Gerald Kelly - Vote for Lakenheath

Please remember:

County councils are responsible for functions such as transport, social care and education.

District councils are responsible for matters including housing, planning, leisure facilities and waste collection.

Why are West Suffolk hanging on to the old ‘Developer Contributions’ system which means Lakenheath gets nothing from the big housing developments?

This might get a bit technical, but any large development is required to make a contribution to mitigate the impact of the development locally. Most Councils use the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL), and under this scheme the Parish would be able to allocate 15% of the total to projects of its choosing (25% when we have our Neighbourhood Plan). While nationally this is the most usual arrangement, West Suffolk are sticking with the old Section 106 scheme where Parish Councils are "consulted". So we had a real fight on our hands when money to improve our surgery was allocated to Mildenhall and Red Lodge. I think it fair to say that at the time that the applications for these big schemes were considered there was little interest in anything other than converting agricultural land into the maximum possible number of houses and that the views of the community were unlikely to be heard. That leaves us with no road improvements and no jobs - frankly unsustainable.

Why have we got one of the highest precepts for Council Tax?

Part of the Council Tax bill goes to the Parish Council – this call ed the precept. The bottom line is that around one in six of our residents are USAF personnel and their dependants, and they don’t pay Council Tax. Instead the Ministry of Defence receive an amount from the US government which reason demands should be passed down to be used on the things that Council Tax is used for. But it isn’t!

So – with no fault attaching to the Americans – our residents are paying over the odds. But what has been done?

Why have we got unregulated building still going on?

In theory there is a planning enforcement team at West Suffolk; in practice you’d never know!

Why are West Suffolk pretending that noise levels are no different now that we have the F35 jets, and it’s OK to build at the end of the runway?

West Suffolk Council planners say that we have to rely on the MOD’s 2020 Noise Contour (which strangely is before the F35s arrived), and the MOD say they’re not going to produce any up to date figures – probably because they know what they will show! Frankly I’m more interested in future residents than the profits of any developer – even the good ones! So I will carry on fighting schemes close to the flightpaths, especially along the B1112.

Why do West Suffolk pretend there has been no development in Lakenheath ward?

If new buildings are not part of a big development, they are treated as “windfall” and excluded from planning numbers needed to fit Central Government targets. All I can say is, ok, don’t believe the Land Registry figures if you must, but even the Census figures show an increase in our population in the last ten years from 8046 in 2011 to 9437 in 2021! According to my arithmetic that’s 1391 more in ten years. Perhaps they’re all living in tents in the forest?

But what is certain is that we have seen nothing but a general degradation of our roads, services and infrastructure.