Author: Parish Clerk

Parish Element of the Council Tax

Council tax bills will soon be coming through letterboxes and, as you are aware, the overall bill is made up of several component parts: some goes towards the provision of District & County Council Services, some towards Police and Fire services and some, more locally, towards the services that the Parish Council provides.

This year, the Parish Council has taken the decision to increase the Parish element, both to help cover rising costs and, predominantly, to give a budget for us to continue to employ planning consultants to help fight the large-scale speculative developments that Wivelsfield is being beset by.

We have not taken this decision lightly but, having seen the strength of feeling against the recent 150 homes application (as evidenced by a strong turnout at a public meeting last November, plus the sheer number of local objections on the Lewes District Planning portal), the Parish Council believes that employing specialist planning consultants to put together detailed and robust representations, highlighting the ways in which such developments would be contrary to planning policy and would damage and place greater strain on the community, is necessary, to seek to protect the identity of  Wivelsfield Green as a village.

The monetary increase for the Parish element will be equal to just over 50p per week, for a Band D property.

Grant Applications Invited

Each year, Wivelsfield Parish Council gives a small number of grants to local (Wivelsfield-based) groups and organisations, to support their activities.  Our grants budget is relatively modest, so the Parish Council is keen to offer grants to support activities/initiatives which specifically benefit local people and which groups may otherwise be unable to offer.

If you belong to a group which serves local people and may benefit from a small grant, please click on the Grants Policy below, which gives further details, includes an application form and indicates the supporting information that needs to be provided.

Grant Awarding Policy 

The deadline for applications is Tuesday 25th February 2025. 

Applications will be considered at our Parish Council meeting on 3rd March, for payment in the new (2025-26) financial year.

Lewes Local Plan Consultation Drop-In Events

Lewes District Council is running a series of drop in consultation events on the emerging Local Plan, with the nearest to Wivelsfield taking place at Newick Village Hall, this coming Saturday (1 Feb), from 10am – 1pm.
Please go along to find out more about how this important document will help to shape the future of the Lewes District, talk to planning officers and find out how to give your views.
If you’re not free to attend this event, please go along to any of the remaining ones (shown below), as the information on display will be the same at each. Alternatively, go online to find out more at https://www.lewes-eastbourne.gov.uk/lewes-local-plan
The Local Plan consultation period runs until Friday 28th February.

Planning Update

The Parish Council has engaged a firm of planning consultants to draw up representations on its behalf, against the Taylor Wimpey planning application for 150 homes south of Green Road.

Last week, the consultants submitted two letters to Lewes District Council (LDC).  The first, in response to application LW/24/0803, argued that the information which Taylor Wimpey has provided is insufficient to allow LDC to determine whether or not an Environmental Impact Assessment should be required for this site.

The second, in respect of application LW/24/0820, requested that, owing to missing documents, LDC invalidates the application until such time as these documents are received and then restarts the clock on the public consultation.  If LDC is not willing to do that then, owing to problems with the LDC website – which had made accessing the planning documents difficult until last week – the consultants have asked that LDC at least resets the clock on the consultation period.

It appears that the consultation period deadline has now been extended to 18th February.

Residents are strongly encouraged to submit their views about application LW/24/0820, via the Lewes District Council website, or by writing to / emailing the Planning Department.

Lewes District Local Plan Webinar

This Tuesday 14 January Lewes District Council will be holding a webinar and Q&A for anyone interested in hearing about our current stage of consultation over the Lewes District Local Plan, from 5pm to 6.30pm.

We’ll hold this on Zoom – the link for the session can be found on our website at Lewes District Local Plan consultation – Lewes and Eastbourne Councils. You can also find details of all in-person events on this page.

We’ll make a recording of the webinar available on our website once it has ended, for anyone unable to attend live.

For this current phase of consultation, we are asking residents to focus their feedback on:
– Early site allocation proposals
– Themes and policies of the plan

The current phase of consultation focuses on sites within towns and a limited number of villages. There will be a further stage of consultation later in the year that will have a greater emphasis on more rural parts of the district, while also re-evaluating areas considered during phase one.

Citizens Advice Drop In Advice Sessions

The Lewes District Citizens Advice are offering drop in sessions in the Renshaw Room of Wivelsfield Village Hall. The sessions are 10.30am until 1pm on the following dates:

Monday 27th January

Monday 10th February

Monday 24th March

Monday 28th April

Monday 19th May

Monday 9th June

Lewes District Local Plan consultation set for New Year launch

Residents across Lewes district are being encouraged to take part in the latest stage of consultation on Lewes District Council’s Local Plan.
Local plans set out where future development will take place, such as new homes and locations for business growth, as well the local policy requirements against which future planning applications will be judged.
A first phase of consultation that will run from Monday 6 January 6 to Saturday 28 February 2025. Phase one of the consultation is on the detailed policies for the plan area and will consider sites within towns and a limited number of villages. The second phase will take place later in 2025 and have a greater emphasis on more rural parts of the district, while also re-evaluating areas considered during phase one.
Residents can choose from a range of different ways to engage with the consultation. This will include an online webinar that will take place early in the New Year and a series of in-person drop-in events that will begin towards the end of January 2025.
For more information about the Local Plan consultation and schedule of events is available at https://www.lewes-eastbourne.gov.uk/Lewes-Local-Plan

Have you completed your Housing Needs Survey for Wivelsfield Parish Council?

Everyone in the parish should have received a Housing Needs Survey. This can be completed and returned freepost or done online. This is important to complete as it will help with the development of the next revision of the Neighbourhood Plan.

Although the deadline for the Survey has passed, it is still possible to submit a response between now and the end of December and the Parish Council encourage you to do so please. The link to complete this survey online is www.surveymonkey.com/r/RB9JVQK