Minutes of the Ordinary Council Meeting of Fulking Parish Council held Thursday 9th October 2025 at 7.30pm at Fulking Village Hall.
Present
Chair: Cllr Mark Hind
Fulking Parish Council (FPC) Cllr Lucy Metha, Cllr Karen Healy and Cllr Linda Comber.
Mid Sussex District Council (MSDC) Cllr Geoff Zeidler
Clerk Trevor Parsons
There were five members of the public present. The meeting started at 7.30pm.
Public Participation: General questions were raised by the public for the first 10 minutes.
25/051/OM. – Apologies for Absence.
Cllr Tom Kardos and Cllr Joy Dennis (WSCC)
25/052/OM. – Councillor Resignation
Cllr Linda Comber is moving out of the area and will be leaving the Council. Cllr Hind spoke for the Council in thanking Linda for all her work and support during her time in office.
25/053/OM. – Declaration of Members’ Interests.
Cllr Mark Hind declared that he is a trustee of Fulking Village Hall Trust CIO.
25/054/OM. – Approve the Minutes of the Ordinary Meeting of 3rd July 2025 and Planning meeting 21st July 2025 The minutes, subject to any amendments, to be approved and signed as a true record of the meeting.
Councillors read the minutes of the meeting which were approved unanimously.
25/055/OM. – Matters Arising & Outstanding Actions – To clarify and report on actions brought forward from the last meeting.
Councillors met with Alison Bennett MP our former MSDC Councillor for an hour to discuss various topics affecting the area. Alison also gave an insight into her experiences at Westminster.
25/056/OM. – Abandoned Car
Cllr Hind reported that he has been in email contact with Tristan Mitchell, Civil Enforcement Supervisor at MSDC regarding the abandoned car. Since collaboration with the Police in Operation Crackdown ceased in July 2025 Civil Enforcement Team are still working out their processes to remove abandoned cars. All parties agreed this is far from satisfactory. Cllr Zeidler (MSDC) has been working with FPC and MSDC to move the manner forward.
Action: Cllr Zeidler to report back on MSDC abandoned car process
25/057/OM – Reports from District and County Councillors.
Cllr Zeidler reported that at the last MSDC Council meeting on 24th September the Council voted to support the establishment of a smaller Unitary authority comprising only Crawley, Horsham and Mid Sussex; rather than the whole of West Sussex which would be the second largest Unitary Authority in the UK. Under either option Council Tax is likely to rise by 10%. This smaller option would have £6m higher implementation costs and £30m lower savings which, at the “base case” of forecasts, would be negligible. It would require the disaggregation of Education; Health and Social Care; and Transport Services. Its benefits would be that is has a higher density of Councillors to residents and may be based more locally. The Government will consult on the options in November and make a decision, heavily influenced by the Treasury, in Q1 2026. The next MSDC Council meeting is 10th December.
25/058/OM – Village Hall Grant Request
The Fulking Village Hall CIO charity set up to purchase the hall from the local Church PCC are very close to raising their target of £85,000 and are looking to complete on the purchase by end November 2025. Once the hall is purchased, the CIO will be exploring all avenues of grant funding to assist with maintenance and improvement of the facilities.
Jen Green (on behalf of the Trustees) presented a grant application for £2,500 to assist with running costs of the village hall during the period 1st April 2026 to 31st March 2027. A detailed income and expenditure statement evidenced £5,000 running costs each year and support is sought to fund 50% of the costs from the Parish Council. The CIO is aware that should further assistance from the Parish Council be sought in the following years, then separate applications will need to be applied for.
Councillors discussed the requirement to increase the precept in 2026 by £2,500 to fund this grant request. All voted in favour of granting the full £2,500 with 50% paid in April 2026 and 50% in October after the precept has been received – subject to the required increase in precept being implemented.
25/059/OM. – Fulking Parish Council Budget 2026/2027
The Clerk present his budget plan for the next financial year. There is a projected budget deficit of £1,595 for the current year due to the decision in July 2025 to outsource playground and NTF safety inspections at a cost of £100.00 per month.
In addition to our fixed costs for the Clerk and other expenditure, the Clerk recommended that an amount of £2,000 be set aside each year towards funding the eventual replacement of the playground equipment.
The grant of £2,5000 to FVH CIO will also need to be taken into account when calculating the MSDC funding requirement for 2026/2027.
The budget showed revenues of £1,250 from the Community Infrastructure Levy, Interest and VAT recovery against costs of £20,000 and therefore a Precept request of £18,750 will be required for a balanced budget. The Parish Council is aware that this represents a rise of 56% from 2025/2026 however all the extra Precept is committed to the village hall and playground which has been and will be used by all villagers.
Councillors agreed to consider all the above information and then vote on the matter at the meeting on 15th January 2026.
25/060/OM. – Reports from Outside Bodies, Information Items & Correspondence
The Clerk reported that Councillors email addresses will be migrated from @fulking.net to @fulking-pc.go.uk as part of a national strategy to better secure communication against cyber-attack.
The new address has been set up, the Clerk and Chairman have migrated to it, and the remaining councillors will be switched over in the next month or so.
25/061/OM. – Financial Matters: To receive the report on the Council’s income and to approve future expenditure.
Fulking Parish Council Payments 1st July to 30th September 2025
03/07/2025 Playsafety Ltd £120.00 RoSPA Inspection
15/07/2025 Fulking NTF Trust £50.00
15/07/2025 Sigma Partners £34.10 Payroll Services
21/07/2025 Clerk Salary £426.08
21/07/2025 HMRC £123.72
05/08/2025 Trevor Cox £100.00 Playground and NTF Inspection
15/08/2025 Sigma Partners £34.10 Payroll Services
18/08/2025 Host 4U Ltd £119.99 .gov.uk purchase.
18/08/2025 Clerk Salary £506.96
18/08/2025 HMRC £129.90
02/09/2025 Trevor Cox £100.00 Playground and NTF Inspection
26/09/2025 Clerk Salary £439.64
26/09/2025 HMRC £129.90
Meeting closed at 8.55pm
Date of the next Ordinary Meeting: Thursday 15th January 2026