Policy, Resources & Communications

Agenda

HASSOCKS PARISH COUNCIL

To:      All Members of the Policy Resources & Communications Committee: Paul Shepherd (Chair), Ian Weir (Vice-Chair), Maria Angelaki-King, Lesley Cruickshank-Robb,
Frances Gaudencio, Don McBeth with copies to all other Councillors for information.

A meeting of the POLICY RESOURCES & COMMUNICATIONS COMMITTEE on Tuesday 28 April 2026 at 7.30pm in the Council Chamber, Parish Centre, Adastra Park, Hassocks

Parish Clerk 22 April 2026

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.

1. TO ACCEPT APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

2. TO ACCEPT DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

3. MINUTES. To accept the Minutes of the Policy Resources & Communications Committee held on 17 March 2026. (Previously Circulated).

4. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION

5. COMMUNICATIONS (Verbal update).

6. STAFFING (Verbal update).

7. BUDGET MONITORING– the agreed budget provides a basis for monitoring progress during the year by comparing actual spending and income against what was planned. Members are asked to review the budget monitoring fourth quarter report for the period 1 April 2025 – 31 March 2026 to check on the outturn for the financial year. (Appendix 1). Please click here to view Appendix 1.

8. FINANCIAL SCRUTINY– Members are asked to note that on 7 Apr 2026 Cllrs Shepherd and Angelaki-King reviewed the financial paperwork for the period Jan-Mar 2026, in accordance with the Bank Verification Procedures.

9. DEVELOPER CONTRIBUTIONS –Members are asked to note the information regarding the allocation of Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) and S106 allocations to support infrastructure projects in Hassocks (Appendix 2). Please click here to view Appendix 2.

10. RISK MANAGEMENT – Members are asked to consider the report and updated Risk Register (Appendix 3) to ensure they are satisfied with the Council’s risk management approach. Please click here to view Appendix 3.

Members are asked to review the draft Risk Register and RECOMMEND it to Council for approval

11. INVESTMENT ACCOUNTS – At Full Council on 10 February 2026, the Clerk/RFO was authorised to open three Fixed Term Deposit Accounts with Virgin Money, Natwest and Lloyds Bank and an investment account with CCLA. New accounts have now been opened with Virgin Money and the CCLA Public Sector Deposit Fund (PSDF). An application to Natwest Bank was withdrawn as it would require two signatories, to attend in person in branch (Haywards Heath), to withdraw funds. A pending application has been submitted to Lloyds Bank for two Fixed Term Deposit Accounts. Lloyds Banking Group has two Banking Licences, one under Lloyds and a second under Bank of Scotland so the Council would be covered twice under the Financial Services Compensation Scheme limit. In accordance with Financial Regulation 6.8iv, the Clerk/RFO needs authorisation to make fund transfers of over £30,000, therefore:

Members are requested to AUTHORISE the Clerk to make two fund transfers of

• £120,000 from the Barclays Tracker Account (3548) to the CCLA PDSF Account (5479) and
• £120,000 from the Barclays Tracker Account (3548) to the Virgin Money Fixed Term Deposit Account (9240).

12. INTERNAL AUDIT QUOTATION – in accordance with the Council’s Financial Regulations an internal auditor must be appointed to evaluate risk management, control and governance processes in accordance with the Practioners’ Guide. The internal auditor must be competent and independent of the financial operations of the Council. The current contract for services has expired and the Council is invited to renew for a further three financial years 2026/27, 2027/28, 2028/29 (Appendix 4). Provision has been made in the 2026/2027 budget to pay for any costs incurred in respect of the internal audit. A benchmarking exercise has found that the costs are comparable or better than similar specialist accountancy firms. Please click here to view Appendix 4.

Members and are asked to APPROVE the re-appointment of Mulberry Local Authority Servies Ltd as the internal auditor for a three-year engagement period (2026-29).

13. URGENT MATTERS at the discretion of the Chair for noting and/or inclusion on a future agenda.

14. DATE OF NEXT MEETING – to be agreed

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

HASSOCKS PARISH COUNCIL

Draft Minutes of the meeting of the Policy Resources & Communications Committee held on 28 April 2026 at 7.30pm in Parish Centre, Adastra Park, Hassocks.

Attendees: Parish Councillors Paul Shepherd, Frances Gaudencio, Don McBeth, Maria Angelaki-King, Lesley Cruickshank-Robb, Ian Weir

In Attendance: Elaine Langridge (Clerk & RFO), Cllr David Bunting

MINUTES

PRC25/97    APOLOGIES – None

PRC25/98    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.

PRC25/99    MINUTES

The minutes of the meeting held on 17 March 2026 were accepted as a true and accurate record of the meeting.

PRC25/100 PUBLIC PARTICIPATION

No members of the public were present.

PRC25/101  COMMUNICATIONS

The Clerk shared details of the Twinning Gift to be presented to the German and French visitors.  It is a framed and mounted collage of photographs of Hassocks produced by Dinah Beaton, measuring 51 x 48cm. The cost is £185 and she has given permission for the Parish Council to use the image for publicity purposes, with a credit as appropriate.

Alastair Lichten told Members that he is working with the Deputy Clerk to prepare for the Annual Parish meeting which will be publicised on Facebook and the Council website.

He will also receive a handover from the Deputy Clerk regarding the Remembrance Sunday event and will apply for the road closures in due course.

The copy deadline for the July issue of Hassocks Life is 16 June so this can be considered at the next meeting.  Alastair anticipates items on the Annual Parish Meeting, the Twinning Association activities and the Tennis Open Day.  Members are invited to send in ideas for any other articles.

PRC25/102  STAFFING

Councillors welcomed Alastair Lichten, the Council’s new Community Engagement Officer.  Cllrs Gaudencio and Shepherd had carried out the Clerk’s 12-month appraisal.  The Clerk completed a Self-Assessment form and Committee Chair’s provided feedback as part of the process.  They have changed the appraisal system and will be producing guidance to keep on file for future years.  It was a positive assessment, and details will be retained in the HR files.

PRC25/103  BUDGET MONITORING

Members found the variance column of report confusing, as it showed a negative figure in the income line when it was over budget, and asked that the format be amended for future reports. They also asked the Clerk to add a note when a budget line has been funded through Earmarked Reserves. The Clerk responded to a query regarding Operation Watershed to explain that the costs were funded through a grant from WSCC which is shown in the Environmental Improvements / Misc. Income budget line. The Clerk reported that the Original Budget resulted in a surplus of £25,602, the Actual Year to Date resulted in a deficit of £2,072 but this was offset by transfers from Earmarked Reserves so the Net Income over Expenditure shows an overall profit in the year of £42,874, to be transferred to the General Reserve.

PRC25/104  FINANCIAL SCRUTINY

On 7 April, Cllrs Shepherd and Angelaki-King visited the Parish Office to review three months of bank statements and cross-referenced direct debits, invoice payments and staff costs with the supporting paperwork.  They found no anomalies and were satisfied with book-keeping arrangements.  They noted that the filing system will be improved in the current financial year to make paperwork easier to find.

PRC25/105  DEVELOPER CONTRIBUTIONS

Members noted that there is over £2m available in total in the Parish.

The items listed under the SDNPA are projects identified in the Infrastructure Business Plan, as a result of previous consultations, but they have not been costed so the amount of CIL available is To Be Determined (TBD). It will be necessary for an organisation to come forward to develop these projects and bid for funds.  The Clerk explained that bids can be submitted annually in March but CIL can only be used for capital infrastructure projects, not activities.  It is unclear if vehicles would be considered eligible for funding.  Councillors were interested in exploring potential project funding around health care improvements and village centre enhancements with community partners.  The Parish Council submitted a bid for funding to improve the Cinder Path in March 2026.

The WSCC S106 is only available for PROW 8C and at present there is no requirement to upgrade this path.  The Parish Council has asked if these funds could be reallocated to another footpath but this is legally complicated and unlikely to be achieved.

£917k in S106 held by MSDC is provisionally allocated to the delivery of the London Road Rec masterplan, subject to further public consultation. The original consultation included the pavilion and there are Community Buildings funds available, but it is not clear if this will be included in the programme.  If the improvement works continue to be delayed, the Parish Council could consider approaching the District Council to discuss leading on the project, but this would be unrealistic in terms of capacity and workload at present.

Cllr Weir asked the Clerk to investigate the potential of working with the management company to provide a kickabout pitch on an area of bunded land south of the Clayton Mills development.

It was noted that there is £16k available for play equipment in Adastra Park. Also, S106 funding has been allocated toward new or improved public toilets in Adastra Park (£200k) and a sports pavilion extension or improvements (£200k).  MSDC has also committed £2,440 toward the installation of seven new dog waste bins and there are funds remaining so the Parish Council could submit another bid for more at a later date.  There are S106 funds available for Clayton Green Rec car park and the District Council is looking into transferring these funds toward the project to surface PROW 21K.  Cllr Weir mentioned that residents in Clayton would also like a path from the new gate to the car park.  As the site is owned and managed by MSDC this would have to be funded through their revenue budget, rather than S106.  There is also a small amount of S106 funding (£1,500) available for improvements at Parklands Copse playground. There is only a limited amount of unallocated funding remaining and this will be committed to viable projects on a first come, first served basis by MSDC.

PRC25/106  RISK MANAGEMENT

The Clerk advised that the draft Risk Register is in a different format to the previous one, which was approved in 2024, and is based on the Smaller Authorities Proper Practises template. The level of risk is graded High, Medium or Low using the matrix and assessed by likelihood and impact. The Clerk explained that Ongoing Actions were routine occurrences rather than one-off requirements.  Members noted that all of the High risk items were transferred through insurance. With regard to Document Control the Clerk stated that the Council has an adopted Document Retention Policy and is currently archiving all of the paper files.  Signed copies of minutes will be retained and sent to the WSCC Archive along with some other historical documentation.  A small typo was found on page 5 (‘within’) and after this has been corrected Members were content to RECOMMEND the Risk Register to Council for approval.

PRC25/107  INVESTMENT ACCOUNTS

The Clerk advised Members that two investment accounts have been opened to date with CCLA PDSF and Virgin Money and she is in the process of opening two more accounts with Lloyds Bank and the Bank of Scotland.

Members RESOLVED to AUTHORISE the Clerk/RFO to make two bank transfers of £120,000 each to the CCLA PDSF Account (5479) and the Virgin Fixed Term Deposit Account (9240).

PRC25/108  INTERNAL AUDIT QUOTATION

The Clerk advised that Mulberrys had provided a good service at very reasonable hourly rates, and she would recommend that the Council renew the contract for a further three years.

Members RESOLVED to APPROVE the re-appointment of Mulberry Local Authority Services Ltd as the internal auditor for a three-year period (2026-29).

PRC25/109  URGENT MATTERS AT THE DISCRETION OF THE CHAIRMAN – None

PRC25/110  DATE OF NEXT MEETING Tuesday 2 June 2026 (provisional date).