Rushmere St Andrew Parish Council NEWS LETTER AUTUMN 2015 'SEEK THE COMMON GOOD' Flooding problem On page . 2 Our new Councillors 2 Have you a Community in The Street not yet Project in mind? 4 Bus Service changes solved satisfactorily 6 Getting yourself into fitness mode We wish we could write on a more the constant flooding of the highway Lawn Cemetery extension positive note however, at the time of close to the entrance to the ITFC 7 writing this article, (early September), Training Ground in Playford Road. taking shape issues of flooded roads in the Parish are I think it’s fair to say that because 8 Update on the Redecroft still with us. To say we are disappointed there are so many similar situations Development is an understatement! across the region, unless people and/ or property are directly affected or 9 Kesgrave Community Let’s first deal with locations other likely to be in danger then there is no Library than the Limes and Chestnut Ponds. real priority to clear these floods. We know of several places where, after 11 Police report a heavy downpour, the water sits on Although there is a maintenance the road. These include, for example, regime in place to clear roadside drains, in many cases the machine Likewise, the problem at the Limes Playford Road and parts of Rushmere Pond where, once again, it would appear Street by the Parish Church. only attends once every nine months or so. It is our belief that this schedule that the lack of maintenance of the There appears to be an ‘impasse’ is not frequent enough for locations drains in the highway is the cause of between the County Council and where there is a build-up of silt and the flooding there. It is NOT the pond Ipswich Town Football Club regarding other debris in the drains. flooding onto the road! Continued on page 3 Fly-tipping still an ongoing nuisance It’s been another summer of keeping a watchful eye on those who feel they can clip a hedge or ‘have a go’ at a tree which doesn’t belong to them! It’s also disappointing to note that we still have rude, selfish and downright ignorant people in our midst who believe it’s all right to dump redundant garden plants, lawn cuttings, tree prunings and general waste into our hedgerows and beside footpaths and walkways. Two noticeable ‘hotspots’ are the lane beside Larkhill Rise and The Water Tower, and in the case of grass cuttings Hardwick Close. Where we have ‘evidence’ in the first instance a letter will be sent. Further incursions could result in more serious action. PLEASE – do NOT dump your rubbish (in whatever format) anywhere! Use your council bins and the Foxhall Waste Facility. We have one of the best waste disposal systems in the country covering all aspects of any waste we produce so The footpath between Hardwick Close and Pardoe Place where grass cuttings there are no excuses. have been illegally dumped www.rushmerestandrew.onesuffolk.net New kids on the block take their seats 1970s but then had a career change Clare Gower and qualified as a nurse in 1986. I have lived in our parish since School nursing provided the perfect 1996 when my husband and I opportunity to combine the two first moved here. I am delighted professions and I became School to have been co-opted onto the Nurse Co-ordinator and Practice Parish Council this year and I am Teacher until my retirement in the so pleased to have the opportunity summer of 2013 working under the to serve you. NHS and, from 2011, for Suffolk County Council. Some of you will know me, as I have taught some of our parish Active locally, nationally and families at Broke Hall Primary internationally in promoting School – I was the mad music school nursing, I have presented teacher! It was a hard decision to at conferences in Abu Dhabi and cease working at the school (two helped set up the school nursing years ago now) and I am touched service in Kuwait. I have been an Clare Gower that many of my old pupils still say active member of professional ‘hello’ in passing. I now run my bodies working on the national own business, with classes in music committees of the Royal College of and drama for babies, toddlers and Nursing and have worked with the pre-schoolers. It’s great fun and I Department of Health and Chief get great satisfaction working with Nursing Officer on stakeholder children at the beginning of their groups. learning journey. My interests are children, young My husband and I have a young people and their families, black and son and a dog; we all love the minority ethnic communities, the many open spaces here and areas vulnerable population and equality of woodland we have to explore. and diversity issues. I write articles We have a lovely parish and the on nursing, am a member of the council work so hard to maintain it editorial boards of two health care to a high standard. journals and an occasional lecturer at University Campus Suffolk. I hope you will feel that you can Since my retirement from school approach me any time, especially nursing, I have become a director the families in our parish, if you of HealthWatch Suffolk, work for have any concerns or praise - the the Terrence Higgins Trust, became good is as important to comment Faiths Officer for the Interfaith on as the bad! Centre (SIFRE), University Quaker Chaplain at UCS. I am a member of the Green Party. I have four sons, Barbara Richardson-Todd Barbara one daughter and six grandchildren Richardson-Todd in whom I delight. I am honoured to be one of the local councillors for Rushmere John Westrup St Andrew following the May elections this year. Although I Apart from 18 years service have only lived in Rushmere for six in the British Army I have lived years, I have always lived in Suffolk, in Suffolk – over 30 years in mostly in Ipswich. I wanted to Rushmere St Andrew. I worked become a councillor to get to know for a local manufacturing company the parish better and become a in Framlingham and became its part of the community; I believe Managing Director, we employed our village is a beautiful place to over 70 local people and exported live and as a councillor I will do my 50% of our production. best to represent your wishes and to benefit the community in any Now that I'm retired I play golf, way I can. I want to get involved and I'm also a keen allotment and listen to the views of local holder and the current Rushmere people, to influence change for the St Andrew Allotments Manager. benefit of our community, to meet I am keen to see that Rushmere new people and in doing all this, I St Andrew remains the pleasant am learning new things every day. parish that it is today, and I I first worked as a teacher in believe that I can bring a depth of various schools in Ipswich in the experience to the Council. John Westrup 2 www.rushmerestandrew.onesuffolk.net resulted in the people involved having to After several contacts were made we Flooding problems change their clothes because they were can now report the ‘latest’. First there continued from page 1 soaked through – not from the falling is an admission from the Highways Now we turn to Chestnut Pond rain! Manager of the County Council that the ditch work should have been done. and the adjacent area of The Street, In our opinion this is wholly Rushmere St Andrew. You will recall unsatisfactory. In addition to not getting This will be done shortly. However, that this has been an issue for many the linear drain, no work was done to it may require a temporary road closure years. Some of the residents who live clear the ditch and gullies on the pond with the necessary traffic orders having close to this spot have had to endure side of The Street. Thus water which to be published etc. utterly unacceptable conditions with could be directed into the pond is not In addition following a site visit there sewage in their gardens. able to flow freely in that direction. is a promise that the low spots and the problem of the kerbside water which In addition standing water on the Following concerns raised by Parish highway after heavy rain gets splashed gets cascaded over the adjacent property Councillors and local residents that the IS going to be sorted! Meanwhile Dr all over pedestrians and property. The major repair work was not as effective latter has led to a physical deterioration Dan Poulter has asked the Parish Council as envisaged we set out to check during to set up a further meeting. of both the garden wall and the exterior heavy rain. The ‘evidence’ was pretty brick work of a house. Partly due to the disheartening! Indeed water was still This will be held on Friday 2 October at flooded road a vehicle mounted the path running down the kerbside; some time 8.00pm in Rushmere St Andrew Baptist and crashed through the wall and came after the rain stopped there was still Church. to rest on the side of the building. standing water formed in ‘low spots’. We WILL expect answers! Following an extensive campaign through the media a series of meetings were held with and under the auspices Getting down and dirty on the plot of our local MP, Dr Dan Poulter.