Bi-monthly report of Stutton Parish Council for June / July 2026

Sometimes matters are raised with the Parish Council which are not strictly our responsibility but nevertheless are subjects about which we feel very strongly. Many such issues concern anything which spoils the beautiful countryside and coast line in our Parish. During the hot spell on the Bank Holiday weekend in May there were several complaints about the behaviour of illegal campers at Stutton Ness. There was noise, litter, branches ripped off to fuel open fires and one large tree actually chopped down and now lying at the top of the tide line. To make matters worse, some of this activity was just yards away from sandy cliffs where Sand Martins recently migrated from Africa were trying to rear their young. We of course immediately contacted the landowner who fully agreed with our concerns and already does what he can to protect this beautiful landscape. Of course, legitimate access is allowed and encouraged along public footpaths but the landowners also endure parking on private land, bicycles and electric bikes on footpaths and trespass on crops causing damage. The landowners are now having to consider erecting signs to spell out what should be obvious but the selfish few are spoiling things for the majority. Please do what you can to spread the word and deter such anti-social behaviour.

OK, I have got that off my chest – so what else should I tell you? Well, we have successfully recruited our new Councillor and Ian Kemsley was appointed on the 13th of July. A warm welcome to him. Our Road Safety Review project team is making good progress and have been engaging with experts from Suffolk Highways to fully understand the risks and look at solutions – more about this next time. Also, we have now fully revised our new Parish Council website and adopted the recommended local government standards meaning all Councillor emails will in the future be from .GOV addresses. Why not take a look at the “rogues gallery” of Councillors on stuttonparishcouncil.gov.uk and see how many you recognise.

There has been relatively little “planning” activity but concerns were raised with the Parish Council about the extent of demolition of the bungalow at Beach Croft, Hyam’s Lane and after a request from ourselves the development has been assessed to ensure it complies with the planning consent granted.

Another big issue for the village started during Thursday 9th July when we had yet another water mains burst, this time outside the school. A huge disappointment but sadly no real surprise as after the last incident in November 2025 we knew the ageing pipes needed replacing but Anglian Water have many, many miles of pipes needing upgrading. We will be writing again to Anglian Water and asking them to attend a future meeting in Stutton but we need to do more than that. We need to research and document incidents in Stutton, research similar problems along the pipeline in neighbouring parishes and lobby for the highest priority we can get for Stutton in the list of pipes to be replaced. There are ancillary issues about better road closures and alternative routes and ensuring they are properly in place and communicated to the emergency services – we will be looking at that too.

Finally, the Parish Council is pleased to announce it is financially supporting the Nature Space project at the Stutton Primary School which will allow them to develop much needed new teaching space by the use of a large Tipi in their grounds. We are sure the children will find learning about nature even more exciting in this semi outdoor classroom and the space will be able to be used by local groups and for community events.