Plumpton Parish Council

Plumpton Parish Council

Our Parish Council has the responsibility to ensure that all parishioners have a voice on issues great and small that affect them individually, and the parish as a whole.

Housing Needs Survey

Look out for the Housing Needs Survey form coming through your door soon. We are asking every household to complete the survey.

The more support we get the better we can represent the needs of our community at the next stage of the LDC local plan process. It will also help us to update the Plumpton Neighbourhood Plan. If you need help or just want more information, come to the drop-in session at the village hall 7 March from 6-8pm.

To complete the survey online please go to:  www.surveymonkey.com/r/JNVNCYQ

Thank you, Plumpton Parish Council

Handyperson Required

  • Part-time: Minimum 5 hours per week average
  • 12-months initial period – potentially permanent thereafter
  • Salary Scale Point 9 (£13.06 ph – pay award pending) plus pension and mileage
  • Starting April 2024 or soon after
  • Reporting to Clerk to the Council and liaising with the Village Hall Manager

For full job description and deadline for applying, see full job advert

Notice Of Vacancy in Office of Councillor

Parish of Plumpton

Notice Is Hereby Given

Pursuant to section 87(2) of the Local Government Act 1972, that due to the resignation of Ron Jury, a vacancy has arisen in the Office of Councillor for the Parish Council.

If by 31 January 2024 (14* days after the date of this notice) a request for an election to fill said vacancy is made in writing to the Returning Officer , Ian Fitzpatrick, Lewes District Council, Town Hall, Grove Road, Eastbourne, BN21 4UG,  by TEN electors for the said Plumpton Parish, an election will be held to fill the said vacancy, otherwise the vacancy will be filled by co-option.

If an election is called, it will take place not later than 5 April 2024

Dated: 11 January 2024
Anita Emery
Clerk to Plumpton Parish Council

* In computing any period of time for this purpose, a Saturday, Sunday,  day of the Christmas Eve and ending the with the first week day after Christmas Day which is not a bank holiday, the “Easter Break” means the period beginning with the Thursday before and ending with the Tuesday after Easter Day, and “a bank holiday break” means any bank holiday not included in the Christmas break or the Easter break and the period beginning with the last week day before that bank holiday and ending with next week day which is not a bank holiday are excluded.

Nolands Farm Development

Comments can be submitted to Lewes District Council now on the Reserved Matters application for the Nolands development. The site will go ahead since outline permission was given at appeal by the government inspector last year. However, you can comment on the Layout, Scale, Appearance and Landscaping for 83 new residential dwellings.
Search for LW/23/0673 on the Lewes Planning Portal to lodge any comments.

Residents might want to question how the sewer is going to cope. Southern Water acknowledge the capacity measured in 2018 was 0.9litres/sec. Building regs suggest a capacity many times this is needed.

The drainage strategy is here:- Nolands Drainage Strategy

Building regulation regarding required flow rates is here:- Building Regs flow rates

Statement from The Parish Council: The Sports Pavilion

The Sports Pavilion at the Playing Field has served us well for the last 80+ years but now the fabric of the building is failing and the Parish Council is spending a lot of your money keeping it operational. The Parish Council have decided to work towards replacing the building. We would need funding of course and in order to put a coherent bid in front of the various funding bodies we need to decide what we want. How do we want the new Pavilion to look? How can we build a more sustainable, environmentally friendly building whilst providing the facilities we need – what are those facilities?

We will form a working group which will comprise of representatives of the Parish Council and Pavilion users. In addition we are looking for input from residents who would like to help. Perhaps you have particular skills in designing a community space or know someone with expertise in architecture, fund raising, green energy, temporary building solutions or interior design…….

Please contact Anita Emery (Clerk) anita.emery@plumptonpc.co.uk in the first instance, we are aiming to get this working group up and running early in the new year.

Community Grants 2023-2024

The awarding of community grants has now changed since the parish council achieved general power of competence in May 2023. Therefore for 2023-2024 the parish council has allocated £2000 (which shall be reviewed at budget setting in October 2023) and welcomes applications from organisations with a local connection to Plumpton parish or those that are directly involved in helping residents of the village. An application for a grant or donation from the Parish Council should be submitted on the approved form which is available from the Clerk or by visiting the parish coundil website. All applications for grant or donation funding must be approved at a full Parish Council meeting. Expenditure should be targeted at improving or maintaining the quality of life for the majority of residents of Plumpton parish, or at least a significant minority of the residents such as young people or the elderly. Grants or donations will not be considered for financing the aims of political or religious organisations, nor of individuals. Checks are to be made to ensure that all expenditure is used for the purpose for which it was agreed. If any variation to the agreed expenditure is required, it must be approved by the Council, or the funding will be cancelled, and the grant repaid. Applications for donations from national organisations and charities will be considered on a case-by-case basis but in general will not be met unless there is a proven link with the parish.

The usual deadline for the grant applications would be 31st May, however, due to the elections, this year the deadline for submission will be 30th September. Community grants will only be considered once a year.

Land  North of the Police House

The Parish Council have met with Developers (Devine Homes plc) behind the proposal to build on the land north of the Police House. The developers started by reminding us that despite what you might read in the press, housing targets have not been scrapped. This of course was well known to the Parish Council and residents were informed of this fact via the PC web site and Magazine some weeks ago. Devine told us that they recognise that this is a speculative application and we have a  Neighbourhood Plan, they also recognised Plumpton has recently had additional development at Nolands Farm forced upon us. Despite this they are confidently moving ahead since they know that under the new targets Lewes is required to supply more housing. This, as we know, is because the government changed the rules and made the Local Plan and our Neighbourhoood plan ‘out of date’.
Devine confirmed that they have lodged a pre-application request with Lewes District Council but have not yet had a response. They have subsequently shared the Pre-app document with the PC. Should residents wish to respond to the proposal we suggest they object only in principle as there is insufficient detail or clarity in the leaflet to comment.

Housing Targets and ‘Special Measures’

Please see additional information from the Parish Council here.

Planning Consultation

Michael Gove, the Secretary of State for Levelling Up Housing and Communities, has initiated a consultation process on proposed changes to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF). Plumpton Parish Council will be responding to the consultation and we would urge residents to respond as well. The main concern is the ‘Standard Method’ algorithm for determining housing targets which is still there unchanged, still using old 2014 data, still using the multiplier known as the “affordability factor” and still not delivering affordable housing in the right places. It is this algorithm that provides the justification Planning Inspectors use to override local democracy (as was the case with the Nolands decision).  A second concern is that the validity of our neighbourhood plan that was intended to run alongside the Lewes plan until 2030 was reduced to 2 years by government policy changes, and is now proposed to be increased to 5 years, which is still considerably less that the 15 year planning horizon. The consultation can be reached here:- Reforms to National Planning Policy
Before you respond to the consultation we would recommend reading ‘A Planning Crisis in Lewes District’ the CPRE Spring Newsletter.

Plumpton Parish Council is a member of CPRE The countryside charity. We are represented at the Lewes District branch by Cllr Paul Stevens.

Plumpton Full Fibre Broadband

Have you ever wondered whether you could get a better broadband service in Plumpton? With full fibre broadband being rolled out across the country it’s now possible to upgrade to a much faster and more reliable service for the village. Under the Community Fibre Partnership scheme every household in the village is eligible for vouchers to help meet the cost of installation. The more people who commit to joining the scheme the better the chances fibre can be fully funded. PPC can’t engage with Openreach directly, but is endorsing the Plumpton Fibre Community Partnership.

Please see more details here:

 PPC broadband FAQ

 Plumpton Fibre Community Flyer and Form

 Community Fibre Partnerships FAQ

Pavilion Refurbishment

We’ve just completed the Pavilion refurbishment, which has given us a substantial upgrade of the facilities.

The refurbishment was part-funded by a LEADER grant from the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (£49k), and the remainder from our New Pavilion Fund (£28k) and the Parish Council (£7.5k).

With many thanks to Des Lambert, who helped us navigate the grant application process, and to parish councillor Emma Elford, who led renovation programme, got the grants, liaised with everyone involved.

The refurbishment has included:

  • removal of the old kitchen to open up the space
  • re-positioning of a new  kitchen and utility room into the old committee room
  • recovering of the floor throughout
  • reconfiguring of the changing rooms
  • increased storage facilities
  • substantial replacing of rotten timbers throughout the infrastructure
  • replacement of multiple doors
  • replacement of window glass
  • part installation of new composite cladding and sofits
  • substantial re-plastering work throughout
  • roof repair.

Steve Bodsworth was the contractor. We owe him many thanks for doing a fantastic job to a very high standard and completing on time.

As with all building jobs, we found some unexpected problems along the way that Steve responded to quickly, which allowed us to keep on schedule.

Now the work is complete, it has highlighted other parts of the facility that are looking a bit tired. Plumpton Parish Council will be costing further work to maintain this valued facility within a long-term preventative maintenance programme.  We’ll provide further details in due course, later this year.