Category: Notices/Information

The High Weald Walking Festival will launch on 10th September at the Ashdown Forest Centre.  All details are on the link below.

Launch of the High Weald Walking Festival

All are welcome to a Jubilee Celebration Service at Mountfield Church on Sunday 5th June at 10.30am.  To be conducted by the Rev. Julia Lewis.
Followed by a Champagne Toast and nibbles!

Reference my post of 13.05.22 about the temporary closure of All Saints Church for repairs to the nave – very happy to tell you all that the repairs are complete and the Church is open again.

Repairs to the floor of the nave and chancel will start on Monday 16.05.22 and last a week.  During this time the church will be closed.  Notices have been posted on the door, Village Hall noticeboard and Church noticeboard.

Please see below details of the Council Tax Rebate Scheme, these have been sent by our District Councillor – Eleanor Kirby-Green.

The 20,000 households in bands A-D who pay their Council Tax by Direct Debit will receive the £150 into their bank account in around 2 weeks.  This follows the April Council Tax payment which verifies the bank details used to pay the April instalment as current and genuine.

The 9,000 households in bands A-D who pay their Council Tax by other means will be contacted to encourage them to give their bank details so we can pay direct.  Otherwise a post office payment scheme may be available, or at last resort, a credit onto their Council Tax bill.  This credit is not desirable as the scheme is meant to be a cash back scheme.

The 15,000 households in bands E-H who do not automatically qualify, will be able to apply for a discretionary scheme, if they reach certain criteria.  A cross-authority scheme is being agreed across East Sussex and will be subject of a Cabinet report in June.  There will be enough money in this scheme to support about 1,900 further households with £150. 

This is an update to my post (yesterday) about Ultrafast broadband in Dallington and Mountfield.

I jumped the gun somewhat after getting the flyer yesterday when the parishes of Netherfield, Ninfield, Brightling, Ashburnham, Penhurst, Catsfield, Dallington and Mountfield were mentioned.  However, Openreach work on telephone exchanges and not parish boundaries, all these parishes were noted on the flyer (only delivered to certain post codes) as some residents of the parishes are connected to the Brightling and Ashburnham telephone exchanges.

I have spoken to Andrew Wedmore (Chair of Brightling PC) today – who has worked tirelessly over the past few years on this project – please click on the link below to see an email from Andrew which shows the post codes that can be connected, through the voucher scheme, at the present time.

• Brightling telephone exchange – Brightling + Netherfield Village + Dallington Woods Corner area.
• Ashburnham telephone exchange – Ashburnham + Penhurst + Ninfield.

There is also a link from Andrew’s email showing FAQs.

1 Broadband in Netherfield and Brightling and Dallington Woods Corner

Ultrafast broadband voucher scheme FAQs

I believe that we cannot have a two tier system for broadband and every resident of Dallington and Mountfield must have the opportunity to apply for this voucher scheme.  I intend to pursue this matter with Openreach – “the next hill that I die on.”

Just as an aside, you can find out which telephone exchange you are connected to by going to the following site – just put your post code in.

Find out which telephone exchange you are connected to

Irene – Parish Clerk

Very excited about this.  There has been tremendous work by Brightling and Ashburnham & Penhurst Parish Councils on this issue for a long time and they deserve a massive shout out.

There are many of us in our parishes who get what is not exactly Ultrafast Broadband, although it may well be called that.  I have just tested my broadband (on my laptop) and I get 35.29Mbps download and 6.54Mbps download – not what I would call Ultrafast!

You can check your broadband speed by going to the site below

BT Wholesale Broadband Speed Checker

This offer guarantees Ultrafast and FIBRE TO PREMISES, most of us have fibre to cabinet.  I’ve just pooled my voucher into the scheme and have classed myself as a business (parish clerk to two councils).

I know for a fact that there are graphic designers, architects, draughtspersons etc., who have real problems working from home without Ultrafast broadband (fibre to premises).

Please do read the document below, it will give you full details on how to pool your voucher and IT WON’T COST YOU A PENNY!

Ultrafast broadband full details

To pool your voucher, go to the link below

Click on this link to pool your voucher

Even if you don’t see the benefit of Ultrafast broadband for your particular circumstances – please do pool your voucher into the scheme, it will benefit so many others.

Irene – Parish Clerk

Please see the statement below from Basil Scarsella, CEO of UK Power Networks, more details on the link below.

Statement from UK Power Networks CEO Basil Scarsella

I appreciate what a difficult time this is, for our many customers who have experienced a power cut caused by Storm Eunice which saw record wind speeds and damage across the South East and East of England.

While we work hard to get everybody back on supply, we have decided to make goodwill payments to our customers who were worst affected by power cuts caused by Storm Eunice and have been without power for 24 hours.

We recognise that being without power for this extended period affects your daily life so we have decided to make an extra £50 payment, earlier than payments would normally apply which would be after 48 hours.  This means that if you were impacted by Storm Eunice you will be eligible to receive £50 after 24 hours without electricity, an additional £70 when you reach 48 hours, and an additional £70 thereafter for every 12 hours without power. 

There is no need for you to call us – we’ll contact everyone who is entitled to a payment by text message, email or letter in the coming days. If you prefer you can fill in our online claim form.

I hope you and your families are safe and well. Please rest assured it’s our top priority to get your power back on as quickly as we can.

Basil Scarsella

East Sussex County Council have launched their Household Support Fund across East Sussex to help residents who will be most in need this winter.  Please see below the details from Councillor Carl Maynard.

From: Councillor Carl Maynard <Cllr.Carl.Maynard@eastsussex.gov.uk>
Date: 19 November 2021 at 15:34:33 GMT
To: ~D All Councillors <~DAllCouncillors@eastsussex.gov.uk>
Subject: Our launch of £3.9m Household Support Fund for East Sussex

Dear colleague,

Today we’re launching the Household Support Fund across East Sussex to help residents who will be most in need this winter.

The fund assigns £3.9m of extra support to our county and we’ve allocated it so as to give a hand to families and individuals who are struggling with basic living costs at the moment. We are also working with all our partners in borough and district councils and with the county’s excellent voluntary services to ensure we use these resources effectively in every part of East Sussex.

More than half of the fund will be directed to families with children. It will pay for free school meals for those who are eligible in the two-week Christmas school holiday, in the week of half-term in February and the two-week Easter holiday in April. Schools will work with families who qualify to help them take up the offer.

We will also target some of the money at families with whom Children’s Services are already working, because they have particular needs.

Elsewhere, households who are struggling to meet the cost of food, energy or water bills will be apply to apply to their borough or district council for support. They’ll be considered for this support if they’re 18 or over and receive a means-tested benefit (including universal credit, pension credit or working tax credit among others).

They should contact their borough or district council as follows:

Eastbourne Household Support Grants – Lewes and Eastbourne Councils (lewes-eastbourne.gov.uk) 01273 471600

Hastings  Household Support Fund | Hastings Borough Council 01424 451066

Lewes Household Support Grants – Lewes and Eastbourne Councils (lewes-eastbourne.gov.uk) 01273 471600

Rother Household Support Fund – Rother District Council  01424 787000

Wealden Household Support Fund (HSF) – Wealden District Council – Wealden District Council 01323 443322

Resources for this element of the fund have been divided among boroughs and districts according to their relative number of recipients of universal credit and pension credit.

We’re also allocating some of the fund to strengthen the existing good work done by the Keep Warm and Well service in East Sussex. They can offer a free warm homes check for people struggling to heat their homes and can offer advice and sometimes grants for extra works like insulation, window replacement and boiler replacement.

There’s also more funding for Citizens Advice who operate from several sites in East Sussex and can direct people to the best sources of help.

And we’re adding more than £1 million to foodbanks and other volunteer-led organisations across East Sussex to help meet the rising needs the county will see this winter, along with the rest of the country.

The government grant, which largely replaces the previous Winter Covid Fund Support Grant and the Covid Local Support Fund Grant, is most welcome and I believe we’ve planned to use it as effectively as we can. Officer working groups from both the county council and district and borough councils will ensure delivery of the Household Support Fund by March.

We wanted to ensure you had the latest information about how the scheme will work. There is more information on the ESCC website: Household Support Fund – extra help for those most in need | East Sussex County Council

We’ll be happy to answer any further questions you might have.

Yours sincerely,

Cllr Carl Maynard and Cllr Bob Bowdler