A Very Happy Christmas To All Fram Residents

This beautiful frosty scene is posted courtesy of Steve Docwra Photography (www.stevedocwra.co.uk)

As we wind down for the holidays the committee of Fram Residents' Association would like to say thank you to everyone who has joined us in our campaign to save our home town from over development. Great oaks from little acorns grow and in just a few short months our association has snowballed and grabbed the attention of hundreds of Framlingham residents many of whom have joined our cause.

We won't be blogging again until 2015 but ,in the meantime, we hope that all Fram residents, members and non-members alike, have a wonderful, happy and peaceful Christmas.

We look forward to your continued support in the forthcoming year.

A FAB Fram Christmas Fest Thank You

If you went to the FAB Fram Christmas Fest on Friday evening you will have enjoyed a wonderful night of Christmasy fun. The shops opened late and were offering customers glasses of fizz or mulled wine along with mince pies and sausage rolls aplenty. The shops and market stalls were buzzing with visitors and centre stage we were entertained by excellent Ipswich pipers piping, Rabble Chorus singers singing plus a young man with a harmonica and much much more. Bill Bulstrode's machine filled the night with snowflakes adding a magical atmosphere to the event. 

Not quite topping the bill but there with grateful thanks to the organisers were members of our residents' association paying a humorous tribute to the season with our carol "The Twelve Days Of Planning".

We might not win any prizes for our singing but our short performance was well received and we are grateful to have been given the opportunity to make our point in a festive and fun way. 

Planning By Numbers

There are 117 towns and civil parishes in Suffolk Coastal district. and Framlingham is one of those. 

Nobody will deny that the number of houses in the district must increase in forthcoming years to cope with population growth and the council has worked hard to prepare forecasts on just how many new homes will be needed to cope with demand. 

This report , which is the result of that work can be viewed on the council's website by clicking this link.

It is a thorough, comprehensive and lengthy document and covers fifteen years from 2013. Within it is the following table:- 

This table indicates that the Suffolk Coastal region will need 7,560 new homes in total or 500 every year between 2014 and 2028 to meet forecast demand.

The last census reported a population of 124,600 in Suffolk Coastal. Framlingham's population was in the region of 3,100. This means that Framlingham represents around 2.5% of the region. If the entire district grew at an equal rate to accommodate the new homes needed Framlingham would need 189 new properties - between now and 2028. 

This should put into perspective the applications that are currently in the pipeline to build 400 new homes in Framlingham in the immediate future. This number of new houses is completely out of line with the district's requirements and, even if Framlingham had double its fair share of new homes it would be fourteen years before we needed the quantity under consideration.

Developers are possibly  targeting Framlingham due to its status as one of the country's best places to live in the Country Life and The Sunday Times' surveys - that will look good on sales literature. But building on this scale would soon destroy any possibility of Fram continuing to score highly in surveys of this type.

WORLD PREMIER of the SONG THE 12 DAYS OF PLANNING

7.40pm Friday 12 December 2014, Market Hill, Framlingham
performed by FRAm (and you). THE 12 DAYS OF PLANNING



On the first day of Christmas the planners gave to me, a small town in the country.

On the second day of Christmas, the planners gave to me, t’many building sites for a small town in the country.

On the third day of Christmas, the planners gave to me, 3 schools-a-heaving, t’many building sites for a small town in the country.

On the fourth day of Christmas, the planners gave to me, 4 hundred houses, 3 schools-a-heaving, t’many building sites for a small town in the country.

On the fifth day of Christmas, the planners gave to me, 5 stressed G P s, 4 hundred houses, 3 schools-a-heaving, t’many building sites for a small town in the country.

On the sixth day of Christmas, the planners gave to me, 6 hundred cars a-beeping, 5 stressed G P s, 4 hundred houses, 3 schools-a-heaving, t’many building sites for a small town in the country.

On the seventh day of Christmas, the planners gave to me, 7 roads a-queuing, 6 hundred cars a-beeping, 5 stressed G P s, 4 hundred houses, 3 schools-a-heaving, t’many building sites for a small town in the country.

On the eighth day of Christmas, the planners gave to me, 8 years of chaos, 7 roads a-queuing, 6 hundred cars a-beeping, 5 stressed G P s, 4 hundred houses, 3 schools-a-heaving, t’many building sites for a small town in the country.

On the ninth day of Christmas, the planners gave to me, 9 skylarks fleeing, 8 years of chaos, 7 roads a-queuing, 6 hundred cars a-beeping, 5 stressed G P s, 4 hundred houses, 3 schools-a-heaving, t’many building sites for a small town in the country.

On the tenth day of Christmas, the planners gave to me, 10 fields of tarmac, 9 skylarks fleeing, 8 years of chaos, 7 roads a-queuing, 6 hundred cars a-beeping, 5 stressed G P s, 4 hundred houses, 3 schools-a-heaving, t’many building sites for a small town in the country.

On the eleventh day of Christmas, the planners gave to me, 11 ruined views, 10 fields of tarmac, 9 skylarks fleeing, 8 years of chaos, 7 roads a-queuing, 6 hundred cars a-beeping, 5 stressed G P s, 4 hundred houses, 3 schools-a-heaving, t’many building sites for a small town in the country.

On the twelfth day of Christmas: (shouted) THE PLANNERS GAVE UP... (pause) & WE ALL WENT HOME (then sung) to our small town in the country. 
© Framlingham Residents’ Association 2014

Crikey, it's Christmas

Crikey, it's Christmas

Join Fram Residents' Association and the festivities

Our first Christmas and we wanted to say a big thank you to all of you who have supported this initiative, written to your district councillors, joined Framlingham Residents' Association (FRAm) and sent donations.

Membership

And if you haven't joined FRAm yet, don't worry, we are happy to accept members whenever. However, it is important that you formally join the Association. We need to continue to build our strength through numbers.

Fairfield Road Planning Application

To business first. It seems that the Suffolk Coastal's North Area Development Management Sub- Committee will not discuss the Fairfield Road planning application until January at the earliest. We should know by 16th December whether it will be on the agenda for the January meeting and will keep you posted. It is our intention to have our three minute say as Fram Residents' Association whenever this application is considered. It will therefore lend more weight to our case if we can say we represent 'x' amount of Framlingham residents. So this is a heartfelt PLEA for you to join us in this fight - formally. Please send in your membership forms as soon as you can. It would be fantastic to say we represent over half the community's views! You can find membership forms hanging on the Co-op's notice board, or on our Facebook page. You can always email us at framresidents@gmail.com and we will send you a membership form and the constitution. We also have the membership forms under our Christmas tree at St Michael's Church Tree Festival, which opened today.

Christmas Tree Festival and Fabulous Framlingham Christmas Festival

So we've decked our tree in houses, hearts and doves, been practising our carol singing for Fabulous Fram on 12th December. Now, this isn't any ordinary, run of the mill carol singing. And in fact, it is only one carol which has been amusingly re-written by one of our members for a bit of festive fun. We will be singing somewhere in the town and would love you to join us singing "The twelve days of Planning!".

Looking forward to meeting you and we wish you all a Happy and Peaceful Christmas.

Framlingham Residents' Association

Framlingham In The News

Some of our members have been tracking items relating to Fram in the local press and you will find below a few of the many articles that have been published this year in relation to development in the town.

In March Framlingham appears in The Sunday Times' list of great places to live. 

The approval of ten new houses opposite Thomas Mills High School is reported in Coastal Scene in March. 

In October the EADT writes about Framlingham's Town Clerk Eileen Coe's pleas for more residents to be involved in the development of the town plan. As Eileen pointed out, hundreds have turned up to public meetings over the proposed new housing developments but interest in the town plan has been relatively subdued.

In November,  local councillors comment on The Infrastructure Levy which aims to ensure that developers make significant contributions to communities in which they build new homes.

This report in the EADT in October demonstrates how the Infrastructure Levy works by suggesting that Taylor Wimpey contribute £500,000 towards new school places if their development goes ahead.

The EADT's Andrew Hirst reports on the founding of Fram Residents' Association.

And follows this up with a report on the successful launch of the association outside the Unitarian Meeting House when hundreds signed up to the mailing list.

The prospect of 400 new homes in the town is reported. 

Andrew Hirst reports on the Taylor Wimpey public consultation meeting held in April/

 The public meeting held at the Westbury Centre in early October is given full coverage.

Minister Calls On Councils To Prioritise Development On Brownfield Sites

On 24th November, Housing and Planning Minister Brandon Lewis called on councils to prioritise the development of brownfield sites to enable more homes to be built whilst protecting the countryside.

It appears that in order to keep up with population growth in England we need to build around 230,000 new houses every year. The Campaign To Protect Rural England claims to have identified enough brownfield land in England to build 976,000 new homes - sufficient  to cover over four years' worth of England's new housing requirements. Mr Lewis's sensible approach supports the arguments we made in our recent blog post  when we compared the debris strewn Station Road brownfield site to the proposed greenfield site in Fairfield Road and we must hope that the minister's words carry weight with our district councillors when the Taylor Wimpey application is considered in the near future.

At present there are in the region of 22.1 million households in England. 230,000 new houses per year represents a growth of 1.04% per annum. If Framlingham was to grow at this rate we would be looking at around 14 new houses in the town per year - a sensible and manageable figure. Few would complain about growth at this level but there are planning proposals agreed or under consideration that would result in Framlingham increasing in size by almost 30%. This is one of the reasons why we object to the Taylor Wimpey proposal. If you agree please write to your local councillors:- you can find their names and addresses and a template letter by clicking this link.