Hassocks Parish Council

Minutes

Minutes of the virtual meeting of the Parish Council held on 9th February 2021 at 7.30pm.

Attendees: Parish Councillors Ian Weir (Chair), Jane Baker, Sue Hatton, Kristian Berggreen, Frank Rylance, Frances Gaudencio, Bob Brewer, Claire Tester, Leslie Campbell, Bill Hatton and Nick Owens.

Parish Clerk: Ian Cumberworth

Visiting Member(s): County Councillor Kirsty Lord

MINUTES

PC20/96          APOLOGIES   Cllrs Alex Simmons, Kate Bailey

PC20/97          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

PC20/98          MINUTES

The minutes of the meeting held on the 12th January 2021 were accepted as a true and accurate record of the meeting.

PC20/99          PUBLIC PARTICIPATION

There were no Members of the public present.

PC20/100        MINUTES

To agree the Minutes of the Planning Committee 11th January 2021.

To note the minutes of the Policy Resources & Communications Committee for the 19th January 2021.

As the minutes for Planning Committee 1st February 2021 and Grounds & Environment Committee 28th January 2021 had not yet been circulated to Members consideration of these will be held over to the next Council meeting in March.

PC20/101        FINANCE

Members considered the finance reports and the supporting bank statements and reviewed the payment list. The Finance report and payments totalling £15,381.26 for the period ending 31St December 2020 were considered and APPROVED.

PC20/102   Co-opting onto the Council – Members were advised that the Council currently had one vacancy which the council is able to co-opt into. A vacancy notice had been published and attracted two residents indicating an interest in joining the council. Members will be invited to consider the candidates this evening and invited to vote on a candidate to be co-opted onto the Council.

The Clerk indicated that each candidate Carolyn Barton and Phil McGuiness will be invited to make a short presentation to members setting out why they would like to join the council together with details of any specific initiatives/interests they may have within the village.

Members and candidates were informed that as this was a virtual meeting it was proposed that each candidate will be placed in the waiting room whilst each is invited to speak and take any question from members, following which both candidates will then be placed in the virtual waiting room whilst members are invited to vote.

Candidates will then be brought back into the meeting where they will be informed of     the outcome of the vote, then the Clerk will arrange to complete the procedural paperwork and issue the necessary induction pack to complete the appointment.

The Chair (Cllr Weir) indicated that he would consider each candidate alphabetically therefore Phil McGuiness was placed in the waiting room and Carolyn Barton invited to set out to members why she wished to become a member, what skillset she could bring together with any specific areas of interest within the parish.

Carolyn provided a broad overview of her business background and association with Hassocks over many years and particular areas of interest she would be interested in becoming involved in with the Council.

Members were then invited to ask Carolyn a range of questions to seek a further understanding which she duly responded to. One area of particular interest from Carolyn related to Communication and how the Council could raise its profile further of all the work it delivers within the parish.

Members thanked Carolyn and requested that she be placed into the virtual waiting room and invite Phil McGuiness back into the meeting.

The Chair then invited Phil McGuiness to introduce himself. Phil went onto provide an overview of his business background and association with Hassocks and indicated that he was now semi-retired and would now very much like to give back some of his time to the community.

Phil indicated that he had many interests and used a number of the Parish services personally and very much appreciated them. He has a particular interest in the tennis club in Adastra Park and sees a great opportunity for the parish to promote health and wellbeing for the slightly older generation within the village.

Members sought clarification and raised a number of questions which Phil responded to. Members thanked Phil for his presentation and he was then placed in the virtual waiting room whilst members considered the candidates.

Members acknowledged that the Council had received two strong candidates and it would be difficult to make a choice. Cllr Weir then invited each member to express a view on the respective candidates. Members expressed the view that each candidate could bring different strengths to the Council and either candidate would make an excellent member.

Members discussed the process being followed in that one individual will be brought back into the room and be unsuccessful however on balance it was felt appropriate and that this process had been successful previously and did not put off the unsuccessful candidates from reapplying to join the Council at a later point. Members therefore concluded the vote and invited the candidates back into the virtual meeting.

Cllr Weir welcomed the candidates back and thanked them for two excellent presentations and confirmed that it had been a very difficult and close-run choice, however based on the vote the Council RESOLVED to Co-opt Carolyn Barton onto the Council which she duly accepted. The Clerk confirmed that he would be in contact post meeting to conclude the necessary paperwork.

Cllr Weir re-iterated that it had been a very difficult and close decision and hoped that it would not discourage Phil McGuiness from expressing an interest in the event of another vacancy arising. Phil indicated that it would not and thanked members for their time.

At this point Phil McGuiness left the meeting and Carolyn Barton remained.

PC20/103        Reports

103.1      District Councillors reports: – Cllr Sue Hatton (SH) advised members that MSDC are due to start a review of the District Plan and as part of this currently called for sites which will run from 7th January to 19th February.

In addition MSDC are going through a process of Electoral review where the Council is looking to reduce the number of elected members from 54 to 48. The Parish Clerk and the Chair are due to attend a briefing session with MSDC later this week. It is understood that the baseline property figure will use property numbers up to 2027 therefore for Hassocks this would probably only reflect 275 properties for the Clayton Mill site as the remainder will be built after 2027. MSDC had commissioned a consultant to undertake a governance review alongside the initial review being undertaken by the electoral commission but due to delays the findings from this review will be considered later on in the review process.

Some positive news on the Air Quality readings at Stone pound crossroads with the reading now below 40. This data will be published therefore anyone interested can review the data further. In addition, the data will be subject to review by DEFRA.

Cllr S Hatton informed members that the vaccination site at Clair Hall was working well. Some people had indicated that they were receiving mixed communication messages from different sources whether it be from the hubs or GP’s. This issue has been formally raised and efforts are to be made to improve communication channels.

Members discussed their personal experiences of the vaccination arrangements to date and although a number of members have attended different vaccination sites all expressed how well the sites had been run.

103.2   County Councillor – Cllr Lord confirmed that County would be considering its Budget on Friday 12th February.

At a recent Climate Change Working Group it was agreed that more work was required regarding Electrical vehicle charging points across the County.

The tree that was on the bank of Spitalfield bridge that came down in the recent bad weather, although cleared by WSCC was the responsibility of the landowner which was a property management company based in London. County initially cleared the debris from the pavement and road but the remainder should have been cleared by the property company.

As a result of the recent flooding at Beaconhurst the drains have been jetted and cleared again and further investigation is being carried out with the use of cameras. It is understood cameras are also to be used, for further investigation, at Parklands/Keymer Road and the Railway Bridge where the water pools.

Mill Lane has continued to cause issues re access with vehicles parking in passing places. The police have now installed signage – access only and indicated they may use Covid powers temporarily to ensure the road remains clear.

KL is currently in discussion with Richard Speller (WSCC) re possibility of a potential crossing point near Adastra Park together with exploring a number of safety initiatives for cyclists.

The cycling route Sayers Common to Downlands is likely to progress to the detailed design phase.

103.3   Rail matters –  Members were advised that in January there were 235 train cancellations of which 180 were cancelled outright and 55 ran but failed to stop at Hassocks.

103.4   Youth Initiatives – Cllr Gaudencio informed Members that in her role as part Hassocks Youth Project (not as a Councillor) she had recently held a meeting with the youth club who indicated they were keen to run various online sessions. The content of which were to be informed from the recent consultation undertaken by (FG) with Windmills and Downlands School but as of now this has not been realised.

Cllr Gaudencio in her role as Councillor expressed a view that in light of the Parish Council funding the youth club earlier in the year it would be appropriate to ascertain how these funds have been utilised to date. The Clerk agreed to follow this matter up.

103.5   Police matters – nothing to report.

103.6   Report from Councillors on meetings of outside bodies where the Council is represented – Cllr Ian Weir indicated that he recently attended a meeting held by MSALC to consider the ongoing study being undertaken by West Sussex Association of Local Councils (WSALC) into SSALC (Surrey & Sussex Association of Local Councils) which is the subject of a later item on the agenda. Both the Chair and the Clerk had been interviewed as part of this study which appears to have created a lot of bad feeling amongst West Sussex parish and town councils.

In addition, MSALC indicated they propose to take up the issue of MSDC failure /reluctance to adopt the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL)

PC20/104        CHAIRMANS REPORT –

The Chair (IW) informed members that he had previously circulated the notification received from Nationwide Building Society advising the Council of its intention to close the branches in Hassocks and Hurstpierpoint. The building society represents the last financial institution in the village. Member’s views were sought as to whether the Council should write to the society setting out its concerns and the impact it would have on the community, Members were in agreement that the Council should write on behalf of the parish.

It was then brought to member’s attention that a parish councillor (not present at the meeting this evening) had already without the knowledge of other members signed a letter together with a county councillor (non-Hassocks representative) and the MP which had been posted up on social media.

Members agreed that the Council should write to the nationwide setting out its formal objection to the proposed closures together with making representation to the Communities Secretary. Members agreed that the detail would be undertaken by the Chair in conjunction with the Clerk.

PC20/105        CLERK’S REPORT –

105.1 The Clerk introduced the item on the Surrey Sussex Association of Local Councils (SSALC) Appendix 2 setting out some background structure of the association which provides a range of governance services to parish councils. A number of members may well have had first-hand experience of the services as they have previously provided training and recruitment support to the Council.

Members were advised that in the summer of 2019 SSALC agreed to undertake a value for money review (VFM) of its services which was approved by the SSALC board (Surrey, East Sussex and West Sussex boards)

This piece of work commenced but ceased when the pandemic struck in March 2020.

In June 2020 West Sussex Association of Local Councils (WSALC) announced they were to undertake their own separate VFM study and commission a Professor Copus to undertake the review.

The Clerk advised that both he and Cllr Weir had been selected at random to be interviewed by Professor Copus as part of the review.

This study appears to have been commissioned without consultation with the West Sussex member parish councils which includes Hassocks.

This review has created significant disquiet amongst member authorities who have struggled to obtain definitive clarification as to the basis and rationale of this review, such that a number of organisations are threatening to leave WSALC.

The outcome of the review is that WSALC subject to member’s approval are proposing that they join with Hampshire to obtain services and break away from SSALC (Sussex association) the effect of this would be that SSALC would no longer exist.

At present no detailed information has been provided on the proposed offer and even though WSALC are supposed to represent the West Sussex parishes they have been reluctant to share information with the membership, to the point where they even sought legal advice to block disclosure of information – claiming legal privilege/commercial sensitivity.

WSALC AGM is scheduled for 25th February 2021 however the membership have requested 3 special resolutions to be considered and some ordinary resolutions.

At the time of this Council meeting, they were as follows but maybe subject to amendment:

1. The parish councils of West Sussex instruct the directors of WSALC as a special resolution not to purchase governance services from the Hampshire association of local councils.

2. The parish councils of West Sussex instruct the directors of WSALC as a special resolution to work with the East Sussex association of local councils to re-establish a Sussex association and to receive joint governance arrangements through a single service.

3. The parish councils of West Sussex instruct the directors of WSALC as a special resolution to appoint a new chairman and vice chairman of WSALC.

The following Ordinary resolutions – per the companies’ act 2006 are also on the agenda and these will need to be voted and passed by 50% of the membership present at the meeting and entitled to vote.

1. that the chairman and vice chairman of WSALC resign with immediate effect.

2. that the remaining directors of WSALC confirm that they will operate to meet the company objectives set out in the memorandum and articles of association.

3. that the remaining directors of WSALC confirm that they will establish an open and transparent dialog with parish councils in West Sussex to effectively understand and meet their needs.

4. that the remaining directors of WSALC work constructively with SSALC on its current value for money exercise and establish a clear and constructive framework for moving forward.

Members were requested to formally nominate Hassocks Parish Council representatives able to attend the said meeting and consider their views on the options.

Members discussed the benefits of SSALC and acknowledged the value provided   and the support previously provided to the Council. The consensus was that Members would be against the move over to services provided by Hampshire and would wish to retain a Sussex association and support the motions to retain the current structure.

If WSALC pursues the intention to move over to taking services from Hampshire the authority will consider serving notice to cease its affiliation to WSALC.

Members RESOLVED to APPROVE Cllr Ian Weir and Cllr Kristian Berggreen as the Councils designated representatives and to vote at the forthcoming meetings representing Hassocks Parish Councils views.

PC20/106        URGENT MATTERS AT THE DISCRETION OF THE CHAIRMAN – None

PC20/107        DATE OF NEXT MEETING

To note that the date of the next Council meeting is Tuesday 9th March 2021 at 7.30pm.