Quite Refreshing

 

It is important we start this week with our thanks for all the messages of support and encouragement you have been giving us. We have refreshed our website, in the hope it is easier for you to navigate.

The Easter holidays are over across the country this weekend - I returned to the classroom on Tuesday because Surrey broke up a week earlier than our local schools. I know this has helped our hospitality industry and several independent traders because the holidays have been spread across three weeks. 

This is a good time of year to help bees and other pollinators, as this advice from RHS explains. You might also be interested to read why Milland and South Harting are now the most expensive villages in Sussex and apparently some personality traits appear to be linked to cognitive impairment. If you like a scenic walk don't forget the woods at Slindon. 

Life increasingly feels like it is getting back to pre-Covid times, even though it has not gone away: last weekend we went back to the cinema for the first time in over 2 years, and saw Operation Mincemeat, the new interpretation of The Man who never was. 

This coming week it could be worth checking your City/Town/Parish Council website. There is less scheduled at CDC and WSCC which allows others to schedule things, e.g. Selsey has its Annual Town Meeting on Tuesday. 

From Monday, anyone travelling to the Peninsula should be warned that the B2144 roadworks on Ferry Bend between Sidlesham and Selsey are back. The traffic lights will be manually operated during peak hours for this final phase of work. The contractor knows this is critical as the first time they commenced work on Ferry Bend the traffic lights failed and the sub-contractor left the site to get new ones, instead of requesting a new set were delivered to site whilst traffic was manned. They don’t want to create this scenario again.

CDC has a Community Safety Partnership, which closely monitors crime rates, anti-social behaviour issues and community tensions, so that they can quickly provide a multi-agency response and put solutions in place. Their partners include Sussex Police, West Sussex County Council, West Sussex Fire and Rescue, Sussex Police and Crime Commissioner, Western Sussex Primary Care Trust, West Sussex Drug and Alcohol Action Team, and Sussex and Surrey Probation Service. Collectively, they deliver projects that aim to make a positive difference within our communities. One example of this is the introduction of a mobile support unit, which has been introduced to make women feel safer at night, operating in Chichester City centre two nights a week between the hours of 10pm and 2am.

 

The partnership also attends community events, so they can talk to residents directly and find out about any community safety issues they may be concerned about. Collectively, they are working on a plan that identifies priorities over the coming year. This includes looking at actions that will tackle anti-social behaviour; rural crime; serious violence; cybercrime; safeguarding and tackling vehicle crime and shoplifting.

 

If you have any concerns that you wish to raise, please get in touch with them.

In regards to Ukraine, there is a link near the bottom of our main website homepage, between our main Facebook and Twitter feeds.

Finally: -

• Apply for or renew your Blue Badge here. 

• Festival 2022 is on at Chichester Festival Theatre.

• CDC’s guide on  the help they provide.

• CDC’s Meetings, and WSCC's. 

As always, from the whole Team, stay safe.

Tim