Hassocks Parish Council

Minutes

Minutes of the Meeting of the Parish Council held on 8 October 2024

Attendees: Parish Councillors Frances Gaudencio (Chair), Robert Brewer, David Bunting, Ian Weir, Peter Richardson, Paul Shepherd, Sue Hatton, Bill Hatton and Alex Simmons.

Deputy Clerk: Tracy Forte

MINUTES

PC24/76 APOLOGIES. Cllrs Kristian Berggreen and Lesley Cruikshank-Robb.

County Cllr Kirsty Lord.

Absent without apology Cllrs Kate Bailey & Angus Neil.

PC24/77 DISCLOSURE OF INTERESTS.  Disclosure by Councillors of personal interests in matters on the agenda, and whether the Councillor regards their interest as prejudicial under the terms of the Code of Conduct. There were no disclosures of interest.

PC24/78 MINUTES. The minutes of the Parish Council meeting held on the 10th September 2024 were accepted as a true and accurate record of the meeting.

PC24/79 PUBLIC PARTICIPATION. No members of the public were present.

PC24/80 MINUTES.

PC24/80.1 Planning Committee – Members agreed the minutes for the meeting held on 16th September 2024.

PC24/80.2 Policy Resources & Communications Committee – Members noted the minutes for the meeting held on 3rd September 2024.

PC24/81 FINANCE Members considered the finance reports and the supporting bank statements and reviewed the payment list for payments totalling £20,862.82 for the period ending 31st August 2024 as set out in Appendix 1.

PC24/81.1 Members APPROVED the payments list totalling £20,862.82 for the period 1st to 31st August 2024.

PC24/82 Reports

PC24/82.1 West Sussex County Councillor report.  None.

PC24/82.2 Mid Sussex District Councillor report. District Cllr Sue Hatton presented a paper on behalf of Cllr Chris Hobbs to update Members on matters relating to Mid Sussex District Council.

Burgess Hill Shopping Centre. At the District Full Council meeting in September, Councillors approved the Officers to continue to progress towards forming a Joint Venture with New River Retail for the development of The Martlets shopping centre. The Joint Venture will see the bringing together of the Council’s freehold and New Rivers’ long leasehold interests, and the development of the 2021 planning permission which has been partially enacted this year and so is preserved. The Officers have been working on this scheme since late 2023 and we are hopeful this is now the catalyst to start regeneration of Burgess Hill’s major shopping facility, plus a new hotel and 160 flats. There are a number of conditions still to be met before the Joint Venture is formed, but there is light at the end of the tunnel.

Members welcomed this news and agreed that it would be useful if this was publicised through as many channels as possible to inform the public of the progression.

Mid Sussex District Council (MSDC) Car Parks in Hassocks. There has been some erroneous speculation printed as fact recently in the Hassocks Talkabout magazine in relation to parking in the villages. There is no plan to introduce a £1 charge early next year; as has been continually outlined, there are plans to review how MSDC manage village parking and enforcement which will no doubt result in some kind of pricing mechanisms; but there is no proposal yet and consultation has not started.

Members noted this item.

London Road Recreation Ground.  MSDC is soon to start more detailed work on its’ budget cycle for 2024-25 and one particular capital project being pushed for is progression on London Road recreation ground. This project has stalled as it will be funded by s.106 contributions, but substantial funds from Saxon Mills, Kingsland Gate, Ockley Park and Friars Oak Fields have now been received, or are due to be received in the near future and so planning work can be restarted.

Members queried whether the planned improvements for the London Road Recreation Ground would be developed from the existing proposals or if this would begin again as a new project.  Cllr Hatton to clarify this with Cllr Hobbs.

Cllr Weir drew Members attention to the proposed cycleway adjacent to the recreation ground, which is to be installed by Bellway Homes as part of the Kingsland Gate development.  He recommended that communication is established between the relevant MSDC Officers and Bellway Homes to look at co-ordinating the timing of the two projects.

Members noted this suggestion and discussed raising this directly with the relevant s106 Officer.

Cllr Ian Weir left the meeting to respond to an outside interruption to the meeting, the meeting was suspended by the Chair.

Cllr Ian Weir re-joined the meeting.

PC24/82.3 Police Report.  No report submitted.  Cllr Gaudencio informed Members that following a recent incident in the park, the local PCSO had contacted her and Cllr Kristian Berggreen to request that the Council considers the installation of CCTV on the Parish Centre providing coverage of the entrance to the park and the car park.

The Deputy Clerk confirmed that there had been an attempt to start a fire in the ladies public toilet on Friday morning and although it had been reported to the Police, they did not have any lines of enquiry to follow.  Therefore in this instance, CCTV footage would have been a great help.  The Deputy Clerk also informed the committee that Downlands School had also contacted the Parish Office for CCTV footage; it was understood the fire was started by some pupils before school and the school took these matters very seriously. The Parish Office works closely with Downlands School regarding all behaviour related incidents. The school has since confirmed that it has been able to obtain further information about the incident and this matter is being dealt with in line with the school’s behaviour policy, as well as being passed to the Police.

The Deputy Clerk reported that she had contacted the PCSO and asked for some guidance on suitable CCTV systems.

It was agreed that the installation of CCTV would be followed up by Cllr David Bunting and taken to a future G&E meeting for consideration.

PC24/82.4 Rail matters.  Cllr Bill Hatton confirmed that there had been a meeting of the Rail Group recently, however he had not been able to attend and therefore was unable to provide a report.

PC24/82.5 Youth Initiatives.  It was noted that the Church Youth Club was now running from the Adastra Hall although there was not any formal updates on this to date.

PC24/82.6 Report from Councillors on meetings of outside bodies where the Council is represented. There were no reports.

PC24/83 CHAIRPERSON’S REPORT

PC24/83.1 HASSOCKS ON SHOW. The Chair reminded Members that Hassocks on Show was being held on Saturday 26^th October and invited volunteers to help set up and clear away and to represent the Parish Council during the event.  She confirmed that staff would not be present.

The show would be running between 10am – 3pm.

• Cllr Frances Gaudencio would attend from around 12 noon – 3pm
• Cllrs Peter Richardson and David Bunting provisionally offered to help but would need to confirm.
• Cllr Ian Weir confirmed he would attend to set up the stand until around 11.30am.
• Paul Shepherd confirmed his attendance, time to be agreed.

Members requested that the following documents were made available for the event:

• Feedback forms.
• Riparian Ownership Booklet
• New Councillor Information. It was agreed that the event was a good opportunity to attract potential new councillors to fill the current vacancy.

PC24/83.2 Deputy Clerk Vacancy. The Chair confirmed that the staffing panel were in the process of shortlisting for the Deputy Clerk’s vacancy, with the closing date being Wednesday 9^th October.

Cllr Gaudencio informed Members that the option of appointing a Locum Deputy Clerk was being considered for the interim.

PC24/84 CLERK’S REPORT

PC24/84.1 Councillor Co-option.  The Deputy Clerk advised Members that the Council had received one application for co-option as a Councillor.  This would be presented for consideration at the next Full Council meeting.

PC24/84.2 Draft Business Plan 2024 – 2029. The draft Business Plan was previously considered by Policy, Resources & Communications Committee and was agreed in principle, subject to some further amendments. Cllr Gaudencio and Cllr Weir have subsequently worked on the document further which was set out in Appendix 2 of the agenda for consideration.

Members were requested to review the document and confirm agreement that the proposed plan fairly represents the Councils priorities over the forthcoming years and approve the adoption of the plan or suggest any further amendments for consideration.

Members were in agreement with the proposed plan, however it was felt that Page 6 of the Plan, ‘Outcomes from previous Business Plan’ did not need to be included as part of the formal document.  Therefore it was agreed that this would be removed and maintained as an internal document for review. It was also agreed that under Parish Environment on this page, the point referencing Traffic Calming Project should have the wording ‘Incl. 20mph limit’ removed.

PC24/84.3. It was RESOLVED TO APPROVE to adopt the draft Business Plan as presented in Appendix 2 of the agenda subject to the removal of P6 ‘Outcomes from previous business plan’, from the formal plan. The final agreed Business Plan is shown in Appendix 1. To view Appendix 1 please click here.

PC24/84.5. 2023/24 Annual Return.  Members had reviewed the External Auditor’s report and letter for the 2023/24 Annual Return.  The Deputy Clerk confirmed that the external auditor had signed off the Annual Return without amendment.

Cllr Simmons noted that in their letter, the External Auditor had drawn attention to the re-appointing appointment of the Internal Auditor each year.  The Deputy Clerk explained that this had been raised by the auditor as part of the review, and that they were satisfied with the explanation provided and therefore it did not impact on the final audit certificate.

Members were satisfied that this matter had been addressed and noted the outcome of the completed External Auditor’s report and certificate for the 2023/24 Annual Return.

Members noted that the External audit fee for the work undertaken for the financial year 2023/24 was £1,050.00 plus VAT.

PC24/84.6. Members were advised that the Council has received its second precept instalment in the sum of £165,913. This was noted by Members.

PC24/84.7. G&E Committee Membership. The Deputy Clerk reported that Cllr Angus Neil had written to the Clerk to notify that due to personal commitments, he would be stepping down as a member of the G&E committee.  He would however continue to sit on the Planning Committee.  In line with Standing Orders, Cllr Bunting had been notified as the Chair of G&E. This was noted by Members.

PC24/85 URGENT MATTERS AT THE DISCRETION OF THE CHAIR.  None.

PC24/86 DATE OF NEXT MEETING. Tuesday 12 November 2024.

Confidential

PC24/87 MINUTES. The confidential minutes of the Parish Council meeting held on the 10^th September 2024 were accepted as a true and accurate record of the meeting.