Derek Deedman

In view of the serious concerns of local people and the background of waste disposal in Small Dole, I asked for this planning application to be considered by the Planning Committee rather than being delegated to officer decision as had been proposed. This has now been agreed and the Planning Committee will now make the decision.

I have also formally objected to this application, as although I fully support more facilities for recycling, these facilities should be based near where the waste arises - in this case probably along the coast. It is entirely wrong that such waste should be brought up from the coast or from urban areas elsewhere, in heavy lorries, through the countryside and/or the new National Park, to be dumped on Small Dole. This village has suffered more than enough from the traffic related to current and previous waste disposal facilities.

In addition, as I understand the position, although the proposal is to handle 10 - 15 thousand tons of waste this year, it is so worded that, if granted permission, the applicant would be permitted to handle 75 thousand tons a year. This would mean an additional 30 lorries a day going through Upper Beeding and Small Dole (and the National Park if coming from the south) seven days a week. So this facility could well be bigger in the end than the Waste Sussex County Council MRF at Ford!  

Finally, it should be noted that this site has not been included on the long list of possible sites as suitable for waste management in the West Sussex draft Minerals & Waste Planning Framework. This should be included in the report to the Planning Committee and will hopefully influence the decision against the application.

I was very pleased to be invited to cut the ribbon at this re-launch earlier today at the Holmbush Centre in Shoreham.

Provided by Compass Travel and funded by Tesco, this free bus service operates six different services throughout the week from Pulborough, Burgess Hill, Bognor Regis, Littlehampton and Telscombe Cliffs to the Holmbush Centre in Shoreham.

The service for Steyning and Upper Beeding runs on Tuesdays and Thursdays starting at Burgess Hill and going through Upper Beeding at 11.37am, Bramber at 11.39am and Steyning at 11.43am, reaching Holmbush at 12.05pm. The return journey starts at 1.55pm, leaving nearly two hours for shopping in Tesco’s, M&S and or lunch at McDonalds or M&S.

The re-launched bus service includes new and slightly bigger buses, all of which have low floor access.

It is great that Tesco have shown their commitment to continuing this free bus service in partnership with Compass Travel, and hopefully this will encourage more people out of their cars to visit this excellent shopping centre in Shoreham.

For more details about the bus times of the Holmbush Express go to the link to Compass Bus on this website.

The meeting starts at 7.30pm at the Steyning Centre, and one of the major debates could well be on whether the Steyning should become a Town or remain a Parish. No doubt there will be many good arguments for both points of view, but, at the end of the day it will not involve any additional powers nor costs for the council should it decide to formally become a town council.  

I have always considered Steyning to be a Town and would support the suggestion this should be recognised in the name of its Council. Apart from the name, the only difference from a parish council is that the council chairman could become the Town Mayor. I understand that it has been suggested that this would not happen in Steyning if the Council decides to go for town council status; but even if it did it should not involve any extra costs – the role of Town Mayor would be the same as parish council chairman. The outcome of the public consultation in the next newsletter and the discussion at the Annual Parish Meeting on 29 March will be very interesting!

There is also an excellent report from the Traffic Calming Sub-Committee, under the Minutes of the Highways & Lighting Committee of 23 February, covering a possible 20mph zone for the Town. I certainly agree with the feeling of the Sub-Committee that with only six access roads, a high proportion of pedestrians and cyclists, together with the school sites, a 20 mph zone covering the whole Town would be appropriate. Certainly much better than having a few 20 mph limits on specific roads with physical measures to help enforce the limit in those places. Locally in the south the Liberal Democrats running Portsmouth have implemented a successful 20 mph limit on all the residential roads in the City, and whilst Steyning is much smaller there is no reason why such a scheme should not be equally successful here.

Of the six possible entry points to the 20 mph zone: -

Bostal Road junction with Bramber Road,

Bramber Road south of the Bostal Road junction,

Newham Lane junction with Bostal Road,

Horsham Road at Bayards,

Canons Way junction with Steyning Bypass, and

Roman Road/Castle Lane junction,

the first I would move to the Bostal Road access to Mount Park, and the last to the Bramber Roundabout junction with Castle Lane (although I accept that this is in Bramber).

With both Upper Beeding and Steyning considering 20mph zones (and with Bramber soon to get a 20 mph limit in The Street), the approval of new criteria for reduced speed limits, which will be considered by the County Council at the end of March, will be a necessary step forward if such zones are to be progressed.  

Access to a database of community led plans in the south east is now available from this website.

Go to the link to ‘Parish Plans’ to look up the Parish Plans for Ashurst, Bramber, Steyning, Upper Beeding and Woodmancote

This is great news, as it was possible that the service would end in April after twelve month’s operation. Speaking to the Managing Director of Compass Travel yesterday he confirmed that with a few minor route changes the bus service had been secured to continue over the summer months.

These minor amendments to the route at the end of March will be to try to gain more passengers to help the bus service become commercially viable. The Wantley Hill area of Henfield will now served, and after going through North Lancing the bus will go to Worthing via Lancing Town Centre. The last journey from Worthing will also now leave 30 minutes earlier. These changes are all in response to public requests.

A new timetable booklet will shortly be available and supplies will be delivered to local libraries, council offices etc 

Hopefully this continuing commitment to this two hourly bus service throughout the day between Henfield and Worthing will be rewarded by a continuing increase in passengers to enable it to be maintained after the summer is over. 

At the request of residents of Oreham Common off Horn Lane, near Small Dole, I have asked the Local Highway Manager to arrange a traffic investigation into extending the 40 mph limit from near Woods Mill to beyond the Oreham Common junction.

As a fairly regular user of Horn Lane, I fully understand local concerns about the lack of signs indicating the junction with Oreham Common, which is between two bends in Horn Lane. Vehicles emerging from Oreham Common are often passed at speed by Horn Lane traffic coming round one of the bends, unaware that they are approaching a road junction.

In addition, as all the properties in Horn Lane, including Oreham Common, have the same post code, delivery vans and horse boxes often have to reverse out of the Oreham Common junction having been mistakenly directed to incorrect destinations by satellite navigation.

If anybody has a view on this matter they could attend the next Chanctonbury County Local Committee meeting on 17 March at the Steyning Centre, Steyning to contribute to the debate under the public forum section of the agenda.