In Touch September 2021

By the time you read this hopefully you will have enjoyed some form of Summer Break! What you
may have missed out on was the “entertaining” if that is the right way to describe it, Council meeting
on the 29
th
July!(Try U -Tube it should still be there.)
As an example of organised chaos you could not get any better but at least the “principle” of the
motion I proposed on Notice was passed in that at all meetings including the Annual Council meeting
there would be an opportunity for Members of the Public and Councillors to ask questions.
It appears that as the number of meetings was reduced from 10 a year to 5 (because of lack of
business) the ability to ask questions at the Annual Council meeting was removed making less
opportunities for the public to question what its council was doing! Open democratic accountability
is important. As councillors we are elected to represent the electorate and its important that they
see what decisions are made by the council, officers and councillors, on their behalf. One small step
forward. The fiasco over the annual audit on the electoral rolls where it was being done by e-mail
with an outside contractors e-mail address after we had been warning everyone of spam e-mails was
a classic example of how not to do things. The explanation that it had been publicised on the
councils twitter feed and web site does little when for example I don’t do twitter and I certainly do
not scour the web site to see if there is anything new that I should be looking at. On occasions I have
difficulty finding the right page to gain information! Also in the meeting was a very poor paper on
investment in Sudbury. Yes, it is our largest Market Town but the rest of the District deserves some
attention as well. I will say no more, just look at the video if you are interested.
At least there is some good news, I have managed to secure a locality sum to help finance the
renovation of the war memorial. This important tribute to the fallen of the village over two wars is in
need of a spruce up. Furthermore the County Council have said that Fen Bridge should be replaced
by next Summer! For one I will not be holding my breath, after all there are still traffic lights on the
B1070 at Raydon after nearly four months.
So with Covid Jab rates nearing “herd” immunity and rules being relaxed things are starting to return
to as near normal as we can expect. Those who have been self isolating and their contacts take care,
there are lots of other bugs out there and we don’t want you to catch everything going. Depressing
to think that Winter Flu Jabs start in September and before long yet another year will have passed.
Stay Safe, Take Care.
Cllr John Hinton
East Bergholt Ward.