East Bergholt Parish Council Chair’s Report, 8.1.26

Meeting about The Grange Residents, 18.12.25
Our District Councillor, Sallie Davies, organised a meeting with the Grange residents which I and
Nigel also attended. There are concerns that the owners of the caravan sites are not talking to
the residents who live there. Approximately 30 residents attended the meeting, all owners of
static vans, and relayed their concerns and we were able to tell them about the points the PC
had made to Babergh planners. In particular residents were concerned as they did not have any
idea which sites the owners were making applications about – one of the key points EBPC had
made to Babergh. One urgent consideration was whether medically disadvantaged residents
could stay in their vans for January, an arrangement that had been made in previous years but
which the site owners had forbidden for this year on the grounds that it broke their site licence
conditions. Sallie took the issue back to Babergh Licencing office and in view of the urgency and
the residential application being under consideration by Babergh planners, the officers gave the
site owners permission in writing for Jan 2026 that they would take no action against the site
owners if they allowed particularly vulnerable to stay in their caravans this January.

Conservation Area Proposals
I have attended with others several meetings with Vincent Pearce and Tegan Chinnery, Babergh
Planning and Heritage team about the proposals to extend the conservation area in EB. After
walking the landscape and much discussion we have agreed with Babergh to put forward a
slightly reduced area for conservation area approval. The site to the key areas now being put
forward for Babergh’s consideration, which their officers thought had a cohesive argument to
make, are the west side of the The Street/Gaston Street; Quintons Corner; The Heath south of
Richardson’s Road up to the Donkey Track with a buffer zone just north of the Donkey Track; the
area of housing along Gandish Road; the fields enclosed by Flatford Road and the area around
Flatford. We have commissioned a specialist to write the report and recommendations and she
expects to finish the draft in the next couple of weeks. Other areas previously recommended by
the PC will be omitted from this application but will be reviewed again at the 5-year review point
to see if stronger arguments can be made for them. Once the report is finalised and submitted
to Babergh for their consideration to take forward we expect to launch an informal consultation
with the village on the areas proposed explain the reasons for the extension and the impact and
FAQs information for residents of the proposed areas. At some point soon after this point
Babergh planners will proceed with a formal consultation process and a decision expected
before the end of July 2026.

Mal Bridgeman, Chair Brantham PC
I met with Mal as part of our regular updates. We discussed the opportunity to jointly fund a
dedicated community support police officer for our 2 villages and potentially support from other
surrounded villages. I told Mal that EB had proposed a sum of £23k be put into our precept to
support this proposal. Mal said that Brantham councillors were also interested.
We also discussed the letter from Persimmon Homes notifying us of a future potential
application for building on a field south of Slough Road, in Brantham but bordering EB. We were
both concerned about the risk of conjoining our 2 villages.
Brantham is progressing well with its Neighbourhood Plan development and are looking for site
for affordable housing.

“In Our View” coordination group
I attended a meeting of the group and plans are progressing well. The new dedicated webpage
on EBPC website is now live and displays dates of events already planned but there is more to
come. East Bergholt Community Council is working with the PC this year to plan a jointly

organised Summer Fair, with a Constable theme, with a view for them taking on organising this
annual event in the future, now that their volunteer committee has increased in number and
they are developing plans for a greater range of activities.

Suffolk Councils reorganisation
The consultation on the boundaries for unitary councils is the subject of consultation, ending 11
Jan 2026 – that is this coming Sunday. Please do try to respond as an individual to show that we
care.
https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/local-government-reorganisation-in-norfolk-
and-suffolk
I have responded to the consultation on behalf of the Parish Council using the decisions made
by the Parish Council in their discussion of this topic in autumn 2025.

The government have announced that they are postponing the Mayoral elections until May 2027
and have written to ask local county councils if they want to postpone their council elections
until May 2027 also. Communications from SCC make it seem likely that our county council will
say yes, meaning that councillors will have to serve 6 years in total, a not very satisfactory or
democratic move.

I noticed that SCC cabinet is discussing new measures on Friday this week to make is easier for
local councils to successfully ask for 20mph speed limits. Given our experience debating this
topic with SCC over the last 4 years this was a surprise. I wondered if this was linked to the
consultation on One Suffolk where SCC councillors have heard quite clearly and consistently
that their services are very unreceptive to local views.

Joan Miller, 7.1.26