I must admit I read the latest opinion piece from Rowland Taylor's Ghost with great amusement, although there were a couple of factual errors in it. Firstly, I actually live in Polstead, not Boxford, although I am closer to the centre of the latter and it is my postal address. Secondly, I should correct some errors in his reporting of the voting during the recent confidence motion, although it was termed a 'no faith' motion, whatever that means. The Lib Dems are also part of the administration and two of them voted for me, while the third abstained.

Three 'Indies' showed that they are truly independent and voted against me. As for my own group, a Hadleigh councillor abstained and a Sudbury councillor voted against me, but more of that later.

I am not sure whether I should be flattered or offended by the Reverend's epithet of 'Generalissimo': if only I had that power. Perhaps I should buy myself a gaudy uniform and brush up on my Spanish.

However, there is a serious side to this and I do acknowledge there is an element of disquiet at the Cabinet governance model we have at Babergh. There is no doubt that it has improved decision making: it allows the administration's vision and policies to be articulated and implemented efficiently, and the direction of the council is clear for all to see. However, there are concerns from some members who feel left out of the process and, for those who are also Sudbury town councillors, there is a lack of understanding and dislike of the Cabinet model because that is not what they are used to in the town council.

The cabinet does realise we need to address these concerns and we are looking at how we can involve back-benchers more in the future.

I do take issue with the Reverend regarding Babergh's communications. We provided regular updates on our bin collection delays during last month's winter weather and our crews worked hard over two weekends to catch up whilst being undermanned due to several being in Covid isolation. Communication and engagement for the car parking issue were always going to be difficult.

We had a clear plan that was derailed by the inevitable leaks, but we did listen to feedback from the public, the debate held in full Council and the report from our Overview and Scrutiny Committee. As a result, we compromised and amended our proposals. It is unfortunate that Sudbury Town Council in particular has not acknowledged that compromise and won't accept any change – unlike the more understanding and reasonable debate that Hadleigh Town Council had on the matter, although I do recognise that they still don't like the new tariff.

On a more positive note, Suffolk's record on vaccinations is an amazing achievement: from being slow to start, the county is now one of the best performing in the country. I am personally excited because I booked my own this morning and I am looking forward to enduring a sore arm on Saturday.

Finally, I and the Babergh cabinet support the Reverend's sentiments at the end of his piece: by all means enjoy the increasing liberties as lockdown eases but we must still take care, respect others and ease back into a normal life gently. Let's hope we have a sunny and warm Spring like last year.

Read Rowland Taylor's Ghost column here...

• Despite false claims to the contrary - the Rowland Taylor's Ghost column is written by a Hadleigh resident who is NOT employed by Nub News and the content is entirely their opinion.

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