I am sad to have to inform that last month Cllr Peter Hetreed who represents Five Ashes Ward tendered his resignation from the Council. We appreciate and thank him for all his hard work and time dedicated to stand as a Parish Councillor.

The Notice of Vacancy in Office of Councillor was published on 12 October 2023. If by 01 November 2023 (14* days after the date of the notice) a request for an election to fill the vacancy is made in writing to the Returning Officer by ten electors of Mayfield and Five Ashes (Five Ashes) Parish Ward, an election will be held to fill the vacancy, otherwise it will be filled by co-option. 

Planning applications

At the planning committee meeting on 25th of September 2023 concern was raised that perhaps planning applications are not being publicised sufficiently. There are a number of different methods to publicise applications. You can be alerted to a planning application in the area by:

• Seeing a site notice in the vicinity of the site
• Finding information from the Wealden Planning website:  https://planning.wealden.gov.uk
• Reading a public notice or article in the local newspaper
• Looking at the published Weekly List of applications received
• Receiving a ‘Wealden Weekly’ notification. You can sign up to ‘Wealden Weekly’ and receive alerts of planning applications within a certain distance of your property. The range can be set from 100m to 1000m.
• Word of mouth
• Social media – there is a dedicated twitter account @WDC_Planning
• Through the Parish Council – Planning applications are published on the community website as soon as they are received at https://mayfieldfiveashes.org.uk

Once a planning application consultation has been sent from Wealden District Council (WDC), the Parish Council has just three weeks to respond. Unfortunately, this time period can expire before the site notice has been installed by the WDC case officer. Because of this, the Planning Committee has decided that a standard letter will be provided to ensure neighbouring property owners are aware of planning applications as WDC no longer provides this service.

It was also agreed to publicise any planning applications for two or more new properties or two conversions to residential dwellings on the parish noticeboards.

Since the new Planning Committee was formed in May this year, members are now attempting to make site visits to all of the planning applications received. Residents with live applications are therefore encouraged to contact the Planning Committee by emailing clerk@mayfieldfiveashes.org.uk so a visit can be arranged. Planning Committee meetings take place every three weeks on a Monday morning at 10am and are open to the public.

Council Committees

Detailed work of the Parish Council is carried out by the following committees:

• Planning Executive
• Finance and General Purposes Executive
• Community Development Advisory
• Rights of Way and Trees Advisory
• Community Safety and Traffic Advisory
• Mayfield Community Centre Advisory
• Governance and Risk Advisory

Committee meetings are open to residents to come and talk about an agenda item or to raise suggestions to the relevant committee that might be considered to improve the parish we live in.

Adult gym equipment

As requested in last month’s Newsletter the Community Development Committee would like to hear from you if you think it is a good idea to install this equipment at Court Meadow and whether you would use it regularly. It would also be interesting to know whether it would be preferable to have all the pieces of equipment on one site or whether they could be located at intervals around the perimeter like a trim trail. Please email clerk@mayfieldfiveashes.org.uk.

Have your say on the future of the High Weald…

The High Weald AONB Management Plan is an important document for the area and there is a statutory duty to review it every five years. It sets out a vision for the kind of place we want the High Weald to be in years to come and, crucially, some of the activities that a range of organisations and local people could take to achieve that vision.

This year, a new Plan is being prepared by the High Weald AONB Partnership, working on behalf of the area’s 15 local authorities. The consultation is open until Sunday 5 November and they will be collecting feedback on the draft High Weald AONB Management Plan 2024-2029. The Plan is informed by research and the many conversations the Partnership has had with organisations, farmers, businesses, charities, community groups and residents over the last 30 years. In 2022 they also undertook a public survey to gauge opinions on introducing new topics into the Plan. To have your say visit: https://highweald.org

Temporary road closure

Tidebrook Road is scheduled to be closed on 28 November from the junction with Lake Street to the junction with Riseden Road to allow BT Openreach to carry out apparatus repair works. The diversion will be via the A267 and the B2100 to Best Beech Hill. Advance warning signs will be placed on site advising of the actual date of the works.

Highways winter maintenance

Maintaining the condition of our road network and the safety of the travelling public during the winter season is a major priority for East Sussex Highways (ESH). Although the weather is yet to turn, and we are experiencing unusually high temperatures for October, they have been busy preparing for the winter season ahead. On the evening of 12 October 2023 they conducted their ‘Operation Snowdrop’ exercise which allows their entire gritting fleet to travel gritting routes so drivers can familiarise themselves with them. In further preparation, they now have over 10,000 tonnes of rock salt in their stores held at five depots across the network, in addition to the 652 grit bins they have across the county. 

ESH is asking residents to report defects or issues they see on the network using their automated reporting tool that you can find at https://live.eastsussexhighways.com/report-problem and by following their social channels: https://twitter.com/esccroads and  https://www.facebook.com/EastSussexHighways . They will also be sharing updates on gritting routes via social media and when the decision is taken to grit them throughout winter.

Polling stations review

Electors in Wealden are being asked to give their views on polling stations they go to when voting in elections. The law requires councils to review their polling districts, places and stations every five years. The last one for Wealden was in 2019.

The consultation period runs until 30 November and electors can send in their comments in writing by email or by filling in a form on the council’s new interactive tool:

Let’s talk.  https://letstalk.wealden.gov.uk/  They would like to hear from electors, particularly those with any type of disability and any person or organisation with particular expertise in accessibility issues. The review will be completed in January 2024, when final proposals are considered by the council’s Audit, Finance and Governance Committee. All correspondence and comments received will, by law, be published and made available for inspection.

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