News archive April to June 2006

The decorative efforts of nearly 100 local young people are on show this summer as part of a Festival of Craft Design which has seen them gain expert advice on how to make eye-catching jewellery and body adornment.

Felixstowe has once again won the Blue Flag for the quality of its beach and its resort management, and it will be officially unfurled on Thursday, July 6. The flag will be hoist on the flagpole on the seafront close to Arwela Road at 11.30am after invited guests have enjoyed a half-hour open-top bus ride around the resort.

The southern part of Felixstowe’s sea front is getting back to normal with the emergency work now completed to place nearly 3,000 tonnes of rocks along a 400 metre stretch of damaged sea wall.

Dog owners across the district are being urged to mark National Poop Scoop Week by getting into the habit of clearing up after their pets.

The cost that banks impose on Suffolk Coastal and business generally for credit card payments is now to be passed onto customers in a move that brings the Council into line with most businesses and local authorities.

Environmental health teams across Suffolk are warning residents to take notice of the national food alert on some Cadbury chocolate products which may contain salmonella.

The newly published Best Value Performance Plan (BVPP) for Suffolk Coastal shows that the Council has been successful in its aim of improving its performance while delivering value for money for its residents.

With the arrival of warm sunny days and evenings and the chance to be outside more and have the windows open, Suffolk Coastal is asking local residents to be considerate of their neighbours.

It’s not only people who like the summer, when the ground warms up garden ants come out in force looking to feed and nest.

Suffolk Coastal District Council and Suffolk Police are advising anyone considering organising a music event in Aldeburgh around the carnival festivities this year to ensure the event is fully licensed.

The mantra of think global, act local takes on an extra meaning this Saturday (June 17) when Middleton Village Hall will be host to a special Energy Information Day.

Contractors working for Suffolk Coastal will be on site next week carrying out emergency protection work to the sea defences along Undercliffe Road East in Felixstowe.

The call has gone out to local groups to join a series of information events that will be touring the district this summer offering information and advice on where and how people can improve their quality of life.

More people are thinking of becoming landlords as an investment opportunity and Suffolk Coastal is keen to keep them as informed as possible about the legal obligations that face them and their tenants.

From Monday, June 12 an exciting new service is being offered to Suffolk Coastal residents that will turn the food that they normally throw away into a compost that will help refresh our soil.

Five thousand homes across the district will next week be the first to get an even better recycling service from Suffolk Coastal as part of the Council’s commitment to make it easier to get into the recycling habit.

The vast majority of two groups of travellers who had been given until today (Friday) to vacate land at Sutton Heath and Upper Hollesley Common have now moved on.

Suffolk Coastal has successfully concluded negotiations with the owner of the Shore Break café in Felixstowe that means it can now proceed with the vital emergency works to shore up the beach wall and the promenade.

The on-going modernisation programme at Suffolk Coastal that has seen it adopt a more business-like approach to ensure it is delivering effective and efficient services is now being extended to the management of its assets.

Suffolk Coastal has reinforced its commitment to the highest possible standards of openness, integrity and accountability by adopting a new whistleblowers policy that will guarantee support to anyone raising genuine concerns.

A leading engineer from the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) has inspected Felixstowe’s battered sea wall in a special visit with Suffolk Coastal.

Putting the customer first will remain at the heart of Suffolk Coastal's services following an in-depth review of the way it provides its services and how these can be made even more accessible to its residents.

A package of measures to build better working relationships between Suffolk Coastal and the town and parish councils that make up its district has been given the go-ahead last night (Tuesday).

The national ‘BIG Recycle 2006” recycling campaign has been launched this week in time for the first England World Cup match against Paraguay on Saturday (June 10).

The on-going legal discussions between Suffolk Coastal and the owners of the troubled Shore Break café has seen the Council extend its deadline on when the structure must be removed.

The district has a new first citizen who has already began his civic and ceremonial duties by officially opening the Felixstowe Drama Festival after being elected as Chairman of Suffolk Coastal District Council at the Annual Meeting of the Council on May 25, 2006.

Suffolk Coastal has given DC Leisure, the company that has been in charge of the day to day management of the Council’s leisure centres for the last two years, a big thumbs-up for the way they have run and improved the facilities since taking over.

From next week, the police will have extra powers to tackle anti-social drinking in parts of Felixstowe that will be clearly indicated by specially erected signs.

The owner of Felixstowe’s Shore Break café has been given another four days in which to remove the structure before emergency work is carried out underneath it to stop the break up of the sea wall and promenade.

This week has seen the launch of the national Height Aware Campaign which aims to help people identify and prevent the risks of falling if they are working at a height.

A plea has been made to visitors to Felixstowe’s troubled south seafront asking them to respect the safety fencing that has been erected around the resort’s crumbling sea wall, as well as the contractors’ compound and access route.

Suffolk Coastal is asking local businesses, clubs and those responsible for the control of horizontal swing car park barriers in use at their premises, to be aware of the possible dangers associated with them.

The County Court in Ipswich today (Friday) gave Suffolk Coastal the official go-ahead to repossess the land that had been occupied by two groups of travellers.

Monday, June 5 will see a new management company take centre stage at Suffolk Coastal’s Spa Pavilion Theatre with Openwide International taking over the running of the Council-owned facility from Live Nation.

This Saturday (May 27) the curtains will open wide on Felixstowe’s 56th Drama Festival when once again the spotlight at the Spa Pavilion will shine on some of the best of the country’s amateur theatre groups.

Work on installing a further phase of emergency sea defences is being started tomorrow (Thursday) at Felixstowe by Suffolk Coastal to try and protect a 400-metre stretch of the sea wall that has started collapsing.

The Suffolk Preservation Society has been sent a letter setting out in clear terms what Suffolk Coastal is prepared to discuss at a meeting being held next month about the planned Felixstowe South Seafront development.

Felixstowe’s Shore Break café has been told to close its doors because of doubts about its safety for the public following the recent damage to the promenade and also the need to carry out emergency works to protect the sea wall underneath the cafe.

Suffolk Coastal’s repeated pleas for Government funding took on fresh urgency this weekend when part of the sea wall at Felixstowe failed, and four other sections showed signs of damage.

A special task group of councillors is being set up to take a fresh look at how Suffolk Coastal is tackling environmental issues and help set some new additional green targets for the organisation.

Vandals have recently targeted the recycling paper bank sited at the Haven Health Centre in Felixstowe as well as a nearby dog bin sited in Grange Road.

The continuing vital work of local community organisations has been recognised by Suffolk Coastal with 39 different groups gaining funding over the coming 12 months.

The Blue Flag will fly at Felixstowe South this summer for the seventh consecutive year as the beach has again scooped the internationally recognised Resort Seaside Award.

A major new recycling facility is set to give the residents of Suffolk Coastal an even better opportunity to help save the earth by cutting down the amount of waste going into landfill sites.

The growing importance and popularity of Suffolk Coastal’s website can be seen in its statistics for last month which saw the number of hits on the site break the one million mark for the first time.

Suffolk Coastal is looking for boys and girls to represent their district at the county’s own mini-Olympics - Suffolk Youth Games, the largest multi-sport festival for young people being held at Bury St Edmunds on Sunday, July 16.

This is Compost Awareness Week and with record amounts of garden waste being collected by Suffolk Coastal from homes across the district, what better time for gardeners to pick up a bargain home composter.

The Martello Tower that forms the centrepiece of the planned multi-million pound regeneration of Felixstowe South Seafront is set for another major boost.

The annual in-depth report by the Audit Commission has given Suffolk Coastal a very positive report with praise for its progress in a number of areas in the year 2004/05.

The go-ahead was given last week by Suffolk Coastal’s Cabinet to begin the official process of allowing the Council to compulsorily purchase three plots of land that are essential to the comprehensive development proposed for the South Seafront development site in Felixstowe.

Suffolk Coastal is encouraging even more groups to come forward and help clean up their local communities after the success of the recent Suffolk Spring Clean which saw over 500 people filling 1,100 black sacks with litter.

Suffolk Coastal’s housing team is ready to use new laws that came into effect last month that require many houses in multiple occupation (HMOs) to be officially licensed to ensure they meet national standards.

The district’s need for more affordable housing for local residents has received a significant boost with the recent news that a trebling of national funding will see 86 more homes being built in the next two years.

Suffolk Coastal has given letters to groups of travellers who have set up camp at two of the district’s most important sites for wildlife as the first stage of an attempt to get them to move on.

Visitors to Framlingham this summer will be able to visit the region’s first mobile Tourist Information Centre to find out more about the town and the attractions on offer in the surrounding villages.

By the time that the first ball has been kicked in next month’s World Cup, local police should have the powers they need to stop people drinking in public, in parts of Felixstowe that have been plagued by bad behaviour linked to alcohol.

The dream of young people in Felixstowe of having their own skatepark took a significant leap forward this week when planning permission was granted for the new facility at Orwell Green.

Residents across Suffolk Coastal are being asked to play their part in stopping illegal dumping by checking that the people they employ to dispose of their rubbish are following the official rules.

Once again, Suffolk Coastal has netted the county division Local Authority Groundsman of the Year award, with Ben Connell carrying off the trophy run by the Institute of Groundmanship and the Football Association.

The detailed report from consultants setting out their vision for the future of the Felixstowe Peninsula has now been made public and has been welcomed as an exciting step forward by the partnership that commissioned the study.

Suffolk Coastal’s commitment to deliver success has seen a major improvement in the performance of its planning service over the last year, whose efforts have resulted in an increased grant from the Government.

People with mobility problems will find it easier to get to enjoy the seafront at Felixstowe from this Easter, thanks to a new ‘all-terrain’ wheelchair that will help them access the beach.