Creeting St Peter: someone has stolen our signpost...

I was back in my beloved Creeting St Peter on Monday, in my capacity both as Chair and Responsible Finance Officer of our small, but perfectly formed, Parish Council. In fairness, it couldn't be described as an exciting one. Efficient yes, thrilling... no, not really. We're pretty effective in a low-key way.

Our finances are healthy, our relationships with our County and District Councillors thriving - they give us money from their locality funds too - and we're making progress on our next big community safety investment, a Speed Indicator Device (or SID to the highways cognoscenti), in that we've secured the funding and are working with the County Council on installation. We're also moving our website to a gov.uk domain, as recommended by our recent internal audit.

It was reported that we have peregrine falcons in our parish too, although they nest just across the river on one of the chimneys of the Muntons plant - we're very keen on protecting the environment in Creeting St Peter, although there are concerns about an apparent falling off of the owl population.

Having completed the meeting by noting that my Vice Chair will be covering for me at our next meeting - it clashes with the Liberal Democrat Federal Conference - I needed to head back to Stowmarket to catch a train. My council colleague graciously offered to drop me off and we were catching up when, as we reached the T-junction where Pound Road meets Mill Lane, I spotted something. Or rather, didn't spot something. The signpost that has been there for years... isn't. Now, as you can tell from the picture above, it was in pretty poor shape. I'd reported it for repair, only to be told that there were no funds available to replace it.

But, at a meeting earlier this year, our County Councillor, Keith Welham, had advised that he had a budget to replace one road sign and, as neither Stowmarket not Stowupland had a need for it, the opportunity was ours effectively by default. So, we asked for the sign to be repaired, which he agreed to take forward. And now the road sign is gone. Does this mean what I hope it means? We await with baited breath...