Parish Review 2008-09

Freedom of Information Act 2007 documents

Notices: -Footpath Diversion

Opening hours and contact informationMayfield Village Centre Transitions MayfieldEast Sussex CCWealden DC

June is a busy month for the Parish council with much to report, but first some sad news. At it’s meeting on 14 June the Full Council remembered the late Rev Phillip Kinderman. As a church minister he was highly thought of in our villages, in particular for his work with the elderly, and he was also a contributor to the work of the Parish Plan. He will be greatly missed by our community.

The Annual Assembly was held on Monday June 7th at the Mayfield Primary School Hall and was well attended. There were 25 members of the public present, 13 Parish councillors together with representatives from the police and our District and County Councils. The Annual Assembly is where the Parish Council and various village organisations report  to residents on their activities during the proceeding year, and receive comment, suggestions and criticism from residents, and this year was no exception. In addition our fifth Annual Report was published at the meeting, giving full details of the Parish Councils activities and finances during the year. Copies of the annual report are available free from the Parish Office.

The Full Council held its June meeting at Five Ashes Village Hall where again a number of important issues were discussed with appropriate decisions being made. The meeting was attended by 13 of our 15 Councillors, and two members of the public. Committee meetings held during the month were Planning, Community Development and Finance and General Purposes.

All of these meetings have been action packed, and in the remaining part of the report I am covering the main issues arising.

AYLWINS AND THE MAINTENANCE YARD
The Parish Council had a presentation from Jenner-Jones and Shape Housing (South East) on this housing project. The development companies have bought the sites together with planning permission and will commence work shortly. It would appear that the AYLWINS house will now be converted into four apartments, and that on the Maintenance Yard there will now be eight affordable houses out of the ten to be constructed. Parking facilities are not up to the standards laid down in our Parish Plan of two car parking spaces per dwelling and this issue will be taken up with Wealden District Council. Although the company will be making great efforts to minimise inconvenience caused by the construction work, we can safely say that it’s going to be a trying time!

FIRE STATION
Members of the Mayfield Fire Station, and the headquarters unit at Uckfield have addressed the Parish Council and the Annual Assembly. It would appear that it is the intention to downgrade the Mayfield Fire Station by withdrawing day time cover and retaining only the night time cover element.  The issues are complex, and underlying the case it would appear that due to changes in patterns of employment, Mayfield is having difficulty in recruiting staff; Members of the Parish Council will make a decision on how to support the fire service, or indeed whether to support it at all, at the July meeting of the Full Council.

ARGOS HILL WINDMILL
The Parish Council have voted in favour of being a corporate trustee of the proposed Argos Hill Windmill Trust, and Councillor Jane Driscoll was subsequently appointed as the Parish Council representative on the proposed trust

MAYFIELD WAR MEMORIAL
The Parish Council is developing a scheme to bring the War Memorial at Mayfield up to date by adding many missing names from both World Wars to the memorial, and arranging for the memorial to be completely cleaned.
Councillor Warwick Child has done a substantial amount of research on the fallen of Mayfield and Five Ashes  and has also updated the Roll of Honour , which now also includes the names and details of the crew of HM Submarine TETRARCH which was adopted by the Mayfield WI and which was regrettably lost with all hands between 27 October and  29 October 1941.
We are currently awaiting estimates from the stone mason who is carrying out the work. The project is at present unfunded.

NEW COMMITTEE CHAIRMEN
As each Committee meets after the Annual Meeting its first item of business is to elect a Chairman for the year 2010/11. With all committees now having met the new Chairmen are as follows:

• Finance and General Purposes      Chris Lilly
• Planning                                          Graham Playfoot
• Community Development                Patricia Balfour
• Community Safety and Traffic         Robert Fitzsimmons
• Rights of Way and Trees                 Jerry Watkiss
• Governance                                     Deveda Redman

FIVE ASHES PLAY GROUND
It is regrettable to have to report that during June two small horse animals which were located in the Five Ashes Village Hall play area were totally destroyed in an act of senseless vandalism.  The incident has been reported to the police and a claim will be made against our insurance policy.  Replacement is likely to take some time.

ACCOUNTS FOR 2009/10
The Parish Council accounts were passed by our Internal Auditors on 28 May 2010, and the Annual Return was approved by the Full Council on Monday 14 June. The Annual Return has been submitted to our external auditors, and we await the outcome of his scrutiny. The Internal Audit report makes no criticism of the accounts as such but does raise some Governance issues which will be acted upon.
The dates for the exercise of elector’s rights to inspect the accounts will be posted on the Notice Boards

NEW IDEAS FROM RESIDENTS
Arising from our consultation process on items to be included in future budgets, we have had two items raised, one each at the Annual Assembly and the meeting of the Full Council.

• To create a fund to provide for the replacement of playground assets. Current values are in excess of £60,000.
• To create a nature garden at Five Ashes to be situated at the rear of the playing field where there is a wild area of growth which would be ideal for a nature garden

HANGING BASKETS
These items remind me that our hanging basket project which has laid moribund because of lack of funding. However we have had a number of donations towards the project from

• Cllr Jayne Bramwell
• Cllr Monica Aitken
• Mayfield Chamber of Commerce
• Jenner Jones Associates

These generous donations have meant that we will soon be able to fit hanging baskets to no less than seven of our lamp posts in Mayfield High street, which we hope will not only improve the appearance of the village, but will give a much needed boost to our local economy.

These are just some of the many and varied issues which are handled by the Parish Council and mirror a month of activity. Being a Parish Councillor can be very rewarding and increasingly important. So if you are interested in joining the Parish Council please contact the Clerk at the address below. The next Parish Council election is in May 2011 – which is not that far away.