4 November 2022

Please note: this news article is in our archive. Articles were correct at time of publication, but should not be relied on for accuracy after the passage of time.

Cost of Living Support and Warmer Homes Programme

(Excerpt Taken from MSDC PR 2471)

Mid Sussex District residents are asked to check if they are eligible to receive a new grant to help them heat their homes, lower their carbon emissions, and save money on their fuel bills.

In partnership with other Councils Mid Sussex District Council has secured funding from the Government to improve the energy efficiency of eligible homes. Warmer Homes funding is available until March 2023, to install the following energy efficiency measures:

• Insulation
• solar PV panels
• air source heat pumps

Up to £25,000 is available per home if you meet the following criteria:

• Your home has an EPC rating of E, F or G (limited funding is available for EPC D rated properties).

And either:

• ​You have a total household annual income of £30,000 or less (before housing costs/bills)

Or:

• You receive a means-tested benefit

 

Residents can check the EPC rating of their home online at www.gov.uk/find-energy-certificate

This funding is available to owner occupiers and those living in privately rented homes on a first-come, first served basis and it only takes 5 minutes to make an application.

Councillor Norman Webster, Mid Sussex District Council Cabinet Member for Community said:

“With energy bills almost tripling in just one year, our residents are already being affected by the growing cost of living crisis, and the colder winter months are fast approaching.

“This Warmer Homes Programme can offer vital energy efficiency improvements for those on low incomes. The range of measures available can help people to stay warmer, reduce their energy use and therefore lower bills whilst also making their homes greener by cutting carbon emissions.”

 

Councillor Jonathan Ash-Edwards, Leader of Mid Sussex District Council, said:

“The Council is delighted to have successfully secured this funding to help support many of our residents during this challenging time. I would encourage as many local people as possible to check if they are eligible, either by visiting the Warmer Homes website or calling the freephone number provided and reap the benefits of this scheme without delay.“

For further information about the programme and to apply online, residents should visit the Warmer Homes website: www.warmerhomes.org.uk/programme and click ‘apply now’ or email: retrofit@warmerhomes.org.uk

Alternatively, call 0800 038 5737 (freephone) Monday – Friday during office hours to find out more and apply by phone.

 

Gatwick Airport FASI-S Parish Council Stakeholder Briefing Sessions December 2022

(Received by FASI-S Project Team at Gatwick Airport)

In October 2018, following the publication of the Government and CAA co-sponsored Airspace Modernisation Strategy, Gatwick Airport Limited initiated a project to redesign its departure and arrival routes and procedures under the auspices of the Future Airspace Strategy Implementation – South (FASI-S) Airspace Change programme.

The development of this airspace change project is following the CAA’s CAP 1616 Airspace Change Process and has consequently up to this point focused engagement with a targeted group of stakeholders.  These included local government (some parish, borough, district and county councils) as well as key local environmental and community noise action groups.

The stakeholders already involved have been engaged throughout the airspace change process so far, contributing both to the Define Stage (Stage 1) and the current Develop and Assess Stage (Stage 2).

While the regulatory process does not require wider engagement at this stage we are expanding the range of stakeholders involved to include a broader range of parish council representation at the point the airspace design options being created are more mature and a meaningful shortlist of viable options is available to help simplify the process and make the potential impact clearer to the local communities, and you their representatives.

This process is under way now, with the anticipated final engagement, detailing the outcomes of ‘Design Principle Evaluation’ and progress of ‘Initial Options Appraisal’, being planned for January 2023. We should be clear that this is still relatively early in the process and well ahead of a full public consultation that will take place much later in Stage 3 but the sessions we have planned should help you to be as well informed as possible, which we believe will be helpful to you given the relatively complex nature of the process and the project itself.

We invited 75 of our nearest parish councils to two Parish Council Stakeholder briefing sessions on 5^th and 6^th October, where we explained the progress of this airspace change to date and updated on the Comprehensive List of Options we have developed as well as provided an overview of the Design Principle Evaluation and Initial Options Appraisal processes, so that you, the parish council stakeholders, could join and participate in the upcoming engagement sessions that we plan to schedule early next year.

In order to reach as many of you as possible we have decided to hold two further briefings.  The planned agenda and content in these sessions will be the same as the October sessions.

The briefings will be conducted as a virtual meetings using the Microsoft Teams application. Two virtual meetings are planned for:

• 17:30 to 19:30 on 5^th December
• 10:30 to 12:30 on 9^th December

Please email LGWairspace.FASIS@gatwickairport.com to confirm your intention to participate in one of the two virtual meetings by 30 November. The link to join the online briefing will be circulated the day prior to the meeting to all registered attendees.

EGBA Newsletter November 2022

Please follow this hyperlink to access:-  https://mailchi.mp/eeed9085029c/egba-newsletter-november-2022?e=8817e537ec 

 

Planning Application & Decisions

 

 

Thanks a Tonne – Council praises recyclers

(Excerpt Taken from MSDC PR 2472)

Mid Sussex District Council has thanked the residents taking part in a new food waste collection trial after they recycled more than 29,000 Kilograms (29 Tonnes) of food in the first four weeks.

Residents in the trial areas have embraced the new collection system by placing any food waste they have into a dedicated food waste bin, which is collected from the kerbside every week.

The aim of the trial is to work with residents to boost recycling and reduce the amount of general waste produced. If participants continue to recycle food at the current rate, then potentially over 377,000 Kilograms (377 Tonnes) of food will be removed the rubbish in the trial area and recycled over the course of a year.

Mid Sussex residents in parts of Ashurst Wood, Burgess Hill and Lindfield have been selected to take part in the new waste collection trial. These areas have been chosen because they include a mix of housing types and locations that ensure the trial is representative of the whole of Mid Sussex. The trial will enable Mid Sussex District Council and West Sussex County Council to assess the feasibility of rolling out a similar service across the whole of Mid Sussex.
Councillor John Belsey, Deputy Leader of Mid Sussex District Council said:

“I want to say a huge thank you to everyone who is working with us to trial this new collection system and reduce the amount of food that goes in our general waste bins.

“By collecting our food waste separately we can ensure it is being put to good use. Once collected, it’s taken to a specialist facility and placed in an anaerobic digester, which uses the gas that is produced when the food breaks down to generate energy and turns the left-over material into a soil fertiliser.

“A lorry load of food waste can generate enough renewable energy to power 20,000 televisions for an hour, so recycling it really can make a big difference to our long-term sustainability.

Councillor Deborah Urquhart, West Sussex County Council Cabinet Member for Environment and Climate Change said:

“Residents have done a tremendous job of recycling their food waste so far and I would like to thank each and every one of them sincerely for their efforts.

“We’ve already received lots of valuable feedback from residents and we will continue to take it all on board as the trial progresses. Your experiences will help us to provide a greener service in the future, with improved recycling rates.”

 

Building Connections

The Building Connections project aims to support young people age 16-25 in to opportunities, it will do this by supporting with things like C.V writing, short courses to pad the C.V, interview skills, volunteer work experience and mentoring. Please do share the flyers with any of your contacts that are working with young people age 16-25.

 

 

Meridian Line Newsletter

Monday 3^rd October was a special day – our 23rd annual Charity Golf Day, at Sweetwoods Park Golf Club.  18 teams entered and we were fortunate to have good weather. The day started with players being served a bacon roll with coffee or tea and after the game we all enjoyed a delicious 2-course buffet lunch.  For the first time ever we had a Shot Gun start – each team goes to their allocated starting hole and all teams start playing at 9:15am.

Chief organiser was Roger Lewis, who said afterwards “I had a great team of supporters, including my wife Dianne who ran the Registration Desk.  Barry Byrne organised 4-person Green Fee vouchers from 12 golf clubs for the Silent Auction; this raised over £1,000.  He also arranged the balls for the Yellow Ball competition which ran alongside the main Stableford competition.  Keith Harding, in charge of the Raffle, did a great job, assisted by Gill Frost, raising £595.  Judith Riches sold £425 of £5 Mulligan vouchers. The £10 note draw raised £250, with 50% going to the winner.  Bob Shaw was a great help, checking the scores as players returned with their completed score cards.  Brian Riches was a huge help setting up the banners from sponsors RH & RW Clutton, Beaufort Financial and the Caravan & Motorhome Club and taking photos of the players around the course.  Phil Baker and President Michael Haynes provided great assistance during the day in the club house”.

The day raised £3,000+ for charity: donations of £500 each have been given to the QVH Superheroes Fund for children with severe burns and the Rotary Fund to help Ukraine.   The remaining £2,000, now in our Charity account, will enable us to assist groups and individuals throughout the year as needs arise.  All in all, a very good result!

On 5^th October the four young participants in our 2022 Rotary District Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA) scheme came along to tell us about their experiences.  Aged 15 – 16, two are at Imberhorne school and two at Sackville.  RYLA is a 5-day residential leadership course held at High Ashurst Outdoor Activity Centre near Dorking. The aims are to develop young people’s self-esteem and confidence and improve their social and leadership skills.  The activities include an assault course, orienteering, all day map reading walk, problem solving, aqua sports, raft building challenge – and more!

All four participants, Holly, Liam, Sienna and Brody shared their experiences with a PowerPoint presentation and said they gained self-assurance working in teams with those they had never met before. They all agreed Rotary had given them a unique opportunity to improve their confidence.

The planned talk on 19^th, about the UK charity ‘Tools with a Mission’, had to be postponed as the speaker was unwell.

“Grow the Tallest Sunflower” competition – results

We launched this free competition for children at the May Fayre.  Each young entrant received a packet of Sunflower seeds, pots and growing instructions.  The competition was generously sponsored by Orchard Nursery and King’s seeds.  On Sunday 16^th October the winners gathered, with their families, at Orchard Nursery, and were each presented with a prize and Meridian Rotary certificate.  The tallest sunflower was an amazing 9’ 11” (3.58 m)!

What are we doing in November?

Our meetings (7.30 p.m. at The Dorset Arms, EG) will feature:-

Wed 2^nd November    Jacquie Thomas from St Catherine’s Hospice will tell us about progress on the new Hospice, under construction in Pease Pottage. and the enhanced facilities it will provide.  If you’d like to find out more, log onto our website https://www.rotary-ribi.org/clubs/homepage.php?ClubID=1561  scroll down to ‘This week’s meeting’ on right and click on ‘Details’.

Wed 16^th November    Business meeting (members and Associate members only)

Wed 30^th November    A talk about Chailey Heritage School, near Lewis.  This specialist school provides education and care services for children and young people with complex neuro-disabilities.

Guests are very welcome – if you’d like to come along, please e-mail us at info@meridianrotary.co.uk

On Tuesday 15^th November teams from local senior schools will compete in our annual  competition “Rotary Youth Speaks – a Debate”.  Each team has three members:- Chairperson, Proposer and Opposer, who debate a topic of their choice, in front of an audience (mostly teachers, parents and Rotarians, but all are welcome).  An independent questioner then ‘quizzes’ them on their arguments.  The winners are selected by independent judges, and go on to the next heat of this national Rotary competition.  The venue is St Swithun’s Church, start time 6 p.m.

Further details about us and our activities are on our website www.meridianrotary.co.uk

 

Chief executive’s bulletin   The latest meeting between chairs of NALC and SLCC The latest meeting between the chair of the National Association of Local Councils (NALC), Cllr Keith Stevens, and the chair of the Society of Local Council Clerks (SLCC), Steven Trice, took place on 21 October. They agreed to sign a protocol at the SLCC’s forthcoming conference and a commitment to promote this partnership and deliver on key projects, including a new workforce strategy and continuing the Civility and Respect Project into 2023. You can read more in our news story. Civility and Respect Pledge hits 500 I’m pleased that over 500 local councils have signed up for the Civility and Respect Pledge since it was launched just three months ago. While the Pledge is voluntary, it provides an essential way for local councils to make a public statement about standing up to poor behaviour across our sector and stating upfront how they will handle poor behaviour if it happens. Suppose your local council hasn’t yet signed the Pledge. In that case, there’s a video featuring representatives from SLCC and NALC explaining the Pledge and its importance in demonstrating the positive actions which support civil and respectful conduct. The video can be shared with attendees before the meeting where the pledge is to be discussed to help explain why the pledge is so important. You can find out more details, watch the video and sign up for the Pledge on the Civility and Respect Project webpage. New model councillor-officer protocol In partnership with Hoey Ainscough Associates, the Civility and Respect Project has also published a new model councillor-officer protocol. The protocol’s purpose is to guide councillors and officers in their relations with one another and help build and maintain good working relationships. It covers respective roles, relationships, handling concerns and decision-making. Local government pay negotiations The GMB Union have announced the results of its Green Book pay consultation, where its members voted to accept the employers’ final offer by 67% to 33%. However, the entire Trade Union Side is not due to meet until 1 November to discuss their respective consultations’ results and decide whether to formally accept the employers’ offer. Therefore, employers should not implement the pay offer until the National Joint Council pay circular, which constitutes a formal collective agreement, has been issued. The national employers are fully aware of payroll cut-off dates as Christmas approaches, so they will endeavour to distribute the circular as soon as possible after 1 November if most of the unions accept the employers’ offer. NALC will also be issuing guidance, including updated pay scales and an updated template annual leave policy. NALC Annual General Meeting 2022 It was good to see over a hundred colleagues from county associations at this week’s annual general meeting (AGM), which we again held online. In advance of the draft minutes being available, here’s a summary: Introducing the annual report – which you can read along with the rest of the AGM papers here – NALC’s chair, Cllr Keith Stevens, spoke about progress on his three priorities set out in his January 2022 open letter and thanked his vice chairs, county associations and NALC staff for their support through the last year. In my short speech, I extended my thanks to everyone involved in NALC’s governance, county associations, staff, partner organisations and local councils, also highlighting the extensive engagement throughout the year enabled by online meetings and events and how councils were doing brilliant things for their communities demonstrating their relevance every day. The audited accounts and three year-budget were noted, and the affiliation fee for 2023/24 of 7.71 pence per elector, capped at £1,978 for larger councils, was agreed upon. The AGM passed a motion from the Northamptonshire County Association of Local Councils that the workforce challenge is one of the biggest challenges of our time and that there is an issue with recruitment, retention, and capacity in local councils, and NALC engages a consultant to benchmark clerks’ terms and conditions. The current president and vice presidents were appointed by the AGM in 2021 and will continue in post until the AGM in 2023. Updated legal guidance We have updated Legal Topic Note (LTN) 5E on parish council meetings in England to give guidance in paragraph 42 on remote public participation at council meetings. You can find this and our extensive suite of other LTNs in the members’ area of the NALC website in the LTN’s section (login required). This month’s regular legal bulletin for county officers covered qualifying conditions to become a councillor, local councils and church property, power to make a grant to a company, and annual meeting dates for local councils with elections in 2023. NALC online event on communication strategies I was pleased to join over 150 attendees at this week’s hugely popular online event on communication strategies. A huge thank you to our brilliant speakers Daniel Purchese from NALC’s partner Breakthrough Communications, Cllr John Harvey from Buckingham Town Council, and Alix Macfarlane from LGcomms for sharing their top tips, insights, and knowledge on everything from having a clear vision to building positive relations with the media, from recognizing communications expertise to engaging with residents. And impressive feedback from attendees so far, with 100% stating the event met their expectations ‘fully’ or ‘somewhat’, and 100% would recommend NALC’s online events to others! So do join us at our upcoming online events on the Local Council Award Scheme, community outreach and our Empowering Communities conference. NALC’s response to the government review of net-zero In our response to the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) independent review of net zero, we have highlighted the role local councils could play in decarbonisation, urging the government to recognise the role local councils can play to help the government meet its net-zero targets and not just factor in the private sector. You can read more, including our full response to the consultation, in our news story here. Working with Cabinet Office on .gov.uk domains I am pleased that NALC is working with the domain management team in the Cabinet Office, which aims to ensure that every council, no matter its size, has a .gov.uk domain. There are many benefits that come with getting a .gov.uk domain name. For example, a .gov.uk website gives residents confidence they are interacting with a legitimate site, emails from a .gov.uk address are more trustworthy, and it can help reduce the risk of cyber-attack. If your local council already has a .gov.uk domain, then the team is keen to understand your experiences. So please look out for their emails from support@domains.gov.uk asking you to sign up for their free protection services (Detectify Surface Monitoring and Registry Lock) and participate in pilot projects they will run. New prime minister and cabinet Rishi Sunak MP, who was a keynote speaker at our annual conference and has been featured in NALC publications, was appointed as the new prime minister this week. In his first speech as prime minister outside Number 10 on 25 October 2022, he recommitted to the Conservatives 2019 manifesto, which includes levelling up. In his cabinet reshuffle, Michael Gove MP has replaced Simon Clarke MP as secretary of state for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. Keith has already extended his congratulations to the new prime minister and secretary of state and writing to them in more detail. White Ribbon Day on 25 November On 25 November, we will be supporting White Ribbon Day, a day to work towards ending violence against women and girls. We are making a short video to show male support, and we are keen for as many men as possible from the sector to help us out – more information can be found here. Out and about Keith was at the well-attended Cheshire Association of Local Councils AGM on 27 October, where he presented NALC’s work with county associations to support and promote local councils. You can watch the video of the event here. Gary Barker, solicitor, gave an update on a range of legal issues and the Civility and Respect Project at the Oxfordshire Association of Local Council larger councils’ meeting on 26 October, which was attended by clerks and councillors from the majority of the county’s 14 larger councils. And finally… Dealing with the cost-of-living crisis is the hot topic on the NALC blog this week. Cllr Sharon Taylor OBE, chair of the Co-operative Councils’ Innovation Network, provides an example of how councils are at the forefront of the cost-of-living crisis. And Martin Buttle from NALC’s partner CCLA, covers some thought-provoking figures from the Living Wage Foundation, why it is important to address the cost-of-living crisis, and upcoming research on steps employers are taking to address this challenge.