Suffolk, like many other local authorities, faces a large increase in demand for placements for a variety of special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). Suffolk’s SEND Sufficiency Plan (2018) identified that the number of children and young people with SEND will increase by 18% between 2017 and 2020. This compares to an overall growth in the school age population in Suffolk of 4%.

On 16 April 2019, Suffolk County Council reported that it had received 7,505 applications from parents indicating which primary school they would prefer their child to be educated at in Reception for this year.

With over 120 walks and events the 2019 Suffolk Walking Festival is shaping up to be to the most creative and ambitious to date. This year’s Festival, the 12th to date, launches on Saturday 11 May at West Stow Country Park.

The countdown to one of the biggest events in the county’s calendar has officially begun, with 12 March marking 100 days until we come together to celebrate everything there is to love about Suffolk.

This year’s OVO Energy Women’s Tour Grand Depart in Suffolk will take place between Beccles and Stowmarket. It marks the first time that both market towns will host Britain’s leading women’s procycling race.

Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service is asking the public for views on how it manages the risks it faces across the county, as well as five different areas of its work, from how it responds to automatic fire alarms, to firefighters’ shift patterns. This eight-week consultation is part of a statutory process, with information feeding into the fire service’s Integrated Risk Management Plan (IRMP) for the next three years (2019 to 2022); essentially a plan for how it provides its services.

On 27 February, the Leader of Suffolk County Council, Matthew Hicks, announced the timescale to progress the Ipswich Northern Route project. Cllr Hicks has outlined the next steps in producing the Strategic Outline Business Case, which will examine and ultimately clarify the feasibility of an Ipswich northern route.

On 14 February, Suffolk County Council concluded its budget setting process for this coming financial year (2019/2020). From 1 April 2019 to 31 March 2020, Suffolk County Council will spend almost £10 million a week across all its services following approval of this budget of £519.3 million.

On 29 January 2019, Suffolk County Council’s Cabinet agreed recommendations to move forward with creating more specialist education places in Suffolk.

Suffolk Highways is celebrating road repair success following a £300,000 investment in Nu-phalt Thermal Patching technology. The investment, which has been funded from the extra £9.67 million received from central government in the autumn, has aided the county’s Highways teams to carry out more effective, longer-lasting repairs to Suffolk’s road surface.