Speaker: Naomi Thompson, leading on Feel Good Suffolk for Babergh/Mid Suffolk to explain this county-wide collaborative initiative and how parishes and towns can help promote and Laura Butters from Mid Suffolk Communities Team who presented details of funding available across the district to highlight opportunities for parishes or other community groups. Recording below.
Speaker: Teresa Farley, Community Action Suffolk, Good Neighbour Scheme. Click on this link to view the slide presentation. Recording below.
Speaker: Laura Cave, SCC Flood Grants Officer, DEFRA;s Property Flood Resilience Grant Scheme. In summary:
Storm Babet affected mainly inland areas between 19-25 October 2023. The government’s response - crisis emergency funding through districts, reported emergencies through fire brigade, police. Those houses/businesses effected, council tax was frozen and an emergency fund of £500 paid. The grant scheme was put in place to install flood resilience to resident’s properties/businesses of £5000. Suffolk County Council appointed Laura Cave to administer the grant. In February 2024 a letter was sent to all households and businesses that were reported as being affected by the floods, a total of 909. This letter explained how to apply for the grant which is for internal flooding.
The process is to apply online and the first stage is to obtain a building survey. There is a list of identified surveyors which have reduced their fee to £500-£800, this can be claimed back as part of the £5000 grant. Quotes are to be submitted independently and retrospectively should the work have already been carried out.
Attendance stats
Election of Chairperson and up to three Vice Chairperson We are delighted to inform you that the following individuals were elected onto the SALC Board:
Area Chair - Mark Valladares, Creeting St Peter Parish Council
Area Vice Chair- Mark Clements, Old Newton with Dagworth and Gipping Parish Council
Area Vice Chair- James Spencer, Great Finborough Parish Council
Area Vice Chair - Michelle Salazar, Eye Town Council
We welcome James and Michelle new appointments onto the SALC Board on behalf of Mid Suffolk District.Information exchange - after a busy forum with speakers there was a small amount of time to mention the new NALC micro council network Mark Valladares was involved in. Parishes should look out for information/opportunities through newsletters either direct from NALC or SALC.
SALC Update: SALC re-structure - Appointed a new Development and Support Officer – role to support training and development of new clerks. Appointed a new Advice and Development Manager – to replace Jim as retiring at the end of the year – to ensure a smooth transition there will be a comprehensive handover
Suffolk Highways - a survey on Suffolk Highways will be shared with clerks to obtain feedback, this is following on from the SALC Conference at which Suffolk Highways attended. There will be two forums, free and online, focusing on flooding and drainage and another on winter maintenance programme – we are aiming for these to be available to book later this week – please ask your clerk to book your place. There will also be an in-person focus group at SCC offices to review and discuss the results of the survey.
NPPF consultation – SALC commissioned a consultancy company to provide a non-technical summary of the key NPPF changes which was shared with councils on 6th September. Deadline to respond to consultation is 11.45 pm, 24th September. Click on this link to view the non-technical summary.
Parish Council Domain Helper Service - update. The halfway point has now been reached in terms of allocated funding. In this financial year, almost 500 councils have claimed their funding (£100), and this figure is increasing each month. The current projection suggested that all funding will be allocated by February 2025 and it has been confirmed that funding will NOT be available in future years. This being the case, if your council is thinking about moving to .gov.uk, please engage with the helper service as soon as possible to benefit from the funding and support to switching. INFORMATION PAGE - .gov.uk domains | SALC Website
Suffolk Community Awards – SALC judging for nominations received has been completed and we’ll be celebrating with the winners on Tuesday 24th September – a press release the following day will announce the winners. If you didn't nominate this year, there is always next year to consider. Click on this link to visit the Suffolk Community Awards website.