Just as in December 1951, Fulking villagers continue the carolling tradition. Everyone is welcome to join us in singing carols around the village, or to listen at home.
We start at 5.30pm at Tricia’s house, 37, Clappers Lane and finish at the Shepherd and Dog. With mulled wine & mince pies (no need to bring harmoniums, bonnets or top hats).
Pyecombe Golf Club is looking to appoint an apprentice greenkeeper. Duties will include a range of golf course maintenance tasks including some construction, treework and conservation activities. Previous experience in horticulture would be beneficial, but is not essential. Full onsite training will be given in addition to a requirement to attain NVQ qualifications by attending college. More information here.
The Argus is looking for ‘community correspondents’:
They must have a detailed knowledge of their neighbourhood, be in tune with local events and be able to write concisely, accurately and fairly. We will be asking them to bring us news items, stories that matter and will interest their neighbourhood. It could be a community event, a hero who deserves recognition or an issue that is the talk of your neighbourhood. We know that parking, speed limits, crime and education are always hot topics. So they could help us to tell those stories from their local area. The stories do not have to be bad news. In fact, we would prefer if they weren’t. We are always looking for positive stories, tales of success and achievement. We are also interested in brightening up the day with funny quirky tales. We don’t mind as long as they are local.
If that sounds like you, contact Lucy Pearce, Head of Content, via news@theargus.co.uk. And, if she turns you down, well, never mind: you can always offer your stories to the Fulking website.
WSCC have changed the way that the Public Rights of Way are managed and maintained. They will now be inspected once every fifteen months as opposed to once every nine months. At the same time, WSCC are looking at the summer clearance programme for footpaths. This programme clears surface vegetation on approximately 10% of the network.
If you know of any footpaths/rights of way that need attention please can you inform me before the 8th January 2015 or in person at the PC meeting on that day. The PC will then advise WSCC.
Andrea Dickson
Clerk to the Parish Council
01444 451 060/andreadicksonfpc@gmail.com
The Littlehampton Gazette reports (from Hansard, presumably):
[Transport Secretary Patrick] McLoughlin assured East Worthing and Shoreham MP Tim Loughton that dualling through Worthing was a possibility. Mr Loughton said: “There will be dancing in the streets of Lancing, Sompting and Worthing this evening, not least amid the static traffic on the A27 itself. For the avoidance of doubt, will he (Mr McLoughlin) confirm that the option of full dualling through Worthing, the largest town in Sussex, is very much on the table as part of his announcement?”
The Transport Secretary replied: “I do not encourage anybody to dance on the roads. On the point about dualling the area, that is certainly on the table. It is for local people to show their enthusiasm for such a scheme, so that we can move it forward.”
LAMBS writes:
We are going to light the Christmas torches again this year to symbolise LAMBS continuing determination to fight Mayfield Market Town. We are meeting to ‘plant’ the torches along Wineham Lane at The Royal Oak between 3:30pm and 4:00pm on Monday, 8th December and then a BBC documentary team are coming at 6:00pm to film. Please do come along if you can, and there will be mulled wine and mince pies — donations for the torches and refreshments would be very welcome as it will all go towards the fighting fund.
Lee Newlyn says:
Our proposals are .. based upon a .. vision that brings together local politicians, landowners and residents to create a new settlement that benefits the local community.
Updated 7th December.
Mid Sussex District Council is consulting on its draft District Plan, along with a draft Sustainability Appraisal and draft Habitat Regulation Assessment. The role of the District Plan is to say broadly what, where, when and how development will take place in Mid Sussex over the next 17 years. These documents can be viewed online.
Whilst the overall strategy of the Plan has not changed from the 2013 District Plan, we want to give residents and other interested parties an opportunity to comment on the updated wording of the text and policies, some of which have changed significantly since our last public engagement. These changes have been as a result of responses received, discussions with the professional and statutory bodies including the Planning Inspectorate and Department for Communities and Local Government, cooperation with other local authorities and changes in guidance and national policy.
The draft District Plan does not include a housing number, although it does include policies which allocate land at Burgess Hill for development. The housing number will be set once all of the technical work on housing need and capacity has been undertaken and discussions with our neighbouring authorities have concluded. There will be an opportunity to make comments on the housing number when the Plan is published in May 2015.
Consultation starts 21st November 2014 for 8 weeks with the consultation documents available online from that date. Consultation closes midnight 16th January 2015.
We would like to hear from you and would welcome your views. Comments can be submitted online, by email, or by post (Planning Policy and Economic Development, Oaklands, Oaklands Road, Haywards Heath, West Sussex, RH16 1SS).
All comments received will be public information. More information can be found at www.midsussex.gov.uk/districtplan or by telephone on 01444 477053.
With just a 48-hour notice delivered by a personal phone call to Ms. Merkel on a Saturday, the CEO of E.ON, the largest German and European power producer, let it be known that the company had decided to split itself in two, one part grouping fossil and nuclear power generation and a second part encompassing the “politically correct” activities in the field of “renewable” energies. Sort of a “Bad E.ON” / “Good E.ON” move. The intention is to get rid of the “bad” part as soon as possible by putting it up for sale. At the same time, this also means the “good” part will cease to be duty bound to ensure a stable power supply under all circumstances. Obviously, such a liability is not enforceable from an entity whose only power sources are unstable wind and solar power plants. In a nutshell, the message behind this move is that the silverback of the “big four” German energy producers who group the bulk of the country’s conventional and nuclear power production is about to close shop at short notice.
Updated 11th December.
Mayfield Market Towns have stated that they control 464 acres of land in Horsham District, and 135 acres in Mid-Sussex District, some within the site proposed for their new town and some outside, but they have not yet provided evidence to support this claim. LAMBS, by contrast, currently has over 4,300 acres signed up as ‘not available’. They have released an interesting two-page document [PDF] that deals with valuation and compulsory purchase issues.
