Parish and Local Events
There are three noticeboards
in our Parish. One is in Eastbridge near the grass triangle and The
Old Stores. The other two are at the Jubilee Hall and Main Road
Theberton opposite The Lion.
Village events, public notices and planning
applications are displayed on the noticeboards, the latter
can be viewed at all times on the Suffolk Coastal District Council
web site.
Online Planning Applications then Type "Theberton" or just
the postcode to view or comment online.
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REPORT A PROBLEM
just click on the link below to
email a simple form direct to Suffolk Coastal..straight to the
department that deals with...Noisy Neighbours, Abandoned Cars,
Drainage Problems, Refuse Collection..just click on "Other" to send
details of, say, blocked footpaths, overgrown hedges, cars parked
on pavements or whatever is annoying you..it's fast, simple and
free!!!
>
Report a
Problem
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HEALTH &
SAFETY REMINDER
The Parish Council has received a complaint that dogs are being
walked on the playing field. As this is a childrens play area
may we remind you that dogs are not allowed for obvious health and
safety reasons.
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NOTICES
FOUND Tabby cat..phone
833029
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NEWS
Did you see this article about
Nat & India Bacon of Theberton Hall Farm in
the
Telegraph Magazine on Nov.
1st. ?
Mark Mower's new book "Zeppelin over
Suffolk, the final raid of the L48" published by
Pen & Sword @ £12.99 on Oct 16th..order at
www.pen-and-sword.co.uk
DATES FOR YOU
DIARY
Forthcoming local events (email us for a
posting)
JUMBLE SALE I.A.O. Youth Club Theberton Jubilee
Hall
Saturday November
15th. 14-00 to 16-00 [raffle @ 15-30]
Tea-Coffee-Cakes Tombola Raffle
***************
Longterm Dates ....
FORTHCOMING CHURCH
EVENTS
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REGULAR LOCAL ACTIVITIES
Dog training classes in Jubilee Hall most Wednesdays (not
2nd) 7.30 – 9.30 p.m.
Line dancing in Jubilee Hall every Thursday
7.30 – 9.30 p.m. Beginners welcome.
Contact Mary Drew 
01728 648482.
Youth Club meets in Jubilee Hall every Friday at
6.30 p.m.
Contact: Tony Coulter 01728 832533
The Lion Inn Quiz Night every Wednesday at
appr. 9.00 p.m. £2 a head.
The Eel’s Foot “Squit Night” – music every
Thursday night.
****************
The Village Monthly Newsletter for the
Parish contains a wealth of Notices.
*************************************
I HAVE NOT BEEN SENT NOVEMBER'S
NEWSLETTER
[AND I DON'T KNOW IF THERE IS ONE]
{Sorry for the poor quality of this month's letter
but again I have not been emailed a copy !}
Remember..more news
on
www.theberton.suffolk.gov.uk
*********************
(To view last month's online click here below..
VillageNewsletterJul08.doc
VillageNewsletterAug08.doc
VillageNewsletterSep08.doc
VillageNewsletterOct08.doc
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Minsmere Levels Stakeholders Group.
Newsletter No 2.
September 2008
1. Meetings:
Following the successful launch of the Group in April, a second
Public Meeting of the Stakeholder Group, held on 18th
July in Theberton Jubilee Hall was attended by about 40 people. We
now have 25 signed and paid up members and a dedicated bank
account. We are grateful for their support, and we would be very
happy if others receiving this newsletter would also like to sign
up.
The meeting focussed on our progress so far and encouraged
comments and suggestions. This newsletter is a further step in
informing group members of progress.
The next Stakeholder Group Public Meeting is scheduled
for :
FRIDAY
3rd October at 7.30 pm
in Theberton
Jubilee Hall.
This meeting will focus on the internal drainage system of the
marshes. Mr Ian Hart, who has been appointed as the new Internal
Drainage board engineer, will explain economic river management and
some of the problems and practical solutions relating to draining
marsh land and maintaining the ditches, drains and banks. His many
years of practical experience both in dealing with the Environment
Agency and with removing water should start a very interesting
discussion.
2. Meeting with new Internal Drainage Board engineer: Ian
Hart.
As mentioned at the inaugural meeting, a new East Suffolk
Internal Drainage Board was established from 1st April
2008, in place of the 6 smaller IDBs. Ian Hart has been appointed
as engineer, and Adam Rowlands from RSPB was nominated by DEFRA as
the initial local landowner representative onto the new IDB
management board. Ian Hart made a familiarisation visit to Minsmere
on 13th June. The MLSG managed to get all the local
landowners to the meeting, which involved walking over much of the
area to highlight problems. This meeting was 3 weeks after the
period of very heavy rain (160 mm in 3 weeks in May ) so the
marshes were still recovering from the localised flooding. This
helped to show the problems, and Ian Hart made several comments
about the quality of maintenance work done. He proposed to set up a
Minsmere sub-committee of interested people to discuss IDB work on
the Minsmere levels. This work is funded by a precept on major
landowners, currently about £3000 per year. Ian Hart is currently
preparing a work schedule and will be talking to landowners and the
MLSG in October to provide more information on possible IDB work.
The split responsibility between the EA and IDB over the drains and
New Cut/sluice can lead to problems.
3. Response to Environment Agency’s East Suffolk
Catchment Flood Management Plan June 2008.
A consultation document was sent out by the Environment Agency,
asking for comments by the 18th July. This document was
circulated to the Parish councils for comment. The general thrust
of the consultation was to cut back on Environment Agency funding
for flood management in this region, to help pay for the massive
flood defence works required in other parts of the country
following last summer’s flooding. We sent in a response, partly
based on the comments made at the coastal strategy meeting (see
item 5 below) that the method of accounting used to evaluate
possible losses was totally inadequate and that other economic
factors such as tourism and the natural environment were not
considered. For the full response see web link, item 7.
4. Meeting with Environment Agency Technical Specialist:
Giles Bloomfield.
Following attempts to find records of past work conducted by the
Minsmere IDB we made contact with Giles Bloomfield who was
previously responsible for supervising Minsmere IDB work, and also
is area manager for the Environment Agency. He met four of us on
1st August to explain the interaction of the IDB and
Environment Agency, and also the method of prioritising work within
the Environment Agency based on a risk assessment. Minsmere River
is classified as a medium risk, and therefore work such as reed
clearing is performed annually, and major desilting on about a 4
year cycle. However if emergency work is required, e.g. at
Walberswick last autumn after the storm surge flooding, then other
scheduled work may be omitted. The E.A. attempts to make a
transparent priority allocation for work, but it lost £M 200 in
2006 due to DEFRA errors on farm subsidies. However an increase for
flood alleviation work of £M 200 is promised for 2011.
Giles made several interesting points about work on the New Cut.
The Environment Agency are no longer allowed to use a reed cutter
on a boat, as the propeller-wash kills fish and damages the stream
bed, hence they now can only use a raker bucket mounted on a
digger, which requires land access along the bank. This costs about
£5000 per kilometre; in wet ground it needs mats which double the
cost, and where there are trees to be cleared the cost can triple.
Before any work can be started, permissions from land owners,
Natural England and confirmation of no risk from a whole list of
utilities must be obtained. In some cases 50% of the budget is
spent on preparations rather than ‘useful work’.
Parts of the New Cut were lined with asbestos in the 1960s to
stop bank erosion in sandy areas and water loss into the marshes.
Some 6 years ago the EA planned to replace the sluice from the
Mumberry Marsh into the New Cut. This is on the upstream north side
of the New Cut close to the Dam Bridge at Eastbridge. The steel
pipe is still lying in the nettles close to the dam bridge. However
on finding the asbestos, the work was stopped on health and safety
grounds. Giles has obtained £K300 for asbestos related work and
hopes that this sluice replacement work can be started soon as
possible.
Following the heavy rain in May, the New Cut developed a severe
leak into the RSPB reserve, making a breach about 6 feet deep and
10 feet wide through the asbestos lining. As an emergency repair
the breach was filled by a clay cap, covering the asbestos. This is
likely to be the economic repair method for any other failures of
the asbestos lining.
At the sea sluice Giles commented that an EA employee recently
working in the sluice gate chamber had sprained his ankle and it
proved very difficult to extract him. E. A. employees are now
banned from entering the sluice gate chamber until a safer work
platform, access ladder and flood proof opening are made. This work
is estimated at about £K100.
5. Longer Term Strategy for Suffolk Coast.
John Keeble and Dave Robb attended the ‘Suffolk Estuary and
Coast Conference 14 June 2008 at Southwold Pier on behalf of
Suffolk County, Suffolk Coastal and Waveney District Councils. This
proved to be a very interesting meeting, with excellent summary
presentations on the overall development of Suffolk Coastal
District council’s strategy, the recent experience of the Blyth
estuary with the storm flooding last November, and experience from
Norfolk where the application of the Shoreline management plan is
already causing considerable damage to the coast round Happisburgh.
These presentations can be viewed see section 7 below.
MLSG is now a registered organisation with Terry Oakes, the
consulting engineering working with Suffolk to formulate the new
Shoreline Management Plan. The new SLMP was due for publication for
consultation in July 2008, the latest estimates suggest late autumn
for publication and discussion.
6. Future Programme
We have made direct contact with many of the key players and are
increasingly recognised as a representative body that should be
consulted. The coming months promise to be equally active, with the
imminent publication of the Shoreline Management Plan, and also the
outcomes of the consultation on East Suffolk Catchment Management
Plan becoming known.
The next stakeholder group meeting on 3rd October
will give you a chance to find out more about local drainage
problems, and to raise your own concerns or comments about our
group activities.
7. Useful web links.
These newsletters and the MLSG reply to Environment Agency’s
East Suffolk Catchment Flood Management Plan June 2008 are on the
Theberton village web site:
http://www.onesuffolk.co.uk/ThebertonPC/
The presentations at the Suffolk Estuary and Coast Conference 14
June 2008 are available at :
http://www.suffolksmp2.org.uk/consult/index.php
MLSG Contact. : John Rea Price
1 Old Stores Gardens, Eastbridge, Leiston, Suffolk. IP16
4SJ.
Telephone: 01728 635 083 Email:
John.Reaprice@btinternet.com
[To view further info. click below..
managingfloodriskresponse.doc
MinsmereLSGterms.doc