Tonight saw the annual meeting of the electorate for residents of Sutton, at the Glebe.

Sgt Mark Yeldham from the Ely South policing team gave an informative presentation on tackling crime in the district, with the good news that most forms of crime have been reducing while detection rates have been rising, and that Sutton is an area of comparatively low crime.

County and district councillor Philip Read – currently chairman of the Planning Committee – arrived at that point and made a similar presentation to the one at Tuesday’s parish council AGM.  A questioner asked him why the district council had flown in the face of planning principles in choosing to site Ely’s new leisure facility in the proposed out-of-town location, to which Cllr Read replied that the council owned the land concerned.  I’m not convinced that that’s a sound argument for locating leisure provision somewhere where it can’t be reached by public transport and is disconnected from the rest of the city and its amenities.  Surely a leisure park near to rail and bus services would be more appropriate?

Representatives from the Youth Club then spoke about some of their recent projects; they were asked whether they were keen to have a permanent skate park locally, and if so where in the village they would suggest it be placed.  The temporary skate park which had visited recently had cost £700 for six hours.

Parish councillor Ian Dewar reminded everyone that there are three vacancies on the parish council.  The next election to the parish council is in 2015 so the term of office would be less than two years.  If you are interested, or know someone who might be, more information is available on the parish council’s web site including an email address to contact the parish clerk.