Three times easier to 'shop local' with a map

Live local, Shop local.

Many residents in Rushmere were disappointed when the planning inspector overturned Ipswich Borough Council and allowed Greene King to turn the Golden Key pub into a supermarket.
One of the reasons people did not want to see a supermarket on the Woodbridge Road site was because of the quality of local shops in the Woodbridge Rd area.

Just after planning permission was granted on appeal, a local resident Swaraj who wanted to help local traders, he came up with the idea of a local map. This was then take on by the North East Area Committee and at one of our meetings a number of young pupils from Copleston High School volunteered to get involved.

The Bally triplets came up with the winning design and that was then taken forward by local Rushmere firm, Ipswich Magazine 24, who produced the final map.
The North East Area Committee have paid for the printing of 5,000 maps and distribution of 3,000 with the remainder being held by local shops.

This was a great example of residents getting together to look after the area they live in, a big thanks to Swaraj, Ipswich 24 and Ellinor, Georgia and Stephanie Bally.

My week ahead 10 - 17 June 2013

Monday 10 June – 6pm, Labour campaigning- East Ipswich

Tuesday 11 June – 6pm, East Ipswich Housing Panel

Thursday 13 June – 4pm, Meeting at SCC about proposals for Rushmere Hall School
6pm – Ipswich Borough Council Scrutiny meeting

Friday 14 June – 4pm, Pearl Izumi Cycle Tour series, Ipswich town centre

Saturday 16 June - 10am, Labour campaigning, North West Ipswich

This week has been both satisfying and difficult – the good part was being able to inform residents that their bus service (22 and 31) were not to be lost. The first cuts by the Tory run Suffolk County Council are starting to leak out (no mention in any Tory election leaflet) and subsidies to bus routes are one of the first cuts to hit Ipswich. The good news is that the 22 and 31 will be replaced by a new service – the 39 – though it does cease working earlier in the afternoon as it then moves to the County run school bus service later in the afternoon. I will continue to both fight with residents against these Tory cuts and also work with the Borough Council and Ipswich Buses to try and help in areas where a bus service is lost.

The frustrating part has been dealing with residents’ concerns about the building of the new supermarket on the ‘Golden Key’ site on Woodbridge Rd. Chaos is the best way to describe what Rushmere residents woke to on Monday morning. The traffic jams and chaos were not acceptable. Fortunately our new Labour County Councillor was onto the task straight away and managed to get the County Council to change part of the road layout.

We now have a further 6 weeks of this chaos on one of the town’s main arterial routes! We (Ipswich Borough Council) did turn down the planning application because of traffic concerns – Monday was just yet one more example of where we (and residents) were right. Pity the Government Inspector did not listen – or visit the site during term time!

But to finish on a positive note, was a pleasure to visit the Beverley/Whitby Rd Community 'Front garden' sale today - after the success of the 'Big Lunch' held on Brunswick Recreation Ground last week, it is nice to know that we live in a ward with a real community feel.

Ipswich Tories and planning

Ipswich Tory Councillor Cenci used a comment on a Tory blog to criticise Ipswich Labour for our stance over recent developments by Tesco’s.

What some may find funny that the comment was on a post claiming that Labour knows little about economics because the comment proved that some Tories know little about the rules around planning.

Cllr Cenci stated: “You missed out the bit about Tesco’s and the fact Labour voted against the new proposal for Ipswich even though it would bring in new jobs and homes to a run down area. Counc Carnall pointed out that originally it was a 70million pound project but now will be a 50million stating that Labour admin had lost us £ 20million in one swoop. The portfolio holder responded by saying that Tesco’s didn’t do very well last year. “

First of all members of planning should vote on what they believe is right after hearing the application, group members should not have the whip used on planning. So Ipswich Labour members did not vote as a group against the Tesco’s application for Grafton Way – unless Cllr Cenci is telling us the Tories did vote as a group for the proposal?

Cllr Cenci indicates that the application was to bring in new homes and jobs – well we have plenty of empty flats and unfinished tower blocks within 400 metres of Grafton way – are more homes needed here? Plus will a large supermarket this close to the Town Centre take away shoppers from our main stores – Ipswich Central seemed to think so. Then there is traffic, similar to the Golden Key application I feel again we were let down by a County Council transport report that thought all those extra cars would not increase traffic on an already busy roundabout by the Nova Hotel.

Of course if she wishes to see lots of new homes (not flats) and jobs, I hope she will be supporting fully the development of the Northern Fringe as certain Tory councillors now seem to prefer the start of building new homes being delayed as long as possible

She seems to also blame Labour for the delay in the start of the project and also that it has now been downsized. The delay was due to legal proceedings taken out by the developer who owns the old Civic Centre site. Understandably they were unhappy, the Tory Lib Dem administration sold them the old council HQ and then within weeks were supporting a rival development less than half a mile away! What we are left with currently is two empty sites. Cllr Jones is actually right last year was not one of Tesco’s best and they do seem to be slowing their expansion plans.

They still do seem keen on smaller Express shops, and are currently looking to turn the Emperor Pub on Norwich Rd into an Express Store – and residents plus politicians are all unhappy about it – with Mr Gummer feeling it better the pub remains and has offered his support to campaign that also involves Lib Dem and Labour councillors. Rather strange to me when Lib Dems and Tories were quick to attack Labour activists for trying to save the Golden Key.

The Golden Key was turned down on traffic issues plus the design of the extensions they wished to build, and let’s look at the vote on this – Labour Councillors’ voted against the proposal – but not all of them unlike the Tory Group who all abstained on the first application and then joined the majority of Labour councillors on voting against it the second time. We have been informed that is was just a coincidence that the Tory councillors all came to the same decision to abstain, no group whip.

Certain Ipswich Tories may accuse Labour councillors not knowing the technical description of recession but it certainly seems that leading Tory councillors do not understand the planning process.

Goodbye the Golden Key

Yesterday lunchtime, I joined Labour colleagues and pub regulars as we said ‘goodbye’ to the Golden Key pub. It has been a regular meeting place when campaigning in North East Ipswich and also for occasional ‘ad hoc’ meetings.

We presented the landlady, Dee with a card with all our best wishes and regulars from the pub presented her with a large bouquet of flowers.

I would now expect Sainsbury’s to move in as soon as possible and we will see what we can do to help the local shops in the area compete with the major supermarket chain.

One positive I will take from the campaign is how the local community came together to try and save the pub, much was made of it being an ‘anti Tesco’ campaign but that is what residents feared and rumours still abound in North East Ipswich that Tesco’s are still searching for a pub to turn into a shop in the area,

Though Labour activists joined local residents in campaigning to save the pub the position of the opposition was harder to gauge. At the first planning application the Tories all abstained – we are led to believe that it was just a coincidence that they all came to same decision and at the next planning application they voted with the majority of labour councillors in turning down the application but even on that application, Cllr Judy Terry the Tory councillor for Rushmere attempted to stop me representing Rushmere residents at the meeting!

So I am still not sure where the Tories stood on the matter, on the first application both the local Tory Cllr for St Johns and Ben Gummer sent in letters to the planning committee arguing against a shop being built on the site but we heard no more from Mr Gummer after that.

A leading Lib Dem blogger also continually attacked us on our stance and the Tories still seem to blame us for the application going through. Very strange that in the campaign to save the Emperor Pub from being turned into Tesco’s, Mr Gummer and Lib Dem Cllr Cann seem very keen to show their support in the local paper whist Lib Dem Cllr Lockington was happy to be photographed alongside campaigners and Labour councillors and guess what? The Lib Dem blogger says nothing!

Even this month Tory Judy Terry uses her ‘Flyer’ column to blame Labour, but seems to have forgotten that she also voted to turn the application down. So whose side was she on – residents or Greene King?

I did learn plenty from the campaign and do feel we were let down by the poor quality of the report from the Suffolk County Council transport department, the same could be said about their report on the Grafton Way development.. We must remember that though the inspector acknowledges his visit took place outside school term he does not believe there will be increased traffic in Woodbridge Road because of the development. I am sure all of those who live near would disagree.


In the end the council listened to residents and refused planning permission, but that in it was an inspector from Bristol who had the final say and sided with Greene King.
So this weekend has been a sad one, we campaigned as hard as we could to save the pub, both on behalf of residents and because we know it is well loved pub. Cllr Terry states that the pub was no longer viable, the only reason why is that Greene King had run it down and have also closed the John Bull, they just want to make a quick kill.
We will miss out Saturday lunchtimes in the ‘Key’ putting the world to rights, Dee and the ‘Key’ will be missed by many.

My week ahead 10 - 15 December

Monday 10 December, 4pm – Culture Portfolio meeting
6pm – Labour Group meeting

Tuesday 11 December, 10am – Duke of Edinburgh Award presentation, St James Palace

Wednesday 12 December, 10am – Meeting about Youth activity provision in North East Ipswich
6pm – Ipswich Borough Full Council meeting

Thursday 13 December, 6pm – Scrutiny meeting

Friday 14 December, 9am – Canvassing for a ‘No Cold Call Zone’ in Whitby Road
10.15am – Coffee with staff at Sidegate Primary School

Saturday 15 December, 10am – Labour Campaigning in East Ipswich
7pm – North East Ipswich, Labour get together, Golden Key

Forget a slow down as we approach Christmas, the coming week looks like the busiest week so far this year. But the good news is that a number of those meetings are focused on improving our own part of North East Ipswich.

We also have Full Council on Wednesday and the Tories have proposed a motion that is centred on our plan to start building council houses again in Ipswich. This week I attended councillor training on Housing, and there is no doubt that the Tory/Lib Dems plans to cut housing benefits plus other changes to the benefit system are going to cause problems for may Ipswich residents and not just those living in social housing, The pilot schemes in Wakefield have seen residents who have never before been in debt find it hard to keep up with their renal payments.

The Housing department at Ipswich are going to find there services and skills are needed more than ever as people find they become homeless.

It seems strange that the Tories in Government are so willing to penalise those who may have one bedroom more than they think they should have but at the same time ask rich donors for large sums to fight against any proposals for a ‘Mansion’ tax.

We have over the last day a leading Ipswich Tory state that it is right to reduce housing benefit as we all have to share the pain – have not heard her say we should have a ‘mansion’ tax and that the rich should share the pain. It was also a concern to me that the local Tory lead on Housing was not able or did not feel he needed to attend the councillor training on housing this week.

My week ahead, 10 - 16 September 2012

Monday 10 September 3.30pm – Culture and Leisure Portfolio meeting

6pm – Campaigning in Castle Hill, Ipswich.

Thursday 13 September 6pm – East Ipswich Housing Meeting

Saturday 15 September 10.30am – Campaigning in East Ipswich.

This week we received the disappointing news that Greene King had won their appeal and will now start work on converting the Golden Key to a supermarket.

Local residents were concerned about the loss of custom to our local shops but the biggest concern is the danger of increased traffic and the problems that will cause for local residents. I am very concerned about the safety of the many children who pass their twice a day. Greene King showed themselves to be a business who had no interest in listening to the concerns of local residents.

A number of residents have contacted me since the news was broken and though they thanked me for campaigning for them they were both angry with Greene King and the planning inspectorate. All were concerned that the new planning measures rushed through this week by Eric Pickles would make it even harder for local residents to get their voices heard.

Bad news for the Golden Key

Just heard in the last hour (lunchtime - 4th September) that Greene King have won their appeal on the decision by Ipswich Borough Council to refuse them planning permission on their application to demolish part of the Golden Key pub and turn the site into a small retail outlet

This was the final decision by the Inspector:

The appeal is allowed and planning permission is granted for the part
demolition of the existing buildings, a change of use to Class A1 (Retail), the
installation of an ATM facility, the erection of an extension and alterations to
the elevations, with associated parking and servicing and other associated
works at The Golden Key, 438 Woodbridge Road, Ipswich IP4 4EN in
accordance with the terms of the application, Ref IP/12/00074/FUL, dated
20 January 2012, subject to the conditions in the appended schedule.

Even though the inspector acknowledges his visit took place outside school term he does not believe there will be increased traffic in Woodbridge Road because of the development. I am sure all of those who live near would disagree.

I also feel sorry for all the local residents who put in so much hard work to campaign against this proposal, not sure what the next step is as I have only just read the inspectors letter.

The council listened to residents and refused permission, but I am afraid that in the end it is an inspector from Bristol who has the final say.

Cllr Alasdair Ross

Golden Key - Greene King appeal - our response

Over the last few months, the Labour councillors for Rushmere and St John’s Ward and also our Labour team in Bixley Ward have received numerous letters and emails informing us that local residents are against the planning application for development and change of use of the Golden Key pub in Woodbridge Road, Ipswich

Two planning applications submitted by Greene King have been refused by the local council, but now Greene King have appealed to the Planning Inspectorate.



Below is the letter that has been submitted by your local councillors on behalf of residents.




The Planning Inspectorate
3/09 Wing
Temple Quay House
2 The Square
Temple Quay
Bristol
BS1 6PN


Planning Appeal Reference Number: APP/R3515/A/12/2174644/NWF

Dear Sir/Madam

As Ipswich Borough Councillors for Rushmere and St John’s wards, and the Suffolk County Councillor for St John’s Division, we have received considerable communication from local residents in respect of the two recent planning applications for development and change of use at the Golden Key, the refusal of the second of which the applicants are now appealing. The representation from local residents has been overwhelmingly against the planning application. As local residents ourselves, and in support of the arguments put forward by objectors to the original applications, we would like to reply to each of the areas on which Greene King has appealed the refusal notification from Ipswich Borough Council.

Grounds of Appeal 1: Appeal proposal will not have any unacceptable impact in respect to highway safety and will not lead to substantial vehicular traffic, and is therefore not contrary to policy DM17 of the Core Strategy 2011.

• The proposed store is located with its sole access onto Woodbridge Road which has two lanes of eastbound traffic at that point and one lane of westbound traffic in the process of becoming two lanes. Drivers of vehicles passing the access point are already forced to be aware of vehicles which are changing lanes in front of them and behind them, and of vehicles which are entering and exiting the adjacent petrol station. Drivers of vehicles entering or exiting the site will need to negotiate three streams of traffic which are in the process of changing lanes.

• The access point is dangerously close to the mini-roundabout junction between Woodbridge Road (A1214), Rushmere Road which gives access to the estates in the North-East of Ipswich, and Cauldwell Hall Road, which is the main north-south route within the inner-suburban area of East Ipswich. The traffic entering the junction from Cauldwell Hall Road is not visible from the access to the site and consequently there is a very real danger of collision.

• Woodbridge Road is the main artery between Ipswich town centre and East Suffolk. It also provides important access to Ipswich town centre for the highly populated areas of Kesgrave and Martlesham. In addition to very heavy peak time flows of private cars and commercial vehicles, it also carries the greatest number of bus services in the area.

• It provides an important link between the hospital and the town centre, and is one of the most frequently used routes for ambulances.

• Zebra crossings have been installed around the tightly configured roundabout in recent years to allow easier crossing for pedestrians as a direct result of the heavy flows of traffic and concerns over safety.

• The plans for development of the site for a supermarket include improvements to the car park and an allocated area for deliveries. It is thus clear from the application that the applicant is expecting, and has planned for, greater vehicular use than the present use of the site.

• A typical visit to a supermarket will be shorter than that to a public house, which will clearly increase the number of vehicular movements. This will be particularly true for the proposed ATM.

• As a local public house, one of the chief attractions of the Golden Key is that local patrons can visit it and drink without having to drive there and thus do not need to restrict their alcohol intake. Most of the regular patrons do not drive to the Golden Key.

• Most of the vehicles which leave the Golden Key car park do so on Saturday or Sunday afternoons, or after 9pm. Vehicles exiting a convenience store are far more likely to coincide with rush hour traffic, adding to already high levels of congestion and concerns over safety.

Grounds of Appeal 2: The appeal proposal will provide a retail facility in an established and identified district centre to serve the needs of the local community.

• The needs of the local community are already well served. Local residents have a range of small supermarkets within short walking distance, including two Cooperative stores, a Spar and a number of smaller retailers. Several specialist independent retailers also exist in the parade of shops nearby, including a well used
butcher, a baker and a greengrocer.


• Local residents also benefit from frequent bus services to the major retailers in the town centre and to out-of-town superstores in Martlesham and Warren Heath.

• The overwhelming response from the local community is that they do not need this additional retail space, nor do they want it.

• Several of the smaller retail businesses have expressed their expectation that they will be forced to close if they lose further trade to a chain outlet.

Grounds of Appeal 3: This is an appropriate location for the proposal which will provide new investment, job creation and additional choice for residents in Woodbridge Road District Centre.

• This is not an appropriate location for the proposal, given the considerable concern about the increase in vehicular movements and the impact on traffic and road safety.

• A new outlet for a chain retailer in this location is likely to cause more job losses from the closure of local small businesses than it creates of itself. Small independent businesses employ almost exclusively local residents, whereas a significant proportion of the profits of a chain outlet flow out of the local community. Local residents have raised concerns with me about the negative impact of the proposed development on local businesses and loss of associated jobs within the local community.

• Local residents already have a wide range of choice from both small independent retailers and small supermarkets. Residents have highlighted their concern that by forcing the closure of other local businesses the proposal will reduce consumer choice.

Grounds of Appeal 4: The LPA’s reason for refusal is not based on any evidence or support from the Highway Authority and will effectively sterilise any future development of the site.

Residents have recently expressed concerns over traffic monitoring equipment that has been attached to road furniture on Woodbridge Road near the junction by the Golden Key public house. No notification of the survey was provided to local residents and they have expressed their concern that the data collected might be used to support an appeal by Greene King.

• During the period that the traffic monitoring was being undertaken, traffic along Woodbridge Road was very significantly reduced as a result of road works.

• The data was collected during a period of lighter seasonal traffic (in part related to school exam leave periods).

• It is uncertain whether traffic monitoring data was collected during rush hour traffic periods.

• The Borough Council’s engineers, acting as agents for the Highway Authority, have long-term experience of the dangers and difficulties inherent in the various junctions and radial routes in Ipswich. They were fundamentally opposed to this application for the reasons stated in my response to Ground 1.

• Objections on highways grounds will not “sterilise” the site but will simply limit any development to purposes which do not significantly increase the level of vehicular traffic.

As Borough and County Councillors for the area, we would like to:

• Represent the views of residents within our wards by lodging our strong objections to the plans by Greene King PLC.

• Request that any inspection of the site be made during rush hour traffic during school term time to ensure that the inspector can judge the safety impact any increase in vehicle movements into and out of this access is likely to have during this critical period.

• Be informed in advance of the inspection date and time so that we can observe the process and thus reassure residents that their concerns are being addressed.

Yours faithfully,

Alasdair Ross
Ipswich Borough Councillor, Rushmere Ward

Tracy Grant
Ipswich Borough Councillor, Rushmere Ward

Neil Macdonald
Ipswich Borough Councillor, St John’s Ward

Sandy Martin
Ipswich Borough Councillor, St John’s Ward
Suffolk County Councillor, St John’s Division

GOLDEN KEY LATEST - Greene King lodges appeal

I was informed this week that Greene King has decided to appeal to the Secretary of State against the decision of the Ipswich Borough Council to stop the Golden Key being turned into a supermarket.



The main reason given for the appeal is that “the proposal will not have any unacceptable impact in respect to highway safety and will not lead to substantial additional vehicular traffic.”

I will be sending a representation to the Planning Inspector. Please let us know if there is anything you wish me to say or, alternatively, you can write to the Inspector yourself.

Details below:

Details of the appeal



APPEAL BY: Greene King PLC

SITE: Golden Key Public House, 438 Woodbridge Road

PROPOSAL: Part demolition of existing buildings, change of use to retail unit (Class A1), installation of ATM facility, erection of extension, alterations and associated parking and servicing

APPLICATION REF: IP/12/00074/FUL

PINS REF: APP/R3515/A/12/2174644/NWF



If you wish to make your own representations, you should send 3 copies of your letter to: The Planning Inspectorate, 3/09 Wing, Temple Quay House, 2 The Square, Temple Quay, Bristol BS1 6PN by 14th June 2012, quoting the PINS REF above.



Alternatively, there is an online service that you can use to comment on this appeal: On line service here

My week ahead 26 March - 1 April 2012

Monday 26th March 6.30pm - Defence and Security with Jim Murphy MP, I am speaking about the future of the Territorial Army at this event- The Barley Mow:‎ 104 Horseferry Road, London SW1P 2EE

Tuesday 27th March 5pm - Sidegate Primary School Full Governing Body meeting

Thursday 29th March 2pm - Meadowvale Close, Launch of a 'No - Cold Calling Zone'

Any other spare time will be spent campaigning, not only in Rushmere but all over Ipswich as we attempt to get our message over to the residents.

This week we had the good news that a second planning application to turn the Golden Key into a supermarket was refused. Slightly more disappointing was that a Tory Councillor thought I should not be able to speak on behalf of residents. Fortunately I was allowed to speak and hope what I was said helped persuade the committee that the proposed development was not right for such a busy junction.

Golden Key - update

Greene King had their latest application to turn the Golden Key pub into a supermarket down. The application was refused at the planning committee at Ipswich Council this morning.

The meeting was not a pleasant experience and at one stage one of the Tory councilors seemed to think I should not be able to represent my residents. Fortunately I was allowed to speak and I highlighted the problems that extra traffic would cause.

I would not be surprised if Greene king appeal, but I will keep campaigning for what residents want.

My week ahead 19- 25 March 2012

Monday 19th March 5pm- Rushmere Youth Club, committee meeting
6pm - Labour group meeting

Tuesday 20th March 7pm - St Johns Church, Cauldwell Hall Rd

Wednesday 21st March 10am - Planning committee
6pm - Ipswich Borough Full Council Meeting

Thursday 22nd March 5pm - Sidegate Primary School, Finance meeting

Friday 23rd March 7pm - Ipswich Labour Party attending 'The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists' at the New Wolsey

Saturday 24th March 10.30am - Labour campaigning in East Ipswich

As you can see from above a very busy week ahead, Tuesday will give us a chance to introduce Area Committees to the residents of North East Ipswich. I hope a number of you can come along to the meeting.

On Wednesday as well as the Full Council meeting, I will be attending the planning committee to speak on behalf of residents about the Golden Key planning application, there has been a lot of rubbish written about this application but for me the main issue is the proximity of the proposed shop to a busy roundabout and a busy garage.

This week I attended a scrutiny meeting, we were meant to receive a presentation from an officer of Suffolk County Council but only a few hours before the meeting we received a written report (via email). This is not the first time that we have received this sort of response from the County Council. But to make this matter worse, the presentation was meant to be on what Suffolk is doing to improve skills of our young people and the Cabinet Member responsible for that portfolio is Cllr Judy Terry - who is also a member of our Scrutiny committee, no surprise then that she also failed to turn up for the meeting as it would have been quite embarrassing for her to explain why the Officer she is responsible for had failed to turn up in person.

My week ahead 5 - 11 March 2012

Wednesday 7th March, 2pm - Campaigning in Ipswich
7pm - Fabians AGM

Thursday 8th March, 7pm - Mayor of Ipswich Charity Quiz

Friday 9th March, 5pm - Labour Campaign meeting

Saturday 10th March, 10.30am - Labour Campaigning in West Ipswich

This week we put forward our budget to Full Council, as expected the Tories put forward an amendment proposing a 3% Council Tax cut. It was a cheap stunt and if it had gone through would have seen £140,00 taken from Public transport, more staff made redundant at Ipswich Borough council and most scandalously handing over the HEARS service to Suffolk County Council.

Showing yet again that the Tories have no wish to help the young, the old or the poor.

The Lib Dems seemed to have learnt something off the Tories, they just now abstain or allow Cllr Lockington the opportunity to show that she has no clue to what is going on beyond the leafy ward of St Margaret's.

The week finished yesterday in style with a great session meeting residents in Rushmere and St Johns. then the surprise of returning to the Golden Key for a beer before football. The surprise? We found in the car park, Ben Gummer and 3 Tory Cllrs having their picture taken - Ben Gummer has already written a letter stating that the pub should not be turned into a store. Has Cllr Terry now joined him (and Ipswich Labour) in supporting local residents? If so will Cllr Terry declare an interest when the planning application is debated at the next planning committee?

My week ahead 20 - 26 February 2012

Monday 20 February 1pm - Meeting at Sidegate Primary School
6pm - Labour Group meeting

Tuesday 21 February 5.30pm - Tony McNulty talk at UCS

Saturday 25 February 10.30am - Labour campaigning in South East Ipswich

This week we finished setting the budget for Ipswich that we will put to Full Council at the end of the month. I believe Ipswich residents will see that we have managed to put forward a progressive budget even with the limitations placed on us by the Tory/Lib Dem Government. More information on the budget here.

Over the next few days I will be continuing to talk to residents about the proposal to build a shop on the site of the Golden Key.

Golden Key - second planning application

Back in October I helped local residents in their campaign to stop Greene King building a supermarket on the site of the Golden Key pub in Woodbridge Road.

The application was turned down but Greene King have now put in a second application - more details here.

Please contact me with your views on the planning proposal to put a supermarket on the site, I have heard from residents both for and against the proposal, but even those in favour of a store are concerned about the traffic congestion that may be created at what is already a busy junction.

Other than two more windows on the side of the building, there seems to have been very few changes to the original application. I am disappointed that Greene King have not used the last few months to enter into a full consultation with their neighbours. A missed opportunity.

E mail your views by the 20th February - alasdairross@hotmail.com

My week ahead 6 - 12 February 2012

Monday 6th February 6pm - Labour Group meeting

Saturday 11th February 10.30am - Labour campaigning, East Ipswich

This week the Labour Group will continue to look at out planned budget for 2012/13 - we understand that these are hard times for Ipswich residents but also know that we can't rely on this Tory/Lib Dem Government to help with kick starting our local economy. We aim to help the Ipswich economy plus follow through with our plans to start building new council houses in Ipswich.

Good news this week for Rushmere Ward, with a good first meeting of the new management committee for the proposed Youth Club for Rushmere Estate behind us. we now want to hear what the teenagers want. The local police team will have their info pod set up by the Selkirk Road shops on Wednesday the 15th February, so we can ask teenagers what they want from their youth club.

Not so good news is that Greene King have put in a second planning application to turn the Golden Key on Woodbridge Road into a shop, other than a couple of extra windows there seems little change to the original plan that was thrown out last year. No thought seems to have been put into solving the congestion problems that a store would produce.

I will be asking local residents for their views on the subject.

My week ahead 14 -21 November

Monday 14 November 6pm - Labour Group meeting

Wednesday 16 November 11am - North East Ipswich Forum, Ransomes Sports and Social Club - Sidegate Avenue

4pm - Polling Stations Working Group, Grafton House

Thursday 17 November 5pm - Sidegate Primary School, Finance Meeting

A number of reminders of my schooldays this week, Monday I was at Fore Street Swimming Pool for the launch of our free i-card for members of HM Forces residing in the town, this was where I learnt to swim when I was at St Helens School. Then on Thursday at the St Margaret's by-election I found myself knocking up voters in Devereaux Court off Bolton Lane. Before becoming luxury housing this was once part of Tower Ramparts School.

Talking of the by-election at first it seems a disappointing result as we worked tirelessly to increase our vote. But it was not to be and it became obvious during the day that many of our voters were returning to tactical voting as they would rather have a Lib Dem Cllr than a Tory. But all our good work will not go to waste and it will be of enormous benefit to us when we come to getting David Ellesmere elected as our MP at the next General Election.

Wednesday gave me the opportunity to represent residents at the Planning Committee. The good news was that the planning proposal for the Golden Key pub site was turned down. More strange was the Tory decision to all abstain.

Today (Saturday) I was provisionally selected to stand again as the Labour candidate in the Borough election for Rushmere Ward next May.

Golden Key - planning application refused

Good news for Rushmere residents – the planning application to build a supermarket on the Golden Key site on Woodbridge Road was refused by the planning committee in Ipswich this morning.

Greene King has stated that the retailer was not Tesco and that they may still open a shop in the existing building.

I was allowed to speak for 7 minutes at the meeting, I emphasised the traffic issue and also the detrimental effect that a supermarket may have on our small independent shops.

Greene King may appeal, in my conclusion I stated that if they wished to build a shop then a joined up plan with the BP garage would be a better option as that would put less pressure on the traffic as they could share entry and access. We will see what happens next.

It was disappointing that the Tories and Lib Dems spent much of the meeting having a go at myself and the local Labour Party for delivering our leaflet about the plan for the Woodbridge Road site. I thought this was because they were for the proposal but only the Lib Dem councillor eventually voted for the plan. The Tories all abstained, (including our own Tory councillor for Rushmere – Judy Terry) so we are not really sure where the local Tories stand on this issue.

I am sure this was not be the last we will hear about this plan but at least for now we will not see a large supermarket on the site.

I must thank all those who supported our campaign; it was an honour to represent the views of Rushmere residents this morning.

The Levington Road problem

Planning issues have been the topic of a number of posts on various Ipswich political blogs recently, a number of these posts have been about the proposal to turn the Golden Key into a supermarket but two of the Tory supporting blogs have had an identical post about a planning application to build a bungalow in Levington Road.

Nothing wrong with that you may think? That is what political activists should do, inform residents of local issues that they may be interested in. But what has annoyed me with these two Tory posts is the assumptions, some may even say accusations made by a senior Tory councillor- someone who should know better.

The same post by Cllr Liz Harsant is published on both the Ipswich Politics and A Riverside View blogs. The post is a copy of her Evening Star column that was in the paper this Tuesday (18th October) but this is where it starts to go wrong. It seems after sending her column to the local paper she handed it over to one of her Tory colleagues to place on their blog, the post went up on the two Tory supporting blogs a week before it appeared in the paper. You would have thought they would have at least waited till the article had been printed, especially as the post is date sensitive, referring to a planning meeting that will take place tomorrow (the 19th). It makes you wonder if Nadia Cenci or Kevin Algar even read it before putting it up on their blog.

But the Evening Star decided not to publish all Cllr Harsant’s article and though it has the item about the bus shelter on Nacton Road, the ‘Star’ decided not to print the item about the Levingon Road planning application. I am not sure if that was because there was not enough room on the page or if they thought the article may be not what was expected from a senior councillor.

I have printed below the article so you can read it:
So tomorrow we will know the outcome of another application which has been submitted to the Planning Department for a bungalow at the rear of 34 to 40 Levington Road and using part of 36 and 38 Levington Road. A precedent was set back in June this year when an application for a bungalow was approved further up Levington Road towards Felixstowe Road in spite of the residents fighting against this for over 6 years – can you imagine their dismay when this was agreed. So my prediction that this would happen again is about to come true – we shall soon have another street between Levington and Salisbury Road! The site in question had some lovely trees on it and suddenly overnight the developer cut them all down. The residents are very distressed by this as many of them saw what they believed to be a bat roost in there. I am told by the Planning Officers that it is the Wildlife and Countryside Act that offers protection to any protected species and any offences under the Act are criminal offences to be dealt with by the police rather than the local planning authority. So we shall see but it is strange that biodiversity is important along the greensward on Nacton and Clapgate Lane but not important at the rear of these properties. Let’s hope the Planning Committee listen to the residents’ concerns this time. The application will be heard tomorrow Wednesday October 19th at Grafton House.

Now from the tone of the article it seems to me that Cllr Harsant is implying that she thought a decision had already been agreed on before the planning application had been heard by the committee, now as a senior councillor she should know better than most that planning decisions should not be political and certainly not decided on before the meeting. That has certainly been the way it works since I have been a substitute on planning and quite often we find ourselves as Labour Councillors not always voting together. Cllr Harsant repeated again that she thought the decision had already been made when she gave her comments at the planning meeting. Now I am sure many of the public think that planning is dealt with behind closed doors but it is not, I have never heard of a planning decision being made by a group before the meeting, certainly not by the Labour Group. She also implied that many of the residents, especially some of the more elderly were not happy with the way the property company had behaved – that should be a police matter not something that the planning committee should or could deal with. Cllr Harsant was also concerned about a possible bat living in one of the trees, I am glad she seems to be now caring about our local wildlife as she certainly did not seem to display the same passion for protecting wildlife when she gave the reasons behind the last Tory administration’s plan to sell off Kiln Meadow.

Anyway for all of Cllr Harsants predictions, on Wednesday the application was refused by the planning committee. (However, Christchurch can appeal against our decision, in which case an Inspector will investigate the case and make a final decision.)
But the posts by Cllr Harsant all seem to be part of a tactic to blame the Labour administration for building on back gardens and any small available space in East Ipswich.

We need to correct that misleading impression that Labour committee members have supported building on backland plots in Levington Road. This was not the case on Wednesday. Nor was it the case on any of the occasions where Christchurch Property applied to build on a similar backland plots behind 8-18 Levington Road.

In reality, Labour have consistently led the arguments against every application (and in every case, against the council officers’ recommendations.) The planning committee won two appeals against Christchurch Property. In the end the committee were left with no planning reasons for refusal, and planning committee members of all political parties voted for the single bungalow behind 34-40. Nobody was happy about this, but it was better than Christchurch’s first application – a row of terraced houses and chalet bungalow.

However, Labour members were so worried by this attempt by a developer to build what amounted to another, unplanned street in between two roads, Levington and Salisbury, that in 2009 we added a proposal into the Council’s Local Development Planning Framework. We wanted to give the local authority the power to refuse applications like Christchurch’s. We actually called it the ‘Levington Road problem’ because this was the place where we had found ourselves, in the end, without strong enough planning reasons to refuse an application nobody wanted except the developer.

We are also very worried by the government’s new National Policy Planning Framework (which has been described as a ‘developer’s charter’), and by local Tory MP Dan Poulter’s comments – he thinks there should be more building in places like East Ipswich because he doesn’t want any building on North Ipswich. As we know, this means more houses crammed into places like Levington Road – which already have enough houses and people and traffic.

Not another supermarket

Today I joined local residents and other Labour colleagues at the Golden Key pub in Woodbridge Road, Ipswich.
Not in the pub for a lunchtime drink or a Sunday campaigning session but to join residents in protesting against the plan to turn the Golden Key pub into yet another supermarket. Rumours abound that Tesco are the supermarket chain who wish to buy the site from Greene King.




If you wish to know more about the planning application visit the Ipswich Borough Council website here and the application reference is 11/00740/FUL

Time is running out and submissions have to be in by the 17th October (tomorrow)



Cllr Alasdair Ross, speaking to residents

But this is only the start of our campaign to stop this development. we are not just against supermarkets or Tesco, but we are fortunate in Rushmere, Bixley and St John's that we have such a variety of small shops in our wards. This development could see the end of our little row of shops on Woodbridge Road