Category: News

St Swithuns are in negotiation to sell the St Barnabas building to the Town Council, this is following requests from residents in the Dunnings area to keep the building in community use. The Council is aware of repeated calls for a venue for a youth club, men’s shed, and ‘mother & toddler’ groups and feels this venue would be suitable to be retained in the community.

In order to finance the purchase, the Council is looking to borrow £90,000 from the Public Works Loan Board for 10 years but needs to show that the community supports the purchase of the building. For more information, the reports have been taken through the Finance and General Purposes Committee and can be found on the Council’s website.

If you wish to comment on the proposal please email townclerk@eastgrinstead.gov.uk or write to Town Clerk East Grinstead Town Council, College Lane, East Grinstead by 1 July 2022.

East Grinstead Town Council and Town Twinning invite you to join us From 4pm bring your picnics along and enjoy Meridian FM entertaining you with music. There are also some inflatables for the youngsters to have a go on (all for free)!

From 6pm-8pm we have some community activities in the ring : Scouts and Guides will pitch themselves against each other to see who can get a tent up quickest, then Town Twinning are going to host a dog show, who has to most regal or best dressed doggie in town! (with thanks to Portland Vets East Grinstead for sponsoring the prizes).

From 8pm-9:30pm Meridian FM will keep you entertained with the music until the build up to the Beacon Lighting from 9:35pm with the Town Mayor reading the proclamation, followed by a playing of Diu Regnare for the bagpipes and then “Majesty” for the cornet and then at 9:45pm the Town Mayor will light the Beacon.

Join us all afternoon or just for the Beacon lighting, as we join the nation in marking the Queens Platinum Jubilee.

New Town Mayor Cllr Adam Peacock and his Deputy Cllr Frazer Visser were invested at the Annual Town Council on Monday 9 May. Cllr Peacock’s charities in his Mayoral year are East Grinstead Lions Club and Being Neighbourly EG.  The new mayor saying that there were many worthy local causes and he wanted to support two that were directly supporting families and individuals during this difficult economic time.

The Mayormaking (Annual Council Meeting) was the first to be held in person for two years following the disruption from Covid during 2020 and 2021.  Outgoing Mayor Cllr John Dabell had been invested at the end of September 2020 following his predecessor completing an elongated stint of 15 months, and was re-elected in May 2021 with the hope that the year would be more normal,  sadly more lockdowns and restrictions meant that 2021/22 also had its challenges.

Cllr Dabell had however, hosted a quiz, murder mystery and hoedown and raised £3,105 for each of his two charities. Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY) and St Catherine’s Hospice.

Please click on the link below for the full application packs.  The closing date for the applications is 12:00 on Monday 16 May 2022.

• Refreshment concession 2022/2023 application form

Governance Review – East Grinstead

 

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 4^th April and it will run to 27^th 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

via email to: communitygovernancereviews@midsussex.gov.uk

online at:  www.midsussex.gov.uk/cgr-form

by post to:         Community Governance Review – East Grinstead

Democratic Services

Mid Sussex District Council

Oaklands

Oaklands Road

Haywards Heath  RH16 1SS

 

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.”