Here's a link to the Met.Office forecast page for Bury St Edmunds.

Check out the Events page to find out what is going on in our village - and beyond: includes NEWS FEED from the BURY FREE PRESS

Next Parish Council Meeting: Thursday, November 15th, 7.30pm

Next Community Council Meeting: Monday, December 3rd (TBC)  6.30pm

A library of important documents relating to the Parish Council and the village, including meeting agendas & minutes and copies of the Hawstead Journal.
Click here for more information.

NOTE: General Data Protection Regulations 2018.

Please note that archive material posted onto the website before 25 May 2018 may include limited personal data for which consent to publication has not been given. The Parish Council wants to continue to make such material, which is of local interest, easily available to residents, but has not had the capacity to review the content fully. Please contact the clerk to the Council if you have any objection to your name or other personal data appearing in this archive material in order that it might be removed forthwith.

....and a Movie!

To view the film made by Andy and Janet Taplin in support of our bid for the Suffolk Village of the Year competition (ie 2014)click HERE. It's a fantastic production!

Most documents posted on this site are in the "PDF" format and to see them on your compputer you need a program called Adobe Reader. If you don't have this on yoour compputer you can download and install it Free of Charge here

Hawstead Parish Council

E-mail

catherine.hibbert@hawstead-parish-council.co.uk
 

Or use our contact form.

Also on the Contacts page you'll find MAPS!

Welcome to our village Website. This website seeks to inform our residents and others about ongoing projects and events in Hawstead and also serves as a database and reference resource for information on our village.

NOTE: There is a separate website for booking the use of the Village Hall:

www.hawsteadvillagehall.co.uk

"The Hawstead Parish Council will work to make Hawstead an even better place in which to live."

John West - Chairman, Hawstead Parish Council

You can find out about the objectives of Hawstead Parish council on the Documents page HERE

NEW! 9 November 2018 The next meeting of the Parish Council will be on 15th November. See the Agenda for the meeting HERE

NEW! 1 October 2018 We have been notified of a road closure effective 1 - 3 October. The road affected is CHURCH ROAD

NEW! 21 September 2018 On 29th September in the Great War Huts, Bells Lane, there will be a reading of two ghost stories, performed by Robert Lloyd Parry. The stories are by the well-known ghost story writer M. R. James who lived at Great Livermore 1865-1909 Tickets are £10 + booking fee and may be obtained online HERE

NEW! 19 September 2018 The next Parish Council Meeting will take place on September 27th in the Village Hall. For the Agenda, click HERE

NEW! 31 July 2018 Other documents associated with The Parish Council meeting on 19 July 2018 are now available HERE

NEW! 25 July 2018 The Minutes of the May meeting of the Parish council are now available HERE

NEW! 24 July A video recording of the Parish Council meeing of last week is now available HERE (You'll need to scroll to the bottom of the screen)

NEW! 18 July 2018 Interested in learning to play Bridge? An 8-week beginner course is being planned in Whepstead, commencing at the end of October. This will be preceded by a 'taster' afternoon on Friday September 14th, 2-4pm. Contact Di Rix via email: di.rix@icloud.com 

NEW! 16 July 2018 The Chedburgh Community Choir will be performing a Summer Concert in the Erskine Centre, Chedburgh on Saturday 28th July at 7.30pm. Tickets are £8-50 (accompanied children under 13 are free) and interval refreshments will be available. For online ticket sales click HERE

Note: the choir was established several years ago by funding from our former Borough Councillor, Angela Rushen's Locality Budget.

NEW! 13 July 2018 The next meeting of the Parish Council will be on Thursday 19 July at 7.30pm in the Village Hall. The Agenda is available HERE 

The Agenda includes two new Planning Applications which have been made to the Borough Council, one for a property at The Pound, the other at Pinford End. Access to information about these applications may be enabled HERE

NEW! 12 July 2018 Our County Councillor, Karen Soons and her husband are hosting a party this Sunday, 15th July at the Old Rectory, Tuddenham. It's called a 'Pankhurst Party' and celebrates 100 years of 'Votes for Women'. See the flyer below:

NEW! 09 July 2018

Police and Crime Commissioner’s public meeting will take place this week on Thursday 12 July at The Newbury Community Centre, St Olaves Road, Howard Estate, Bury St Edmunds IP32 6RW.  There is no need to book, please just turn up.  The meeting starts at 7pm and expected to end at 8.30pm. Tea and coffee will be served from 6.40pm.

Each year the Police and Crime Commissioner, Tim Passmore stages a series of public meetings across the county.  The meetings are an opportunity for the public to ask questions of the Commissioner and the Constabulary, and to find out more about policing in the county.  Each meeting will involve a quick overview from Tim Passmore and the Chief Constable, or his deputy, and then the public will have an opportunity to ask questions. The local Inspector responsible for policing in the local area, will add operational context.

NEW! 07 July 2018 Bury St Edmunds Police have released crime statistics for May 2018. They include one case relating to Hawstead, that of Anti-Social Behaviour.

NEW! 07 July 2018 Seen in last week's Bury Free Press: our County Councillor, Karen Soons, accompanied by Ross Moffat, recently won Risbygate Tennis Club's "American Tournament" (assumed to be a mixed doubles competition).

NEW! 01 July 2018 The July/August issue of the Hawstead Journal is now available HERE

NEW! 20 June 2018 Suffolk Constabulary has appointed nine "Community Engagement Officers". These dedicated officers will work closely with the Safer Neighbourhood Teams (SNTs) to build engagement opportunities to keep communities better informed of what the force is doing, identify crime trends in their area and be responsible for organising some particular public meetings. The CEO for Bury St Edmunds is PC Paul Fox. See HERE for more information.

NEW! 14 June 2018 Various Parish Council documents including those dealing with accounts and expenditures (2017-8), the Reserves Policy, and updated Standing Orders, Code of Conduct and Financial Regulations are now available on the website HERE

NEW! 10 June 2018 A copy of the May/June issue of the HAWSTEAD JOURNAL have been uploaded to the website and are available to view HERE

NEW! 24 May 2018 The Minutes of Last year's Annual Parish Meeting and related documents are available HERE and the Minutes of the bi-monthly Meeting, 15 March 2018 are available HERE together with documents relating to the Meeting on 17 May 2018

NEW! 22 May 2018 Three documents relating to the new General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR-2018) have been added to the website: A) General  Privacy Notice B) Staff Privacy Notice and C) a copy of the Hawstead Consent Form. These can be viewed HERE and the Consent Form can be downloaded and printed, filled in and then returned to the Parish Council Secretary.

NEW! 10 May 2018 The next Parish Council meeting takes place on Thursday 17th May in the Village Hall. See the Agenda HERE.

This occasion is also the Annual General Meeting of the Parish Council. All villagers are invited to attend. (Meeting commences at 7pm) Here's the Agenda:

ALSO next week there's the AGM of the Community Council, taking place on Monday 14th May in the Village Hall at 6.30pm: this message is from the Chairperson, Susanne White: 

"This is the most important meeting of the year for Hawstead Community Council... the meeting at which every villager has a vote! We need to elect the new Executive Committee (nominations have now closed), along with the key post holders (Chair, Treasurer, Secretary and Vice-Chair), and discuss proposed constitutional changes. We will also be presenting you with a summary of HCC activities for the past 12 months and details of our accounts. Once the reports have been presented and the new Executive Committee has been elected, we will all retire for hot drinks and biscuits, and then reconvene for a short standard HCC meeting (to which everyone is most welcome) at which we discuss hall maintenance and bookings, and upcoming village events. Whether you are interested in getting more involved in village life or simply want to make sure we are looking after your village hall properly, do please try to come along to our AGM. At our usual monthly meetings, we are always open to suggestions for new village events and new ideas to help the community come together."

NEW! 6 April 2018 Hawstead's History Recorder Report for 2017 has been uploaded to the website! For this (and earlier reports) click HERE

NEW! 18 March 2018 A VIDEO of the proceedings of the Parish Council meeting last Thursday, 15th March is now available to watch HERE

NEW! 14 March 2018 The Agenda for the Parish Council meeting on 15th March is available HERE

NEW! 2 March 2018 An updated version of the Hawstead Emergency Plan is available HERE There is also a PDF copy of an updated Skills Questionnaire which can be filled out and printed. It should be returned to Geraldine West, Kellycroft, The Green.

NEW! 1 March 2018 If you find a road blocked by snow you can report it to Suffolk Highways: phone:0345 606 6171

NEW! 27 February 2018 A new Internet and email-based community initiative has arrived in Hawstead, It's called 'Nextdoor' 

"Nextdoor was created based on the idea that the neighbourhood is one of the most important and useful communities in a person's life. Nextdoor's mission is to use technology to help neighbours build stronger and safer neighbourhoods."

As of today there are 10 Hawsteaders signed up to Nextdoor - and of course 'the more the merrier' - so if you're even mildly curious, visit https://help.nextdoor.com/customer/en_gb/portal/articles . Have a look around and iof you'd like to join the Hawstead Nextdoor community click on the link on the right labelled 'Joining Nextdoor'

NEW! 23 February 2018 A planning application has been submitted to the Borough Council by the owners of Maglia Rosso cycle shop. Details are available on the SEBC website - follow the link provided HERE

NEW! 3 January 2018 In case of power cuts: Call 105 to report power cuts and damage to the electricity network, or 0800 3163 105 (from a corded phone or mobile phone if you have no power)

Preparing for a power cut

Below is some additional advice:

• Add 105 to the contacts on your mobile phone
• Keep our Freephone 0800 3163 105 number handy
• See www.ukpowernetworks.co.uk/powercuts for useful videos and advice during a power cut.
• Locate a torch, check it’s working and make sure you have spare batteries. Take care if using candles.
• Charge up your mobile phone, and a rechargeable mobile ‘powerbank’ if you have one
• Use a phone with a cord if you have one, cordless phones don’t work in a power cut
• Keep fridges and freezers closed, with a blanket over as they will stay cold for many hours
• Switch off all your electrical equipment, except one light which will let you know when the power comes back on
• Remember the street lights may also be off so take care if you go out
• Dress in warm clothes
• Look out for vulnerable neighbours

NEW! 08 December 2017 There will be an extra meeting of Hawstead Parish Council on Thursday 14th December in the Village Hall at 7.30pm to discuss planning applications. The Agenda is HERE

Links to the details of the applications to be discussed are available from St Edmundsbury BC via the links provided HERE

NEW! 01 December 2017 The Broadband cabinet on the Village Green is now 'live'. It MAY be that your connection has already been moved from the old one located at the juction between Bury Road and Hawstead Lane and you MAY not need to contact your Internet supplier. A good starting point will be to check your upload and download speeds to see if they have increased. Try for exampple, www.speedtest.net

NEW! 01 December 2017 Information recently received from Suffolk Police:

Since the 1^st September there have been just over 230 incidents where power tools have been stolen from vans. The majority of these have been overnight during the hours of darkness in residential streets & driveways. Such crimes are being reported to us on a daily basis.

To reduce the risk of being a victim of this type of crime please consider the below…

• Always lock all doors & shut windows, physically checking doors are locked.

• Do not leave any items on display.

• Park in a garage or secure area where possible.

• Park with the doors against a wall.

• If you park on your driveway consider installing motion activated CCTV.

• Be particularly aware when un-loading tools/materials from your van.

• Remove tools from the van if possible.

• Remove copper piping from storage tube on the van.

• Register tools for free at www.immobilise.com, especially serial numbers.

• Mark all tools (with a forensic marker) such as Smartwater (www.smartwater.com ) or Selecta DNA (www.selectadna.co.uk/ ) alternatively mark tools with a permanent marker with your postcode/initials.

• To increase the security of tools, you can bolt either a cage or box to the base of the van which should be secured with a sturdy close shackle padlock.

• Setting an alarm or immobiliser will make it more difficult for the offender.

• Consider upgrading locks/fitting additional protection.

• Information on Police approved products can be found at www.securedbydesign.com & www.soldsecure.com

• Always check your van/tools before heading off to work/site.

• Be suspicious of cheap tools at car boot sales.

NEW! 25 November 2017 The dates of the 2018 Parish Council meetings have been posted HERE

NEW! 22 November 2017 Papers relating to the Parish Council meeting on 16th November are avaiable HERE (also the Minutes of the September meeting)

NEW! 09 November 2017 You probably know that since Terry Clements became Mayor of BSE, our County Councillor is now Karen Soons. She can be contacted at: karen.soons@suffolk.gov.uk Karen Soons for West Suffolk on Facebook or @KarenSoons via Twitter

NEW! 09 November 2017

NEW! 10 October 2017 Although the full details are yet to appear on the Borough Council's website, the Bury Free Press has reported this week that the election for the Borough Councillor for Chedburgh Ward (which includes Hawstead), following the death earlier this year of Angela Rushen, is Michael Chester (Conservative). He gained 372 out of the 566 votes cast. Michael is also Chairman of Chedburgh Parish Council and intends to continue to fulfill this role.

NEW! 23 February 2017 Inormation from UK POWER NETWORKS

UK Power Networks owns and maintains the local power lines and substations and is responsible for reconnecting supply after any power cut. It offers a Priority Service Register to which vulnerable people can sign up to; registration enables UK Power Networks to identify customers who are vulnerable or need extra help when the electricity is off as efficiently as possible and to get help out quickly. Residents eligible to sign up include those with a disability or medical dependancy on electricity (ie users of Careline, nebuliser etc), the elderly, those with children under 5 and more. Services available to those on the Register include a 24 hour priority phone number, a dedicated team who will keep you updated during a power cut and other tailored support where appropriate. Further information on the Priority Service Register is available from ukpowernetworks.co.uk or by calling 08003163105.

Registration forms for this service will also be made available in the village hall after 16 March.

NEW! September 6 2016 The draft document concerning the byelaws relating to the village greens has now been replaced by a confirmed one. It is called "Byelaws for Pleasure Grounds, Public Walks and Open Spaces" and includes an indicative map of the locations of our greens (and the Millennium Field). It can be accessed HERE

NEW! September 6 2016 A message from Anglian Water: "

There may be good news coming for some of your parishioners if they have a private pumping station on their property. Currently, homeowners have to spend hundreds of pounds every year for electricity running costs, maintenance and repairs to look after these private pumping stations. They may even have been flooded if it’s broken down in the past.  From October 2016, many of these private pumping stations will transfer over to Anglian Water and become our responsibility. We will take over all of the maintenance and the running costs too, saving customers hassle, worry and money. To help customers identify and report the pumping stations easily, we have launched a specialist website: www.spotapumpingstation.co.uk.

Older News items are being archived here