Sutton & Barlavington parish Council

As of the first of April the parish council has a new Clerk, Louise O’Callaghan, Rachel will hand over the finances at the end of the May and Louise we then be in charge. The parish council thank Rachel Orr for all her stirling work over nearly two years. Communication by email with Louise is exactly the same, so anything that arises that you feel should be bought to the parish council’s attention do please contact any of the parish councillors or Louise on the same email address. Something that the parish council, in particular Cllr Wendy Brown, has been focusing on recently is clearing drains and ditches. This spring…

In last month’s parish matters I had a short rant about the parish council being asked its opinion on everything and generally being ignored on the important things that concern us.  One of my more attentive readers wrote to say I was factually incorrect.  Wishing to be a paragon of virtue and model of the free press we all love and respect, I am happy to self regulate and correct my error.  Planning, which is what I was complaining about, does not fall to WSCC but rather is controlled by SDNP and is run locally by its agent CDC.  As I am discussing local authority powers, the parish council has received no volunteers…

A couple of months ago in this column I mentioned and illustrated the Bignor and Sutton boundary stone.  This stone had been upturned, and now we hope will be corrected and made stable.  The stone is marked on the ordinance survey maps that layout Lords Piece, so this was easy to identify and locate correctly.  However, someone mentioned there was another boundary stone!  This has confounded everyone, even those who have lived in and around the parish for many years had no knowledge of this other stone.  Well I am pleased to say this isn’t a figment of some persons imagination, it is true.  There is another boundary stone.  This new information is thanks to Brenda Phillips,…

Should you decide to meander down the hill from the White Horse you will be amazed at the state of our ditches, culverts and drains.  Not for a long-time has the excess rain water flowed so freely into these. For a number of years this, and the previous Parish Council, have been trying to reverse the neglect of these hidden and forgotten features of our village.  Finally, after a large grant from ‘operation watershed’ and some determination, from first myself, and then with much greater success Cllr Wendy Brown we have stopped the water flowing down the road rather than into the drains, culverts and ditches.  We are aware of one last culvert…

Despite the mild weather of late councillor Parkes has been doing a lot of work organising a winter maintenance plan.  The grit bins are full and additional boxes of salt have been left with numerous residents, but we have been aware that WSCC do not extend gritting to the small B and C roads about the parish, so in previous years we have relied on the good will of local farmers even during their busy times,and will continue to do so when we have significant snowfall.  However, the Parish Council has been for sometime looking at how we can afford and undertake gritting the roads when we have very cold nights within…

At the parish council meeting, held on the 9th November, numerous issues were discussed that we will be acting upon in the coming months.  Every meeting the district and county councillors for our area also endeavour to come along and bring us up to date with various issues and grants that are available to the parish.  This month Cllr Michael Brown, discussed the substantial grants for the maintenance of paved footpaths.  Alas the only paved footpaths we have in the parish are in Greenfield, and they are in good order.  Cllr Brown also asked us to remind everyone that the county councillor do not come out and unblock roadside drains and at this time…

In last week’s Village News Jo Wellman highlighted the on-going problem of fly tipping in and around the vicinity. WSCC decision a few months ago to charge businesses and households for even the smallest amount of rubble at recycling centres will only make the situation worse. Despite many parishes warning of the consequences of introducing such a charge the short term necessity of saving and making money seems to have trumped logic. We can all expect the dumping of waste building materials to become a constant and regular feature of country life. Should you see or be suspicious of vans, or come across any material that has been dumped please…

This is a reminder that the on-line enquiry form for Report a Problem with Roads and Pavements has replaced highways@westsussex.gov.uk as from the 1st August 2016. For any complaints and enquiries contact should be made to the above other than of course for the roads etc around Sutton. Cllr.Wendy Brown is still responsible. From September 6th the new national phone number 105 will be launched by electricity network operators for customers to call should they need to report or get information about power cuts in our areas. Vulnerable customers who would like to sign up to the ‘Priority Services Register’ can still call 0800 169 9970 or e-mail psr@ukpowernetworks.co.uk Cllr.Neave writes; ‘Over the next couple of weeks I will…

In recent weeks the more visually aware will have noticed the Sutton telephone box has changed colours several times.  It’s traditional K6 telephone box red was replaced by a fetching pink.  WSCC Councillor Brown and PC Councillor Brown wishing to reflect the open, rich and diverse nature of our small community thought the kiosk should celebrate gay pride day.  Just kidding.   The necessary pink undercoat application amusingly did coincide with that event though.  All will agree the telephone box looks the best it’s look in a number of years, well done Cllr Brown for organising and executing this task. A number of residents in Greenfield’s contacted the Parish Council regarding…

The annual parish meeting took place on the 25th May and was well attended with thirty residents coming along. A big thank you to all those that contributed.  Our two main and external speakers were Janet Wilmot of Sussex Wildlife Trust and Peterl Gillbee of Burton Park Management both delivering fascinating talks on aspects of the landscape in and close to the parish.  Interestingly, whether the wild natural landscape of the Downs or the man-made landscape of Capability Brown’s work at Burton Park, both are heavily managed either to return the flora and fauna to how we think it should be or to make sure the flora and fauna are…