Hassocks Parish Council

Minutes

Minutes of the Meeting of the Parish Council held on 11 November 2025

Attendees: Parish Councillors Frances Gaudencio (Chair), Maria Angelaki-King, David Bunting,
Sue Hatton, Don McBeth, Peter Reime, Peter Richardson, Paul Shepherd and Ian Weir.

In Attendance: Elaine Langridge (Clerk & RFO), WSCC Cllr Erika Woodhurst-Trueman, Alistair Whitby (Ouse & Adur Rivers Trust)

MINUTES

PC25/89        APOLOGIES Cllrs Kristian Berggreen, Robert Brewer, Bill Hatton, Alex Simmons

Absent without apologies: Cllr Angus Neil, Cllr Lesley Cruickshank-Robb

PC25/90        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.

PC25/91        MINUTES The minutes of the Parish Council meeting held on 14 October 2025 were

accepted as a true and accurate record of the meeting

PC25/92        PUBLIC PARTICIPATION No members of the public were present.

PC25/93        TO ACCEPT THE FOLLOWING MINUTES

• Planning Committee – Members noted minutes of the meeting held on 20 October 2025
• Grounds & Environment Committee – Members noted minutes of the meeting held on 23 October 2025
• Policy, Resources & Communications Committee – Members noted minutes of the meeting held on 28 October 2025

PC25/94        RIPARIAN TOOLKIT

This item was moved forward on the agenda.

Cllr Richardson explained that he saw the Riparian Toolkit advertised in a WSCC circular, so he requested a copy and produced a summary to present this information with Councillors.  It consists of the following six documents:

• Riparian Responsibilities
• Riparian Toolkit Visual Guide
• Riparian Management Action Guidelines for Parish & Town Councils
• Ordinary Watercourse Inspection Checklist
• Ordinary Watercourse/Riparian Inspection Log
• Draft letter to Riparian Owner

Cllr Richardson explained that this is well-intentioned documentation providing an approach to ordinary watercourse management that relies on regular inspections at least quarterly and at times of heavy rainfall. Whilst it is easy to understand the aspiration, the toolkit does not provide details of who will carry out or pay for these inspections or subsequent remedial actions.

Although there is no diktat, the title of the management action guidelines implies that Parish Councils will undertake this work but West Sussex County Council is the Lead Local Flood Authority and has recently produced a Flood Risk Management Strategy.

Cllr Richardson shared two maps of Hassocks showing the main catchment areas and indicative locations of 30+ culverts, bridges and structures (Appendix 1). To view Appendix 1 please click here. There are six main streams in Hassocks, approx. 15km long, with 9km in the countryside and 6k in the built-up area. There are practical difficulties in physically accessing some of these sites, many are on private land and they are not all recorded.

It was suggested that inspections should focus on the urban areas where it would be best tried and quicken the flow by clearing debris and actions could be taken to slow the flow upstream such as the work in Lag Wood to create a natural balancing pond.

It was generally agreed that the Flood Action Group should be reconvened to debate this further, provide feedback to West Sussex County Council and report back to the Grounds & Environment Committee. Further information is needed regarding WSCC’s expectations, data collection and resources to support these activities.  The Flood Action Group consists of Councillors and community representatives who could work together to develop a local plan.  There is potential to involve volunteers but this will require ongoing co-ordination, training and insurance.

Alistair Whitby left the meeting.

PC25/95        REPORTS

PC25/95.1     Police Report – PCSO Nathaniel Wales who covers the Hassocks area was unable to attend in person but he sent the local statistics for 1 Oct – 1 November

2 Shoplifting

1 Stolen vehicle

1 Stolen purse

2 Criminal damage

7 Violent incidents (domestic incidents with no threat to the wider public)

1 Residential burglary

1 Other than dwelling burglary

2 ASB report

WSCC Cllr Erika Woodhurst-Trueman had spoken to the Police about the previous spike in sexual and violent offences and was assured that these were primarily from one address and not part of a trend.

PC25/95.2     West Sussex County Councillor – Cllr Erika Woodhurst-Trueman is a member of the Communities, Highways and Environment Scrutiny Committee and has recently been appointed to the Business Planning Scrutiny Group, Planning and Rights of Way Committee.

She informed members that she is proactively working with the HR Team as they have been unable to recruit a School Crossing Patrol person to date.

The Keymer Road drainage works have been delayed due to contractor problems, and they have been working around utilities and existing road closures, so they are likely to be carried forward into 2026.

Cllr Woodhurst-Trueman attended an interesting Locality Session with the Performance Insight and the Communities Team which provided a lot of information about local demographics, community safety and prevention work. She will be attending a Winter Readiness on the Highways meeting next week.

West Sussex County Council has invested £21.8m in a battery storage scheme in Halewick Lane, Sompting to deliver on the Energy Strategy decarbonisation programme. The County Council also recently published a report regarding the surplus declaration of four assets including two in Albourne.

The next full West Sussex County Council meeting will be on 12 December.

PC25/95.3     Mid Sussex District Councillor report – Cllr Sue Hatton provided a report on behalf of Cllr Chris Hobbs (Appendix 2). She also informed Councillors that Hassocks Parish has been selected by Mid Sussex District Council as a trial area for a ‘Parish Energy Plan’. They have commissioned Community Energy Pathways to run some initial workshops for Hassocks residents; the first one is scheduled for 26 November in the Adastra Hall Committee Room. The Clerk will circulate invitations to the event by email.

PC25/95.4     Rail and Public Transport Matters – Catherine Cassidy sent a copy of the minutes of the latest Rail Group meeting, held on 7 November which were summarised by the Clerk. They had reviewed the Railway 200 celebrations and were generally pleased with the event.  There have been some problems with train services which they are following up with the train operators. Also, issues with the subway and access to the east side of Hassocks Station. GTR will be nationalised on 31 May 2026. Cllr Bill Hatton attended the Rail Group meeting where they discussed installing a wooden memorial bench for Leslie Campbell on the downside of the station. He asked the Council to consider contributing and Cllr Sue Hatton agreed to find out more about the costs so the matter can be considered by the Grounds & Environment Committee.

PC25/95.5     Community Initiatives – none.

PC25/95.6     Report from Councillors on meetings of outside bodies where the Council is represented – As the Council’s representative on the Adastra Hall Management Committee, Cllr Sue Hatton provided a report on behalf of the Chair (Appendix 3).

Cllr Richardson reported that he had attended a meeting of the Downlands School Sports Hall Committee.  The feedback was positive regarding Freedom Leisure, bookings, finances and various development projects in the pipeline.

PC25/96        FINANCE – the Clerk explained that the Council is in a transitional period between accounts. Day to day expenditure is dealt with through the Unity current account, standing orders and direct debits are still paid through the Barclays current account.  Also, as we are now using online banking, we are able to produce reconciliation reports more promptly so on this occasion there are five financial reports that need approval.

Cllr Bunting queried the cost of the tennis courts jet wash of £3,420.  The Clerk explained that this was a necessary part of the maintenance programme and will need to be done at least annually but we will try and keep costs down in 2026/27.

PC25/96.1     Members APPROVED the payments lists totalling £2,481.64 for the period between 1 September 2025 and 30 September 2025 from the Barclays Current Account (2114).

PC25/96.2     Members APPROVED the payments lists totalling £22,743.30 for the period between 1 September 2025 and 30 September 2025 from the Unity Current Account (7654).

PC25/96.3     Members APPROVED the payments lists totalling £1,189.62 for the period between 1 October 2025 and 31 October 2025 from the Barclays Current Account (2114).

PC25/96.4     Members APPROVED the payments lists totalling £166,230.90 for the period between 1 October 2025 and 31 October 2025 from the Unity Current Account (7654).

PC25/96.5     Members APPROVED the payments lists totalling £150,025.00 for the period between 1 October 2025 and 31 October 2025 from the Barclays Premier Tracker (3548).

PC25/97        CHAIR’S REPORT – Cllr Gaudencio reminded Members that the Council has an adopted Communications Policy and Data Protection Policy.  The Clerk is the Data Controller for the Council and all videos and photos of civic events should be sent to the Clerk or Deputy Clerk for approval before wider circulation as it is important to comply with the policy framework to maintain high standards.

She went on to thank staff and Councillors involved in the Remembrance Sunday event, particularly Helen Valler who led on the organisation. Feedback from the contributors including the uniformed groups, the Greyhound Pub and Fr Alex was all very positive.  Cllr Gaudencio was honoured to lay a wreath. The Parish Council intends to take a lead on making Remembrance Sunday an annual community occurrence.

PC25/98        CLERK’S REPORT – the Clerk reported that she had received an email from the Assistant Area Highways Manager regarding the recent flooding in the village centre. She advised that Mid Sussex District Council is scheduled to carry out mechanical sweeping in Keymer Road twice weekly at this time of year.  Serco’s large sweeper was also deployed twice in October and a manual cleanse has been completed.  Looking ahead, the District and County Councils are consulting on a joint annual proactive maintenance plan to address recurring surface water issues on Keymer Road.

PC25/98.1     Donations – donations have been paid to the Woodland Flora & Fauna (£600), the Monday Group (£750) and Royal British Legion Ditchling Branch (£50).

PC25/98.2     Network Meetings

• Police and Crime Commissioners Parish Feedback session (31 October) – the meeting was attended by five parish councils, the CEO of West Sussex Association of Local Councils and representatives of the PCC Office. Attendees shared experiences of local policing and common issues such as Anti-Social Behaviour.  The PCC reported that burglary is 15% down in Mid Sussex.
• SLCC Sussex Branch meeting (21 October) – Jane Olds made a presentation on the ‘Principles of Internal Auditing for Local Councils’. Towns and Parishes were encouraged to write to their MP’s regarding the reintroduction of standards regarding the harassment and bullying of Clerks which is unfortunately a common problem and the Clerk agreed to draft a letter supporting reintroduction of standards.
• MSDC Parish, Town and District Liaison meeting (16 October) – there was discussion regarding Local Government Re-organisation and Devolution, the Planning Interim Position Statements, S106 Funding for community infrastructure and the introduction of the 1-2-3 Simply Recycling programme. The Village parking public consultation is due to go ahead in February 2026.

PC25/98.3     Budget Setting – it was agreed that the budget proposals will be presented to the Policy, Resources and Communications Committee on 16 December for discussion and to full Council on 13 January 2026 for approval.

PC25/99        URGENT MATTERS AT THE DISCRETION OF THE CHAIR – None

PC25/100      DATE OF NEXT MEETING Tuesday 9 December 2025.

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APPENDIX 2

PC25/95.3  Mid Sussex District Councillor Report

Last week saw the start of food waste collections across the whole of our district on the 1-2-3 service that Mid Sussex has been trialling since 2022. This is part of the government’s “Simpler Recycling” initiative that will see weekly separated food waste collected from every residential property by March 2026; Mid Sussex is the first of the West Sussex Councils to fully launch this service and represents the first major change to collections in 19 years. Clearly there were some issues with some houses not receiving their food caddies prior to the launch of the service, and changes in collection days. Clearly the work of delivering caddies was contracted out and by the end of last week, 98% of all households had them. Areas such as Kingsland Gate didn’t receive their bins for launch but had them by Friday. 30 new staff have been employed for the collections and, of course new rounds take a little time to bed in. What we must do is focus on the positives and it is exceptional to read that our counts suggest that over 100 tonnes of food waste was collected last week, with a 70% participation rate. I would suggest that communities such as Hassocks had higher participation; my own experience was despite a move from Monday to Wednesday collections (around 10% of bins were out on Monday) on Wednesday, I didn’t notice in Grand Avenue any houses without their bins out on Wednesday. Of course, compliance and engagement will only increase as people get used to the idea.

You will be aware that the District Plan had ground to a halt after the inspector was minded to reject the MSDC plan on the basis of Failure to Comply with our neighbours to meet their housing needs. This leaves the district exposed to spurious development if we cannot demonstrate that we have a plan; and most recently the planning members have rejected substantial applications (that are not in the plan) in Haywards Heath, and also between Cuckfield and Ansty but which will no doubt be subject of appeal. The good news is that the inspector has now agreed to revisit us in January, and the district plan inspection will re-open again. Dates are currently being finalised.

On Monday next week, Cabinet will meet to discuss, amongst other things, Cabinet Grant awards. Each year the council awards £100,000 in grants up to £5,000 for organisations who meet our criteria. It is disappointing to note that in this round, there are no applicants from Hassocks. Perhaps there is no requirement for grant funding? Perhaps organisations are not aware of their ability to claim grants? I would urge people to make use of these funds for the benefit of our community.

Cllr Chris Hobbs – Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Leisure & Customer Services

Ward Councillor, Hassocks

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APPENDIX 3

2025 is going to be our busiest year for bookings ever. We have (so far….) 1311 events booked for the year, and our turnover is up 35% year on year. Financially, we will continue to invest in the hall itself whilst building our reserves which remain depleted following all our building work.

Since the hall re-opened we have spent £8,400 on 20 new tables for the main hall. These are the much-easier-to-move wheeled type, and they “nest” meaning that they don’t have to be lifted. We have retired to other village halls 20 of our larger, older tables. We have also spent £3000 on a new concrete surface fire escape path running parallel to Orchard Lane which will be easier to keep clean of leaves and whilst it’s a shame to have to spend so much on something we hope to never use, that’s life.

During December we will complete our 5-year full EHCR electrical test and redecorate some areas of the Green Room. Finally, we have invested in some new Christmas trees and decorations for the hall, which we will be putting up later this month as well as outside coloured lights which will be permanently installed. The plan is that these will be used throughout the year for marking different occasions – for example in September the hall will be bathed in Yellow for Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, Red, White and Blue for royal occasions, etc.

Chris Hobbs – Chair, Hassocks Community Association

Chair, Adastra Hall Hassocks Community Association CIO