“The Liberal Democrats exist to build and safeguard a fair, free and open society,
in which we seek to balance the fundamental values of liberty, equality and community,
and in which no-one shall be enslaved by poverty, ignorance or conformity.”
From left to right, representing the West Ward of Felixstowe:
Town and District Councillor Harry Dangerfield
Tel. 01394 282713
Town and District Councillor Sandra Bryant
Tel. 01394212490
Town and District Councillor Mike Ninnmey
Tel. 01394 288610
Town Councillor Sheila Chambers
Tel. 01394 200075
West ward councillors support the two west ward Community Associations in their fight to prevent the building of a skateboard park next to Christ Church and residents’ houses. They totally support the provision of a skateboard park for the young people of the town, but feel strongly that the present site is totally unsuitable. Several alternative and more suitable sites have been suggested (Brackenbury Sports Centre, Felixstowe seafront, etc.) but not followed up by the District Council where Lib Dems are heavily out-numbered.
Felixstowe Liberal Democrats regret that the Town Council have agreed to purchase the Town Hall from the District Council, forcing the Town to borrow half a million pounds to purchase and re-furbish the building. This was originally owned by the Town Council when it was part of the Urban District Council and was ceded to Suffolk Coastal District Council when that authority was formed.
A neighbourhood plan is being drawn up for west ward - the first ‘urban’ plan in Suffolk. If you are a resident in Felixstowe, and particularly in west ward, please join in the meetings which will be held over the coming months. This is an opportunity for residents to say what they want for their areas and will mean that their wishes must be taken into account in future plans for the area. It is hoped that if this plan is successful, further wards in the town will be able to draw up their own neighbourhood plans. Who should have a better say than residents themselves?
Councillors hold regular surgeries in company with the County Councillor for the ward.
The next dates and venues are:
Surgeries are held from 10am to 12 noon.
You can also contact your Councillor as above, with any queries you have or for more details about Liberal Democrats in Felixstowe.
An Extraordinary General Meeting of Felixstowe Town Council was held at Walton Community Hall on Tuesday, 11th March, where Steve Brown, Suffolk Coastal's Planning Policy and Development Officer gave a briefing on the planning response to the proposed location for the 1620 houses which the Government says need to be built in our area over the next 16 years. Many landowners had offered sites and these were identified only as 'blobs' on the map of Felixstowe, Walton and the Trimleys. The town and parish boundaries were unclear.
Only 100 people were able to access the meeting, where a mere 30 minutes was allocated for them to put their questions and points of view. More than 200 people were locked out of the meeting, due to lack of space at the venue.
Steve Brown gave a powerpoint presentation of the proposals (see the "Felixstowe Future" website) and explained that this was just the beginning of a long process, which would take maybe 18 months to two years to complete. He said that consultation with local people would be a strong point in any decision made over where these houses should be built.
It is strange, then, that the Conservative majority on Felixstowe Town Council appeared to have made up their mind, however reluctantly, that 'site 4' (to the north of the Dock spur roundabout) should be recommended before they came to the meeting purportedly to listen to officers' and residents' views. This was plainly borne out by the fact that Councillor Slemmings, who proposed the recommendation, read from a typed copy of his proposition and as far as we could see, there were no typewriters present in the hall. We are not saying that the councillors should not have conferred before they came to the meeting, so that they had already argued between them the pros and cons of each site, but even after it had been made quite clear by the reaction and comments of the people in the hall that sites 1, 4 and 5 were not environmentally acceptable choices, they did not consider altering their recommendation. The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary's definition of "consultation" is 'a conference in which the parties consult and deliberate'. It does not say 'making a decision and then telling your consultees what you have decided.'
Liberal Democrat councillors had also conferred over the proposals, but had taken the time and trouble to 'think outside the box' and research not only parish boundaries, but also to note that other sites could be suggested. They had looked closely at the infrastructure of each of the five sites indicated and had come to the conclusion that all had major weaknesses and were therefore unacceptable. They did find, however, that an alternative site would be a possibility in that it could take most of the District's allocation of houses on one site, which would, as Steve Brown had pointed out, mean that the planning gain for future residents would be more effective if confined to one site. The area they suggested as a possibility is north of the A14 between Trimley St Martin and Kirton. This has access both to Felixstowe and to Ipswich and Martlesham for employment (the much vaunted enlargement of Felixstowe Docks is unlikely to provide a great deal of direct extra employment as modern trends are all towards automatism) as well as having the benefit of conserving the countryside and open spaces that are an increasingly important part of life in the Felixstowe peninsula This would allow the rest of the town to grow in a rational manner and the District Council could also be held to their promise that at least 30% of the houses would be affordable. Also, it would not be reasonable for any developer to be allowed to provide the money to build affordable houses on a different site, which is what happens at the moment. In 2007 this caveat resulted in only two 'affordable' houses being built in Felixstowe.
After listening to the views presented by Steve Brown and from both the floor of the hall and the other councillors, the Liberal Democrat councillors proposed that a new site - site 6 - be considered for a brand new eco-sustainable village settlement (working title Trimley All Saints?) on an area north of the A14 between between Kirton Road, Croft Lane and Innocence Lane. There is a certain amount of infrastructure already in place which would lessen the amount of additional traffic on the A14, and the benefits to future residents of a single site would be greatest. The Council as a whole voted that site 6 should be considered. All of the Conservative councillors recommended and voted for site 4. Liberal Democrat councillors and the Labour councillor voted against site 4.
On 14th March, Liberal Democrat councillors asked Felixstowe's Town Clerk to arrange for a Public Meeting to be convened as soon as possible so that those people who had not been able to attend the Walton meeting could be given a briefing on the proposals and the opportunity for an exchange of ideas and views. They feel that such a meeting would help to allay the suspicions of the public that they are not being engaged in the proposals. The meeting should be held before the deadline of March 28th or the period be extended to allow a proper consultation on areas 1 to 5 and the new area 6.
The decision reached on these proposals is not only for 16 years but will reshape the amenities of the Felixstowe peninsula for ever and it is more important to reach the least damaging and most sustainable decision than to reach a quick one. While we would accept that you cannot please all the people all of the time, to please none of the people none of the time surely should not be the aims of elected local democratic governance.
If you have any comments, hopefully constructive, please contact
Councillor Harry Dangerfield
or write to him at: 55 Princes Road, Felixstowe, IP11 7PL.
Thanks to all who took part in our opinion survey. (Suffolk Coastal Local Development Framework consultation for the Core Strategy - further issues and options - Regulation 25).
Here is an analysis of your opinions
We counted the ticks for each opinion for each site. The table shows the totals. Then we gave a score to each opinion: 2 for "Strongly prefer" 1 for "Prefer", 0 for "No opinion", -1 for "Object" and -2 for "Strongly object". The bar chart shows the result.
| Site number | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Opinion | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
| Strongly prefer | 16 | 24 | 14 | 1 | 2 | 62 |
| Prefer | 20 | 25 | 14 | 13 | 5 | 23 |
| No opinion | 10 | 16 | 12 | 5 | 8 | 11 |
| Object | 29 | 23 | 23 | 11 | 12 | 10 |
| Strongly object | 68 | 52 | 74 | 109 | 111 | 34 |
We need more Liberal Democrat councillors in Felixstowe to help us get residents' views presented to the Councils. If you are interested in the Liberal Democrats and would be interested in becoming a councillor, contact any of the above or write to us at:
Felixstowe Liberal Democrats, FREEPOST NAT 15494, Woodbridge IP12 4BR