Earnley Parish Council www.earnleypc.org Skype: earnley.pc email: [email protected]01243 203040 1 Charlmead East Wittering Chichester West Sussex PO20 8DN Chairman’s Report The Parish Council has been busy again this year. The Planning Committee has dealt with 30 planning applications including the appli- cation for 160 dwellings on Clappers Lane. This development, if built would have a sig- nificant impact on the parish. The Parish Council has held meetings with representa- tives of West Sussex County Council and adjoining parishes to discuss the traffic consultants report. I would like to thank Julia Bowering and Cllr. Robert Carey for all their work investigating the data included in the traffic consultant’s report. The Wates application for 160 dwellings E/14/00457/ OUT has now gone to appeal which is due to commence on 29th October. CDC will be defending their decision to reject the appli- cation on the issues of the density of the development, traffic impact and sustainabil- ity of the site. In the meantime Wates have put in a further application 14/01806/ OUT for 140 dwellings. Your parish council has resolved to object to this application on similar grounds to those submitted on the 160 application. For further details go to www.earnleypc.org and click on the planning tab. The Parish Council has supported the work of the Flood Prevention Group and it is splendid looking across at the work com- pleted so far; it is a tremendous achieve- ment for our small community. The Bookers Lane culvert is well advanced the construc- tion of the new ford will follow later on and is due to be completed in July. Ken Daven- port has provided excellent technical assis- tance to Robert on this project. A big thanks to Robert Carey for all his drive and hard work on all the projects that the group Newsletter Summer 2014 Earnley Community Led Plan At the Annual Meeting of Parish Electors Cllrs Chris Charter and Sandy Simpson gave a presenta- tion on why the parish council would like to work with residents in developing a ‘Plan for the Parish’. This was well received and the parishioners pre- sent voted unanimously to support it. In due course we will be circulating a questionnaire to all households for you to tell us what you want for your parish and what your priorities are. Following this meeting several people came for- ward to volunteer to work towards producing the plan, however, we still require further volun- teers. You do not need to commit yourself to a vast amount of hours. We are looking for some specialised skills for example, data analysis. However, equally important is the need for peo- ple to help with questionnaires and to physically canvas households . If you feel you are able to help with the project in anyway please contact Chris on 514096 or [email protected]Broadband Update Network preparation and building is now underway at exchanges in phase two. Work to extend the existing underground spine and sub ducts has taken place at Bracklesham Bay, and continues at Birdham. New fibre-holding DSLAM cabinets have been built at Birdham and Bracklesham Bay and the County Council anticipate that all new broadband services delivered in phase two will become available from this September. Some properties in the parish are already able to ac- cess supafast broadband so please take the time to check with your supplier.
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has been working on
A housing needs survey was completed in December last
year. Unfortunately the distribution of the survey coin-
cided with the proposed development in Clappers Lane
and possibly as a result of this there was insufficient
support for the provision of affordable housing in the
parish at this time. The Parish Council will review this
once the Clappers Lane application had been decided.
The parish is very lucky to have two conservation areas
within the parish. The District Council recently carried
out a review of the conservations areas and made recom-
mendations for both areas. The Parish Council has
worked in conjunction with the Environment Agency to
have the rusty directional signs replaced as part of pro-
viding new signage to the RSPB visitor’s car park in Drove
Lane. One sign at the top of Drove Lane by the Church
and one at the junction of Bookers Lane and Clappers
Lane will be replaced with traditional Sussex Style black
and white finger posts. These should be installed late
summer this year. The second project the council has
been working on with West Sussex County Council is to
get the road to the north of the church included in the
“Better Roads” scheme and have it resurfaced.
We are very fortunate to have the Medmerry Realign-
ment Scheme right on our doorstep. The Parish Council
continues to work closely with the Environment Agency
on this project. The Royal Society for the Protection of
Birds had reported that some very rare birds were al-
ready nesting on the site. As you are probably aware the
contractors continue to work on the access paths and it
is expected that this work will be completed by the end
of the summer. The Environment Agency will continue to
be responsible for the water courses and the outfalls
and the RSPB would take over the responsibility of all
other areas.
The Parish Council’s accounts received a clean bill of
health following the annual audit. Thanks to Louise our
parish clerk for this and her work generally .
Community Warden Report 2013-2014.
Every job that I do, and every incident that I deal with, is recorded on the Chichester District Council Com-
munity Wardens database. This database is full of all sorts of confidential information, recording every-
thing that I do, whether it be reporting a pothole to West Sussex County Council, dealing with a lost dog, finding evidence of drug misuse, or helping to run a Youth club session.
Between April 2013 and March 2014, I recorded 1453 jobs/ incidents, so it is fair to say that it has been a busy year for me. I will pick out a few bullet points that will, hopefully, give you an idea of what I have
been up to.
Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB): Generally speaking, ASB is well down on previous years. Teenagers are
often the biggest cause of ASB but my relationship with the local teens allows me to really influence a lot of their behaviour. As a result, there have been far fewer incidents involving children and teenagers. Of
course, there have been, and always will be, incidents, but I am pleased with the progress made. There will always be ASB “hotspots”, and last year they were at Bracklesham Barn, Hale Close in Bracklesham,
West Wittering beach, and Northern Crescent car park in East Wittering.
Youth Work. During the year, I attended 55 youth club sessions at East Wittering Youth Centre. Atten-
dance at both the Junior and Senior clubs has risen dramatically, with around 50 children now attending the 2 sessions. The success of the Senior club is particularly pleasing for me, as the teenagers who were
causing problems down at Bracklesham Barn, are now club regulars, and as a result, their behaviour is
much, much better.
Criminal. Nearly all of the work that I do in this category is drugs related. It is either finding and report-ing evidence of drug taking, or digging for intelligence relating to the drug dealers. As a result, I have re-
corded 176 incidents over the year. Other regular jobs involve criminal damage, where West Wittering has been affected quite badly, and Cold Callers who target the vulnerable right across my patch.
Environmental Issues. Just like previous years, the amount of fly tipping continues to cause problems. I have dealt with 152 cases of fly tipping throughout the year. Regular hotspots are Clappers Lane in
Earnley, Elms Lane in West Wittering, the Marine Drive car park in West Wittering and Northern Crescent car park in East Wittering. Luckily, most of the fly tipping is domestic waste, furniture and garden waste.
We thankfully get very little “commercial” fly tipping, i.e. builders waste, rubble, etc down here.
Other regular environmental issues for me are animal welfare incidents, of which I have dealt with 36 cases over the year.
One of the biggest jobs I had was a case of littering on a huge scale in East and West Wittering. It was happening pretty much every night, and was causing much distress locally. With help from locals, we
eventually traced the culprits and the littering ceased.
Highways. We had a very soggy winter this year, and every day I would go out and do road inspections
to check for potholes and other problems. I reported 126 potholes this winter, building up an excellent working relationship with West Sussex Highways. In many cases, potholes were repaired within 48 hours.
Being based in East Wittering Fire Station, I have very strong ties with West Sussex Fire and Rescue, and
road safety is a key part to a fire-fighters job nowadays. As a result, I have reported 91 drivers to Sussex
Police for either using their mobile phone whilst driving, or failing to wear a seatbelt. I have also reported over 20 untaxed vehicles to the DVLA.
Public Safety. As part of my job, I build up many relationships with members of the public, and I receive
lots of information/ intelligence regarding crimes that have been committed. Naturally, I pass on the infor-
mation to Sussex Police, and I have recorded 224 of these incidents during the last year. The Police are always grateful for the info, and it has led to quite a few arrests.
During the winter, when we seemed to have one storm after another, I made a point of driving my patch to check for any hazards that may have happened. By ensuring that I was out and about during the worst
weather, I recorded 36 instances where I came across obstructions or hazards in the road, ranging from fallen trees to a garden shed roof.