District Council Annual Report

REPORT TO THE ANNUAL PARISH MEETING 2025

Cllr. Pugh had heard about the proposed solar farm before even West Suffolk
Council had. On April 23 rd she would meet a resident and our MP about it. The Govt.
had cancelled this year’s May election and Suffolk and Norfolk were being fast
tracked for Devolution. The timeline for this ‘seismic change’ in local government
was incredibly short. The County Council believed there should only be one unitary
council, the district council wanted two - a West and East Suffolk Council. As yet, ‘the
devil was in the detail’. Who would be responsible for adult social care, special
educational needs etc.? There would be a mayoral election for Suffolk and Norfolk in
May 2026.
WS Local Plan was at inspection stage when the Government changed. So it could
proceed. Other district councils were not as well prepared and have had to redo their
plans based on 50% extra housing. The WS Local Plan comes into force in July and
allows us to build 800 homes a year until 2040. The next Local Plan would be for
1,200 houses a year from 2041.
Having supported the WCA’s decarbonisation application Cllr. Pugh was looking
forward to solar panels going on the community centre roof. Cllr. Corcoran said in
making the application he discovered the building was not registered with the Land

Registry. The Community Centre were in the process of registering it and in so
doing, funding would still be available.
Waste collection alterations would come into effect next year. It would mean more
bins. Laws were also changing to make it more difficult to evict a tenant. For private
landlords, WS council offered a no-fee letting service and guaranteed rent to private
landlords and letting agents. Information was on the council website. It aimed to
prevent people falling into repeated homelessness. Changes coming to democracy
were so huge that it was very fragile behind the scenes at WS Council with staff
fearing losing their jobs.