Author: Andrew Taylor

The Mayor had a great morning on Saturday at the East Grinstead Model Railway Club exhibition at Sackville School. Chatting to the stall holders and inspecting their layouts.

The Town Mayor and Mayoress were privileged (and bewitched!) to attend the Ariel East Grinstead Academy Showcase event at The Hawth on 20th March.

A wonderful testament to youthful energy and fun! The annual Showcase has had to be postponed over the last two years due to the pandemic and so this year’s, combining with Crawley, was extra special!

Ariel runs every Saturday to offer a fun afternoon of drama, dance and singing to children ranging from 3 to 19 years old. They also run classes for children with additional needs.

Following the launch of the ‘Homes for Ukraine’ scheme, We urge those residents who have already been in touch with the County Council to offer support for families or individuals, or are able to do so, to now register via the online portal.

WSCC are delivering wraparound support for those arriving under this scheme, as they are for recently evacuated Afghan families, and those who fled from other global conflicts under the current UK Resettlement programmes.

Further information, links and the dedicated email address please visit West Sussex County Council website which will be updated as new information becomes available.

• Homes for Ukraine
• Online portal to register

We are looking to see how we at the Town Council can directly help with the resettlement of refugees. If you have language skills which may be helpful please get it touch with our Community and Tourism Manager Alice Fletcher at communityandtourism@eastgrinstead.gov.uk

From 28 March Mid Sussex District Council will implement a new flexible season ticket offer and increase car parking charges in line with inflation.

Changes to car park season tickets, which are mainly used by town centre workers and commuters will better match new customer behaviour. The pandemic has dramatically changed the way people work, with many more people working flexibly from home and office and this has had an impact on the demand for season tickets. A flexible 3-day season ticket is being introduced to fit in with these new working habits

Public sector organisations across the UK are facing serious financial challenges as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. In local government, the financial cost of supporting communities through the pandemic has been huge. Even with additional funding from the Government, the cost to Mid Sussex District Council was £1.9 million during the 2020/21 financial year and Covid-19 will continue to have a significant impact on the Council’s finances over the coming years.

Parking charges in Mid Sussex Pay and Display car parks have remained the same for the past ten years, which means they have not kept pace with inflation or rising management and maintenance costs.

Mid Sussex District Council is increasing parking charges to help protect essential public services and to enable continued investment in the parking estate, including in new technologies to improve customer service. This will mean parking for one hour will increase from 80p to £1. This increase will generate around £350,000 each year.

Mid Sussex is currently one of the cheapest places to park in the region when compared to neighbouring Council areas and this will continue to be the case with the new charges. For comparison Parking for 2 hours in a Mid Sussex District Council car park will cost a maximum of £1.50 compared with £1.80 in Lewes, £2 in Crawley and £2.80 in Horsham.

Councillor Stephen Hillier, MSDC Cabinet Member for Economic Growth said:

“Our parking charges have remained frozen for the past decade and by bringing them back in line with inflation we will be able to support our key statutory services while also investing in the modernisation of our car parks.

“The decision to increase parking charges is not one we take lightly, but we must make some tough choices over the next few years if we are to effectively manage our budget and recover from the effects of this awful pandemic.”

“The financial pressures created on council finances by the coronavirus pandemic are here to stay for the foreseeable future. We must plan ahead if we are to protect our services and safeguard the long-term sustainability of the Council.”

The East Grinstead Town Council has raised the flag of Ukraine in the High St, alongside the Union Flag and will continue to fly this during the conflict following the Russian Invasion of Ukraine’s
borders.

Many residents are asking what they can do to help, we have provided some information below.

Donations

Current Government guidance about how people can help, especially with donations can be found on the Government website.

Refugees arriving in the UK

There are a number of programmes emerging from Government to support refugees who wish to come to the UK.

The Ukraine Family Scheme allows family members of British nationals and people settled in the UK to come to the UK. From Tuesday 15 March, Ukrainian passport holders will be able to travel to
the UK without having to attend a visa application centre in advance. The Ukraine Family Scheme visa will last for 3 years.

We are aware there are a number of Mid Sussex families who this scheme will apply to and Mid Sussex Councils will provide appropriate support. In addition, the Government has made clear that people who arrive under this scheme will be able to work and study in the UK and access public funds to support them if required. You can find more information about the Ukraine Family Scheme.

There will also be a Local Sponsorship Scheme for Ukrainians without any family ties to the UK and we understand that more details will be announced by Government. This scheme will allow sponsors such as charities, businesses and community groups to come forward to be matched to a Ukrainian individual or family who need refuge. There will be no limit to this scheme and those who arrive in the UK will be granted an initial 12 month leave to remain and be able to work and access public services. Further details on this scheme will be published soon with information about how people and organisations can apply to be sponsors.

We know that East Grinstead residents want to help, the best thing to do is donate through the organised charities who are already set up and on the ground in Poland and other countries. We will play our part over the coming weeks and months offering support to the refugees and making them welcome while on our shores.

West Sussex response to the conflict in Ukraine

Following the launch of the ‘Homes for Ukraine’ scheme, We urge those residents who have already been in touch with the County Council to offer support for families or individuals, or are able to do so, to now register via the online portal.

WSCC are delivering wraparound support for those arriving under this scheme, as they are for recently evacuated Afghan families, and those who fled from other global conflicts under the current UK Resettlement programmes.

Further information, links and the dedicated email address please visit West Sussex County Council website which will be updated as new information becomes available.

• Homes for Ukraine
• Online portal to register

We are looking to see how we at the Town Council can directly help with the resettlement of refugees. If you have language skills which may be helpful please get it touch with our Community and Tourism Manager Alice Fletcher at communityandtourism@eastgrinstead.gov.uk

There are currently several groups litter-picking in the town including the Ashplats Residents Group, the TAG group and a group organised by What’s Happening in EG (Facebook Page).

East Grinstead Town Council, when asked, co-ordinate bags, gloves and pickers for these picks and we send councillors and staff to go along to them. We also arrange for the bags to be taken away. In recent times due to the pandemic and there have understandably been less litter picks. However, the Council looks to increase this as part of Keep Britain Tidy Spring Clean each year.

Bins and litter come under MSDC but we are trying to encourage them to split the bins into rubbish and recycling and we do ask WSCC to access their land to clear the rubbish.

As you may be aware, UK Power Networks manages the local power lines and substations which distribute electricity to over 8.3m homes and businesses across London, the South East and the East of England.

Storm Dudley will arrive tomorrow and is forecast to have a minimal impact on our network. However, Storm Eunice is expected to arrive on Friday 18th and is expected to bring stronger winds and unsettled weather.

Our electricity network is built to be resilient but strong winds and heavy rain can bring down branches and trees, damaging overhead power lines. Where this happens we work to restore power as quickly and safely as possible.

We have organised for additional staff in our contact centre and more engineers on the ground, particularly for Storm Eunice, to be available to help customers whose electricity supply might be affected by the predicted weather.

Residents will be able to find regular updates and information about individual power cuts on our website www.ukpowernetworks.co.uk. We will also be posting general updates on Twitter @UKPowerNetworks.

Anyone experiencing a power cut should:

• Visit www.ukpowernetworks.co.uk/powercut and type in their postcode to view our live power cut map, with details of individual power cuts
• Call 105 free of charge to speak to our customer service team, report a power cut or damage to the electricity network
• Tweet @UKPowerNetworks to report a power cut or to receive updates
• Visit www.ukpowernetworks.co.uk for the latest updates

We advise people to stay clear of power lines and report damaged power lines immediately by calling 105 free from either a landline or a mobile phone. If you see electricity lines that are down or causing significant risk to the public they should call 999.

We provide extra help to customers on our Priority Service Register during a power cut. Households with older or disabled people, those with children under five, or where someone uses medical or mobility equipment that requires electricity as well as other reasons can join the register. You can find out more information about our Priority Service on our website: ukpowernetworks.co.uk/priority