Councillor Vacancy

As mentioned in the August edition of the Newsletter the Parish Council needs to co-opt a councillor to represent the Ward of Mayfield. At the time of writing this article prior to publication there had been no applications received. If you are interested you should forward your CV to the office with a covering letter outlining why you think you would be a valued member of the Parish Council and any areas of expertise that you could offer. These would then be circulated to Councillors for consideration. Prospective Councillors will then be invited to attend a Parish Council meeting to introduce themselves and speak for a couple of minutes. A vote would then take place on the co-option.

Parish Council Grants

As mentioned in the August edition of the newsletter, applications for grants for the 2018/19 financial year should be submitted to the Parish Clerk by 30 September 2017. Individual grants may be made available up to a maximum of £500. They must be match funded therefore applicants must cover at least 50% of the total project cost. Information on how to apply and the application form can be found in the “Key Documents / Finance” section on the Parish Council website at www.mayfieldfiveashes.org.uk. If you do not have internet access please contact the Parish Council office on 01435 873784 so a copy of the grants policy and application form can be forwarded to you.

Fire safety in Wealden


The tragic events at Grenfell Tower in London have a heightened awareness across the country of the need for fire safety. Wealden District Council does not have any tower blocks or any properties that had the cladding system in question. Housing Officers have inspected all low-rise council flats and double-checked for compliance with fire safety certificates and adequacy of means of escape. In addition, surveyors from the East Sussex Building Control Partnership have been working across the county in a joint exercise led by East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service to inspect all premises considered at risk.

Increase in HMRC frauds

In Sussex, elderly people are receiving a high volume of phone calls purporting to be from HMRC. So far, none of them sent money, but it is vital that people are aware of the signs and act on them.

This is a recent case study:

An elderly gentleman living alone in East Sussex, received a call from a woman claiming to be from HMRC. He was transferred on the line and informed that he owed them money and would be taken to court if he didn’t pay up. He offered to pay and was told to go to their office in Tunbridge Wells.

The victim said he could not get there, so the caller told him to go to buy iTunes vouchers from Tesco, so he consequently went to a Tesco and tried to obtain £1500 worth.

Fortuitously the manager at Tesco asked the victim lots of questions and became suspicious and told him it was a scam. The caller was still on his mobile phone while he was trying to buy the vouchers and when the manager asked to talk to him the caller on the phone swore at him. Luckily no money was parted with and the incident was reported to the Police.

These are some of the contact methods used to defraud people in Sussex:

• _Voicemails: saying you owe HMRC unpaid tax.
• _Text messages: fraudsters send you a text message requesting you to urgently call back on the number provided.

Protect yourself

HMRC will never use a text message to inform you about a tax rebate or penalty.

HMRC will never ask for any payment in the form of iTunes Vouchers. As well as iTunes vouchers, HMRC would not ask for payment in the form of any other vouchers or any other payment methods. HMRC will never use texts to tell you about a tax rebate or penalty or ever ask for payment in this way.

Please remember:

• If you haven’t bought a ticket – you can’t win it
• You shouldn’t have to pay anything to get a prize
• If in doubt, don’t reply. Bin it, delete it, or hang up
• Don’t be rushed – resist pressure to make a decision straight away
• If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

£2m ‘Business Boost’ to East Sussex economy

South East Business Boost will offer grants of between £1,000 and £10,000 to existing small and medium sized businesses and start-ups for capital projects to help them grow and expand operations.

The scheme will also see an expansion of the successful business support programme, which offers advice and support to local businesses and entrepreneurs, run by the local Growth Hub Business East Sussex.

The scheme is a partnership between the six members of the South East Local Enterprise Partnership (SELEP) and is being run in East Sussex by business support service Let’s Do Business, which also operates Business East Sussex and the Locate East Sussex programme.

Grants are available to companies with fewer than 250 staff and an annual turnover of less than €50 million – around £44 million – and for funding up to 30 per cent of the cost of capital projects.

Full details are available online at www.businesseastsussex.org.uk or by calling 0844 4152260 or emailing fred.thomas@businesseastsussex.org.uk

 Older People’s Day Events Booklet

If you are interested in receiving an electronic version of the “Full of Life” booklet listing the events which are planned to take place in September and October in celebration of Older People’s Day please visit: www.eastsussex.gov.uk/community/over50s/olderpeoplesday