Welcome to Martlesham Parish Council

Forthcoming Meetings 

The New Year brings a fresh calendar of meetings and events.  

Parish Council – Wednesday 06 February 2019

Development Plans Committee – Wednesday 13 February 2019

Finance & General Purposes Committee – Wednesday 27 February 2019

Parish Council – Wednesday 06 March 2019

For the full 2019 calendar of meetings, please click here or please see our Event Calendar on this page. All meetings start at 7.30pm in the Parish Room, Felixstowe Road, and are open to the public, who are welcome to ask questions or make comments to the Council during a public forum.   

The Suffolk Coastal Final Draft Local Plan

Full documentation and how to respond can be found through this link on the East Suffolk website: https://tinyurl.com/scdcplan

Suffolk Coastal District Council (SCDC) is undertaking a Local Plan Review, which sets out how the Suffolk Coastal area should be developed and provides a vision for its communities up to 2036.  They undertook consultation on a First Draft Local Plan between July and September 2018.  That Plan made clear that the main focus of housing growth in our area would be the Brightwell Lakes development of 2,000 dwellings next to BT. 

Following that consultation SCDC has now issued a Final Draft Local Plan for consultation. For Martlesham there are two main changes:

1. The inclusion of the Suffolk Police Headquarters as a proposed housing site for 300 dwellings, contrary to the Martlesham Neighbourhood Plan (MNP) which shows the land in its current status as an employment site.  The MNP was agreed with SCDC and formally approved by them in July 2018 before the Police & Crime Commissioner announced his proposals for housing.  The MNP has legal status as a planning document. 

2. The inclusion of the Woodbridge Town Football Club site for 120 dwellings.  There were no policies identified for this site in the First Draft.  This site lies outside the designated MNP area but is within Martlesham parish. 

The Parish Council has therefore raised a formal complaint against SCDC for making significant changes in its Final Draft Local Plan without consulting the Parish Council.  On 14 November 2018 we were made aware by e-mail of policies SCLP12.25 Suffolk Police HQ and SCLP12.33 Land at Woodbridge Town Football Club but were told at a subsequent meeting that they could not be changed.  The Suffolk Coastal Final Draft Local Plan is now under consultation until Monday 25th February 2019 (5pm), in relation to legal and procedural requirements and the soundness of the Plan. 

We urge you to respond to this consultation & make the voice of the parish heard.  The Plan will ultimately be reviewed by an independent Planning Inspector and the Council will make its complaint known.

Tesco Bags of Help - Voting still open!

There's still time to vote for us in the Tesco Bags of Help Scheme. Voting is open until the end of the month, and we need you to keep putting your green tokens in the voting boxes!   If we win, Martlesham Parish Council will use the money for 3 information boards on Martlesham Common ( recently designated as a Local Nature Reserve), informing visitors about the valuable heathland habitat.  Read more

Last Chance to try it out before May 2019 Elections

Nobody cares more about your community than you and your local councillors! The next election of Parish Councillors takes place on Thursday 02 May 2019. Martlesham has 3 wards with 15 seats to fill. Please start to consider whether you might become a councillor. Take a look at our website; come along to meetings to see what is involved; talk to councillors and staff to find out more. Councillors help look after Parish land and assets, improve facilities, engage with other authorities on planning and highways matters and decide how the precept (parish council tax) will be spent. Training is available with the training costs covered by us, and our experienced councillors are also happy to mentor. Councillors are not paid and do not receive any allowances but they may claim reasonable expenses. Our website is a good place to find out what we do.

This is what a couple of our councillors have to say about being a councillor:

John Forbes says, “It is good to be part of a team trying to make Martlesham a better place to live and work.”

Chris Blundell says, “Being a councillor enables members to meet other members of the community who may be residents, employers, and social groups and also helps in getting to know all parts of the Parish.”

Get involved and make a difference!

Resignation of Parish Councillor, Erik Crichton

It was with regret that the Council accepted the resignation of Erik Crichton in January.  We thank Erik for his contribution whilst on the Council; particularly for the valuable work he did as a volunteer playground inspector.

2019/2020 Budget/Precept

(Parish Council element of Council Tax)

We are pleased to announce that the parish council elelment of your tax bill will stay the same, at £62.41 per annum for a Band D equivalent property; the amount you pay will vary according to your housing band.

In January the Council agreed a budget of planned expenditure) of £137,406 for the financial year 2019/20, which year commences 01 April 2019. Most of our income comes through the council tax (precept). We are submitting a request to Suffolk Coastal District Council for £143,641 (precept for 2019/20) to cover the budget and keep our general reserves at a reasonable level of approximately between full and half precept; the rest is earmarked for contingencies and projects in the pipeline.

Full details of the budget setting process and the Council’s risk assessment on the level of general reserves are available in the minutes, which are published on our website.

Sports Fund Project (Money to Play With) - Trim Trail Update

We are pleased to announce that we have recently been granted the funding for this by Suffolk Coastal District Council. The project is taking shape with exercise stations to be located at 7 locations with 10 items of static equipment in total. The trail will extend around Martlesham Heath and The Common. We shall keep you updated on progress. 

Retail Park Developments

You may have noticed work on the ALDI store near the BT roundabout is well underway, as is the new Costa drive-thru on land next to Wickes. The Parish Council agreed to allow RG Carter (builders of the Costa Coffee site) to use the Martlesham Community Hall car park for the parking of approx. 6 mainly work vans and a few cars in order to keep the surrounding roads free of their vehicles. In return R G Carter will continue to undertake a few small jobs for the benefit of the community. Let us have your ideas for any small  projects with which Carters may be able to help.

Brightwell Lakes Development

Further plans have been posted on the Suffolk Coastal District Council (SCDC) website, www.eastsuffolk.gov.uk, including a new design for the entrance. Work is now scheduled to commence Spring 2019. We shall monitor the situation to ensure there are no unnecessary delays.

Travis Perkins Planning Application

 As a statutory consultee on the proposals to develop land between Anson Road and Felixstowe Road, with access off Hilton Road, we welcomed the views of some 70 or so residents from Falcon Residential Park and Hilton Road. We share the concerns and have written a strong objection to Suffolk Coastal District Council (SCDC), the planning authority, highlighting road safety & access, parking, residential amenity, screening, retention of trees, impact on the Public Right of Way, light and noise pollution. The land is designated as a ‘General Employment Area’ but the proposals took little account of its location close to housing. We now wait to hear what approach SCDC will take. 

Martlesham Common Local Nature Reserve

With its recent designated status as a Local Nature Reserve, the Parish Council is working with the Greenways Countryside Project under a new Management Plan to manage the wildlife and public access over the Common, until 2024. Read more on martlesham-common-nature-reserve.

A brief review of 2018:

Suffolk Coastal District Council (SCDC) approved the development of 2,000 dwellings on land south and east of Adastral Park, now known as Brightwell Lakes.

Wickes, Evans Cycles, Home Bargains, Hughes, Boots, Mountain Warehouse, Card Factory all opened on the Retail Park.

Building work started on an ALDI store and a Costa Drive Thru.

Following a referendum in May, the Martlesham Neighbourhood Plan was formally made in July.

We have resisted infill housing development on Martlesham Heath & gained the support of SCDC with refusal (however this has gone to appeal & is ongoing).

We have resisted inappropriate development by Travis Perkins on land off Felixstowe Road (we are still waiting to see what happens next here).

The future of the Suffolk Constabulary HQ is now in question with the possibility of the land being sold for housing: the Police & Crime Commissioner consulted on this during the year.  This is a  major concern as development here is not in the Martlesham Neighbourhood Plan.

We have a new Management Plan for the Common (now a designated Local Nature Reserve)  for the maintenance & enhancement work during the year.  Also, a  Common Open Day with the launch of Friends of the Common, and a new relationship with ‘Bug Life’ developed.

Improvements to the appearance of the Recreation Ground were undertaken at the Recreation Ground Working Day.

Martlesham trim trail is being developed as a result of our consultation on sports facilities.

Extensive repair work has been carried out at the Harry Higgins Play Area with a safe play surface and a new climbing net installed on the Multi-play unit.

We welcomed two new councillors having said goodbye to two outgoing councillors.  

A new Council Officer joined our team of part-time staff to help with the ever increasing workload.

Volunteer Opportunity - Public Transport Representative

The Council is seeking an enthusiastic user (or users) of public transport who would be willing to give up some of their time to act as a public transport coordinator. We envisage that the volunteer (s) would act as a focus for seeking service improvements for Martlesham and represent the parish’s interests when shared services are under discussion. If you are interested, please contact the Clerk for details.