Parish Clerk

Many thanks to all those who came along and used the mobile waste facility at the Rawson Hall on Sunday. It was a very successful event and will ensure that the Parish Council can continue to fund it in future years.

JEREMYS LANE, COLWOOD LANE AND SPRONKETTS LANE

The use of Jeremys Lane, Bolney from the junction with Colwood Lane to the junction with Brighton Road/London Road and Colwood Lane, from the junction with Cross Colwood Lane to the junction with Jeremys Lane is temporarily prohibited from 30/04/19 at 08:00 until 01/05/19 at 18:00.

The use of Spronketts Lane, Bolney from junction with A272 Cowfold Road to the junction with Long House Lane is temporarily prohibited from 30/04/19 at 08:00 until 01/05/19 at 18:00

Restrictions only in place day-time between 08:00 – 18:00. This is for carriageway surface dressing. Emergency vehicle, residential and pedestrian access will be maintained at all times

Any queries about the effect of the closure on traffic using the highway please contact West Sussex County Council on 01243 642105

Any queries about the works please contact Balfour Beatty – 01243 642105

Healthwatch East Sussex, along with the Healthwatch in West Sussex, Brighton and Surrey are launching a series of activities to encourage people to have their say about the future of the NHS in our area.

Healthwatch is the independent health and care champion. Through ‘What would you do?’ they will seek to reach as many people, groups, and communities as possible to get feedback on how local NHS services should change.

The Government is investing £20 billion a year in the NHS as part of the NHS Long Term Plan.

Local organisations have now been asked to work together, to develop their own plans, which will set out how the national plan will work across local areas.

The public are being asked for their views about how health and care services could be improved. They will also be asked to share their ideas on how people can live healthier lives and what improvements they think could be made to help people access services quickly.

For more information and to complete the survey visit: www.healthwatch.co.uk/what-would-you-do

The deadline for completion of the survey is 30^th April 2019.

A community initiative is currently under way to obtain fast broadband for Bolney, Hickstead and the surrounding areas. Such efforts are supported and subsidised by the government, with the aim of providing unlimited broadband for speeds up to 100 MBPS. The scheme is only possible if there is sufficient interest; the more users who become involved, the cheaper it will become. The community group is currently in discussion with YONET Telecom which offers access to the scheme. Any residents and businesses interested in higher speeds can register their interest on the YONET website, via the following link:https://www.yonet-telecom.com/ultrafast-community-broadband
The Parish Council supports this initiative, while awaiting the outcome of the project led by Mid Sussex District Council to install a fast broadband “spine”.

Footpath 19Bo from the church to the roundabout on the old London Road will be closed for 21 days from 8th April. Further details can be found in the link below.

The Calor Rural Community Fund has returned for 2019, bigger and better than before!

Home energy provider, Calor, is offering deserving community projects the chance to win a total of 21 grants, with prize pots ranging from £1,000 to £5,000.

Rural communities off the mains gas grid can now submit their projects for funding, with previous winners including playground and village hall refurbishments, instruments for music banks and equipment for sports clubs.

Now, Calor is encouraging anyone who thinks their project may be eligible to come forward and submit an application for consideration to this year’s fund.

Please find the Calor Rural Community Fund leaflet below. 

Download the leaflet

This year’s Calor Rural Community Fund is now open for applications and will close on 29^th April 2019. To find out how you can take part, please visit our Calor Rural Community Fund website.

There is currently some work being done on the land north of Ryecroft Road which has caused some concern to residents. This was originally due to be done in January but the contractor KPS couldn’t accommodate the dates required so are carrying out some of the work this week and will then do a couple more days in January. They won’t be working beyond tomorrow and won’t return until after the new year.

They are retaining the boundary trees along London Road and Ryecroft Road as well as the footpath. They are seeking to cut back the self-seeded whips, the self-seeded silver birch, scrub and growth. They are not looking to remove any trees of merit which form part of the boundary to the footpath Ryecroft Road, or London Road, or substantial specimens.

This land was not allocated in the Neighbourhood Plan but was also not available at the time so couldn’t be allocated. Further sites in Mid Sussex are required to meet housing numbers in the Mid Sussex District Plan so various additional sites will need to be considered across the district. The developer Devine Homes is looking at this site and is in consultation with the Parish Council at the moment. It is still at an early stage and there is no planning application.

Daniel Corcoran is the Planning Manager at Devine Homes. He has been in Bolney this morning and spoken to a few walkers about the work there and he will also be at the site some time tomorrow morning. He is very happy to speak to any residents who have questions and can be contacted on 01737 274834 or 07957 760737.

Residents are welcome to attend parish council and planning meetings and can ask a question prior to the start of the meeting in the public session. Our next meeting is this evening at 8pm at The Rawson Hall

If you have a watercourse, ditch, stream, river or culvert on or next to your land you are known as a ‘riparian owner’. Riparian owners are responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of watercourses on their land to ensure that they are not a flood risk to other people or property.
Well maintained watercourses can significantly benefit the local community by reducing flood risk and creating habitats for wildlife.
The riparian responsibilities for landowners under law are to:
* Ensure the flow of water is not obstructed or polluted
* Maintain the bottom and sides of the watercourse (including managing any trees and vegetation growing on the banks)
* Remove any obstructions, such as rubbish, fallen branches or garden waste
* Maintain any structures (such as trash screens, culverts, weirs and mill gates) on it.

WSCC has updated some helpful information to guide landowners and community groups around this subject.  Keeping our watercourses well maintained benefits the community as a whole. If an area experiences constant flooding, this becomes a nuisance to the community, can restrict access to property, makes everyday living difficult and results in considerable expense and inconvenience for those that have been flooded.

You can find more information here: Ditch the problem