Haverhill News

Don't miss out on your bus pass

People who make the most of their St Edmundsbury bus pass are being urged to apply for a new style pass as soon as possible to avoid missing out on free travel.

From 1 April, bus operators will no longer accept bus passes with an expiry date of 31 March 2008. Instead, new single-part passes will be used with a photograph of the holder printed onto them.

Everyone who has a St Edmundsbury bus pass which expires in March 2008 is being sent a letter asking them to come into one of the council's offices, or go along to the bus station, to have their picture taken. This must be done before 31 January to ensure a bus pass can be issued from 1 April 2007.

You can have your photograph taken at any of these locations:

• Borough Offices, Angel Hill, Bury St Edmunds (which opens from 9am to 5pm on Monday to Thursday and 9am to 4pm on Fridays);
• Bus Station, Bury St Edmunds (open from 8am to 5pm, Monday to Saturday); and
• Council Offices, Lower Downs Slade, Haverhill (which opens from 9am to 5pm on Monday to Thursday and 9am to 4pm on Fridays).

Jubilee Walk facelift – work begins

Monday 22 January at Jubilee Walk, Haverhill

Work is about to begin on a £460,000 project to improve an important gateway into Haverhill as part of £10 million plans to regenerate the town centre and the start of work ceremony will be on 22 January, 2.30pm, at Jubilee Walk, officiated by Councillor Jeff Stevens, Chairman of the Haverhill Area Working Party.

The scheme planned for Jubilee Walk will see new seating, handrails and bus shelters installed, while landscaping and resurfacing work will also take place.

As part of the enhancement project, an electronic board showing up-to-the-minute information to bus passengers will be installed along with several pieces of public artwork – including a clock and a sculpture to Owen, a popular ginger cat who used to live in the area. Texts or motifs will be inscribed in the pavement as part of the project, which has been designed to give Jubilee Walk a distinct character and identity.

Haverhill multiplex plans submitted

Plans for a £9.25 million five-screen multiplex cinema and restaurant complex designed to create a new leisure quarter in Haverhill have today been opened for public consultation after a planning application was submitted to St Edmundsbury Borough Council.

Developers Citygrove Securities Plc submitted the planning application for the Cineworld complex proposed for land next to the town’s leisure centre, in Ehringshausen Way, earlier this week. The proposed development includes:

• a five-screen multiplex cinema;
• three restaurants/ retail outlets (including Frankie and Benny’s, Subway and another yet to be confirmed);
• a drive-through restaurant;
• more than 400 car parking spaces (including some for park and ride passengers who catch the express bus to Cambridge);
• an enhanced public square; and
• improved pedestrian links with the town centre.

Cllr Jeff Stevens, Deputy Leader of St Edmundsbury and Chairman of the Haverhill Area Working Party, said:

“This planning application marks an exciting stage in our plans to provide new leisure opportunities in Haverhill. The local community, and especially young people, have consistently told us they want more leisure and restaurant facilities in the town and I am delighted this scheme is being brought forward to meet that demand.”

If you would like to comment on the application, please write to:

Planning and Engineering Services,

St Edmundsbury Borough Council,

St Edmundsbury House,

Western Way,

Bury St Edmunds,

IP33 3YS.

Making postal voting safer

Councils across Suffolk are taking steps to make postal voting safer after a new act was introduced to reduce the chances of election fraud.

From January, anyone applying to vote by post will have to provide their date of birth as well as their signature. Anyone returning a vote will be asked to fill in a statement which gives these details again. The two documents will then be compared to make sure the details match, reducing any chance of fraud.

To be able to make the same security checks for existing postal voters, Electoral Services officers across Suffolk are currently asking everyone who is registered to vote by post to provide their date of birth and signature. If you receive a letter, please respond quickly so that a reminder does not have to be sent and costs can be kept down. If you do not respond within 42 days, the Electoral Registration officer will have to cancel your postal vote and instead send you details of your usual polling station.

These changes have been introduced by the Electoral Administration Act 2006 to improve the security of postal voting. Although instances of postal vote fraud in the county are extremely rare, these extra measures will help make the process even safer.

If you have any queries about the new measures, please contact your council’s electoral services office directly on:01284 757131

Why not become the voice of your community?

What have firefighters, builders, young mums, factory workers, retired people, doctors, cleaners, your next door neighbour – and you – have in common? Along with everyone else, they are being urged to consider if they could ‘be the voice of their community’ through an innovative campaign launched by St Edmundsbury.

The borough council has designed the ‘voice of your community’ campaign to encourage people from a wide range of social and ethnic backgrounds to consider standing as candidates in the local elections in May. It is hoped the project will help raise awareness of the role councillors play within the community and give more detail about the variety of challenges and responsibilities the job involves.

Leaflets giving information about the campaign have already been circulated through the council’s Community Spirit magazine and to every parish council in the borough. St Edmundsbury has also put together job packs, which contain a wealth of information about everything from the democratic process and decision-making to members’ allowances and has already been sent out to some potential candidates. Local businesses have also been contacted and asked to encourage their employees to consider standing.

Cllr Jeff Stevens, Chairman of St Edmundsbury’s Democratic Renewal Panel, said:

The campaign has won the support of Ron Overton, Chief Executive of St Nicholas’ Hospice, in Bury St Edmunds. He said:

“Encouraging people from varied backgrounds to get involved in the decision-making process is essential for local democracy and I will be urging our staff and volunteers to look carefully at the job packs.”

Workshops giving more information will take place at the Borough Offices on Angel Hill, Bury St Edmunds, on Wednesday, 17 January and Tuesday, 6 February. They will run between 6pm and 7.30pm and will give a brief overview of the decision-making process, budget setting, how scrutiny works and the support available to councillors, such as allowances and training and development opportunities. It is hoped the sessions will give potential candidates the opportunity to ask questions and get a feel for what the role involves. Going to a workshop does not commit you to anything further – its simply a chance to find out more about a councillor’s role.