Crowhurst Parish Assembly

CROWHURST PARISH ASSEMBLY

Minutes of Meeting held on Monday 2 April 2012 at 7.30pm in Crowhurst Village Hall

Present: Councillor Mr C Pearce (Chair), 3 Parish Councillors, County Councillor Mrs K Field, District Councillor Ms A Davies and 19 members of the public. Apologies: Mr E McCall, PCSO Ms M Baker

1. The meeting was opened by the Chair who welcomed everyone present thanking them for their attendance.

2 Minutes The minutes from the Parish Assembly held on the 4 April 2011 had been on display on the Village Hall notice board and copies were available for inspection at the meeting. It was agreed that they should therefore be taken as read and the Chairman signed the minutes as a correct record.

3. Report by the Chairman of the Parish Council Councillor Chas Pearce presented his report which is attached at Appendix 1.

4. Report from Police Community Support Officers In the absence of PCSO Maureen Baker due to ill health, no report was submitted.

AGM of Village Hall Management Committee The Assembly was adjourned for the Annual General Meeting of the Village Hall Management Committee. On completion, the Assembly was resumed.

5. Crowhurst CE Primary School Mr M Stewart thanked the Chairman for granting him time to present a report on behalf of the School and this is attached at Appendix 2.

6. Report by the Chairman of The Recreation Ground Committee Mr Selwyn Whitehead presented his report and this is attached at Appendix 3.

7. Report by Chairman of the Parish Council Village Hall Project Committee Councillor Chas Pearce presented his report on the Committee’s activities to date and this can be found at Appendix 4.

8. Report of the Crowhurst Society In the absence of Mr Eddie McCall, Mrs Liz McCall presented the Society’s report which is attached at Appendix 5.

9. Report of Crowhurst Youth Club Mr Bill Jones presented the Club’s report and this is attached at Appendix 6.

10. Report of Village Fayre Committee Mrs Diane Stainsby, Secretary of the Fayre Committee, presented a report on the Fayre Committee’s activities in 2011/12 and this is attached at Appendix 7.

11. Report of Crowhurst Community Arts Fund (CCAF)

1 Mr John Spall, Chairman of CCAF, presented his report which is attached at Appendix 8.

12. Report of Crowhurst Link – No report was presented. The Chairman expressed the meetings thanks and appreciation to Noela Hudson who works quietly behind the scenes co-ordinating Link’s activities.

13. Report of the District Councillor, Ms A Davies District Councillor Angharad Davies presented a report on her activities during 2011/12 as the Parish’s Elected Member of Rother District Council. This is attached at Appendix 9 of these minutes.

14. Report by the County Councillor, Mrs K Field County Councillor Kathryn Field presented her report on the County Council’s year which is attached at Appendix 10.

15. Public Questions - None

There being no further business, the Chairman thanked those who had attended and declared the meeting closed at 8.55pm.

Signed ...... ………………………. Date ......

Appendix 1

2 Crowhurst Parish Council Chairman’s Report to Parish Assembly On 2 April 2012

The last year has not been particularly eventful and the Council has carried out its fairly normal day to day business. Consequently you will be pleased to hear that my report will be nice and short!

Following the elections in May 2011, 2 councillors were co-opted, Brian Basham and Christopher Hamson. Chris is a long term resident and Brian is quite new to the village and we have been pleased to have their input during the last few months.

Council received its Quality Council reaccreditation for the next 4 years and again received a clean bill of health on it’s financial management from the external auditors.

Your Council continues to be very active in responding to the extraordinary number of consultation documents it received. The Decentralisation and Localism Act being one that has consumed a considerable amount of time, and now its on the statute book will continue to do so.

We hope that many residents responded to the broadband consultation in order to support the County Council’s bid for central Government money to increase broadband speed across East Sussex. If you have not done so, please can you!

We hold regular meetings with Mr Andy Robertson, Assistant Director (Policy), Economy, Transport & Environment Dept., East Sussex County Council (ESCC), and would like to thank Eddie McCall for his valued support at these meetings. The main topic is, of course, the Bexhill/Hastings Link Road but other village issues are also discussed. You will be aware that Government, in the last budget, allocated £56m to the Link Road but we still await the final decision from Ms Justine Greening, Secretary of State, Department for Transport, and this is expected some time during April. ESCC have been asked to do further studies on environmental impact, transport infrastructure, both road and rail, at her request. I have to say that to my great disappointment it would seem that the green light is about to go on and the project will proceed. The Council will, of course, monitor the situation if this is approved and will liaise with ESCC during the build period.

I am a board member on the renamed Pebsham, now Combe Valley, Countryside Park and District Councillor Angharad Davies will give you more detail during her report. The Management Board did, in fact, finance the majority of the new car park surface at the Recreation Ground and we thank them for their help in assisting this project.

Your councilors carry out weekly safety inspections of the children’s playground and quarterly financial audits of Council’s accounts. They also make site inspections on every planning application and respond to Rother District Council. However, Parish Council can only make recommendations, not decisions which rest currently with the District Council. All this is due for a major change with the new National Planning Policy Framework and our power will increase greatly. In the very near future we are meeting with senior planning officers of Rother District Council to consider the best way to implement a neighbourhood plan for Crowhurst. Rest assured we will, by law, have to consult with the village before anything can be put in place.

Training is an essential part of our programme and both our clerk and councilors attend regular conferences, workshops and seminars to keep up to date and ensure Crowhurst

3 has a voice. Councillors and the Clerk have received training in many areas including the Power of Wellbeing.

We continue to produce and deliver our newsletter which I hope you find informative. We have regular liaison with our PCSO, Maureen Baker, and thank her for her work and support during the year. I hope she has recovered from the nasty fall she had during the snow.

At the last Parish Council meeting we were offered a defibrillator for the village via the good offices of Geoff Thomas in Craig Close, who has contact with the Primary Care Trust. We have, of course, accepted this offer and although a site has not yet been agreed, we would ask the Village Hall Management Committee to consider a location at the village hall.

A few weeks ago, as most of you are aware, somewhat out of the blue, we received plans from ESCC for the replacement of the bridge over the Powdermill Stream on the corner near The Plough. During the Public Inquiry for the Compulsory Purchase Orders for the Link Road, we were told that the bridge project was approved and would proceed during 2010 – and to my knowledge no real communication was received until the plan landed on our lap.

There has been a considerable amount of concern from various quarters regarding road closure and possibly more to the point effect on a property and discussion asking if this was the correct solution. Most of the debate centred around fluvial (river) and pluvial (land) flooding and there is a case that pluvial may contribute as much if not more than fluvial. A strong point raised by some of the most at danger residents. A project to build bunding behind the properties concerned was not completed by the Environment Agency for various reasons. With the help of Tracy Hoad of the Flood Watch Group we were able to call a meeting last Friday between that Group, Parish Council, ESCC and the Environment Agency. Our thanks to Tracy for arranging this. That meeting was very constructive and a conclusion was reached, at the suggestion of ESCC and the Environment Agency, that a further report would be commissioned to investigate further both aspects of the flooding issue, and ESCC stated that they would fund this report.

Secondly, ESCC are to look at the design and possibly re-engineer the bridge to move it further away from Brookside Cottages. This, of course, will mean that the project will not happen during August 2012 as was the original intention. Did I hear a sigh of relief from the Fayre Committee! We are hopeful that we can retain the project and ESCC said that it would remain in the budget that runs until 2015. The Council is grateful for the way in which the flood Group responded to this difficult situation. We can only hope that we can find a solution which will bring the best benefit to all the residents that have to bear this unpleasant pressure on their lives.

We are, of course, responsible for the upkeep of the Pavilion, Recreation Ground and Children’s Playground equipment. This task is made so much easier by two people who are not actually village residents, but their heart and spirit certainly are here. Peter Cochrane and Chris Newton do outstanding work on our behalf. My sincere thanks for the excellent results they achieve in caring for the facilities at the Recreation Ground.

My thanks to both our County Councillor, Kathryn Field, and our District Councillor, Angharad Davies, for their support and very regular attendance at Parish Council meetings – they don’t miss many! It is reassuring to have two very concerned and experienced people just a phone call away. Thank you both for your continued support of Crowhurst.

I mentioned the Recreation Ground earlier and it would be remiss of me not to extend my thanks to Selwyn Whitehead. This gentleman has been involved in one form or

4 another with the ground over a very long time. His leadership in many projects during this time has helped establish the excellent facilities we enjoy today. The recent resurfacing of the car park is a perfect example of his skills and our thanks to him for seeing that project to a successful conclusion, and also his work as Chairman of the Recreation Ground Committee. My thanks must also go to our councillors for their regular attendance and quality of input at all meetings of the Parish Council.

Now the person that co-ordinates all these various functions is the lady to my right, our Clerk, Mrs Pat Buckle. Not only does she keep us on target as a Council, she copes with all our financial aspects as the Responsible Finance Officer. Pat’s workload is heavy, and I do mean heavy, and in fact she does an exceptional amount of things over and above her allotted timescale. I cannot emphasize enough the support she gives to Crowhurst Parish Council and also to myself, that alone is a difficult task! She is always available to field my phone calls, not quite 24/7 but can be several in some situations. Pat – I don’t know what I or this Council would do without you. Thank you!

Councillor Chas Pearce Chairman of Crowhurst Parish Council

Appendix 2 5 Crowhurst CE Primary School Report to Parish Assembly April 2nd 2012

Good evening. Thank you Chas for granting me time to address the Assembly. It gives me great pleasure to speak on behalf of Crowhurst Church Of England Primary School tonight.

Many of you will have noticed the transformation of our primary school frontage over recent weeks. Each time I visit the school I am amazed at the progress made and we hope to complete the building by the middle of June. If you wish to see the architect’s drawing of the completed frontage it is affixed to the wire fencing on the front wall of the school.

On behalf of the pupils, parents, staff and governors I want to take this opportunity to thank publicly all those who have supported our project over the last five years. In particular I would like to thank:

 the whole of the village community for its support and forbearance;

 all those who have contributed to our ‘buy a brick fund’, and I would particularly like to thank those who have arranged fund-raising activities including Selwyn and Juliet, The ‘Big Blue’ team, Dick and Mark, Bill and Amanda Jones, Roger Massey, Chris Newton, Chris and Brenda Davidson and their family and the Friends of the School. If I have missed anyone please accept my apologies;

 the Church, which under the leadership of Father Michael, has permitted our Year 6 to use their new Parish Room as a classroom. Without this generous offer we could not have gone ahead with the extension work;

 the School House Trustees who have given considerable financial support to our project;

 the Parish Council and the County and District councillors who have supported our building works from the outset;

 and, finally, I would like to thank Angharad Davies for her efforts on our behalf, and in particular, helping to secure in excess of £30,000 from East Sussex County Council which will ensure that our project comes to fruition.

Mike Stewart Chairman of Governors

Appendix 3

6 Crowhurst Parish Council Recreation Ground Committee

Chairman’s Report to Parish Assembly on 2 April 2012

I became Chairman of the Recreation Ground Committee when Chas Pearce, your current Parish Council Chairman, became ill and had to stand down from the public offices he held within our village. I am glad he was soon well enough to want to get back involved, which is great news for us all in Crowhurst. Welcome back, Chas.

We currently have 3 football teams, 1 adult and 2 junior, using our fine facilities, which has caused parking problems at times. It was therefore good news to be able to improve the car park surface ahead of our projected date of Summer 2012.

We have a very well used recreation ground, the sports played being football, cricket, stoolball, tennis, and shortmat Bowls. We can also boast a Youth Club opening 2 nights per week, and the area is also used to hosting some outdoor theatre performances.

Recently the Tennis Club playing surface has been renewed, and improvements made to the children’s play area.

I would like to round up my report by thanking all members of the Recreation Ground Committee for their support during my chairmanship and also the dedicated team that carry out our maintenance duties, sometimes at very short notice.

Thank you.

Selwyn Whitehead Chairman Crowhurst Recreation Ground Committee

Appendix 4

7 Parish Council Village Hall Project Committee

Report to Parish Assembly on 2 April 2012.

The Committee has so far met 3 times and all its agenda and minutes are made public.

Following the analysis of a village-wide questionnaire on the location of a new village hall, the outcome was the site at the bottom of Station Road at the junction with Forewood Lane.

A meeting with senior planners at Rother District Council (RDC) was held at which we were informed that if the Bexhill/Hastings Link Road project goes ahead, RDC will be able to carry on with its Core Strategy and Site Allocations plans in which it will be decided how a new village hall will fit in. RDC is planning a consultation in mid 2012 on its village development plans and this would include a new village hall on the site. This would save the expense of Parish Council undertaking its own consultation.

Members of the Committee visited other recently built and environmentally friendly village halls to gain knowledge of their experiences, good and bad, which will be helpful when planning our own hall. Possible architects have been identified to assist with the drawing up of outline plans prior to consulting residents.

Currently the timescale for the build to start is about 2 years.

Councillor Chas Pearce Chairman of the Village Hall Project Committee.

Appendix 5

Crowhurst Society

8 Report to Parish Assembly on 2 April 2012

1. Bexhill to Hastings Link Road (BHLR)

We all probably know the last bit of the BHLR story but I would briefly like to sketch in the recent history of the scheme.

Planning permission for the building of the BHLR was granted by ESCC in November 2009; however, the lack of a decision from the 2009 Public Inquiry and the General Election the following year effectively put back a decision on the fate of the Link Road.

Following the Coalition Government changes to the funding of major transport schemes the timetable for construction of the BHLR ground to a halt and the road entered a bidding scheme for funding organised by the then Minister, Mr Hammond.

The claim was that there were insufficient funds for all the road schemes entered by local authorities up and down the country and therefore some would go to the wall. Local authorities were asked to bid for funds and then to bid again showing how they had trimmed the cost of building their scheme. ESCC submitted an Expression of Interest in January and a best and final bid for funding in September 2011.

Apart from changes in the costings, the rationale behind the building of the road and the way it was expressed followed the lines of the original submission for planning permission way back in 2009.

It is worth noting that despite the risk and despite a warning from the Prime Minister, ESCC continued to spend on the road scheme. In all a total of over £18 million has been spent to date including the purchase of Adam’s Farm and Acton’s Farm.

In December 2011 the Department for Transport (DfT) published the list of road schemes that had won funding but announced that a decision on funding for the link road will be delayed again. Over the last three months ESCC has continued to work with the DfT on the issues it raised which included further mitigation of impact on the valley.

The DfT and ESCC had an exclusive discussion. Neither the Crowhurst Society nor the Crowhurst Parish Council were ever consulted as part of this ‘democratic’ process. Copies of documents relating to the concerns raised over the years by villagers were sent to the DfT and, as you will have seen in my articles in the Crowhurst News, were acknowledged in a letter from a Mr Fox in which he said the DfT would be talking to those who supported and opposed the scheme. The implication was that no stone would be left unturned in the DfT’s quest to secure a balanced decision.

The decision came from an unexpected quarter; having withheld the money that ESCC bid for, the Chancellor as part of the 2012 Budget announced that the Government had approved the funding for the link road. What still remains 9 unknown is when the DfT will approve ESCC’s offers in reply to the new measures they have demanded with regard to mitigation. Only when these have been accepted by the DfT will the final approval for the road to be built be given.

The likelihood is, however, that the Link Road will go ahead and will be opened sometime in 2016.

The long fight by Crowhurst to alter the route was not to be. The combination of a Government public works bonanza to kick-start a failing national economy combined with a half-price offer by ESCC to build the road, made the outcome foreseeable and inevitable. It will cost over £100 million to build the road but the Chancellor has only had to spend half that amount. East Sussex will supply the rest. In case anyone doubts the resolve of the Council to build the road, remember that the leader of ESCC publically declared that if no money at all came from the Government the road would still be built.

So has the last 25 years of close watching the Link Road been a waste of time? No it certainly has not been a waste of time. Had Crowhurst just ignored the whole issue the outcome may have been the same but the shape of the road would have been different. Some of the considerable mitigation measures in the current design result from the village’s involvement in the development of the scheme. Our meetings with the original design team and landscape architects, our scrutiny of every design alteration since that time, our replies to every invitation to take part in consultations and our willingness to meet with ESCC officers several times every year since the whole process began, has allowed us to raise the profile of this village and keep on the agenda the concerns that we have. In fact we have outlasted all of the original members of the County Planning team! The support of villagers and of the Parish Council has been critical throughout and for that we have been very grateful.

So what of the future?

Now more than ever we need to be vigilant to ensure that the design changes in our favour remain unaltered and that there is no attempt to renege on measures agreed to safeguard the village. There might be even further benefits to be won by maintaining the critical relationship that, as a village, we have built up with officers of ESCC. If we ever hear from the DfT we will let you know what they said.

Before concluding this account I would like to thank Liz, for reading this in my absence, and the Crowhurst Action Committee for the work they have carried out over this very long and protracted scheme. We owe them a real debt of gratitude.

2. Quarry Wood

Villagers will no doubt have been entertained and educated by the wonderful articles written by Paul Johnson, the Manager of Quarry Wood. I would also like to mention the work of Ian Tomisson whose idea of creating the ‘Friends of Quarry Wood’ has been such a success. I have mentioned in previous years the need to have a steady income to pay for the increasingly expensive public

10 liability insurance which we cannot do without. I am grateful to the Parish Council for their support and for villagers who help support this extra amenity that we enjoy.

Eddie McCall Crowhurst Society

Appendix 6 Crowhurst Youth Club Report to Parish Assembly April 2012

11 For over two decades the Youth Club has met on a Wednesday night most recently led by Lorna Neville who has overseen both growth in numbers and a broader curriculum of activities. Two years ago, led by Lorna, we split the Club into two separate age groups with the ‘youngsters’ aged between 10-13 years meeting on a Wednesday evening, while the 14-16 year olds meet separately on a Thursday evening.

Juniors on Wednesdays - Years 6-8 (age 10/11-13)  Leaders: Mel Frost and Jess Blackford and a small team of regular parent volunteers (Nettie, Tanya and Sarah) plus a few others.  Attendance varies between 12 and 20.  Continuing with the programme of art, sport, cooking, competitions, fancy dress, parties, etc. – essentially pre-planned organised activities.  Always lively, energetic, fun.  New leaders are doing a really good job and members are happy and engaged.  They ran the stall at the Village Fayre last Summer and took their members to see the village panto last Christmas.  Jess has taken full responsibility for stocking/running the tuck shop.

Seniors on Thursdays – Years 9-11 (age 13/14-16)  Leader: Lorna Neville  Occasional support from Kev (who now has a new job that usually involves not getting home in time)  Attendance approximately 5 this year (down from about 10 last year)  Independent activities (as opposed to pre-determined programme) – mostly music and chatting. They plug their own iPods into the sound system and turn it up (fairly) loud.  Valuable opportunity for one-to-one engagement and support. I was able to help one lad organise work experience with the Police force drawing on the contacts we made on the PGL trip.

Going Forward  Need to consider viability of two separate sessions – draw of boy/girl friends versus an evening in The Hut!  Part-time jobs both take up leisure time and provide financial independence meaning that many youngsters want/can travel further afield than the recreation ground!

Succession  Lorna has served the Club royally for many years but, I think, is nearing the end of her tenure.  Her latest note to me included the words “I suspect that most teenagers don’t want to hang out with someone’s mum!”

Bill Jones

Appendix 7 Crowhurst Fayre Committee

Report to Parish Assembly 2 April 2012

12 The members of the Fayre Committee, which comprised of Bill Jones, Katie Spall, Chris Newton, Diane Stainsby, Judy Linfield, Jill Simpkinson, Dick & Put Chalwin, began work in March to organise the 4 events during 2011. Many other village people also ably supported us to get the show on the road.

1. Our main event is, of course, the annual Summer Fayre held on the second Saturday in August. The weather stayed dry, although we were beset by very high winds at the beginning which turned several gazebos inside out. The Fayre was opened in great style by the Section 5 Drummers. The arena Events were the Wheelie Parade which had some terrific entries, and also a Steel Band. We had a variety of stalls, and field events which catered for all ages.

We were not able to give any of the monies made by the Fayre to village organisations because of the large number of expenses we had to make in order for the Fayre to proceed.

2. The Fayre weekend began on the Friday night with a band which was popular.

3. The Barn Dance on the evening of the Fayre was well attended.

4. In December we held our third Christmas Village Gathering which has proved to be a very popular event, and it was good to see a number of new villagers there.

All members of the Committee would like to express their thanks again to everybody who gave up their time to help us. We would make a plea to anybody who would like to either become a Committee Member or an associate to get in touch with any of us.

Also if you know of anybody who would like to have a stall, do tell them to get in touch – we are fast running out of ideas.

Diane Stainsby Secretary of the Fayre Committee

Appendix 8

Crowhurst Community Arts Fund

13 2011 was another fruitful year for the ‘Arty Farties’.

Our first production was by a touring theatre company new to us, which we located through the Applause touring network, called Publik Transport. It is always a gamble booking a company whose work one hasn’t seen, particularly when the play is called the Department of Smelly Pistakes! And indeed it took our audience a little time to tune into the anarchic yet subtle humour on display by two very talented actors. The scene is a Russian government building out in the sticks overseen by a puffed up bureaucrat with a meaningless job – so meaningless he has forgotten what it is. Enter an unidentified inspector, the purpose of whose visit remains menacingly vague. There follows two hours of subtle, hilarious and bizarre dialogue with groan- inducing puns, slapstick, absurd flights of fancy, and non-stop silly word play as each tried to undermine the other. By the end the audience were weeping with laughter at one of the best shows we have ever promoted.

In the summer we had a visit from our old friends the Rude Mechanicals with another of their prodigiously talented and always entertaining commedia del arte based confections written, produced and directed by Pete Talbot – how does he come up with a new pearl of a show each year? This year we were rather in the territory of his Famous Five offering of 1997 set in the war, but updated to the fifties with Jolly Nice Gals, wet prospective husbands and a whole menagerie of animals on Gentle Harry’s Farm, accompanied by Bounders who have broken into the local bank, hidden their swag on the farm and were being chased all over the place by Keystone Cops. All with some beautiful lugubrious cows viewing the antics of the stupid humans with some disdain.

After the success of Cabaret the previous year, we decided to go for another musical offering, this time from a lady, Krysia Mansfield, and her jazz combo. We had seen them performing at venues in the St Leonards area and we thought she was very talented, her voice ranging, as the publicity said, from Handel to Holliday and from Grieg to Gershwin. Again we had a full house with over 70 patrons. We were in danger of losing most of them as the first offering was about 10 minutes (it felt like 30!) of extreme be-bop piano. There was much shuffling in seats and muttering to neighbours. But things could only get better and Krysia slowly won round the audience with the beauty and versatility of her singing, while the keyboarder calmed down and played some really nice jazz backgrounds.

The final item of the year was Mike Hatchard’s Christmas Jazz Breakfast. Mike is another old friend of the Arty Farties and it is always good to welcome him back. He was in excellent form with great rapport with the audience, including some rather rude ditties about certain members present! Quite one of his best performances for some time and a great way to round off our year.

Turning to the current year, I will take this opportunity to plug the opening of the Crowhurst Community Cinema hopefully within the next three months and the Crowhurst Games on Saturday 7 July, a celebration of the Olympics. You can read more about both events in the current edition of the Crowhurst News. We need volunteers to help run the Games so please do volunteer your services to help make this a great day out.

I would like to pay tribute to my fellow committee members who have worked as hard as ever this year to provide you with top class entertainment. I would also like to make special mention

14 of Anne Auger who has been our diligent and organised Secretary and made a considerable contribution to our events for a number of years, who is standing down. Frances Hamson is also resigning because of other pressures.

John Spall

Appendix 9 District Councillor Angharad Davies

Crowhurst Ward: Ashburnham & Penhurst, Crowhurst, Catsfield & Telham

The past year has focussed very largely on the “resetting programme” – making savings of £1.7million over a 2 year period, in response to central government’s Comprehensive 15 Spending Review cuts of 29% over 4 years. At the same time services to residents need to be protected. This programme has progressed well with savings on target, but has involved voluntary redundancies of 30 members of staff, losing considerable expertise. RDC started the process with significantly fewer staff than any other authority in East Sussex, and the gap has widened further. Rother has frozen recruitment for some time, employees work across jobs and departments in order to do more for less.

The Agile Working project allows staff to work from home, work “out in the field” and has created new work areas in the Town Hall for outside organisations, the Police, and visitors from other authorities to use. The Beeching Road offices have been closed and rented out, and the Bexhill Community Help Point is now at the Town Hall front door which has released office space and made contact with the public more accessible and efficient. We have initiated shared services; we took over Building Control from Hastings Borough Council, share audit with Wealden and are planning to share legal services. “Channel Shift” means that customers are encouraged to do more council transactions by phone or the internet and this has been welcomed by the public.

District and Parish Council elections were held in May 2011. Through the Member Development Task Group which I attend as the leader’s representative, we held an excellent post-election induction programme for new and returning Members. Councillors gained the SE Charter for Elected Member Development – renewed in 2011, and remain one of the few districts in the South East to achieve this distinction. RDC received re-accreditation for the Investors in People Award which reflects how well the authority develops the skills and expertise of its staff.

Our Council Tax remains the lowest of any council in East Sussex and we voted to freeze the tax again for 2012/13. £161.19 for a Band D property means that for more than 60 services, residents pay £3.10p per week.

Under the Localism Bill which gained royal assent in November 2011, Rother moved forwards in setting up a Devolution Working Group which I chair. A seminar on the Bill was organised by RDC/Rother Voluntary Action on 30 January 2012 and many District and Parish Councillors attended (Catsfield, Crowhurst and Battle sent representatives). Devolution of services and assets was progressed by the Working Group, inviting Town and Parish Councils to a meeting on 24 February when we discussed services and assets on an individual basis. As a result some more allotments have been allocated to Battle and are planned for Peasmarsh; Catsfield plan to take over the village hall car park; car parks at Robertsbridge & Salehurst and Battle are being discussed; several villages may take over public conveniences and some green spaces are also up for discussion. This is an important Bill in giving local people more say locally.

RDC introduced the new Food Hygiene Rating System in 2011. There has been a review of food premises and restaurants by the Environmental Health Team and, where premises failed, training was carried out. RDC was a national pilot site and thus received funding to cover start up costs. This scheme was very good and received wide acceptance.

The “Sense of Place” Team has been merged with Enforcement to strengthen both departments. During the year the Team dealt with numerous fly tipping and graffiti problems and featured for 3 weeks in the TV programme “Filthy Rotten Scoundrels” as an example of a Council dealing successfully with social crime.

Further roll-out of recycling facilities, including the collection of cardboard with green waste, saw an increase in overall recycling to 47% (highest recycling rate in East Sussex). Rother is the administering authority on the Joint Waste Recycling Contract involving Wealden, Hastings, Eastbourne, Rother and ESCC. 16 During 2011 the review of byelaws was completed and there is now cycling along the seafront at Bexhill for a trial period of a year.

ESCC has been enabled, with a central government grant, to improve broadband coverage and achieve high speed broadband for the rural villages. Members of Crowhurst Parish Council attended a meeting in Uckfield and I attended a meeting called by Greg Barker for local businesses to discuss the issues. It has been important to lobby everyone locally and then to log interest on ESCC’s website. It is also essential to register interest on BT’s website.

I have continued to work as a member of Pebsham CP Management Board. The development strategy has been rewritten, a new name discussed – now “Combe Valley Countryside Park”, footpaths, bridges and signs are being upgraded, the Pebsham Circuit will be started in 2012 using Section 106 monies from Southern Water, and an excellent Events Programme will be launched to run across the summer. Crowhurst is now firmly involved with the Park, giving access to the park and having good representation on the Management Board, i.e. Chas Pearce and myself. Crowhurst is having improvements and resurfacing to the Recreation Ground car park through representative links on the Management Board.

I am delighted to see improvements to the Primary School in Crowhurst through the efforts of so many people – the governors, parents, fund raising, the “Buy a Brick” campaign, and a welcome contribution from ESCC. I am looking forward to the new school frontage.

In December 2011 consultation forms went out to all residents on the possible location of a new village hall. 38 responses were received. This survey will be usefully incorporated into the new Neighbourhood Plan which is the format under the Localism Bill. Residents can now have much more say in what goes on in their village. Groups of individuals can get together to push forward an issue and the Parish Council can have more say over planning and housing matters locally.

If I can be of help at any time please don’t hesitate to be in touch.

Angharad Davies, District Council Crowhurst Ward. [email protected] 01580-831969

Appendix 10

County Councillor Kathryn Field

Cuts to Local Government funding announced last year are still working their way through the system. The County Council accepted the Government’s cash offer to freeze Council Tax and has a plan to make phased cuts over three years

17 to compensate for the cumulative reduction in base budget caused by not increasing Council Tax year on year in favour of a one-off grant.

Children’s Social Care is posing huge challenges. The number of Child Protection Plans has risen from 700 to 931 and the number of Looked After Children from 624 to 831. Together with the continuing rise in referrals of vulnerable children this means that the budget is set to rise by 10% per annum. The reasons for the increase in demand are complex, but recession and high profile national publicity surrounding the deaths of children are likely to be two of the biggest drivers. However, in East Sussex there are far more children brought to the attention of social care services than is the case for other authorities. It seems that there may also be a significant cultural issue to deal with, to ensure children are not escalated within the system because this is seen by staff in all agencies as a way to access resources, or to transfer risk from where it could be more appropriately held.

It has become clear that there will have to be changes in working practices both within the County Council and with partners if this budget is to be got under control while not damaging the Council’s capacity to safeguard. The result of this, which it is hoped will be the solution, is a three year transformation plan called Thrive. It aims to intervene earlier in order to identify those families which need help and process them more quickly through the system. This will provide certainty and permanence for young people much sooner than is the case at the present time. There are successful models for this in unitary authorities but it involves partners working differently and those partners accepting some risk.

Work is also taking place with the Family Court which works slowly (it can take 2.5 years from birth to adoption for a baby who professional social workers knew would never be able to stay with its birth parents) to process cases more quickly which is better for the children and requires fewer and very expensive interventions from the County Council. £9.7m has been allocated for this project. This is a one-off allocation which will only be used as and when it is necessary. There will be training and recruitment requirements and work already begun under the old system will have to continue and be funded.

NHS reforms continue on their controversial journey but one of the less publicised aspects, and one which the County Council needs to plan for in the Health & Social Care Act, is the return of some public health issues to the Local Authority. A Health & Wellbeing Board will oversee the delivery of these services and a shadow Board has been set up. This is completely separate from the existing, statutory, Health Overview & Scrutiny Committee which as its name implies scrutinises health delivery in the County. Both these committees include members from the districts and boroughs.

There has been a plan and a wish to join the Fire & Rescue Services of East Sussex, Brighton & Hove with that of West Sussex. Financial complications have made this impossible and the merger will not go ahead. However, there will be a joint Control Room and close working in the border areas will continue.

As I imagine everyone will now know, the Bexhill/Hastings Link Road has received Government funding. 18 Kathryn Field 23 March 2012