Welcome To Kelsale-cum-Carlton

We needed to know how you wanted us to spend money….

To recap, in the first Kelsale-cum-Carlton Community News we asked you where you would spend money received from developers of new housing [the so called CiL].  In the second edition, distributed to 550 homes and businesses in the Parish, we included a questionnaire on your expressed views. We had grouped your ideas into 12 broader categories and so asked you to vote for your top 5 areas.

Having analysed the results, your top themes and priorities (in ranked order) are:

1. You would like improvements to footpaths, public rights of way, cyclist accessibility, vehicle speed management and access to lanes for leisure. You want any investment to give increased accessibility, improved safety and environments for walkers, joggers, horse riders, cyclists and other users on Parish roads and lanes.  Some good news in this area is that the Parish Council has already registered interest in the Quiet Lanes initiative, further details of which will follow.

Please note the Parish Council does not have responsibility for roads and therefore any work will need to be in liaison with Highways at Suffolk County Council.

2. You made it clear that there really is support for the Village Hall, but also a strong desire for improvements to be made, to make it better to use. A significant priority is upgrading the kitchen, but improved and wider accessibility was close behind and a little further along the list was enhancing the public area outside to include seating, planting, wider kerbs and traffic calming.
3. Respondents also demonstrated there is demand for further investment in the play area and equipment at the Kelsale Recreation Ground, to provide safer and more enjoyable play across a wider age range. Whilst linked with the previous priorities, this also including dropped kerbs for accessibility.
4. Also linking with the first priority, residents would like more improvements to open spaces, including wildlife corridors, meadow creation and an uplift of Spinney Pocket to improve the environment and give wider accessibility to broader biodiversity.
5. By way of long-lasting infrastructure, providing safe fresh drinking water and an electricity supply to the recreation ground also appealed greatly, enabling users to reduce plastic waste and also provide better facilities for play & leisure users (i.e. football teams, bonfire night and playground users).

Beyond the Top 5 there is some support for increasing the number of formal car parking spaces near the play area in Carlton, but marginal support for increasing other ‘community facilities’ such as ‘community sheds’ or shops, allotments etc. Nor was their much support for; Information Boards, an adult outdoor gym nor self-closing gates and new fencing on the recreation ground. However, the latter may be necessary to safeguard users anyhow.

The amount of money currently available from the Community Infrastructure Levy is £20,435.98.

Assuming things don’t change radically, two further payments of about £19,000 each in respect of the Badger development on Main Road can be anticipated in February and August 2022.

The Parish Council will now need to work out what funding to give each priority. The results above should also enable the Portfolio Holders who can receive funds, to apply for increased funding based on your input during the last few months.