Call for contributors

Call for contributors on children, business and farming
This website managed to deliver an average of just over a post a day during 2013. However, there are three areas of interest to many locals where our coverage has been very weak:

  • Children — there are many more in the village now than has normally been the case in recent years. We could usefully include a lot more news about their activities, their schools, their successes, their failures (okay, perhaps not), and their parenting.
  • Farming — we all live surrounded by farms. We walk the public footpaths through the fields. We can see the crops and animals. Occasionally we see a tractor doing what tractors do. But, for those residents who are not involved in the farming, that’s about it. Many would be interested in learning more. For example, the implications of changes in policy or regulation for farming in Fulking.
  • Local businesses — relative to the the size of the population, there are many hidden away in Fulking and the immediately adjacent villages. They expand and contract, introduce new products or services, employ new people, enlarge their premises, and so on. All of which is of potential interest to readers of this website.

Unassisted, we are unlikely to be able to improve our coverage of these three areas in 2014. If you think you could help with one of them, please get in touch with John.

Lady Brook Spring project postponed

Lady Brook Spring work postponed

New dates will be announced when they become available.

The Lady Brook Spring Project is to be postponed as Northbrook College are unable to provide volunteers on Thursday 19th and Friday 20th September. As soon as new dates have been agreed they will be advertised on the website.

Should anybody have any queries about the project please do not hesitate to contact Andrea Dickson on andreadicksonfpc@gmail.com

Audit of Parish Council Accounts Year Ended 31st March 2013

Checking the books
The annual external audit of Fulking Parish Council accounts for year ending 31st March 2013 has now been completed.

The annual return is available for inspection. It can be downloaded from the website here or you can request a paper copy from Andrea Dickson, Clerk to Fulking Parish Council on 01444 451060 (cost £1.50)

Notice of Conclusion of external audit 31st March 2013

Village Action Plan Group meeting

The Village Action Plan Group will have its annual meeting on Thursday 15th August.

As the Plan is a living document, various actions are achieved throughout the year or are superseded by other developments and this meeting will review any progress and agree any new actions.

Please feel free to attend even if you haven’t been before.

The current plan can be found here on the village website in the section ‘About our Village’ or click here.

Kate Watson
Chair
Fulking Parish Council

RSPB South Downs Futurescape


futurescapes
Some of you will have seen Rachel Whitfield, the RSBP Community Engagement Officer, presenting at the recent Fulking Parish Council meeting.

Rachel has sent us a flyer and her presentation notes to put here on the website.

Rachel’s contact details are:-

Rachel Whitfield
Community Engagement Officer
South Downs Futurescape
Futurescapes is generously supported by the EU LIFE+ Communications Programme

The RSPB, South East Regional Office
1st Floor, Pavilion View, 19 New Road, Brighton, BN1 1UF

The RSPB and the South Downs Powerpoint Presentation

Presentation Notes_South Downs

Fulking Parish Council – Budget 2013-2014

Fulking Parish Council set a budget of £7,303 for the coming financial year at its meeting on 10th January 2013.

The Parish Council budget covers items such as the grass cutting & maintenance of the playground at NTF, street lighting and repairs, public liability insurance, website hosting, cost of audits, subscriptions to local societies, a donation to the Hassocks & Hurst Community Bus as well as additional training for Councillors & Clerk and the Clerk’s salary.

The budget has increased by £960 on last year which means the average payment by a household will rise by approximately £6.80 for the year based on a Band D property.

A full copy of the budget is available here (PDF).

Andrea Dickson
Clerk to Fulking Parish Council
andreadicksonfpc@gmail.com

New Column

Lambs
We pleased to announce that this website has a new monthly Flora & Fauna column edited by the Pippins team. The first post has already appeared and the full set of posts will get listed, in due course, in the Flora & Fauna item in the About Our Village sidebar menu.

2012 10 11 PC Minutes

Minutes of Ordinary Parish Council Meeting at 7.30pm on 11 October 2012 held at the Village Hall

Present: Chairman Ms K. Watson, Vice Chairman Mr M Trist Councillors Ms L. Dyos, Mrs P. Rowland and Clerk to the Council Mrs Andrea Dickson. Chairman of Mid Sussex Council Mandy Thomas-Atkins, MSDC Councillor Colin Trumble, West Sussex District Councillor Peter Griffiths and 12 members of the public

1. Chairman welcomed the members of the public and introduced Chairman of Mid Sussex Council — Councillor Mandy Thomas-Atkins

2. Apologies: None

3. Declaration of Interest: None

4. The minutes of the previous meeting held 12 July 2012 having been previously circulated, were taken as read and approved and signed by the Chairman.

5. Matters Arising.
Planning: Old Pump House — In July 2012 enforcement order that was lodged in October 2011 was upheld by the planning inspector. A period of 9 months has been given to cease residential use and one extra month to remove the caravan and tidy up the land.

Market Garden — The PC met with Nick Rogers (Development Manager) and Steven King (Team Leader) planning investigation and enforcement, both Mid Sussex planning, at the end of August. Market Garden and other general planning queries were discussed. Progress with Mid Sussex planning will be monitored. The PC will be writing to MP Nick Herbert to ask for his help in addressing various issues relating to travellers. The PC was disappointed to hear that some residents did not feel that it had pulled its weight over the Market Garden issue. The councillors felt it needed to go on record that a large amount of work goes on behind the scenes and that they felt very frustrated over the issue. The public could comment on this matter at the end of the evening when comments are invited from the floor.

Preston Nomads — Only 4 (possibly 2) of the initial 6 people are still interested in the parking spaces. Residents who wish to take up the parking spaces need to collect padlock keys, those who do not intend taking up the spaces need to return the post keys. If anybody knows of anybody else that may be interested in a space please contact the Clerk. The car park area will be planted this month with indigenous plants. The possibility of filling in the potholes in the bridleway immediately outside the entrance is being looked into by Preston Nomads. The PC wish to thank Paul Hird for his work on this matter. (Clerk) A reminder that planning applications which fall within the SDNP are now posted on the South Downs website rather than Mid Sussex.

Highways: A meeting was held with highways on the 25 September to discuss ongoing problems.

Shepherd & Dog — A temporary cure is in place; however with autumn approaching it is felt that more work needs to be carried out. WSCC have investigated and will submit a request for further works, after which the PC will look at turfing the banks to complete the works. Stones have been washed down from the bridleway onto the highway by The Shepherd & Dog. Highways are going to discuss this with the bridleway owner and public rights of way.

Lady Brook Spring — A works order has been raised by WSCC to fence the spring. As a temporary solution the bollards will be replaced with a fibreglass plate over the entrance. A notice will be placed in Pigeon Post to gauge interest in making a feature of the spring. (Clerk)

Four Acres Corner — The drain & pipe have been flushed through. The size of the sump should have been increased at the same time — this was not done. Tim Boxall WSCC will chase this up. Once this work has completed the PC will monitor the situation.

Clappers Lane banking — The condition of the banking is the responsibility of the adjoining landowners. Highways have written to them but received no response. Highways suggested that the PC write to the Landowner & the person responsible for the damage Grange Farm and Badgerswood respectively. (Clerk).

Clappers Lane road surface — Highways will write to the landowner opposite The Sands to request that the ditches be cleared/kept clear. Highways were on site earlier today with Drainage Strategy team to look at the north end of the road. Contrary to what the PC had previously been told, it appears that no works order had been placed for the road surface to be repaired prior to that meeting. Highways suggested that all landowners be reminded to cut back hedges as winter approaches- this should be a request in Pigeon Post. A suggestion was made at the Village Plan meeting that signs could be placed at the north end of Clappers Lane saying something like “do not follow SatNav – unsuitable for large vehicles” Highways and PC will look for suitable signage for each end of the village.

Footpath 4f — This is still with the legal department; the order is expected to be made in the near future. The PC will be advised and then there will be a 28 day statutory objection period.

Stiles & Gates — The repair and maintenance of stiles and gate on public rights of way are the responsibility of the landowner over which the route crosses. This is also the case for trees, hedges, side vegetation and fences. The only exception are bridges which are the responsibility of Highways.

Ram Pump House — The National Trust have completed the work on the door and lock. Kate Watson and the National Trust are the key holders.

North Town Field — This will be addressed as a separate agenda item.

Councillor Vacancy — There is still a vacancy so please ask around.

PC Official documentation — The Standing orders, Financial Regulations, Code of Conduct and Declaration of Interest are all available via the Website, or as a hard copy from the Clerk.

Training Courses — The Clerk is half way through the first module of the Working with your Council Course. The clerk is also attending a networking day in November.

Joint Parish Meeting — This was held at Albourne in September. Councillors were present from Albourne, Poynings, Twineham and Woodmancote. Disappointingly nobody from MSDC planning attended the meeting, even though they were invited as a large part of the meeting revolved around planning. Councillor Sue Seward has asked to be copied in on any planning issues, and she will try and arrange a meeting with the planning dept to discuss concerns. All councils will review in six months and decide the way forward. Faster Broadband was discussed at the meeting; Fulking had a good response with 66 households expressing an interest in faster broadband. Please encourage anybody who has not already signed up to the scheme to do so. Suppliers are being invited to tender by the summer of 2013 with the faster broadband being in place by 2015.

Website — The new website is up and running and very easy to use. The new website address is fulking.net.

WSCC Councillor Peter Griffiths gave a brief report. He apologised for his absence from recent meeting; this is due to a clash of duties. In the future the two main costs to West Sussex will be care of the elderly and the cost of waste disposal. Providing these services will mean that other services will need to be reduced. It was suggested that an article be placed in the Pigeon Post with regards to the mobile library service. (Clerk)

6. Councillor Colin Trumble MSDC gave a brief report: Council Tax changes to benefits consultation will be completed by December. Auditing of single occupancy claims will be carried out to ensure it is fair. E-bills will be available to those who wish to pay that way, it is envisaged that this will save a lot of money. Grants to community groups that do not need matched funding. Money may still be available, but would have to be spent within the current financial year. Colin to provide more information on this. Budget Work has started on this for 2013/2014. Travellers were mentioned briefly and Councillor Linda Dyos said that he would be hearing from the PC shortly on the matter. Councillor Colin Trumble left the meeting 7.45pm for other commitments.

7. Financial Matters. The following payments were agreed and cheques signed: 100582 SALC Clerk’s networking day 60.00; 100583 Clerk’s salary & expenses 934.77; 100584 Councillor expenses 11.20. Cheque stubs were cross checked with the cheque list and both signed. The quarterly bank reconciliation was checked and signed. It was agreed that the Financial Regulations would be changed to state Internal audits would be carried out Annually rather than regularly as previously stated. (Clerk) It was agreed that the PC would look into setting up E banking (Chair)

8. Winter Management: The winter management plan is well underway. A meeting will be held in the next few weeks with WSCC to discuss the plan. Once it has been finalised a copy will be posted on the website and on the parish notice board. (Clerk) Farmer David Ellin still has an agreement with WSCC for the loan and use of the snow plough .(Michael Trist will contact the farmer when it is necessary to use the snow plough ). The clerk attended the Mid Sussex Emergency Planning liaison Group meeting in September and had nothing to report back from the meeting. It was felt that as Fulking is a small parish, the meeting would not have much relevance and therefore apologies would be sent for future meetings.

9. Risk Assessments: The Financial risk assessment and risk assessment having previously circulated were agreed and adopted. They will be placed on the website or hard copies available via the clerk. (Clerk)

10. Playground inspection review: The annual Rospa inspection was carried out in June; this highlighted a low risk of entrapment in the gate. The PC asked if anybody had any ideas how this risk could be eliminated? Mark Stepney will carry out the remedial work on the trip hazard and the moss which were also highlighted in the annual inspection. The weekly inspection rota needs to be updated. (Clerk). New inners for the bins in the playground need to be purchased (Clerk)

11. Community Bus: Has provided a service to Fulking for 20 years two days per week. It is free to bus pass holders, otherwise journeys will cost between 1-2 depending on the length of the journey. The PC agreed to give a contribution of 100 for this financial year. This will be reviewed annually. An article will be put in Pigeon Post to give details of the service provided. (Clerk) A thank you letter is to be sent to the providers (Clerk).

12. Fountain: The PC will arrange for the bollard in front of the fountain opposite Laurel House, to be fixed. Paula Hazard has the bollard. (Pam Rowland to contact Mark Stepney).

13. Crime Update: Crime in Fulking was low over the summer. Please stay vigilant. A notice about cheap shed alarms from MSDC will be placed in the noticeboard, website & Pigeon Post. (Clerk)

14. Comments from the floor: Card making day on 13 October. The Police Authority Elections were mentioned. Where is the Polling Station? This is to be looked into & published on website and noticeboard.The Polling Station is Playing Field Pavilion, Poynings BN45 7BH (Clerk)

15. Dates of the next meeting: The next Parish Council meeting will be held on 10 January 2013

Meeting closed at 9.05pm

[ BoilerPlate plate = “PC_Disclaimer” ]

Audit of Parish Council Accounts Year Ended 31st March 2012

The annual external audit of Fulking Parish Council accounts for year ending 31st March 2012 has now been completed.

The annual return is available for inspection. It can be downloaded from the website here or you can request a paper copy from Andrea Dickson, Clerk to Fulking Parish Council on 01444 451060 (cost £1.50)

Notice of Conclusion of external audit 31st March 2012