In addition to any announcements made at the meeting, please see Paper BC/23/42 attached, detailing events attended by the Chair and Vice-Chair.
Minutes:
101.1 The Chair referred Members to Paper BC/23/42 for noting.
101.2 Councillor John Ward, Acting Leader for Babergh District Council, made the following announcements:
UK Council of the Year
I really must start this evening with the great news this month that Babergh and Mid Suffolk were named UK Council of the Year at the iESE Public Sector Transformation Awards at a very enjoyable event in London on 6th March. You may have noticed the trophy next to the Chair.
This award is presented to a council deemed ‘outstanding’ in transforming its services and creating vibrant communities. It is great recognition for our staff, for all councillors across the political spectrum who have served their wards with distinction over recent years, and all the partner organisations we work with.
We show what can be achieved despite the challenging financial circumstances that local authorities face - not just supporting residents and offering good services which are great value, but being innovative and helping create thriving communities.
Well done to everyone involved but I really do want to give my heartfelt thanks to all of our staff – we in this chamber really appreciate everything you do for our communities.
Bramford to Twinstead
Councillors will be aware of National Grid’s long-running plans for more electricity pylons between Bramford and Twinstead.
The Planning Inspectorate has just completed the examination of the proposals and will now prepare a report for the Secretary of State, who will make a final decision.
Babergh District Council recognises the need to upgrade the grid to help meet net zero targets, but we have objected to the plans. Significant shortcomings must be addressed. Grid reinforcements cannot come at any cost to our residents or the environment. Not enough has been done to mitigate the impact on our countryside and local communities and National Grid has not fully considered the impact on tourism – this is unacceptable.
We also remain concerned about the cumulative impacts with other developments within the area, including the proposals for an additional powerline from Norwich to Tilbury, which would connect to the Bramford substation.
We will continue to work on behalf of our communities on this matter.
NFU Landowner Meeting
On a very wet Tuesday last week, Cllr Whyman and I met with local farmers and representatives of the NFU to discuss a number of matters of mutual interest. We covered planning issues, particularly renewable energy schemes and how to meet BNG targets, limitations of solar on roofs, designation of special landscape areas and damage caused by construction of AW’s pipeline, but drainage, flooding and river management was the overriding concern at the moment.
I really hope that this will lead to regular contact with the NFU.
DCN
Finally, last week Cllr McCraw and I, along with the Chief Executive and Tom Barker, attended this year’s DCN Annual Conference. There was a very full agenda covering skills & employment, AI in local government, cyber security, Oflog, use of energy in homes, the environment and delivering net zero, and an excellent keynote speech by Olympian Chris Boardman, who is now National Active Travel Commissioner and Chairman of Sport England. Perhaps the most insightful session was on what voters are thinking at the moment and current voting behaviour. There were some sobering conclusions for all political groups.
On a brighter note, there was quite a focus on Independents, given our greatly increased number and initiated somewhat inadvertently by the DCN chairman, who was brought to task by our LGA group leader for forgetting to mention us. This gave many of us the opportunity for an ‘I’m Spartacus’ moment throughout the conference.
Supporting documents: