The Shoreham Herald reports that the John Horler Trio will be performing at Steyning Centre tomorrow evening at 8:30 (doors open 7:45).
Category Archives: Steyning
Cross the A283 and live! [update 2]
The Shoreham Herald reports that WSCC Rights of Way Committee has now agreed to the new bridleway that will allow users of the Downs Link to avoid having to cross the A283:
It will run close to the River Adur, passing under the A283 road bridge, through a field, across a ditch and through a wooded highway verge to rejoin the Downs Link at its existing crossing point. It adds 970m to the length of the route.
Measure twice, cut once
Steyning Grammar will be celebrating 400 years of existence in May with a variety of events including:
- 24th May: the opening of the Church Street School and grounds to the public with archive material relating to the school’s history on display;
- 24th-25th May: three performances each day of ‘Carvings, Corridors and Timbres’, a musical about the school, at the Church Street site;
- 26th–28th May: a heritage quilt will be on display in the Church of St Andrew and St Cuthman;
- 29th May: Janet Pennington will give a talk on ‘Steyning Grammar School, 400 Years of Education’ at 2:00pm in Bolton House;
- 7th March–31st August 2014: an exhibition titled ‘The Scholar’s Tale — 400 Years of Schooling in Steyning’ at Steyning Museum.
Further details about these and other events can be found here.
Mayfield runoff
The LAMBS website has another interesting article, this one on the implications of the Mayfield development for the regional hydrology:
“Every time it rains there would be massive floods which could wipe out Shoreham,” says Frank Preston who worked on the river for 30 years, as a Flood Defence Agent for Southern Water Authority. “The extra impervious run-off from houses and roads, that sort of thing, would just overpower the river.”
..
John Donaldson, former Operations Manager for the Environment Agency, with 35 years of experience in the water industry, says he was “horrified” when he heard of the plan. “The impact of the drainage system and surface water run-off will be a nightmare,” he says. “We can hardly manage the run-off that we’ve got at the present time. There’d be even greater flooding without doubt – to land, to property, to road systems and transport – everything. The upland catchment already has enough water in the meadows and fields – we cannot take any more water.”
..
[Peter Haworth Booth:] “The implications of Mayfield are enormous. I think a lot of houses just won’t be habitable. I don’t know what the quantities of water are but the speed of the run-off is going to cause mega problems from here down to Bramber.”
Read the rest at the LAMBS website.
You’re too late
You are already too late to get tickets for this performance by The Sixteen. But Steyning Festival will have many other events to offer in May and June.
Steyning Grammar: the history book
Steyning Grammar School 1614-2014, a book authored by Caroline Meeson and others to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the school’s founding, is now available. The book is on sale from the main school reception, Steyning Bookshop and Steyning Museum. It costs £12.
Cross the A283 and live! [update]
The Shoreham Herald reports:
A new bridleway designed to make the Downs Link at Bramber safer is receiving wide support. West Sussex County Council is consulting on plans to create a new route, parallel to and under the A283, to avoid crossing the busy main road. Jon Perks, principal rights of way officer, has written to residents and landowners for comments on the £77,000 scheme, which should be returned by February 20. .. The new route would pass under the bridge that carries the A283 over the River Adur, 500m south-east of the existing crossing point. It would add about 970m to the route but it is thought the safety benefits outweigh the extra distance to travel, plus, the existing crossing point will remain open for ‘confident’ cyclists and others who wish to take a more direct route. Part of the land is owned by the Crown Estate, which has said it will not raise objection. The track on the south side of the A283 is shared by the county council and a private landowner and both are willing to dedicate it as a bridleway.
SDNPA Travel Grant Scheme
Not a single school in BN5, BN6, BN44, or BN45 is included in the scheme.
Pupils at Albourne Primary, Ashurst Primary, the Good Start, Lancing College, St. Peter’s Henfield, Shoreham College, Steyning Grammar, the Towers, Upper Beeding Primary, and others are not eligible for this scheme. Pupils at Balfour, Blatchington Mill, Dorothy Stringer, St. Luke’s, Varndean, and Westdene Primary do qualify, however.
The full list of ‘deprived communities’ and their schools, indexed by postcode, can be found here.
Southern Water’s metering programme
An open letter from Darren Bentham, Director, Universal Metering Programme
I am writing to update you on Southern Water’s five-year programme to install half a million water meters in households across our region by 2015. This will help secure water resources for the future.
The scheme is progressing well with more than 250,000 new meters installed to date, across Hampshire, Sussex and Kent.
Our meter installation teams will shortly be returning to your area, to complete installations which were not possible to carry out in the main phase of our work programme.
These installations did not go ahead as planned for a variety of reasons. For example:
- Most meters are installed in pavements but some must be installed in customers’ homes, which means we have to make appointments with customers and this was not possible during our first visit
- Another utility service may have been working in the area during the main phase of our work, preventing us from completing meter installations as originally planned
- Other unforeseen circumstances which disrupted the programme at the time of installation
We are re-contacting customers who have not had their meter installed to inform them about the situation and assure them that their meter will be installed as soon as possible.
Installation is free and customers will be provided with lots of written information about their meter and metered bill, as well as easy ways in which they can save water, energy and money.
Installation programme
We will be installing meters in the following postcode areas during November and December 2013:
• BN3 4 (Hove West)
• BN3 5 (Hove West)
• BN3 7 (West Blatchington)
• BN45 7 (Poynings)
• BN3 8 (Hangleton)
• BN3 6 (Hove Park)
• BN1 8 (Patcham)
• BN1 6 (Withdean/Preston Park)
• BN44 3 (Steyning)
• BN5 9 (Henfield)
• BN43 5 (Shoreham)
• BN43 6 (Kingston Shaw)
• BN42 4 (Southwick)
• BN41 2 (Portslade)
• BN41 1 (Portslade)
How customers can find out more
Customers will receive an information pack, both before their meter is installed AND on the day of installation. They can also call our Metering Customer Contact Centre on 0333 2003 013 to find out more.
Detailed information about our metering programme is available on our dedicated website at: www.southernwater.co.uk/metering.
First metered bills
In February 2012, we began issuing the first six-month bills to customers who have had meters installed under the programme.
Customers are switched from rateable value charges to metered charges around three months after a meter is installed for their property.
Three months later, six months after installation, they are sent a letter advising them how much water they have used since they were switched and, based on that water use, how much their bills could be.
They will then receive their first metered bill nine months after their meter was fitted.
Support for customers
As households move to metered charges, about half will see their bills go down and half will see an increase. This is because at the moment, water bills are based on the rateable value of the house, whereas on a meter they are based on the amount of water people use.
Working closely with our customers and stakeholders, we have developed a range of tariffs to give people time to adapt to metered charges and make sure that water bills remain affordable for everyone.
We have identified around 108,000 customers across our service area to whom we are offering additional assistance with their water meter and bills, including the offer of free water and energy use checks (Home Saver Checks) and more information on the tariffs and support available. We look to contact these customers directly when installing their water meters.
Please see the attached Q&A document which sets out further key information about our metering programme.
We would be happy to provide any other information you may require. Please do not hesitate to contact Sarah Jones on 01732 375409 or by emailing southernwater@springboard-marketing.co.uk.
Yours sincerely
Darren Bentham
Director, Universal Metering Programme
Southern Water
