March Report to Hailsham Town Council

27th March 2024

• Our £538 million 2024/25 County budget passed on February 7th with no cuts to services, and a modest drawdown from reserves. Further additional Highways spend is being explored, although budget pressures from social care (esp. children’s), SEND & Home to school transport are intense.

• In February, the County Council was praised by Ofsted for its support for children and families. The help, protection and care children and young people are receiving from East Sussex County Council earned the authority an overall ‘good’ rating, while inspectors found the experiences and progress of children in care to be ‘outstanding’.

• A campaign to encourage more people to consider fostering for their local authority was highlighted at East Sussex County Council’s Full Council meeting on 6 February. Councillors received a fostering tool kit containing posters and leaflets about the East Sussex Fostering Service, which they were asked to distribute and display across the county to promote local authority fostering. The fostering recruitment film, entitled ‘Any of Us’, was also shown at the meeting. The film was produced last year by a partnership of over 80 councils and children’s trusts to promote in-house fostering and aims to show that ‘any of us’ could foster and make a positive difference to a child’s life. For more information on fostering with East Sussex County Council and to view the film ‘Any of Us’, visit the council’s website. Online information sessions about the fostering process are available, as well as in person pop-up events across the county. If you’d like to know more, visit the links above or call 01323 464129.

• Burfield Academy in Oaklands Way has been a point of local focus this last month with regards to the STEP Academy’s planning application to abandon the kiss-and-drop planning condition on the site. The application was rejected by the Planning Committee on the advice of officers. The Committee asked the Academy to go away and rethink the detail of its application. I have had discussions with Councillor Murphy and Councillor Standley, the Education portfolio holder, post the planning committee meeting to explore a way forward.  I’ve requested the following:

1. Reassurance that council officers are seeking clarity from the Academy around their intentions with respect to the Oaklands Way site and how STEP Academy intends to deliver local education services longer term. 
2. An open-door commitment from the county council planning team to consider any alternative proposals from the STEP Academy to address a solution to the highway’s safety issues regarding the Oaklands Way site. 
3. An update from the Education portfolio holder once officers have talked with the STEP Academy
4. A meeting between Cllr Standley, myself and Cllr Murphy once we have more concrete information from the Academy. Cllr Standley has already offered dates for this meeting.

• The ESCC A22 MRN bid remains with DfT awaiting an internal and then ministerial decision. The application was delayed last year by multiple lines of clarificatory questions from Active Travel England & DfT. They have had our answers since early October. ESCC have chased DfT.

• The Ersham Road/South Rd/Diplocks Way roundabout schedule was delayed slightly by the handover between highways contractors in May 2023. It is now with the Balfour Beatty design team (design scheduled for completion late summer 2024). The initial design is also being reviewed to ensure that it can accommodate longer trailers (18.55m vs 16.5m max); additionally, detail associated with relocation of the substation and off-street parking are being explored.

• Diplocks Way resurfacing is scheduled to commence April 2nd to May 3rd Works will include surfacing, associated ironwork adjustments, jointing, kerb repairs, hedge cutting and road marking refreshments. From Tuesday 2 April – Friday 19 April, the road will be closed between 7pm and 7am to minimize disruption to businesses in the area. The team will be working between the Diplocks Roundabout and the junction with South Road. Traffic will be diverted via South Road, A22 Hailsham Bypass & vice versa. From Monday 22 April – Friday 3 May, the road will remain open to through traffic with temporary traffic signals in place between 7pm and 7am.

• Amnesty for missing library books begins: Residents are being urged to check their homes for overdue books as the East Sussex Library Service launches its annual amnesty. In a bid to recover some of the missing titles, the service will waive fines until the end of March. Books can be returned to any East Sussex library during opening hours – alternatively, most libraries have drop boxes for out of hours returns. Details of East Sussex libraries, information about renewing books and access to online library services can be found on the council’s website. Read more about this story here.

• Highways & Potholes: We have had more than double the normal number of gangs working on the highway – 30+ gangs, including 10 additional traffic management crews. Our new contractor, Balfour Beatty, are continuing to focus on clearing potholes across the county (they have repaired well over 23,000 since taking over the contract last May; 2,300 in January & nearly 4,000 in February). Due to the very wet winter weather conditions (the worst since 1836), some potholes have deteriorated into small patches which require more material and greater traffic management, this means some repairs initially are temporary – and should be marked with a 'T'. As of 26th February, two additional patching gangs were deployed to carry out urgent larger patch repairs, with a jet patching unit in operation a month earlier than planned to target urgent repairs in areas requiring more extensive work to prevent further deterioration, If members of the public (or councillors) come across potholes not marked for repair, that appear to meet intervention criteria, we encourage them to report them so that they can be assessed, prioritised and attended to. Remember the stewards cover over 2,000 miles of road.

• This 2023/24 financial year, we’ve injected an additional £15.7 million into Highways, taking the entire budget to nearly £50 million – doubling what we spend on maintenance vs 2020/21. We’ll be exploring further one-off spending opportunities in 2024/25 if the evolving budget position allows.

• Streetlights: Town Councillors will be aware of the ongoing regular dialogue between ESCC Highways and the Town Council regarding a substantial number of defective streetlights (mainly owned by the Town Council). The monthly review/prioritisation process seems to be working well. I’m happy to support if any blockages to progress are encountered by residents or the Town Council.

• British Sign Language interpreting service launched: East Sussex residents can now contact the council using British Sign Language (BSL). The council has launched an initial six-month trial of the BSL interpreting service, SignLive, to ensure more residents can access the help and support they need. SignLive enables people to connect with an interpreter via a video call who will then call the council and relay the conversation between BSL and English. Calling the council using SignLive is free, and the service can be accessed via a desktop computer or laptop with a webcam, microphone and speakers, or via an app on a smartphone or tablet. Residents visiting council offices in Lewes, Eastbourne and Hastings will also be able to use SignLive to communicate with staff. More information on SignLive, including how residents can register for the service, is available on the East Sussex County Council website. More about this story can be found here.

• Progress made on the building of a new Sussex mental health hospital: A 54-bed hospital in Bexhill, called Combe Valley, is set to open next year. It will provide modern, high-quality care for people who may be experiencing serious mental health problems, emotional crises, or severe distress which cannot be treated in the community. This story was published in The Argus.

• Call for volunteers to support people preparing for later life:

East Sussex County Council’s Life Transitions Service is looking for volunteers who can build friendly and trusting relationships and who want to play a part in improving lives. The pilot project aims to help people prepare for significant changes that occur in later life such as retiring, moving home, and changes to health and mobility. Volunteers will need to complete an interactive training programme before they can meet clients in person or online and will receive ongoing support. They will be asked to commit to being a Life Transitions Service volunteer for at least six months and agree to dedicate around half a day a week to the role. Anyone interested in becoming a volunteer can find out more information about the role by emailing:

[email protected] or calling 07724 287034. Read more about this story here.

Gerard Fox

County Councillor

Hailsham New Town

Conservatives