Minutes:
49.1 Councillor Morley made the following announcements:-
I know it has been several weeks since Queen Elizabeth’s death and the King’s Proclamation. Political and economic events have dominated our news cycles over the last month, but I wanted to take this opportunity to respectfully mark the death of our late Queen, at full council, and proclamation of the King. God Save the King.
Turning back to politics, I’m sure all of us will want to congratulate Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, we wish him well as he has a huge task ahead of him. Local government and in particular Mid Suffolk, stands ready to support Government with its priorities but I will also take this opportunity to remind Westminster that local government and in particular Mid Suffolk, is the most efficient and innovative part of the public sector. Trust us. Back us. And wherever possible provide greater financial certainty to the sector and devolve more powers to local government.
Despite the period of national mourning, it has been an extremely busy period since we last met, this has included further curiosity events with HSBC and the NHS, helping to raise the aspirations of our young people and make them more aware of the opportunities that exist within Mid Suffolk, also helping children and families to stay happy, healthy, and active during the holidays, through outdoor adventure days, football, dance camps, swimming, and family cooking sessions.
Our fabulous Innovation Awards, congratulations again to all the local businesses who were shortlisted for these awards, and I want to take this opportunity to remind all of our businesses that they are still able to access free digital workshops as part of our digital skills program before November. Our businesses are also able to apply to participate in our new program, jointly funded with the University of Essex, to help them take the next steps towards innovation and growth.
The purchase by Mid Suffolk that has enabled the expansion of the John Peel Centre into 11 Marketplace in Stowmarket, and the John Peel Centre also hosted our very well attended ‘what’s next for Stowmarket’ event during September, and the Stowmarket Health Education and Leisure Facilities Scheme survey, which some of you may know better as the SHELF project, closed last week and I’m really looking forward to seeing the outcome of that survey soon. It was also fantastic to see our building control team successfully winning a regional award in the Annual Local Authority Building Control Building Excellence Awards. The Regal in Stowmarket won the best non-residential extension or alteration, and we will now move onto the national final in London in January 2023.
Granting planning permission to the first site at Gateway 14 with a new facility owned by the Range will create 1650 new jobs. In Harleston we have funded the creation of a wonderful wildflower Jubilee meadow, that together with our district-wide tree canopy survey work, and wildflower survey verges trials are all helping to tackle biodiversity and climate change, and most importantly continuing to help tackle the cost-of-living crisis for our residents. We are currently consulting about increasing the level of council tax discount to one hundred percent, and through Suffolk public sector leaders we have agreed to fund a new fuel poverty retrofit team, designed to deliver £50 million worth of retrofit works, such as insulation, fitting air source heat pumps, and replacing single glazing. This is alongside Solar Together Suffolk which is a separate group buying scheme which has already helped over 1500 homes in Suffolk to install solar panels and batteries and opened for new registrations from August this year. Through Suffolk Waste Partnership we have launched a new campaign to help families reduce food waste and save money, and finally I want to encourage all our community groups and non-profit organisations to apply for our winter warmth support grant which closes next week. This grant is open for applications from £250 up to £5000 to cover the rising cost of energy, rent, and food and to keep operating without passing on increased costs to our residents.