News in Shotley Peninsula

A Second Morning Liturgy

In the beginning

Even though restaurant goers can now eat inside the Loch & Quay at Woolverstone marina is one of those places you are likely to prefer dining outdoors.

My teenage son and I went on a sunny Sunday afternoon and sat on the terrace soaking up the views and activity along the river Orwell, looking as far down as the iconic bridge.

When people talk about challenges it's often another word for problems. In this case, the problem of how much money Suffolk County Council has to spend and where to spend it. I promised in my Money article to return to this subject.

I described a Net Income of about £600 Million then, but the gross Expenditure Budget rises to £1,026.5M. This is mostly due some very large direct grants made to Schools, but also includes £110M in Fees and Charges. (And one of these days I must investigate exactly what those are).

When I first stood for election for Parish Council 10 years ago, it was as myself, an Independent. We all did. Who needs parties at a Parish Council? We're all working for our community and we're all grown-ups. I've never been a member of any party, so when in 2015 I decided to continue my fight against the Brantham Regeneration Area plans I knew I would be an Independent candidate for Babergh.

In my view, what applied at Parish could work at District. Having watched some of the antics and games played as a result of party politics over the years, I don't think I was wrong.

When it comes to getting anything done in Local Government it always comes back to funding. Not just the money you have now, but the money you expect to have in future years. For the moment, let's look at the Suffolk County Council budget passed in February 2021.

I'm afraid this will involve some figures, but please bear with me. This stuff doesn't get broken down often enough in my view. All said and done, it is your money behind it. People often treat this subject as the exclusive preserve of Conservatives, but every councillor has a responsibility to have at least a passing understanding of it. In some ways, we do this, so you don't have to.

I've always been very careful when approaching this subject. Not just because it can be very contentious, but as a fair number of close family members are, or have been, teachers. At the same time that's given me the opportunity to observe, consider and think about the practical effects of decades of constant change.

For most of us, our opinions are largely going to be based on our personal experience in our own schools and colleges. That might be altered by the experiences we have had as parents of children, or even as grandparents. Those can be very anecdotal.

Many years ago, I lived and worked in Livingstone, Zambia which is only 7 miles from the famous Victoria Falls. One of my favourite African proverbs is "it takes a village to raise a child"

In our first world villages, that might be more difficult to achieve but it does take many people to enable, educate and empower children to become the people we all want them to be.

During our long period of COVID-19 Restrictions, "reserved Brits" have discovered that hugging another person is a privilege which we have often neglected in the past and we miss it dreadfully now we cannot do it.

Hugging a Tree as an alternative became associated with flower power and flared trousers in the 60's but in recent years science has proved it has benefits. It can promote health and well being and can have a very positive effect on some mental illnesses. If you follow the hugging instructions to the letter on how to embrace it fully, I for one would have difficulty getting up from the ground.

Like many I was pleased to hear the announcement of an extra £1M for Highways Flooding and road improvements in Suffolk. Of course, this was announced conveniently close to the forthcoming SCC Elections, so I thought a little digging was called for.

The money is taken from the Department for Transport £2.5 Billion announced in the 2020 Budget, the so-called Potholes Fund. Spread over 5 years, this £1M would be Suffolk's share of the £500M for this year. At the time, the Road Haulage Association said that this was about 10% of what was actually needed to deal with a huge backlog of work. By the end of the period, at least as many new problems will have developed, leaving us effectively standing still.

Mary's McLaren the Suffolk County Council prospective candidate for the Peninsula Division talks farming

Farmers know all about storms and regardless of the weather they are out there come rain or shine caring for their livestock and/or managing the planting or harvesting of crops.