Pleased to say that there are now nine Green Party councillors on Horsham District Council following the byelection victory of Gill Perry, who is an active Parish councillor in Henfield. (The byelection was brought about by the untimely death of the previous independent incumbent, Malcolm Eastwood.)
I look forward to Gill's green contributions to the District over the next 3 years, and hopefully more!
Finally, after 5 years work spanning all the time I've been a district councillor, on 11 December HDC finally agreed a Regulation 19 Local Plan for consultation and subsequent submission to the Planning Inspectorate. As I said in the meeting (around 5hrs 20min), no plan is perfect, but should be the best in current circumstances.
It is now up to the Planning Inspectorate to weight up the plan and all its supporting documents, along with the comments from the public consultation (which closes on 1 March 2024): with a bit of luck and a fair wind we might have a made plan by mid-2025. What could possibly go wrong?
This FB post by our county councillor is potentially (ie until the next County elections in 2025) the end of community ambitions for a 20 mph speed limit across the residential and commercial areas of Steyning and the Maudlin area of Bramber. (The historic area of Bramber and the vast majority of Upper Beeding already has a 20 mph speed limit.)
It might be worth examining the last paragraph of that FB post, viz: 'My view was that residents' had to have their say on the matter, and I hope those who did not get what were hoping for with this proposal, will acknowledge that a democratic process has been followed...' It has been estimated, in the absence of any hard data, that less than 200 residents responded to Cllr Linehan's survey (which was promoted by the Conservative Party, and asked for your name, address and likely voting intensions). The 2021 residents survey, promoted by a non-political community working party and supported by both Steyning and Bramber parish councils, raised 1511 responses (with checks carried out to confirm results were not being skewed by individuals making multiple responses) and resulted in a just under 2:1 majority for an area wide scheme.
This begs the question: which was more democratic?
Don't wish to scare anyone, but if you take the data from the recent JA-55 temperature anomaly graph for 2023
At its first full working council meeting on 21 June 2023, HDC finally accepted that there is a Climate and Ecological Emergency (at 55 minutes in, despite the vocal protestations from the Tory opposition)! Evidence for my 'not fast enough' view comes from Climate Emergency UK's scorecard for Horsham District - we should have done better.
As I said in May, we hear what the new administration is saying, now for the hard bit...
Or in this case, canvassing! Seems to have worked though, as we now have two new councillors in Steyning and Ashurst ward, so three in total in the Bramber Castle county division. This 'gang of three' is now part of an 8 member Green group on Horsham DC (joining Joan, Claudia and Emma in Storrington & Washington ward, with Len and Jon in Pulborough, Coldwaltham & Amberley).
How things have changed since 2019 when Bob & I first journeyed to Horsham for our first council meeting! The balance of power is now firmly with the LibDems (28 of the 48 seats) and it was a pleasure to hear the new leader saying that tackling the joint challenges of the Climate Emergency and associated Biodiversity Crisis will be an immediate priority, and an 'ever present consideration in all that we do'. Words that he will be held to in the months and years to come.
As a counterpoint to some of my gloomier posts, I was given a pictorial reminder yesterday of just how keenly nature is intent on undoing mankind's infrastructure.
The context was cutting back a roadside fallen dead tree (previously it had just been cut back to the edge of the tarmac following its demise), and its accompanying shrubbery (mostly privet and brambles).
As work progressed I noticed an upright metal pole appearing out of the depths, and then another:
There is, of course, a political aspect to this, as WSCC are responsible for this land, as part of the public highway, and Highways revenue budget has been more than halved in real terms over the last decade (it might have picked up a little very recently). You get what you pay for (and I didn't mention potholes once).
