Snippets 1

Losing our brown bins?

A propos of the article Who does what in Ipswich? in the Newsletter April 2016, what is happening in the world of waste management? Suffolk County Council removed its support for brown bin-emptying on 1 April 2016 which seriously affects the disposal and recyling/composting of kitchen and garden waste in the county. This is a curious decision in view of SCC's stated aim to be ‘The Greenest County'. Local councils were faced with the choice of imposing a charge of £35 to £50 per household to fund the service (with no discount for pensioners or those with smaller bins), or to absorb the cost. Ipswich Borough Council is one of only two local councils in Suffolk to fund the service. In these straightened times, it seems likely that many families would have elected to save the £50 and just put organic recycling in their black bins to be put into landfill - or, worse still, fly-tipping it - surely a retrograde step.

R. & W. Paul silo and our Image Archive

It is good to see our Image Archive coming into its own after a request by Hattie Mulhearn, Assistant Heritage Consultant at Purcell architects, designers, heritage leaders and consultants who have offices around Britain. She asked to include images taken from the Ipswich Society's online Flickr Image Archive in a heritage report she was writing on the R. & W. Paul silo on St Peter's Wharf. This publication would not be sold for commercial profit and they would be sure to acknowledge the Society in the document. N.B.: Purcell are rated number eighty-three in the world architecture top one hundred.

Mayor today…

The outgoing Mayor of London has distinguished himself during his two terms of office in one respect at least: his 100% call-in record for deciding in favour of planning applications for massive new developments in the city. This in the face of all seventeen cases where democratically-elected local planning authorities have turned down the applications. We must acknowledge that in Ipswich we have rather good planners who have the interests of the town at the centre of their deliberations and bring two hard-working Ipswich Society Executive Committee representatives into the process of consideration of planning applications (not something that applies to many other Civic Societies).

Michael Portillo was seen recently in Ipswich on the Waterfront with his camera crew and assistants. When asked about his latest TV show Great railway journeys he told the Society that he'd had discussions with members of the Maritime Trust about the Wet Dock and the importance of the railway connections to it. Having been in Ipswich three years ago when he visited Ransomes and drove one or two of their mowing machines he was keen to come to the town again. He told us to expect an episode which comes out early next year.

Chelmsford gets a John Lewis store.

The new 300,000 square feet Bond Street shopping centre in Chelmsford is to be anchored by a John Lewis department store, their first store in Essex. The new store will occupy 120,000 square feet (half as big again as their Ipswich store) over three floors. Developer Aquila have handed the store over to the JLP for fitting out with opening planned for September. Chelmsford has proved attractive to John Lewis as it can boast spending on comparison goods 15% above the national average. Typical spending on comparison goods in Ipswich is below the national average.