Policy, Resources & Communications Committee

Agenda

HASSOCKS PARISH COUNCIL

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

A meeting of the POLICY RESOURCES & COMMUNICATIONS COMMITTEE on Tuesday 29 September 2026 at 7.30pm in the Council Chamber, Parish Centre, Adastra Park, Hassocks

Parish Clerk 23 September 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. To accept the Minutes of the Policy Resources & Communications Committee held on 21 July 2026. (Previously Circulated).

4. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION

5. COMMUNICATIONS (Appendix 1)

6. Financial regulations – the Council’s Financial Regulations were approved in July 2025. In accordance with Standing Orders the Council is required to regularly review them and a revised draft is presented for consideration (Appendix 2).  To view Appendix 2 please click here. There are a number of minor amendments and a key change in relation to section 5 Procurement, as summarised in the table at para 5.22. This section has been updated to be less prescriptive with regard to expenditure under £3,000, the threshold for expenditure needing Council approval has been reduced from £5,000 to £3,000, and the Council will be required to seek formal tenders for expenditure over £25,000 but can be more flexible in its approach. Members are asked to review the draft Financial Regulations and RECOMMEND them to Council for approval.

7. BUSINESS PLAN – the Committee Chair’s met on 8 September to review the Council’s business plan, and an updated version is attached (Appendix 3). To view Appendix 3 please click here.

8. Safeguarding Policy – the Council’s current Safeguarding Policy was approved in April 2022 and is due for review. Members are requested to review the updated Safeguarding Policy (Appendix 4) and RECOMMEND it to Council for approval. To view Appendix 4 please click here.

9. EQUALITY & DIVERSITY Policy – the Council’s current Equality & Diversity Policy was approved in July 2023 and is due for review. Members are requested to review the updated Equality & Diversity Policy (Appendix 5), based on a NALC Model Template, and RECOMMEND it to Council for approval. To view Appendix 5 please click here.

10. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE – the Venice Pledge model document was developed by the Society of Local Council Clerks (SLCC) to support the consistent, ethical, and informed use of artificial intelligence (AI) in town and parish council settings. Members are asked to review the draft pledge (Appendix 6) and RECOMMEND it to Council for adoption. To view Appendix 6 please click here.

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

12. DATE OF NEXT MEETING – 3 November 2026

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.

Appendix 1

HASSOCKS PARISH COUNCIL

Committee Meeting:  Policy, Resources & Communications

Report of:  Community Engagement Officer

Date:  29 September 2026

Subject:  Council Communications – Agenda Item 5

 1.  Context

Communications policy: ‘Staff should monitor and regularly report to the Policy, Resources & Communications Committee on the effectiveness of Council communications.’

Communications strategy: ‘For each meeting of the PR&C, the Community Engagement Officer will prepare an update on’ the following:

2.  Facebook

I’ve focussed on building up a library of reusable content and finding the best format for meetings announcements – both of which will reduce time needed for creating new content in future, while raising quality. There have also been lots of community interest posts, as well as updates on projects and consultations.

Posting at above our intended average level has been helpful in building up empirical evidence of what works. For example, posts with emojis have received 62% more views than those without. Posts about Council meetings, agendas & minutes have been our poorest performing (31% posts generating just 8% of views) – but we are improving this by providing more context/summary.

3.  Website

We are currently not able to track our website visitors in depth and cannot download statistics for different periods with our current free subscription to Monster Insights. We could upgrade if we decide this is a priority.

We can see over the last 30 days (22 August – 20 September):

• 4K ‘Engaged sessions’ (out of 4.2K total sessions)
• The top pages were:
• Home page (1.2K sessions)
• Consultation on proposed parking and traffic changes around Keymer Road (387 sessions)
• Planning Committee – Hassocks Parish Council (356)

4.  News stories

• Parish Council to take over modernisation and maintenance of Adastra Park Toilets
• Consultation on proposed parking and traffic changes around Keymer Road
• Consultation on the future of Adastra Park
• Six community grants awarded to help Hassocks groups make a difference

5.  Ebulletin

• ‘Subscribers and total emails opened’ – N/A we have not yet implemented the Ebulletin system.
• We have an interim subscriber page set up, but are not promoting it, and have had 37 people in consultations say they want to opt into the Ebulletin.

6.  Noticeboards and existing publications

N/A

7.  New publications

N/A

8.  Hassocks Life

There was no feedback on our article in the September edition of Hassocks Life.

Their copy deadline for our article in the November issue of Hassocks Life is Tuesday 20 October. This will include:

• Our Remembrance Sunday event
• Community Grants
• Adastra Park toilets update
• Possibly a piece on the Monday Group
• Looking ahead to Light Up Hassocks and our new streetlights

9.  Local press enquiries or mentions

I have continued to share a weekly roundup of Hassocks| Hassocks Council | Hassocks Parish search results and Facebook monitoring with PR&C members – though new newsworthy items are limited – through which any media mentions will be identified.

10.  Council events

• We had no public events in this period. Significant work has been done by Louise Coles in organising our Remembrance Sunday event (poster), and I have provided communications support.
• Although not our event, we actively promoted the 4 August MSDC Play Day in Adastra Park where 444 people took part, including 207 under 8s, 58 over 8s and 179 adults.

11.  Council consultations or surveys

• There were 10 responses to our Adastra Park stakeholder survey – analysis of the results was provided to David Bunting. We subsequently had 9 attendees (representing 6 groups/organisations) attending our focus group meeting in the Pavilion.
• There were 58 responses to our TRO consultation – analysis of the results was provided to the Highways & Transport Working Group. The responses to the proposals were overwhelmingly positive, but around 1 in 5 were opposed to the double yellow lines near Adastra Park aspect of the proposal.
• Although not our consultation we provided significant publicity for the MSDC consultation on Adastra Park. They had at least 120 responses and it sounds like this was much better than they were expecting. They should be providing us with a report by the end of the month.

12.  Communications related to specific projects or activities

Since my report to the July meeting of PR&C, I have begun to implement the agreed communications strategy, including project work on:

• Website/rebranding project including our transition to Canva from MS Publisher (now discontinued) including interim template documents.
• AI policy meeting
• Noticeboards research

13.  Engagement with community groups:

• Meeting with Greener Hassocks and Ditchling. Discussed potential for collaboration on future Community Energy Pathway scheme. This could involve hosting and promoting a fully funded scheme to train local people and encourage energy saving initiatives.
• Meeting with Hassocks Community Organisation
• Facebook follower audit – ensuring we are following all relevant local community groups and stakeholders and tagging them in any relevant Facebook posts.

Minutes

HASSOCKS PARISH COUNCIL

Draft Minutes of the meeting of the Policy Resources & Communications Committee held on 29 September 2026 at 7.30pm in Parish Centre, Adastra Park, Hassocks.

Attendees: Parish Councillors Frances Gaudencio, Paul Shepherd, Don McBeth, David Bunting

In Attendance: Elaine Langridge (Clerk & RFO), Alastair Lichten (Community Engagement Officer)

MINUTES

PRC26/26    APOLOGIES – Cllrs Lesley Cruickshank-Robb, Maria Angelaki-King, Ian Weir

PRC26/27    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.

PRC26/28    MINUTES

The minutes of the previous meeting held on 22 July 2026 were accepted as a true and accurate record of the meeting.

PRC26/29    PUBLIC PARTICIPATION

No members of the public were present.

PRC26/30    COMMUNICATIONS

• The Community Engagement Officer provided a report to update Councillors on progress relating to the Communications Strategy. The primary objective of our communications is to promote the work of the Parish Council. Councillors suggested that a six-monthly review of the effectiveness Communications Strategy would be useful.
• He reported that there has been an uptick in Councillors Liking and Sharing posts on Facebook which helps share the news, he has been building a library of reuseable content, Facebook views and followers have increased. Facebook is the only platform the Council is using at present.
• The subjects for the next Hassocks Life article were agreed. Details of Council funded PROW improvements to be published in a Winter edition.
• It was suggested that some future communications regarding the responsibilities of the different layers of local Government would be helpful. Also, articles relating to changes to the NPPF and the needs of older people in Hassocks. Future news stories regarding the outcome of the Community Grants are also planned.
• The council is not currently issuing an e-bulletin but this will be added to the updated website in due course.
• There was a discussion about the need to engage the residents of the new housing estates. The Officer explained that he has produced a general information poster about the Council and aims to display it on community and public noticeboards where possible.

PRC26/31    FINANCIAL REGULATIONS

The Clerk drew Cllrs attention to para 4.10, which has been revised to include ‘or relevant committee.’ The change is intended to allow committees to draw on earmarked reserves for small scale projects costing under £3k, without having to refer to Council for approval.

She also highlighted the changes to the table at para 5.22 which requires three estimates for expenditure up to £3k (reduced from £5k) and three fixed price quotes from £3k-£25k (reduced from £75k). All expenditure over £3k must be approved by Council and for expenditure over £25k a brief should be drawn up and tenders sought but it is no longer compulsory to go out to public tender unless there is a statutory requirement (above the Procurement Act 2023 threshold). For expenditure under £25k there is some discretion to allow the Council to use specialist or regular suppliers without seeking comparative prices, if appropriate.  The Council does not have a preferred suppliers list but we do use reliable, value for money local contractors and refer to the WSCC Framework.

Councillors raised a number of queries which were clarified as follows:

Para 4.4 – if projects are delivered under budget, the remaining funds will be returned to General Reserves at the year end

Para 5.19 – the Council must ensure it has the funds available or Government borrowing approval, before authorising expenditure for a major project

Para 7.12 – the Council has Two Factor Identification for online banking

Para 10.1 – is confusing, it was agreed to delete the first line ‘The council will not maintain any form of cash float.’

Para 11.2 – this does not apply to the Chair’s Allowance as it is not paid directly to the Chair but drawn on to fund costs that she authorises

Para 11.8 – delete this line as this is an operational decision by the Clerk and often a short-term arrangement, ‘Before employing interim staff, the council must consider a full business case.’

Para 12.2 – all borrowing must be approved by Council

Para 15.4 – delete second line, Council will receive a written business case and financial information in order to make an informed decision but this is too prescriptive, ‘In each case a written report shall be provided to council in respect of valuation and surveyed condition of the property (including matters such as planning permissions and covenants) together with a proper business case (including an adequate level of consultation with the electorate where required by law).’

Members RESOLVED to RECOMMEND that Council adopts the Financial Regulations with these amendments.

PRC26/32    BUSINESS PLAN

Members noted the updated Business Plan and raised the following issues:

Allotment expansion, including the purchase of additional land is referenced (items 36 & 58) in the current year.

The Council has worked with Age Concern to identify the needs of older residents but implementation of a project, acting on this knowledge, has not yet started.

The paper archiving has nearly been completed but some work is needed to create an index and transport some files to the WSCC archive in Chichester.

LCI, which is shown as a potential resource for some projects, relates to the S106 category ‘Local Community Infrastructure’ which is for improvements to the public realm.

PRC26/33    SAFEGUARDING POLICY

The Clerk presented the updated Safeguarding Policy which has been reformatted and reviewed to ensure it complies with current legislation and contact details are up to date.

Members RESOLVED to RECOMMEND that Council adopts the Safeguarding Policy.

PRC26/34    EQUALITY & DIVERSITY POLICY

The Clerk presented the updated Equality & Diversity Policy which has been reformatted and references to the Dignity at Work Policy have been removed as this is not applicable.  The Council does not have a Dignity at Work Policy and these matters are covered through employment and equality laws. The updated policy is based on the NALC Model Template which was produced in September 2024 and supersedes the existing version.

Members RESOLVED to RECOMMEND that Council adopts the Equality & Diversity Policy.

PRC26/35    ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Councillors felt that the Venice Pledge heading was meaningless and the document should be renamed AI Policy.  They also questioned the value of it as it only has high level general principles and there are no practical guidelines.  It was agreed that it was worthwhile as a starting point but should be reviewed annually and updated as understanding develops.

Members asked that basic AI Training to be made available for staff and Councillors.  More in depth training would need support from a knowledgeable external provider.

It was agreed that the final bullet point should be amended as follows, ‘empower our staff and Councillors through training so they stay in control of AI tools and remain the trusted experts our members residents rely on.’

Members RESOLVED to RECOMMEND that Council adopts the AI Policy with these amendments.

PRC26/36    URGENT MATTERS AT THE DISCRETION OF THE CHAIRMAN – None

PRC26/37    DATE OF NEXT MEETING Tuesday 3 November 2026

Meeting closed at 9.05pm