Minutes of the meeting of meeting Date: 22/04/2021

PRESENT: Simon Autie (chairman), Cclr Dowling, Laura Sparshatt (clerk), 5 members of the public.

1. Apologies

Cllr GJ / JP / KC

2. Statement from Chairman

SA informed residents that the parish had sent a message for the book of condolences praising the life and work of HRH Prince Philip. One minutes silence was observed..

3. Minutes from previous meeting - 04/03/2021. Proposed by MC, 2nd by PH

4. Request from Little Horsted Church of school for funds to improve infrastructure.

SA invited EL (chair of little horsted church of England school PTFA) to address the residents. EL informed the meeting of the PTFA and schools plans to provide a forest school for the children. She outlined the benefits for the children's wellbeing and learning. She noted that the PTFA and school were requesting £1000 from the parish to assist with the cost of preparing the site, erecting a fence and purchasing a storage facility. She noted the overall cost of this was £3000. Residents requested clarification on the site location and for the agreement with the East National who own the land.

Vote taken to approve £1000 for the preparation of forest school (following satisfactory clarification on the agreement with the National and site location)

Unanimous approval.

LSp to request contract and provide images / location of site

5. Date for Annual Meeting - suggested date 27th May.

LSp informed residents that the date of the 27th May had been selected due to lockdown restrictions easing before this date and that it fell within their ablogated date to hold an annual meeting. She noted that the location could be either the church or village hall. She noted that a risk assessment would need to be done prior to the meeting. With regards to pubisising the meeting she noted that the cost of sending information to all 85 residencies in the parish would be £56.10. WS noted that some properties were extremely dangerous to reach and that due to covid some residents may not be happy with people visiting their homes. SA asked for contributions to a parish newsletter which would accompany the meeting information. Vote taken to approve £56.10 for postage costs for the annual meeting and newsletter to residents in the parish.

Unanimous approval

LSp to arrange meeting location.

6. Update on neighbourhood plan and information on isfield new town and information on conflict of interests. SA noted that there is tremendous pressure on this area for housing. With Wealdens local plan thrown out, developers had an open door. He noted the Isfield New Town plan for 5000 homes and declared a conflict of interest as landowner. He informed residents that his personal view was that he was not happy with such development however would not be voting upon it. He noted that a plan of this scale would probably be passed to for a decision. He informed residents that much of this plan included land by the river and that it had not gone to formal planning. MC responded that the parish needed to take a stand and reject this plan with Wealden. SA noted that a letter could be put together highlighting the floodplain which would reduce and cut the plan in half. He noted that the parish’s comments to Wealden regarding the local plan acknowledged the need for growth and that growth can not be dismissed. MC rejected this and noted SA conflict of interest and needs to be agreed by residents. LSp noted that the plan was based on the opening of the train line and within our comment to Wealdens local plan we noted the need for proportional development which this was not. Residents concurred with this line of action. SA agreed to draw up a letter in line with residents' requests.

SA to put letter rejecting Isfield New Town plan for wealden - Lsp to check and send on.

7. Byway application for Worth Lane to Horsted Pond Lane - the documents for this are attached below. If any residents have any queries on this please feel free to contact me. RWO/220 Little Horsted C is for a public footpath. RWO/229 LH A being applied for by OSS is for a byway open to all traffic (BOAT for short) this is specially defined category recorded on the definitive map and statement ( the legal record of public rights of way), and defined as follows:- it is a carriageway and thus a right of way for vehicular rights but one that is mainly for the purposes for which footpaths and bridleways are used, i.e. walkers and horse-riders. JG informed residents that phase two at worth farm had been turned down as it was deemed unsafe for people to walk up worth lane due to level of traffic. He noted that should the lane be made roadworthy and increase in use from any development on pond lane would cause a danger. He noted that this had not been a road and was last used by farm carts in the 1940’s. He pointed to item 10.1.9 within the documents - alternative explanation is that it is an area with no value rather than a road. MC rejected the idea that the track would be tarmaced over and the open spaces were a charity concerned with maintaining rights of way and public access. SA said he was unwilling to put to a vote with outstanding questions.

JG to obtain land registry documents MC to contact open spaces for clarification. LSp to request additional time from ESCC to respond. 8. Naming of worth lane development JG put forward the suggestion of Worth place.

LSp to pass on to residents of Worth Lane and then pass to Wealden.

9. Request for funds for St Michaels and All Angels church yard SA noted that the request for funds for St Michaels and All Angels churchyard was on hold. This was due to an issue with the solar fund and that a meeting to resolve this was arranged for the 30th April. Residents asked for costing. LSp advised that the normal annual cost was in the region of £1100 based on a £15 per hour cost.

10. Update on pond lane meeting (19/04/2021) PH informed residents that following the zoom meeting with Wealden, where grievances were put forward a site meeting had been arranged on the 19/04/2021. This meeting covered the drainage issues which have health and safety implications. He noted that the issues were listened to however he was not confident of action. WS asked what happened with the letter to the MP. PH noted that he believed that her involvement had resulted in the initial meeting with Wealden.

11. Update on car rally SA informed residents that he had attended the car rally at Bentley to talk with the organisers. He noted that there were far lower car numbers than anticipated, the organisers had asked participants to turn down exhausts, spoken about speeding and put up signs and spoken about horses. He noted that this use is in line with current rules which due to covid have been relaxed to give a greater scope to businesses. Should issues arise the parish would act upon residents' request.

AOB 12. Planning Application WD/2021/0419/LB - HORSTED PLACE HOTEL, ROAD, LITTLE HORSTED, TN22 5TS REPLACEMENT OF EXISTING EXTERNAL RAINWATER GOODS WITH NEW RAINWATER HOPPERS AND DOWNPIPES TO MATCH THE EXISTING. LSp informed residents of the planning application and showed images of the drainpipes to be replaced with like for like. Unanimous approval of application.

LSp to make comments to Wealden.

13. Parish cluster meeting update WS informed residents that at the last meeting neighbourhood plans were discussed. She noted that C Bending informed the group that making a plan will not stop developments, it is not a simple process and takes time. SA informed residents that he was having ongoing discussions with Isfield regarding a neighbourhood plan.

Meeting concluded 20.34pm