Firstly, I wanted to take the time to introduce myself as your new County Councillor. I live near Laxfield with my family and love spending my time outdoors and with my camera. I have three Spaniels at home, and I’ll be your County Councillor until May 2025 when you’ll have the chance to vote again in the national county elections. Please forgive me while I get up to speed, and do get in touch at henry.lloyd@suffolk.gov.uk to raise any new or ongoing issues you feel I may not be aware of.
The way I structure my reporting will be a little different from perhaps what you are used to, with a separate county report for the division as a whole, covering the Suffolk-wide or more localised news and events to note within the area. The Town reports will be therefore shorter, focusing specifically on the issues raised by you to me, or through the CC directly relating to the town or neighbouring parishes.
ETRO Update
One of the first tasks I’ll be getting on with will be putting together plans for a meeting for all the communities impacted by the HGV traffic, both when it was in place and now that it is not. I aim to get the responsible cabinet member to attend, along with representatives from Suffolk Highways and community groups to discuss future options.
I know there is support in Eye for the reinstallation of the ETRO, and likely support on this council for the same, but I’ll be candid in saying that it’s just not going to happen.
At the very least, any future plans will not be like-for-like with the failed ETRO, because while it may have worked for Eye in many aspects, it did not work for the surrounding communities, and it is not good practice to simply off-shore the HGV issues to other villages.
To that extent, I have been notified that some signage on the A140 still indicates the presence of the ETRO, which I’ll be chasing highways on a solution for over the next week to ensure we are being fully compliant with its removal across the board.
I’ll also be probing them on the presence of unofficial signs in the town that indicate the presence of an ETRO, and any recourse to removal we have on those affixed to public property.
My intention, in the time I have, is to wipe the slate clean and open a dialogue with all communities and stakeholders as to how we move forward. It is not going to be a quick and easy fix, but we have to start somewhere.
Road Conditions
We have over a million pounds of funding being realised in the new dragon patchers, which are currently rolling into operation, however for attending to the condition of the road, such as on Lambseth Street, I’ll be going to the responsible member to see what can be done to prevent further deterioration over the winter.
In better news, there is currently ongoing carriageway surface dressing planned from the B1077 at Langton Green, all the way down to Century Road, which will provide much-needed care to the surface there before winter comes.
Locality Budgets
We are currently in the process of ascertaining what of my locality budget remains and what has been spent on pre-committed projects. I will have a fuller picture of this by the time we next meet, and will be able to inform the Town Council in the meantime of any updates.
Please do get in touch via email with any questions you may have at henry.lloyd@suffolk.gov.uk