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Temporary Road Closure East Grinstead Bonfire Procession Saturday 21st October 2023
MSVA E-Bulletin, 20 July 2023
Please visit this link to access the MSVA E-Bulletin: MSVA E-Bulletin
West Sussex County Council to express concerns to government over proposed infrastructure levy
NEWS RELEASE
Members and Councillors of West Sussex County Council have passed a motion for the Leader of the Council to write to the Secretary of State for Levelling up, Housing and Communities, to state its concerns over a proposed Infrastructure Levy and the possible impact it could have on funding.
In June of this year, the Leader of West Sussex County Council, Cllr Paul Marshall, joined other local government and construction industry leaders in calling on the government to review the introduction of a new infrastructure levy, which has been proposed in the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill.
Fellow WSCC councillors shared the concerns outlined by Cllr Marshall in his original letter and a statement issued since submitting the letter, and have passed a motion at the recent full council for the Leader to contact the Secretary of State on behalf of the whole council to highlight the level of disappointment and apprehension felt within the organisation around the changes the proposed new system would introduce.
Since the introduction of the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) in 2010, which was adopted by all but two of the planning authorities in West Sussex, the county council has seen a significant drop in funding for essential services. In the period of 2021/22, the county council only received 6% of the CIL available in West Sussex. This is due to it only being a consultee in the CIL process and so having no control over setting and collecting the levy, or deciding spending priorities and the allocation of funds.
Under the Government’s proposal for the new system, which would replace Section 106 agreements and Community Infrastructure Levy payments, the council would no longer be statutory consultees with regard to future planning developments in the county. It is only described as a ‘third party’, which is dismissive and suggests it is just an interested observer of the developer contributions system, rather than a key provider of infrastructure that is essential to economic health and social wellbeing.
The county council’s strategic priorities include developing a sustainable and prosperous economy, delivering safe and effective transport options and providing access to education, employment and other services. However, as we would not be formally involved in the process, planning authorities will be able to ignore our requests for funding contributions for new education facilities, new roads, public transport and active travel schemes – all things our growing communities need.
There are also concerns that the levy would result in leaving communities with fewer new social and affordable homes and could impact negatively on housing delivery as a whole, which will affect future generations considerably.
Cllr Marshall said: “The potentially negative impact on our communities and the infrastructure that supports them will be compounded by a key proposal of the levy where the amount being paid by developers won’t be calculated until the project is complete. This will delay provision of new and improved infrastructure to support the new developments by months or even years as the county council and other service providers can only plan for delivery once the levy funds have been secured.
“We have also seen no guidance on how the transition from the current use of CIL and S106 would be managed. If the Infrastructure Levy was introduced under a phased system, this would result in the county council having to navigate different developer contributions systems in different areas at different times, which is not practical
“The county council are keen to support the government in finding a solution that does work for everyone. However, the Infrastructure Levy could result in less infrastructure being delivered and the delivery of that infrastructure being even further out of step with the delivery of new homes.
“This is not just a problem for WSCC, our position reflects that of over 30 organisations who wrote to The Secretary of State calling on him to not implement the proposed levy. All agreed that it could result in less infrastructure being delivered, fewer affordable homes being built and a potential adverse impact on housing delivery.
“The county council would be very happy to work with the government and others in reforming the current developer contributions system and, if the proposal is retained, the introduction of the Infrastructure Levy so its shortcomings can be addressed.”
The motion was passed at a meeting of the Full Council, held on Monday 17th July 2023.
July 2023 edition of our Residents’ eNewsletter.
Our West Sussex county councillors have passed a motion for the Leader of the Council Paul Marshall to write to the Secretary of State for Levelling up, Housing and Communities on behalf of the whole authority, to state its concerns over a proposed Infrastructure Levy and the possible impact it could have on funding.
The proposed levy would remove the county council as a statutory consultee on planning development applications, which would allow planning authorities to ignore our requests for funding contributions for things like new education facilities, new roads, public transport and active travel schemes – all things our growing communities need.
Our West Sussex Fire & Rescue Service reached a huge milestone when its new state-of-the-art training centre and fire station in Horsham became operational last week.
The multi-million-pound site is the first of its type in the county.
Named Platinum House, it replaces the previous fire station in Hurst Road, which was built in 1968.
The training centre has been designed to support the county council’s aims to become carbon neutral with features including:
a live fire training facility that emits smoke back into the environment as clean air
solar panels and electric vehicle charging points
air source heat pumps that provide heating.
Pictured: West Sussex County Council Leader, Paul Marshall, Chief Fire Officer, Sabrina Cohen-Hatton, Group Manager, Jim Mackay and Horsham Red Watch.
‘Think Before You Throw’ to increase recycling in West Sussex
We’d like to say a big thank you to the reducers, reusers, recyclers and think before you throw-ers of West Sussex!
Last year you helped us reuse or recycle over 200,000 tonnes of waste, helping us reduce the amount of general waste produced in the whole of the county.
We’re asking people to continue to ‘Think Before You Throw’, and help us recycle as much as we can, especially materials such as black plastic pots, tubs and trays, empty aerosols, and other items that can go in special collections at home such as small electricals.
In a recent survey 48% of respondents admitted to throwing items in the general waste bin because they were unsure if they could be recycled or not.
We’re trying to help combat this by sharing a new animation series which you can view on the link below. They explain what items can and can’t be recycled in West Sussex.
As well as this the series will show what happens after your bin is collected and how recycling and waste is processed.
Remember recycling should be:
CLEAN – free from food and drink leftovers – a quick rinse will often do.
DRY – keep your recycling bin lid shut – soggy paper and cardboard can’t be recycled and can stick to other items or clog up machinery when sorted.
LOOSE – not tied up in plastic bags, as the machinery cannot sort these.
The free bus travel will be available, as an introductory offer, from 23 to 29 July inclusive.
The new service, a partnership campaign with the county council and the Department for Transport, provides a half-hourly bus frequency, Monday to Saturday. Buses run hourly every Sunday.
This means you can catch a bus to anywhere in the county – and beyond, weekdays between 9.30am and 11pm and all day on weekends and bank holidays, free of charge!
Summer holidays are here! This is a great time to make sure your child’s vaccinations are up to date and it’s never too late to catch up on vaccinations they’ve missed.
Making sure your child has their vaccinations at the right time, and before they start school, gives them the best protection against unpleasant and often serious diseases.
Check the NHS vaccination schedule on our website and if you think your child has missed any of their vaccinations contact your GP practice.
Businesses in West Sussex are invited to benefit from new in-person digital growth support that will be touring the county from September.
Workshops and mentoring will be provided free to businesses, with the aim of helping small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to increase their efficiency, reduce costs and win new customers.
The Grow Digital West Sussex programme will provide businesses with expert guidance on improving digital capabilities, give people an opportunity to connect with other business owners and enable them to opt in to one-to-one mentoring.
Residents in West Sussex lost a total of just over £3.5 million to criminals using different types of scams in the first three months of the year.
The majority of victims were aged 60 or over and just under half of the reports came from people living alone.
To stop individuals becoming victims of fraud and blackmail, we are running two ‘Are you scam savvy?’ events in August, both online and in person at Horsham and Bognor Regis libraries.
The sessions are for anyone who wants to keep themselves, or friends and family, from falling foul of different types of scams, including telephone, courier and romance fraud, which have all become an increased concern in West Sussex.
Buchan Country Park, which is just outside Crawley and is run by the county council, has again been honoured with a prestigious Green Flag Award, the internationally recognised mark of quality for parks and green spaces.
In this week’s blog, NALC partner GoCollaborate write about how to unlock the full potential of your online community engagement.
Star Council Awards 2023
Nominations are open for the Star Council Awards 2023, which celebrate the achievements of the local council sector — submit a nomination today!
Chief executive’s bulletin
20 July 2023
Smaller Councils Committee
NALC’s Smaller Councils Committee met at our new offices in London on 18 July 2023. Ahead of the draft minutes being made available, here’s a summary of the meeting:
Congratulations to the new committee members Cllr Marcus Allen (Herefordshire), Cllr Allan Blakemore (County Durham), Cllr David Francis (Northumberland), Cllr Sarah Jackson (Dorset), and Cllr Mark Valladares (Suffolk), who was also elected committee vice-chair.
The committee agreed for our partner WorkNest to engage with the committee further on updates to our HR templates.
The committee noted a draft document on emails, password management and domain names.
The committee were still keen to hear from county associations about the number of local (parish and town) councils that have declared a climate emergency, what they’ve done to tackle climate change locally, and examples of how they have partnered with principal authorities to tackle climate change (please contact jessica.lancod-frost@nalc.gov.uk).
Councillors agreed to work closely with us to encourage greater participation from smaller councils in the upcoming committee elections, and they supported plans to set up a new network for the smallest local councils with a precept/expenditure not exceeding £10,000.
The committee was also reminded to consider signing the Civility and Respect Pledge, which has seen nearly 1,300 councils commit to standing up to poor behaviour across our sector.
Civility and Respect Project work on intervention
Nineteen attendees from NALC, central government, principal authorities, the Society of Local Council Clerks and the local finance sector (including our partner’s Internal Audit Forum) met on 13 July 23 for the Civility and Respect Project’s intervention workshop. The workshop allowed attendees to share their experiences to improve civility and respect in the local council sector. The workshop concentrated on severe and chronic failures in local councils, and it was good that colleagues were open and willing to help the project identify resources to help turn around struggling councils, with a list of intervention tools produced, including how easy or challenging it would be to deliver them. All those in attendance agreed the session was valuable and productive.
Larger Councils Committee workshop
NALC’s Larger Councils Committee will hold its annual in-person workshop at CCLA’s London offices on 25 July 2023. This workshop session will allow the committee to re-focus its goals for larger councils. The session will feature an introduction from the newly elected chair of the Local Government Association (LGA) and leader of Great Dawley Town Council, Cllr Shaun Davies. There will be an interactive segment where members will discuss how to encourage more people to get involved with the committee, its effectiveness and its work programme. The committee will also review NALC’s study tour at Newport Pagnell Town Council this year and preview next year’s plans. There will also be discussions and updates on the neighbourhood governance review, Martyn’s Law, and the work of our member services team.
On the blog: Action with Communities in Rural England
In this week’s blog, Jeremy Leggett, policy advisor at the Action with Communities in Rural England (ACRE), writes about better managing the shift from face-to-face banks to online banking. As a result of this shift, almost no bank branches remain in rural parts of England, local councils may struggle to manage their accounts, and people who need more confidence with IT hang on to cash-based workarounds, which causes other risks. To solve this issue, ACRE and other charities have worked with UK Finance to brainstorm ways forward. Proposed solutions include an online resource and a social contract between the banking industry, government and society. Read the blog to find out more!
Kent Association of Local Councils health event
The Kent Association of Local Councils held an excellent online event on 17 July 2023 to discuss the role of local councils in promoting health and wellbeing. Cllr Clair Bell, lead for adult social care and public health at Kent County Council, opened the event, stressing the importance of partnership and that no organisation can do it alone, and how the role of communities at a very local level is vital and that local councils have a crucial role in addressing the broader determinants of health. I briefed them on our sector’s promotion of health and wellbeing nationwide. I also flagged several available resources on the NALC website, including good practice case studies and specific information on creating healthy communities, dementia, tackling loneliness, and standing up to violence against women and girls, to name a few.
Princess Royal opens parish council affordable housing development
Congratulations to Steeple Parish Council in Kent on the official opening of its rural housing development on 18 July 2023 by Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal. The six affordable homes were completed last year to meet affordable housing needs and were achieved through a community-led partnership between the council, district council and English Rural. NALC’s chair, Cllr Keith Stevens was among the guests who attended the opening and met Her Royal Highness at the village hall. In her remarks to Keith, Her Royal Highness urged him to tell all local councils about the development and what can be achieved – therefore taking up that challenge, please read more about the development! And if you been involved in similar schemes, please let us know at policycomms@nalc.gov.uk so we can share your examples more widely too.
NALC in parliament
It’s been a busy and productive week for NALC’s advocacy in parliament ahead of the summer recess. I was delighted the House of Lords backed our call for local councils to be able to hold remote council meetings by voting to support an amendment to the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill. NALC’s president, Baroness Scott of Needham Market, has spearheaded this campaign in parliament, speaking out strongly in debates. She was among numerous supporters of a new clause to the Bill that Baroness McIntosh of Pickering proposed. We’ll be working with various organisations, including the LGA, to lobby for this to be retained, as given the government’s opposition, it may be overturned when the Bill returns to the House of Commons. And following pressure by NALC to clarify the powers of local councils to provide financial assistance to places of worship, the government has introduced an amendment to the Bill, which was also supported. However, it was disappointing to hear the government continue to resist extending the dependent carer’s allowance to local councils, despite support from other political parties. Along with NALC’s chair, Cllr Keith Stevens, other colleagues and I have represented our sector at various summer receptions this week hosted by Mobile UK, the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Local Government and the Centre for London. These allowed us to engage with ministers, shadow ministers, MPs, Peers, principal council leaders, think tanks and other stakeholders. Keith also met with Sir Julian Lewis MP on 19 July 2023 to discuss his Early Day Motion on standards, brief him on our Civility and Respect Project and explore how we can work together to engage with MPs on this critical issue.
And finally…
There is only one week left to submit your Star Council Awards nominations! Help recognise the achievements of the local council sector’s achievements and showcase our communities’ hidden heroes. There are five award categories: Council of the Year, Councillor of the Year, Young Councillor of the Year, County Association of the Year and Clerk of the Year. All are carefully selected to recognise excellence in different areas of local council operations and highlight the varied contributions made by councils. The nomination period ends on 28 July 2023, and the winners will be announced at a ceremony in the House of Lords on 29 November 2023. You’ve got to be in it to win it!
