Buxted Parish Council

Buxted Parish Council came into being in 1894 when the present system of Parish Councils was instituted to give rural communities a voice. Buxted Parish covers some 7,000 acres with an electorate of about 2,500 out of a population of 3,200. It encompasses the villages of Buxted, High Hurstwood and Five Ash Down.

The parish is divided into two wards – Buxted/Five Ash Down (10 councillors) and High Hurstwood (5 councillors). Councils are elected for a term of 4 years. Council meetings are held on the second Tuesday in every month (except August and January), alternating between High Hurstwood Village Hall and Five Ash Down Village Hall, at 19.00. Meetings agendas are displayed one week in advance on the Parish notice boards in Buxted (on the Ionides Trust site), High Hurstwood (outside the village hall) and in Five Ash Down (outside the Village Hall) and on the website. The agenda includes a list of any planning applications received from Wealden District Council for consultation. All meetings of the Council and its committees are open to the public, who are welcome to ask questions or raise issues with the Council before the meetings formally begin.

An early requirement was to provide allotments, which we do. Councils can also support arts and crafts; contribute to maintenance of churchyards; protect commons, provide buildings for public meetings, functions and entertainment, provide footway lighting (we don’t), provide and maintain public open spaces, and comment on planning applications.

We also take an active interest in highways matters, policy and our environment (e.g. trees and hedgerows). More and more we have to comment on government policies for local government and voice our electors’ concerns.

Parish assets include two recreation grounds (Buxted and High Hurstwood), two allotment areas in Buxted and High Hurstwood, children’s play areas in Buxted and High Hurstwood, and two bus shelters. The budget is set annually over the period October to December. Planned expenditure less income forms the ‘Parish Precept’ which is levied as part of annual Council Tax. Apart from meeting general running expenses of the council – specifically employing our Parish Clerk – the council makes grants to local organisations and contributes to local projects e.g. Buxted Traffic calming.

The Parish Council recognises the burden of Council Tax but is also conscious of local needs for improvements in the Parish that increasingly are not being covered by either County or District as they seek to keep within national government budgets. Before increasing Precept to cover costs of local improvements such as the recent traffic calming, the Parish Council ensures that such improvements are what our electorate want and are prepared to pay for.

Councillors sit on various committees (e.g. Finance & Planning) and outside bodies (e.g. Ionides Trust, village hall committees). Each keeps an eye on different parts of the Parish, e.g. for planning purposes and trees.

Our Parish Clerks, Beccy Macklen & Claudine Feltham (01435 515219) clerk@buxted-pc.gov.uk, who act as the Council’s ‘proper officers’ on the Council’s behalf and under its direction.

Latest Parish News

Buxted Symphony Orchestra Winter Concert

04

November 2025

Buxted Symphony Orchestra Winter Concert

Buxted Symphony Orchestra Winter Concert

Saturday 29th November at 3.00 pm
St Margaret’s Church, Buxted Park, TN22 4AY
Tickets £15 (card/cash) at the door (Students & U18s free) or £14 in advance (cash only) from Gale & Woolgar, High Street, Uckfield
Interval refreshments available, with all donations going to The Bevern Trust
Programme:

Salieri: Falstaff Overture
Bottesini: Double Bass Concerto No. 2 (Soloist - Karena Tam)
Brahms: Variations on a Theme by Haydn (St. Anthony Variations)
Bizet: Symphony in C major

03

November 2025

Crowborough Training Camp - further information

A further update from WDC Cllr Graham Shaw:

Dear Buxted residents,

Further to my earlier email I wanted to share a letter (below) we have sent to the Home Office, which further explains the appalling way they have treated local people and outlines our opposition to the proposals. I urge you to read it.

Some local MP’s and local politicians seem intent on blaming Wealden. Personally, I am disappointed at their lack of integrity and pursuit of narrow political gain. From the letter, you can see how all local organisations and communities have been badly let down.

As I said last week it is time to stopengaging in misleading and divisive rhetoric and work constructively in partnership to seek clarity, build community cohesion and keep all members of our community safe:

To:

Mike Tapp MP Minister for Migration and Citizenship Home Office 2 Marsham Street London SW1P 4DF

By email: mike.tapp.mp@parliament.uk / public.enquiries@homeoffice.gov.uk

Re: Use of Crowborough Army Training Centre (Crowborough Camp) as alternative asylum accommodation

We are writing to state our strong objection to the decision you have taken to use Crowborough Army Camp as a temporary location for 600 asylum seekers, because the dire mismanagement of the situation is already causing major problems, and because we simply do not have information to reassure us that the wellbeing and safety of both asylum seekers and local communities will be properly safeguarded.

As you know, our Council was not told that you had made this decision until after the news was leaked to the press. Along with East Sussex County Council we received a strictly confidential briefing on 10th October in which our officers learned that you were considering using the Camp. We raised significant concerns about the suitability of the site, but we were told that any decision about its use was a matter for you, and you alone, as Minister.

Following that briefing we wrote to you and highlighted various concerns - quite clearly accommodating 600 men on one site with no right to work brings significant risks. We had concerns about staffing resource at the camp, about police provision and about the additional strain on already over-stretched public services. Crucially, we clarified that it would be essential for the Home Office to communicate any plans properly and meaningfully with local residents. We requested you engage with all relevant public sector partners, e.g. with the Town Council, relevant stakeholder groups, local MPs, the voluntary sector and the local community itself. We were assured this would happen. We were told we would be able to meet you on site so that, as local leaders, we could discuss concerns ahead of your decision.

Your team assured us that all of this would happen and that a proper plan for community engagement would be shared prior to any decision being taken by you or any announcement made. Yet you announced your decision on Monday without having met any of those commitments. This is an act of bad faith.

Since your unilateral decision was unceremoniously leaked, worried residents have inundated the Council and individual councillors with letters and emails raising significant and valid points of concern. We take no account of any racist or politically motivated communications that have also been received. Local MPs are outraged that you chose not to tell them in advance and are repeatedly sharing misinformation about our involvement. Local stakeholders are angered by the complete lack of communication or consultation.

We note your position that you can use the relevant provision in the General Permitted Development Order 2015 to circumvent the need to make a formal planning application to this council. Your commitment to public engagement is an acknowledgement that consultation was necessary in practice despite not being required in law. It is therefore regrettable – putting it mildly – that you reneged on that commitment.

We observed your request for confidentiality only to see this breached by a leak to the media which we trust is being investigated. Did it come from within the Home Office? The leak resulted in an increase in community tensions, and the spread of misinformation. This has escalated to threats to personal wellbeing of council leadership. These tensions will only continue to rise as we get nearer the proposed opening of the site.

Please do not underestimate the gravity of the situation here. The Home Office’s lack of presence locally is lamentable. Given your and your team’s total failure to keep the promises made and the now obvious consequences of that failure, it is essential that you reverse your decision.

Yours sincerely

Cllr James Partridge

Leader of the Council and Governance, Waste and Local Economy Portfolio Holder

Cllr Rachel Millward

Deputy Leader of the Council and Culture, Community Portfolio Holder