Heathfield & Waldron Parish Council

The Parish Council Offices are open Monday to Friday 9.30 am - 1.00 pm and 1.30 pm to 3.00 pm

Our Telephone Number is 01435 865700 or email info@hwpc.org.uk

The Clerk is Helen Johnson and her email is: clerk@hwpc.org.uk

Any Planning enquiries should be addressed to the Assistant Clerk - Fiona Hensher - email: asstclerk@hwpc.org.uk

Follow us on Facebook and Instagram for updates on what's happening locally 

PLEASE NOTE - The Planning and Highways meeting regarding the local plan that was previously advertised as being on Monday 29th April is actually being held on Tuesday 30th April as a Full Council meeting in the main hall at the Community Centre, Sheepsetting Lane at 6.30 pm 

Minerals and Waste Policy Consultation 

East Sussex County Council, the South Downs National Park Authority and Brighton & Hove City Council work jointly to prepare Minerals and Waste Local Plan for East Sussex, Brighton & Hove and the South Downs National Park within those areas. This plan is used when deciding whether to grant or refuse planning permission, and guides where development happens. The Authorities are in the process of reviewing the Minerals and Waste Local Plan and this involves a series of consultation. This is the website where you will find those consultations: https://eastsussex-consult.objective.co.uk/

Mayfield Fire Station 

I am writing to seek your views on our work to continue to deliver services within our available resources.

By law we must produce a balanced budget. This means we cannot spend more than we receive. The forecast funding gap faced by the Fire Authority for 2025/26 is between £1.884m and £2.536m. Savings of £14.047m have been or are planned to be taken between the period of 2010/11 and 2028/29. This still leaves the Fire Authority with a shortfall and we must now consider other proposals.

At its meeting in February, East Sussex Fire Authority requested an options appraisal for Mayfield On-Call Community Fire Station. This will consider a number of factors including the fire station’s contribution to overall service risk reduction and resilience, and proposed arrangements for maintaining public safety in the area currently served by Mayfield. It will also look at options to redistribute resources based on risk and the closure and sale of the fire station.

As valued stakeholders your ideas are important in the development of those options. Details of how to do this can be found later in this letter. The report considered by the Fire Authority at its meeting can be found here and contains further information about why Mayfield has been identified as a possible area for change.

240208 CFA Budget REPORT.pdf (moderngov.co.uk)

Preventing, protection and response

East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service does more than simply respond to emergencies. It works to prevent emergencies from happening in the first place, and to protect people and property. We aim to do this by managing our resources, our budget and our people as effectively as possible. Achieving this is becoming more and more difficult at a time of increased demand in some areas, such as supporting the ambulance service. Alongside this, the risks faced by our communities are also changing, and it has become harder to recruit on-call firefighters who can provide emergency cover at the times we need them most.

The Fire Authority keeps it management of community risk including its fire stations and appliances under constant review. Information on the community risk management process can be found here.

https://www.esfrs.org/community-risk-management-planning

Your views

As mentioned, the Fire Authority has asked for an options appraisal for Mayfield On Call Fire Station. The Fire Authority will consider the full options appraisal at its meeting on the 13th of June 2024 and if agreed those options will be subject to a full twelve week public consultation starting in June 2024 and finishing in September 2024. Findings would then be reported to the Fire Authority.

As part of the options appraisal process, we are seeking your views. An online survey can be found here, www.esfrs.org/mayfield or you can reply via email to consult@esfrs.org. Please can you ensure your responses are made by Friday 30th April 2024.

We would welcome views on:

• What do you consider the main risks to be in your local area?

• Are there any local issues or impacts you feel we need to be aware of?

• What information do you think we need to consider in developing the options?

• What are the factors we need to consider when taking the options appraisal out to public consultation?

• What other ideas can you suggest for us to meet our financial challenges?

If you would like to take part but do not have access to the internet, please ring 0303 9991000 to leave your name and phone number and we will get back to you.

If you would like to be kept informed of this work, please subscribe to our newsletter. You can do this online at East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service (list-manage.com). or you can email your details into consult@esfrs.org.

Many thanks for your consideration of this matter.  

New Bin Collection Timetable

Click here to view the new bin collection timetable.

Wealden Draft Local Plan Consultation dates released

Click here for more information 

Wealden Community Lottery promotes 'refer a cause' scheme

Click here for more information 

Public Spaces Protection Order

Heathfield and Waldron Parish Council supports Wealden District Council's renewal of their Public Spaces Protection Order which applies to any person in control of a dog and their failure to remove the faeces from restricted land, unless the person in control of the dog has a reasonable excuse for failing to do so.

The restricted land includes:-

Any highway, footway, footpaths, twittens, promenades, steps and towpaths within the area of Wealden District Council and any adjoining verges or ornamental areas, which are maintained at the public expense.

All pedestrianised areas within the Wealden District Council area

All parks, gardens, recreation and sports grounds, commons, amenity areas and other open spaces owned, occupied or maintained by or on behalf of any of: Wealden District Council, East Sussex County Council, a registered social landlord/housing association, any town or parish council within the Wealden area, any other public authority or charity.

Any cemetery, crematorium, burial ground or churchyard.

Any public car-park or parking space.

All dog faeces must be picked up immediately and deposited in a suitable receptacle.

Barclays Banking Hub

Barclays Bank will be in the Parish Council offices on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 930-1300 and 1330-1500 and the facility will be available by appointment only. Banking facilities will however not be available.   The contact details for arranging an appointment are 03457 345 345.  

Priority Services Register - free support service to help people in vulnerable situations   

Please click here for more information.

Junction of A267 and B2102

East Sussex County Council Highways department’s response to the public petition which asked for improved safety measures in the area of the junction of the A267 and B2102 at Cross in Hand acknowledged that work was needed. However, based on scoring criteria the location was ranked 53rd in priority by comparison to other sites in East Sussex. The Highways department informed the Parish Council that there are insufficient funds available to do anything at this location. In response the Parish Council submitted a request for a speed reduction in the vicinity of the junction to 30 mph and the introduction of vehicle activated signage.

The Highways department subsequently concluded that there was insufficient evidence to warrant a change to the existing speed limit or such signage. The Parish Council has asked for that decision to be revisited for reasons set out in its letter sent to the Highways department and awaits a reply.