March 15, 2024

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Welcome once again to this week's blog and, as always, thank you for sparing the time to have a read.


The notice for the election for the vacancy in Selsey North for Selsey Town Council, caused by Patrick’s unexpected passing, we believe, will be published on March 26. The election can take place on May 2, the same day as the election for the Police and Crime Commissioner so hopefully it will cost Selsey Town Council a little less than the normal £5000 fee. Normally, under these circumstances  a co-option would take place, but as 10 residents of Selsey North requested an election, an election there will be.


The main meeting this week, ahead of next week’s Full CDC, was Wednesday’s Full STC which included considering the response sought by CDC Officers about the use of their car parks. (You can watch all public CDC meetings here and WSCC here.)  Without it being realised by CDC, Manhood Classics were using East Beach car park in Selsey for publicly advertised gatherings, at which they showed off their cars. Officers are working on a policy to address issues raised. We succeeded in getting the affected parishes (the City, Bosham, Fernhurst, Petworth, Midhurst, East Wittering & Bracklesham and Selsey) asked whether

  • They would like to see car parks used for any events or activities and if so what type of events and activities?

  • There are any events or activities that they would have concerns about?

  • They have any further comments to add on events or activities in car parks?


STC were very supportive of the continued use of CDC car parks for events, and in particular of the Manhood Classics. Their only reservations about using car parks for events were not allowing any that might damage the car park itself, any that might lead to a loss of parking space in the Summer holidays at the height of the tourist season and any that closed the entire car park for an event causing people to park elsewhere such as neighbouring streets.


The Council also held a minute’s silence in memory of Patrick and adopted several new policies, including one relating to drones and a couple of others on climate change and biodiversity.


Before we move on entirely from vintage automobiles, my school is near Brooklands, which we visited a few years ago and had a thoroughly enjoyable family day out; it was one of the locations used in Netflix’s The Crown. We intend to go back one day particularly as Autotrader has researched Google reviews and ranked it among the global top 10 for enthusiasts. 


It’s Food Waste Action Week 2024. WSCC are marking it with a campaign to get us to “Choose What You’ll Use” and buy fruit and vegetables loose. Research from Love Food Hate Waste has shown that we could reduce food waste by 60,000 tonnes just by buying loose fruit and veg! Sometimes we are in the mood for a huge potato, and sometimes we just need one carrot for our spag bol. Why let the rest go to waste? WSCC has some tips here.


If you're thinking about Easter, WSCC suggests we try and reduce waste by making home baked goods instead of buying Easter eggs for loved ones. Alternatively, we could ditch the eggs altogether and enjoy an experience this Easter instead. If you're feeling traditional don’t forget you can recycle the foil, card, and plastic Easter egg packaging in your recycling bin at home. Chocolate bar wrappers can't be recycled at home, and will need to be taken to your local participating supermarket for recycling as part of their soft plastic recycling scheme or placed in your general waste bin. 


In just one year, 1 in 17 adults were victims of fraud according to statistics in the Crime Survey for England and Wales, year ending September 2023. Do you have the knowledge and tools to help you stay ahead of scams?  “Stop! Think Fraud” is the Government's latest campaign to help you reduce your risk of becoming a victim by teaching you to spot the tactics and techniques commonly used by fraudsters. It also gives you access to practical advice and support, and provides you with steps you can take if you’ve lost money or data.


Courier Fraud is one of the most common types of fraud within West Sussex; between October and December 2023, a total of nearly £413K was lost to individuals across the county. This crime will typically happen when a fraudster contacts a victim by telephone, claiming to be a police officer, bank official or other type of authority. During the phone call they will attempt to convince the victim that they need to hand over their card, valuables, or money to a courier who is sent to their home. WSCC has lots of information available to help you avoid being caught out by courier fraud, including:


We have been keeping you updated on the bid for a grant to look into future-proofing Selsey’s sea defences by CDC, because up to a quarter of the town could be at risk in the long term. Sky News reports that according to a survey from One Home using government data, 21 villages and hamlets in England will lose more than half a billion pounds worth of residential property to coastal erosion by 2100.


As we have moved onto financial matters, it is right to remind you that although CDC collects our council tax, they only keep around 8% of it. The average taxpayer pays CDC £186.48, 77% of your council tax goes to WSCC, 11% to the Police and Crime Commissioner and around 4% to parish councils like STC. When STC consulted residents on their priorities and STC’s business plan, continuing the mobile tip (WSCC stopped paying for 3 years ago) ranked highly. This has meant, as Andrew posted at the time, that the increase in STC’s share of your 24/25 council tax is more than  it would have otherwise been. If you are struggling with the cost of living crisis, please contact CDC’s Supporting You Team.


West Sussex Fire & Rescue Service officers are keen to work with independent food premises looking to improve the management of fire safety within their businesses following a serious fire at a takeaway. The plea comes after firefighters from Shoreham, Worthing and East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service responded to a fire on Upper Shoreham Road in Shoreham on 26 December 2023 which is believed to have been started accidentally in the kitchen. Crews from South East Coast Ambulance Service also attended the incident and treated a man for smoke inhalation and burns. There is lots of fire safety information for businesses on their website, including an interactive Business Fire Safety Awareness Tool, as well as contact details for their Fire Safety team should anyone responsible for adhering to fire safety legislation wish to get in touch with them directly. West Sussex Fire & Rescue Service also offers a range of fire safety training courses for those in control of businesses or non-domestic premises to book onto,


On Monday, CDC began introducing new green waste collection rounds. Over 6,500 residents will have some changes to their green waste collection schedule and all of these households have been written to over the last 2 weeks. The changes are intended to balance CDC’s existing rounds and to add in growth capacity to certain rounds. This, they hope will provide a more resilient service as well as enable over 600 new residents to benefit from a green waste service.


A change of service of this size has required a lot of planning and modelling but even with this preparation work some issues may occur. For the first 2 weeks of the service introduction CDC has allocated additional staff to assist with any resident queries and support any missed collection that may happen. Because some residents will see a collection day change, this may mean that the initial collection may be longer or shorter than 2 weeks. If longer than 2 weeks CDC is advising residents they will collect excess green waste on the next collection day (only). You can email queries here. If you don't have CDC’s app, the new collection days can be found here.


To close, Donna posted earlier today: - 


“Met with the manager of Trussell Trust's Chichester District Foodbank today, Sarah, and had a very enlightening and interesting conversation. The Foodbank is really important,  it provides a valuable 'safety net' if people need a bit of help for one reason or another, but is there to help as part of a number of resources which can each provide different help to assist longer term. In Selsey, the Citizens Advice and Hyde regularly attend, so the Foodbank can help a lot by leveraging help from other organisations. We are fortunate here in that we are largely self-sufficient but that's only because of the generous donations from our community. Foodbank baskets are at Asda, the Co ops and the Town Hall, if you can, please drop something in - it will be really appreciated. Thank you, all.”


Finally: - 


As always, from the whole Team, stay safe.


Tim


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