The next East Grinstead Sports Council meeting of 2022 will be on Tuesday 5th July at 7.30pm. This will be our first post-pandemic physical meeting and we will be getting together at Felbridge & Sunnyside Cricket Club, who have kindly agreed to host us.
This will restore the important social and networking dimensions of our meetings and I am looking forward to seeing you all again. Please put the date in your diary, using the link below, and I’ll get back to you with details of the arrangements and what we’ll be discussing in due course.
We’re planning to lay 650 metres of new water main in Turners Hill Road, East Grinstead to cope with an increase in demand in the area as the community grows.
The new pipe will enable us to pump more water into the area, ensuring residents and businesses in East Grinstead continue to receive top quality drinking water as demand increases. If we don’t do the work, the area’s water pressure will reduce as demand for water would exceed the amount we can supply though our existing network.
We will be hosting a virtual meeting via Zoom on Tuesday 10 May at 1pm for those who would like to discuss the project in more detail with the team. Please email community@southeastwater.co.uk to register your interest in this meeting. A link to the meeting will be sent out to those who register in advance.
Work is scheduled to start on 13 June and the project is expected to take approximately 18 weeks to complete.
As a safety precaution for pedestrians, motorists and our workforce, we will need to close Turners Hill Road up until the access point to Southern Sheeting. West Hill will also be closed once work reaches this section.
We will also need to cross Brooklands roundabout. To undertake this safely, we will have three-way traffic lights on Brooklands Way, Garden Wood Road and Hurst Farm Road as well as road closures on West Hill and Turners Hill Road at the same time. We will close half of the roundabout at a time to be able to manage traffic flows.
Diversion routes have been agreed with West Sussex Highways.
Access to homes and businesses will be maintained while we carry out this work. However, we would appreciate your patience and co-operation during this important project.
We will keep you updated on progress with the scheme and updates on our work can also be found on the dedicated webpage at southeastwater.co.uk/turnershill
During 2021 the Boundary Commission consulted on changes to the East Grinstead election wards for District and Parish representation. The proposals were to change the East Grinstead Town Council Wards to 8 and retaining the same number of Councillors, while at the same time reducing the Mid Sussex Wards to 5 and reducing their Councillors by 2.
The Town Council objected to this as the wards would no longer be aligned. We also noted that the East Grinstead Town Council at 19 Councillors across the existing 6 wards is 3 councillors more than Haywards Heath who have a slightly larger population than East Grinstead and 1 more than Burgess Hill which has 10,000 more residents than East Grinstead.
We have proposed that the Town Wards remain aligned with the District Wards so that when voters go to the polls they understand which ward they are in, we are also proposing that our 6 wards be represented by 16 Councillors rather than the existing 19.
When the Council submitted our response to the Boundary Commission, we copied this to Mid Sussex DC who came back to us and told us that they would be able to look at East Grinstead’s request separately to the Boundary Commission and this had triggered the Governance Review and therefore the consultation that Mid Sussex have launched on 4th April and it will run to 27th May 2022. If it is approved it will be brought in for the elections due for May 2023.
The proposal is that the wards and the number of Councillors are changed to:
Ashplats – 4 Councillors
Town – 4 Councillors
Baldwins – 2
Imberhorne – 2
Herontye – 2
East Grinstead South (the new name for Worsted and the south part of current Herontye which is being amended for the District Ward following the Boundary Commission) – 2
Effect of the Proposed Change on the Council: The overall change will result in a small saving to the Town Council of £3,536 in Councillor allowances and there will be a reduction in election costs as 16 elections will cost less than 19. The 2019 costs for the elections was £14,237 which when split over 19 councillors would give an approximate saving of £2,248. The loss of three councillors will mean a little more work per councillor. The Council has four committees each made up of 7 seats plus the Town Mayor and Deputy Mayor, meaning that 28 seats have to be covered on the committees by the 14 remaining Councillors. Currently, 12/17 Councillors sit on two committees and 5 sit on one.
The Mid Sussex Public Notice is largely a quote from the Town Councils response to the Boundary Commission and when taken out of context is somewhat confusing. The above is to clarify the proposal and the reason behind it.
Responses to the Mid Sussex consultation can be sent
