New Chief Executive appointment

I was pleased to be a member of the panel involved in the recruitment and selection of the new Babergh-Mid Suffolk CEO.  It was a rigorous selection process, involving a nationwide recruitment exercise, handled initially by Gatenby Sanderson, specialist consultants in this level of appointment. During the final two assessment days, three high calibre short-listed candidates made presentations to councillors, held individual meetings with both council leaders, undertook psychometric tests and participated in a facilitated stakeholders’ meeting.  Lengthy interviews followed with the six councillor panel members. From this strong field, we were delighted to offer the post to Arthur Charvonia, currently Deputy CEO at Waveney-Suffolk Coastal.  We expect him to join us in the New Year.

Current major planning issues

Residents of Capel St Mary will be aware that there are currently two major development applications under consideration in the village: one full application on land off Days Road – Hopkins x 100 homes; and a further outline application on land off Little Tufts, behind Longfield Road – Persimmon x 150 homes. The parish council have organised drop-in events for residents to view the plans for both, and will hold special meetings to discuss each application before submitting their responses to Babergh. I have requested site visits and committee decisions for both applications and asked that the overall impact on our village and infrastructure be taken into account. We are aware of other potential interests on sites around the village.

In the longer term, we are asking planners for a more strategic view of how development in Babergh might impact on villages along the A12 and A14 corridors.  New target growth figures from Government are expected shortly.  These will inform the development of the new Local Plan for Babergh and Mid Suffolk, a first draft of which may be available as early as Spring 2017. We are told to expect an uplift in the number of new homes required. Our local response to this is that development – if this is being imposed – must also provide for infrastructure, including education at all levels, transport and health services.  We want to know the “tipping point” which will, and must, trigger infrastructure investment.  We have also challenged the strategy of welcoming “windfall” development resulting from applications which are each considered on their own merits rather than as cumulative or planned growth.

New council website coming soon

Babergh and Mid Suffolk will shortly be sharing a new website – a prototype for which is now available for viewing and feedback.  You may like to investigate, via a link from the current site!  http://beta.baberghmidsuffolk.gov.uk.testing.onesuffolk.default.onesuffolk.uk0.bigv.io/