Babergh District Councillor Alastair McCraw

LOCAL GOVERNMENT ASSOCIATION CONFERENCE

When I attended the above at the end of June, I heard three Government ministers speak. A week later, one had been sacked, one had resigned and a third had been promoted. It's kind of difficult to plan how Westminster will be dealing with Councils now. One thing is that for the moment we've come full circle with the return of (also once sacked) Greg Clark at our Department.

Another thing that caught my eye is the 'Debate not Hate' campaign. This is designed to raise public awareness of the role of councillors in their communities, to encourage healthy debate and support local politicians facing local abuse and intimidation. Seven in 10 respondents in a recent survey conducted for this study had experienced this in the last 12 months. In my reports to you here and elsewhere, I've always sought to inform you, to throw light on what councils and councillors can do, and why we believe in the work we do. Interestingly, 79% of councillors would still recommend the role to others.

BACK AT BABERGH

This month, there's so much going on, I'm going to have to shorten and simplify a lot of it. I preciously mentioned that we were undergoing a Peer Review. The results have now been returned to us. Babergh, working with Mid Suffolk, were found to be well run, punching above their weight, with good finances, ambitious, and delivering good core services. 

The commitment to tackling climate change, moving our waste fleet to hydrotreated vegetable oil and solar schemes at the leisure centres were noted as was the return made on our investments supporting services and housing delivery.

CIFCO AND A 30 YEAR PLAN FOR SOCIAL HOUSING.

I'm pleased to be able to report that the Capital Investment Company, CIFCO has continued to provide the income to support services that was always planned, and indeed was the entire point. It made a £6M profit last year given £3.75M net income. To add to this, against some expressed concerns, the valuation of the property portfolio has increased by £10M, £3M more than the original purchase prices. This means that the original purchase costs upfront have now been covered.

In another business case, we have adopted our 30-year plan to continue providing social housing in Babergh. Currently, there are over 4,000 properties for our tenants. In recent years, after nearly 30 years of none we're continuing to build and purchase housing for our stock. Last year saw ninety-five further properties, less a few 'Right to Buy' houses for the net figure. In the next six years, we're aiming to add sixty-five properties a year.  We're spending £16M to improve energy efficiency to a C rating, to help tenants and the environment. We're looking for improvement across the board in the quality of existing homes, involving tenants, improving services and neighbourhoods, and implementing digital transformation. I'll expand on just what that last item means in a future article.

It's an ambitious programme because we shouldn't just settle for the easy stuff. I'll add that the Parking Strategy consultation finishes on the 31st of July, just after this issue starts to go out.

BUILDING REGULATIONS.

This might seem highly technical, but from 15th June, these are the biggest changes in 30 years. As part of achieving Net Zero by 2050, the principal areas are in Ventilation, Conservation and Fuel, and a new area in Overheating. All applications submitted after the date must follow the new regulations. Any submitted before the date can use the old Regs, as long as build out starts before 15th June 2023. There will be an ongoing publicity campaign to raise awareness of the changes.

BLOSSOM APPEAL.

My colleague Katherine Grandon, as this year's Babergh Chairman, has chosen The Blossom Appeal as her designated charity. It is seeking to raise money towards a new Breast Care Centre at Ipswich Hospital. The target is £6.2 Million, so it needs all the support we can spare.

If you need to tell me anything important, please just phone or email me. I can guarantee a response there. At the moment, it looks like we have a warm summer. I hope everybody may enjoy it to the full this year. I intend to watch a load of cycle races.

Alastair McCraw. 07812 564188 or 07548 154296 [email protected]

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