February 9, 2024
It is with profound sadness that we announced the sudden and unexpected death of one of the team. Patrick Rowe passed away on the 29th January. Although he had only been a Selsey Town Councillor for just under 9 months, he was extremely helpful 'behind the scenes' and we very much valued his knowledge and experience. Our sincere condolences to his family; we will miss him. His funeral has been organised for the 22nd February, at 12.30pm.
This is our second blog this month. Many of you share our concerns that extending Sunday parking charges in rural areas could negatively impact the local economy. Regular readers will know I have been looking into whether a budget amendment could replace the estimated £30,000 this would generate through a low cost annual Sunday permit scheme and had a meeting to discuss practicalities on Thursday with relevant Officers. Unfortunately, I learnt at the meeting that the 6-month rule will delay our being able to put anything forward until July. I also learnt that existing season ticket holders will have Sundays included and there could be capacity issues in the more popular car parks if any such scheme were to prove particularly successful. I am being sent detailed information so I can consider a wider range of possibilities, so if you have any thoughts please get in touch.
Last Saturday evening, just before 9pm, I found myself chauffeuring Donna to CDC for a Planning Committee visit to a pub in the City that wants to extend the hours it can sell drinks and vary a noise condition. The purpose of their visit was to gauge how disruptive allowing this might prove in terms of noise to residential properties nearby. I found myself, therefore, in the bizarre situation of spending my Saturday evening working in the car. Amongst her other meetings this week, Donna had CDC’s Planning Committee to consider this application on Wednesday. There was also a Sidlesham application, so Val went and spoke too, as it is within their Ward.
This week also included, on Monday, a briefing on changes to the Foreshore Service for the elected Members of STC and Selsey’s Members of CDC. Steve unfortunately had work commitments and Donna was at West Sussex. I managed to double up and listen in.
The most important meeting this coming week to tell you about is Full WSCC on Friday (the 16th at 10:30am). Donna and the rest of the Council are deciding their next budget. WSCC is expected to spend £2 billion during 2024/25 on day-to-day services and £131.6m through capital investment into areas such as schools, highways, and the environment. They reported in July last year that it was looking at ways to close a £45m budget gap for the coming year. Proposals to balance the budget include re-prioritising resources to enable reductions of £15.7m, an increase in core council tax of 2.99%, plus an additional adult social care precept of 2%.
You can find the agenda for Full Council, watch a live webcast of the meeting, or watch again at a later date, via the County Council’s website: www.westsussex.gov.uk. For the latest news and information on the council’s budget visit www.westsussex.gov.uk/Budget.
Please remember that you must soon pre-book a timed slot to visit West Sussex Recycling Centres (on the same day or up to 14 days in advance - depending on the site you choose to visit.) WSCC is also asking for your views on proposals for transport improvements along the A259 between Bognor Regis and as part of the county council’s transport plan, which includes making walking, cycling and public transport more attractive options for short trips.
Two nights of colourful laser light shows return to Chichester Canal Basin this week. This free event is being organised by CDC thanks to funding from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF). The shows will be taking place on Friday 16th and Saturday 17th at 6pm and 7.30pm. Each show will last for around 15 minutes and will be choreographed to music. As this year is the 40th anniversary of the Turner Prize named after the artist J. M. W. Turner (whose famous painting of the canal, with the Cathedral in the background, is part of the Tate Collection and located at Petworth House) the laser show will feature a visual spectrum of colours in tribute.
In the wake of the Brianna Ghey tragedy, during Half Term children will spend more time on their phones so you might like to share this interesting read about how some parents cope.
Of course, we are all potentially at risk online. Whilst you may be aware of phishing, you may not have heard of ‘smishing.’ The purpose of smishing is to steal your personal data to commit fraud or other cybercrimes. This can be done by a 'smishing' URL link which might trick you into downloading malware (malicious software) that installs itself on your phone. It can also be done by a link in a 'smishing' message which might lead to a fake site that requests you to type sensitive personal information.Most phone providers are now part of a scheme that allows customers to report suspicious text messages for free by forwarding it to 7726.
There was an unexpected need to shift some material from Littlehampton, so CDC has accepted this to avoid the risk of losing it, and will be placing it on the beach from Marine Car Park, Selsey the details of which are:
Deliveries are scheduled to begin from 20th February 2024 and last for up to 4 weeks
Around 7,500t of shingle will be deposited on the upper foreshore and spread over adjacent groyne bays. access to the deposition area will be restricted during the works, but a pedestrian route will be maintained for the duration of the works (see image below)
Deliveries will be made by road
Please keep a safe distance from the site, and be aware that there could be obstructions in the vicinity of the beach.
CDC’s Cabinet has agreed this week to appoint a specialist contractor to undertake routine maintenance of Chichester District’s coastal defence assets. The contractor will carry out work on behalf of the council over the next five years after the previous contract expired including general beach management works and emergency repairs. The contract includes an emergency call-out maintenance service that requires them to attend on site within two hours for 365 days of the year. The contractor will also undertake timber work for groyne enhancement, which is set out under the beach management plan.
We updated you last week on the briefing Coastal Partners gave to Members of Selsey Town Council about Selsey’s ageing sea defences and CDC’s decision to ask them to bid for Environment Agency funding to investigate futureproofing them to better safeguard the 1300 homes that could be at risk in the longer term. Work at Southsea is ahead of schedule, so we thought you might like to look at this article which includes drone stills of the new wall, because if the bid is successful, one day we too might have something more substantial to hold back the tides.
Another recent story we shared was the testing of Dragonfire, the experimental British laser weapon. It has improved further and brought down its first drone, as you can read here.
Finally: -
As always, from the whole Team, stay safe.
Tim
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