Have you ever thought about fostering in Suffolk?

Across Suffolk, hundreds of children and young people need safe, nurturing homes where they can grow, thrive and feel secure. At the end of March 2024, there were 930 children in care in Suffolk, a number that has steadily increased over recent years, reflecting real and pressing need in our communities.

These children come into care for many reasons — from family breakdown, neglect, or abuse, to situations where their birth families can no longer provide the support they need. For many, foster carers are the lifeline that offers stability, encouragement and a sense of belonging at a time when they need it most.

Yet there simply aren’t enough foster carers. There is a need for foster carers to support children of all ages, especially sibling groups, teenagers and parent and child arrangements. Nexus Fostering provides full training and dedicated support to help carers succeed in helping create positive outcomes.  

Becoming a foster carer isn’t about having a perfect background — it’s about offering patience, compassion, and a safe home. Carers can be single, rent their home and you don’t have to have had your own children before. What matters most is a commitment to making a positive impact on a child’s life.

If you’ve ever thought about fostering, now is the time to act. Every child deserves a home where they can feel valued, supported and safe and you could be the person who helps them get there.

📞 Get in touch
Call: 0800 389 0143
E-mail: foster@nexusfostering.co.uk
Visit: www.nexusfostering.co.uk to find out more or start your journey today.

Together, we can help give Suffolk’s children the futures they deserve.

Statement of Community Involvement

Housing construction

We are reviewing our Statement of Community Involvement which explains how and when people can be involved in local planning, including planning applications and neighbourhood plans.

It also includes principles we will follow in engaging on a new local plan, which will set out where new homes, jobs and infrastructure will be located. 

You can read a short summary of the Statement of Community Involvement HERE.

Please take a look at the latest consultation and leave any comments you might have about how you would like to be involved in planning. 

Please respond by 5pm on 24th February 2026.

FIND OUT MORE

East Suffolk Planning Policy Team

Shine a light on our local heroes!

In 2023, the Reydon Parish Council launched the Reydon Stars awards to officially recognise the incredible individuals and groups who make our community truly special. Now, it’s time once again to celebrate the unsung heroes of Reydon.

Do you know a neighbour or a community group whose efforts have had a sparkling, positive impact? Whether they’ve brightened up the village, brought people together or gone above and beyond – Reydon Parish Council wants to hear about them.

Who can be nominated? Any Reydon resident or local community group.

How to nominate: Simply e-mail the Parish Clerk at clerk@reydonvillage.org, explaining the fantastic contributions and positive impact your nominee has made. The deadline for nominations is the end of January 2026.

Save the date: The winners will be presented with their well-deserved Reydon Stars at the Annual Parish Meeting on Thursday, 23rd April 2026.

Everyone is invited to join the celebration!

STOP PRESS

The Reydon Parish Council Meeting for December 2025 (Thursday 18th at 6.30pm) will be at the Reydon Sports and Community Centre instead of Reydon Village Hall as the Hall will be having its floor resurfaced.

How we plan for the future of East Suffolk affects everyone who lives, works and visits here. We would like your views on how we can promote and encourage our communities to get involved in developing planning policy for East Suffolk. This includes preparing the Local Plan, Supplementary Planning Documents, and strategies such as the East Suffolk Cycling and Walking Strategy. 

East Suffolk Council has prepared a short questionnaire which can be completed online at www.eastsuffolk.gov.uk/planning-policy-consultations , or on paper (click here to download a copy). Hard copies of the questionnaire will also be available in local libraries. 

The responses will be considered and help inform a review of ESC’s Statement of Community Involvement, which sets out how and when people can get involved in local planning.

The questionnaire will close on 3rd September.

Reydon Show – Saturday, 2nd August

Are you a baker, an artist, a photographer, a crafter, a sewer, a knitter, a gardener or a flower arranger? Then why not enter the Reydon Show? The show celebrates your talents big and small plus certificates and various trophies to be won. The show takes place on Saturday, 2nd August. Entries have to be in on the Friday night or the Saturday morning and the exhibition opens at 2pm. We also have a range of children’s categories open to kids under 12, so if your child is a keen maker of Lego, gardener or arts and crafter, they can enter too – and kids enter free! So, plan your preserves, ready your radishes and corral your carnations. Programme of categories available at Bridgefoot Stores, Reydon or can be e-mailed to you if you contact Charlotte at frogclock@hotmail.com.

Photographic categories this year are:

• Seed Heads.
• Black–and-white photo (any subject).
• Rainy Day.
• Animals at Work.

A pdf of these notices can be downloaded here.

How could public services work better for you?

The national government wants to simplify how Councils work. This means the current County, District, and Borough Councils will be replaced and all services will be run by new “Unitary Councils”.

 Currently, local government services are delivered in Suffolk like this:

• Suffolk County Council is responsible for delivering services such as special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), roads, public transport, social care, libraries, and recycling centres across the county.
• Five district and borough councils (Babergh, East Suffolk, Ipswich, Mid Suffolk, and West Suffolk), are responsible in their areas for delivering services like bin collections, street cleaning, parking, leisure services, local planning, council housing, and helping homeless people.

A Unitary Council is a single authority which provides ALL these services for a specific area.

Suffolk’s Councils are now looking at how to reorganise to better meet the needs of residents, businesses, and communities, as part of the government’s Local Government Reorganisation (LGR) initiative.

We want to know what you think. Please take a few minutes to share your views!

This survey is being conducted by Mid Suffolk and Babergh District Councils in collaboration with East Suffolk Council, Ipswich Borough Council and West Suffolk Council.

Please note that all responses to this survey will be treated in the strictest confidence and you will not be identifiable in reporting the survey findings. For full details of how we use personal data, please view our privacy policies at www.eastsuffolk.gov.uk/uk-gdpr-privacy-notices

Have your say:

You can complete this survey online at:  www.babergh.gov.uk/devolution-and-lgr  

Alternatively, please download it here, complete it and either:

• Scan and email it to engagement@baberghmidsuffolk.gov.uk
• Send it to Have Your Say Suffolk, East Suffolk Council, Riverside, 4 Canning Road, Lowestoft NR33 0EQ

The deadline for receiving completed submissions is Friday, 25th July 2025.