Interrupted Water Supply

At the July 2023 Parish Council meeting, the unacceptable interruption to the water supply (again!) was discussed with the County and District Councillors. The Council made the decision to lodge a formal complaint with Ofwat (the water industry regulator) against South East Water. The letter will be signed by each Councillor and will include:

• Unmanned water stations so the volume of bottled water was not managed
• Vulnerable residents that were not provided with water
• Support for equestrian and agricultural businesses
• The lack of a resilience plan to support rural communities
• Unfair blame on supply issues due to people working from home when other areas have not suffered interrupted supplies
• Demand a strategy going forward from South East Water to prevent the situation reoccurring

It was agreed at the meeting that residents might like to also complain about the interrupted water supply that is happening more and more often so Ofwat can appreciate the impact this has had on the community and businesses. After all, legislation and regulation in the UK recognises a right to water and a right to sanitation as elements of the right to an adequate standard of living. Ofwat always ask you to put your complaint in writing and can be contacted at:

OFWAT, Centre City Tower, 7 Hill Street, Birmingham, B5 4UA  Tel: 0121 644 7500

Relay UK – if you can’t hear or speak on the phone, you can type what you want to say: 18001 then 0121 625 1422

Also see: https://www.ofwat.gov.uk/regulated-companies/investigations/making-a-complaint/

Draft Sustainability Appraisal Scoping Report

To support the development of the new Local Plan, the Wealden District Council is required by law to undertake a Sustainability Appraisal (SA). The SA is an integral part of the plan making process and from the outset; it must consider ways by which the plan can contribute to improvements in environmental, social and economic conditions as well as a means of identifying and mitigating any potential adverse effects that the plan might otherwise have.

Topics covered by this consultation: 

Council Business, Leisure, Culture, Children and Young People, Older People, Equalities, Local Businesses, Communication & Engagement, Private sector housing, Council housing, Affordable housing, Waste & Recycling, Roads & Transport, Planning, Environment & Sustainability, Economy, Customer Service. The Consultation End Date is 07/08/2023 and more information can be found at:  https://www.wealden.gov.uk/consultations/

Gatwick’s expansion

As you may have seen from the local press, Gatwick Airport is seeking a 2nd runway by moving the emergency runway 12m north, with a multitude of new taxiways, removal of buildings, and a new road system outside their front door. In short, this expansion would involve:
– Nearly 100,000 extra flights a year, plus growth from the main runway 
– Over 30m extra passengers  a year, getting to and from the airport
– Significant increase in freight traffic 
– Significant increase in air pollution around the airport
– Lengthy construction work and associated traffic disruption

Gatwick is progressing this via a Development Consent Order (DCO). The planning inspectorate (PINS) has only 28 days to decide whether Gatwick can progress. A DCO bypasses normal planning processes by using a policy called ‘making best use of existing infrastructure’, but Gatwick must rebuild the existing emergency runway for it to be usable at the same time as the main runway with major construction. More information can be found at:  https://infrastructure.planninginspectorate.gov.uk/projects/south-east/gatwick-airport-northern-runway/  
CPRE Sussex has a petition open for those that say no to Gatwick expansion due to it being incompatible with addressing the climate crisis and are calling on the Secretary of State for Transport to refuse the application. Visit: http://www.cpresussex.org.uk

High Street pavement

Just a quick line to inform residents that East Sussex Highways has been contacted on numerous occasions to repair the High Street kerbstone that was initially reported on 12 April 2023. The latest information received on 13 July was that it has been marked up for repair (for the third time!) and it will be done within 28 days. They will however endeavour to get it done as soon as possible.

Dog fouling

There appears to be a lot more dog waste in the Court Meadow recreation ground recently. Thankfully most dog owners and dog walkers pick up after their dogs. We would be grateful if everyone using the recreation ground could do the same to make it a safer and enjoyable place for children to play in.

Antisocial parking

Councillors have been asked why a parking warden cannot be engaged to ticket vehicles that are parking antisocially so I include information previously published:

The Parish Council has no powers to deal with parking offences as it remains a criminal offence in Wealden. Only Sussex Police can issue parking penalties, but the Crime Commissioner has said it is not one of their priorities unless it is causing a danger. Antisocial parking can be reported online as antisocial driving to Operation Crackdown (http://www.operationcrackdown.org) but you need to have the car details and registration number. Repeat offenders will be written to by the Police to educate them.

Waste Collection

Wealden District Council is pleased to confirm the waste collection contractor, Biffa, and the GMB union have reached a resolution to end the industrial action effective immediately. Biffa will be seeking to make changes over the coming weeks to some collection schedules as they look to rebalance collection rounds. As a result, the time your collections take place may change and, to enable your bin to be emptied please ensure it is placed out for collection by 7:00am on your normal scheduled collection day. In some locations it may be necessary to change bin collection days.  Please be assured any collection day changes will be kept to a minimum and we will write to inform all households concerned in advance.  

Temporary road closure

East Street is scheduled to be closed for the day on 17^th August 2023 from the junction with Piccadilly  to the junction with Coggins Mill Lane to allow BT Openreach to carry out works.

Coggins Mill Lane is scheduled to be closed for one day on 01 September 2023 to allow UKPN to carry out apparatus repair works.

Free courses for Wealden residents aged 19 and over

The Street Learning programme has been released for September – December 2023. The project offers Wealden residents, aged 19 and above, a range of academic courses, wellbeing and practical classes. The courses are provided in several local community venues including East Sussex College (Eastbourne), Uckfield College, Crowborough and online. For more information Visit www.wealden.gov.uk/streetlearning, @StreetLearning.Wealden on Facebook, or email streetlearning@wealden.gov.uk

Parish Council office opening

The Parish Council office will be closed for the summer recess until 07 August 2023. If there any emergencies during the closure, Councillor contact details can be found at: https://mayfieldfiveashes.org.uk/latestparishcouncilnews/councillors/

Instagram – mayfieldvillagelife 

Available to for Mayfield and Five Ashes, this site can be messaged with details of a local event or alternatively, contact Cllr Sally Ann Tibbles: sally-ann.tibbles@mayfieldfiveashes.org.uk

and she will put it information up for you. The site ‘mayfieldvillagelife’ is a picture book of activities in this Parish. (Press ‘follow’ at the top of the page and you will be notified of posts as they appear.)

Parish Council Meetings

The meeting schedule on the website: http://www.mayfieldfiveashes.org.uk/ shows this month’s Council and Committee meetings as well as agendas, minutes of meetings and other meeting documentation

Janna Todd, Parish Clerk 

Old Manor House, High Street, Mayfield TN20 6AL 

Telephone 01435 873784          E-mail: clerk@mayfieldfiveashes.org.uk