The annual meeting takes place at the Steyning Centre at 7.30pm.

The guest speakers will be Jennie Musgrove and Dr Rainbow giving a brief overview of the new Steyning Health Centre and then answering questions on the development.

Following a short interval for tea/coffee the various Parish Council Committee Chairmen will report on the work of their committees over the last year.

The meeting will conclude with a question and answer session on Parish Council related matters and finish at 9.15pm.

County and District Councillors will also be present.

County planning officers are making this recommendation in the teeth of the protests and objections from the Small Dole Action Group (representing the vast majority of the some 700 Small Dole residents on this matter), over 250 individual local objections on an e-petition and by letter, and official objections from Upper Beeding and Henfield Parish Councils, Horsham District Council and from the South Downs  Joint Committee (the committee representing all the local authorities within the proposed South Downs National Park).

The only supporters of the planning application appear to be officers who work for unelected bodies such as the Environment Agency, the Health & Safety Executive and the West Sussex Primary Care Trust, all of whom probably live nowhere near Small Dole! Many of their comments are on the lines of the phrase: - “Should the County Council be minded to grant planning permission imposition of appropriate conditions to control noise and odour is essential.” (Horsham planning officers.)  But this is already being done at Small Dole, and life remains intolerable from smells alone for the well over 700 people who live in the Village. It has to be accepted that no conditions or controls will ever stop this situation near any waste landfill site and so such comments from officers are meaningless.

Whilst it is accepted that the present unfinished part of the site has to be filled, capped and the the necessary restoration and aftercare carried out (and even the Small Dole Action Group accept this), there is no case to raise the final restored levels as proposed to allow more waste to be tipped than currently approved.  Planning approval for this would be at the continued detriment to the health and life of Small Dole villagers as well as to the environment of those who live on the routes for heavy lorry traffic to the Site through Upper Beeding, Steyning, Woodmancote and Henfield.

The County Planning Committee members will visit the Small Dole site on Thursday 3 April, and then will meet again to discuss and decide on the officers recommendations on Tuesday, 8 April. The committee meeting is open to the public and will start at 10.30 am at County Hall. This planning application is the only major item on the agenda. Representatives of the Small Dole Action Group are expected to present their reasoned objections to the Committee, and Derek Deedman, as the local County Councillor, will also ask permission from the Committee Chairman to address the meeting.

People in this area have had more than enough of this landfill site; hopefully democracy will prevail and the Committee will listen to their views and reject the officers recommendations on 8 April.

Lib Dems on West Sussex County Council have yet again been dismayed by the ruling Tory administration’s refusal to allow proper scrutiny of decisions made by the Cabinet. 

Morwen Millson, Lib Dem group leader on WSCC, has criticised the Tory council for once again rejecting a request to scrutinise spending of £1 million of taxpayers’ money. 

“There do not seem to be any criteria that determine how one-off, windfall revenue is spent or what consultation should be undertaken. The total amount is just under £1 million, which is a large sum. The public have a right to expect the Opposition to analyse this sort of spending, but as usual the Tories don’t want to be held accountable to voters. Simply putting a decision paper on the county council’s web site is not good enough.” says Morwen. 

“We need to know what other items were considered to use this money and the business cases for these items, when there are families desperate for more help with their disabled children whose plight is ignored, public transport routes that are being axed due to the county’s failure to invest in modern technology to keep buses moving in our towns and buildings that are not fit for purpose in which our children are being taught.” 

This is the second time in less than a year that a request to call-in a decision has been turned down by the scrutiny chairman. Haywards Heath councillor Brian Hall says, “It is a grave departure from what is ethically and morally correct, to permit such a distortion of the scrutiny process. This is especially scandalous when the Tories have a built in majority on the committee in any case!”

Deputy Group leader Dr James Walsh from Littlehampton adds, “It is not as though we abuse the system at all. We are very selective and sparing in our call-in requests!”

The County Council Team Leader responsible for direction signs has now looked at the location of the Hyde Square shops. Although he is not willing to agree to signing all the way from the A283, he does consider there is a sustainable case for local private signing from the High Street/Hyde Lane junction where additional local direction to the shops is required. This would be in accordance with the County Council’s existing signing policy.

The County Council will therefore be working on a detailed signing proposal after Easter, and will forward a quotation for the provision of suitable private signs (subject to local consultation agreement) to the Upper Beeding shop owners.

Derek Deedman will be consulted as part of the process prior to official agreement being given to provide any approved signs.

The Liberal Democrat Youth and Students has become Liberal Youth. Nick Clegg launched the new movement last night at a packed event in East London, promising to turn the small-l liberal values of Britain’ young people into active support for and involvement in the Liberal Democrats. This builds upon the 2005 success of picking up five of the eight constituencies in the country with the highest student populations, as well as a 400% increase in freshers’ fair recruitment over this academic year. 

Young people all over Britain are ready to join a party that shares their values. For core issues that young people care about, we are the only party that stands with them. (Clegg)

Whether in calling for real action rather words on climate change, protection of hard-won civil liberties, an internationalist approach to foreign policy, or closing the gap between the richest and poorest, young people hold liberal values. Britain has a liberal youth. We’ll make it Liberal Democrat. (Mark Gettleson, Chair of Liberal Youth)

County Councillor Derek Deedman has welcomed this great news. Hopefully many young people in the area will take a look at the new Liberal Youth website, which is shown as a useful link, left (Young Liberal Democrats), and decide to join.

As reported in a previous article, Derek Deedman has been pressing for action to permanently overcome the regular flooding across the Shooting Field near Thornscroft after heavy rain.

He has now been told that the drainage gully, the blockage of which causes this flooding, will now be replaced as part of the new footway works programmed to start early next month.

The new type of gully is considerably less likely to become blocked, so once the work is done there should be no more flooding at this spot in future!

Last week saw grants being agreed for three projects in Upper Beeding, the first two from the Chanctonbury County Local Committee (CLC) and the other from the Viridor Credits West Sussex Committee.

Bus Shelter

There has been a long campaign by local people for a bus shelter in the High Street at the Kings Head which has now been supported by a petition of 58 signatures. It has not however been easy to progress because the site is in a conservation area of the Village and any bus shelter would need to fit in with the surrounding buildings such as the Kings Head.

The Parish Council has now proposed a high quality hardwood shelter, which will enhance the built environment of the area and provide shelter from the rain and wind for people waiting for the bus. It will be especially valuable for non-car owners (old and young) and hopefully encourage others to get out of their cars to use public transport.

Such a bus shelter is much more expensive than a normal modern shelter and the CLC was pleased to be able to approve a community grant of £1,500 for the Parish Council towards the extra cost.

Replacement radiators for the Beeding & Bramber Village Hall

The boiler for the Hall was replaced last year, but had to be connected to a heating system of radiators and pipework which are 35 years old and which regularly break down.

The CLC recently gave a community grant to Ashington for a similar heating system, and so was pleased to be able to approve a grant of £2,000 to enable the Beeding & Bramber Village Hall Management Committee to upgraded their heating system.

Skate Park for Small Dole

Small Dole in the Parish of Upper Beeding is rurally isolated from facilities for young people, and it has been identified that there is a demand in the area for a proper skate park.

The Parish Council therefore bid for a community grant from Viridor Credits West Sussex to help fund this much needed recreational opportunity for young people in the area, which will also provide a usable, yet challenging facility for all ages and levels of experience.

The Viridor Credits West Sussex Committee, Small Dole, which meets at the Horton Landfill Site to allocate grants from landfill tax, was delighted to approve a £30,000 grant towards the cost of over £40,000 for the Skate Park to be sited at Mackey’s Field in Small Dole.

Derek Deedman said, “It is great that these two Committees on which I am a member have been able to part fund these improvements in Upper Beeding which will be of such help to all ages in the local community.”

From 1st April the Highway Rangers service will be rolled out across the whole County. Building on the success of the pilot run this year, the Rangers will continue to work to improve the street scene in our area.

The Rangers’ role is to carry out the sort of small-scale works listed below, which can help to improve the appearance of our highways. This is not an exhaustive list although please note that pothole or other emergency repairs are outside of their scope, but they will be reporting of the necessity for such repairs to be undertaken.

• Clearing vegetation overhanging paths

• Some hedge trimming

• Siding pavements and clearing unsightly weeds

• Sign cleansing

• Removing unlawful signs

• Simple street furniture repairs and removal of sign clutter

• Hand clearing drainage grips and some ditches

• Clearing debris away from gully tops and small culverts

To help the team target their work effectively your help is needed to identify issues, or work for them to do. The continuing aim is to ensure the Rangers are targeting the issues raised by local people.

The Chanctonbury team will continue to be based at the highway maintenance depot at Clapham (near Worthing). The team will operate on a rolling programme where they will spend a week in each County Local Committee area that the local office supports. This means that a team will be in our area every 4 or 5 weeks. They will be in the Chanctonbury area in the weeks commencing 14 April, 12 May, 9 June, 7 July, 4 August, 1 & 29 September, 27 October, 24 November, 22 December, 19 January 2009, 16 February & 16 March.

To report work for the Rangers please use either the number or email address below and remember to provide as many details as you can.

Tel: 01243 642105

Email: Highway.rangers@westsussex.gov.uk

Investigations have shown that the existing lighting columns in Bostal Road, Church Mead and College Hill in Steyning have reached the end of their useful lives. The lighting columns in these roads will therefore be replaced.

Most of the new columns will be in similar positions to the existing columns, and where possible the new columns will be sited sympathetically in relation to house frontages.

Work to erect the new columns will start during the week commencing 7 April and should last about two days. The electricity company will then follow connecting the new columns to the electricity cables.

At long last the final footway improvement to Shooting Field (School to Church Lane west side only) is due to start in the week commencing 7 April. The work is expected to last up to 4 weeks depending on the weather.

The works are to improve the existing footway, involving two phases; resurfacing the existing footway with a new asphalt surface and replacing some of the damaged kerbs.

The work will generally take place from 7.00am to 7.00pm. On occasions work may continue on Saturday mornings from 8am to 1pm.

From time to time it may be necessary to suspend some on street parking (in short discreet lengths) to allow the works to progress without disruption.

To assist the flow of traffic during the course of the works, ‘Give’ and ‘Take’ traffic management will be used. After the works, traffic will be allowed to pass through the road freely, though there may be occasions when they remain in place whilst materials are hardening.

Local residents have been asked to trim back any vegetation overhanging the highway before the work start.

The flooding across Shoot Field near Thornscroft , however, remains a problem after heavy rain, and Derek Deedman is pressing for a date when drainage works will be carried out to ensure a permanent solution.

At a well attended Chanctonbury County Local Committee (CLC) meeting in Pulborough last night, Horsham District Councillors attacked County Council representatives over the proposed closure of the Mobile Waste Service at the end of June.

Yet, as became quite clear, it is Horsham District Council, who operate the Service on the County Council’s behalf, who are refusing to operate the Service after that date on health and safety grounds! And other potential operators have told County Officers that they would not take on the task. So, even if the other concerns County has about the Service can be addressed, it looks impossible to continue after the end of June unless the Horsham District Councillors turn their fire on their own leaders to get them to change their minds about operating the Service.

Despite a presentation by the County Officers explaining the reasons for the proposed closure of the Service, both District and Parish Councillors and the public present were against the proposal. Many good points were made (including those made by Bramber, Steyning and Upper Beeding residents to local Councillors), refuting some of the closure reasons, highlighting the consequences in increased environmental costs from the extra driving to distant Household Waste Sites, and suggesting some constructive ideas on the way forward.

One of the main themes was the view that at the very least the Service must continue until suitable and acceptable alternatives were in operation. But, as Derek Deedman pointed out, this is dependent on Horsham District Councillors agreeing to continue to operate the Service on the County’s behalf.

It was announced that CLC Chairman, Pat Arculus, will be chairing the Task Force which the County Cabinet Member has set up to carry out an urgent review of the situation, and that locally Derek Deedman, District Cllr George Cockman and Steyning Parish Chairman Jackie Campbell will also be members of the Task Force.

The Task Force is planned to meet a number of times over the next few weeks and will make recommendations to the Cabinet Member by the end of April. He committed himself last night that he would to do everything in his power to implement the recommendations from the Task Force.

At the end of the day, although the Horsham District Councillors need to sort out their own Council’s role in this matter, a number of valid points were made at the meeting and these will be considered by the Task Force in its deliberations over the next month. All is not yet lost, the Cabinet Member is now fully aware of the wishes of local people to keep this Service, and hopefully the Task Force will be able to recommend a way forward which will be acceptable to all concerned.

The franchise to operate rail services in the South Central region (which includes West Sussex) is due for renewal in 2009.

The Department for Transport is carrying out a consultation exercise to help decide the  terms of the next franchise contract.

The Chanctonbury County Local Committee on 18 March at Pulborough Village Hall will be discussing the priorities for improvements that the County Council will put forward to the Department. If you have views on local rail services please attend the Committee meeting and/or send me your comments.

Some of the issues which may be of concern are: -

journey times, reliability, connections with bus services, overcrowding on trains,

problems on trains which may arise from large numbers of children travelling to school,

ticketing arrangements which could be improved, and

access to stations, parking problems etc.

One of the problems in the Steyning area is the lack of sufficient buses at times for connection to London trains at Shoreham Station in the morning and evening peaks. Perhaps the new rail operator should run ‘Rail Buses’ from Henfield and Steyning at those times to connect with the London trains?

This debate will be taking place at Pulborough Village Hall tomorrow night.

The debate will start about 7.25pm at the Chanctonbury County Local Committee meeting. The four county councillors for the area (Henfield, Bramber Castle, Storrington and Pulborough) want to hear your views and suggestions on saving this service.

The Head of Wastes Management will also be at the meeting to explain the background to the proposed closure.

If you want to comment on the possible closure of this Service please come along tomorrow evening!

Apart from this meeting, County Councillors Derek Deedman and Frank Wilkinson (Storrington) hope to be members of a Task Force being set up by the County Cabinet Member responsible for the Mobile Waste Service (together with representative District  and Parish Councillors) to advise him on what should now happen. Whether you can attend the meeting in Pulborough or not, please send us your views so that they may be taken into account in the Task Force deliberations.

There was an excellent presentation at yesterday’s Learning Difficulties Partnership Board on the help that is available.

Many people with learning difficulties do not know how to look after their eyes, nor whether they can get help about this.

Stephen Kill at West Sussex County Council is responsible for helping adults with learning difficulties to look after their sight and wants to do more work this year about eye care and even start to help people look after their hearing.

Although the County Council and voluntary groups know of many of the people who can be helped in this way, there could be many others for whom there are no records. If you know of a person in West Sussex with learning difficulties with sight or hearing problems who does not know what to do about them, contact Stephen Kill for advice.

Stephen can be contacted on 01903 745331, stephen.kill@westsussex.gov.uk or via his website, www.lookupinfo.org

Although there has been little support for a cycleway from Golding Barn to Small Dole, a staff member at Woods Mill feels there would be lots of support for the provision of a cycle track from Small Dole to Henfield.

Certainly the amount of traffic including heavy lorries, car transporters etc. on the road between the two Villages is horrendous and this undoubtedly deters most people from attempting to cycle the route.

Such a link would complement the footway from Woodmancote to Henfield, and encourage more people who visit Henfield from its outlying villages to walk/cycle rather than use their cars.

In addition there are a number of businesses based along the Shoreham Road between Small Dole and Henfield. There could well be interest from people who live in Small Dole or Henfield, and work in the business premises concerned, to cycle/walk to work rather than take the car if there was a safe route along the road. A positive survey of the staff at those businesses would be extremely valuable in making the case for the provision of such a foot/cycleway. Any help in organising a survey would be appreciated.

Independent Woodmancote Parish Cllr Crispin Blazeby has shown how to complain about the illegal use of Blackstone Lane by oversize lorries.

Having followed a TNT truck along Blackstone Lane which did not stop, contrary to the prohibition of all trucks over 6ft 6 inches (2 metres) wide unless they require access to properties in the Lane, he demanded an explanation from the Company concerned as to why the truck was not complying with UK law.

The Health Safety and Environmental Director of TNT Express responded by confirming that the driver was to be interviewed and reminded not to use Blackstone Lane in future. In addition the Director stated that the matter would be raised at the next Driver’s Meeting to ensure all drivers are aware of this legal compliance requirement.

This was great work by Crispin and shows what can be done to help enforce traffic restrictions on commercial users on our roads. Anyone can do this, just take a note of the vehicle registration number, name/address of the operator and date/time and contact them demanding an explanation as to why they allow the legal traffic restriction to be broken.

The Liberal Democrats Spring Conference at Liverpool last weekend backed measures to improve support for children with special educational needs (SEN).

The motion passed by conference delegates also stressed the importance of support during transition from school to adult services, whilst an amendment proposing the funding of dedicated pools of specialist teachers available to schools where the school doesn’t have the capacity to cope with a child with special needs, was only narrowly defeated.

The Lib Dem plans also include proposals to:

· Ensure the inclusion in teacher training courses of training in all types of special educational needs

· Work towards achieving and then reducing the six month target for assessment of SEN

· Ensure the needs of SEN students are included within plans to raise the education leaving age.

West Sussex Lib Dems support such a policy and want to see much more money allocated towards special needs education in the County. A move to do this and for more respite care for those with autistic children was defeated by the Conservatives at the 2008/09 Budget Council meeting last month. The Lib Dem Opposition on the Council will continue to fight for more money for this badly underfunded service.

After many years of fighting for more waiting restrictions in Charlton Street it looks as though the residents long wait is nearly over.

Letters have been delivered to local residents this week to give them a chance to comment by 21 March on the proposed waiting restrictions before the start of the formal public consultation on the plans.

The extra waiting restrictions at the White Horse Square end of Charlton Street are intended to reduce traffic congestion. This is currently caused by increased traffic generally, and by the large vehicles servicing the rear access of the Somerfield Store. In particular the new restrictions are designed to stop the damage to front walls caused by vehicles try to pass each other in the very narrow road made narrower by parked cars.

Other elements of the proposed waiting restrictions are designed to overcome visibility problems at the junction of Mill Road and Sir Georges Place and at the High Street/Horsham Road corner. In addition parking will be banned outside the Police Station for improved security and to keep the entrance free for emergency vehicles.

The Traffic Regulation Order proposed for these waiting restrictions is to be welcomed. The last time an attempt was made to improve the situation at White Horse Square end of Charlton Street it failed due to a technicality. It has taken more campaigning by local people, Derek Deedman and the Parish Council to get to this stage, and it is hoped that the latest plans will be approved in short time and implemented in the near future.

After a very long campaign by local people to stop unsuitable heavy and large vehicles using the very narrow Jarvis Lane in Steyning, a appropriate sign is now expected to be erected by early April.

A sign had been erected last year, but it was removed after the owners of the premises on which it had been placed objected. It has taken more pressure from Derek Deedman and the Parish Council for a suitable alternative site to be found, but now it has been agreed by the Local Highway Manager that a sign can be placed on a pole opposite the Vets at the High Street entrance to Jarvis Lane. The sign has been designed and an order placed for it to be manufactured and erected within one month.

Hopefully the new sign will have the desired impact and unsuitable vehicles will no longer be stuck in the Lane causing damage to cars and walls when being removed.

The five parish councils in the Bramber Castle Division will be holding their annual meetings over the next two months.

Although the meetings will be chaired by the chairman of the parish council in each case, they are not parish council meetings, they are the annual opportunity for the public to attend , make their views known on current issues concerning the parish and ask questions of the parish councillors. The parish council chairman will usually give a short report on the activities of the parish council over the last year and answer questions. There may also be a presentation on a topical subject by an invited guest which should be of interest to local people.

The meetings this year will be: -

Steyning Parish Meeting - 7.30pm, Monday 31 March at the Steyning Centre. Jennie Musgrove, from the New Steyning Health Centre Development Group, will give a short presentation on the new Health Centre and answer questions. (Note this is not a public consultation meeting.)

Ashurst Parish Meeting - 8pm, Thursday 3 April at Ashurst Village Hall. Steyning Parish Councillor, Marlene Carman, will be speaking about the Steyning & District Community Partnership and the Steyning & Ashurst Conservation Volunteers.

Woodmancote Parish Meeting - 7.45pm, Tuesday 8 April at the Parish Hall. Two of the major topics to be discussed will be traffic developments in the Blackstone area and progress on implementation of the Woodmancote Parish Plan.

Upper Beeding Parish Meeting - 7.30pm, Wednesday 23 April at the Beeding & Bramber Village Hall. The final list of speakers has yet to be finalised, but may include a representative of Viridor Credits (West Sussex) talking about the community grants available from the organisation (relating to landfill tax paid for waste going into the Small Dole site), and how they can be applied for.

Bramber Parish Meeting - 7pm, Wednesday 7 May at Beeding & Bramber Village Hall.

The Government has tried to review how elections work from the comfort of their Whitehall desks, without ever actually asking voters about their experiences of elections. The public deserves a real say.  Add your voice to the campaign.  Show your support for a debate.  A full briefing can be read on the Make Votes Count campaign website:

www.makevotescount.org.uk

Everybody can play their part in this. Here’s how:

1. Petition the Prime Minister:  http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/deskbound/
2. Pledge to take part in a Consultation  www.pledgebank.com/votingmatters
3. Write to the MP for Arundel & South Downs: www.makemyvotecount.org.uk/opus26009.html
4. Let the Ministry of Justice know you want your say: www.makemyvotecount.org.uk/opus25967.html
5. Donate to further the success of this campaign: www.makemyvotecount.org.uk/donate.html

It is about time we had a fair electoral system where the number of Members of Parliament more fairly represent the votes cast for each political party at the General Election. Since this is unlikely to result in one party having an overall majority, this would mean much stronger government as parties representing more than 50% of the voters would have to work together to pass laws. So measures such as ID cards which are being imposed by a party supported by only some 35% of voters at the last election would never be introduced.

Some people claim that the Lib Dems support a fairer voting system because they would get many more MPs’. This is true, but the number of such MPs’ would only reflect the actual votes cast for the Lib Dems - not more than their fair share. Currently there are many more Labour MPs’ than their share of the votes cast. In the past, when in power, there have been many more Conservative MPs’ than their share of the votes cast.  And that is why both Labour and the Conservatives want to retain the existing, unfair, ‘first past the post’ voting system. It is wrong and not true democracy.

Find out more about the campaign for fair votes from the link to the Make Vote Count website.

The Liberal Democrat Spring Conference yesterday backed plans to radically transform the NHS into a ‘people’s health service’ by empowering individuals and decentralising control to local communities.The measures will set the NHS free from central government control, make it accountable to the people it serves through elected health boards and deliver high quality services to all guaranteed in a ‘Patient’s Contract’.

Plans contained in the policy paper Empowerment, Fairness and Quality in Healthcare include:

·        Guaranteeing every citizen access to a high standard of core healthcare entitlements within maximum waiting times in a ‘Patient’s Contract’. To make sure that the NHS delivers, patients would have the right to receive private treatment, paid for by the NHS, if the waiting time was not met.

·        Introducing a ‘Care Guarantee’ by spending £2 billion on personal care payments for all elderly people requiring care, based on need and not their ability to pay.

·        Directly electing the majority of members of local Health Boards instead of unaccountable Primary Care Trusts, putting people in charge of decisions about their local health services.

·        Rolling out the use of direct payments and individual budgets for people with chronic, long-term conditions and mental health services.

Commenting, Liberal Democrat Shadow Health Secretary, Norman Lamb said:

“I am thrilled by this result, it is a very significant vote for the Liberal Democrats.

“The Government’s obsession with targets has distorted clinical priorities without giving specific rights to patients.

“Entitling patients to be treated in a private hospital if their wait breached a defined period would provide a real incentive for local health boards to ensure that hospitals deliver that treatment on time.”

County Councillor Derek Deedman said:

“I especially welcome the decision to directly elect people to Local Health Boards. If this system had already been in place the appalling ‘Fit for the Future’ proposals to downgrade our local hospitals, with no acceptable alternative arrangements in place would never have got off the ground.”

The Joint Health Overview Scrutiny Committee considered this evidence on the Fit for Future proposals for West Sussex and Brighton & Hove City PCTs’ at its meeting on 5 March.

The meeting was webcast so that you can see the meeting in full by clicking on to the West Sussex County Council website link to the left.

Once on the West Sussex site, click ‘Your Council’, then click ‘Meetings and Decisions’, then click ‘webcasts’, then click the webcast archive for the Joint Health Oversee Scrutiny Committee, 5 March.

Interesting viewing!

Steyning and Woodmancote Parish Councils meet next week.

Steyning meets on Monday evening, starting at 7.30pm at the Steyning Centre. There will be reports from the local Police and County and District Councillors’.

Woodmancote meets on Tuesday evening, starting at 8pm in the Parish Hall, Brighton Road, Woodmancote. Apart from reports from County and District Councillors’, Crispin Blazeby, a Woodmancote Parish Councillor, will be reporting back on progress on the outcomes from the public meeting held last month to discuss the traffic problems in Blackstone Lane.

Both meetings are open to the public.

Following complaints from people about difficulties in finding the temporary health centre, the Local Highway Manager has agreed to Derek Deedman’s request for a couple of signs to be erected directing people to the temporary Health Centre near the Steyning Centre.

They will be at the Church Street/High Street junction and at the entrance to the Fletchers Croft access road.

The County Cabinet Member for Waste Services has decided to establish a Task Force to review the County and District Councils decision to discontinue the existing mobile household waste service. This is a direct result of the concerns and opposition to this expressed by the communities and their County and District Councillors in the Chanctonbury area.

Although some parishes have responded to the proposed closure to say that they foresee no issues for their communities, others, including Steyning and Storrington, see major problems which the Cabinet Member has recognised.

The proposed Task Force Group will advise the Cabinet Member on future service provision for the affected communities. The Group is expected to comprise two County Councillors, two Horsham District Councillors and four parish council representatives, all from the Chanctonbury area. All parishes will be invited to comment on the Task Force Group findings.

It is thought that there will be three meetings of the Group, probably as follows:

• An initial meeting to be held before Easter to look at the requirements for an alternative service. Much of the feedback so far centres on green waste with some comments about bulky household items. Are those the key issues or are there others? What priorities should shape the future service?

• Two further meetings during April. The first will look at the broad range of options, assessing the pros and cons and narrowing down to a shortlist that can then be worked up for the second meeting that will form some recommendations to the Cabinet Member.

Hopefully the Task Force working in this way will ensure that the issues of key local concern are tackled and the eventual solution is acceptable to the community.

County Councillors Derek Deedman (Bramber Castle) and Frank Wilkinson (Storrington) have put their names forward to be on the Task Force Group. The names of all the finally agreed Group members will be posted on this website in due course.

Finally the Chanctonbury County Local Committee will be discussing the Mobile Waste Service at it’s meeting on 18 March, starting at 7pm in Pulborough Village Hall. Hopefully a large number of local people will be there to make their views known.

Independent inspectors have put West Sussex County Council in the top five of all English county local authorities.

Earlier this year, West Sussex was told by the Audit Commission that it had retained its top four-star status for the quality of key services.

Now the Commission has published the second element of the annual Comprehensive Performance Assessment, which all councils face.

This is known as ‘the direction of travel’ and West Sussex has been ranked as ‘performing strongly’ – the highest possible rating.

Only Kent, Leicestershire, Shropshire and Somerset County Councils have been awarded the same top-notch status.

Last year, West Sussex had four stars but was classified as ‘performing well’.

“This is very good news, but are local residents as impressed with County Council services?” Derek Deedman said.

“Although the fact that West Sussex is now independently rated as a cutting edge authority is a tribute to the hard work and dedication of all county staff, but it is the views of residents who pay the council tax bills that are more important.”

It is claimed, for instance, that the 2008/09 county budget provides for much needed growth in some services and that there are no cuts in other services. But the Lib Dem opposition on the County Council know that there will be cuts in highway services because an inadequate provision has been made for the high level of inflation that impacts on those services, so reducing the amount of highway work which can be carried out during the year. In addition some services for the elderly will be cut because the County Council will not replace the previous funding from Government, and, of course Chanctonbury residents face a cut in the Mobile Waste Service. There are probably many other smaller service cuts which have not been identified – but the people relying on those services will find out soon enough!  

Finally, whilst West Sussex may be performing strongly, is it doing so on the services people actually want?  What do local people think? Let us know.

Derek Deedman reported:-

1. Horton Landfill Site - the planning application is due to be heard by the County Planning Committee on 8 April, there will be a site visit by Committee members on 3 April. The current planning permission expires on 31 March, but no enforcement action will be taken to stop tipping whilst the current planning application remains to be determined. If it is refused, no enforcement action will be taken if there is an appeal until that is determined, which could be another 15 months.

2. The next Chanctonbury County Local Committee (CLC) meeting is on 18 March at Pulborough Village Hall, starting at 7pm. The main item on the agenda will be a discussion on the proposed closure of the Mobile Waste Service. Under the bids for a CLC grants, a decision will be made on the Upper Beeding Parish Council bid for a grant towards a new bus shelter outside the Kings Head and a Beeding & Bramber Village Hall bid for a grant towards the replacement of radiators at the Hall.

3. A response is still awaited from the Safe Routes to School Team regarding improvements to the Pound Lane/Monks Walk twitten where it goes through the Monks Walk garage compound.

4. The repair to the interactive speed limit sign opposite the Village Hall in Small Dole is awaiting a spare part. Also in Small Dole, County Officers have been requested to consult with the Parish Council on the design of the Village ‘Gateway’, planned for construction during 2008/09.

5. The reasons behind the latest electoral review of the County Council divisions, and the possible impact on the Bramber Castle Division if the Horsham District were to have an additional County Councillor.

6. The new Health Centre was due to open in Autumn 2008. A newsletter was being produced to give more details of the building and the services which might be available.

7. The interviews for the new Head of Upper Beeding Primary School, to replace the existing Head who was retiring in the Summer, would take place on 8 & 9 May.

8. Recent publicity about new incinerators in West Sussex was based on very old news regarding possible sites for waste management facilities. Nothing had changed in the past few months and arrangements to decide on the successful bid for the Materials Resource Management Contract dealing with the waste left after recycling etc were still in progress. The new contract would not be signed until 2009, and so it would not be known until later this year whether the old cement works site would be proposed to be used as part of that contract.

The Liberal Democrat proposal in parliament yesterday that would have enabled a debate today on an ‘in-out’ referendum has been blocked by Labour and Conservative MPs. It was defeated by 471 votes to 68.

There is a report on the vote on the BBC website: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7277400.stm

MPs’ from a number of parties as well as the Lib Dems, voted for the proposal. Those voting against included Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Arundel & South Downs MP, Nick Herbert.

Once again, Nick Herbert, despite his well known anti- EU views, has voted to deny local people a real vote on Europe. Remember, the Mori survey published yesterday demonstrated that by a margin of more than two to one, people prefer the Lib Dems  call for a referendum on membership of the European Union, to the Conservative proposal for a referendum only on the Lisbon Treaty.

The Liberal Democrats are stepping up their call for a referendum on whether the UK should be in or out of the European Union.

This follows the publication of a new opinion poll by Ipsos-MORI showing people strongly prefer the Liberal Democrat call for a referendum on membership of the European Union, rather than the Conservative proposal for a referendum only on the Lisbon Treaty.

Commenting on the poll, Derek Deedman, County Councillor for Bramber Castle, said,

“This opinion poll shows huge support for the Liberal Democrat view that people should be given a real say on the big issue of British membership of the EU. People clearly reject the narrow vote that the Conservatives are offering.

“I hope Nick Herbert, MP for Arundel & South Downs will look at the results of this poll and rethink his position. It’s still not too late for him to change his mind and join our campaign to give people the real choice on Europe that they want.

 “Anyone who is below the age of 51 has not had a vote on the UK being in or out of Europe. Since the last referendum held over a generation ago, the Europe we joined has changed enormously. The British people, however, have not been given a chance to vote on these changes.

“So far Labour and the Conservatives have colluded to prevent the real referendum on Europe taking place. The Conservatives are proposing a vote on the specific details of the Lisbon Treaty. The Labour Party is terrified of an open debate on the real issue and wants no referendum at all.

“It’s time for the Westminster establishment to stop being so cowardly over Europe and have an open debate with the country. The Liberal Democrats would relish the opportunity to put the case to the British people for our wholehearted commitment to the EU.”

The opinion poll, which was carried out by top polling organisation Ipsos-MORI, showed that 54% of the public favoured a referendum on EU membership, 27% were against a referendum and 19% did not express an opinion.  When only the views of those who are able to give an opinion about what sort of referendum they want are included, 58% back a referendum on EU membership (the Liberal Democrat proposal) against 28% who favour a referendum only on the Lisbon Treaty (the Conservative proposal).

Upper Beeding Parish Council meets on Tuesday, 4 March at 7.30pm at Small Dole Village Hall.  Two new parish councillors to represent the Small Dole area on the Council are expected to be co-opted to the Council at the meeting.

Ashurst Parish Council meets on Thursday, 6 March at 8pm at Ashurst Village Hall.

In both cases County and District Councillors’ for the area will be reporting on current County/District issues as they relate to the two parishes concerned, and will be available to answer questions from both parish councillors’ and public present at the meetings.

The anticipated dates for urban highway grass cutting  in Ashurst, Bramber, Small Dole, Steyning, Upper Beeding and Woodmancote have been issued for 2008.

Cut 1 - 12 March, Cut 2 - 9 April, Cut 3 - 6 May, Cut 4 - 2 June, Cut 5 - 26 June, Cut 6 - 22 July, Cut 7 - 15 August, Cut 8 - 11 September, Cut 9 - 7 October, Cut 10 - 31 October, Cut 11 - 26 November.

Variable factors such as long periods of rain (causing increased growth rates/soft ground conditions), or equipment breakdown could cause slippage to this programme. However, if the urban highway grass in your area is not cut within a few days of the above dates, please let the Highways Office at Clapham know via 01243 642105.