Category: News

EAST Court estate has won a Gold award in the South and South East in Bloom competition.The prestigious accolade comes just three years after the Town Council first entered East Court in the Small Parks section of the competition as a way of raising standards.

"We entered originally to drive up standards and give ourselves a goal, and the first year we won a Silver award, which came with recommendations as to how we could improve up our overall presentation," said Council Amenities Manager Keith Astley.

The Outside Services Team took the advice on board and having tackled the major recommendations in the Bloom report gained a Silver Gilt award in their second year of competition.

Judging this year took place at the beginning of July, but Keith and his team had to wait until the annual awards ceremony held at Fontwell Racecourse on 7 September for the good news that they had not only struck gold, but had been placed second overall with a score of 89 points out of a possible 100.

Commenting afterwards Keith said: "It’s so pleasing to get this Gold Award because it reflects the hard work of the Town Council’s Outside Services Team in preparing the East Court grounds and ensuring they are a facility the whole town can enjoy."

* In addition to the award for East Court, East Grinstead earned a Silver Gilt for the town centre, and a Silver award for the town overall.

TOWN Mayor John Saull tries out training equipment at East Grinstead’s new Energie Fitness Club at 115 London Road. For more details ring 01342 314113.

A TEAM of willing volunteers including Town Mayor John Saull, fellow councillors, Town Clerk Julie Holden and "friends" of Chequer Mead, formed a work party last month to clear overgrown shrubs along the front of the theatre and around its parking area.

Theatre manager Hannah Kester, who also put in a morning’s work on the project, said she was very grateful to everyone who had given up their time – especially as it coincided with England’s debut match in the Rugby World Cup.

"Low maintenance shrubs were planted along the front of the theatre when it was built, and they have grown so slowly over the past 15 years that we just didn’t notice how far they had spread.

"But they had got to the stage where they were seriously encroaching over the footpath and the parking spaces, and we realised it was time to cut out all the dead wood and give them a really good prune."

The Council’s outdoor staff hauled away all the trimmings, and the newly-tidied beds will be reviewed next Spring to decide what further action needs to be taken.

 
 

IN light of the town centre’s recent Silver Gilt award by South & South East In Bloom the Town Council is now inviting applications for the sponsorship of its civic plantings. All sponsorship raised through this scheme will be used to help maintain and enhance planting, and ensure the town continues to look at its best. In return for the sponsor of planting areas, the Town Council will ensure the location bears a plaque noting the sponsor’s assistance. The current locations available for sponsorship are:

• Lewes Road Roundabout
• Sainsbury’s Roundabout
• West Hill Roundabout
• Blackwell Hollow/Mount Noddy Roundabout
• High Street Flowerbeds
• Planters on the High Street paved area

If you are interested in this opportunity please contact Keith Astley, the Town Council’s Amenities Manager, on 01342 323636.

COMMUNITY recycling points (also known as ‘bring sites’) have been upgraded to make them easier for Mid Sussex residents to use.

New mixed recycling bins at sites at Cyprus Road in Burgess Hill, Sainsbury’s in East Grinstead’s Brooklands Way and Sainsbury’s in Bannister Way, Haywards Heath, have all been improved.

The new facilities now accept plastic bottles, and food or drinks cans as well as glass, making them more convenient to use.

Anyone with recyclable items which won’t fit into their kerbside bin at home, can now drop them in the collection banks when visiting the shops. The bins have blue lids and are clearly labelled.

Paper banks at the ‘bring’ sites have also been refurbished and charity banks at the sites will accept surplus textiles and shoes.

“Residents currently help to recycle 46% of all the waste gathered and we hope these upgraded recycling points will push these excellent rates even higher,” said Mid Sussex Councillor Pru Moore, Cabinet Member for Leisure and Sustainability.

“We want to encourage people to think even more widely about household items which can be reused and recycled – it is amazing what fantastic second lives these items can go on to have.”

For more information on recycling in Mid Sussex visit the District Council website at www.midsussex.gov.uk/recycling or email: wastematters@midsussex.gov.uk

Cllr Pru Moore with and Derek Boarer, Store Manager at Sainsbury’s East Grinstead.

EAST Grinstead will be playing host to the opening leg of a three-day Marathon spread over the first of the May bank holiday weekends next year.

The Three Towns Marathon will begin in East Grinstead on Saturday 1 May.

The second leg will be at Burgess Hill on 2 May and the final race to the finish line will be at Haywards Heath on 3 May.

Details of the event, including the routes, have still to be finalized but it will be attended by Olympians including gold medalist Richard Le Mann and members of the current GB Hockey Squad, and Paralympic contender Richard Schabel.

In the second of our biographies this month, we turn the spotlight on Cllr Dick Sweatman who represents Herontye Ward.

DICK Sweatman was born and bred in Edenbridge, but was a regular visitor to East Grinstead as a teenager, when he would cycle over to see pop heroes including The Rolling Stones and Dusty Springfield perform at the Whitehall theatre.

Newly-married in 1980, Dick finally arrived here to live, and has run his own business in and around the area ever since.

His two daughters, now 24 and 26, both attended Sackville school, and Dick himself is a member of the Holtye Golf Club.

Like many of his fellow councillors, Dick was elected to public office for the first time last May, and is still learning the ropes, both on the Town Council and on Mid Sussex District Council where he also won a seat.

“It’s still all pretty new to me,” he admitted, “but I decided to stand because I am interested in people and I thought it was time I gave something back to the community.”

As a local businessman himself, Dick is all too aware of the challenges facing the town’s traders, and is keen both to support those already working in East Grinstead, and encourage anyone considering starting up here.

“East Grinstead is a fantastic place to live and work," he said.

“I also want to promote the work of Herontye Ward’s Neighbourhood Panel, and to make myself and the Council more visible and more available to the town’s residents.”

WEST Sussex County Council is seeking the public’s view about possible changes to parking arrangements in East Grinstead following a consultation about the issue which took place last January.

Some residents and businesses indicated that they did not currently suffer from parking problems and that the introduction of a Controlled Parking Zone (CPZ) was not needed.

However a number living closest to the town centre, were in favour of a CPZ to deal with problems caused by non-resident parking.

As a result, the County Council is proposing to introduce parking controls, as an extension of Zone A, into:

• Brooklands Way (between the current boundary of Zone A and West Hill)
• Copyhold Road (between Brooklands Way and the green area)
• Garden Wood Road (between Brooklands Way and the railway viaduct), and
• West Hill (between the current boundary of Zone A and Brooklands Way).

Details of scheme

The proposed CPZ would operate from Monday to Saturday between 9am and 5pm, excluding Bank Holidays. During these controlled hours, parking would only be permitted in designated parking bays marked by white lines on the road. Outside of these hours, parking would not be restricted in bays or on single yellow lines, unless indicated otherwise by a statutory yellow time plate.

Resident permits would be available to residents who own a vehicle and who do not have adequate off-street parking facilities at a cost of £40 p.a. for the first and £80 p.a. for a second permit. Motorcycles and scooters would not require a permit.

Disabled drivers who live within the zone, and do not have a parking bay marked out for their use, could apply for a ‘free’ first residents’ permit. Disabled and/or elderly residents living within the zone, who rely on regular visits from care organisations, relatives, friends etc. in order to maintain an independent lifestyle living at home, and do not own a car, could also be eligible for a Residents Carer Permit.

Visitor parking would be accommodated through the purchase of scratch-off resident visitors’ permits, available in books of ten, which allow parking in permit holder bays at a cost of 30p for two hours. For contractors or trades people working at properties, dispensation notices could also be issued.

WSCC will be contacting affected residents and urging them to complete a comments card and return it in a pre-paid envelope by Monday 3 October 2011.

The County Council is keen to stress that no final decisions have yet been made and also that no changes to parking will be made without further consultation.

Should the study progress it will include a further statutory consultation later this year, and no immediate changes will be introduced on-street as a result of replies to this consultation.

Staff from Mid Sussex District Council will be available for questioning at East Grinstead Library in West Street on Saturday, 24 September, from 10am and 1pm, and on Thursday, 29 September, between 10am and 3pm.

A further drop-in session will be held at Halsford Park Primary School in Manor Road, East Grinstead, on Thursday, 29 September, between 6pm and 8pm.

Read EGTC’s response to consultation on draft statement of community involvement

MERIDIAN FM, East Grinstead’s community radio station, will be playing host to a Picnic in the Park from noon until 4pm on Sunday, 11 September.

The popular event will take place, weather permitting, on the Rolley Terrace behind East Court.

So pack a picnic and enjoy an afternoon of live music, hosted by MFM’s Pru Oliver and Terry Sumner.

Also available, will be paella from the Paella Fella, a champagne bar and refreshments.

SIAN Taylor O’Hanlon, who has appeared in several Chequer Mead shows produced by the Company of Friends, will be absent from their panto this year because she has been cast in the London production of Shrek the musical.

Sian has also toured recently in The Sound of Music.

Her stage success follows that of Alex Watts, another panto regular, who will be appearing over Christmas in a tour of Oliver! with Brian Connelly.

But Jake Tuesley, who regularly provides the panto’s “aaah!” factor will be back in time to appear in Snow White after his own autumn run in Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.

“A lot of local young people who have worked both on stage and back stage with us are now professionals,” said CoF’s spokesman Lesley Lowy. “Perhaps it is time we opened an agency.”

*Chequer Mead is offering “early bird” discounts on all panto tickets booked before 1 October.