Hassocks Parish Council

Agenda

You are summoned to a virtual meeting of the Parish Council on 13th October 2020 at 7.30 pm

Parish Clerk 7 October 2020

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.

If you wish to attend, this virtual meeting please email the info@hassocks-pc.gov.uk before 4pm on 12th October 2020 to be sent an electronic invitation before 6pm on the 13th October 2020.

AGENDA

1. APOLOGIES

1.1  To Accept Apologies for Absence.

2. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

2.1  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.

3. MINUTES

3.1       To accept the minutes of the:

Parish Council meeting 8 September 2020

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 item of business included in the agenda, in accordance with Standing Orders.

5. MINUTES

To accept the following Minutes

5.1       Planning Committee – 14 September 2020 and to note the minutes for 5 October 2020.

5.2       Policy Resources & Communications – 15 September 2020 (for noting)

5.3        Grounds & Environment Committee – 3 September 2020 (for noting)

6. FINANCE

6.1       To approve the Financial Report and authorise the list of payments in the sum of £ 199,932.81 for the period ending 31st August 2020 set out in Appendix 1. Please click here to view Appendix 1.

7. REPORTS

7.1       District Councillors’ Report

7.2       County Councillor Report

7.3       Rail Matters.

7.4       Youth Initiatives

7.5       Police report

7.6       Report from Councillors on meetings of outside bodies where the Council is represented.

8. CHAIRMAN’S REPORT

8.1       Current matters (oral report)

9. CLERK’S REPORT

9.1      Precept: This is to inform members that the Council has now received the second parish precept instalment in the sum of £ 147,772 from Mid Sussex District Council.

10. Urgent Matters at the discretion of the Chairman for noting and/or inclusion on a future agenda.

11. Date of next meeting 10th November 2020

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 present they will be requested to withdraw from the meeting.

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.

Please Note
All members of the public are welcome to attend to attend meetings of the Parish Council and its Committees.

Item 4 – a period of 15 minutes will be set aside for the public statements and questions relating to the published non-confidential business of the Meeting.

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.

Minutes

Minutes of the virtual meeting of the Parish Council held on 13th October 2020 at 7.30pm.

Attendees: Parish Councillors Ian Weir (Chair), Jane Baker, Bill Hatton, Peter Gibbons, Alex Simmons, Sue Hatton, Kristian Berggreen, Frank Rylance, Bob Brewer. Claire Tester and Nick Owens

Parish Clerk: Ian Cumberworth

Visiting Member(s): County Councillor Kirsty Lord

MINUTES

PC20/51      APOLOGIES

Cllrs Leslie Campbell, Kate Bailey, Frances Gaudencio, David Hammond.

PC20/52      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. – None

PC20/53      MINUTES

The minutes of the meeting held on the 8th September 2020 were accepted as a true and accurate record of the meeting.          

PC20/54      PUBLIC PARTICIPATION

There were no Members of the public present.

PC20/55      MINUTES

 To accept the following Minutes.

To agree the minutes of the Planning Committee 14th September 2020 and to note the minutes for the 5th October 2020.

To note the minutes of Policy Resources & Communications Committee 15th September 2020.

To note the minutes of the Grounds & Environment Committee 3rd September 2010

PC20/56      FINANCE

Members considered the finance reports and the supporting bank statements and reviewed the payment list .The Finance report and payments totalling £199,932.81 for the period ending 31st August 2020 were considered and APPROVED.

PC20/57      Reports

57.1       District Councillors reports: – Cllr Sue Hatton (SH) informed members that MSDC have agreed to close Clair Hall but have received a petition therefore they will be required to debate this matter further. The impact of Covid 19 continues to have a significant impact on the district council’s finances and MSDC are continuing to seek Covid support from Government.

MSDC are in the process of drafting their response to the White Paper on Planning.

57.2         County Councillor – Cllr Lord indicated that Covid cases are continuing to grow in West Sussex including Hassocks.

Cllr Lord thanked the Parish Council for the letter of support sent to the Covid support group volunteers which was appreciated.

The Councillor indicated that she was working with the schools and highways to resolve some issues to improve the management of flow of children in and out of school. County may be able to access government funding to support temporary additional measures such as Temporary crossings, verge hardening etc. to assist in this. These are likely to be looked at/in place after the October half term. Currently there is a 93% attendance rate at schools within West Sussex which is above the national average.

WSCC face significant additional costs due to Covid which could lead to a significant budget shortfall, things may become clearer after the Government Comprehensive Spending Review in December.

County are in the process of drafting their response to the Government White paper on Planning.

With regard to items directly affecting Hassocks, at a recent Air Quality Steering Group meeting it was indicated that the levels of pollution (Stonepound crossroads) were below the exceedance level which was based on data from 2019 and is likely to see improvements as a result of Covid for this current year and the reduced vehicle movements. It’s yet to be determined whether this year’s figures will be used in the same way due to the exceptional circumstances this year.

A number of Parish Councillors sought clarification as to where the equipment is now located post installation of the new lights at Stonepound crossroads. As the responsibility for monitoring this lies with MSDC Cllr Sue Hatton agreed to take this matter up.

Hassocks Parking scheme is close to being finalised, once funding has been secured it is anticipated this will progress in the near future.

Cycling scheme from Sayers Common to Downlands is currently at the design stage and if it proceeds to the next stage this initiative will go out for consultation.

Cllr Lord indicated there was also the potential for a crossing to be installed between South bank and the station which has passed the moderation phase and will now be reliant on budgets being secured. Parish members raised concerns over the condition of the stretch of road between the station and stonepound crossroad and requested the county councillor seek to raise this to consider a proper resurfacing scheme rather than the continuous patching.

57.3         Rail matters – Cllr Peter Gibbons advised members that in September there were 160 cancellations in part due to availability of staff and train crews of which 137 were cancelled outright and 23 ran but failed to stop at Hassocks

57.4        Youth Initiatives – The Clerk informed members with the current covid restrictions in place no future youth events will be able to be held.

57.5       Police matters – nothing to report.

57.6       Report from Councillors on meetings of outside bodies where the Council is represented – None

PC20/58      CHAIRMANS REPORT –

The Chair (IW) indicated that he wished the Council to re-establish a Neighbourhood Plan group as a Committee in readiness to respond to matters that may arise as a result of the Planning White paper if necessary. Cllr Weir encouraged members to put themselves forward to join this committee which would be considered at the next Council meeting in November.

IW raised the issue of Remembrance Sunday and the laying of wreaths on behalf of the Council, Cllr Weir, Cllr Baker and Cllr Simmonds indicated that they would be happy to participate. The Clerk confirmed that the office were in contact with the church to establish arrangements as most services appear to have moved  online and will come back to members once its established the arrangements.

PC20/59      CLERK’S REPORT –

59.1      Precept the Clerk informed members that the Council had now received its second precept instalment from MSDC in the sum of £147,772        

PC20/60      URGENT MATTERS AT THE DISCRETION OF THE CHAIRMAN for noting and/or inclusion on a future agenda.

There were none.

PC20/61      DATE OF NEXT MEETING

To note that the date of the next Council meeting is Tuesday 10th November 2020 at 7.30pm.