Mayor's Monthly - January 2026

2026 is underway and it will be a busy year for the Council – more on that below.  But first I wanted to talk about an important part of Woodbridge – our Youth Council.

Under the guiding hand of Councillor Mike Sutton, following COVID it was re-convened in September 2023. The young Councillors come from Farlingaye High school and Woodbridge School, mostly from years 10 and above. They meet every Tuesday during school term.

The focus of the Youth Council is in three broad areas.

• They develop specific projects with recommendations to Council on how to use their budget – e.g. the skateboard days with free/subsidised training; the community rebuilding of the sandpit in Kingston Field (which was led by some of the Youth Councillors); fundraising for the hop-to-it summer trail, support for Woodbridge Football Club etc.
• They review items of the main Council’s agenda to help inform its priorities from a youth perspective – e.g. on our park’s strategy, they reviewed and gave feedback on proposed playground investments and the biodiversity plan. 
• They try to fit in general discussion on an issue of the day – e.g. lowering the voting age to 16, and on this issue a majority were not in favour as they were concerned about how information would be provided to them as voters.

The Youth Council has a budget of £5,000 a year. In January and February, they help review the Council’s full budget for the forthcoming year. In 2025/26 this budget totaled nearly £550,000.

Emily Moir - Chair, Woodbridge Youth Council. Photo by Councillor Leach

So here in brief, is what you can expect to see from your Council in 2026

• More on Local Government Reform. We consulted last year on whether you’d like Woodbridge Town Council to take on more – and the answer was a definitive “YES”. There will be grants that can help but at the end of the day the level of ambition will have to be paid either through taxation via your Town Council, or through local voluntary contributions.
• Renovation works to begin in spring on the ground floor windows of the Shire Hall, which is the first step in what is a long-term project for the building.
• The Green Fingers project and our new, in-house gardening staff who will be up and gardening by April 2026.
• The outcome of the Kingston Field consultation, the renewal of playgrounds in Fen Meadow and in Newnham Avenue (jointly with East Suffolk Council) and the delivery of our bio-diversity action plan.
• Further action on the impact on Woodbridge of the three major energy infrastructure projects in East Suffolk and a myriad of other projects. This is beginning to put unacceptable strain on the A12. We have joined our MP’s campaign for more rail capacity and more frequent Greater Anglia trains. 

Photo by Mike Whitby