Newsletter 11/11/22
11 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.
Remembering Edward Belsey
East Grinstead Town Council Cllrs and Staff are very sad to hear the news of the passing of former Cllr Edward Belsey and our thoughts are with the family.
(Excerpt Taken From MSDC 2474)
Mid Sussex District Council is extremely sorry to announce the very sad passing of Edward Belsey, husband of the Chairman of the Council, Margaret Belsey.
Married to Margaret for 56 years, Edward tragically died on Sunday 6 November 2022 whilst out walking with his beloved springer spaniels near his home in East Grinstead. Our thoughts are with Margaret and his sons Giles and John, Deputy Leader of the District Council.
Born in Beckenham in January 1943 Edward spent a large part of his life working in the community and with voluntary organisations. Since moving to East Grinstead in 1995, he was elected as an East Grinstead Town and Mid Sussex District Councillor for the Herontye Ward in East Grinstead. Whilst on the District Council he was passionate to serve as the representative on the Health and Social Care scrutiny committe[e, a subject he cared so much about. Edward also served as a governor for the Queen Victoria Hospital NHS Trust and was chairman of the East Grinstead Air Training Corps Squadron. He had also been a trustee of Age UK East Grinstead and was one of the town’s first dementia champions. Edward had many interests and was a very keen golfer, fisherman and sports enthusiast, as well as community advocate.
Edward’s family will release funeral details in due course but in the meantime the family and the Council mourn the devastating loss of a very special husband, father, grandfather, and friend to so many in our community.
Planning Applications & Decisions
Revised District Plan Set for Public Consultation
(Excerpt Taken From MSDC 2474)
Mid Sussex District Council has recommended a revised draft of the District Plan for public consultation, to ensure the plan remains up to date, properly plans for infrastructure to be delivered alongside new homes, and protects the district from speculative, unplanned development.
Public consultation on the revised draft District Plan will run for a period of six-weeks from 7 November to 19 December 2022.
Housing targets are set for local authorities by the Government and District Plans must set out in broad terms what, where, when and how development should take place. Although Mid Sussex District Council has an adopted District Plan for Mid Sussex which runs from 2018-2031, the Government requires that the plan is updated every five years to ensure that housing need is met, and policies remain relevant and effective.
The Government’s Standard Method for calculating future housing need sets Mid Sussex a minimum requirement of delivering a further 8,169 new homes from 2021-2039.
The revised draft District Plan sets out a strategy for how to meet the housing requirement. The starting point is to protect all designated landscapes, such as the High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), from all but limited development.
The Council is seeking to ensure that all opportunities to use brownfield sites are maximised and that any application for development makes the most effective use of land. This approach will help to reduce the number of greenfield sites required to meet the housing target. However, as a predominantly rural district (less than 12% is within a defined built-up area) opportunities for brownfield development are limited.
The revised draft District Plan is guided by the ’20-minute neighbourhoods’ principle, which ensures new developments are provided in areas where most people’s daily needs can be met within a short walk or cycle ride. In line with this principle, sites within the district’s three towns and larger villages, which are sustainable locations that already provide a range of services and facilities nearby, have been proposed for development.
In areas with few or no local services or facilities, there is still opportunity for growth if developments are sufficiently large enough to provide new supporting infrastructure on site such as a new primary school, health facilities, neighbourhood centres, small scale retail, employment opportunities, open space, and sports provision. Providing such facilities will create more sustainable developments that benefit both new residents and the existing community.
The revised draft District Plan includes three new sustainable developments at Crabbet Park, Copthorne, Land to the West of Burgess Hill and Land to the South of Reeds Lane, Sayers Common, which will collectively provide 4,750 new homes. The remaining housing need will be met by 21 smaller housing development sites across Mid Sussex, and an allowance for housing built on brownfield sites and windfall.
Councillor Robert Salisbury, Mid Sussex District Council Cabinet Member for Planning said:
“As our population grows, so does the demand for new housing, and the Government has a set formula for calculating exactly how many new homes are required to meet that growing need.
“Without a District Plan to provide a clear vision for the future, control passes to private housing developers, potentially leading to speculative and unwanted development in unsuitable locations.
“By having an up-to-date District Plan, we can set out where those new homes should go and include Planning Policies that ensure developers create sustainable communities with access to essential services and facilities like new schools, healthcare provision, community halls and leisure facilities. It provides certainty for communities, stakeholders, and infrastructure providers.”
The revised draft District Plan is available to view online at www.midsussex.gov.uk/districtplan and paper copies are available at libraries, Help Points, the District Council offices, and Town and Parish Council offices.
Comments can be submitted online at www.midsussex.gov.uk/districtplan or can be sent to Planning Policy and Housing Enabling, Mid Sussex District Council at Oaklands, Oaklands Road, Haywards Heath, West Sussex, RH161SS.
Declaring Your Interests!
All councillors are required to provide a record of their interests in a public register of interests. This must be completed within 28 days of taking office, and any changes must be recorded within 28 days of that change.
You need to register your interests so that the general public, authority staff and fellow councillors, know which of your interests might give rise to a conflict of interest. This is a public document and aims to ensure that decision-making is seen to be open and honest.
This helps to preserve public confidence in the integrity of local government. You need to register a range of connections which includes membership of local authority bodies, membership of any body exercising functions of a public nature, political party or trade union, your job or any business contracts between the Authority and yourself any land or property in the Authority’s area.
If the form is not clear to you, please consult the Monitoring Officer or appropriate Town/Parish Clerk.
Mid Sussex District Council Set Net Zero Targets
(Excerpt Taken From MSDC 2473)
Mid Sussex District Council has adopted Net Zero targets for both the Council and the wider District to help tackle climate change and reduce global warming.
At a meeting of Full Council on 2 November 2022, Councillors overwhelmingly agreed to reduce direct council-controlled carbon emissions to Net Zero by 2040 and support the wider District to reach the national Government target of Net Zero by 2050.
Net Zero is achieved by striking a balance between the greenhouse gases emitted into the atmosphere and the greenhouse gases removed from the atmosphere.
Mid Sussex District Council has already begun to reduce carbon emissions by installing PV solar panels on Council buildings that generate around 27,000 kwh of pollution-free electricity per year, a carbon reduction of 6.9 tonnes.
In September the Council started to trial a new recycling and general waste collection system that includes the separate collection of food waste to boost recycling and reduce the amount of general waste produced. Recycled food waste is turned into bio-fertiliser that helps crops to grow and renewable electricity that provides a sustainable source of power. Just one lorry load of food waste can generate enough renewable energy to power 20,000 televisions for an hour.
The Council is supporting sustainable methods of travel for employees by enabling them to access to Electric Vehicle Charging Points at the Council offices, borrow electric bikes for short journeys and upgrading the Council’s parking enforcement fleet to electric vehicles.
Over 50 new Electric Vehicle Charging Points have been installed across Mid Sussex as part of the new West Sussex ChargePoint network. These are just the start of a much bigger rollout that will see thousands more EV Chargers connected across West Sussex over the next 10 years.
West Sussex local authorities are progressing a joint programme to support businesses to lower their carbon footprint. A key part of the programme is the delivery of a ‘Low Carbon Business’ video series, telling the story of exemplary businesses from across the county who have embraced sustainability to realise tangible business benefits. Businesses from across sectors and representing each District and Borough feature in the series, hosted on the West Sussex County Council YouTube channel.
For Burgess Hill, the District Council has secured £20 million of funding for sustainable transport initiatives, that will be delivered through the Place and Connectivity Programme. In the past year, over 3,500 metres of footways, cycle paths and bridleways have been enhanced to provide safe and reliable alternatives to using the car.
The Council has also worked alongside a consortium of local authorities to secure funding from the Government to improve the energy efficiency of eligible homes through the Warmer Homes scheme.
Councillor Stephen Hillier, Cabinet Member for Economic Growth and Net Zero said:
“At Mid Sussex we are eager to support the UK government in the journey to Net Zero and the fight against climate change.
“Renowned sustainability and Net Zero consultancy firm Ricardo AEA has carried out detailed analysis of the Council and the wider Mid Sussex area to ensure our Net Zero targets are realistic and based on sound evidence.
“As a Council we are committed to reducing carbon emissions in our area and these Net Zero targets are an important part of our Sustainable Economy Strategy, which sets out how we’re working to make sure Mid Sussex remains an attractive, resilient and innovative District that balances social wellbeing, environmental protection and sustainable economic growth.”
Final consultation on revised proposals now open: Last chance to help reshape constituencies
(Excerpt Taken From MSDC 2476)
The Boundary Commission for England has published new revised proposals for parliamentary constituencies across the country and has opened a final month-long consultation, giving the public one last opportunity to send in their views.
The Commission has taken into consideration over 45,000 comments sent in by the public during the previous two stages of public consultation and has changed nearly half of its initial proposals based on this feedback. A third and final consultation on the new map of revised constituency proposals is open now until 5 December. The public are invited to view and comment on the new map at www.bcereviews.org.uk.
The Commission is undertaking an independent review of all constituencies in England as requested by Parliament. The number of electors within each constituency currently varies widely due to population changes since the last boundary review. The 2023 Boundary Review will rebalance the number of electors each MP represents, resulting in significant change to the existing constituency map. As part of the review, the number of constituencies in England will increase from 533 to 543.
After this final consultation has closed on 5 December, the Commission will analyse the responses and form its final recommendations. These will be submitted to Parliament by 1 July 2023.
Tim Bowden, Secretary to the Boundary Commission for England, said:
“Today we are announcing the publication of our revised proposals. Last year we published our initial proposals for new constituency boundaries – our first go at what the map should look like. We are delighted with the huge number of comments from members of the public on our initial proposals, many which included valuable evidence about local communities.
“Today’s publication is the culmination of months of analysis, and we have revised nearly half of our initial proposals based on what people have told us. We now believe we are close to the best map of constituencies that can be achieved under the rules we are working to.
“However, we still want people to tell us what they think of this latest map before we submit our final recommendations to Parliament next year. This is our final consultation and I encourage you to participate in the 2023 Boundary Review.”
Cost of Living – Website / Free and low cost events
Mid Sussex have published a Cost of Living support page (Cost of Living Support – Mid Sussex District Council) which will contain local support information on. These include:
Food support
Heating and warmth
Housing support
Benefits support
Bills, Budgeting and Finance
Health and Wellbeing
Business Support
Employment Support
Low cost activity ideas
Gatwick Station
(Sent by Network Rail to all major stakeholders)
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