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), alternating between Buxted Reading Room, High Hurstwood Village Hall and Five Ash Down Village Hall, at 19.30. Meetings agendas are displayed one week in advance on the Parish notice boards in Buxted (on the Ionides Trust site), High Hurstwood (near The Hurstwood pub) 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, maintain public footpaths and bridleways (jointly with ESCC), 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 Buxted Reading Room, two recreation grounds (Buxted and High Hurstwood), two allotment areas in Buxted (recently re-generated) 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, Communications) and outside bodies (e.g. Ionides Trust, Buxted Community Hall Trust). 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

Report released and changes implemented by Wealden council over direct debit issue

13

January 2025

Following direct debits for Council Tax and Business Rates being taken early over the Christmas period, Wealden District Council has released the findings of an investigation report by its internal auditors into what went wrong.

The council has today also implemented recommendations made by the report of new measures that will ensure this can never happen again. This includes oversight by senior officers, extra checks, and new procedure rules. The risk of not administering direct debits correctly and on scheduled dates has also been added to the council’s risk register.

Direct debits for Council Tax and Business Rates were taken from bank accounts on 27 December 2024, rather than on 2 January 2025. The council apologised for this mistake and notified all banks on 24 December, when it first became aware of the issue and that it was unable to prevent the direct debits from being taken.

Anyone who was affected by the issue and has not yet been contacted can email localtax@wealden.gov.ukor call 01323 443 385.

The internal auditor’s investigation report concludes that the error occurred due to human error, and that new controls were needed to prevent the error or reverse it in time. This includes having two people involved in the process of scheduling direct debit payments, a practice which had stopped for unknown reasons.

The investigation report – to be discussed at the council’s Overview & Scrutiny Committee on Monday 13 January – is the first in a series of reports requested by the Wealden District Council Cabinet to understand what went wrong, and what can be done to improve things in the future. The Cabinet has also requested an independent review into the communication of this error to residents, councillors, and others.

Councillor Rachel Millward, Alliance for Wealden (Green Party) and lead councillor for Community, Culture and Communications and leader of the council said, “I want to repeat my apology for the stress and inconvenience this error may have caused to residents over the Christmas period. We are just so sorry this happened, and we are today implementing the necessary changes to ensure this never happens again.

“We took action by asking for this investigation, so that we could quickly implement its recommendations. We also know that we have more to do, such as effectively communicating with residents about these issues in the future. We do not have all the answers as to what went wrong, and so we are asking a third party to review this and recommend how we can improve.”

Councillor Daniel Manvell, Alliance for Wealden (Liberal Democrat) and lead councillor for Housing and Benefits said, “I know that many residents and businesses were deeply let down at Christmas, and I am truly sorry for this.

“I have spoken to many friends, family, and colleagues affected by this human error. They appreciate that mistakes can be made, but they also insist that systems and communication must be better. We agree, and we are committed to ensuring this by delivering improvements today and into the future.

“We are also committed to making things right for those who were affected. So far, very few people have asked us to refund any charges they have incurred, so if you find you have received any additional charges, please do email localtax@wealden.gov.uk with the subject ‘DD Error’ and we will prioritise your case.”

Notes to editors:

Between 2– 6 January the council received 443 calls of which 117 were regarding the Direct Debit issue

We received 275 pieces of correspondence regarding Direct Debits. 91% of those were seeking explanations for what had happened, confirmation that a second payment wouldn’t be taken or related to cancelled direct debit payments

To date we have had no requests for reimbursement of fees and we have received two requests for compensation

13

January 2025

ESCC Cllr Galley Monthly News January 2024

Devolution and Local Government Reorganisation

This may seem a very dry topic, but it is of immediate relevance, and it will affect us all in terms of the services we receive and the tax we pay.

On December 16^th 2024, the Government issued a White Paper on Devolution and Local Government Reorganisation.

This set out the government’s determination to establish Regional Government across the country through elected Mayors. They have also decided to abolish District and Borough Councils. They will form what are called Unitary authorities providing the full range of services currently provided by County and District Councils.

This is a White Paper which means it sets out Government intentions. It is not for consultation. Usually governments issue a Green Paper for consultation and then after knowing the consultation results, they issue a White Paper. On this occasion they went straight to a White paper.

They required an answer from County Councils by January 10^th, 2025. District and Borough Councils such as Wealden were not consulted.

The basic requirement for a Unitary authority is a population of 0.5 million people. The base line for a Mayoral authority is 1.5 million. East Sussex has just over 0.5 million people and the whole of Sussex has about 1.7 million people, so they fit well into the government model.

We can either join in the first wave or wait for the second wave. The advantages of the first wave are that locally we have a chance to shape some of the details and we are eligible for funding from the government. The disadvantage of the first wave is that the government are likely to delay the 2025 County Council elections.

On January 9^th, the County Council had a full debate on all these issues and the Cabinet, the decision making body, decided to apply for East Sussex to be included in the first wave. West Sussex and Brighton and Hove also agreed to this.

We now await the Ministerial decision.

Speed Management

County officers have reviewed speed limits on all A&B roads in the county and suggested 16 places where new speed restrictions will be put in place.

These include-

Speed limit reduction to 50 on the A272 from Buxted to Hadlow Down

Speed limit reduction to 50 at Horney Common to south of Old Forge Lane.

Modest signage and other changes on the A275 at Danehill.

Not as much as I would have liked but better than nothing.

January 10th 2024

Roy Galley. cllr.roy.galley@eastsussex.gov.uk

01825 713018