A genteel demonstration in the county town

I am not, by nature, the sort of person who enjoys demonstrations. I’m increasingly less keen on crowds as I get older (and I wasn’t wild about them even when I was young) and chanting isn’t really my thing either.

But I’d received an invitation to a demonstration outside County Hall at lunchtime and, given that my office is less than ten minutes away on foot, it seemed churlish not to show some support. The subject of the protest was sewage pollution of our rivers and coastline and, as this is both a Party priority and a matter of local interest in the Gipping Valley, it couldn’t do any harm to play “fourth spear carrier” for a few minutes.

Our County Councillors formed a joint Group with the Greens and Independents, and are the “official” Opposition, so were putting a motion to Full Council calling for action, and the demonstration was part of the publicity effort.

I arrived to find a collection of familiar faces, including my own (Green) County Councillor, Keith Welham, and a group from Mid Suffolk, and took the opportunity to get a few “politics” things done, whilst the Greens (and the odd Liberal Democrat) sang songs in a very “knit your own muesli” sort of way. Something else I’m reminded of - I’m not wildly enthused by communal singing unless a certain, albeit modest, level of alcohol has been consumed first.

That gave me an opportunity to escape, the media having taken their photos anyway and only really wanting to talk to the Group, so I walked into town for a little light food shopping before heading back to the office for a solid afternoon of compliance.

I don’t think that I’m going to change my mind on demonstrations…

Creeting St Peter: it's too late @jemnicole1, your predecessor sold the pass on the Business and Enterprise Park...

In her leaflet, two weeks ago, our Conservative candidate assured us that she would

Ensure that our views regarding the proposed developments in Stowupland and Creeting St Peter are adequately represented.

I should, therefore, not have been surprised when, last week, it was announced that outline planning permission had been given for a proposed Business and Enterprise Park on the edge of our Parish. I was even less surprised when, in the East Anglian Daily Times report, the current ward councillor, Caroline Byles, popped up to say;

Initially I was very against this development. But after reading papers I have come to the conclusion this development is needed.

It would possibly be a mite cynical if I were to note that Ms Byles lives fifteen miles away from the site and is unlikely to suffer in any way from the increased noise and light pollution, loss of views and congestion caused by both the construction work and the three thousand people expected to work there.

Soon, all this won't be fields...

So much for Jemma's commitment then, given that residents of the Clamps Farm group of homes will have this on their doorstep, and that the gap between Stowmarket and the village will be halved. Worse still, with the site expected to be transferred from Creeting St Peter to Stowmarket, it is hard to envisage what benefits will accrue to us.

It is probably fair to say that local Conservatives have little interest in the voices of Creeting St Peter residents, except on the rare occasion that they want our votes. And yes, it is true that none of the other parties have made much of an effort here either, but as I expect to hear from my councillors rather more than once every four years, I feel that I have every justification for expressing dissatisfaction.

I wonder how the Greens are getting on in Stowupland...