I attended the County Council Sketch Plan Panel meeting earlier today to consider the proposed plans for the new Boarding House.

The presentation from the architects showed that the original plans for a four storey building have now been revised to a three storey building incorporating a replacement kitchen and dining facilities. The new building would be constructed further back on the site and Fletchers Croft would remain as at present.

It was confirmed to me that the present hard play area was the most likely site for the contractors works area whilst the new building was being constructed. This is good news as this would mean that no part of the Fletchers Croft car park would be needed. I also stressed that construction traffic should not use Church Street and this was supported by the Head Teacher who was also at the meeting.

I raised the concern that because of planning delays the new Boarding House would not be ready for use until January 2011, four months later than originally planned. Since the new  boarders could not start at the beginning of the school year this means that it is unlikely that it will be in full occupancy until September 2011. The Head Teacher said that although this was not good news the Governors were working to make the best of the situation. I suggested that the planning schedule should be reduced to bring forward the building works, but although this may be possible it will depend on whether objections are made when the plans are published.

I welcomed the consideration being given to the use of solar water heating which would give energy saving benefits and other environmentally sustainable measures which would reduce the impact on the environment.

Clearly this new Boarding House will enable the School to expand the boarding facilities to meet the high demand for such plac

Additional boarders would also make a contribution towards the commercial viability of the shopping facilities in the High Street. During school holidays the additional accommodation could also be considered for use by other users of school facilities. And, with Steyning being a gateway to the new South Downs National Park in the future, the additional accomodation could well make a contribution towards the possible demand from visitors to the Park.

The Sketch Plan Panel approved the plans for submission to County Planning.

The hall was full at yesterday evening’s information meeting at Upper Beeding Primary School.

There will be a full report in the West Sussex County Times, but it was clear that although there was probably a majority of people supporting the provision of a Childrens & Family Centre, a large number of people were against the use of the old school building in Church Lane on safety from traffic and car parking grounds. These were the concerns that I had expected to be raised, but unfortunately the County Council officers making the presentation were not able to address these at the meeting.

At the break in the meeting for tea after nearly two hours of questions and answers (during which time it had not been possible to make the full presentation of information about the services which would be available at and from the Centre), it was obvious that the County Officers will have to reconsider the car parking and traffic access proposals for the Centre. Following a separate discussion during the break with the Head Teacher, the Chair of the School Governing Body, the Vice Chairman of the Parish Council and the County Officers, it was agreed that a further public meeting should be organised to take place before half-term (therefore within the next four weeks) to discuss revised traffic and car parking proposals. It could well be that the opportunity would be taken to also present at that meeting the full information about the use of proposed Children & Family Centre. Arrangements will be made to invite all Upper Beeding residents to this proposed public meeting. This was announced to the meeting which was then closed at about 9.30pm.

I remain fully supportive of the Children & Family Centre proposal, as there is a clear and identified need for the services which would be available to local parents in Upper Beeding with children under five years old.  I consider that the use of the old school building for the Centre would give it a new lease of life and enable it it continue to be used for the chidren of Upper Beeding for the forseeable future. The transfer of the building from the Upper Beeding Primary School would enable the School to proceed in the main buildings with it’s developing vision of education in the 21st century and the School’s place in the community within existing resources.

It would be a tragedy if this vital service for the people of Upper Beeding does not proceed.  An answer must be found to the safety from traffic and car parking concerns to enable the whole community to support the new Centre, and I am now hopeful, from the ideas being discussed after the meeting, that acceptable proposals will have been developed in time to be presented to  the next public meeting.

I attended the Steyning Leisure Centre open day on Sunday and was surprised to see the mobile skateboarding site set up in the car park.

On talking to Graeme Ebelewicz from Horsham District Council, who was in charge of the site, I learned that despite of the late notice of the mobile site visiting Steyning there had been a small number of younger children using the equipment.

To help give more publicity to visits to the Steyning and Upper Beeding area in future, I am making a link to the Horsham Skate Park website (www.horshamskatepark.co.uk) from this site for people to click onto for regular information.

This took place yesterday evening and was well attended by local people keen to hear about the activities of the Parish Council in the last year. I was also present at the local County Councillor, but no District Councillors attended.

In addition people listened to speeches from the new Rector of St Peter’s Church, Rev’d John Challis, and Mandy Johannson, who had become the new Head of Upper Beeding Primary School in January. They both outlined their life experience before coming to Upper Beeding and their hopes for the future for the Church and School respectively in the community.

The Neighbourhood Wardens and Police Community Support Officer also reported back on their activities and intentions over the next few months.

Finally there was a presentation on the joint community project between the Upper Beeding Baptist Church and the Primary School in working with a village in Kenya to help them to build a new school and provide other much needed facilities for that poor part of the World.

Turning to the report on the Parish Council activities, questions were answered about the future of the Sports Hall, the lack of street cleaning by Horsham District Council, when the Small Dole Recreation Ground will be improved, the date of the soon to be constructed skateboard park in Small Dole, car parking in Upper Beeding High Street, the new South Downs National Park and the proposed Children & Families Centre at the old Primary School Building in Church Lane. I contributed to the debate on some of these issues where they related to the County Council and reminded the audience that there will be a public meeting about the new Children & Families Centre in the Primary School Hall at 7.00pm on Tuesday, 28 April.

The County Council first attended this column back in October last year as an emergency.  At that point it had two options- remove the cable from the column or ideally, if the security of the cable could be retained, ’stump’ it, that is retain the cable in the lower half of the column.  By doing this around £500 is saved in connection fees when the new column is eventually reconnected.

Because of the decorative nature of the columns in the high street, this has led to some delay in getting the new column ready for connection.  In view of this, before Easter, the Street Lighting Officer instructed the contractor to install standard equipment for the time being and to get the column connected again. The contractor will then be instructed to go back and fit the decorative kits and correct lantern when the Council has a connection date from EDF .  

Clearly the action taken was correct, but because neither the Parish Council nor I were kept informed, this has upset local residents who think the Council is taking away their decorative equipment. I have stressed to the officers that in similar instances in future they should keep me up-to date with what is going on so that I can keep local people informed via this website. 

Drainage problems at the green triangle have been reported to me and I asked the Highway Officer to investigate the situation.

He has now inspected the carriageway gullies and noted that the side-inlet gully adjacent to No 12 Shooting Field has been damaged by over-run by a heavy vehicle and is now flush with the c/way surface and ineffective.

An order has been placed with the County contractor to reconstruct the gully at the correct level and raise the kerbs either side of the gully.

Liberal Democrats in West Sussex have stepped up their call for a new spur line linking the Arun Valley Line with the West Coastway Line to go ahead. They have also backed proposals that will make it more likely that train companies will invest in badly needed improvements.

Dr Nigel Dennis, Liberal Democrat County Council spokesman on Transport, said, “The link between the Arun Valley and the West Coastway line, known as the Arundel chord, would provide an alternative route between London and Brighton via Worthing. It is a relatively low cost scheme that would enable direct services from the Arun Valley to Worthing and Brighton and would facilitate a number of journeys that are currently difficult by public transport such as Horsham to Shoreham and Billingshurst to Brighton. It would also overcome the bottleneck on the Brighton main line south of Three Bridges by allowing services from the Worthing area to Gatwick and London to use the less congested Arun Valley line.”

Nigel raised this matter at the County Council meeting in March and was supported by the Cabinet Member for Strategic Planning and Highways.

Morwen Millson, Leader of the Liberal Democrats on the County Council, called for the rail improvement in West Sussex after business regulator, the Competition Commission, said the Government should allow train companies to have longer periods of time to run services.

 “Currently, rail franchises are in place for an average of just seven years,” said Morwen. “This is too short for a company to make long term investment decisions. If, subject to the company reaching performance targets, the length of the franchise was extended, instead of just changing the uniforms and station paintwork, we could expect to see more innovation. It would be fantastic to see fast trains running from Horsham on the Dorking line too, but companies won’t make the necessary investment without a longer pay back period.”

“Liberal Democrats in Parliament have been calling for this for some time and I hope that the Labour Government can be persuaded to follow our call.”

The new service started today, 20 April and I was delighted to see the first bus on it’s way back to Worthing going along the Bypass at 8.25am this morning.

Later I joined Jackie Campbell, Chairman of Steyning Parish Council to catch the bus at the Clock Tower to go to Henfield where it was welcomed by the Chairman of Henfield Parish Council to give more publicity to the new service.  It was great to be joined by a large crowd of people at Bramber who were returning to Henfield, having walked to Bramber earlier.

I was pleased to be invited once again to the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Friends of St Mary’s last Saturday afternoon.  This AGM took place as St. Mary’s House celebrated 25 years since Peter Thorogood and Roger Linton rescued the dilapidated house that St. Mary’s had become by 1984.

I had been invited as the local County Councillor, but as Chairman of the West Sussex Committee of Viridor Credits I had been able to help secure previous grants towards the Music Room windows and roof in past years as apart of the restoration work by Peter and Roger with help, both financial and labour, from the Friends of St. Mary’s.

St. Mary’s House and Gardens is a major local attraction and I have added a link to it’s website under ‘Tourism’ to enable visitors to this site to read about the current attraction of the House and the concerts and events which will be taking place there during the year.

The House is also licenced for Civil Marriages. Go to the link to read all about St Mary’s House. And if you live in Worthing or Lancing you can now visit on Thursdays using the new Compass Travel 106 bus which goes from Worthing Pier to Henfield every two hours, Monday to Saturday.

Following emails and a meeting with the Local Highway Manager action has now been promised to Derek Deedman in these areas: -

Castle Lane, section between Goring Road and the A283, Steyning Bypass

This short section of lane is now included in the surface dressing programme for this year and will be done sometime this summer. It has already been patched ready for this.

Peppers Lane, Ashurst

This rural lane in Ashurst which is often used a a rat-run has been inspected and a trial of a commercial process will take place along a short length of it soon to see if it is the right treatment for the edge erosion problem. If it is the Highways Office will draw up a programme.

St Cuthmans Road, Steyning

The ‘grass’ verges in this narrow road have now been inspected and identified for some verge hardening later in the year. So by the time winter returns the muddy state of these verges should be a memory of the past!

A283 Steyning Bypass west of Canons Way junction

The trees growing in the ditch, which are obscuring the view of fast traffic on the Bypass heading south for traffic wishing to turn right out of the Canons Way junction, will now be cut back to improve the safety for such emerging traffic.

High Street, Steyning - proposed 20 MPH Speed Limit

All the comments Derek Deedman has received regarding the proposed 20mph speed limit in Steyning and in particular the comments relating to ‘Ashburton’ have been recorded. Following a site visit by Highways Officers to investigate the exit from Ashburton, there is little that can be done at present to improve the situation. The Local Traffic Engineer commented that the speed of vehicles in both directions was quite low and in his opinion would not cause any issue to motorists trying to exit the driveway of Ashburton. He accepts, however that this might be different during the rush hour.

Speed data has been collected at this location and compliance with the speed limit is very good. The Local traffic Engineer considers that he will need to look at this particular problem when the 20mph limit is considered as an area of high concern and see if any form of traffic calming to address the problem can be incorporated within the proposed limit/zone.

The Upper Beeding Annual Parish Meeting takes place next Wednesday, 22 April at the Beeding & Bramber Village Hall in the High Street, Upper Beeding.

There will be reports by the various Parish Council Committee Chairmen, a number of presentations and the County & District Councillors will also be present.

This annual meeting of all parishers (this is not a parish council meeting although it is chaired by the Parish Council Chairman), takes place at 7.45 pm on Tuesday, 14 April at the Parish Hall, Brighton Road, Woodmancote.

Local County and District Councillors will be attending the meeting and, along with parish councillors, will answer questions from Woodmancote electors on local matters.

I attended the County Multi-agency Flooding Group on Thursday and raised the Parish Council’s concern at the lack of details regarding the emergency plans for dealing with any possible overflowing of the Adur at Beeding Bridge.

I was very pleased as a representative of the Steyning & District Community Partnership to attend the launch yesterday of five new buses by Compass Travel for this service.

The launch at Pulborough celebrated the investment of £500,000 by Compass Travel in the new buses on retaining the contract with the County Council to provide the service, which operates hourly between Burgess Hill and Horsham from Monday to Saturday.

The service has gone from strength to strength to since it was first introduced to connect the rural towns and villages in this part of West Sussex, with the number of passengers continuing to grow each year.

The new buses will be environmentally friendly, attractive and comfortable to use.

This improved cross country service, together with the new two hourly direct 106 bus service from Henfield to Worthing via Upper Beeding and Steyning starting on 20 April,  represents a major improvement to public transport for this area.

The next Upper Beeding Parish Council meeting is tonight at 7.30pm at the Beeding & Bramber Village Hall.

A number of items will be discussed, including the possible lease of land for bike ramps off the Bostal and obstruction problems for buses in the High Street caused by vehicles parking on both sides of the road in places - particularly at the Village Hall and the Kings Head.  Whilst the police can be called if there is a vehicle causing a highway obstruction in the High Street, longer term the only permanent solution is additional parking restrictions (yellow lines).

The Old School Building at Upper Beeding Primary School has been chosen as the location for a new Children’s Centre for this part of West Sussex. Children’s Centres are part of a national initiative to promote practical support to families by the provision of a range of services within easy reach of the local community.

The Centre at Upper Beeding is planned to open in January 2010 and provide the following services to families in the Upper Beeding & Steyning area: -

* a welcome area and coffee bar where mothers, toddlers and older members of the community can meet socially,

* a free internet access service so that families without their own computers can access on-line services,

* a play area for young children,

* an information officer, available to provide information on local services,

* a toy exchange, and

* a private office where expectant mothers can meetr with a midwife.

The Children’s Centre will be separate from the Primary School and accessed via Church Lane, and will support families with children from 0 - 5 years old.

All members of the local community are invited to a meeting with County Council officers at 7pm on 28 April at Upper Beeding Primary School to hear further about the Children’s Centre and to make their views known.

Whilst I welcome the proposed Children’s Centre to serve the Upper Beeding & Steyning area I am particularly concerned about traffic and the possible lack of sufficient car parking facilities. There is already insufficient parking available in Church Lane, and there may well be a need for safety improvements to address the possible extra car traffic in this narrow, one way road used by many children going to/from School. 

It is really great news that after some sixty years a National Park has at last been achieved for the South Downs!

It is a pity that the urban areas of Steyning, Bramber and Upper Beeding have been excluded whilst Lewes and Ditchling have been included, as this will probably result in development pressure in the future. However, being right on the doorstep of the National Park should be good news for our local High Streets and leisure businesses.

It is sad that the opponents of the new Park are still objecting when the vast majority of  residents support the decision. Hopefully West Sussex County Council Tories will not waste yet more of our council tax on legal action to try to have the decision overturned.

I find it difficult to understand Tory MPs comments that the decision has been rushed - is sixty years not long enough…… And to claim the new National Park Authority will not be democratically accountable really takes the biscuit, as it will be as democratic as the current South Downs Joint Committee and the Sussex Police Authority. In my submission on the National Park proposals I called for the Authority to be directly elected but although this has been ignored at least two thirds of the members will be accountable via our local councils.

It has been confirmed that the Horsham Mobile Waste operation (The Gobbler) is to continue in its present form until July.

The joint County/District/parish Task and Finish working group will be meeting again soon to update all involved in the service on what will happen after July.