Parish Council News – July 2024
Annual Parish Assembly
This year’s meeting was held on 20 May which was after the submission deadline for the June Newsletter article. For those residents who did not attend the topics that were on the agenda for which reports were received and questions taken from residents are listed below:
Sussex Police – their report also introducing our new PCSO Leon GRECK
East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service – discussing the possible closure of Mayfield on-call fire station
Mayfield and Five Ashes Community Service – informing of their activities offered to the community and services they provide, including the need for more volunteers and donations
Mayfield Climate Action – climate change and their aim for dark skies accreditation and what you can do to help.
East Sussex County Councillors – potholes, speed reduction petition on A267 on Wellbrook Hil, a new youth centre in Heathfield, the new flexibus service and the increasing budget required for adult and children’s social care.
Wealden District Councillors – the draft local plan and housing, their support for a new health centre in Mayfield as part of the community centre project (MCC).
Open forum for residents’ discussions – this opened with an update on the progress of the relocation of the Post Office in Mayfield and was followed by questions and discussions on the progress of the MCC project for which there will be a public information session very soon. Please check the community website for more information on this.
The minutes of the meeting are available online as is the Annual Report for 2023-2024.
South Street Public Conveniences
Our current caretaker has done a sterling work looking after the toilets in South Street car park since 2013 and has always done a fantastic job and we are so very grateful. We are now looking for someone who would like to take this role on. It involves unlocking and locking the toilets each day (excluding Christmas Day and Boxing Day) and cleaning them once a day which takes about an hour. If you would like to know more about what is involved and the pay, please contact the Parish Council office on 01435 873784 or email clerk@mayfieldfiveashes.org.uk .
Parliamentary General Election 2024
The poll will be held on Thursday 4 July 2024 between 7am and 10pm and our parish is the Sussex Weald constituency. The polling station for Five Ashes Ward will be in the Committee Room at the Five Ashes Village Hall and the Mayfield and Rushers Cross Wards will be in the Scout Hall at the recreation ground in Tunbridge Wells.
Please be reminded that the Elections Act 2022 requires voters to show photographic identification at polling stations before they are given a ballot paper
The most commonly used ID include:
- Passport issued by the UK, any of the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man, a British Overseas Territory, an EEA state or a Commonwealth country
- Photographic driver’s licence issued by the UK, Channel Islands, the Isle of Man, or an EEA state (including provisional)
- European Economic Area (EEA) photographic ID Card
- UK Biometric Residence Permit
- An identity card bearing the Proof of Age Standards Scheme hologram (PASS card)*
- A Blue Badge
- Oyster 60+ Card
- A concessionary travel pass funded by HM Government or local authority (East Sussex County Council Bus Pass; Disabled Person’s Bus Pass, Welsh or Northern Ireland travel card)
Please Note: Only original documents are accepted; scanned images, electronic versions or copies will not be accepted – however expired documents are accepted if the photo is still a current likeness.
Temporary road closure warnings:
Coggins Mill Lane is scheduled to be closed from 1st July 2024 to 3rd July 2024 to allow South East Water to carry out apparatus repair works.
The Avenue is scheduled to be closed from the junction with Fletching Street to the junction with South Street from 22nd – 24th July 2024 to allow South East Water to carry out apparatus repair works.
The B2100 Wadhurst Road / Best Beech Hill / Mayfield Lane, Mark Cross/ Wadhurst road closure has changed dates to 24th July 2024 to 3rd March 2025.
Tidebrook Road is scheduled to be closed from the junction with Lake Street to the junction with the Riseden Road from 29th July 2024 to the 31st July 2024.
Tunbridge Wells Road is scheduled to be closed from the junction with the A267 Mayfield Bypass to the junction with the High Street from 13th August 2024 to the 15th August 2024 to allow South East Water to carry out Apparatus Repairs works.
Fletching Street is scheduled to be closed from the junction with Tunbridge Wells Road to the junction with Coggins Mill Lane from 19th August 2024 to 21st August 2024 to allow South East Water to carry out Apparatus Repairs works.
Garden Waste Collection service
A reminder that it is time to subscribe or renew Garden Waste Collections, the new subscription year running from 01 August 2024 – 31 July 2025. To quickly and easily subscribe or renew go to:
www.wealden.gov.uk/gardenwaste You can request up to four bins at £60/ bin and can pay by debit or credit card. If you do not have internet access please phone Customer Services on 01323 443322 and renew by 17 July to avoid any disruption to your service.
Take extra care and extra time at road junctions
As we head into summer and our roads get busier with visitors and day trippers. Sussex and Surrey Police have campaigns, #OneExtraLook and the national Two Wheel campaign. This encourages all road users to take extra time and extra care at junctions to try to reduce the number of collisions and fatalities experienced by motorcyclists and cyclists.
Taking just one extra look at a junction could save a life. You can watch the campaign video here https://youtu.be/e7pFWY2Z_GE
WhatsApp scam
There is a WhatsApp scam going round whereby you receive a message from someone in your Contacts directory saying, “Can I ask a favour?” That’s all it says. The temptation is to message back asking what they want but their phone has been hacked so it’s not them you’re contacting but some fraudster who’s controlling their phone and their WhatsApp account. It is very easy to reveal information you shouldn’t, so if you receive a message from a friend or relative just saying “Can I ask a favour?” ignore it or, if you can’t do that, contact them in some other way NOT via WhatsApp or their mobile phone because either or both could have been hacked.
Temporary partial closures of Cuckoo Trail
The Cuckoo Trail is a leisure 11-mile route running from Polegate to Heathfield used by walkers, cyclists and horse riders and parts of it will be closed so essential work can be carried out before the start of the summer holidays. Contractors acting for Bovis/ Vistry Housing will be installing a new pumped sewer along the route of the Cuckoo Trail between Sycamore Drive and Ersham Road in south Hailsham. The work is expected to last until Friday 19 July and during this time the Trail will be closed to all types of users to allow the work to proceed.
Unfortunately, there is no safe route available to bypass this location so, although other parts of the Trail will be available as usual, the Cuckoo Trail will effectively be closed as a through route during this period. Wealden District council apologies for any inconvenience caused by these works, which are being carried out under a Sewer Requisition Notice over which it has no control.
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