District Councillor
Annual Report 2015
My tenure as Chairman of the Council came to an end in May 2014 and I returned to the back benches, something of a shock after being in the limelight for a year. Anyhow it was straight into my Ward work, something which had suffered over the preceding 12 months,
South Norfolk continued to have major restructuring of its directorates following the retirement of Andy Radford the deputy CEO and other senior members of staff. However its core functions remained steady and Revenues & Benefits were nationally recognised for their excellence. The CNC function (Building Control) at Broadland DC moved to Long Stratton and were so successful other Authorities have joined the consortium not only within Norfolk but into Suffolk. The Development Management department has also undergone changes with an increase in staff that are now operating in teams with the aim of increasing productivity. The Community Infrastructure Levy has been adopted for new builds within South Norfolk, the levy being set at £115 for the Norwich Policy Area and £75 per square metre for the rest which includes Loddon. The Council had been suffering from speculative planning applications from developers in the Norwich Policy Area which they were in the main unable to refuse because they could not demonstrate a 5 year land supply. This has now been achieved and several applications in and around the Wymondham area have been refused. There is, and has been for some time a5 year supply in the rural part of the district. The Site Specific& Allocations Policy is still with the Inspectorate and SNC is awaiting their decision. I understand that the Inspectorate has questioned the use of George Lane for all the development at the “Examination in Public” hearing and asked SNC to justify their choice..SNC are awaiting the Inspectors decision and this may contain some changes to the allocated sites. Some months ago I asked if there had been any further developments concerning the George Lane site only to be told that it had all gone quiet. The department has now adopted a charging regime for Pre-Application advice; something which they say will speed up applications. I have some reservations, but time will tell. As a result of all the development in the area SNC has managed to have built in excess of 800 Affordable properties in our area, more than all the other districts in Norfolk put together, and placing us 3rd in the Country.
The Loddon & surrounding area now come under the umbrella of the Eastern Rivers Neighbourhood Area for the allocation of small grants, and for recommending larger projects to the Projects Board. The forum for airing concerns has gone, reverting back to the local members as before, in my opinion a retrograde step. SNC have implemented the £1000 Ward Member scheme and I have been able to give grants to the Loddon T.I.C., Loddon Parish Council, the Victorian Evening Organisers, the Loddon & District Camera Club and the Loddon & Hales Cricket Club. SNC have said that they intend to continue with the scheme for the coming year.
The Ex-Press site is rapidly being built and at the moment there are more than 50 properties occupied. Loddon’s Clerk and myself have been in contact with Taylor Wimpey to improve the communication between us and there is now a much better understanding.
The new multimillion revamp of the Recycling centre at Costessey was completed late last year enabling customers to recycle far more products in their green bins. It has proved a great success with recycling rates up and a corresponding decrease in rubbish going to Landfill, which in common parlance is a “win win” situation.
The thorny question of the toilet upgrade is still on going. There have been conflicting messages coming from SNC as to what they propose to do, ranging from installing two superloos and a shower unit at the Staithe and disposing of the Church Plain toilets to paying cash sums to the Parish Council to upgrade and maintain them themselves. I am still awaiting a reply from SNC as to what action they intend to take, but needless to say the toilets will not be ready for the coming tourist season.
I am pleased to say that I assisted in getting Vodaphone to select Loddon to install equipment to improve the mobile phone signal in the area, hopefully improving the 3G & 2G signals making it more reliable and improving coverage.
High Speed Broadband has been promised for our area for some time but a suitable site for the cabinets could not be found thus putting us back in the queue. I am very grateful to SNC who have now agreed to relinquish two parking slots on Church Plain car park for this purpose and I am hopeful that H.S. broadband will soon be here.
The parking on Church Plain and the High Street continues to create a problem for through traffic. It is quite clear that many motoristsare using the roads as a car park whilst the drivers commute to their various employments by bus. This very selfish action causes drivers to sometimes to drive on footpaths to get past putting pedestrians at risk. I feel that a traffic management plan is needed for the area. I am not an advocate of yellow lines throughout the affected area but some form of staggered parking scheme would be better than what is there now.
I am still involved with the Customer Advisory Panel, a Saffron Housing Trust Tenants Organisation. We have moved into new accommodation at Long Stratton and are going from strength to strength. The group has set up a new Tenants Audit Panel (Scrutiny) to look at the various functions of Saffron and have produced their first report on Grounds Maintenance. Saffron continues to grow and now has almost 6000 properties throughout East Anglia.
I continue to be a member of the Broads Authority and remain Vice Chairman of the Development Management Committee and a member of the Norfolk Windmill Trust(NWT). The dredging of the Chet should be complete well before the new boating season commences and the dredged material, once dried, will be used for bank crest raising. BESL have completed the bank realignment. The rebranding of the Broads to call itself a National Park is still rumbling on with meetings with the stake holder groups (Hire Boat Federation etc.) still occurring. The NWT has an interest locally, i.e. Hardley Mill, but has 22 other properties where it funds restoration.
Colin Gould District Councillor for Loddon & Sisland e-mail Tele. No. 01508520939