not much further to go, but it’s crucial we continue to act, with pace, to get the NDP ‘made’ to form part of the overall development architecture/plan for Capel St Mary.
On a separate, but linked note, I continue to be grateful to residents for their support of the development challenges we face in the community. It remains important, to the vast majority of residents, that development is well placed, of a type we aspire to create and forms a cohesively sustainable addition to the village framework. I’m pleased that planning decisions made by BDC, some of which have been contested at appeal, have been supported by HMPI. Our vision of the ‘street scene/architecture’ and processes have been supported and upheld. This isn’t always a ‘given’ in the current development climate, but it’s rewarding to see planning professionals recognise the uniqueness of Capel as one of the early ‘garden villages’.
I was hugely disappointed that the Brockley Woods planning application was finally ‘forced’ through by Suffolk County Council Development and Regulation Committee on the 22nd July. Despite a valiant effort by Copdock & Washbrook PC (Adrian Ward & colleagues) Bentley PC (Michael, Marianne & colleagues) along with Tom Hill KC and numerous members of the communities present. The boldly uniformed conservative members of the committee managed to ‘ram’ through their long-awaited approval. The ‘non-governing’ members on this committee, including MSDC Planning Portfolio Holder, Andrew Stringer and Long Melford County Councillor, Richard Kemp, spoke intelligently against approval of the whole application which would have created a much more sustainable and less impactful approved scheme. I am grateful for our own county Councillor, Georgia Hall, for submitting a robust objection, siting many of the community driven issues. Babergh district council were statutory consultees to this application and had lodged a ‘holding objection’ to its approval. Despite our actions, the input from other D&R committee members and from our local communities, the remote and ‘politically driven’ conservative members ignored the balancing arguments and huge constraints, seemingly only concerned for the financial viability of the applicant. This seems counterintuitive to me, I would have thought they might have paid a little closer attention to the district council’s professionally curated position that reflected much of the communities points. Maybe this is a bit of a precursor for a single Suffolk Unitary authority…?
Our residents on Saxon Meadows (and I accept I’ve mentioned this before) have a newly structured residents open space management company. The idea/concept of the company is to allow SM residents to exercise democratic control over the jointly owned community open spaces across the development. We have, to my knowledge, only 2 directors active on the board. I know Murray Lyall (one of the current directors) would very much welcome additional new directors. There is a full and comprehensive insurance programme in place to protect the personal liability of directors, so please don’t be fearful of joining the board.
Babergh Notes
Babergh planning committee hasn’t met to determine any larger or controversial applications in July. Both myself and our new planning committee chair, Simon Dowling, are keen to use some of this time to ensure we remain ‘match fit’ for application determinations and remain abreast of the various changes taking place within the LPA decision making processes. Our next meeting is due to take place on the 20th August.
The BMSDC Overview and Scrutiny committee met on the 14th July to undertake the review of the Western Safety Partnership annual report. Our next meeting will take place on the 18th September.
As ever, I remain open to any members who would like to be briefed on specific anonymised examples of the council’s work, in this area, please let me know. These meetings are also open to both parish councillors and members of the public wishing to attend either in person or online.
District Councillor Resident Surgeries
My regular meeting opportunity for residents in the library will be Tuesday 9th September 9.30 – 11.00 noon. No appointment is necessary, but if residents need more of a confidential chat, please let them know beforehand so I can arrange some privacy. I’m also available ‘on demand’ at the PC office in conjunction with Julie. In the event of a meeting ‘emergency’ – please let Julie (Capel PC Clerk & RFO) know and she can get word to me such that I can respond.
John (Whyman) Cllr - Babergh Council Member – Capel St. Mary
Mobile: 07928 512597