Sutton & Barlavington parish Council

village clean up Dear Fellow Resident, Hopefully, like us, you really appreciate how fortunate we are to live in these beautiful surroundings – and consequently become upset or annoyed to see the lanes strewn with litter, the drains blocked, the fingerposts green with mildew etc. Well, since the local authorities stopped providing such services years ago, there are but two options – accept the decline or do something about it! Hence the initiative of our Village Clean-up Day on Saturday 6th April from 9am to 1pm. This is now long overdue, as the last one, organized by the late and lamented Norman Young, was now about five (?) years ago.…

Last month I wrote at length concerning the General Date Protection Regulations (GDPR), by now you will have received an email from our Parish Clerk asking if you wish to continue to receive parish emails. If you were on our list and received an email and did not respond you will no longer received Parish Council emails. If you were never on our email list and wish to be, or you never got around to responding on time then you can still email the Parish Clerk asking to be included on parish circulars, the Clerks email is listed in the back pages of the Village News. As we begin to…

Last night we held the first parish council meeting of the year in the Church, the next three PC meetings will also be held in the Church as personal schedules and conflicting dates mean the Village Hall is not available. A subject that took up a great deal of time was the preparation for the implementation of the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR). Hannah-Louise, our Clerk, has been following developments with SALC and NALC and advised the Parish Council that we need to put in place guidelines and policies to comply with the GDPR. So the Parish Council adopted and updated policies on Privacy Policy, Freedom of Information Guidelines, Document…

A Letter from Brittany Bonjour tout le monde, I am out in Brittany until the new year and whilst this is wonderful I have been pondering as to what to write in this article being far from the good people of Sutton and Barlavington. I am staying in a large village called Rochefort en Terre, which is on the South side of Brittany and has a population of roughly 700 people. Last year it was voted by the French to be their prettiest village. The consequences of this accolade is that enormous numbers of tourists descend on the place during the summer and particularly at this time of the year…

As we begin the descent into winter the Parish Council is mindful that our winter maintenance preparations are all in good order, so grit bins topped up, contractor employed and Councillor Parkes is ready to authorise the gritting of key areas of road that are particularly susceptible to hazardous conditions, for example outside the White Horse and Sutton Hollow. There are other areas too that are gritted, but the point I wish to make is that more of the parish roads are not gritted than are. So do be careful when driving about in the coming months. Whist I am on the subject of road maintenance, you will have noticed…

Holiday season is over, as is the sunny weather, and the Parish Council is already getting our Winter Maintenance Plan submitted and put into action. So shortly salt bins will be topped up, the contractor who salts the roads will be engaged, and drains and ditches made ready for any deluge that lies ahead. You too can help by keeping leaves clear from any drain culvert near your property. Cllr. Parker is in charge of Winter Maintenance Plan process so if you do have anything you are concerned about or feel needs addressing do contract Yvette. Something else the village needs to prepare for is the change of Landlord at…

As many of you know Nick at The White Horse will be leaving Sutton in theAutumn. We wish him well in the future. As soon as the Parish Council became aware that there would be a change oflandlord or owner, we applied to have the pub to become a village asset, the Purpose of this was purely precautionary. It was a concern that should Enterprise Inns the owners of The White Horse not find a suitable purchaser and try to sell the pub for anything other than a pub, then the listing as a village asset would have given the residents of the village time to acquire the property and run…

On Saturday morning of the 13th July I sat in the village hall with a cup of coffee and a very nice piece of lemon drizzle cake, very well done whoever made it. The purpose of my ‘sit in’ was not to judge cakes but rather to allow the good folks of the parish to see the proposed development of Barlavington farmyard. If you are not sure where that is, it is where the great old barn is behind the church in Barlavington. Many people took the opportunity to view the drawings and express their thoughts and opinions. I am most grateful as there were some useful comments and observations.…

Last month’s annual parish meeting was attended by 20 or so residents, who came along for drinks and sandwiches, thanks Nick, and primarily to listen to our guest speaker. Dr Ian Wightman, senior advisor for historic buildings for WSCC, gave an interesting and thought-provoking talk on the issues and problems that confront him and his colleagues. It was an enlightening presentation that illustrated the complexity and often seemingly contradictory approval or refusal of planning applications. I think all of us laymen went away with a greater understanding of his team’s role and purpose. Reports were also received from the Village Hall Committee, the Horticultural Society and from me regarding the…

Beating the Bounds, Gangdays prior to the Norman conquest, I don’t think is part of our local churches calendar, do correct me if I am wrong. Should this ancient ritual still be undertaken then Ascension day, May 25th this year, will be the day to gather with our clergyman and beat the boundary stones of the parish with sticks of birch and willow and pray for good fortune of the parish. Now we have our two boundary stones restored between Sutton and Bignor once again we can follow the parish boundaries in order to avoid disputes over ownership and maintenance. Apparently such disputes were regular occurrences in times gone by,…