Thank you to our new Chair for this wonderful report, keeping residents updated as to what is happening with the Parish Council:

I would like to start my report by expressing how delighted I am to be Chair to what is now a Parish
Council that has a full cohort of councillors, which is certainly a first since I joined the Parish Council
back in 2019 and such a wonderful step forward for Hacheston.
Stephen Leach sadly decided to step down as a councillor in May and I would like to thank him for all
of his many years of service to the council; he will very much be missed.
Along with our Annual General Meeting in May we also hosted our Annual Parish Meeting which I
felt was a huge success with a great turnout of residents with enthusiasm and ideas for
the future. For those who were not in attendance, we had Councillor Stephen Burroughs join us to
answer questions from residents and ourselves as a council, which admittedly at times did get a little
heated, however I feel it was purely due to the passion for the matters raised, many of which are
extremely prominent to all of us….in particular….the traffic issue!
It was decided that a meeting would be organised between the varying agencies who are all ‘key
players’ in traffic management in our parish, to give us and all residents more clarity and black and
white answers of what can and cannot be done to improve the current situation- Speed, road and
pathway conditions, traffic volume etc.
For too long have we been pushed aside and passed from department to department stating nothing can be done and

to then have to reiterate to residents a complete lack of clarity from the powers that be.

Despite us trying, it sadly creates the impression that the Parish Council are ignoring resident concerns…

which could not be further from the truth.

We have received several emails regarding traffic issues and the possibility of bringing back the
Community Speed Watch Group if we can get enough interest. One of these emails was from a new resident who
would like to get involved in any way they can, which is brilliant and a great support.
We have also received an email from a concerned resident asking if we could look into the possibility
of placing a zebra crossing near the village hall using the CIL money that we currently have in the
bank and again this could be an excellent use of the money if residents were in favour and it could
be approved.
I would urge you all to keep thinking about possible uses for the funds and also asking around as
much as you can for any further ideas, as if we do not use the CIL funds within 5 years of receipt we will sadly loose them,

which would be a great shame to the community.
Planning has been fairly quiet over the past couple of months with very minimal applications coming
through that have not required further discussions via a planning meeting, we have all managed to
discuss the small applications that have come through, over email with no subsequent comments to
raise with East Suffolk Planning.
We have been invited to join East Suffolk Planning Alliance (or ESPA)
which is a group of individuals from all over East Suffolk who look to help communications between
East Suffolk Council and local communities with regard to planning decisions being made within the
region and the affect it is having in many different ways. They are hoping to open a dialogue that may otherwise be ignored.

We are able to ‘affiliate’ with them if we wish or alternatively ESPA is open to individuals too who may feel they wish to participate.

Lastly on a positive note, I was contacted by Kay Dawe last week who let me know that finally a
new Minister will be assigned to the local Benefice which includes Hacheston. The Minister is being
formally appointed as we speak (as their meeting is this evening) and will be looking after Hacheston
and surrounding parish churches going forward, which is a great positive to Hacheston church.

Cllr. Nikki Markham
26th July 2023