Parish Meeting – 21st March 2023

The Parish Meeting (which, it must be stressed, is NOT a meeting of the Parish Council) is a forum for local government electors to discuss parish affairs and to pass resolutions on them, although such resolutions are not binding on the Parish Council. As this Parish has a Parish Council, it is the Council’s Chairman who must convene the meeting and, if present, chair it. This year’s Parish Meeting will be held on 21st March at 8pm in the King Edward Hall. The Agenda will be on the Parish Council’s notice board in Denmans Lane nearer the time, as well as on our website (www.lindfieldparishcouncil.gov.uk).

Black Hill School Parking

“…it’s easy to solve, just put some pieces of concrete on the verge and paint them white…” Many have expressed concern at the damage to the verge, blocking of the road and potential danger to school children on Black Hill. All seem to agree that it needs to be addressed, but how? History - possible reasons and ‘it was different in my day’
• No one seems clear on how or why the problem started approximately 18 months ago. The best guess is that someone stopped there one day for a drop-off or pick-up, and others quickly followed.
• Many remember the ‘turning circle’ in previous years, where vehicles could enter the school, drop the children off and leave. The expansion of the school has meant that this space has been built over and is no longer available.
• West Sussex County Council (WSCC) manage the provision of school places on a demand-led basis. On-site parking or delivery is not a decisive part of that decision making and the on-site parking is insufficient for all the school’s staff.
• The school has tried a ‘kiss and drop’ approach within its car park but some drivers chose to stop and chat, blocking the area. The Principal was spending significant time trying to direct drivers, with some simply ignoring instructions and making the task impossible.
• The school should tell the parents to walk / not to park on Black Hill etc. The school has no authority over behaviour on the highway. ‘It wasn’t like that in my day, they should walk like we did.’ The reality is that all have different lifestyles, work and home pressures and expectations, it is not realistic to seek to impose the same behaviour on all; nor would most of us want that.

Looking forward and what can be done. Potential solutions include white wooden posts like those elsewhere on the common, small concrete markers, grasscrete in the verges, and yellow lines on Black Hill, along with ‘why doesn’t the council’ just get on with it. Neither Lindfield Parish Council nor Mid Sussex District Council have responsibility for highways (roads and footpaths), any solution must be approved by WSCC Highways, and meet national highways standards. Grasscrete is unattractive as it simply formalises the parking. WSCC are not in favour of the small concrete markers and both these and wooden posts would have to be placed 450mm away from the edge of the highway. That distance leaves the possibility of parking on the verge edge, and the concern is that drivers would simply park in the road, increasing the disruption for other traffic. With posts, there are cost implications, mowing the verge becomes far more labour-intensive, with manual strimming rather than mowing. Strimming damages the posts over time, with maintenance and replacement costs all having to be borne by local Council Taxpayers. For these reasons, these solutions have currently been discounted. Which leaves yellow lines, which are relatively cheap to install and maintain and, more importantly, enforceable by both the police and MSDC’s enforcement officers. Despite what several correspondents have asserted, it is not against the law to park on the pavement, except in London.
The Parish Council has agreed to support Lindfield Primary Academy’s application (known as a Traffic Restriction Order or TRO) for yellow lines to WSCC, and this was submitted in July this year. WSCC’s response is awaited. Residents may wish to contact Councillor Garry Wall (WSCC, Lindfield and High Weald Ward) to make their views clear on the solutions detailed above or any other ideas. Correspondence address: c/o County Hall, West Street, Chichester, West Sussex PO19 1RQ, Mobile: 07946 549867, and email: garry.wall@westsussex.gov.uk.

Christmas Tree Recycling

Real Christmas trees can be composted in your garden waste bin. Alternatively, there will be temporary sites where you can drop off your real Christmas tree for recycling. These sites will be open from Friday 30th December until Friday 13th January 2023 (inclusive). Our local site is : Lindfield Common near the Bowling Green Car Park, Blackwoods Lane, RH16 2ED. Further details can be found at: midsussex.gov.uk/wasterecylcing/christmas-tree-recycling-sites

To read the full newsletter, pick up your copy of January’s Lindfield Life and turn to page 48.