The Conservative Government requires that 300,000 homes are built per annum. It is a key part of Prime Minister Johnson’s plans to “Build Back Better”. In Horsham District, the Conservative Council is required to produce a Local Plan, and that includes designating strategic sites which will deliver the housing number that the Conservative Government specifies. It is of course greatly influenced by the developers who fund the Conservative Party. Developers find it easier and more profitable to build large detached houses on green field sites.

As Councillors, we have been somewhat restricted about what we can say as pre-determination rules apply to planning matters. However, we have been listening to and reading all the comments which have been sent to us and we acknowledge the huge anger that exists about these proposals.

On 26th January, the Prime Minister told the nation that the Covid-19 death rate had reached 100,000. The loss of over 100,000 people to the virus was indeed a dark day for our country.

This is a mile-stone that no-one ever wanted to see, and the pain behind the statistic is immeasurable.

A bumper set of elections is due to be held on 6 th May this year. In West Sussex we have County Council elections, the election for a Police and Crime Commissioner, Borough Council elections in Crawley and Worthing and some by-elections, such as the Trafalgar By-Election for Horsham District Council.

The Government insists the elections should go ahead, but it is Local Government that runs elections. Many senior council staff across the country are concerned about the feasibility and safety of holding the elections.

Many are reporting difficulties in hiring venues large enough to conduct vote-counting safely, in recruiting staff to run polling stations in time to train them, and staff to conduct the count itself.

Following our election in May 2019, one of our first public visits as councillors was to visit the track to speak with coaches and users. On a warm early summer evening it was clear to us how much this public facility means to people and how widely used it is in the community. Matt himself had visited the track many times before our election as a spectator at Broadbridge Heath Football Club (prior to their move) and as an assistant referee at a cup final hosted at this venue.

By Chris Geeson

More than 3,000 people signed a petition to save the Billingshurst Household Waste and Recycling Centre – and it worked! West Sussex Tories have now backed off from their threat to close two of the County’s Recycling Centres. A huge ‘Thank you’ to everyone who helped.

Do you have children at nursery school?  The week starting 18 January is when your nursery’s funding for the whole year is decided on. But instead of basing this on how many children are registered, as you would expect, the Government plans to see how many children actually turn up.

Local Lib Dem Councillors and MPs have been watching the rising number of cases of the Corona virus with increasing concern since before Christmas.

In a fanfare of carefully controlled publicity, HDC have just released ‘Version 3’ of their plans for Rookwood. On examination they turn out to be largely the same as Version 2, but with nicer pictures!

The Conservatives at West Sussex County Council rejected a plan to reduce Special Responsibility Allowances of their own councillors by twenty-five percent on Friday instead voting to only cut opposition allowances. They did this shortly after choosing to remove funding for mid-morning milk for children on Free School Meals, echoing the decision on school milk by Margaret Thatcher in the 1970s.