Parish Council News
Parish Council News
Following on from the last Parish News, after all the efforts to get the grit bins, they have at last come into use!! Not as
bad as last year’s snow and to my pleasant surprise an East Sussex ‘Gritter’ was also spotted in the Parish and on a Sunday morning! Of course there might be more snow to come but
so far so good!
On the subject of Highways, the works at Bells Yew Green are now nearly finished. New wooden posts are in place and the yellow lines have been extended past the station entrance.
Generally speaking feedback from the BYG residents has been positive and certainly the Village shop has noticed an increase in customers.
The roads around the Parish will always give the Parish Council workto do. Some quite scary incidents outside Frant School mean something must be done to slow the traffic down by the School entrance and we are engaging with Highways to get something sorted out. As is increasingly the case these days this has cost implications that fall to the Parish Council, however, sometimes the money just has to be found and spent–as in this particular case.
Frant Parish Council is not a wealthy Council and increasingly we are being asked to fund things that previously would have been paid by either Wealden or East Sussex. We are, I think, quite a prudent Council and have some highly qualified professionals as Parish Councillors to ensure that our ‘books balance’! As aresult we will not be asking for any increase in our annual budget this year from the Precept.
Think Local
The ‘Localism Bill’ should by now have received Royal Assent, ie. its become law!!I dont think many of us quite understand the full implications of this particular piece of legislation however it does have a couple of quite interesting sections.
One is that the local community can set up a ‘Register of Interests’ which in effect means if anything on the Register is put on the market, the local Community can put a ‘stay’ on the sale for 6 months to allow them time to put in their own offer if they wish. Local Pubs, Shops and some Land all look good contenders for this Register which the Parish Council will be setting up this year.The other one is the ability to ‘buy’ in services from other providers. We could, for example, choose to pay Kent to grit our Parish roads rather than East Sussex. How this is actually realised is yet to be determined but it has some interesting possibilities!
Bunting at the ready
This year is, of course, the Jubilee year (1st-4th June) and it is really exciting that all our villages are planning a celebration of some sort or the other. The Parish Council will be helping with some funding and also helping out with any road closures etc. that may have to be done. On the theme of royalty it was good to see Councillor Bob Tidy’s contribution to us and East Sussex over many years, being recognised with an MBE in the New Year’s honours list.
Once a year
Apart from the snow, this time of year is also the one where the Parish Council hold its Annual Meeting. This is an opportunity for you all to meet your Councillors, discuss any issues, give us some feedback, or just find out what is going on in the Parish – and there is lots going on! You also get free nibbles and a drink! This year’s will be held on the 14th March in Frant Memorial Hallstarting at 7.30. We look forward to seeing you there.