News:
Neighbourhood Plan Consultation. The consulation has now closed see updates on the
Brighton and Hove City Council Website. The Neighbourhood Plan has now been submitted to Brighton and Hove City Council in accordance with Regulation 16 of the Neighbourhood Planning Regulations 2012 (as amended). The plan and associated documents will be out for consultation from Thursday 2 February to 11:59pm on Thursday 16 March 2023 for 6 weeks.
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Parish Council Statement on the High Street Air Quality Measures. The Parish Council wrote to the joint Parish Council/Brighton and Hove City Council working group on the 29th November 2022 requesting that the Environment, Transport and Sustainability Committee should be asked to consider adopting the hatching near the junction of the A259 as a permanent measure and removing the planter for a period of 12-months. This would enable any positive or negative impact on air quality of its removal to be measured and respond to the safety concerns expressed by a significant number of Rottingdean residents This statement was ratified at the Parish Council meeting on 5th December 2022. See
here for more.
Hedge trimming Steyning Rd and The Twitten Fairfax have informed the Parishg Council that they will be cutting the St Aubyn’s perimeter hedge along the length of Steyning Rd back to the original boundary fence in the coming days. This will result in some loss of foliage and exposed branches in the short term but we are informed that the leaf cover will return within one or two seasons. In addition the hedge along the Twitten will be cut back to improve access especially at the northern end.
Parish Council Statement on the High Street Air Quality Measures. The Parish Council wrote to the joint Parish Council/Brighton and Hove City Council working group on the 29th November 2022 requesting that the Environment, Transport and Sustainability Committee should be asked to consider adopting the hatching near the junction of the A259 as a permanent measure and removing the planter for a period of 12-months. This would enable any positive or negative impact on air quality of its removal to be measured and respond to the safety concerns expressed by a significant number of Rottingdean residents This statement was ratified at the Parish Council meeting on 5th December 2022.
Temporary Closure Of Park Road Toilets. Work has now begun to refurbish the public toilets on Park Road. This major refurbishment is a joint project between the Parish Council and Brighton and Hove City Council. It is expected that the toilets will remain closed until mid-February.
Draft Air Quality Action Plan The City Council's Draft Air Quality action plan public consultation runs through until July 10th. See the Projects page for more detailsThe Parish Council would encourage all Rottingdean residents to complete the consultation which takes about 15 minutes. See www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/aqap
Parish Council Accounts 2021/22
Each year a smaller authority’s Annual Governance and Accountability Return (AGAR) needs to be reviewed by an external auditor appointed by Smaller Authorities’ Audit Appointments Ltd. The unaudited AGAR has been published with this notice. As it has yet to be reviewed by the appointed auditor, it is subject to change as a result of that review.
Any person interested has the right to inspect and make copies of the accounting records for the financial year to which the audit relates and all books, deeds, contracts, bills, vouchers, receipts and other documents relating to those records must be made available for inspection by any person interested. More information on how to access the accounts is here
New Village Notice Boards
Rottingdean is an active village, and it has been great seeing events put on by Cinema Club, Rottingdean Arts and the Drama Society running again . The Parish Council are keen to promote these and other community events and have invested in six new noticeboards for the village. These will be installed in the following locations at some point week beginning March 21st.
West Street Car Park next to the Welcome to Rottingdean Sign
On the wall of the Reading Room at the bottom of Nevill Road
In Golden Square next to the flint wall to the left of the old washroom
Behind the planter, next to the old telephone box in Vicarage Lane
At the top of the green in Grand Crescent
On the green in Meadow Parade facing onto the Falmer Road
UK Power Networks prepare for Storm Eunice and Dudley
As you may be aware, UK Power Networks manages the local power lines and substations which distribute electricity to over 8.3m homes and businesses across London, the South East and the East of England.
Storm Dudley will arrive tomorrow and is forecast to have a minimal impact on our network. However, Storm Eunice is expected to arrive on Friday 18th and is expected to bring stronger winds and unsettled weather.
Our electricity network is built to be resilient but strong winds and heavy rain can bring down branches and trees, damaging overhead power lines. Where this happens we work to restore power as quickly and safely as possible.
UK Power Netwoirks have organised for additional staff in our contact centre and more engineers on the ground, particularly for Storm Eunice, to be available to help customers whose electricity supply might be affected by the predicted weather.
Regular updates and information about individual power cuts can be found here. There will also general updates on @UKPowerNetworks .
Anyone experiencing a power cut should:
• Visit www.ukpowernetworks.co.uk/powercut and type in their postcode to view a live power cut map, with details of individual power cuts
• Call 105 free of charge to speak to our customer service team, report a power cut or damage to the electricity network
• Tweet @UKPowerNetworks to report a power cut or to receive updates
• Visit www.ukpowernetworks.co.uk for the latest updates
UK Power Netwirks advise people to stay clear of power lines and report damaged power lines immediately by calling 105 free from either a landline or a mobile phone. If they see electricity lines that are down or causing significant risk to the public they should call 999. They also provide extra help to customers on our Priority Service Register during a power cut. Households with older or disabled people, those with children under five, or where someone uses medical or mobility equipment that requires electricity as well as other reasons can join the register. You can find out more information about the Priority Service here
At the meeting on 7 Februry the Parish Council agreed an increase in the precept for 2022/23 of 2%. This will enable the Parish Council to continue to improve services and amenities and begin to further develop and begin to implement plans for a new public open space at the southern end of the High Street, progress the other projects set out in our Infrastructure Development Plan and support local charities and good causes through grants and donations. See the details here
St Aubyns Field: Offer of Transfer to the Parish Council. The Parish Council have now received a formal offer of the transfer of St Aubyns Field and the Chapel, Pavilion, Water Fountain and Memorial from Fairfax Properties, in accordance with the section 106 agreement. The Parish Council have 12 weeks in which to respond. It is envisaged that the transfer will occur in the Summer of 2023. The offer will be discussed at the Parish Council meeting on Monday 6 December
St Aybyns Works
- Temporary Closure of the Twitten. The Twitten will be closed from 7 February for 6 to 8 weeks to enable repair of the flint wall, the cutting of new openings from the campus site to the Field site and some resurfacing
•New Councillor. Following a co-option exercise to fill the current Council vacancy Mark Cherrie was co-opted on to the Parish Council on 6 December.
The Local Government Boundary Commission's consultation of Brighton and Hove Electoral Wards See the Parish Council's response here
Publcation of the Parish Council Accounts for 2020/21
Each year a smaller authority’s Annual Governance and Accountability Return (AGAR) needs to be reviewed by an external auditor appointed by Smaller Authorities’ Audit Appointments Ltd. The unaudited AGAR has been published with this notice. As it has yet to be reviewed by the appointed auditor, it is subject to change as a result of that review.
Any person interested has the right to inspect and make copies of the accounting records for the financial year to which the audit relates and all books, deeds, contracts, bills, vouchers, receipts and other documents relating to those records must be made available for inspection by any person interested. More information on how to access the accounts is here
Councillors asked to extend Rottingdean Air Quality monitoring
Councillors are being asked to extend a trial scheme aimed at improving air quality in Rottingdean next week.
In partnership with Rottingdean Parish Council changes were made to the road layout in the High Street in October 2019, including a ban on right turns out of West Street, a planter north of Park Road to encourage free flowing traffic northbound and a no stopping (yellow hatched) box in the narrowest part of the lower High Street.
While the first 18 months of the trial have showed some positive results, travel restrictions as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic since March 2020 have significantly impacted how the data can be compared to previous years.
Therefore, recommendations will be put to members of the Environment, Transport and Sustainability (ETS) committee on Tuesday 16 March, that would further the trial for another 18 months. The ban on right turns out of West Street will be made permanent though having received no objections. See More details on the Projects page
COVID -19: Find out what the rules are here
Rottingdean Parish Survey 2020 Results, Many thanks to all of you who participated in our Survey this year. This is a summary of some of the main findings. The full report is here on the website, together with a list of all the individual comments made where we asked for information, rather than a YES/NO answer.
This was our first village-wide survey since 2013 and will help us to focus on identified priorities for Rottingdean over the next few years.The survey was completed by 252 people (237 of which were residents), an increase on the previous one of 71. You told us you mainly hear about the workings of Rottingdean Parish Council (RPC) via the local magazines and flyers along with visiting the website, noticeboard and word of mouth. Some respondents said information was difficult to find. There was an even split regards whether people know enough about what RPC is doing.
One suggestion was for residents to have the opportunity to sign up to a regular e-mail.The main area of contention for people seems to be related to the experimental traffic scheme in the High Street, introduced to reduce high air pollution levels in the Air quality Management Area. There was particular anger towards the Planter. 32% of respondents approved of the scheme but 56% i disapproved. The junction between Park Road and the High Street (72) was considered the most dangerous junction, closely followed by Steyning Rd and the High Street (41). You commented that the zebra crossing was often obscured by queuing traffic behind the Planter.
Calls for a traffic camera on the traffic lights were made (18). High up the rankings as roads causing safety concerns came Dean Court Rd and Falmer Road (9) and some people mentioned Tesco Carpark being used as a cut through with the no right hand turn needing to be clearer (8). Court Ord Road and Eley Drive seem to have a problem too (7).
The question of a Residents’ Parking Permit was met with 28% for and 47% against.
The High Street was listed as the most difficult part of the Parish to access and needing improvement, followed by the slope to the beach. Traffic was listed as the thing that mostly affected people’s enjoyment of the village but 21 people actually said that nothing affected this. Litter, graffiti and dogs were high on the list .
Whilst 32% were satisfied with the paving in the Conservation Area, 40% were not. The main factor is it’s being uneven and slippery when wet (72). 18 people said it could be improved whilst wanting it to remain aesthetically pleasing. Paving outside of the Conservation Area was deemed to be uneven/broken but not to such a high extent as within. 50% were satisfied with 24% dissatisfied. Similarly, 32% were satisfied with street infrastructure whereas 26% were not.
An impressive 90% of respondents used the High Street at least weekly, but to be encouraged to shop more in the High Street less traffic, more parking and more independent shops along with wider pavements were suggested. 9 respondents said they could get all they needed from the High Street.
An outdoor gym and resurfacing the tennis courts were highest on the agenda for improving outdoor space. 21 people reported that they were unaware of any indoor sports facilities, i.e.at Longhill School. 77 people thought there were enough outdoor play areas for children whilst 30 thought there were not and 23 said something more central was needed. A directed question regards the need for an adult gym met with 47% for and 24% against. Of these, 49 said in the Recreation Ground and 27 on St Aubyns Field. 6 people commented that the one in Saltdean Park is under used.
There was a fairly even split regards whether more allotments should be created, with only 11 people saying they had one and 13 on the waiting list.
The majority of respondents use the beach and undercliff and only 5% use beach huts with the main niggle being cyclists. More regular litter/pebble collection, bigger bins, and sprucing up the beach huts were high on the list. There was one suggestion of a drinking fountain which is already on our RPC to-do list.
Benches, pathways and a peaceful community garden with shrubs and flowers were high on the list of suggestions for St Aubyns Field, along with keeping as much open space as possible. No dogs was quite a popular request. Setting up a volunteer group to maintain the site was suggested.
Generally, people seemed happy with bus services although 28 asked for a bus route to Lewes via the Universities and Falmer Station.
Over the range of cycling-related questions, nearly 40% of respondents indicated that they were not cyclists. Approximately 18% of respondents were satisfied with cycle routes and paths with 18-26% respondents dissatisfied. Highest ranking comments were requests for cyclists to use the lanes/road rather than the pavement, along with the banning of cycling on the Undercliff path. There is a lack of cycle parking that, again, is already on our RPC to-do list.
Age analysis of submissions:-
24-30 5
31-40 10
41-50 28
51-60 67
61-70 68
over 70 50
total answers 228
average age 61
enquiries@rottingdean-pc.gov.uk