from the Parish Plan 2005-2007
| No. | Category | Issue | Action | Lead organisation | Partners | Priority |
| 1 | Access to information | Concern about the standards of provision of some public services such as lighting, snow clearance and the maintenance of public toilets. | Establish clear procedures for reporting to the relevant authorities and invite the Parish council to publish them. | Action Programme Group | Parish Council | medium |
| 2 | Shopping and services | Concern about the quality of reception for phones, radio and the Internet. | Investigate the feasibility of an interest/action group involving residents and businesses to influence the service providers. | Radio Reception Interest Group | Service providers | medium |
| 3 | Community safety | Wide-ranging dissatisfaction about the police ‘coverage’ of the village, especially in terms of the visible presence of our local officer | Establish a dedicated liaison group to hold regular meetings with the local police to explore practical ways to raise the profile of the police in Long Melford. | Police Liaison Group | Police authority | high |
| 4 | Access to healthcare | Considerable disquiet about the future of the surgery. There is a need for transparent discussion and communication about future plans and the reasons behind them. | It may be desirable to establish an interest group within the village to engage with the Suffolk Primary Care Trust in such discussions | Health Liaison Group | General Practice, Primary Care Trust |
high |
| 5 | Facilities for the disabled | Difficult access for disabled people to some buildings in the village. | Parish Council to discuss with those responsible for the premises and to seek advice from the appropriate authorities about methods and funding possibilities for improvements | Parish Council | Owners of shop and office premises | medium |
| 6 | Voluntary/community self-help | To provide organised help for a variety of individual needs such as transport to medical services, shopping, gardening etc. | To investigate the legal, safety and organisational frameworks needed and then establish an effective Good Neighbour scheme in Long Melford | Good Neighbour Interest Group | Community Association | medium |
| 7 | Local democracy | People don’t feel in touch with what the councils are doing, nor do they feel that the councils are in touch with local concerns. | The Parish Council and District and County Councillors to explore practical, immediate and easily accessed ways of informing the public and receiving input from them. | Action Programme Group | Parish Council, District councillors, County councillor | high |
| 8 | Public transport | a) Awareness of the under-use of existing public transport services b) Concern at the frequency of bus and train services, particularly at weekends and evenings. |
Form an interest group of councillors and others to approach local service operators for discussion about the rationale behind current services, to explore ideas for improvement to the schedules and to provide a process for reporting other public concerns | Public Transport Interest Group | Parish Council, District Council, County Council, Transport companies |
medium |
| 9 | Affordable housing | A significant number of people in Long Melford expressed a need for alternative accommodation | To ensure that these needs are reflected in Babergh District Council’s Local Development Framework | Parish Council | District Council | medium |
| 10 | Affordable housing | Perceived need for homes for young people and low-cost housing, combined with an almost complete lack of acceptable sites and the imperative to protect a green belt between Long Melford and Sudbury. | To ensure that these views are reflected in Babergh District Council’s Local Development Framework | Parish Council | District Council | medium |
| 11 | Shopping and services | There are a large number of people who use the post office and many are concerned about possible closure | To ensure that all concerned have details of the data we have gathered on the post office and support all moves to ensure a future for the post office in this village. | Action Programme Group | Parish Council | high |
| 12 | Jobs and the local economy | Maintaining the commercial momentum of the village economy. | 1 Consider wider promotion of Long Melford through tourism outlets. 2 Investigate options for business contributions toward promoting the village and its businesses, including designation as a ‘Business Improvement District’ through BDC |
Long Melford Business Association | District Council | medium |
| 13 | Traffic management | Concern over a wide range of traffic/congestion problems throughout the village | Establish a regular ‘Traffic Working Party’ (taking in members from the Parish Council and other interested individuals) to consider all matters related to highways, traffic, etc. and to inform and put pressure upon the relevant statutory bodies responsible as appropriate and report to the village on a regular basis. | Traffic Working Party | Suffolk County Council | medium |
| 14 | Traffic management, Parking | Continued concern about congestion in Cordell Road | The Traffic Working Party to meet with interested parties and authorities to re-examine all possible solutions and improvements, particularly looking at widening the road to include parking bays. Also to approach the Primary School to look at ways to reduce parent traffic. | Traffic Working Party | Parish Council | medium |
| 15 | Parking | The need for more and better parking provision | The Traffic Working Party to provide a detailed response to the concerns raised in this report and to ensure that Babergh District Council is aware of these needs and that they are reflected in the Local Development Framework. | Traffic Working Party | District Council Planning Dept. | medium |
| 16 | Road & footpath maintenance | The need for greater and safer cycle use. | Interested members of the Traffic Working Party to work with Suffolk County Council and cycling promotion organisations to draw up a plan for dedicated cycle paths serving the main areas of the village and its approaches. | Traffic Working Party | Suffolk County Council, Cycling organisations |
medium |
| 17 | Traffic management | Many concerns about the dangers of speeding traffic | The Traffic Working Party to meet regularly with representatives from Suffolk County Council Highways Dept and the Police to explore a range of safety measures to reduce speeding, including (among others) speed restrictions on the bypass and the provision of efficient electronic speed indicators. | Traffic Working Party | Suffolk County Council | medium |
| 18 | Traffic management | The dangers of crossing the main road. | The Parish Council to press the Highways Dept of Suffolk County Council over various sites for crossing safety features, initially island refuges in Little St Mary’s and Hall Street, but also further measures to improve other areas highlighted by the survey. | Parish Council | Traffic Working Party, County Council |
high |
| 19 | Voluntary/community self-help | Harness the support shown for the protection and enhancement of Long Melford’s environment. | Form a group of residents to discuss the ‘state’ of the village in terms of the built and natural environment, and to present practical priorities to the Parish Council so that it can harness the interest and participation of people of the parish. | Village Environment Group | Parish Council | medium |
| 20 | Natural environment | A lot of people want to see the woodlands preserved and sustained, together with other countryside features. | An ‘Environmental Action Group’ (see below, ‘Footpaths and Bridleways’) to make contact with local bodies concerned with biodiversity projects as part of an investigation of the possibility of increasing wooded areas in the parish and restoring ponds. | Environmental Action Group | medium | |
| 21 | Environmental health & pollution | Concern over littering and dog fouling. | Parish Council to re-examine the current provision of bins, their type, size and the frequency of clearing and sweeping and upgrade this with help from Babergh District Council. | Parish Council | medium | |
| 22 | Environmental health & pollution | Concern over excessive noise, particularly at night. | Parish Council to publish the procedures for reporting complaints about excessive noise. | Parish Council | medium | |
| 23 | Voluntary/community self-help | Maintaining the footpath network with help from residents. | Approach those who offered to help maintain footpaths to form an ‘Environmental Action Group’. With the help of the appropriate department of Suffolk County Council, this group would carry out what work it can, including publication of maps and leaflets, liaising with landowners, organising guided walks, etc. | Environmental Action Group | landowners, County Council |
medium |
| 24 | Facilities for young children | Concern over the availability of facilities for young children and their parents | The Parish Council (and other appropriate groups and individuals) to support existing facilities and encourage self-help groups through contacts, information, starter funds and advice | Parish Council | voluntary groups | medium |
| 25 | Facilities for teenagers | Provision of activities for young people in the village. | Furnish the existing Parish Council Youth Committee and Community Association with all the ideas and data the questionnaire has yielded with a view to exploring, with other interested parties and organisations, ways to initiate action on each item: youth club, tennis, off-road biking, skateboarding, sport for girls, netball, basketball, the playground shelter. | Action Programme Group | Parish Council Youth Committee |
medium |
| 26 | Facilities for young children, Community assets | Need for better playground equipment, maintenance and security together with a wish to see more sites covered in the village. | Support from the Parish Council and others for the Community Association in order to continue and expand their work, taking advice and input from a variety of local and national funders and advisers. | Community Association | Parish Council | medium |
| 27 | Cultural, sporting & recreational | A wish for further adult education classes to be provided in Long Melford. | The Parish Council to organise a representative of adult education to address an interest meeting about how the village could achieve their wish for more activities or classes. | Parish Council | medium | |
| 28 | Cultural, sporting & recreational | Need for new leisure activities to be developed in the village. | The Community Association to be asked to act as the facilitator for making initial contact with the individuals concerned and to provide an early meeting venue. | Community Association | voluntary groups | medium |
| 29 | Local democracy | Maintaining progress on this parish plan | Form an ‘Action Programme Group’, ideally with some representation from the Parish Council, the Community Association, the present Plan Steering Group and others, to review and encourage progress on the issues and actions recognised in this plan and report at least once a year to the parish and the Parish Council. | Parish Council | Steering Group | high |
The actions in this table are those suggested in the Long Melford Parish Plan Main Report of January 2007.
During the course of the project there were a great many other suggestions which are of interest, which came up either in public meetings or in reply to the questionnaires.
Two important sources within this CD are :
a) The spreadsheet IdeasFromOpenMtg051206.xls , located in 'HouseholdQuestionnaire/WorkingPapers' with all the suggestions on 'Post-It' notes,
b) The table of answers to text questions tblTextAnswersFM.txt and the similar table of written comments tblWrittenCommentsFM.txt located in 'HouseholdQuestionnaire/AnalysisTables'.
There are further suggestions contained within the tables of answers from the Business and Young People's questionnaires too. (See the relevant folders.)
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