I’m Michael Blakenham, your new Suffolk Together District Councillor 

I live in Little Blakenham, where my family has lived and farmed for many years, and what I can offer as your District Councillor is business, environmental and parliamentary experience, as well as plenty of plain common sense.

My main job has been running a publicly quoted media company, while at the same time taking an active interest in the environment and wildlife. I have chaired the RSPB and Kew Gardens and am currently a vice-president of the Suffolk Wildlife Trust. I have worked on several parliamentary Select Committees, including that for Sustainable Development.

I believe that there needs to be a proper balance between development and the environment and that Mid-Suffolk District Council are not getting this right. I pledge to fight vigorously on your behalf to:

• Ensure that development fits with the special character of our part of Suffolk and does not destroy our landscape, our environment or our wildlife
• Ensure that the Gipping Valley villages do not become suburbs of Ipswich
• Ensure that major increases in housing such as those contemplated for the old Fison's site at Papermill Lane and Bramford’s Fitzgerald Road fit in with the countryside and local facilities such as roads and schools
• Continue to resist the proposed SnOasis development in its present form
• Persuade Ipswich Borough Council that an additional floor on the Agilent building is not desirable
• Insist on more thorough consultation processes on major planning issues. For example, the council’s consultation pamphlet on SnOasis showed a ski-dome hidden in the chalk quarry, when in reality it would be seen for miles around
• Reduce council waste and inefficiency
• Ensure that local schools and local facilities such as rural post offices are not only maintained but improved
• Improve village safety with pedestrian crossings where neccesary
• Bring higher-paid jobs to Suffolk to help provide the best future for our children

Thankyou for voting for  Michael Blakenham

Contact Michael on E-mail: michael@suffolktogether.org or call him on 07770536151