Thank you to those 55 people who attended our Open Meeting on Friday, and special thanks to our newest Councillor Lucy Lavender who stepped in to Chair the meeting last minute.

The meeting got very lively at times, and sadly this was counter-productive to us hearing the panel and having time to work out active measures we can take to help improve the village. Thank you to those who listened to the panel and commented during the relevant meeting section. With less interruptions, the open public section of the meeting would have been longer. 

Forty 30mph roundel wheelie bin stickers were handed out on the night - if you would like any more please let the parish clerk know and if there is enough need more can be ordered. Two volunteers signed up to the Community Speed Watch team but we will need 6 if the scheme can go ahead. Please make contact if you would be willing to join or would like to find out more. We would love to get this scheme resurrected.

Since the meeting we have already had another visit by the police with a hand-held speed camera catching speeding motorists early on Sunday morning. Hacheston has had several visits recently, which suggests the police know what a hot-spot for speeding our village is. 

Cars can legally park along the B1116 as long as they do not park on bends, and the vehicle has tax and insurance. This has been done previously in the village and resulted in an effective natural chicane that forced vehicles to slow down.  Downsides to the scheme are that wing mirrors can be damaged and residents parking their cars there can be shouted at and abused by motorists. Any instances of this captured on camera can be submitted to the police for further action, but residents who park their cars on the road, do so at their own risk. 

Our County Councillor has ordered 2 additional roundels and SLOW markings along the road, and the Parish Council is looking to get the 11 existing road warnings repainted, plus additional thick white lines at the village entrances but this is costly (£4285.48) and will need to be considered at our next meeting in November. We will ask the County Councillor if he can contribute at all from his Highways budget.

The Parish Council has requested 4 speed surveys to be carried out across different sections of the village- 2 along The Street, and in Lower Hacheston- one at Ashe Road and one at Main Road. We hope to use these results to  show evidence of how great a problem speeding is in the village. 

As mentioned at many points during the meeting (and on the Who to Contact sheet recently delivered to households by the Parish Council), issues such as pavement defects, overgrown hedges, damaged signage and potholes can all be plotted on Suffolk County Council's interactive map and reported online. You can also see details of other live reports in the village on this site: 

https://www.suffolk.gov.uk/roads-and-transport/highway-maintenance/report-a-highways-issue 

Please do use this tool. If the defect meets SCC's assessment criteria it will be fixed

 (https://www.suffolk.gov.uk/roads-and-transport/highway-maintenance/highway-asset-management/highway-maintenance-operational-plan),  Cllr. Lavender recently reported the impassable footpath near the Church. The hedge has now been cut and the pavement has been skirted, showing the tool works. 

Drainage issues, blockages and flooding across the village were raised, especially issues at the bottom of Easton Lane. The Highways Liaison Engineer will be looking into this and we look forward to hearing from him. Please continue to report and incidents of flooding online, and take photos were possible to show the problem.

Two representatives from Sizewell attended to answer residents questions on the Park & Ride that will be in the village, and recommended travel routes and likely travel times. They will be coming back to us shortly with answers to the questions they couldn’t reply to on the evening. They will also be coming back to do a joint presentation and Q&A evening with Parham in January. This will be advertised in due course.

The Parish Council is looking into installing entrance gateways to the village and would like your opinions on these. Evidence shows they can reduce mean and 85th percentile speeds of traffic entering the village by between 5-7mph. Previously these works had to be done by the County Council, with the Parish Council funding the work. Now  the Parish Council can get a licence from SCC and buy them directly from the manufacturer which makes the gateways much better value and more affordable. 

We have just ordered an additional dog waste bin to go at the bridge crossing on the footpath to Moat Hall. We hope this helps to reduce dog mess in the village and thank all those responsible owners who clear up after their pets.  

Parish Councillors give their time voluntarily for the good of the village, and are a small team of 7. We would welcome any residents who are interested in helping us to reduce village issues to get in touch and help work with us. We are signing up to SCC's Community Self-Help Scheme that will allow us to carry out routine maintenance works near the Highways, using volunteers or paying approved contractors. We can then clean signs, weed and skirt pavements, trim hedges, replace damaged sign heads etc in 30mph zones subject to a license and risk assessment. Please let us know if you would be prepared to join a work party to help with projects across the village. Many hands make light work!  Thank you.