Felixstowe Radio

I wonder what Felixstowe does have to offer visitors? In the last 60 years I've seen the town slowly slip into decline. We've lost hotels, the beachside leisure facilities have deteriorated, beach huts have been removed, with subsequent loss of local shops, particularly at the southern end of the town - and the beach is now being turned into a rock-climbers paradise, and will soon be declared unsafe for children.

The rest of the Suffolk Coastal District Council coast is part of the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and so attracts grant money and has amenity improvements. That coast east of the river Deben is also a rural area, gaining more money, much from Europe. Felixstowe gets nothing.

It gets very little support from the Port, as most of that money is swallowed up by the government. Now we have Haven Gateway, a quango concerned with commercial development of the ports, suggesting they have a plan for Felixstowe's future. Not that Felixstowe residents will have much say. The land at Trimley will be covered in tacky little houses to meet the target John Prescott has set Suffolk Coastal, and dredging will continue at the port, at the expense of the resort's beach.

There is a Regeneration Committee in Felixstowe, which has existed for years. What's it done? We occasionally stumble over brass plaques set in pavements, but our leisure centres and theatre have been handed over to commercial companies who have no interest in the town, only in taking away the profit made from council taxes.

Our children have nothing they can call their own. They want a skateboard park. That should be part of the tourist attraction of the town, but the council has granted planning at the rear of a supermarket, miles from the beach. They have also offered some money, and now expect the 17 yr-old chairman of the Skateboard Park Action Group to raise £85,000 in match funding. What chance has he got? 

Complacency is rife in Felixstowe, and having the council headquarters in Woodbridge does nothing to help the town. The council employ very few people who live and work in Felixstowe. They issue contracts to companies from outside the town. As a result our resources are constantly being drained away. We are never putting anything in our own bank. Our taxes are not spent in our town. Our workers don't spend money in our local shops and our councillors never listen.

Felixstowe could be a fantastic place to live and work. It should be the lungs and place of rest for people from Ipswich and west Suffolk. Instead it slips slowly into the sea whilst our council leaders smile benevolently assuring us all is well.

This article was published in the Evening Star on Tuesday 13 March 2007