I know that this holiday period has been unusual for all of us and very difficult for some, but I hope you all managed to have an enjoyable, albeit quiet, time at home.

We are entering 2021 with a combination of trepidation and optimism. We are now, with most of the country, in tier 4 because this new variant of Covid-19 is spreading rapidly. The data for Babergh is extremely worrying: at the time of writing, we have by far the worst rate in Suffolk and it is still rising. Ipswich hospital is almost at breaking point and so we must obey the restrictions to get the infection rate down and help the staff there. But we must be under no illusion that we could be out of this tier soon; indeed, it is quite possible that further restrictions will be necessary to get things under control. There is no doubt that this time things are much worse than the first peak of the disease last Spring.

However, as I said, there is also optimism. We now have two vaccines and this means that the roll-out will quicken. No doubt others will follow in the next few months as they complete their stage 3 trials. Hadleigh surgery will be commencing vaccination very shortly and I do urge everyone to go when called. Please ignore the ignorant and malicious anti-vaxx propaganda being spread online.

I am sure by Easter the situation will have changed significantly and we can look forward to an increasingly normal year as 2021 progresses.

I must now address the most important current local issue in Hadleigh – the subject of Babergh's proposal to change the car park tariffs and significantly reduce the amount of 'free' short-term parking. You will all, I am sure, be aware now of the disgraceful incident at my home a few days ago. The police are now dealing with it most efficiently and, whilst those involved have shamed the town, I know they are not representative of it. Hadleigh is a lovely vibrant town – one I have known since I was a small boy when my family moved from Chelmondiston to Raydon in 1962.

But at Babergh, we are having to make a number of difficult decisions in order to ensure that our finances are secure in the medium term, and none is more difficult or contentious than this one. We are no longer able to justify the subsidy that the 'free parking' requires, particularly as this burden fall on all our residents, including those in the east and south of the district who do not use Hadleigh or Sudbury and have no option other than to pay when they go to Ipswich or Colchester.

We need to free up the money we are diverting to car parks for other things – balancing our budget in an era where government is cutting our support and expects us to be financially self-reliant, and there is also the cost of the move to HVO fuel for our vehicles to replace diesel. We must do this to achieve our climate change commitments, which is something our residents expect of us. We do also have an active travel policy that we want to encourage where possible and will also be using some of the extra income to support this.

I know that most of the correspondence that we have received makes the assertion that this will harm the high street businesses, but there is no evidence from anywhere in the country that parking charges affect footfall: towns thrive or die on the offer they provide, not parking charges, and our two towns are doing well. By that argument, nearly every other small town in the country must be empty of shoppers as a consequence of their parking charges.

Neither Hadleigh nor Sudbury is in decline: they both have lower vacancy rates than the national average. They have also weathered the Covid storm very well: there have been no Covid-related business casualties in either town.

Retail, leisure and hospitality businesses have been given a lot of government support in the form of grants and a business rates holiday this year to ensure they survive. New businesses have opened in Hadleigh this year and at least a dozen have opened in Sudbury since March. I can assure you Babergh will always protect and support our businesses and I will always 'shop local' in Hadleigh – after all, I live only a few minutes' drive away as some residents discovered recently.

We will take on board all the correspondence we have received, even though much of it is unfortunately in the form of a template letter that is circulating, and the comments and suggestions will be discussed.

I urge you all to read the cabinet paper and supporting material on our website and watch the cabinet debate on our YouTube channel.

I will finish by wishing you all a happy new year and stay safe. #StickWithItSuffolk

Babergh Cabinet meeting January 7 agenda and papers here...