Annual Parish Meeting for the Parish of Willingdon and Jevington - held at Willingdon Primary School, Rapsons Road, Willingdon on Monday 16th April 2007 at 7.00p.m.
PRESENT - Mr. A Seabrook - Chairman of the Parish Council in the Chair,
Mrs B Beck, Mr H Coote, Mr B Hillman, Mr B King, Ms C Page, Mr J Pritchett,
Mr E Thompson, Mr A Watkins, Mr R Martin
1. APOLOGIES - Mr D Langford, Mr S Shing, Mrs R Thirlwell
2. MINUTES OF THE LAST MEETING - The Minutes of the meeting held on
8th May 2006 had been copied and circulated and were taken as read. It was agreed that they were a correct record, by those Councillors who had been present, and were be signed by the Chairman.
3. MATTERS ARISING
None
4. REPORT OF THE PARISH COUNCIL CHAIRMAN - COUNCLLOR TONY SEABROOK
In summer of last year The Parish Council achieved the much sort after Quality Parish Council status due to the excellent hard work of the Parish Clerk and the democratic operation of the Council. From this year, after an enormous effort by Councillors of this Parish presenting and arguing the case with the Boundary Commission, the boundaries of Willingdon and Jevington have been tided up and now coincide with the Parliamentary boundary with Polegate. Cllr Seabrook welcomed those seven hundred or so residents who will now enjoy reduced Council tax and excellent services by being with Willingdon and Jevington
During this last year the Amenities of the village have been continuously improved again, with street lamp replacement or installation, where requested. There has also been a small plantation of trees planted at the Northern end of Foulride Green and more Dog bins, where felt desirable. Extra litter picking has been provided in the most effected area, the Triangle shops. The unfortunate loss of our much loved Horse Chestnut tree to a very virulent disease was off set by the planting of a rare Wild Service tree nearby in Jubilee Gardens. The Ceremony was attended by many residents and most importantly by children of the Primary School's own Council. They later joined the Parish Council and other guests at the Council Office for refreshments.
Through the extremely diligent attention paid by the Planning committee, to all planning applications submitted to the Parish Council, the Parish Council has been able to reduce the amount of undesirable developments proposed for the village. The fate of Mornings Mill Farm and Hindsland Sports field is again back in the limelight as the Local Development Framework will look again at all land in the area. The Council will continue to support your views that this land should not be developed into a massive housing estate and that Hindsland should be made available for community use.
The Recreation facilities have benefited enormously from the installation of wonderful new and innovative play and exercise equipment, together with more seats and picnic benches. The superb new safer vehicular entrance to Huggetts Lane recreation field was long over due and shows this council's long term planning and our concern over safety of our residents. All recreation fields are extremely well used and enjoyed by children and parents alike.
The Council has been in extensive discussions with the Bus operators to come to an acceptable solution to the devastating decision to reduce our local services. The Parish Council has given enormous support to Willingdon Neighbourhood Watch in supplying new signage where appropriate and Cllr Seabrook can report that Wannock Neighbourhood Watch will shortly be a Cold Calling Zone. The Parish Council continue to providing funding for the Police Community Support Officer to spend extra time in the Parish

Through excellent budgetary control and the necessary forward planning we have been able to achieve all of this and to reduce this years Council Tax by a wonderful 3.1%.
Cllr Seabrook thanked the Parish Clerk for her professionalism, her staff for their dedication and Councillors for their democratic attitude to the Council.
Remember we are a Quality Parish Council and it shows.
5. REPORT FROM PARISH COUNCIL CHAIRMEN
AMENITIES - Councillor Christine Page
Throughout the year regular maintenance and reinforcement of services and facilities has progressed. This includes grass verge cutting; attention to street lamps and garden areas; clearance of litter and dog refuse bins - as well as some additions to such services. These include, most recently, provision for a new dog refuse bin near the bottom of Church Street, and for the installation of a new street lamp by Brains Butchers. There has been much-extended bulb planting in several areas and enhancement of Jubilee Gardens. Recently our hanging baskets, which were made redundant due to consideration of watering needs, have been exchanged for additional planters to be placed at strategic locations. Our "Willingdon in Bloom" competition for front gardens and container gardens was very well received and similar plans are in place for this year's contest.
To mark the year of our Queen's 80th birthday, the planter set up outside Trinity Church was dedicated to the occasion with a ceremony on October 2nd, shared by some residents, followed by refreshments provided by our Parish Clerk. A larger community event took place on November 28th when this council marked National Tree Week with a ceremony at the Triangle. Children from the Primary School Council and villagers, joined with Councillors and special guests: tree experts representing District and County Councils and the International Tree Foundation, to mark the loss of our landmark Horse Chestnut Tree and its nearby replacement planting of a fine indigenous species - a young Wild Service Tree Hospitality at the Parish office concluded the proceedings
The council had sought to enhance the residents' Christmas celebration at the Triangle with new lights installed in a tree opposite the carol singing area, but exceptional weather conditions prevented their functioning for that occasion. Subsequently the committee has budgeted for more extensive Christmas lighting this year and arrangements for this are in hand.
Over the year many efforts have been made to improve public transport facilities. These include discussions with personnel at Eastbourne Buses; obtaining up-to-date timetables for residents and researching suitable new bus shelter sites. Though expert advice has not supported our proposals for these, a replacement bus shelter, incorporating a Parish Council noticeboard, is shortly to be established at Farmlands Avenue. Our noticeboards outside the library have recently been made more prominent with signwriting and the Parish Council logo.
Our logo will be a main feature in the new Gateway signs for our villages, which have just won funding from Wealden District Council. When installed, these should give due acknowledgement to the many qualities of our lovely parish which it has been our pleasure to serve over the year, with the splendid assistance of our Parish Clerk - Lin Baxter: to whom - "Many Thanks".

CEMETERY - Councillor Howard Coote
The figures for 2006 - 07 are as follows:-
Parishioners 15
Non - Parishioners 37
Consecrated 32
General 19
Total 52
14 were reopens of these 6 were cremated remains and 6 were reserved spaces
Garden of Remembrance
1st Interments 8
Reopens 2
Reserved 3
Parishioners 3
The income From April 1st £36561.00
Four Silver Birch trees have been planted around the axis of the new footpaths and two will
be used as memorial trees. The committee continues to try and find ways of preserving and maintaining the cemetery for the residents of Willingdon and Jevington whilst recognizing the possible financial implications to the Parish. Cemetery burial figures will be monitored closely during the coming year and decisions on the way forward for the cemetery will be discussed further at the budget meetings in November.
Councillor Coote thanked the Parish Clerk, Vice-Chairman and committee members for their help and support.
PLANNING - Councillor R Noden ( Read by the Clerk)
During the course of this year the Planning Committee has met and considered applications on 15 occasions.
95 planning applications have been dealt with by the committee. 2 plans were approved by Wealden District Council after objections by the committee and a total of 10 were refused.
Each application has been looked at very carefully to ensure that planning requirements are met, and if an application was to be approved it would not be out of keeping with the street scene. At times there has been much debate and varied opinions on the merits or de-merits of a few of these applications and members voted accordingly.
The Parish was represented at the following District Planning Meeting to speak against the proposed development at:-
92 Eastbourne Road Willingdon - the plan was refused by Wealden District Council
The Parish was represented at the following Informal Planning Inquiry:-
107 Eastbourne Road Willingdon - the appeal was dismissed
It has, to say the least, been another very interesting year on the planning committee and Cllr Noden thanked all members of the committee, for their valuable input to each and every planning meeting.

RECREATION GROUNDS - Councillor Bob King
The Recreation Ground Committee has met on four occasions since the last Annual Parish Meeting.
At Huggetts Lane the large entrance has been changed to further along Huggetts Lane so that it was not so near to the traffic lights. This makes it safer for both contractors and the football and cricket club to access the grounds.
Moving of the fence around the Children's Play Area has allowed for a new piece of multi play equipment with Springy Chicken and picnic seat to be ordered and the estimated date for the work to start is the end of May. This will substantially improve the facilities at this play area.
At Tott Yew bulbs have been planted along the fence lines facing Tott Yew Road and hopefully these will increase during the next few years.
All recreation grounds are well used, and the Committee strives to keep them to a very high standard, we welcome feedback and suggestions from residents.
FINANCE AND POLICY - Councillor Andy Watkins
Councillor Watkins congratulated Councillor John Pritchett on serving twenty years as a Parish Councillor.
The Finance and Policy Committee has met five times during the year and full reports have been made to Council throughout the year.
Cllr Watkins reminded those present that he had commented last year on the success of having a Parish Council office and that success has continued. The Council and our residents have been fortunate to have such an excellent Parish Clerk in Lin Baxter. Last year we were able to congratulate Lin on achieving her CILCA qualification and this year that has been followed by this Council achieving Quality Parish Status. Councillors and the Clerk can be rightly proud of this achievement.
Staffing matters, not only relating to the Clerk but to all our staff, are the responsibility of the Personnel Sub Committee under the chairmanship of our Chairman of Council. We have a Sub Committee dealing with Council's property and another led by Cllr Bob Hillman to liaise with East Sussex County Council officers under the Strengthening Local Relationships initiatives. These meetings which are attended by our County Councillors are where the Council formally communicates concerns on all matters which are the responsibility of the County Council. There is, of course, regular ongoing contact between meetings.
Council finances are controlled by Financial Regulations which have been adopted by Full Council. Under the policy direction of the Committee and Council, the Responsible Financial Officer, Lin Baxter, is responsible for their proper administration.
The control mechanisms ensure that Council operates properly and our internal and external auditors have again completed their audits satisfactorily.
In accordance with Financial Regulations estimates for expenditure for this coming financial year were examined and approved by each spending committee and then by Finance and Policy Committee before being put before and approved by Full Council. This procedure enables consultation to take place with residents, the opportunity for very close scrutiny of all proposals for expenditure to take place by all councillors and agreement achieved before approval. Estimates for a rolling three years are agreed by Council as part of the process.
The Parish Council finances remain in good shape and the amount charged to each resident represents very good value at under 80p a week for a Band D Tax Payer a decrease of 3.1% this year mainly due to the inclusion of Watermill Ward in the Parish. This is compared to increases of 4.2% at District, 4.3% at County, 4.9% for East Sussex Fire Authority and 6.0% for Sussex Police.
Unlike many Parish Councils our Council does not pay Councillors even though the Chairman of Council and Chairmen of Committees do put in a fair number of hours each week.

During the year we have given financial support to our village halls, to the JPK Project, the pre school nursery, Willingdon Warriors, and allocated the necessary funds for extra time to be spent in the Parish by the PCSO. Big improvements have been made to our Recreation Grounds, we have managed to obtain a cold calling zone for Wannock and new Neighbourhood Watch signs are on order. The Tott Yew Road footpath extension on the safe route to school will be put in soon, the Parish having funded it following the refusal of the County Council.
Cllr Watkins informed those present that since he had been a Parish Councillor, and indeed even before, he had been heavily involved in a series of proposed boundary changes. The Parish has had two successful outcomes at Parliamentary level retaining Willingdon in the Eastbourne Constituency, at County level the Council successfully fought off proposals to split Willingdon into several neighbouring Divisions which certainly would have been far less satisfactory than combining Willingdon, East Dean and Jevington in a two Member Division. There have been changes at District Council level and during the last year the successful conclusion to the Parish boundary review which ended with the inclusion of Watermill Ward from Polegate, the first time ever this Parish has not contracted following changes to the Parish.
There now just remains our very unsatisfactory boundary with Eastbourne for the next Council to resolve.
The Parish Council has dealt with numerous policy matters throughout the year and made representations on a number of important issues. The recent Borough Council proposals in their draft Local Development Framework to place some of their housing in Willingdon rightly got the thumbs down.
On planning matters Cllr Watkins has attended and given evidence at a number of appeals during the year in which the Parish Council has been against approval and he has been pleased to give his support to the Clerk opposing those appeals. We have won more of the appeals than we have lost and he is told by officers that he has dealt with more appeals than any other District Cllr.
He was very pleased that Council accepted the proposal to proceed with his proposal for a commemorative plaque for the Airship Station. It is a pity the ceremony cannot be held during this Council but understand the County Council will not allow the opening of the plaque to take place at election time. It is a pity Council was not told before and this will now be for the next Council to arrange.
During the next Council, Chairman, he forecasted that this Parish Council will need to keep a very close eye on development proposals in this area particularly for Mornings Mill Farm and Hindsland.
Chairman, he was pleased to say democracy is alive and well in Willingdon - 18 candidates for the eight seats in Lower Willingdon, 14 candidates for the eight seats in Upper Willingdon, and perhaps surprisingly only three candidates for the two seats for Watermill Ward. It is only in Jevington where Jo Carr has been returned unopposed and he congratulated her as the only Parish Cllr who can be sure of being here at the May meeting
Compare this with the number of Parishes where there have been insufficient candidates to even fill the places on their Councils and whatever some think about having Political Parties challenging for seats it certainly does seem to raise the anti and produce more candidates. Advertisements for candidates which he sees in many Parishes are certainly not needed here
In closing Chairman, he thanked particularly Lin Baxter, our Clerk, you Chairman as Vice Chairman of the Committee, and all members of the Finance and Policy Committee who have dealt with these matters not only over the last 12 months but the past four years of this Council.

6. DISTRICT COUNCILLORS' REPORTS
Councillor Tony Seabrook
In my role as a Wealden District Councillor Cllr Seabrook has been extremely active in promoting the different characteristics of the Ancient Village of Willingdon and the Victorian Town of Polegate. Originally Chapter 17 of the Wealden Local Plan (Jan2003) lumped us both together. After an enormous amount of paper shifting and re-wording, he was able to get a form of words that was acceptable to the Full Council. The Non Statuary Wealden Local Plan (Dec.2005) now contains those words and will ensure that the differences are preserved during the next round of discussions.
He has been heavily involved with establishing and promoting the new W4Y (Wealden for Youth) website at Wealden. This website is aimed at young people and is a help and advice site. It has been extremely popular locally and has even had enquiries from as far away as Russia. Wealden District Council has even received an award for its work. He feels very proud to have been given the opportunity to work with this group and achieve such success. Recently Cllr. Watkins and himself attended a half day Democracy event at Willingdon Community School. It was attended by the whole of year 6 about 180 young people. They were extremely well behaved and attentive. The feedback shows that the vast majority felt it was useful.
A new role for Wealden District Councillor's is the Alcohol and Taxi Driver Licensing Panel. He again feels proud to have been able to play my role as a member of and a Chairman of a panel, in this new responsibility for the District council. The decisions of this panel affect the safety and livelihood of our residents and businesses alike and are an enormous responsibility.
He is also a member of the Community and Scrutiny committee, and he can report that after an extremely long time at last the County and District Councils are going to suggest a site for travellers to stop over. We already have a site locally at Polegate. Tower Mill Place has taken a lot of time and despite considerable representations, by my colleagues it is almost certain to be closing.
Councillor Stephen Shing
Waste, re-cycling, litter
It's been enormously encouraging, especially from a residents point of view, to see us all combating litter across the Parish and pressing for improvements in the street cleaning service. You will probably recall my motion to Wealden District Council a couple of years back asking them to follow the lead of many other councils nationally in pursuing and fining litter-bugs and fly-tippers. You will be pleased to note that this scheme was recently adopted by the Council.
Recycling
Wealden ranks highly in the nationwide league table with regard to recycling and has achieved award status with its Crown scheme. However, complacency is not a strong point of mine and he continues to press for improvements to the service and greater facility for residents of our Parish (who embrace Recycling so avidly) to recycle even more materials.
Housing & development
Residents continue to tell me of their fears over the loss of precious green areas (like Morning Mills Farm & Hindsland) and so, as their Wealden Councillor, he has always stressed the fact that he will stand, hopefully united alongside all colleagues from all parties and groups, against any such development. He always trusts, as he says to residents, that this vast issue sits above party politics. He will persevere to ensure that any campaign against any proposals will not be undermined by the need for political or personal gain.

Local Amenities
The purse string holders at Crowborough tell us that things are tighter than ever. However, even taking into account the need to keep Council Tax increases to the minimum (as he is assured is the priority of all parties!) there remains a need to maintain and improve services. The public toilets at the Triangle are most viable; our grass-cutting service cannot deteriorate; public access paths, drains and waterways must be kept clear; our street plates repaired and replaced; abandoned vehicles and fly-tipping problems addressed and overcome; etc.
He thanked the Parish Clerk, and all of his colleagues for their co-operation, advice and assistance. As ever, if there are any questions he can answer, or get back to you on, please don't hesitate to ask.
Councillor Andy Watkins
Cllr Watkins reported that this was the eighth year he had given a report as a District Councillor to the Parish Meeting.
He said that throughout that time he had served on Development Control South and from time to time in addition on other Committees, such as Select, which had thrown out proposals for charging in Wealden Town Centre Car Parks much to the annoyance of the Cabinet and officers. The Select Committee's most recent investigation had been in to rural infrastructure and he said he had been able to ask the County Councillor responsible for public transport some searching questions about that subject when he had come before the Committee.
At Development Control South he said he had been pleased to have been voted in by the whole Council as Deputy Chairman at the previous years Annual District Council meeting.
This inevitably had meant that a lot of his time had been spent on development control work. He said that in addition to the two meetings a month, DCS sometimes sat all day and there was constant liaison with planning officers about delegated approvals and refusals and indeed other matters. There was also a lot of contact with residents, particularly objectors.
The Deputy Chairman frequently chaired applications and major applications he had chaired had included the Hellingly Hospital site, several sites at Hailsham and Heathfield and the Marlow Ropes site at Hailsham. He said that once again he had dealt with a number of appeals concerning the Parish and although an appeal in Watermill had been lost due to a technicality, it was pleasing to be successful at the latest appeal about a proposed house at Thurrock Close, where the Parish Council had objected. There are other outstanding appeals which, no doubt, would be decided in the term of the next council.
The next large scale housing proposals for Willingdon would probably be in the Wealden and, possibly, the Eastbourne Local Development Frameworks and the next Parish Council needed to be alert to that. He commented that at the final meeting on the Local Plan when he and Cllr Seabrook had finally secured the District Council's agreement not to build in Willingdon he had been disappointed that Cllr Shing had not been present to vote.
Cllr Watkins said that for the previous two years he had represented the District Council on the South Downs Joint Committee and had occasionally sat on their planning committee. That had been a fascinating experience because he had been able to sit alongside other environmentalists who really put the Downs first. He added that he fully supported the formation of a National Park.
During the last year he said that the biggest fight he had been involved in had been the one to retain the Tower Mill Sheltered Housing Scheme. Although the fight had not been won in the end because of the block voting that was not for the want of trying. He believed that over several meetings it had been shown to those controlling Wealden District Council that some Ward Councillors would fight very hard in support of their community.
He drew attention to the attendance details of District Councillors which was a matter of public record and could be easily accessed on the District Council website. He said that Councillors were expected not only to represent their Wards but to contribute to workings of the Council as a whole and in that way to serve on Committees. He had been struck by the disparity between District Cllrs representing Willingdon in that in the previous four years Cllr Shing had attended just 40 meetings and reminded Councillors that he had been nearly disqualified from the Parish Council for non attendance. He said that in the same period Cllr Seabrook had attended almost twice that number, at 72, and that he had attended 106.

In conclusion he thanked everyone for their support over the previous eight years and said that at the elections on 3 May the voters would have to ask themselves whether they wished to believe smoke and mirrors or real facts about what their representatives had done.

7. REPORT ON THE YEAR'S WORK BY COUNTY COUNCILLORS
COUNCILLOR ROY MARTIN
This is my second annual report to your Council as one of the two County Councillors for Polegate, Willingdon and East Dean County Division. As you know in addition to being a County Councillor, he is also District and Town Councillor for Polegate.
He reported that he had been contacted by many residents in all three parts of the Division over the last 12 months with regard to a wide variety of problems. It would be impossible in a short report to mention all matters he had dealt with over the year.
Last year he mentioned that the future of the County and District Councils is being considered by Government and East Sussex and Wealden have put forward proposals for what they call "super three tier" amalgamating back room functions at County and District level and giving an enhanced role to Parish Councils. There have been no real developments but Wealden is pressing on with moving to one office at Hailsham. Cllr Peter Jones, Leader of the County Council, keeps talking about, a possible major administrative centre in the Polegate area but it does not seem that officers are discussing it - at least not in public !
The County Council set the Council Tax this year at above the rate of inflation - an increase of 4.3% and Band D Tax Payers are now paying £1047.69 for the County Council alone. He continues to be concerned at the levels of taxation and by changes in services which almost invariably seem to badly affect the elderly and vulnerable.
Cllr Martin reported that inevitably much of my work as a County Councillor concerns road and traffic matters.
The cuts in bus services locally are the consequence of the deregulation of bus services in the 1980's which means that bus operators only run commercially viable services unless they get a subsidy from the County Council. It is pleasing to see that Cavendish has replaced some of the services cut by Eastbourne Buses and hopefully competition and higher passenger numbers will improve the service.
It is disappointing that the County Council has so far not extended the Polegate Taxi Rider Service to the rest of your Parish extending the destinations possible and including the service in the free travel scheme. He knew that remains under active discussion with County Council officers.
Justified complaints about your roads, pavements and kerbstones continue and it seems that County Officers never have enough money allocated for all the work necessary. Nevertheless, some repairs and improvements have been done in the Parish in the last year - we will of course continue to press for a lot more !
Speeding vehicles on roads in Willingdon and through Wannock and Jevington continues to cause problems.
He continues to press all these matters at the County Council at every opportunity and he will strongly support your Council's views at the Strengthening Local Relationship meetings the Parish Council holds with County officers.

COUNTY COUNCILLOR'S REPORT - CLLR STEPEHEN SHING
Cllr Shing reported that his priorities remain very much tied in with sorting the problems that residents tell me are of the greatest concern to them.
Footways, kerbing and roads etc. - repairs and improvements.
It remains a challenge to squeeze funding from a limited County budget for this work. However, as everyone knows, much progress has been made across the Parish and, in the near future especially, it is anticipated that further improvements will occur - one being the installation of the much-needed Pedestrian Crossing adjacent to the Tesco Express on Eastbourne Road.
Public Transport
This has been very much to the forefront in recent months. Changes to Eastbourne Buses' service and the introduction of others from, principally, Cavendish Motors mean that a relatively viable service provision continues. It would be blinkered to suggest this will forever be the case and we must brace ourselves for further fights. The Taxi-rider service continues to be crucial to many and he continues to battle for extensions.
Sussex Police
He continues to develop a close working relationship with the Police team working in our area and, he extended an 'official' welcome to the new PCSO, Laura Butcher. It has been very promising to work with this dedicated team and to see the inroads they have made in enhancing public relationships both through meeting with residents and groups and with action against the crime (especially vandalism) that we witness.
Waste management
He had been supportive of the campaign against the construction of the Waste Unit at Newhaven, not just because of the huge implications of this actual location but especially because of the impact that transportation of waste to the facility will have upon the roads and villages of East Sussex. The fight to prevent the location may have been virtually lost but the war against the decimation of our area by such transportation will continue.
Services For The Elderly
With the current regime at County Hall predominantly obsessed, it appears, with cutting services, it is vital that we stand firm on retaining crucial services for our elderly and disabled. This ranges from the obvious direct care services to those 'indirect' that supplement our quality of life, particularly in retirement, like libraries. You can rest fully assured that he will continue to stand tall against cuts in this area.
Sundry Items
He is involved with various groups which include the proposed South Downs National Park, Cuckmere Haven Area Catchment Flood Management Plan, Cuckmere Estuary Restoration Project, South East Plan, Public Transport, the Waste Local Plan, Incinerator application, schools and Day Services for Older People.
In addition, and as reported oft times before, he continues his support, and active involvement, in many local and national groups who offer representation to ethnic minority groups, including those relating to the Chinese communities, throughout.
He thanked the Parish Clerk and all of my colleagues for their co-operation, advice and assistance. As ever, if there are any questions he could answer, or get back to you on, please don't hesitate to ask.