Unacceptable waiting times for out of hours phone number

This fire damaged property was left in a dangerous state yet members of the public were not able to contact the out of hours number.

Mid Sussex District Council’s out of hours phone number is a vital lifeline for residents wishing to report an urgent issue to the Council outside office hours.   Yet twice in the last few weeks I have had reports that the phone number has gone unanswered despite the respondent holding on for 30 or 45 minutes, including where a fire had left a Council owned building in a dangerous condition.  These are unacceptable waiting times and I have got an assurance from the Council that their provider has agreed to provide more resource for the service and that their performance will be better monitored. 

The Council needs to manage its contract with the provider more proactively by seeking appropriate management information and exception reporting for when things go wrong to ensure a proper standard of service is provided.  I would urge residents to feedback directly to the Council using their feedback form if you believe the service provided is not up to standard, or contact me directly.

Mims Davies “delighted” at economic chaos and higher mortgages

Our Mid Sussex MP has attached her flag firmly to this governments misguided budget plans giving unfunded tax cuts to millionaires effectively loading the cost on to future taxpayers. As a direct result the pound has crashed and interest rates are destined to soar, with £500 billion wiped off UK assets following the “delight” of our local MP.

We are already suffering the consequences with many of us worried about the cost of living, mortgages and our pensions. My fear that public services would bear the consequences appears to be well founded with government departments today ordered to find “efficiency savings” at a time when inflation has already caused big gaps in budgets. Now we hear benefits may not rise in line with inflation, what next, pension uplifts cancelled? Unlike Mims Davies I am definitely not delighted by the budget.

Conservatives ignore Burgess Hill

Conservative community governance proposals were successfully overturned following a previous Town Council petition

Community governance proposals that see the Northern Arc Incorporated into Burgess Hill were agreed by tonight’s Mid Sussex District Council’s Scrutiny Meeting despite previous opposition by Conservative councillors from East Grinstead and Haywards Heath, yet the same Conservatives still ignored the views of Burgess Hill by voting to amend the name of two new wards, that following consultation with local residents, were proposed to be named Bedelands and St Paul’s, and instead to rename them the anonymous Brookleigh North and Brookleigh East.

The move appears to be a continuation of Conservative moves to suggest the Northern Arc be incorporated into Haywards Heath, as I pointed out the two most prominent landmarks are Bedelands Nature Reserve and St Paul’s Catholic College, yet it seems once against Conservative councillors showed their disregard for the views of local residents.

Town Council support for Cost-of-Living Emergency

Councillors at last night’s Town Council meeting supported a Liberal Democrat proposal to establish a Cost-of-Living Emergency Fund to provide local support for those in need, such as the Foodbank, The Pantry and to promote warm hubs where people can come to keep warm or buy some hot food. I also proposed that this included setting up a “Fuelbank” in Burgess Hill to provide emergency support for those on prepayment meters who are disconnected.

Councillors also backed my condemnation of a Conservative government that is pushing through tax cuts for millionaires whilst ordinary people are suffering the biggest squeeze on their incomes for many decades, with government policies actively increasing inflation and interest rates to levels that will be unaffordable to many.

Our local Conservative MP Mims Davies is happy to support these proposals with the cost borne by future taxpayers, and the likelihood is that essential services such as the NHS and care for the elderly will be cut to help pay for them. Liberal Democrats would have funded the energy rebate by a windfall tax on the energy companies and provided support for ordinary people not the rich.

Sydney West Steps Repaired

After I raised a health and safety issue with loose wire on the steps leading from the Sydney West Recreation Ground to Forge Way, this was repaired the same day and an order has been placed to replace five of the sleepers. If you have an issue with local parks you can contact Mid Sussex District Council directly on parksopenspaces@midsussex.gov.uk, or get in touch.

The Conservative budget is fantasy economics that helps millionaires not local people

As a local Councillor I am fearful of what the Conservative’s “mini-budget” means for local people, so far their tax cuts have been revealed to benefit the very rich, with only those earning over £155,000 paying less tax over the course of this parliament according to the Institute of Fiscal Studies.  At the same time the run on the pound and increase in interest rates, combined with increasing inflation will be ruinous on our individual finances and government support for energy costs does nothing to solve issues of energy poverty or support insulation and the move to net zero. 

Yet this does not even begin to factor in the effect on public services funded by the government, whether NHS or council services which will see reduced funding to help pay for this budget. 

A real plan for growth would prioritise investment in public services and the green economy and provide investment incentives to businesses rather than the current scattergun approach which involves lobbing large tax cuts for businesses without expecting anything in return.

The Conservatives have gone into the territory of voodoo economics where their rationale depends on fairy tale economic growth, we need to fight back, its time to stand up, join us as Liberal Democrats, we can take Mid Sussex at the next election on the current trends of a kamikaze government that is putting millionaires before ordinary people and has no connection with everyday reality.

Clarion Housing Association still crippled by June cyber attack

The 18th September marked the three-month anniversary since Clarion Housing Association was hit by a cyber-attack resulting in a significant loss of service to tenants particularly around contacting staff directly by phone and paying rent, which has still not been remedied. It is a concern that this has had such a significant effect on the Housing Association and has created significant uncertainty for tenants concerned about the safety of their personal data and unable to speak to customer services about routine tenancy issues.

Clarion is a large well funding Housing Association that makes a significant surplus from its housing stock, so it is even more worrying as they do not suffer from lack of funds to address the issue. However, it is perhaps linked to Clarion Housing Association’s problems in maintaining its properties, where my experience of reviewing casework issues is that adequate routine planned maintenance has not taken place or is woefully inadequate, resulting in numerous complaints from tenants requiring reactive maintenance.


As a case in point, the tenants of Church Flats in Cuckfield Lane, Warninglid had raised issues multiple times with disrepair of the roof area leaving holes as pictured in the fascia and window frames allowing squirrels and rats to access the roof space, but no action had taken place. When I raised the issue scaffolding was put up to allow repairs to the fascia although three weeks later no actual repairs have taken place, my impression in this and other cases is that planned maintenance has not been undertaken in a timely fashion leaving issues to be taken up as reactive maintenance.

Clarion appears to be underfunding its tenant services, clearly it has under invested in IT infrastructure and all the evidence from tenants is that its repair service is not fit for purpose.  My suspicion is senior staff are incentivised to build more houses but not to provide a quality service to its tenants or ensuring its existing housing stock is properly maintained. 

Conservative policies contributed to the current energy crisis

The catastrophic effect of delays in moving to net zero were highlighted in a recent IMF report showing the UK’s reliance on gas is a root cause of the current crisis. Yet Conservative energy policies will make this worse, the proposed subsidy for energy companies helps high use consumers at the expense of direct help to those who need it most, and subsidies an industry making billions in profits. There solution to encourage fracking is wrong on both environmental and cost grounds.

UK energy costs are the most expensive in Western Europe, particularly for those on low incomes. Measures that could have reduced costs such as wind and solar power (which is NINE TIMES cheaper than using gas) have been actively delayed by the Conservatives who have also failed to implement a comprehensive insulation program, and we are still building new houses without any significant energy saving measures.

Liz Truss herself cut gas storage faculties when she was a government minister, this could have enabled prices to be averaged out, but instead forces us to export gas because we cannot store it. We need assertive government action that puts the cost of a freeze on the increase in the energy prices onto energy companies, not taxpayers, and brings forward measures to phase out expensive gas central heating with investment in alternatives, as well as funding insulation and conservation measures.

Action needed on water leaks

Leaks seem to be springing up all over the place, no doubt due to the excessive dry conditions as soil contracts and heaves, bursting underground pipes.  Current leaks I have checked out as outstanding for repair include St John’s Road, Park Road (the actual leak is just inside Park Close) and on Maple Drive (near The Hawthorns) which are among at least eleven currently shown as outstanding in Burgess Hill – reporting is easy via the South East Water interactive map.

A quarter of water companies have failed to meet the targets for reducing wasteful mains leakage which nationally runs at a massive 18% of supply. Mid Sussex faces a hosepipe ban from next Friday, but Ofwat as regulator needs to ensure water companies spend more on maintenance and less on profits returned to shareholders – South East Water doubled its profit in 2020/21 taking a 15% cut of water charges!

Vacant Care Home to get a new lease of life?

Following my last enquiry in December I was advised that the former Ernest Kleinwort Care Home in Oakenfield was being put on the market to be sold, but after chasing the lack of action I now understand the sale has now been halted as the Disabilities Trust is looking to reconfigure the home for care provision following discussion with local commissioning authorities. The home has been left vacant since 2018, and its disappointing that progress on its reuse has been so slow, but I hope now finally we might see this matter progress.