Newsletter 16/06/23

16 June 2023

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.

Love your local library with FREE ‘Discovery Day’ event

(Sent by Susie Chamberlin to EGTC Staff & Councillor)

We are holding a free Discovery Day at East Grinstead Library.

It is on Saturday 1 July from 10am-3pm at East Grinstead Library in West Street and we would love you to attend!

The event aims to show everyone what libraries have to offer – From family-friendly toddler time to board games and author evenings, plus free ancestry history meetings and digital subscriptions, libraries have something for everyone.

New East Grinstead Circle – Menshare Listening Group

(Sent by Menshare Listening Group to EGTC Staff & Councillor)

We are very happy to announce that our second community circle will go live on the 20th June 2023 at the St. Swithun’s Church at 7-9pm, men to arrive no later than 6.50pm.

Our award winning work helps to support and change men’s lives. We wish to serve more men in other communities, this is a great step towards doing that, also we have another community to connect with and for both Crawley and East Grinstead to join together on our Nature Weekends.

Please send all referrals to mensharelisteninggroup@gmail.com.

Email: info@mensharelisteninggroup.co.uk

Website: www.mensharelisteninggroup.co.uk

Facebook: Menshare Listening Group (Crawley) | Facebook

Modality Mid Sussex – Plan for Patients

(Please see the update from modality, please note that this is not in the public domain until Monday)

Please see below the Modality Mid Sussex Plan for Patients which will be released on Monday, 19^th June 2023 via our website, social media, in practices (hard copies) and by text message.

We wanted to share this information with you ahead of public release, as we know that you will have had many interactions with your constituents regarding our GP services over the last six months and need to be kept informed of any progress or change in service.

You will see from the attached plan, that we will be holding a number of face to face and virtual patient engagement events during the last two weeks of July and we really hope you will be able to join us for one of those sessions.

A heartfelt thank you to all our brilliant volunteers

(Sent by Katy Bourne OBE to all major stakeholders)

This week was Volunteers’ Week, an opportunity to say an extremely well deserved thank you to our volunteers and to shine a light on the incredible efforts they make all year round.

Across the Sussex Police organisation there are hundreds of volunteers who quietly dedicate their time to helping others.

Whether its volunteers from: the Special Constabulary; Police Cadets; Community Speedwatch; Restorative Justice; Mediation Services; Independent Custody Visitors; Search and Rescue Teams or our local Neighbourhood Watch – the support they offer is invaluable and Sussex Police and my office simply wouldn’t be able to deliver the results we do without them.

This week, we highlighted the great contribution from our Restorative Justice (RJ) volunteers, hearing from Amanda, an RJ facilitator, who told us the proudest moment in her role was the positive restorative justice she facilitated between an elderly lady who had been burgled and the offender.

We also focused on our Mediation Service volunteers who provide specialist skills across Sussex, repairing and reducing harm caused by conflict. You can find out more about this role on my Twitter.

We ended this year’s Volunteers’ Week by celebrating our Independent Custody Visitors (ICVs) who check on the welfare and wellbeing of those held in custody. As part of the morning, ICVs reflected on their roles, discussing what volunteering means to them.

Launching Sussex’s Police Animal Welfare Scheme

Last week, I met with Superintendent Graham Barnett, the lead for the Specialist Operations Unit (which includes the Dog Unit) and Louise Crawford, Animal Welfare Co-ordinator for Dogs Trust, to sign a Memorandum of Understanding for our new Animal Welfare Independent Visitor Scheme.

The scheme is supported by the National Police Chiefs’ Council, the Association of Police & Crime Commissioners and Dogs Trust and follows a similar process to Independent Custody Volunteers who make unannounced visits to custody centres to check on the wellbeing of detainees.

Volunteers will check on the welfare of police dogs within the Gatwick Explosives Dog Unit – inspecting conditions at Gatwick Police Station, including their kennels, vehicles and training grounds.

Sussex Police’s Dog Training School (run jointly with Surrey Police) is internationally recognised and supplies specially trained dogs to countries all over the world so it’s important their welfare is held to the highest standard. You can read more about the scheme on my website.

Katy Bourne OBE

Sussex Police & Crime Commissioner

Planning Applications & Decisions

Highways, Transport and Planning Newsletter

(Sent by WSCC Highways Department to all major stakeholders)

A big thank you to our Public Rights of Way Volunteer Rangers

Over the last year the Volunteer Rangers carried out sixty days of tasks, giving up 3546 hours of their time to help maintain and improve the Public Rights of Way network across West Sussex.

This included:

8200m of vegetation clearance
28 tonnes of Type 1 used
6 new plank crossings, four repaired
10 bridge new 5m and over and 2 refurbished
51m of boardwalk installed
70 steps installed
36 fallen trees cleared
24 fingerposts installed or repaired

A really big thank you to our volunteers, giving up your own time to help improve the Public Rights of Way is very much recognised and appreciated. You really do make a difference!

Free life-saving workshops

Currently, nearly a quarter of all people killed and seriously injured on the road are riding a motorcycle – a stark figure as motorcycles only account for around 5% of vehicles on the road.

Our West Sussex Fire & Rescue Service has launched a series of free Biker Down workshops, designed to help make the county’s roads safer.

If you were the first on the scene of an accident involving a biker, would you know what to do? If the answer is no, then our courses are for you.

Click here for more information

Reporting a road or pavement problem

On Friday 28 April 2023, Love West Sussex was decommissioned and we no longer accept reports via this route.

We now have a new web online reporting tool/process. The new process uses an enhanced map and is mobile device friendly and work across multiple platforms so is easily accessed with different devices without needing to download anything. Using this new reporting tool, any road and pavement reports are then directly assigned to the correct team. Customers who provided an email address at the time of reporting the issue will automatically receive email status updates. After doing some market research, we found that a majority of local authorities are doing it this way rather than using apps.

If you have previously bookmarked or saved the ‘Love West Sussex’ web URL or mobile app to your device, please replace it with this: https://www.westsussex.gov.uk/roads-and-travel/make-an-enquiry-or-report-a-problem-with-a-road-or-pavement/

We are grateful for any feedback as we are improving it all the time. If you would like to send suggestions or feedback, email active.communities@westsussex.gov.uk

Click here to report a problem with a road or pavement

School ‘Keep Clear’ Signs Trial

The School Keep Clear markings (‘zig zags’) are positioned outside or near to the entrance of a school. The purpose of implementing zig zags is to provide a space, which is free from parked vehicles, for children and parents to cross the road safely and enable road users to see them clearly. Without zig zags, vehicles constantly stop to drop off and pick up their children outside of the school – not only causing congestion but also making it unsafe for pedestrians to cross the road. It is illegal for anyone, other than the Emergency Services, to park or even stop on these markings, even if it’s only for a matter of seconds (where signs are in place giving this warning). Unfortunately, some parents and carers still do this regardless of the law and potential fine that ensue if caught.

The WSCC Road Safety Group developed a new intervention, which is aimed at preventing vehicles from stopping on the zig zags, by placing a number of signs which have a combination of an emotive design and a polite message ‘Please Don’t Stop Here’, directly onto the zig zags.

We are currently carrying out trials using these signs at 6 schools in West Sussex. We started with Bersted Green Primary back in March, with Field Place Infant School and Orchards Primary School (both in Goring) participating with the trial in May. The remaining schools also due to take part before the end of the school year are Southwater Junior, Glebe Primary in Southwick and St Peter’s Primary in Henfield.

This is not something that has been trialled before by the Road Safety Group in West Sussex and we anticipate this being a successful intervention.

New bus route coming to Barnham & Yapton – plus free travel for a week!

Click here to view the full timetable

Just the ticket: £2 bus fare cap has been extended until 30 October 2023

Full list of participating bus companies

NB: there are no changes to the national bus pass scheme for older and disabled people. Free bus pass holders will continue to receive free travel under the terms of that scheme

Ash Dieback Update

During the 2022-2023 felling season, the Ash Dieback project team made over 344 separate site/locations safe by taking out the trees effected by Ash Dieback.

Growing season has started and surveys will be undertaken of the following sites:

A24 Horsham Bypass
A24 Ashington to Buckbarn
A272 Cowfold to Haywards Heath
B2146 Partial
B2141 Partial
A286 Midhurst
A283 Washington to Petworth
A264 M23 East Grinstead
A22 Small Section

These areas are also likely to be surveyed soon:

A264 Five Oaks to Broadbridge Heath
B2028 Lindfield to Turners Hill
B2036 Balcombe (partially inspected)
A281 Horsham to Upper Beeding
B2139 Houghton to Storrington
A29 Rudgwick to Houghton
A273 Pyecombe to Burgess Hill

GATCOM News Bulletin

EGBA Events

To see the latest events from the EGBA please follow this link!