Ernest Kleinwort Court in Oakenfield closed in 2018 and has been left unused since, despite being a modern purpose-built residential facility built with charitable funds, I have raised concerns about the delay in reusing the site with the Disabilities Trust and have been told that proposals for the site will be brought forward shortly – I look forward with interest to see if promises that the site would continue to provide services for people with complex disabilities are met.
Thanks to everyone who supported the Liberal Democrats in yesterday’s County Council elections, it seems again the Tories have been wiped out, at least in Burgess Hill! Existing Burgess Hill and Hassocks Cllr Kirsty Lord increased her majority from just 20 votes to 1,634 votes, and our new Liberal Democrat Councillor for Burgess Hill East is Richard Cherry; and for Burgess Hill North, Stuart Condie, both gaining seats from the Conservatives. This caps a day which has already seen the announcement of massive support for the Liberal Democrat Town Council’s proposal to build a new arts and entertainment venue, with plans for the Beehive receiving a thumbs up by 2,616 residents – 94% of those participating, and 88% supporting the application for a loan. Well done Burgess Hill!
Nationally Liberal Democrats held their own against the other parties. However, to put the results into context, reviewing the share of the vote, Liberal Democrats gained 17% of the projected national vote, with 36% for the apparently dominant Conservatives. Progressives have a majority in this country but our electoral system actives favours the Conservatives unless opposition parties work together.
At a time when sleaze and dodgy deals are in the headlines as our Prime Minister battles questions of who paid for his curtains and why Conservative donors with his private phone number were far more likely to receive untendered contracts, Johnson’s commitment to improving standards in public life has been undermined by his appointment of a new standards adviser who cannot initiate his own investigations and can be overruled by the PM.
At tonight’s Mid Sussex annual council meeting we had our own version of this where attempts to elect opposition councillors to become Vice-Chairs of the three Scrutiny committees were voted down by the Conservative administration. Scrutiny needs to be conducted openly and honestly, on the District Council we saw the decision last year to close Clair Hall where the Conservatives tried to close down debate, and which ended up leaving the Council taken to court for making an unlawful decision, and facing legal fees of £27k.
Liberal Democrat leader Alison Bennett also raised the need to reinstate later start times for council meetings given issues for those with children or in work to attend early meetings. Typically one Conservative didn’t see the issue as he managed three companies and didn’t have a problem attending meetings !!! We need councillors in touch with ordinary life not millionaires with their castles in the sky.
Pleased that after I raised the issue, that the District Council has clarified with the contractors to ensure the footpath through Marle Place is kept open as far as possible whilst the current work takes place, they have apologised to those inconvenienced when it was closed off over the weekend. The route will need to be closed again this coming Wednesday morning until mid/late afternoon to allow for the final surfacing to be made. I understand the Council has reminded the contractors to ensure that clear closure signs are put in the appropriate places so people can divert before reaching the point of closure. The work is taking place to increase the width of the path and is part of the Place and Connectivity Programme to improve foot and cycle paths in the town.
Following concerns that I raised about the state of some of our smaller play areas I have been reassured by the District Council that work to improve some of our smaller play areas like Forge Way is underway, the extended closure due to the pandemic left it and some other play areas covered in moss and with minor repairs needed. I understand the moss and toadstools has been treated and the hard areas will be swept this coming week .
Goose eggs from todays Burgess Hill town market, Sussex Wild Food Co, now I just need to find a recipe “take one goose egg…”!
Its good to see resident efforts to tidy up Freeks Lane, Liberal Democrat candidate Stuart Condie and myself took some time off from County Council election campaigning to clear up some plastic netting which was apparently left by contractors several years ago and become intertwined with vegetation, so we put some time into removing it this morning. Where possible we would prefer to hold the relevant authority to account but given the time that has passed this is not always possible.
I have been asked how long the roadworks in Leylands Road near St Peters Road will continue, and can confirm they will complete by the 16th April, a colleague who contacted them has confirmed they have completed the main works and will make good the road surface next week. I’ve also been asked about the blockage on the upgraded footpath parallel to Blackstone Way, and understand completion was delayed by legal issues which have now been resolved and therefore the work should be completed soon, just waiting for a specific deadline.
Local elections for County Councillors and the Police Commissioner are on 6th May, the deadline for postal votes is 5pm – 11 working days before the day of the election – see the MSDC website.
It’s excellent news to hear that all our playgrounds are reopening but why did Mid Sussex District Council interpret government guidelines so differently to their colleagues in Horsham? Does cleaning playgrounds once a week really make them Covid secure? Did they need to be kept shut in the first place, and was £44,000 wasted on extra cleaning costs?
Freedom of Information requests submitted to Mid Sussex District Council and Horsham District Council have revealed two starkly different approaches to ensuring children’s playgrounds were ‘covid secure’ when Government advice allowed them to be reopened following the end of the first lockdown in July 2020.
Horsham District Council reopened all fifty-two of its play areas last summer, spent no money on additional cleaning, and just £100 on signage.a Other councils have taken a similar approach.
Mid Sussex District Council decided upon a very different course of action. In the response to the Freedom of Information request they say, “We undertook an initial cleanse prior to opening each facility in July 2020, and since then have carried out a weekly cleanse of all play areas and outdoor gyms that have re-opened. In addition, we have purchased and installed permanent A3-sized signage at each entrance point, providing guidance on social distancing, hand hygiene and the safe use of the facilities.”b The cost of this up to the week commencing 25 January 2021 was £44,152. When asked how those costs were arrived at, Mid Sussex District Council responded, “The costs were obtained from the Council’s existing cleansing contractor, so were based on a commercial assessment of the operational requirements associated with a weekly deep clean.” b
However, Mid Sussex District Council only opened 57 of its 123 play areas last summer despite Liberal Democrats raising concerns about the impact of keeping so many closed, and stated on its website that it would be too expensive to open them all stating that it would cost more than £220,000 a year to clean them regularly to ensure that they are COVID safe. A weekly cleaning regime was not required, as demonstrated by the approach of Horsham District Council and other local authorities. In addition there is no evidence that this is more effective in reducing coronavirus transmission than no cleaning regime given the number of people who would use the playgrounds between cleans.
Play Charity, Play England wrote to all local authorities in England in January 2021 asked that all playgrounds remain open “to reduce the catastrophic impact of COVID and lockdown on children’s physical and mental health and wellbeing”.c Their letter also highlighted the impact of playground closures on the most disadvantaged children – those with limited space at home, no access to a garden or disabled children – to which access to these playgrounds are “often a lifeline”. Mid Sussex District Council failed to carry out an equality impact assessment to understand the impact of their decision to close play areas on the children in our community.
Residents in Burgess Hill have been especially hard hit by Mid Sussex District Council’s decision to keep over half of its playgrounds closed. When the location of the closed playgrounds is plotted on to a mapd, it is clear that the playgrounds in Burgess Hill were much more likely to be kept shut with 79% shut in Burgess Hill, 50% shut Haywards Heath, 36% shut in East Grinstead and 19% shut in the outlying villages.