DISTRICT COUNCILLOR REPORT TO EAST BERGHOLT PARISH COUNCIL
July 2026
Joint Local Plan First Consultation
The first consultation for the Joint Local Plan is up and running until 31 July. Please
respond. It is not a tick box exercise.

No decisions have been made yet on where development will take place and its
relation to infrastructure. That means councillors and officers want to listen to
residents before starting to write the draft plan.

I know we are responding as a parish council, but everyone is entitled to share their
view. Please publicise this where you can

Here is the link: Joint Local Plan Scoping Consultation – Babergh District Council –
babergh.gov.uk / midsuffolk.gov.uk

Better Recycling

The epic rollout of the new waste regime continues. Yes, some residents did not
receive bins; yes, some collections were missed but the crews have been working
extremely hard, at times in extreme heat, to make this work. By and large residents
have been really supportive.

In the first week the crews collected 116 tonnes of food waste from caddies across
Babergh and Mid Suffolk, 153 tonnes in the second week and 162 tonnes in week
three, all turned into biofuel and biofertilizer.

Changes on this scale are not without challenges. “The Waste Team would like to
thank everyone – residents for their patience, and our councillors, officers and, of
course, our waste colleagues for their efforts – particularly with the additional
challenge presented by the recent extreme heat, which our crews continued to work
throughout.”

If there are ongoing problems, there is more information here
https://www.babergh.gov.uk/bins-and-recycling
Residents urged not to miss out on heating oil help
Babergh and Mid Suffolk District Councils have joined forces with local Citizens
Advice services to reach residents who may be missing out on financial help with
heating oil – having already helped households unlock £100k in unclaimed benefits
over the last year. 
Residents can check eligibility details and apply for support via the Crisis and
Resilience Fund page on the Suffolk County Council website or contact their

local Citizens Advice for help with applications, whether or not they have been
contacted by the councils.
Information on community oil buying schemes, interest free loans and energy advice
is also available on the energy, fuel and utilities pages on the Babergh and Mid
Suffolk council websites.  
Residents receiving a letter from the councils’ Cost of Living team can verify its
legitimacy by calling Customer Services on 0300 1234 000. 
Water Management in coming decades
We live in a water stressed area. I attended a webinar that set out how the water
authorities intend to provide water to growing populations in the context of floods and
drought. By 2050, if we do nothing, there will be a water deficit of over 4.8 billion
litres every day. So new reservoirs are being built but Anglia Water intends to reduce
half the deficit by educating us to use less water and by promoting the instalment of
water use reduction and reuse measures. I will certainly be looking at how we can
encourage housing developers to incorporate these measures into all new housing.
New Wine Trail

You may have noticed more and more vineyards appearing on the landscape in
our area. Well, there’s a new Suffolk Wine Trail which has been launched to
showcase Suffolk’s growing collection of local vineyards.

Funded by Babergh and Mid Suffolk District Councils and West Suffolk Council,
the new Suffolk Wine Trail has been created to support this new generation of
vineyards and help boost wine tourism.

Visit Suffolk | Suffolk Wine Trail | Vineyard Tours and Wine Tasting…

Finally: a Date for your Diary – July 21
st
. 5.30pm. The evening we put the East
Bergholt Conservation Area to Babergh Full Council for adoption. Watch it on
YouTube or come to Endeavour House to watch a historical moment in real time!

Councillor Sallie Davies
Sallie.davies@babergh.gov.uk