The Latest - June 2008
ASBO in Storrington
The Police secured an anti-social behaviour order against Patrick Kane, aged 19, of Sullington following his conviction for threatening behaviour on 7th October 2007. Under the terms of the order magistrates found that he had acted in an anti-social manner and the following conditions have been imposed. This order applies for a period of 2 years until 5th March 2010:
Patrick Kane is prohibited from:-
- Being in a public place with any open vessel containing alcohol, save for a licensed premises.
- Entering the exclusion zones covering Riverside Walk and the Library Car Park in Storrington between 7pm and 7am.
- Providing alcohol to anyone under the age of 18.
- Congregating in a group greater than 3 people in the exclusion zone covering Old Mill Square and Old Mill Drive between 7pm and 7am.
Police Sergeant Darren Lillywhite, Steyning NST Horsham District said: “The Neighbourhood Specialist Team worked hard to prepare papers that demonstrated to the court that Patrick Kane was causing a problem in Storrington. He had failed to change his behaviour despite Police intervention and we were left with no choice but to ask for these conditions to try and improve the life of residents in Storrington. We have only asked for the conditions that are necessary to address his offending behaviour.
There have been problems with young people and alcohol in Storrington, around Old mill Square. To help combat this we have worked with licensed premises to get them to serve people over 21 years of age. It is important to stress that the whole community has a responsibility to tackle anti-social behaviour caused by alcohol. Parents should know where their children are, and what they are doing. It is not simply a matter for the Police to deal with. Licensees should act responsibly when selling alcohol and Sussex Police will continue to mount test purchase operations against those stores believed to be acting irresponsibly in the sale of alcohol. I hope that this order will not be the first in Storrington if it has the desired effect to curb anti-social behaviour. I would like to warn those young people intent on making life miserable for ordinary law abiding citizens that this type of behaviour will not be tolerated and we will use all the legal tools at our disposal to deal with you. That may include preventing you meeting friends or going to certain areas to engage in activities that you enjoy. Please, just think about the effect your behaviour has on others.”
The Gobbler Saved?
After much lobbying and many meetings of Parish, District and County Council councillors and officers, the immediate threat of cancellation of the “Gobbler” service Sunday mobile waste collection that takes place in Old Mill car park every two weeks has been removed. West Sussex County Council (WSCC) initially agreed to continue the service until September but have now extended this until next Spring and most probably beyond. The WSCC cabinet member responsible is now considering proposals made at the meetings to continue the mobile service for the foreseeable future with a focus on greatly increased recycling. In his report to the Meeting of Storrington & Sullington Parish Council on 28th May, Council Chairman, Ray Dawe, said that he was now highly optimistic about the long term future of the service. He felt that this was a result of a joint campaign by County, District and Parish council members in those villages affected. He thanked everyone in Storrington and the surrounding areas who had written or e-mailed the County Council to protest about the possible loss of the service and he felt that this had greatly helped the campaign.
Storrington and District Museum Society.
MONDAY, 14th JULY. Walk round Warminghurst Church and Village Sitewith Rodney Gunner of Worthing Archaeological Society, following his lectureon the Church and Manor last autumn. Meet at Warminghurst Church, 6:30 p.m. Tickets £3.50.
SATURDAY, 6th SEPTEMBER. Walk round the Historic Area of Church Street,Storrington,
conducted by Museum Archivist, Joan Ham, Tour of the original centre of theVillage and old buildings etc. Meet at the Museum, 2:30 p.m.
Tickets £3.50, including refreshments at the Old School.
SUNDAY, 5th OCTOBER Family History Day
Come along and find out how to trace your family history using Census
records and Parish registers. Research aids and books will be available with people to talk to.10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Old School, Storrington. Admission £2. Light Lunches and refreshments available.
Street Scene
The Team sweeps into action this spring with a big clear up of street clutter. Over fifty illegally posted signs were removed from lamp posts, trees and street furniture during the sweep. Horsham District Council recently set fixed penalty charges for a range of environmental offences and is making people aware that illegal fly posting can result in a £75 fine. Litter and graffiti can be reported by calling 01403 733144 or by email at hop.oast@horsham.gov.uk
Letter to the Editor
Sir,
I write to find out who authorised the works that have clogged up the centre of Storrington with traffic. I do not recall there being any consultation or publicity on this matter and it seems that this is simply to change a number of 1970’s lamp posts for a few Victorian looking ones and at what cost one wonders? Above all why is it being done at this time of year when the village is so busy?
Unsigned.
Editor:
The works were authorised by West Sussex County Council who jointly funded the cost of £450,000 with Horsham District Council. An initial consultation took place in June 2005 when there was a three day exhibition, attended by over 1100 people, at the Parish Hall in Thakeham Rd. The final public consultation took place in November and December 2007 when copies of the final plans were on display in the library and the Parish Hall along with reply forms for the public to use. There has also been a group that has been consulted on the plans on various occasions consisting of local County and District councillors and officers, members of the Storrington Partnership, Parish councillors and representatives of the traders and those with sight and mobility difficulties. The scheme has the unanimous support of the Parish Council. There has been considerable publicity in the local press – including in this publication- over the past several months and plans have been on the village website. The scheme is not just to change the lamp posts but to completely, level and, where possible, widen all the pavements in the High Street. This is the first time that the pavements have been entirely renovated since 1962 and the scheme is using local blocks from Thakeham Tiles so that if any work is done in future by a utility company, pavement will be replaced exactly as it was found rather than simply repaired by adding another layer of tarmac as now. There were various discussions about the best time to do the work and it was advised that it was best done after the Easter Holiday and as soon as the clocks changed to Summer Time. This would give longer daylight hours enabling some evening work and hopefully also better weather, with the aim of completion before peak summer flows of traffic.
Waitrose
The garage site and the adjoining buildings in Old Mill Drive have been sold to a developer who is working on behalf of the John Lewis Partnership, the owners of Waitrose. The plan is to build a new supermarket on the site with the aim of opening the store either late in 2010 or early in 2011. The garage area forms part of the “Storrington Diamond”, an area bounded by the High St, School Hill and Old Mill Drive, which is the subject of a special Planning brief issued by Horsham District Council (HDC). This brief sets out HDC’s guidelines and vision for future developments in the village with the aim of maintaining and where possible increasing the economic viability of the Storrington retail sector. HDC is also talking to the owners of other buildings in the diamond area in order to try and get a co-ordinated plan for redevelopment and better links between Old Mill Square and the High St shops.
Storrington needs you to call the Highway Rangers!
A new service designed to improve the street scene across West Sussex including Storrington has been launched by West Sussex County Council.
The Highway Rangers will tackle such tasks as,
• Hedge and vegetation trimming
• Clearing unsightly weeds from pavements
• Cleaning road signs
• Removing unlawful signs and fly posters
• Simple road sign repairs and removal of sign clutter
• Hand clearing drainage ditches and grips to help prevent flooding of the highway
• Clearing debris away from gully tops and small culverts
• Renovating county council street furniture, including painting and minor repairs.
If you know of any areas in Storrington & Sullington that need the attention of the Highway Rangers, contact 01243 642105, email highway.rangers@westsussex.gov.uk or give our Parish Clerk a call on 01903 746547
Chanctonbury Netball Club is looking for new members.
The club has two ladies teams playing on Mondays and/or Thursday evenings. Training sessions are held on Sundays from 5:00pm to 6:30pm at Chanctonbury Sports and Leisure Centre. Contact 01903 746070 or e-mail chanctonburynetball@yahoo.co.uk
Storrington Bowling Club,West Street, Storrington, is open to new members.
The club is renowned for its friendly welcome and expertise so why not go along (from 9:45am daily) for a trial game. Contact 01903 744809
Storrington Village Day - Saturday 28th June
A full programme of entertainment is planned including a funfair, archery, medieval display, arena events and refreshments including a beer tent and a musical evening. The event is run by the three service clubs in Storrington, Rotary, Round Table and Lions and is held on Storrington Recreation Ground from 2pm to 9pm. For details contact June Greenyer on 01903 746308 or Ken Collins on 01903 740745.
Junior Badminton
Held every Thursday from 4pm to 5pm at Chactonbury Leisure Centre. Members £3.00, Non members £4.20. Contact 01903 746070
Storrington Slammers.
Local Basketball training for anyone keen on Basketball aged 15-18. The sessions take place every Friday at Chanctonbury Leisure Centre from 6.30pm. Contact Richard on 07974 237069.
Film Night 25th June -
“Closing The Ring”
Showing at the Parish Hall in Thakeham Rd. at 7.30pm. Tickets are £5 from “The Card Centre” in the High St or on the night at the door. Contact Ken Collins on 740745.
Local Health Walks -
A regular program of walks throughout the year with this year’s Annual Walk and Picnic on Sunday 29th June. There are 2 walks on that date - one starting at 10am for a 5 mile walk (2.5hrs) and the other starting at 11am for a 3 mile walk (1.5hrs) both from Thakeham Church. The picnic will start after the walks finish at about 12.30. Bring your own food and tea and coffee will be provided. Contact Mick Denness on 745971 for more details.
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Halls for Hire
Need to hold your business meeting away from the office?
Searching for a place to run your classes?
Looking for a venue for a party?
Storrington & Sullington Parish Council have a number
of halls available for hire.
For great facilities at reasonable prices, contact the
Bookings Office on 01903 746547
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There is a vacancy for a Parish Councillor
Are you interested in helping your local community?
Keen to make a difference and to get things done? - For more information, please contact the Parish Office on 01903 746547
Storrington Area Help Scheme
It provides essential transport for all medical and dental appointments for residents of Storrington & Sullington.
Additional drivers are desperately needed. If you can spare a couple of hours a week, contact Jean Crowther on 01903 743164
Mobile Skate Park and Sports Cage, providing free access to Skateboard, Inline, BMX, and Cage Football
Sessions will be operating throughout the Horsham district this Summer. The service will operate in the evenings and at weekends and will be visiting the Chanctonbury Sports and Leisure Centre on the following dates:
Monday 28th July Tuesday 12th August
1:30 pm – 2:30 pm 10 am – 12 noon for 7 – 11 years
2:30 pm – 4:30 pm 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm for 12 – 17 years.
Horsham District Handy Van Service
Now able to offer a one-off grass cutting and shrub trimming service for a limited period and at a special rate, for people:
• Who are going into hospital.
• Who have just come out of hospital
• Who are too ill to do it themselves
• Whose usual gardener is unwell / on holiday.
For more information, new and existing clients can contact 01403 226005
Storrington & District Twinning Association –Villerest.
Have you ever wondered why ‘Place Villerest’ is in the middle of Storrington? Might it help to know that there is a ’Square Storrington’ in the centre of a medieval village, in deepest France, in the Loire Valley? You’ve made the connection? Yes, of course – Twinned Villages!
Since the mid 1990’s the relationship between Storrington and Villerest has blossomed. The aim of the SDTA is to promote friendship and understanding between the two communities by organizing Summer Exchange Groups for children, adult trips to Villerest and holding evenings of “French” interest – Films, Wine tasting, talks and so on. To find out more contact Alan Brien on 01903 744343 or Dee Smithson on 01903 744024.
Storrington Car Park Controls
In September 2006 with the support of Local District Councillors, Storrington and Sullington Parish Council, West Sussex County Council, Storrington and Sullington Community Partnership and Storrington Traders it was agreed that off-street car parking management controls be introduced to cover the Horsham District Council owned car parks at Mill Square, the Library and Monastery Lane car parks in Storrington.
The free for up to 2 hour period already exists in Old Mill Square car park and in October 2008 the possibility of buying longer parking time at 50p per hour will also become available. It is also planned to extend this system to the other two car parks at that time.
The car parks will be controlled by means of the clock card disc (as currently in use at Old Mill Square) and a new voucher system, with the clock card displaying the time of arrival in the car park and vouchers to the value of any parking charges for any stay longer than 2 hours being purchased from a nearby retailer and also displayed.
The charges in these car parks will therefore be from 8am to 6pm only : Up to 2 hours – FREE and each extra hour (to a maximum of 5 hours) 50p per additional hour. Parking controls not apply on Sundays and Bank Holidays.
In the interests of retaining as many parking spaces as possible for people visiting retail or other businesses in Storrington, parking for longer than 5 hours will not be permitted other than for permit holders.
Businesses and Qualifying Residents Parking Permit
A limited number of permits will be sold to qualifying residents living in roads close to the car parks and to businesses based in Storrington.
In relation to these permits:
• They will be issued for vehicles to park in North Street car park only.
• The initial charge for each annual permit will be £50
In addition to the permits, additional long-stay parking (free of charge) has been provided on a new site in Meadowside/Hanover Walk.
The total number of permits issued will be limited in number and businesses who would like to request permits, to a maximum of ten, should write to: Mr Jeremy Simpson, HDC Parking Service Manager, Park North, North St, Horsham, RH12 1RL
West Chiltington Silver Band Centenary Celebrations “Village Bus Tour”Saturday 5th July 2008
To celebrate its 100th birthday West Chiltington Silver Band is running a week of musical events, touring the local villages on Saturday 5th July. The Band will be stopping off to play from the top deck of a Southdown Open-Top Bus at Henry Adams Car Park in Storrington from 11.25 am until 11.50 am. The Band caters for all musical tastes, with melodies from Bach to the Beatles and Rimmer to Robbie Williams and will be collecting for the Chestnut Tree House Children’s Hospice in Arundel.
LATE NIGHT CHRISTMAS SHOPPING
The last edition of the Storrington News carried an article about this year’s late Christmas shopping night. It explained that as organizers, the Parish Council and the local traders, were trying to put on a good night for villagers to start the Christmas festivities but were faced by steeply rising costs and a shortage of helpers. Villagers were asked whether they were content that the Parish Council should commit more public funds to the event, in an effort to provide a better standard of lights and entertainment, or would they prefer costs to be contained by reducing the level of activity.
We did not get many responses. In fact we only got four. Three in favour of a reduced level of activity if that meant saving money and one in favour of spending a bit more if necessary. We also had one person who kindly volunteered to help out on the night.
As the response was so low we have decided to ask for your views again.
What about Christmas Shopping Night 2008? Storrington & Sullington Parish Council want to hear you what you think.
1. Do you think that we continue to try to hold down costs and, if necessary, reduce light displays and activities?
OR
2. Do you want your Parish Council to allocate additional funding to the Christmas Shopping Night budget for 2008?
Please let us know by ticking one of the above and returning the tear-off slip to the Parish Council office to the address on the back page. Please mark the envelope: For the attention of Chris Mason.
Please submit response as above via tear off strip in printed News letter or via comment page on this website.
Parish Council Holds Back on new Play Area
Following constant occurrences of vandalism and damage to the children's play equipment at the Sullington recreation ground, the Parish Council has decided that, despite being recently successful in getting a lottery grant of £30,000 for new equipment, it will hold back on its plans to repair and renovate this area for time being. Over the past two years the play area has been subject to constant vandalism. This has ranged from attacks on the area with chain saws and axes to - within the last few weeks- the "softpour" surface being set alight and being completely covered in graffiti. Lisa Wheatley, vice chairman of the Council's Recreation Committee and the councillor leading the project, said that the council felt that until the security improved it would simply be installing new equipment that would be rapidly vandalised and so it was holding back to see if new initiatives by the Police would help improve the situation.
Parish Council Chairman’s Report
Mr. Dawe thanked his fellow Councillors, the clerk’s office and the County and District Councillors for all their support and involvement over the past year. In particular he mentioned the Chairmen and Vice-Chairmen of Committees for the work they had done and Mrs. Worthington-Leese (Council Vice-Chairman). During the year the two Assistant Clerks (Mrs. Caruso and Mrs. Read) had left but he welcomed Miss T. Mockler as a new Assistant Clerk. He finally thanked Mr. B. Walter for his work on the council.
Unfortunately, petty vandalism continued to blight lives in the village, seemingly unabated. The village had sustained damage to numerous notice boards and to play equipment, fences, etc. In early April hooligans totally destroyed a cast iron fence at the Leisure Centre. The Council tried to find ways to combat this, but it was difficult when there was deliberate and wanton action to destroy things. The fact that Police personnel changed so often was not a help. There was no statutory obligation on the Council to engage with the Police but it did so to try and get them to do things in the village.
There had been a huge struggle to retain the Sunday Mobile waste facility which the Parish Council had been told would end in June. There had been various meeting and there was to be a further meeting just for Parish Councillors from the Chanctonbury villages and hopefully that would offer viable and acceptable alternatives. Another potential danger was having a landfill site at Rock Common. The Council was against this and fully supported Washington Parish Council, which was leading the fight.
On the positive side, Storrington was in the midst of the single biggest ever investment in the village’s infrastructure (£500,000) for a complete replacement of the High Street pavements and the installation of new street furniture. The old pavements having been laid in 1962 and 1955. The new pavements will be constructed from local blocks. It was appreciated, however, that during these works there would be considerable disruption.
There was a very strong chance that Waitrose would be coming to the village by the end of 2010 and this was a huge vote of confidence in Storrington’s commercial future. The momentum created from this right in the centre of our village should stop the likelihood of commercial decline; otherwise there could be a danger of Storrington ending up with just estate agents and charity shops and everyone shopping elsewhere, especially at out-of-town centres. It is hoped that this Waitrose move will stimulate further re-development of the aged Old Mill Square area.
There had been a degree of success to be a part of the District Council Big Lottery bid for new children’s playground equipment and £30,000 had been granted. The paperwork associated with this was cumbersome, but thanks went to Cllr Mrs. L. Wheatley for her work in this respect.
There had been a small, but welcome victory over the choice of exterior colours for the One Stop Shop at the North Street/High Street junction.
Congratulations are in order to the Storrington and Sullington Community Partnership for getting the multi-purpose centre in Church Street going and this was now a place where organizations like the Citizen’s Advice Bureau, the County Youth Service and, hopefully soon, the Police would be able to use..
Work in hand – the Council had at last (after a two-year fight) got Southern Water talking about improvements to the Storrington sewer system and providing the Council with information in this respect.
The County Council was now actively co-operating with the Council relating to measures to clean up Storrington pond and the removal of the algae that have appeared there for the last two summers due to pollution entering the pond via the County Council owned pipes. Measures are being sought to prevent further pollution.
On the allotment front, the Council had lost two of its three allotment areas in the village, but may have a solution that would actually result in an increase in allotment availability and these ideas would be unveiled very shortly. The Riverside Walk extension was soon to get under way.
It was excellent that Storrington was chosen as the West Sussex Village of the Year in its category. Special thanks in this respect go to Mr. A. Read for all the work he put into this.
For four years now the Council has been maintaining the Parish proportion of Council tax at below or at the level of inflation. Considerable costs savings were made when the two Councils came together. While the Council clearly had cost control as a priority, it would be interesting to see how much longer this low level of increase could be achieved as costs rose out of proportion to general inflation and more demands were placed upon it.
Storrington & Sullington Parish Council
Receipts and Payments account –
Financial year 1st April 2007 – 31st March 2008
Opening Balance as at 1st April 2007 £227,653
Plus: Receipts £428,629
Less: Payments £506,463
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£149,819
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