Earlier in the year I was told that a scheme for bollards or railings, to stop vehicles mounting the pavement to avoid waiting their turn to exit the schools, had been included in the 2008/09 minor scheme programme. I was assured that I would be contacted when the final designs for the scheme had been prepared.

The officers in charge of school travel plans have now said that whilst both the Grammar and Primary School Plans mention traffic congestion in the area, they do not mention any need for bollards or restrictions on the spur road.

I have now reminded the County Council about the promised provision of bollards or railings along the Shooting Field spur road to the school entrances

This footpath is currently being temporarily closed for emergency electrical work.

It has been agreed, however, that once the work is finished, the contractors will re-instate the path to the full width available. This would make it possible to consider making the route from Breach Close to the Grammar and Primary Schools entrance usable for cycling as well as the very many pedestrians who use it every day.

I will ask for this to be taken into account in the the school travel plans currently being revised.

Upper Beeding Primary School, Upper Beeding Baptist Church and Beeding & Bramber Village Hall have joined forces for today’s Village Fete. The profits  from this event will be divided equally between all three charities.

Mrs Connell, Teachers, Teaching Assistants, parents, friends and School Governors (including me!) are giving up some or all of this Saturday to help make the Fete a success and are manning some of the stalls.

The Fete starts at 10am and finishes at 5pm.  The weather is supposed to be good, so come along to join in the fun.  See you there!

Upper Beeding Primary School, Upper Beeding Baptist Church and Beeding & Bramber Village Hall have joined forces to have one Village Fete for the first time, and the Chanctonbury County Local Committee on Tuesday agreed to making a grant of £1000 towards the setting up costs and equipment.

The Fete is taking place on Saturday, 28 June.

I was pleased to recommend to my councillor colleages on the Chanctonbury County Local Committee that they should approve this grant, which will help towards this first joint event being a success and reduce the cost of future Village Fetes.

The Order for this temporary closure, to carry out electrical works, will come into effect on 30 June and will last for 6 months or until the proposed works are completed. It is anticipated however that the works will start on or soon after that date and will take 2 weeks to complete.

The published alternative route available for pedestrians will be via the footpath that runs behind 22 Breach Close and the exit adjacent to 14 Coxham Lane. Another option is the footpath from Tanyard Lane to Thornscroft and then the footpath from Thornscroft to Coxham Lane.

Any queries about the works to take place should be directed to Emma Osbourne, Amber Langis, telephone number (01474) 573831. Any queries about the effect of the closure on pedestrians using the footpath should be directed to Emily Delicata, WSCC, telephone number (01243) 753599.

Concern has been expressed to me about the present state of the footpath and so this is a good opportunity for a full width reinstatement of path to be carried out. I am informed that the County Council is in discussions with EDF at the moment to achieve this on completion of their work.

Following the reinstatement work hopefully more parents will use the Newmans Gardens Car Park to drop off their children to walk to school or to then walk with them to school. This would then reduce the traffic congestion at the Shooting Field entrance to the Grammar and Primary Schools.

Discussions have taken place with the two Primary Schools and the Grammar School and with the Towers on individual travel plans, but there is a good case for a joint travel plan for the area.

This is because some children go from Upper Beeding to St Andrew’s Primary School, Steyning and Steyning Grammar School, some children from Steyning go to Upper Beeding Primary School and the Towers. 

Clearly a joint plan could put forward more radical solutions for safer travel to/from the various schools, especially involving a safe crossing of the A283, which would have more chance of sucess than if just part of individual plans.

The Grammar School is going to update all the survey information within their travel plan and also survey the staff and 6th formers as it is felt that this is where their biggest problem lies. 

A meeting will be organised after half term when everyone can meet to discuss the way forward.

The consultation period will be from May to July 2008.

The County Policy & Resources Select Committee on Wednesday (7th) at County Hall will be considering the methods used in preparing the draft Strategy, whether additional groups might be engaged in the preparation of the Strategy work and how to promote the consultation in local communities.

The Strategy will be for all the population, not just those who have been traditionally been supported because they have been seen to have the highest needs. It should: -

aim to build strong and cohesive communities where individuals feel included and recognise their responsibilities;

assist individuals and communities to access services and opportunities with minimal intervention; and

encourage service providers to work as partners in focusing needs and aspirations of people, ensuring that there are high quality affordable services, and improving information provision from a variety of sources including through the web, so people can identify, and take, opportunities and choices.

I will be suggesting that Parish Councils should be included in the consultation, and will be reporting on this the Upper Beeding and Bramber Parish Council meetings this week.

A summary of the Framework document is available from the County Council at:

www.westsussex.gov.uk/scs

Please read the Framework, consider the information it presents, and then respond to the questions at the end of the document.

The red surfacing works outside Upper Beeding Primary School, to complete the Safer Routes Scheme for the School, due to have been carried out this month, have been delayed.

The work is now scheduled to be done during June/July so hopefully by then the works should be complete.

The final improvements to the footpath from Pound Lane to Monks Walk, with work to the part through the Monks Walk garage compound are still, however, outstanding, and action on this is being pursued.

The survey, carried out by the County Council, gave a result of only 12.4% of the national criteria, similar to the previous survey, despite increasing traffic on the road.

In the School Crossing Patrol Officer’s view, the physical layout of two junctions and vehicles going and coming from all directions, coupled with narrow roads and resident’s parking causes the majority of the problems and gridlock from around 0830 to 0840.

The majority of people either cross further along Shooting Field if they live in that direction or across Shooting Field adjacent to Middle Mead if they live there. They tend to cross in between stationary vehicles most of the time. Whilst not immediately dangerous there is potential for a real problem to occur.

The Officer considered that even if a School Crossing Patrol (SCP) was funded by a sponsor, such a SCP would find it extremely difficult to control the gridlock situation and make it safer for children to cross.

It has been suggested that, as a temporary measure, pending the introduction of a 20 mph zone outside the School (which is now likely to be ranked as a high priority), a keep clear area could be set up on Shooting Field adjacent to the school side of Middle Mead. This would have the advantage of creating an artificial gap in the traffic during the busiest times when vehicles are largely at a standstill in any event. The local Highways Office has been requested to consider this suggestion.

Due to the resignation of one of the local education authority representatives on the Governing Body there is a vacancy to be filled.

If you live in the Upper Beeding/Bramber/Steyning/Small Dole area, have an interest in primary school education and feel you could make a contribution to the community as a governor, please contact Derek Deedman for a discussion about the role and application form.

In response to concerns of local residents the County Safe Routes to School Team is investigating ways to stop car drivers mounting the kerb when leaving the school grounds on this access road to the Steyning Grammar and Primary Schools

These drivers are so impatient that they are not willing to wait for a gap in the traffic entering the access road and so drive up on to the kerb, apparently not caring whether they hit a child on the pavement. The options to prevent this are having bollards or railings along the exiting side of the spur road.

One consideration is that there are a number of driveways so railings would stop and start, whilst bollards could be knocked down or a child trip over one.

At this stage no detailed plans have been drawn up but obviously both options will be investigated and local residents and the two schools consulted on the final proposals.

Brighton & Hove Bus Services are having problems with this Service, in that it now carries many schoolchildren and also becomes delayed in the Shoreham area due to heavy traffic on certain days. This has led to its next journey at 8.38am from Steyning to Shoreham, Brighton and Rottingdean running late, sometimes by 15 minutes or more.  This return journey passes through Shoreham at 9.00am so is the first journey that Countycard holders can use to travel free, which because it is now late has led to a number of complaints and the bus becoming further delayed.

As an experiment at the beginning of January the route was altered to operate from Bramber via the Steyning by-pass, Horsham Road to drop off at Steyning Grammar School and then head straight back into Brighton.  This did improve timekeeping, but Brighton & Hove then received a complaint that people who work in Steyning were now reaching the High Street that much later, and were late for work. Brighton & Hove have therefore stopped the experiment and the bus now runs its normal route.

However, Brighton & Hove consider the result of the experimental route had shown that it did successfully improve reliability and was beneficial to a far greater number of people than were inconvenienced.  The Bus Company will therefore be officially altering the route of this journey from the next timetable change on 7 April.

Whilst this proposed change is understood surely the better answer is to run the Service earlier so that no one is inconvenienced? Apart from this change there is also the need to see that the return times of the 2A throughout the day are changed, to enable a connection with the 100 service in Upper Beeding for travellers from Henfield and Small Dole who wish to go to/from Shoreham and Worthing.

Works, to remove the grass verge and re-surface the footway from the Tanyard Lane junction passed Thornscroft to where the footway was improved last year, is programmed to be carried out over the Easter holidays.

Apart from making it much easier to walk on this stretch of footway, the removal of the grass verge will almost double the walking width and make it much safer for children walking to/from school. In addition it will be much better and safer for the large groups of children walking during the day between the Church Street and Shooting Field sections of the Grammar School.

Upper Beeding

Following the improvements to the pathway from Pound Lane to Monks Walk and the access to the pathway in Pound Lane, Derek Deedman asked for a survey to be carried out on the possiblilty of the provision of a School Crossing Patrol. Such a provision would encourage more children to walk to/from school from the Newland Road area of the Village.

Sadly from the survey the number of people/traffic at site met only 6.2% of the national criteria for a School Crossing Patrol to be provided.

However a Patrol could be provided by the County Council if the wages (costing some £2,500 pa) were to be met by a sponsor such as a local business, the Parish Council or the Primary School. The County would normally provide the uniform, equipment and training involved, but if the Patrol was subsequently withdrawn the sponsor would be responsible for any redundancy payments.

Derek will be raising the possibility of funding such a Patrol with interested parties in the near future.

Steyning

With the Travel Plan for St Andrew’s Primary School currently being revised, Derek Deedman has asked the School Crossing Patrol Officer to carry out a survey for the provision of a Patrol on Shooting Field at Middle Mead.

The last survey at this site in 2005 produced a figure of only 32.8% of the national criteria, but with traffic on the roads continuing to increase, especially at this dangerous site, Derek hopes that a new survey might produce a higher figure to justify the provision of a fully county funded Patrol.

Derek Deedman reported the following to the Parish Council meeting on 4 December: -
1. The next Chanctonbury County Local Committee meeting on 22 January 2008 will be at the Penfold Hall, Steyning, starting at 2pm to include a presentation/consultation by the Health Centre Development Group on the proposals for the services etc to be based/available at the new Steyning Health Centre.
2. The County Members seminar on 28 November on the next stage of the Fundamental Service Review (FSR3) of County Council services had highlighted the significant reduction in chief officer posts from April 08, with further reductions in April 09, and the major change in culture for the County to become completely customer focussed. It is anticipated that this will lead to very large cost savings in County Council expenditure.
3. The planning application to extend the life of the Horton Landfill Site at Small Dole had not been considered by the County Planning Committee on 4 December. The next meeting is on 15 January 2008, by which time all the queries from both county officers and the Small Dole Action Group should have been answered so that a decision could be made to either approve or refuse the application. With the current planning permission running out on 31 March 2008 a decision must be made soon.
4. Viridor Credits, West Sussex will be meeting on 6 December when the Committee will be considering a grant application for a Skateboard site at Small Dole.
5. The new material recycling facility (MRF) being constructed at Ford will not now be operational until October 2008. When completed this will enable waste collection authorities such as Horsham District Council to introduce mixed kerbside collections rather than the current separate bins and also enable other material such as glass to be collected in this way rather than having to be taken to a household waste recycling site. This should improve recycling rates.
6. The next full County Council meeting on 14 December will be considering it’s response to the post office closure proposals.
7. As part of the safe routes to school improvements being introduced for the Upper Beeding Primary School, the County School Crossing Patrol Officer will be carrying out a survey just before or after Christmas to enable consideration to be given to the provision of a School Crossing Patrol at the Pound Lane/Hyde Square junction. If the results do not meet the national criteria then a voluntary patrol could be considered with the County Council meeting the cost of training, uniform and equipment. If such a volunteer was unpaid the School would need to carry out the CRB checks, if paid for from sponsorship (School, local companies, parish council etc) then the County would carry out the CRB checks.
8. The new yellow lines painted along School Road related to the safe route to school work, but unfortunately had been painted before the required Traffic Regulation Order had been published, let alone approved. They would therefore have to be removed as they cannot legally be enforced and so were causing confusion.