Operation Watershed on Clappers Lane

Update – 7th February 2014

I have just been advised by Edburtons that work still cannot start on Clappers Lane due to the weather. They will update me again next week.

Andrea

Update – 29th January 2014

I have just been updated by Edburtons who have been unable to start the work on Clappers Lane due to the current weather and that it is too wet for ditch clearance. The work has been rescheduled to start next Wednesday weather permitting. I will let you know if this changes again.

Andrea

Advanced Notice

operation_watershed

Under Operation Watershed (WSCC programme to invest in flood and road repairs) Fulking PC applied for a grant for work to be carried out in Clappers Lane.

The grant has been awarded and Fulking PC have appointed Edburton Contractors to carry out the work on two areas of Clappers Lane, the North End and by The Sands.

When Edburton Contractors met with WSCC in December it was decided that a full road closure was not necessary.The work is due to start on the 27th January 2014.

Should you require any further information please do not hesitate to contact Andrea Dickson clerk to Fulking PC on andreadicksonfpc@gmail.com or 01444 451060.


Andrea Dickson
Clerk to Fulking Parish Council
01444 451 060
12 Turners Mill Road
Haywards Heath
West Sussex
RH16 1NN
andreadicksonfpc@gmail.com

Flood inhibition

SDNPA flooding
Six hundred trees are being planted on farmland in the South Downs National Park to help prevent a repeat of recent flooding and soil erosion.

David Hamilton Fox, who manages the Cowdray Home Farms, in West Sussex, said: “The River Rother in the heart of the South Downs National Park floods most years but this winter has been particularly bad. As well as misery for locals we have lost a considerable amount of topsoil, which is vital for growing crops, and will eventually increase the silt in the river – perhaps leading to more flooding.

More here.

Road & rail flooded

Road closed
As of 5:16am, the Highways Agency is reporting that the A23 is closed in both directions between the M23 (Pease Pottage) and the A272 (Bolney) due to flooding. Diversions are posted. The Argus is reporting (7:42am) that tailbacks coming out of Brighton are stretching back about five miles with delays of at least an hour and a half. In addition, ” rail services between Haywards Heath and Three Bridges are cancelled in both directions due to flooding in the Balcombe tunnel” and “replacement buses are being affected by flooding on local roads”. More here.

Also the West Sussex County Times is reporting that “the A281 Crouch Hill in Henfield is closed between the B2116 Albourne Road junction and the Deer Park junction”.

Update 11:50am: the A23 has reopened (WSCT). More road news here.

Mayfield Adjournment Debate

Nicholas Soames attending to constituency business
The Mid Sussex Times reports that:

Mid Sussex MP Nicholas Soames has secured an Adjournment Debate in the House of Commons on the ‘Proposed Mayfield new town in West Sussex’. .. The Commons debate will be held on Tuesday, December 3. Mr Soames’ parliamentary neighbour, Nick Herbert, the MP for Arundel and South Downs, will be contributing to the debate. Planning Minister, Nick Boles MP, will respond. The debate is due to take place between 11am and 11.30am.

The Mayfield Horror

The Mayfield Horror starring Matthew Taylor
The first public screening on Tuesday proved to be a sell-out: “so many turned up at Oaklands, Haywards Heath, .. that some had to be seated in an overspill room .. and listen on a sound link” (Mid Sussex Times). BBC Radio Sussex coverage of the screening can be found here (top story — interviews with several of the stars) and here. Fans will have to wait a couple of weeks to find out whether this slasher — arguably the best since Tobe Hooper’s The Texas Chainsaw Massacre — is to be allowed out on general release.
GJMG

Update 16th November: The Mid Sussex Leader has published a review (PDF).

Risk area for flooding

The risk area for flooding in Edburton and Fulking
This post is not a flood alert! But you may have thought that river flooding is something that only happens elsewhere in the locality (e.g., along the banks of the Adur and its larger tributaries). The Environment Agency thinks otherwise and marks a strip of Fulking and Edburton that stretches north from Brook House, via Perching Sands, then west past Lower Edburton and Tottington Sands to Woods Mill. This strip is at significant risk of flooding where ‘significant’ means more than once every 75 years. The Agency’s map has been added to the end of the Local Geology page.