Bury St Edmunds Directory - September 2020 Issue

LOCAL NEWS

Welcome to the MHRA News article for September.

These are strange times, but the issues which affect residents are still in the background.

CityFibre

Our County and District Councillor Trevor Beckwith and our Secretary Robert HoultonHart met with Charles Kitchen of CityFibre and told him of our concerns. CityFibre have undertaken to: • Reinstate all work before moving on to the next area • Take more care when working round trees etc.

• Improve communication and deal with complaints.

• They plan to be off the estate in 2 to 3 months.

Pavements and Hedges on Cycleways

The County Council has an online reporting tool to notify issues including potholes, pavement defects, failed traffic lights, and residents are encouraged to use this facility. If you do not have internet access or prefer phone letter or email, please contact County Councillor Trevor Beckwith or the MHRA. The County have a statutory duty to deal with urgent repairs.

The Town Council also has a scheme which allows for less urgent pavement defects to be considered for repair. You should contact your Town Councillor who can visit and complete a pavement repair form.

Please report all cases of overgrown vegetation that need attention.

Catalytic Converters

There is a town wide spate of catalytic converter thefts from cars.

They are stolen for the rare earth elements they 18 | SEPTEMBER 2020

contain, but which are a small proportion of the exhaust system. Anyone who has been a victim, will tell you the first they know is when they start the vehicle and it sounds like a stock car.

Official advice is to: Keep vehicles in a locked garage, you have to be very tidy to achieve this.

Keep the vehicle in a well-lit area. This is difficult when streetlights are turned off at 23.30 as it allegedly saves the County Council money. On behalf of MHRA, Cllr Beckwith has approached the police and crime commissioner to gain support for maintaining lights beyond 23.30 but has not yet received a reply I do wonder who the thieves sell these stolen exhaust systems to, or are they loaded into a container and sent abroad. Similarly, what happens to the lead from churches and wiring from our railways?

Air Quality

On behalf of MHRA I have been participating in discussions with fellow residents associations on ways of improving Air Quality around the Town.

These fed in to the new District Environment and Climate Change task force report and we continue to seek improvements.

We are still active despite the virus, so please contact us on: Our website https:moretonhallresidents. wordpress.com/ Or at secretarymhra@gmail.com We will advise when committee/public meetings can take place.

Cliff Hind, Chairman MHRA E cliffhind2001@yahoo.co.uk

https://moretonhallresidents.wordpress.com/