Caroline Topping

Suffolk County Councillor / District Councillor for Beccles, Worlingham, Barnby and North Cove. Leader of the GLI Group.

I joined the council because I wanted to help people. I am the person who will signpost you to the person or organisation that you need in order to get those important issues sorted out.’ 

Caroline has been working for and with the community for over 20 years. First as a Town Councillor for 16 years, elected as a District Councillor 6 years ago and more recently, in 2021, as a Suffolk County Councillor.  

GLI at Suffolk District Council

At East Suffolk Council she is currently Leader of the GLI Group which is the official opposition. With that role she automatically sits on the Appointments Panel, CIL Working Group, Members Development Steering Group and attends Leaders Meetings. She also sits on Scrutiny, as she has done for the last 6 years.

Caroline is Deputy Chair of the Beccles, Bungay and Halesworth Community Partnership and is a substitute for Planning North and Audit and Governance.

At Suffolk County Council she is Vice Chair of Children’s Education Scrutiny Committee, Spokesperson for Young People, on the Corporate Parenting Board and the Lowestoft Flood Management Board.

Beccles Hub and other initiatives

Caroline set up Beccles Community Hub in September 2021, as a direct result of the COVID 19, to provide an ongoing support network, now an evolving space where people can come for advice and signposting and use the space for social engagement.

Over the years, Caroline has been involved in multiple community projects: saving our library from being sold to a private American Company; sweeping our streets of snow so that people could safely go out and shop; walking the streets every 6 weeks with SCC Highways Officers so that we can get our roads, paths and cycle ways maintained and safe.  

Clearing Pathways

Currently (Spring 2022) Caroline is using her Suffolk Highways Budget to make it easier for people to get into town from the most densely populated Rigbourne Ward of Beccles, by putting in some new pedestrian dropped curbs, replacing an ambiguous and blocking road sign and improving Rigbourne Hill Lane surface so that people can safely use it from the Banham Road area of town.

She is a member of the Beccles Greens and Green Drinks once a month, meeting at the Butchers arms, all welcome.

Contact: 
East Suffolk caroline.topping@eastsuffolk.gov.uk / 07825 421117
Suffolk County caroline.topping@suffolk.gov.uk / 07955 434421