There always seems to be something going on with one or other of our eight wooden signposts, and I am glad to be able to report that we do now have permission to re-erect the recently smashed-up Darwell Hole crossroads signpost on the other side of the road to where it used to be, and our contractor has been instructed to go ahead Half the cost will be paid by East Sussex County Council, and half by the parish.
Gatwick Airport has just released a its “Draft Master Plan 2018”, which is out for consultation until 10th January 2019.
The airport is consulting on three scenarios:
This means that Gatwick could become a three runway airport.
Acording to CPRE (Council for the Protection of Rural England) “The impact of this on the Sussex countryside would be enormous,”
If you want to take part in the consultation, you can respond on-line, or by email to gatwickdraftmasterplan@ipsos-mori.com
By post: Freepost GAL DRAFT MASTERPLAN CONSULTATION
More information about the possible impact on the countryside.
Can you believe it: another consultation?! (I am beginning to suffer consultation fatigue; in fact I’m worried that it could even develop into a full-blown case of “consultee’s ennui”. Anyway, here goes).
This time it is East Sussex County Council. Basically what they are saying is that in a very few years’ time, they will have no money to do anything other than the bare minimum that they are legally obliged to do; indeed not even that. They have therefore set out what they call their “core offer” in order that members of the public can see what this bare minimum would look like.
Our own elected county council representative, John Barnes MBE, described this at the recent Parish Council meeting as not so much a consultation, more a propaganda exercise designed to put pressure on central government to do something about local government finance.
If you want to take part in this exercise, the full details are here.
We are lucky enough to live in a very beautiful part of the country – the High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (HW-AONB) – and this designation bring with it protection from some kinds of building development. The government is now consulting on the future of AONBs and National Parks, and you can have your say here This one closes on 18th December 2018.
Observant observers will have observed the installation of fibre-optic cable on telegraph poles throughout parts of Brightling during September, October, and November, notably around Hollingrove, all the way up Brickyard Lane and down Brightling Road. Once this is all connected up and switched on, properties along these routes will be able to order full-fibre (FTTP) broadband with a choice of various superfast or ultrafast speeds – anything up to 330 Mbps.
It is important to note that your speed will never increase automatically. You will need to proactively sign up to one of the new services when they become available, if you want to. I will put out further details on this once the new services are up and running.
Meanwhile there remain parts of Brightling with very poor broadband speeds who are not included in the scope of the current improvements. This mainly applies to Willingford Lane and the Worges. There is a good chance that these properties will be included within the scope of the third East Sussex Broadband contract (“contract 3”). The exact scope of contract 3 – ie which properties will be included – should be known by early 2019, and if you are in the scope, then you should be getting the new services by the end of 2019.
I know that there are people who are not interested in this topic at all. I would just say that in my opinion high-speed broadband is important for rural economic development, and if that doesn’t convince you, there are reports that having poor broadband can knock up to 20% off the value of your house.
The current clerk to the parish council, Dr Brian Holdstock, has indicated that he wishes to step down, so we are now looking for a replacement.
This is a paid job, requiring 20 – 30 hours work per month.
Formal qualifications are not ess
ential; anyone with good organizing and administrative skills would be suitable. You do not need to be a Brightling resident.
Full details of terms and conditions and how to apply can be obtained by contacting the present clerk at brightlingclerk@gmail.com
As well as being an opportunity to serve the community, it can be a surprisingly interesting job. Our clerk has walked bridleways with the rights of way team, browsed digital maps including the Land Registry portal, networked and socialized with the other clerks in Rother and has even been down the gypsum mine (we let him out again eventually). It’s also very flexible: apart from attending 6 or 7 parish council meetings per year (always on Monday evening;), you can put in the hours as and when convenient.
It may be something that you had never even considered before, but please do think about it.
Rother District Council are consulting on development (including housing development) in the Rother District (which Brightling is part of). Specifically, they are consulting on something called the Development and Site Allocations Local Plan – DaSA for short.
To put this in context, the country needs more houses, and Rother has been given an allocation by the government. The question then, is not whether these more houses should be built, but where. Rother already have an agreed and approved document called the “Core Strategy” which sets out the development plan for Rother at a strategic level, now the DaSA fills in the detail – exactly where the planned developments will take place.
The consultation is open until 7th December 2018 (so get a move on if you want to take part). Just to give you a flavour The DaSA consists of 6 main documents and 23 supporting documents. The first of the main documents has 295 pages. You can view them at Battle library, or Bexhill Town Hall, or of course on-line.
How to comment: visit www.rother.gov.uk/dasa where you can see / download all the documents and input comments. Or if you’ve got hundreds of pounds to waste and you don’t care about the environment (no-one in Brightling, surely?) you can order a hard copy.
Is anyone still reading? Seriously, how is the ordinary person, who possibly has other things to do, to deal with this? My solution – at least as far as this post is concerned – is to put my narrowest blinkers on and just ask “How does this affect Brightling?” – and the answer, as far as I can see, is “not very much”. The reason being that we have zero allocation of housing in the Core Strategy, and therefore the question of whereabouts in Brightling to build these zero houses, does not arise. However, I add the caveat that that’s just my personal assessment. The DaSA is about more than just housing allocations, although that’s an important part and the part that most people will be most interested in. But there may be all sorts of things buried in these documents. Here, for example, on page 11 of one of the documents is a map showing where in the district has high enough wind speeds for wind turbines to be viable (not us again). Enjoy.
Caroline Croft writes:
The funeral of Mike Holman, whom many people in Brightling will have known, will be at Eastbourne Crematorium at 10.00 am on Wednesday 12th December 2018.
Mike and Anne Holman lived in Longhouses for 20+ years.
In that time Mike had got involved in many community events. He was involved with the cricket team and helped David Gasson coach the youngsters. He also served on the Parish Council for many years.
When the market first started his wife Anne and he were involved with getting it off the ground and making it very successful. He was also a deliverer of the magazines around that area.
About 8 years ago Mike and Anne moved to Broad Oak, where he would still be active and play table tennis or badminton. Mike was also Anne’s carer due to her MS.
He will be very much missed by his family and friends.
The ever-popular church auction of promises is back this Friday – 26th October at 7:00 pm (in the church) with over 40 exciting lots including the gypsum mine tour, food, Christmas cake, logs, use of people’s holiday homes and much much more.
The auction will be followed by a Harvest Supper.
There is no entrance fee. All money raised goes towards church funds (separate from the pyramid appeal).
It is not too late to add further lots: email Rev. Ann-Marie Crosse revannmariex@gmail.com or phone 01424 838504
Bring a recent electricity bill to the Village Market on Saturday 27th October and get free advice on how to pay less. This advice will be delivered by an advisor from Energise Sussex Coast, (“We give one to one intensive energy and water saving advice to local residents in Hastings and Rother. These services are completely free and available to everyone.”)
This advice service is brought to the village market by another organization “1066 community” (“1066Community’s aim is to provide a comprehensive guide and link to all local services in the area”), who will also have a representative at the market.
