Education Cuts will undermine successful local schools

The Government are proposing as part of the budget settlement to cut in real terms the amount that gets spent on education in local schools. They will say that in money terms they propose to spend more on education but this is playing with words and more importantly with children’s education.

They want to spend money on their pet project of creating free schools and grammar schools. They are funding this by taking the money out of good local schools.

We don’t need a change to our system locally – schools are pretty good in West Sussex. Standards are good and the last thing that Head Teachers want is a cut of 8% or more in their annual budget by 2019. Yet that is precisely what is being proposed by the Tories.

For instance the cuts would mean £150,366 cut in annual budget for Harlands Primary – £358 per pupil equivalent of 4 teachers being cut.

For Warden Park Academy the cut would be £401,948 cut in the annual budget – £271 per pupil, equivalent of losing 10 teachers.

Richard Bates says, “This is unnecessary, unfair and is strongly opposed by the Liberal Democrats. The Tories at the County Council should be fighting these cuts not pretending that they aren’t happening”

You can check out what it means for your school here

Resident’s Survey – tell me your views

I have recently launched a survey of local people so that you can tell me and the Liberal Democrat team your views on local and national issues.

If you want a copy then you can download one here.

SurveyA SurveyB3

When completed you can scan and email back to me or post back to the freepost address on the survey – please remember to tell us you address etc for a response.

Thank you for letting me know what matters to you.

Concerns about the Inspector’s decision on the Mid Sussex District Plan

Mid Sussex Planning and Housing Fiasco

Residents will be concerned to hear that the Inspector has turned down the District Council’s plan.

The ongoing absence of an approved plan means that the council misses out on developer money to put towards the local infrastructure. This money would help pay for local services, transport, communications, leisure and other amenities. The amount of money is considerable – about 6 times the yearly council tax revenue in one go… So at least £10,000 per new home. The council has not had an approved plan for over 7 years and at least 1,000 new homes have been built in the time – so over £10 million has been lost to local people through the council’s failure.

The lack of a plan means that the homes built don’t count towards the eventual housing target – when that is finally agreed.

This lack of a plan also means that the area remains vulnerable to speculative housing development and is therefore of considerable concern to all local residents. Obviously speculators will be keener to build here as they don’t have to contribute to the developer money…

Resolving this issue as a top priority should be the Council’s objective, instead they seem to be in disagreement with the inspector.

One last point is that the neighbourhood plans that each parish and town has been working on will sadly need to be changed in due course to reflect the new homes built in the interim and to accommodate the new housing targets.

Local Business Rates

The increases in business rates which are hitting local businesses are of grave concern. Already several small retailers have left South Road and the drastic rises in costs for some small shops will put more pressure on those that remain.

Liberal Democrats want to see more done to support local traders and to help keep a lively and vibrant town centre. We believe that the Council could do more to help.

Support the case for business rates relief – lobby the government to help
Support the business community through a more flexible approach on car parking charges
Provide better support to business in Mid Sussex with more resource for economic development

Wivelsfield Road Crossing Needed

Richard, Christine, Rohan and Amanda with petition

Following a recent accident and several other incidents local councillors Richard Bates and Christine McLean are calling on the County Council to make Wivelsfield Road safer with a controlled crossing.

Local mum, Amanda and her son, Rohan are supporting the campaign
after Rohan was hit by a car when crossing to go to school. Cllr Richard bates says, “Wivelsfield Road is a main through route and we need a proper crossing for users of the shops and kids going to school so everyone can cross safely.”

Cllr Christine McLean says, “The Sainsbury’s local is a welcome addition in our area but we’ve observed huge problems with cars going in an out and traffic build up in Wivelsfield Road, so a crossing would help that and make it safer for pedestrians to cross.”

Please sign the petition and send it back to us…
Wivelsfieldpet
Download our special FOCUS
WivelsfieldSpecial

For more information or to help with the campaign contact Cllr Christine McLean on cv.m@btinternet.com Tel 454093

Get the drainage diverted in Bruce Close

Cllr Richard Bates surveys the new kerb and drain that’s keeping homes dry in Bruce Close

A few months back one of my ward residents got in touch because their home was being flooded with rain water rushing off Bruce Close. I have been following this up with the local councils and am pleased to say that its now been blocked with a new kerb and drain to stop the water. As you can see from the picture the road way is much higher than the ground where the house is located.