Newsletter 23/09/22
23 September 2022
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.
Press Release 2463 – New home for Quarry Café and Community Fridge
A popular community café in the Stone Quarry area of East Grinstead has been saved after Mid Sussex District Council provided them with a new home.
The Quarry Café and Community Fridge has been supporting the local community for over five years, initially as a community café, and expanding when the pandemic struck to providing a community fridge by collecting surplus food, creating ready meals, and sharing them with local people in need of a helping hand.
The future of this vital drop-in centre and food distribution facility was put in doubt recently when the group found out they needed to vacate their existing premises on Holtye Avenue. However, Mid Sussex District Council has now agreed a 30-year lease for the former Post Office in Hollands Way, that will enable the café and community fridge to continue providing services for Stone Quarry residents and the wider East Grinstead area, including nearby villages.
Sarah Howland, Director and Executive Manager for the Quarry Café and Community Fridge said:
“There are lots of local people who rely on the services we provide at the Quarry Café and Community Fridge, so it’s fantastic that we’ve been able to find a new home in the same area.
“We have a wonderful team of volunteers who help us to run the café, which provides a place for the community to meet up and enjoy quality food and drink at affordable prices. We also help to prevent food waste by collecting surplus food, sharing it amongst the community and making meals for those who need a helping hand.
“All of this great work can continue now that we have secured a long-term base in the Stone Quarry area and we’re grateful to Mid Sussex District Council and Clarion Futures for the help and support they have provided.
“We’re a key member of the Mid Sussex Food Partnership and we will be working together to further expand our reach and meet demands. The Food Partnership is creating a strong support network for all projects involved in helping alleviate food poverty within Mid Sussex.
“Renovation work at the new Café and Community Fridge is already underway and we’ll be working flat out to get it ready to open in late October or early November.”
Councillor Norman Webster, Mid Sussex District Council Cabinet Member for Community said:
“When I heard that the Quarry Café and Community Fridge needed to find a new home, I immediately thought of the old Post Office building. The building has been empty for over three years and was close to being sold, so we had to move quickly and work hard to secure the building for this vital community service.
“The old Post Office has the potential to enable the Quarry Café and Community Fridge to expand their existing services and it’s located very close to their old premises, so they will remain right in the heart of the community.
“This project will bring an empty property back into use and will safeguard the long-term future of a vital community facility. The Council won’t be charging any rent for the first five years of the 30-year lease, which will afford the Quarry Café and Community Fridge some financial breathing room while they renovate their new home and turn it into a vibrant community hub.”
Charitable Foundation, Clarion Futures is contributing approximately £70,000 towards the refurbishment, furnishing and decoration of the new café, with the help of one of their contractors United Living, who will deliver a significant amount of the refurbishment work through Social Value.
Nicky Dodds, Regional Communities Manager – South Region for Clarion Futures said:
“We have been working with the community in Stone Quarry for about 10 years now and have built very strong relationships with Sarah Howland, her fabulous team of volunteers, local residents and also with local Councillors who have always been very supportive of the work that we do. Clarion Futures are very proud to be a key stakeholder in this development and have been committed to seeing this project come into fruition for some time now. It demonstrates what fantastic achievements can be made by listening to the needs of the community and working in partnership to address them.”
Clarion Futures will be hosting a community event at the Hollands Way play area, next to the new Quarry Café and Community Fridge from 11am – 2pm on 25 October to shine a spotlight on the new café opening. Refreshments will be provided and there will be the opportunity for local residents to meet representatives from Clarion Housing, Clarion Futures, Mid Sussex District Council, United Living and The Quarry Café and Community Fridge.
WSCC Response to Road Management Complaint
(Please note – this response was a reply from WSCC following our letter of complaint)
Dear East Grinstead Town Council,
Thank you for your email sent to Councillor Joy Dennis, Cabinet Member for Highways and Transport, on 14th September about traffic chaos in East Grinstead. I have been asked to respond on her behalf.
Streetworks team have endeavoured to support the needs of the travelling public and the conflicting needs of the Fibre to the Premises Broadband rollout that Central government has been promoting for some time and we do agree that a tipping point has been reached with the recent emergency and urgent works that have also occurred on the Highway network. This crescendo of works is happening across the whole of the county with at last count 13 different Fibre to the Premises Broadband installers working simultaneously across the major conurbations and business centres.
These fibre installers are all Statutory Undertakers with legal powers to dig up the Highway and install their ducts and cables and it is very difficult to refuse their access if the road space is available and indeed they can and already approach the Department for Digital Culture Media and Sport when we try to reduce their activities on the Highway saying that we are blocking the Broadband rollout so desired by government. They also lobby MP’s and local members in some areas too suggesting that if we do not allow them to install the ducts and cables in the urban/busy areas they won’t install in the rural areas as the business plans won’t stand up.
It’s a very commercially sensitive and aggressive situation currently and this is why you see one provider finish in an area just for another one to come in and dig up all the same roads again, it is very frustrating that they do not tell Streetworks earlier of their intentions as then we could make the 2 or more suppliers works together and lay multiple ducts at one time.
Streetworks have spoken to Cllr Denis who has empowered Streetworks team to reconsider our approaches to booking road space not only in East Grinstead but in all residential and business districts. In future we will endeavour to keep a greater degree of capacity free in the road network thereby hopefully allowing for those unforeseen emergencies to occur without causing a whole town or city to grind to a halt. This approach is not without risk and will also be a best endeavours approach but it is something that will be employed in coming weeks and months when road space bookings are agreed.
As you suggest longer duration working and ensuring site occupation is kept up are always priorities for the Streetworks team but we must also be mindful of health and safety regulations (working time directives) and environmental health factors (noise pollution etc) when we offer instructions to works promoters. We also state to all works promoters that when they have to leave a site unattended for concrete curing or manufacture of bespoke repair equipment etc. they leave signage on site to inform all of why the site is empty and when it will not be but we know this doesn’t always happen.
One last point to note is that Streetworks do deliberately plan to allow more works during the school summer holidays on roads with schools in them or indeed routes to schools and this is not great for the area concerned but the works have to happen, we cannot delay them forever (as mentioned above) so the pain is inflicted when it will not disrupt children’s education. Streetworks team can only apologise for the disruption caused but disruption is going to occur and planning this for the summer holidays is offering best endeavours to reduce said disruption.
I hope this reply offers some explanation and also provides some positives for the future and please do come back to the Streetworks team with any further questions, queries or reports of unattended sites that you may wish us to look into.
Yours sincerely,
Gill
Network Permit Officer
Next Police Beat Surgery
The date and time of our the next Police Beat Surgery at East Grinstead Library will be on the 24th between 10:00-11:00. There should be two policing representatives there as well as the addition of the local Speed Watch co-ordinators.
Adam Dabell Annual Memorial Football Match
(Please note – this is an invitation sent from Cllr John Dabell)
Dear All,
I’m delighted to be able to tell you that, thankfully, we shall once again be celebrating this terrific event for our young people, in memory of my dear son.
As I’m sure most of you will now well know, on the 10th March 2004 our wonderful son Adam, tragically and without any warning, collapsed and died whilst playing in a local five-a-side tournament with his friends.
He was 26.
At that time, working on a suggestion made originally by Steve Hill (Sussex School Sports Coordinator) and Simon Bunn, one of Adam’s close friends, plus his peers and friends from schooldays, we, with his extended family and his many good friends, decided that the best memorial to a young, fit man, so full of life, would be a living memorial.
Therefore contributions were made that provided for a Memorial Cup and Trophy in Adam’s name which are presented to the winning team from an annual football match between the two Schools/Sixth Form Colleges in East Grinstead;
Sackville, which Adam attended, and Imberhorne which many of his friends attended.
Both teams receive commemorative medals, normally presented by our Town Mayor and also, hopefully as last year, by our own local MP Mims Davies.
The event is increasingly heavily supported, particularly by the young people of the Town. All are very welcome.
It is a very joyous celebration!
This is to say a personal thank you to those who contributed to this living memorial, who continue to make it happen each year and to let you know that the 18th annual match will take place on Thursday 13th October at the East Grinstead Town F.C. ground.
Once again, at the match we shall be looking to promote and seek, entirely voluntary, contributions to CRY – Cardiac Risk in the Young.
CRY was founded in 1995 to raise awareness of conditions that can lead to Sudden Cardiac Death (SCD); Sudden Death Syndrome (SDS, SADS), in the young and I would encourage you to visit their website:- http://www.c-r-y.org.uk/
We still lose far too many of our lovely young people, every year, to undiagnosed heart conditions!
Those of you that can make it, I would like to warmly invite you to join us there to cheer on the two young teams, as we remember Adam and those other young people that have fallen victim.
For more information, please refer to Adam’s website:- http://adamdabell.net/ and that of EGTFC to whom we continue to be hugely grateful for their support of this match:- http://www.egtfc.co.uk/
My apologies if I have inadvertently missed anyone – please pass the invite on.
I would reiterate, All are most welcome to come along.
Very kind regards,
John
Could you be eligible for the Warmer Homes programme?
The County Council is urging residents not to miss out on funding to make their homes more energy efficient.
The Government-funded Warmer Homes programme is offering energy efficiency measures such as insulation, solar panels and air source heat pumps to eligible households on a first come, first served basis.
The funding is available subject to eligibility, technical feasibility and your home’s energy efficiency rating shown on its Energy Performance Certificate (EPC).
You must meet the following criteria to qualify:
- Your home has an EPC rating of E, F or G (limited funding is available for EPC D rated properties).
And either:
- You have a total household annual income of £30,000 or less (before housing costs/bills)
Or:
- You receive a means-tested benefit or meet additional eligibility criteria specified by your local authority (this is known as the ECO flexible eligibility ‘statement of intent’).
Homes with a mains gas supply could receive up to £10,000 while those that are off gas could receive up to £25,000.
Councillor Deborah Urquhart, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Environment and Climate Change, said: “This is a significant opportunity for eligible residents to make changes at home that will have an impact on the twin challenge of rising energy costs and climate change. We would encourage our residents to take a close look at this opportunity and to pass on the information to friends and family they feel could qualify.”
The Warmer Homes programme is available to owner occupiers and private rental tenants only. If you are a private rental tenant, your landlord will be required to make a financial contribution.
To apply online visit www.warmerhomes.org.uk/programme and click ‘apply now’. You can also call 0800 038 5737 to see whether you are eligible.
Planning Applications
WSCC Newsletter
Mental health: help is right here
Are you eligible for Warmer Homes funding?
Covid-19 and flu vaccinations update
Is your electric blanket safe?
Help us reuse and recycle unwanted walking aids
Reminder: applications for secondary school places close next month
Autism and Social Communication conference
More newsHead to our Newsroom to find all the latest news. Below are some highlights:
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NALC Newsletter
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Chief executive’s bulletin
Operation London Bridge I want to extend my personal thanks and gratitude, as well as those from NALC’s chair, Cllr Keith Stevens, for the important part I know many of you in local (parish and town) councils have been playing in Operation London Bridge over the last week since the sad death of Her Majesty The Queen. And we are also extremely grateful to our county association colleagues for providing invaluable advice and support to you. We had previously agreed with county officers that when major events occur, we would consider convening additional meetings outside of the regular fortnightly meetings. Accordingly, we held an extra meeting on Tuesday to come together and take stock. One issue discussed was our advice on council meetings during the mourning period, a contrary view by a King’s Counsel, and different interpretations by some monitoring officers. We stood by our advice and provided county officers with a statement setting out our reasons, they had the flexibility to use this as needed as it was clear there was not an issue or problem in many areas. We did not want to confuse councils by sharing other advice! We also shared this statement with the Local Government Lawyer and other sector bodies. Other issues discussed included a recap on the information we had provided to county associations, advice on time off for The Queen’s Funeral Bank Holiday, and how principal councils, Lord Lieutenants and Local Resilience Forums were engaging with and communicating with the sector. Later that day, along with other councillor representatives of sector bodies, Keith attended a ministerial roundtable convened by the secretary of state for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities to discuss Operation London Bridge, including local memorial events that councils are organising this week or weekend. Please do let us know about any events you’re organising or involved in at policycomms@nalc.gov.uk. Open day Yesterday, we welcomed colleagues from the Staffordshire Association of Local Councils, Norfolk Association of Local Councils and Lancashire Association of Local Councils, as well as recent NALC joiners, Fflur Jones and Greg Henry, to our latest virtual open day. These days are run to allow new staff at county associations, councillors on committees, and new member councils to meet our staff and put names to faces and find out more about our work. Joint Panel on Accountability and Governance The Joint Panel on Accountability and Governance held its latest meeting on 15 September. Issues discussed included local council email addresses and feedback on both the 2022 Practitioners’ Guide and Annual Governance and Accountability Return forms which will help inform plans for the 2023 update of the guide. Informal meeting on Ukraine On 6 September, we held an informal meeting about Ukraine, this was a special meeting of our National Assembly but open to anyone and provided an opportunity for councils to share what they are doing in their communities to support those affected. To get the discussion going, we were pleased to hear from Iain Lynch, town clerk, Farnham Town Council and Cllr Richard Parry, Kent Association of Local Councils. He spoke about what was happening in their areas, with issues identified in the discussion, including financial pressures on councils, school places, employment opportunities, language support, providing dedicated community space, links with principal councils, transport and pressures on hosts. Attendees agreed to hold a further meeting in due course, with more details to follow. In/out and about Along with Jane Moore, senior solicitor and legal services manager, I was pleased to attend the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Association of Local Councils “share the vision, shape the future” annual conference in St Neots on 9 September. In my presentation, I gave a wide-ranging update on our work over the last year. Jane provided a legal update, including advice on the public mourning period and speaking about the civility and respect project. Our head of policy and communications, Justin Griggs, was at St. George’s House, Windsor Castle, on 8 September to speak and contribute to a roundtable event hosted by the Local Trust on community and neighbourhood governance. And that same day, Chris Borg, policy manager, joined an online meeting of the Federation of the East Midlands Associations of Local Councils to talk about NALC’s better banking campaign, which includes linking up with Action for Communities in Rural England and the National Council for Voluntary Organisations on a broader campaign to lobby for improved banking services across the local council, community and voluntary sectors. The government report on rural proofing The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has published its second report on rural proofing. The policy paper Delivering for rural England – the second report on rural proofing summarises progress against the five key priorities in the first report and examines government action to support the rural economy and rural communities. It includes the government’s Levelling Up the United Kingdom white paper and the challenges of the current economic climate. The report also announced a £110m Rural England Prosperity Fund. You can read more, including an initial response from Keith, in our news story. NALC National Network: Women Councillors NALC’s National Network: Women Councillors met on 8 September, hosted by our vice president, Cllr Sue Baxter. The online meeting covered an update on the civility and respect project where Sue encouraged the network to sign the Pledge, a round robin exchange on what councils were doing to respond to the cost of living crisis, a discussion on network communications and appropriate use of the WhatsApp group and suggestions for future guest speakers. If you’d like to join the network, you can find out more information here. And finally… As I am sure you will be aware, following the Conservative Party leadership election over the Summer, Liz Truss MP has become the new Prime Minister. Among her ministerial appointments during the reshuffle (which was then paused last week) included Simon Clarke MP returning to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities as secretary of state, Paul Scully MP re-appointed as the local government minister, and Dehenna Davison MP joining the department as a parliamentary under-secretary of state. Keith congratulated Simon on his appointment and is also writing to him. We will also seek to engage with other new ministers during their forthcoming party conference in Birmingham. |
October events at West Sussex Libraries and West Sussex Record Office |
| Thursday 6 October: A Celebration of Poetry with Maggie Sawkins
Ted Hughes Award winning poet Maggie Sawkins Celebrate National Poetry Day at Chichester Library on Tuesday 6 October from 7pm with the Ted Hughes Award winning poet Maggie Sawkins reading from her new collection, The House Where Courage Lives. There will also be live music from Linda Kelsall-Barnett on classical guitar and an open mic opportunity for poets, both amateur and professional. Both readers and listeners are equally welcome. Tickets are £6 and can be purchased from Chichester Library or by calling 01243 777351. The ticket price includes a glass of wine (18+), or non-alcoholic alternative.
Thursday 13 October: Sue Teddern – The Pre-Loved Club Local author Sue Teddern As part of Shoreham Wordfest, local author Sue Teddern will be at Shoreham Library on Tuesday 13 October from 7pm talking about her latest novel, The Pre-Loved Club, and her career in writing. Sue has over twenty years’ scriptwriting experience, from episodes of Birds of a Feather for TV to Cooking in a Bedsitter for radio. Her debut novel, Annie Stanley, All at Sea, was the story of an unemployed teacher who, on a whim, takes her father’s ashes on a tour of the sea areas of the shipping forecast. Her recently published second novel, The Pre-Loved Club, is set in Brighton & Hove and relates the friendship of two single parents, desperately trying to recover from rejection, so that they can move on with their lives. A book sale and signing will follow the event. Tickets are £8 and can be purchased via Shoreham Wordfest.
Tuesday 18 October: Why Is Crime Fiction So Huge Right Now? Acclaimed crime fiction author William Shaw. Photo credit: Kitty Wheeler Interested in the popular genre of crime fiction? Then come to East Grinstead Library on Tuesday 18 October at 7pm to hear acclaimed crime fiction author William Shaw. William’s talk, titled ‘Why Is Crime Fiction So Huge Right Now?’ acknowledges the popularity of crime fiction and questions what is it about contemporary crime fiction that makes people want to read it. William thinks he knows why the genre has such power right now. He’ll talk about the evolution of modern crime fiction and a little about his own books. There will be a Q&A session after the talk and a book signing and book sale by East Grinstead Bookshop. Tickets are £3 and can be purchased from East Grinstead Library, either in person or by calling 01342 332900.
Tuesday 25 October: Battle over West Sussex Military historian and author Andy Saunders West Sussex Record Office will be hosting a special talk by renowned military historian and author Andy Saunders on Tuesday 25 October from 7pm. In his talk, entitled ‘Battle over West Sussex’, Andy will be telling the story of the Battle of Britain as it was fought in the skies of West Sussex during the Second World War. He will be looking at specific events and incidents and describing individual episodes of courage and drama. Dozens of incidents will be brought to life in this illustrated talk – including the story of participants, survivors and local civilians who were caught up in the dramatic events of 1940. The event can be attended in person at West Sussex Record Office, Orchard Street, Chichester or virtually over Zoom. Tickets to attend the talk in person are £8 and can be booked and paid for by calling 01243 753602. To attend online, tickets cost £5 and can be booked via Eventbrite (search for ‘battle over west sussex’). Visit www.westsussex.gov.uk/ro for more information.
Wednesday 26 October: Two and a Half Questions (special screening) As part of Black History Month, join West Sussex Libraries and Oxygen Arts for a special screening of Two and a Half Questions at Crawley Library on Wednesday 26 October at 2pm. This new film is an exploration of the lives and aspirations of the Windrush generation and those who came after them. Working with a group of young people, the filmmaker, Clovis Lowe, captured interviews with people of Caribbean and African heritage from all walks of life, from lawyers and dancers to politicians, social workers and entrepreneurs. After the film, join the director, Clovis Lowe and the producer, Marsha Lowe for a Q&A about the issues raised by the film and the challenges of producing a film with young people during Covid. The film lasts 45 minutes and is rated PG. Tickets are free and can be booked through Eventbrite (search for ‘two and a half questions’). ENDS
For further information please contact the news desk on 0330 222 8090 or email pressoffice@westsussex.gov.uk. For urgent out-of-hours enquiries please call 07767 098415. |