OWLSBURY

Most residents will now be aware of the proposal to build 1700 houses west of the A22 between Isfield, Piltdown and Little Horsted.

There are very good reasons to oppose this;

The accumulated housing in our area from this and other developments is totally unsustainable.
The roads could not cope with the traffic even if the proposed inadequate dualling of the A22 were to go head.
The consequent water and sewage problems would be horrendous,
It would adversely affect Ashdown Forest, take good agricultural land and destroy Ancient Woodland.

If you can please object before June 22nd on the Wealden Council planning site.
Application no WD/2025/0922/MEA

CIVIC DUTIES

At the County Council meeting on May 22nd, I was pleased to be re-elected as Chairman of the County Council for another year.

This is a purely ceremonial post similar to that of our local mayors. It is the civic head for East Sussex. It is unfortunate that the term Mayor is being used for different roles. Traditionally it has been a non-executive ceremonial role but, of course, now we are discussing electing an executive Mayor for Sussex which is an entirely different concept. This can lead to some confusion

An important part of the job is to chair the Council meetings and then to represent the County at events from Royal visits to Town and Parish events.

On June 4th I attended the Visit England National Awards. This was quite inspirational. The visitor and tourist economy is important for us and I look forward to supporting the local partnership which is aiming to support this sector in Sussex. I will soon be going to encourage a local project in Bexhill and then attending the King’s Awards for Voluntary Service in Eastbourne.

PETITIONS

Another role of the Chairman is to accept petitions. Then I must decide if they are to be passed on for officers and lead members to consider. Usually this is straightforward, and they relate to issues like road safety within the Council’s remit. We had a recent petition asking that East Sussex “divest the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) and end procurement contracts, with companies enabling Israel’s grave violations of Palestinian rights.”

This was difficult because the Council has no influence on foreign affairs. The County Council is distinct from the Pension Fund and then the Pension Fund itself does not directly invest. The main concern, of course, is that the pensions of some 88000 pensioners ae affected by where funds are invested and the duty is to ensure the best return for pensioners.