Creeting St Peter - development looms at Gateway 14

The aerial view shown is of the outline of the proposed Gateway 14 development, all of which is on land that, not so long ago, fell wholly with the parish boundaries of Creeting St Peter. Alright, it isn't obviously scenic, although it's rich farmland, with excellent arable yields in a normal year. The village itself is out of shot, although not as far as I would frankly prefer, off to the top left hand edge of the picture.

What the site is though, is well-connected. That's the A14 running diagonally across the bottom right hand quadrant, and paralleling it in the top right hand quadrant is the East Anglian Main Line railway. When you think of it, it's pretty amazing that it hasn't been built all over already but, whilst there have been various proposals, some of which have made it as far as initial planning approval, nothing has ever actually happened. Until now...

Apparently, Gateway 14 is...

...set to become the destination of choice along the A14 corridor and will consist of a mixed-use, market facing business park for warehousing and logistics with an innovation cluster within the “space to innovate” enterprise zone. The strategic aim is to benefit the wider economic area of Mid Suffolk, especially the growth of creative and technology businesses in the area, while also maximising opportunities for inward investment, job creation and wider community benefits.

It is intended that the main infrastructure will commence by Spring 2021 so that occupation can start in early 2022.

The draft masterplans show how the site could accommodate logistics buildings up to 1,000,000 sq ft, with roadside / retail uses (subject to planning) along the A14 frontage as well as the ability to accommodate headquarters office/R&D campus style buildings from 3,000 sq ft.

Sounds ghastly, doesn't it, but I acknowledge that the language is designed to attract potential customers, rather than charm local residents.

What it means is that, as a Parish Council, we are going to have to deal with the impact of a major development, almost certainly without any support which, for a council which consists of five people, a clerk and an annual precept of £5,500, is going to be a bit of a challenge. Better still, having received a briefing note from the company "facilitating public consultation on behalf of Gateway 14 Ltd" on Monday, we are informed that the community engagement phase will end on 31 October. I can't say that I'm wildly encouraged.

Indeed, this is all going to happen very quickly;

• SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2020 - Community and stakeholder engagement on draft plans
• AUTUMN 2020 - Consider feedback and finalise plans
• WINTER 2020 - Submit hybrid planning application to Mid Suffolk District Council (MSDC)
• WINTER 2020 - Formal period of public consultation (run by MSDC)
• EARLY 2021 - Application determined by MSDC
• SPRING 2021 - Detailed designs and layout drawn up
• SPRING 2021 - Commence infrastructure on site
• 2021 - Submit detailed planning application(s) to MSDC 

There are, already, some concerns on my part. Our pedestrian access to Stowmarket appears, on the face of the draft plot layout plan, to have been diverted significantly to run alongside the A14, thus lengthening the distance, and making it much less attractive to walkers, and the new link road will doubtless lead to significant volumes of traffic on the narrow road that links Creeting St Peter to both Stowmarket and Needham Market. And, perhaps more importantly, there will be a major development filling half of the current gap between Stowmarket and our village. Logistics buildings mean lorries coming to and from, presumably 24/7, which in turn means noise, bright lights and pollution.

I might reasonably ask, "What's in it for us?", and the answer will doubtless be jobs and facilities. Admittedly, those jobs will be for people travelling from further afield than the Creetings, and given the dreadful public transport links, they'll all be driving, but Mid Suffolk District Council Conservatives are generally pro-business, so they won't concern themselves too much about that. Besides, as they own the development, and hope to profit from it, there's little incentive to do anything much to mollify us.

Ah well, we'd better get to work, I suppose...

Creeting St Peter: a question of vision and accountability

Pretty much ever since I arrived in the village in 2008, the fate of the land bordering our side of the A1120 slip road has haunted us. It is, I freely acknowledge, a perfect location for development, sandwiched between the East Anglian Main Line railway and the A14 with its link between the container port at Felixstowe and the Midlands.

But, up until recently, whilst there was a lot of talk about first a lorry park, and later a business and enterprise zone, nothing had actually happened, except that the site had been transferred from Creeting St Peter to Stowmarket courtesy of a change to the parish boundary. In fairness, given that such a change would enhance the financial benefit to the locality, I couldn't really complain.

However, the land was recently purchased by Mid Suffolk District Council, who now rather need to create an income stream to achieve value from their investment, and things are beginning to move rather faster.

Naturally, as the Chair of the Parish Council most affected, I am taking an interest. I'm keen, for obvious reasons, to establish a dialogue with the developers at as early a stage as possible - raising our issues at an early stage increases the likelihood that we can achieve some positive outcomes for the community, and allows for better engagement for residents.

And so, I looked to establish where I might start. The project is led by a company called Gateway14 Ltd, working in conjunction with its development partner, Jaynic Ltd. Gateway14 Ltd is in turn wholly owned by MSDC (Suffolk Holdings) Ltd, which is 100% owned by Mid Suffolk District Council. It seemed to me, therefore, that I should seek a response from the senior director of the holding company, Cllr Gerard Brewster. Cllr Brewster is the sole independent councillor in Mid Suffolk, but is Deputy Leader of the Council, having been co-opted into the Conservative-led administration - his vote gives them control of the Council on the casting vote of the Chair. He's also the Portfolio Holder for Economic Growth. 

And so, I sent him a very polite e-mail;

Dear Cllr Brewster,

In my capacity as Chair of the Parish Council most seriously impacted by the Gateway 14 project, I note the information supplied in the District Council's latest press release on the subject.

I wonder if the Council is intending to consult with local residents prior to seeking planning permission, and would be grateful for your thoughts on how this might be achieved in the near future.

I would be happy to arrange opportunities for the District Council to meet (physically or virtually) with residents to outline development plans and to discuss what opportunities might arise in terms of facilities or opportunities for our village.

So, what did a liberal bureaucrat get up to at the @ALDEParty Congress?

Whilst Ros was campaigning for the Vice-Presidency, I had work to do too. After all, I'm not the best 'minder' in the world, having been fired during her Party Presidential campaign for a tendency to stop and chat to people, rather than making sure that she got to where she needed to be. And besides, I have my own role, that of Council member and occasional diplomat, seeking compromise where possible and offering organisational enlightenment when process is discussed.

At Party Council, in the discussion about changing the internal procedures so as to withdraw voting rights over the European Parliamentary election manifesto from non-EU member state parties, I got up to note that, where aspects of it impact directly on them, enlargement, for example, we were potentially denying them a voice. And, whilst I understood the motivation underlying the proposal, I did want to remind Council of the inherent risk.

In the resolution working group, I tried to bridge the gap between the pacifists within our delegation, who were trying to insist that a military response to Islamic State should be the last alternative, and those delegates who felt that diplomacy was impossible. I noted that, whilst direct diplomacy with IS was well nigh impossible, talking to those countries who could stop the flow of black market oil trade, for example, was certainly worthwhile. I like to think that I was able to broker a compromise between the two sides of the argument.

In the debate on a new development aid policy, I successfully agreed an amendment with the movers from LYMEC (European Liberal Youth), adding provision for support to tax administrations in developing countries both to enable them to increase available resources but also to help in the fight against global tax evasion.

So, all in all, a fairly successful ALDE Party Council and Congress for the house bureaucrat, and with the prospect of a working group to look at future changes to the Statutes and Rules of Procedure, I can see how I might have a future role.

Oh, and yes, my wife became a Vice-President. Actually, it was a pretty good three days, wasn't it?...

Editorial: is this the first step towards the Business and Enterprise Park?

This is a cross-posting from the Creeting St Peter Journal...

The announcement of the initial public consultation on the Mill Lane Development Brief ends a lengthy 'phoney war' over what would happen to the area on the Creeting side of the A1120 link road, opposite the Tesco supermarket at Cedars Park. And, whilst it was inevitable that the emergence of the UK economy from recession would lead to increased activity, there were hopes that the entire project had gone away, perhaps for good.

However, the proposed development brief is broadly in line with the steer given by the Area Action Plan, including tiered warehousing as tall as 15 metres at the south-western corner, tapering to a relatively small 6 metres at the northern extent. As indicated three years ago, the current route over the A1120 on Creeting Road will be closed to vehicular traffic, with a link road joining Mill Lane just north of the Clamp Farm area to the A1120 link road opposite Tesco.

A wetland area adjoining the River Gipping is included, although access from the village will only be possible via often blocked footpaths to the river itself, or by walking (or driving) through the industrial estate, hardly likely to attract local foot traffic. In addition, phase 2 appears to cut off vehicular access to the Creeting Lakes fishery, something that may not suit Quiet Sports, who own it, or the residents of Braziers Hall, whose only access it currently is.

Phase 2 will, if built, also cut the footpath that joins the village with the edge of Cedars Park, something which appears to go unmentioned in what is, admittedly, only a first draft. Indeed, the vaunted cycle/footway to replace Mill Lane and Creeting Road East will be an rather unattractive journey between warehouses and... more warehouses. It appears, on the face of it, to be designed to maintain the pretence that a right of way exists, whilst making it unlikely that anyone will want to use it.

There is an opportunity for villagers to examine the plans more closely at an exhibition, unsurprisingly located at the Cedars Park Community Centre, a building probably little known to residents of Creeting St Peter, as the District Council clearly don't believe that it is a matter that they should be concerned about.

However, forewarned is forearmed, and as many residents as possible should attend the exhibition at Cedars Park Community Centre, Pintail Road, Stowmarket, IP14 5FP on Saturday 19th October from 12 noon to 4pm.