Cornhill petition update 20 May 2018

Ipswich Borough Council Leader David Ellesmere met with me for an hour last week ahead of a more formal response to the “Save Our Cornhill” petition, calling on IBC to “Suspend and review the £3.6m changes to the Ipswich Cornhill”. 4,225 people have now signed the petition. The meeting was cordial and constructive. I also felt that Mr Ellesmere had considered the petition and had actually read most the many comments that had been left. However, most people will be aware that work on the Cornhill has commenced and as such there is not a lot that can be done to significantly alter the plans - most of the materials have already been purchased and construction contracts signed. Unfortunately suspending operations would be impractical as the consequent increase in costs would be far more than existing budgets could bear. We therefore focused firstly on how the consultation process could have been better (I hope that the Council will avoid such repetition in the future) and secondly on what, if anything, could be done to the Cornhill project to make it more aligned with the public’s desire to see something more sympathetic to the historic nature of the Cornhill and more closely associated with Ipswich’s heritage. Following our meeting, Mr Ellesmere has committed to meet once more with the Vision team with a view to discussing options regarding this, specifically whether the monoliths could either be excluded or replaced by something more appropriate. Regards Charlotte Carey