Think Tank

Councillor Eddy Alcock has lived in Debenham, Suffolk for 33 years. He became a Debenham Parish Councillor in 1977, Debenham's District Councillor in 1981 and a Suffolk County Councillor in 1984.

Eddy is now the Portfolio Holder for Environment ,Waste Management and Economic Development at Suffolk County Council.

Eddy is well experienced in local government administration, serving as a Portfolio Holder at Mid Suffolk District Council on the Executive Committee. He is also heavily involved in the Voluntary Sector, as Vice Chair of Trustees at the Iceni Project (an Ipswich based Drug Rehabilitation Clinic), as a member of the Suffolk Board of The Prince's Trust, as a Business Advisor to Suffolk Young Enterprise, as Chair of the Mid Suffolk Substance Misuse Group and as Vice Chair of the Debenham Leisure Centre Charitable Trust.

Andrew Bacon joined BT in December 2005 as the Strategic Development Director for UK Local Government. In addition to holding board membership of two of BT’s joint venture companies, CSD in Suffolk, and LDL in Liverpool, Andrew represents BT Global Services on the BT East Midlands Regions Board.
Andrew also leads on the activities of BT local government with the Third Sector and chairs the local government strategic steering board.

Prior to joining BT, Andrew held responsibility for the local government market in EDS. Before joining EDS, Andrew was a Director in KPMG responsible for the development and delivery of service and ICT transformation programmes in central and local Government, working with a number of local authorities, including Norwich, Camden, Lewisham and Bexley.

In 1995, Andrew joined KPMG to establish a Transportation Practice working with Transport authorities in the UK, Russian Federation and other countries. In 1993 Andrew joined a US management team funded by Bain Capital where, as Operations Director, he took the responsibility for the separation of business operations in Europe with the previous owner and the transfer of operations to a green-field production site in Birmingham.

In 1989, Andrew joined Honda (UK) Manufacturing in Swindon as part of the initial start-up team for powertrain manufacture where he managed manufacturing, project and engineering functions. Andrew held responsibility for over 250 plant personnel and project staff in the UK and in Japan, frequently working in Asia before taking responsibility as Engineering Director.

After graduating as a professional engineer and working for a Civil Engineering company, Andrew joined Lucas Industries as a Quality Engineer and was promoted to Quality Manager one year later. Andrew worked for Lucas in the UK, Scandinavia and across Western Europe.

I am 64 and live at Higham, near Bury St Edmunds, where I am the senior partner and proprietor of a family farming business encompassing 2500 acres. My working career was spent with Barclays Bank PLC from which I retired in 2000. Since when I have been involved in a number of Suffolk based activities including the Suffolk Agricultural Association of which I have been the chairman since 2002

Date of Birth 2nd June 1948

Education: CulfordSchool, Bury St Edmunds, Writtle College of Agriculture, Essex 1967-69. Qualifications: National Diploma in Agriculture

I farm 1,280 acres in family partnership at Westhorpe and Great Ashfield.

I am the author of the 1985 and 1990 Stanton NFU Surveys.

1985-1986 Chairman Suffolk County Branch NFU
1994-1997 Director Suffolk Show
1995-1999 Countryside Commissioner
1996 Awarded MBE for Services to conservation in East Anglia
1997-2001 Chairman Suffolk Wildlife Trust
2003 Member Suffolk Local Access Forum (2006 vice chairman)
2005 Member Suffolk Strategic Partnership

Sustainable Tourism Officer at the Suffolk Tourism Partnership, part of the Suffolk Development Agency. The Suffolk Tourism Partnership has recently developed a Sustainable Tourism Strategy and is developing a range of environmental initiatives which can influence tourism and hospitality businesses to develop their own green credentials as well as encouraging visitors to think green when visiting the county.

Prior to working for the Suffolk Tourism Partnership, I worked for the East of England Tourist Board on a range of business support initiatives, including the development of the food and drink toolkit project, which has been developed to encourage more hospitality businesses to use more local produce. This project was praised for its innovative approach to the subject area of food and drink and its links to tourism.

A freelance journalist and lecturer specialising in the links between the environment, business and design; I also write on land use planning issues. I have written books on Green Design and Product Development & the Environment and contributed to a number of others. Before going freelance, I worked in various roles for the Design Council, including being responsible for the Council’s environmental policies. I was for a period a visiting professor at the University of Ulster. I am a Board member of the East of England Development Agency; Renewables East; and Inspire East. I was a former Vice Chair of the Town & Country Planning Association and have been a member of the TCPA’s Policy Council for more than 15 years.

Executive Director of the Suffolk Agricultural Association. Executive Director of Suffolk Agricultural Association. I have been in this position for twelve years but before this was nine years as Showground Manager. Recently retired Chairman of the Association of Shows and Agricultural Organisations for the UK, but still a Board member. Chairman, Suffolk Horse Society. Vice Chairman, Tourism

Partnership – part of Suffolk Development Agency. Board Member of Visit Suffolk Attractions. Council Member of Suffolk Chamber of Commerce. Board Member of University Campus Suffolk Foundation Board.

Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Management. Member of Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply.

Chairman of: Suffolk Development Agency, Local Area Agreement Block 4, Suffolk Young Enterprise, Suffolk International Trade Group.

Director of: Suffolk Chamber of Commerce (former President), Eastern Young Enterprise (and Trustee), Business Link Suffolk (Genix).

Committee Member of: Suffolk Strategic Partnership Accountable Bodies Group for the LAA.

All above are voluntary posts and not remunerated.

I recently retired from manufacturing and was the Managing Director and majority shareholder of Aries Powerplant. During my career I visited over 80 countries and sold equipment to 122 countries.

I now devote my time to Suffolk and Regional affairs. Suffolk born and bred I have served the local community for 20 years with various organisations in cross cutting roles concentrating on enterprise and exporting.

I am a physicist and have a doctorate in theoretical neutron physics (Fast reactor). I worked in the nuclear industry for almost all my working life doing safety related work at Sizewell and Bradwell and also a spell of change management. Since my early retirement 7 years ago I have done occasional consultancy work and have become active in environmental issues and in the Institute of Physics.

I am currently about half way through my 3 year stint as Chairman of the Suffolk Preservation Society where I obviously have an input on energy related matters and wind turbines, which are fine on small scale but not as wind farms - a big confidence trick sadly. I am particularly concerned about global warming and recognise that the situation is worse than we are currently being told as every announcement now suggest sea level rise will be greater than the last time it was mentioned.

In terms of the greenest county I strongly oppose development of farmland and countryside for housing etc. Who really asked us if we wanted or needed an extra 60000 homes in Suffolk as quoted in the regional spatial strategy? The green land will be required, what is left of it will be needed later this century to provide subsistence living when the oil for transport and heating becomes too expensive. Every lost acre now is a nail in the future coffin of the population.

My family have lived and farmed in Suffolk since 1912. I have had a lifelong interest in the countryside, its people and also the food it produces. From 1976 until 2000 I was the working partner on the family farm in East Suffolk. I have studied the local food economy in depth and the results of my work have been published by CPRE as Food Webs (1998) and The Real Choice (2006). I have campaigned on a variety of rural issues, including post offices and village shops and the importance in limiting the size and number of supermarkets in market towns. I have led a successful campaign in 2001 to save local abattoirs from unfair charging for meat inspection. I am president of Suffolk CLA, president of Suffolk ACRE, a governor of OtleyCollege, board member of the Suffolk Development Agency, board member and patron of the regional food group Tastes of Anglia, board member of East Anglia Food Link, trustee of the Suffolk Punch Trust and member of the Meat Hygiene Policy Forum. I am a keen gardener and with the help of my family collect rare vegetable varieties to grow in the kitchen garden.

Roman Catholic Bishop of East Anglia, a diocese which comprises Norfolk, Cambridge and Peterborough as well as Suffolk. I became bishop in 2003 after periods of ministry as a seminary lecturer, university chaplain and parish priest. I am also a theologian, with a strong sense of humanity's responsibility as God's steward of creation for both the present and the future.

Recently begun work as the National Trust's East of England Policy Manager. The National Trust is working to conserve the natural and historic environment in Suffolk and to safeguard public access. We own and manage over 25 miles of coastline, including Dunwich Heath and Orford Ness, and important countryside and historic sites, including in Dedham Vale, Sutton Hoo and Ickworth House and Park. Our regional office, close to Bury St Edmunds, aims to operate in an environmentally sustainable way and we are working towards this at all our properties. The National Trust is keen to work in partnership to ensure effective mitigation of and adaptation to climate change in the region, provision of open spaces for people and habitat for wildlife, environmentally sustainable land and water management and the promotion of local food. I am attending the Think Tank on behalf of Peter Griffiths, the Trust's Regional Director.

Joined Adnams in 2002 having previously worked in the public sector. Since joining Adnams I have enjoyed a varied role managing corporate communications, public relations and community projects such the responsible drinking campaign, the entrepreneurial spirit programme with a local high school, employee volunteering and several environmental initiatives. I am a board member of Enterprise Lowestoft, a trustee of the Adnams Charitable Trust and a member of Suffolk’s AONB Sustainable Development Fund’s grant panel.

Support Manager to the Championing Offshore Renewable Energy project led by Renewables East, my previous role was in the Strategic Development Division of Suffolk County Council. Renewables East works across three core activities; BioEnergy, Mass Market Renewables and Offshore Renewable Energy. The Championing Offshore Renewable Energy project aims to bring together businesses, academic institutes, developers, planners, financiers and the publicto inform and enable them to benefit and grow from the growing supply chain and service opportunities presented by wind, wave and tidal technologies.

The ‘Championing’ project works in conjunction with OrbisEnergy; a potential capital flagship building developed with green credentials to support the Offshore Renewable Energy industry, located at Ness Point, Lowestoft and is championed by Suffolk County Council. I am attending on behalf of the Development Director of Offshore Renewable Energy at Renewables East; Steve Clarke.

I was born, brought up and educated in Suffolk. After a brief spell away from the county while at university, I returned to join the East Anglian Daily Times as a trainee reporter in 1979. Since then, I have worked in a variety of editorial roles with the EADT and its sister paper the Ipswich Evening Star.

I was appointed editor of the Evening Star in 1993, before becoming editor of the EADT in 1996.

I now live in Ipswich with my wife Jane, also an EADT/Evening Star journalist, and our three school-age children.

Outside work, I am a IpswichTown season ticket holder, and enjoy plodding the streets. I will be running my second London Marathon in April.

Since moving to Suffolk following an active business and political career in London, I have become energetic in various local initiatives. As family custodian of the Elveden Estate, I manage the team working on this estate. I have overseen the continued hands-on operation of many aspects of the estate, including field scale vegetable production, areas of great conservation interest, and enterprises such as a regional food hub, estate shop and café/restaurant, Christmas tree and hedge enterprises.

I am active in various local agricultural, tourism, medical, heritage and environmental initiatives, and finds the time to travel out of the county occasionally!

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Dr Matthew Ling is Head of Environmental Services at Ipswich Borough Council, managing a wide range of areas including environmental protection, food safety and building control and licensing. His responsibilities include leading on climate change initiatives (including the CRed Suffolk Climate Change Partnership and the recent Save Your Energy for the Blues campaign) and strategies to raise the environmental and sustainability performance of Ipswich to improve the quality of life for its residents and communities.

Before joining IBC, Matthew was employed by Suffolk County Council in their Development and Environment policy team promoting approaches to encourage the use of more effective and efficient sustainable transport, through workplace travel plans.

Prior to these roles, Matthew worked for the Building Research Establishment (BRE) with a range of commercial and public sector organisations. His specialisms included environmental and building acoustics, Building Regulations (Part E), environmental consultancy business development, ISO 14001/9001 Environmental and Quality Management Systems, Landfill Tax Credits Scheme, and internet project management. Matthew has also worked overseas in New Zealand and taught in Further and Higher Education in the UK.

I was born in 1946. Received a scholarship to CambridgeUniversity, a degree in History and Fine Arts.

In 1967-8 I backpacked around the world – and then joined Adnams, the Suffolk brewers, where I transformed a small wine department into one of the UK’s most exciting wine merchants, winning numerous accolades including the national award for Wine Merchant of the Year, three times. Also won my first Glenfiddich Award, for the evocative Adnams wine lists.

With a small group of friends I organised five Barsham Faires (the largest annual events in Suffolk), combining crafts, music, theatre, fireworks and general mayhem.

Fell in love with a beautiful Japanese lady at the Aldeburgh Festival and married her. Discovered the joys and pains of parenthood.

Transformed The Crown at Southwold into a renowned ‘gastropub’ (long before the word was invented) and restored The Swan to glory, as a classic seaside hotel. Eventually elected Chairman of Adnams and led a process of strategic change which transformed the company into a wonderful values-driven organisation and made Adnams one of the fastest-growing beer brands in the UK. The Adnams experiment in trying to develop a radically different business model led to numerous engagements to speak at national and international conferences, with particular emphasis on social engagement. Retired from my role as Chairman in 2006.

My most unexpected moment of glory came when I found myself descending from the sky wearing a winged helmet, suspended from the hook of a giant crane, to award the prizes for the Adnams Flying Egg Alternative Weathervane Competition. Perhaps it was in recognition of this achievement that the University of East Anglia decided to award me an honorary Doctorate.

I have written three books (Anatomy of the Wine Trade, A Pike in the Basement and Puligny Montrachet) and edited a series of six Guides to the Wines of France. Puligny Montrachet won my second Glenfiddich Award. I have also written numerous articles on wine, food, travel and social history – and am currently working on a family history of Ireland, The Invention of Memory.

I am a member of the Council of Aldeburgh Music, non-executive Director of Adnams, member of the Board of 1stEast (the regeneration company for Lowestoft and Yarmouth) and have recently been appointed a non-executive Director of the Norwich & Peterborough Building Society. I was the founding Chairman of The Suffolk Foundation (from which I have now retired) and am involved in various other community initiatives. I was awarded an OBE ‘for services to business’ in the recent New Year Honours.

As Chief Executive of the Suffolk Association of Voluntary Organisations, Jonathan works daily with the 5000+ voluntary groups in Suffolk to help them improve impact and efficiency.

Helping Suffolk green itself is high on Jonathan’s agenda: his organisation is looking at ways it can operate more effectively, he is a keen re-user of scrap wood and other ‘finds’ in pursuing his leisure activities. He is Chairman of a local Scout Group – and strongly supports the ecological approach to scouting and camping.

He is a Trustee and Executive Committee member of the NCVO, has just joined a Big Lottery National Programme Committee, sits on numerous strategic groups and Boards in Suffolk. Jonathan champions releasing the individual response to a greener Suffolk – acting local; thinking global. His day work is multifunctional: acting as trainer, speaker, changemaker, advocate, representative, trustee, adviser, mentor, arbitrator, manager, facilitator – to name but a few.

Jonathan’s three boys and passions for Scouting, youth football, art, musicals and Ipswich Town Football Club keep him busy in his spare time (Without mentioning writing, producing and appearing as an Ice Cream lady in his Scout Group’s Summer show).

Chief Executive of Suffolk County Council since November 2002, having previously been Director of Resource Management at the Council from September 1999. Before that I had various senior manager roles at Cambridgeshire County Council and started employment at the National Audit Office. I am currently Clerk to the Lord Lieutenant of Suffolk; a Non-Executive Director of University Campus Suffolk and Chair of the University Campus Suffolk Foundation Board; a trustee of Ipswich Town Sports and Community Trust; Chair of the Suffolk Drug and Alcohol Action Team and of the Youth Offending Management Group; Chair of Suffolk Strategic Partnership Development Board; member of Common Purpose Advisory Group; and Chair of The Prince’s Trust, Suffolk.

I am the Leader of Suffolk County Council and Chairman of the Cabinet and holds portfolio responsibility for Communications and Diversity. I also sit on the Local Government Association General Assembly, Suffolk Local Government Association and the County Councils Network.

I retain a deep interest in the countryside and all that goes on in it. For some 15 years I have served as Honorary Treasurer of Hadleigh Farmers Agricultural Association and I’m a former Steward of the Suffolk Show.

I am the RSPB’s Regional Director in Eastern England, responsible for the work of the RSPB stretching from the mouth of the Humber in the North, to the Thames in the south.

I was a founding board member of the East of England Regional Development Agency serving on the Board for its first five years. With the Agency, I set up and Chaired a Renewable Energy Company called Renewables East, as well as being the lead for the Market Towns initiative, acting as Chair of the Regional Forum and the National link for RDAs and market towns.

My other appointments include Chair of the HLF East of England Committee and the East of England Rural Affairs Forum, representing the region at a National rural level. I’m also the Vice Chair of the Sustainable Development Round Table and was appointed to the Big Lottery Reaching Communities Fund in July 2006.

I am a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and Manufacturing. I was awarded an OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours in June 2005 for services to the Environment and Sustainable Development.

I joined Suffolk County Council in 2003 as Director of Environment and Transport. My brief includes the economic development of the County, environmental management and policy, countryside services, waste disposal and archaeology, as well as the provision and maintenance of the highway network in Suffolk and of publicly funded passenger transport services.

As a member of the Corporate Management Team at Suffolk County Council, I take the lead for leadership development within the Council.

My earlier career was with the Civil Service which I joined as a graduate trainee. As an administrative civil servant I was responsible for advising Ministers on a variety of policy issues including housing policy, climate change, urban regeneration, regional planning and transport policy.

Moved to Suffolk in 1985 as a student volunteer for Suffolk Wildlife Trust. After a period as regional manager for the Woodland Trust became Chief Executive of Suffolk Wildlife Trust in 1999.

Suffolk Wildlife Trust is an independent charity with 22,000 members and part of a national network of 47 local Wildlife Trusts. Suffolk Wildlife Trust manages as nature reserves nearly 6000 acres of Suffolk’s best wildlife habitats. In addition it has four education centres and supports, with advice, communities, landowners and individuals who wish to improve their land for wildlife.

Academic Director, University Campus Suffolk. Started out in Biochemistry, I have been in education for the last 17 years. I’m personally committed to a sustainable future so delighted to be involved with the project planning of the new University so as to create a sustainable ethos at the outset. This involves the new build on the waterfront, operational issues (e.g. paperless, green travel policy) and developing core values in the students so they can make informed judgements about their own contribution to sustainability. This links well with the SuffolkGreenestCounty initiative. UCS will open its doors on August 1 2007, with about 4,000 students. The numbers are set to rise, reaching about 7,500 by 2014. It is known that most students choose to stay in the geographic area where they took their degree, so UCS is committed to producing students of a high calibre that will become a resource for the benefit of the country and the region.

After 12 years as an accountant, I changed career joining a national recruitment company, progressing to East Anglian Business Development Manager within two years. In 1990, I co-founded Cooper Lomaz Recruitment, enjoyed ten successful years there, building the business to a turnover of nearly £4m, then sold my interest in 2000.

Following a sabbatical during which I renovated my 17th century cottage and travelled, I set up Anglia IT Recruitment in July 2002, with an experienced team of four. The company places IT Professionals in Suffolk, Cambridgeshire, Norfolk, North Essex and East Hertfordshire. In October 2005 I launched a new venture, Anglia Supply Chain Recruitment.

My team now numbers nine, winning the prestigious Anglian Start-Up Business of the Year Award 2004 and the company was a runner up in the Community Award. Recently awarded Business in the Community’s "Community Mark" for contributions to the voluntary sector, Anglia IT were double finalists in the Archant Recruitment Awards which took place in October 2005, winning the Outstanding Customer Service category. Tessa Stonehouse, Lead Consultant, was proclaimed Recruitment Consultant of the Year 2006 in the Cambridgeshire Recruitment Awards and the team were runners up in the November 2006 Archant Business Awards in both the Community Involvement and Small Business categories.

I’m also the Chairman of the Suffolk Branch of the Institute of Directors, Chairman of the Anglia IT Managers Forum, a Director of the Suffolk Chamber of Commerce and Vice Chairman of the Suffolk ProHelp Group.

My interests include flying light aircraft, history and motorsport.

I’ve lived in East Anglia for most of my life – born in Hertfordshire, primary school in Essex, grammar school in Norfolk (Fakenham), university at Cambridge and also UEA. My university studies started with science, switched to English and then theology, and I later did an MBA at UEA.

My early work was in local government policy-making, first with Cambridgeshire and then Suffolk County Council. I then worked as a management consultant to the government sector with Coopers and Lybrand (based in Birmingham, my only stint outside the region).

My second career was in IT. I build database applications for various businesses, universities and public sector bodies, first with a small consulting house in Norwich and later running my own business. This helped me to understand business very well – focussing on improving the profitability of businesses like Pickfords but also ensuring the success of my own business.

Behind all this sits a very real concern about sustainability. We held the first major English conference on peak oil, in London in November 2005. We’re constantly thinking through what it would mean to have a farming and food system that would fit within the very tight environmental limits that are now becoming ever more apparent – and in particular how those limits can be reconciled with consumer demand, which currently reflects a very different set of assumptions.

I’m the chair of Food Links UK (the federation of food links organisations around the country, now part of Sustain). I’m on Sustain’s council and also the steering groups of another two of its projects – London Food Links and Good Food on the Public Plate. And I’m on the Board of Tastes of Anglia.

I live in South Norfolk with my wife and three young children.

Area Manager for Natural England in Norfolk and Suffolk. Natural England is the organisation which has taken over from English Nature, the Rural Development Service and the Countryside Agency, with a wide remit and responsibility for safeguarding and improving the natural environment. I have responsibility for around 100 staff across the two counties, who are divided into land management, government and communities’ teams. Working in partnership with land managers and stakeholders is central to the new agency's work.

Married with two children. Daughter resident in New Zealand and two Grandchildren. Retired from the Fire Service in 2000 after 34 years service. Babergh District Councillor since 1998, Suffolk County Councillor since 2000 and Tattingstone Parish Councillor since 1980 (A nap hand!). Also a serving member of Suffolk Police Authority of which I am Vice Chair of Suffolk Coast & Heaths Partnership & JAC since 2001 ex member of the NAAONB.

I care deeply about the environment as did my late brother who was a leading Ecologist in South America. Also very aware of the pressures on the natural environment in Suffolk.

In my spare time when I have any, keen supporter of ITFC. Many outdoor pursuits including walking, cycling, golf and skiing.

Have had a long City investment career and currently chairs two investment firms, one of which is the Low Carbon Accelerator, a venture capital firm for clean energy businesses. I live with my wife and daughters on a north Suffolk farm which has been restored to minimize its carbon footprint. I am a trustee of Aldeburgh Music and a director of the Suffolk Foundation and a non- executive director of Archant.