Hassocks Parish Council

Agenda

A meeting of the Parish Council is being held on Tuesday 12 November 2024 at 7.30 pm in the Council Chamber, Parish Centre, Adastra Park, Hassocks.

Parish Clerk – 5th November 2024

Members of the public are encouraged to come to the meetings and there is an opportunity for them to address the Council relating to the non-confidential items on the published agenda. A period of 15 minutes will be set aside in item 4 Public participation. It may be necessary to consider particular items in confidential session and where this arises, these items will be considered at the end of the agenda.

AGENDA

1. APOLOGIES

To accept Apologies for absence.

2. DISCLOSURE OF INTERESTS

To deal with any disclosure by Members of any disclosable pecuniary interests and interests other than pecuniary interests, as defined under Hassocks Parish Council’s Code of Conduct and the Localism Act 2011, in relation to matters on the agenda.

3. MINUTES

To accept the minutes of the Parish Council meeting held on the 8 October 2024.

4. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION

Up to fifteen minutes will be available to allow for the public to make representations, answer questions or give evidence in respect of any items of business included in the agenda, in accordance with Standing Orders.

5. TO ACCEPT THE FOLLOWING MINUTES

5.1       Planning Committee – to agree the minutes for the 7th October 2024 and to note the minutes for the 28th October 2024.

5.2       Policy Resources & Communications Committee – to note the minutes for 15th October 2024.

6. FINANCE

To approve the Financial Report (Appendix 1) and authorise the list of payments in the sum of £24,956.78 issued between 1 September 2024 and 31st September 2024. Please click here to view Appendix 1.

7. Co-option of Members

The Council currently has two vacancies which it is now able to fill via co-option. The Council have received expressions of interest for these positions, all applicants meet the qualification criteria to become a Councillor, therefore on this basis members are requested to consider co-option onto the Council. (Further details to follow).

Member’s views are sought.

8. REPORTS

8.1       West Sussex County Councillor

8.2       Mid Sussex District Councillors Report

8.3       Police Report

8.4       Rail Matters

8.5       Youth Initiatives

8.6       Reports from Councillors on meetings outside bodies where the Council is represented.

9. CHAIR’S REPORT

9.1       Current matters (oral report).

10. CLERK’S REPORT

10.1     Enabling remote attendance and proxy voting at local authority meetings

During the pandemic the then government passed emergency legislation to enable Councils to meet remotely to enable them to carry on operating during lockdown. However this legislation was not extended beyond the pandemic as the then government would have been required to pass primary legislation, therefore Councils were required to return to in person meetings.

Representations have been made by the sector to the government over the years to re-introduce legislation to enable remote/hybrid meetings as there was a consensus that remote meetings enabled the public to engage more effectively with councils and provided flexibility for members and public to attend remotely if they were unable to attend in person.

Up to this point government has been unwilling to revisit this decision, therefore all local Councillors are required by law to attend Parish and Town Council meetings in person.

The current Government, however, is now consulting on introducing powers for Parish and Town Councils to apply to the relevant authority for a dispensation to attend formal council meetings remotely and vote by proxy in certain circumstances. (Consultation commenced 24th October for 8 weeks).

Councils can agree to submit an agreed response on behalf of the Council to this consultation. Equally all Councillors can also submit a response individually. Full details can be found here:

Enabling remote attendance and proxy voting at local authority meetings – GOV.UK

Member’s views are sought

10.2     Grants

Letters/emails of thanks have been received from grant recipients from phase one of the grants process:

  • Air Ambulance
  • 4 Sight for Vision

Members are requested to note the receipt of these acknowledgements.

10.3     Hassocks on Show – feedback (verbal update).

10.4     Interim Internal Audit report

Members are requested to note the contents of the interim Internal Audit which is set out in Appendix 2. Please click here to view Appendix 2. The Auditor has indicated:

‘It is clear the council takes governance, policies and procedures seriously and I am pleased to report that overall, the systems and procedures you have in place are fit for purpose and whilst my report may contain recommendations to change these are not indicative of any significant failings, but rather are pointers to improving upon an already well-ordered system.’

No recommended actions were made.

Members are asked to note the contents of the report.

11. URGENT MATTERS AT THE DISCRETION OF THE CHAIRMAN for noting and/or inclusion on a future agenda.

12. DATE OF NEXT MEETING

To note that the date of the next Council meeting will be 10th December 2024.

EXCLUSION OF PUBLIC AND PRESS

In view of the confidential nature of the business about to be transacted Councillors will be referred to the Confidential Agenda. If any members of the public or press are in attendance they will be requested to withdraw from the meeting in the public interest.

Confidential

13. Staffing Matters (verbal update)

FILMING, RECORDING OF COUNCIL MEETINGS AND USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA
During this meeting members of the public may film or record the Committee and officers from the public area only providing it does not disrupt the meeting. The Confidential section of the meeting may not be filmed or recorded. If a member of the public objects to being recorded, the person(s) filming must stop doing so until that member of the public has finished speaking. The use of social media is permitted but members of the public are requested to switch their mobile devices to silent for the duration of the meeting.

Minutes

Minutes of the Meeting of the Parish Council held on 12 November 2024

Attendees: Parish Councillors Frances Gaudencio (Chair), David Bunting, Peter Richardson, Paul Shepherd, Sue Hatton, Kristian Berggreen, Lesley Cruickshank-Robb, Angus Neil and Alex Simmons.

Clerk: Ian Cumberworth

Visiting Members: WSCC Kirsty Lord

MINUTES

PC24/88 APOLOGIES. Cllrs Bill Hatton, Ian Weir

Absent without apologies

Cllr Kate Bailey and Robert Brewer

PC24/89 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.

PC24/90 MINUTES. The minutes of the Parish Council meeting held on the 8th October 2024 were accepted as a true and accurate record of the meeting.

PC24/91 PUBLIC PARTICIPATION. Two members of the public were present.

PC24/92 MINUTES.

PC24/92.1 Planning Committee – Members AGREED the minutes for the meeting held on 7th October 2024 and NOTED the minutes for the 28th October 2024.

PC24/92.2 Policy Resources & Communications Committee – Members NOTED the minutes for the meeting held on 15th October 2024.

PC24/93 FINANCE Members considered the finance reports and the supporting bank statements and reviewed the payment list for payments totalling £24,956.78 for the period ending 31st September 2024 as set out in Appendix 1.

PC24/93.1 Members APPROVED the payments list totalling £24,956.78 for the period 1st to 31st September 2024.

Co-Option The Council currently had two vacancies on the Council which they were able to consider for co-option. The Council had received two applications from Don McBeth and Maria Angelaki-King who were requested to introduce themselves and provide a brief summary of why they wished to join the Council.

Maria introduced herself and provided a brief introduction of setting out why she wished to join the Council and the skills she could bring. Don has returned to the Council after a brief absence.

Members were then requested to consider whether both applicants should be co-opted onto the Council.

Members RESOLVED to approve the Co-option of Maria Angelaki-King and Don McBeth be invited to join the Council.

Maria Angelaki-King and Don McBeth duly signed the Office of Acceptance in the presence of the Responsible Officer.

Don having previously served on the Council indicated that he wished to re-join the Planning Committee – All Members present supported this proposal and Cllr McBeth was duly appointed onto the Planning Committee.

Further Committee memberships will be considered at a future meeting. Cllr Angelaki-King was encouraged to attend the various Committees prior to deciding which Committees to join.

PC24/94 Reports

PC24/94.1 Mid Sussex District Councillor report. Cllr Hatton introduced the following report

Grants

Earlier this week the Cabinet Grants team met and approved over £30,000 of community based grants but unfortunately nothing from Hassocks.

Funding is available for groups that operate to the benefit or residents in Mid Sussex – the application criteria is detailed on the MSDC website, but grants also need to contribute to the delivery of the UN Sustainable Development goals.  There is 1 more funding round, in February, so interested groups are encouraged to make their applications early.

Car Parks

Also on Monday at Cabinet, Members approved the introduction of an all-day £1 flat rate charge for Sundays and Bank Holidays in the council’s paid-for carparks. The introduction of price increases in May of this year has had no detrimental effect, with car park usage in all of our 3 towns. The additional revenue generated is used not only to fund the ongoing running of those carparks – business rates, maintenance, cleaning, cash collection, insurance and the like, but will allow us to improve services.

New parking technology proposals are being finalised for trial in 4 main carparks in 2025, which will form part of the budget setting process, and we will also increase the number of enforcement officers across the district. We have had nearly 500 contacts to MSDC in the first 6 months of this year from residents asking for help with illegal and inconsiderate parking – something we suffer with badly in Hassocks – and the increased enforcement officer resource will only help improve matters.

Budget

The council is in the throes of budget setting and a working group has met to understand the service pressures for 2025-26. Members were hoping for clarity in the budget of a number of issues that would have brought respite to the continuing financial pressure that the council operates under but nothing so far is forthcoming.

We look forward to seeing the Local Government Settlement which will be shared pre-Christmas.

Food Waste

The biggest ticket item will be the roll-out to all homes of weekly food waste collection in autumn 2025 – something MSDC are planning and budgeting for but without any indication of the revenue support that the council may, or may not receive from Central Government. The capital support grant has already been received and doesn’t cover half the capital purchase costs – bins, vehicles, and a new depot to handle this additional complexity.

The good news is that the food waste trial that was extended to Hassocks is seeing between 80 and 90% usage every week which is really positive.

District Plan 

Finally, the District Plan examination stage 1 has been concluded during October and the inspector will schedule further dates for additional meetings. It is now expected that the plan will be adopted in early 2025, giving our communities the protection from unplanned developments they hope for.

PC24/94.2 West Sussex County Councillor report.  Cllr Lord provided members with an update

Highways

Ockley Lane has now been resurfaced and progress is now being made on the TRO to introduce the reduced speed limits of 30mph at the bottom of the hill and 40 mph north of the hill towards Burgess Hill .The signage is yet to be installed.

Schools

A meeting has been scheduled in January with county officers to discuss and review the number of school placement applications, this will also review forecasts, housing build and migration data which may impact on future school needs.

Budget

WSCC net budget is £770 M of which two thirds relates to Children and Adult Social Care. County’s overall budget is over a billion pounds.

At the present time there is a budget gap of £47M however £8.6M budget reductions have been identified reducing the gap down to £38.4 M.

If County are permitted to approve a Council Tax rise of 4.99% this would raise £30M and would still leave a £8M gap.

County will face mounting pressures based on their Medium Term Plan.

PC24/94.3 Police Report. – None

PC24/94.4 Rail matters. – None

PC24/94.5 Youth Initiatives – None

PC24/94.6 Report from Councillors on meetings of outside bodies where the Council is represented. Cllr Richardson provided Members with an update from the Downlands School Sports Hall Committee. The sports facilities are generally performing strongly and particularly the 3G pitches and the Committee are looking at further opportunities to improve the sports offer within the village.

PC24/95 CHAIRPERSON’S REPORT

PC24/95.1 The Chair advised Members that a meeting was recently convened with Chris Hobbs       (Adastra Hall), Cllr Bunting, Cllr Berggreen and the Clerk to discuss Adastra Hall proposed extension and the current s106 funding bid. As a separate matter, Cllr Gaudencio raised a number of points regarding the proposed design layout relating to new toilets at Adastra Hall which Chris Hobbs agreed to revisit and consider.

Remembrance Sunday. The Chair stated Remembrance service was well attended at Keymer by members of the community. She sought Members views in principal, for the idea of the Parish Council becoming more active in organising/facilitating next year’s Remembrance Sunday making it a larger community Remembrance.  At the social event following the Remembrance ceremony, more contacts had been made who were very keen to be involved in collaborating to make this happen.

The consensus amongst members present was that they supported this in principal and for this to be taken forward to Policy and Resources Committee.

Cllr Berggreen who attended the Clayton service indicated that it too was well supported, however the noise from football being played at Clayton Rec did detract from the two minute silence.

PC24/96 CLERK’S REPORT

PC24/96.1 Enabling remote attendance and proxy voting at local authority meetings.  Members were advised that the Government were currently undertaking a consultation on introducing powers to enable them to apply for a dispensation to enable attendance at formal Council meetings remotely and to allow voting by proxy in certain circumstances.

Members were requested to consider whether the Council wished to submit a response, and whether they supported the proposal or not. Members were advised that a response will be submitted by the National Association of Local Councils (NALC) on behalf of the sector.

Members discussed the option of submitting a response, with some members in favour and some against but no overwhelming support one way or another. Therefore Members RESOLVED not to submit a consultation response on behalf of the Parish Council but individual Councillors if they wished be encouraged to submit their own responses.

PC24/96.2 Grants.  Members were informed that the Council had received acknowledgement of thanks from the following grant recipients:

  • Air Ambulance
  • 4 Sight for Vision

Members NOTED the responses received

PC24/96.3. Hassocks on Show. Members discussed the recent event and were very positive, it was felt that it provided an excellent opportunity to engage with the community and network with other groups.

Members discussed a number of items that were raised by the public including some positive feedback on Parish Councils office staff. Notes of some points raised may be possible to explore at a future point.

PC24/96.4 Interim Internal Audit the Clerk introduced the Interim Internal report set out as Appendix 2 which summarised the work undertaken by the auditor on his recent site visit, the report set out his findings and conclusions. Overall they concluded that the Councils Governance frameworks are fit for purpose and made no recommendations.

Members were therefore asked to note the contents of the report.

Members duly NOTED the contents of the report and wished to place on record a thanks for the work of the office team.

PC24/97 URGENT MATTERS AT THE DISCRETION OF THE CHAIR.  None.

PC24/98 DATE OF NEXT MEETING. Tuesday 10 December 2024.