Hassocks Parish Council

Minutes

Minutes of the Meeting of the Parish Council held on 14 October 2025

Attendees: Parish Councillors Frances Gaudencio (Chair), Maria Angelaki-King, Kristian Berggreen, Robert Brewer, David Bunting, Bill Hatton, Sue Hatton, Don McBeth, Peter Reime, Peter Richardson, Paul Shepherd, Alex Simmons, Ian Weir.

In Attendance: Elaine Langridge (Clerk & RFO), WSCC Cllr Erika Woodhurst-Trueman

MINUTES

PC25/77        APOLOGIES Cllr Lesley Cruickshank-Robb

Absent without apologies: Cllr Angus Neil

PC25/78        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.

PC25/79        MINUTES The minutes of the Parish Council meeting held on 9 September 2025 were

accepted as a true and accurate record of the meeting.

PC25/80        PUBLIC PARTICIPATION No members of the public were present.

PC25/81        TO ACCEPT THE FOLLOWING MINUTES

• Planning Committee – Members noted minutes of the meeting held on 8 September 2025 and agreed minutes of the meeting on 29 September 2025
• Grounds & Environment Committee – Members noted minutes of the meeting held on 4 September 2025
• Policy, Resources & Communications Committee – Members noted minutes of the meeting held on 23 September 2025

PC25/82        REPORTS

PC25/82.1     Police Report – PCSO Nathaniel Wales who covers the Hassocks area was not present, but the Clerk provided a summary of reported crimes in the Parish in August 2025 which is available on the Sussex Police website:

12 Anti-Social Behaviour

1 Bicycle theft

1 Burglary

1 Criminal Damage and arson

1 Drugs

4 Other theft

1 Possession of weapons

7 Public order

1 Shoplifting

1 Theft from the person

17 Violence and sexual offences

The Clerk also informed Councillors that there had been communication between the Parish Council, the Police and Downlands School regarding anti-social behaviour in Adastra Park including damage to the public toilets which has resulted in them being closed to the public before 9am in the morning. This has been an issue in the past and Cllr Hatton intends to raise this at the next School Governors meeting. Councillors were alarmed at the number of violence and sexual offences and would like further information.

PC25/82.2     West Sussex County Councillor – Cllr Erika Woodhurst-Trueman informed Councillors that PROW 5K, from the junction with London Road to path 11K, is currently closed until at least February 2026 or more likely December 2026 to allow time for the construction of a property development on the adjacent land. Path 19K will also be closed from 20 October for a period of 21 days for tree cutting and resurfacing.

A Reform UK meeting was held at Adastra Hall on 18 September which resulted in some public protest and the Police were in attendance.  Another meeting is scheduled for 16 October, venue unknown, and residents have expressed concern that this could reoccur. Cllr Woodhurst-Trueman stated that she supported political free speech but if there is risk of public unrest, activities should be reported to Emily King, the WSCC Communities Lead so she can advise the appropriate authorities and monitor the situation.

Cllr Ian Weir and Cllr Woodhurst-Trueman met with the ‘Walk Wheel Cycle Trust’, formerly Sustrans, to discuss a number of issues including cycle storage and parking, how routes can be improved to encourage younger and older people to use them and feasibility work for proposals to connect the villages.

With regard to Local Government Reorganisation, West Sussex County Council voted in favour of one single unitary authority for the whole of the County.  The public, District and Borough Councils all voted for two authorities (East – Adur, Crawley, Horsham, Mid Sussex & West – Arun, Chichester, Worthing. The government will undertake consultation in the Autumn and the Secretary of State will announce the final decision in March 2026. There will be Mayoral elections in May 2026 and the shadow authority will be operational from May 2027. The new unitary structure will be in place by April 2028.

Villa Adastra is looking to divest to an alternative provider and update should be available at the next Council meeting.

WSCC is using AI Assistants, voice and chat bots, to help deliver Council services but human contacts continue to be available during office hours.

The next Full Council meeting is scheduled for 17 October 2025.

Cllr Gaudencio asked if Cllr Woodhurst-Trueman could look into collection of data regarding flooding incidents and was directed to contact Ninesh Edwards.

PC25/82.3     Mid Sussex District Councillor report – Cllr Sue Hatton provided a report on behalf of Cllr Chris Hobbs (Appendix 1). Half of Hassocks had a 1-2-3 waste trial; the other half are new to the service. Cllr Gaudencio noted that there are a lot more homes in Hassocks so it will take more resources to collect all the bins.  Cllr Hatton advised that MSDC has advertised recently for new staff so they can expand the service. All of the collection dates are published on the MSDC website.

PC25/82.4     Rail and Public Transport Matters – Catherine Cassidy, Chair of Hassocks Rail Group, sent an update which was read by the Clerk.  ‘We have not had a Rail Group meeting since your last HPC meeting and so I have nothing to report other than to say that our event at Hassocks Station on 27th September celebrating Railway 200 went very well and we received lots of positive and complimentary comments. A number of people came to share their memories and the posters with the photo montages of Hassocks Station through the ages stayed up in the ticket hall for over a week after the event. Our MP Alison Bennett popped by and mentioned the event in her weekly mail to constituents on her mailing list.’  Members noted that the Rail Group is quite unique and is very good at lobbying to improve services.

PC25/82.5     Community Initiatives – none.

PC25/82.6     Report from Councillors on meetings of outside bodies where the Council is represented

Cllr Gaudencio attended the Age Concern Trustee meeting on 15 October and reported that the charity is in the process of redecorating the main hall.  They are working on a project to provide safer wheelchair access to buses for visitors and could potentially apply for a Community Grant to assist with costs. They are concerned about the current Home to Hospital transport arrangements. They are also looking for space to expand. Cllr Gaudencio had raised the issue of digital exclusion as a result of increasingly having to go online and of discrimination if older people are not given a choice about how they access services. Trustees said they would explore some potential projects to help.

Cllr McBeth reported that he had visited the Hassocks Brownies to talk to them about Remembrance Sunday and had provided them with a list of names and details of the fallen.

PC25/83        FINANCE

Cllr Bunting questioned what work had been carried out on the Clayton fingerpost.  The Clerk explained it had been refurbished and will be relocated back to where it was originally also asked for more information about one of the payees.

Members APPROVED the payments lists totalling £27,405.18 for the period 1-31 August 2025.

PC25/84        CHAIR’S REPORT – Cllr Gaudencio asked if any Councillors were willing to volunteer to staff the barriers on Remembrance Sunday. She would be grateful if they could contact Helen Valler, Deputy Clerk.  Erika Trueman-Woodhurst said she would be willing to send another request to the HCO volunteer database.

PC25/85        CLERK’S REPORT

The Clerk asked for a Councillor to act as a keyholder and contact in case of emergency and Cllr Simmons kindly volunteered. She also informed Councillors that she had received three letters of thanks from the recipients of the latest round of Community Grants – Oldlands Mill, 4Sight and KSS Air Ambulance.

PC25/85.1     Interim Internal Audit Report

Details of the Internal Audit Report were shared with Councillors.  There was just one recommendation, to increase the level of the Fidelity Guarantee which can be addressed when the insurance policy is renewed. Cllr Gaudencio commented on how much work is required to achieve a positive audit report.

PC25/85.2     Business Plan

The Clerk explained that the updated business plan was useful to identify Council priorities and will be used to inform the budget setting process.  Members were encouraged to raise questions and comment on the proposed actions.

Cllr Simmons suggested that investment in more Christmas lights could be considered and the Clerk advised that there will be an item on this subject at the next Grounds & Environment Committee meeting.

Cllr McBeth asked that the District Plan and Neighbourhood Plan should be reviewed in light of all the new housing and the lack of a 5-Year Land Supply in Mid Sussex.  This is an item in the current years plan, and a meeting of the Neighbourhood Plan Working Group will be convened in the New Year.

Cllr Reime was interested in representing the views of Ockley Park residents and Cllr Gaudencio asked the Chairs of the Committees to set up a meeting with him over the coming month to explain their remit and how projects and ideas can be brought forward and put on the agenda.  He was also advised to contact the Clerk in the first instance.

The Clerk advised that improving the sound quality in the Council Chamber would be put back on the business plan as this matter had not yet been resolved.

The revised plan will be published on the Council’s website.

PC25/85.3     Council Policies

The Clerk presented four policy documents which have been approved by the Policy, Resources and Communications Committee for adoption by the Council.

The Developer Protocol outlines the Council’s approach to liaising with developers at the pre-application stage.

The IT Policy and Publications Scheme are required to comply with GDPR legislation.

The Code of Conduct provides a framework to set high standards for Councillor’s behaviour.

RESOLVED Cllr Bunting proposed, and Cllr Gaudencio seconded the formal adoption of these four documents as Council Policy and Councillors unanimously voted in favour.

PC25/86        APPOINTMENT OF STANDING COMMITTEES

Cllr Reime expressed an interest in joining Planning Committee to fill the current vacancy and members unanimously voted in favour of his appointment.

RESOLVED that Cllr Reime be appointed to the Planning Committee.

PC25/87        URGENT MATTERS AT THE DISCRETION OF THE CHAIR – None

PC25/88        DATE OF NEXT MEETING Tuesday 11 November 2025.

APPENDIX 1

PC25/82.3  Mid Sussex District Councillor Report

The MSDC budget process is underway with a politically balanced working group formed. The challenge this year will be the ‘fair funding review’ which will be announced in the autumn and is anticipated to shed millions of pounds from the MSDC budget by adjusting the proportion of business rates retained. Key to the budget work will be protecting as many services as possible against this backdrop as we move on to the final years of this council.

At full council in September, we agreed (like all district and boroughs in West Sussex) to support the proposals from the local government re-organisation called B2. This would see 2 authorities in West Sussex – and ours would be a geography made up of mid Sussex, Crawley and Horsham council footprints. The submissions have all been made and we await the government sharing their timeline for change in the new year.

The 123 waste collection service starts from Monday 3rd November in hassocks with that being the first day food waste is collected. All residents will have had their new bins by then (certainly my new caddy and bin have arrived) and each week food waste is collected, each 2nd week the blue bin is collected and each 3rd week the black bin is collected. This process has been extensively trialled across the district for the past 3 years and has proved the most effective.

Also in September, cabinet approved the range of concessionary charge discounts for the rollout of village car parking, in response to feedback from residents and private meetings with parish councils. the plan sees the rollout of the village parking scheme in May 2026 or earlier depending on receipt of feedback from WSCC who are the key statutory consultee.

Details of all the proposed charges and concessions can be found in the cabinet papers here: https://midsussex.moderngov.co.uk/documents/s21854/Parking%20pdate%20Concessionary%20Charging%20Policy.pdf

Finally, the MSDC community grants scheme is open once more for applications from local organisations for grants up to £5,000. Details can be found on the councils’ website.