Icklesham Parish Council held its Annual Meeting at Icklesham Memorial Hall on Friday 31st May 2024 7.00 pm.
The Meetin
g was chaired by Councillor Mrs. Jacqui Stanford, Chair of Icklesham Parish Council joined by other Councillors, Rother Councillor Cheryl Creaser and East Sussex County Lead Councillor Keith Glazier.
Cllr Creaser gave an overview of Rother’s activities throughout the year and confirmed that devolution of the public services is still ongoing.
Cllr Glazier gave an overview of the County Council’s activities over the year and confirmed that the biggest issue locally is the potholes. He confirmed that the County Council have invested huge sums of money into the roads however there is still a lot of work to do and roughly a £300,000,000 backlog of works. He was pleased to report that a recent Ofsted inspection confirmed that the County Council are running good children’s services and an excellent looked after children service.
Cllr Mrs. Stanford gave a report of the Parish Council’s activities over the year including extensive works in Rye Harbour Car Park and toilets, various asset maintenance work, installation of adult exercise equipment, public consultations, cleaning of bus shelters and play equipment. She said the Parish Council had given grants to all village halls of £1,725 to cover running costs and provided grants to St Thomas’ Church in Winchelsea and St Nicholas’ Church in Icklesham to help with grounds maintenance costs.
Grants have also been made to the Five Villages Home Association for their mini-bus service, to the Rye and District Community Bus for the dial-a-ride service. and the Sailability project at Rye Harbour Sailing Club. Cllr. Mrs. Stanford also reported that IPC were making early repayment of two loans saving £10,500 in interest payments as they had decided to clear the decks for their next project of demolishing and rebuilding Winchelsea Beach toilets.
Jeff Pyrah, Rother District Council’s Planning Policy Manager gave a very interesting presentation on the draft Local Plan 2020-2040 which is currently open for public consultation. The Local Plan will guide land use and development throughout Rother over the period 2020-2040. Please visit the dedicated page on Rother District Council’s website for further information on the local plan and how to get involved with the consultation. https://www.rother.gov.uk/planning-and-building-control/planning-policy/emerging-local-plan/local-plan-review/ The consultation closes on 23rd July.
Mayor of Winchelsea, Peter Cosstick, also gave a very informative talk on the history of Winchelsea Museum and the Corporation of Winchelsea. Winchelsea Museum is now open 6 days a week and is based on the first floor of the Court Hall which is one of the oldest buildings in Winchelsea. The Museum contains displays and exhibits that illustrate the history of the Ancient Town of Winchelsea. The Mayor also very kindly presented Community Awards to individuals and organisations selected by the Parish Council for their tremendous voluntary work for the local community. Recipients of these Awards were:-
Andi Rivett for his volunteer work for Rye Harbour, inspecting the flagpole and for providing flags to mark important occasions.
Nathan Bligh and Danny Watkins of The Little Shop in Winchelsea for going above and beyond their duties for the local community including delivering prescriptions to elderly residents.
Danny Willliams for organising community litter picks on the A259 between Icklesham and Winchelsea.
Dave Buxton for giving his time to provide photographs for the Parish Council’s new website.
Icklesham Trust Committee (collected by Trish Milner) for organising and running the ‘Tuesday Club’ for the benefit of local residents.
John Botterell of Botterell Fresh Fish of Rye Harbour for donating the first boat for planting up at Rye Harbour Car Park and for taking his time to come and deliver it.
John Spencer for his dedication and enormous amounts of time devoted to re-instating Winchelsea train station for local residents.
Rye Bay Football Club for their voluntary work running and organising Rye Bay Football Club.
Mick Caister for his volunteer work opening and closing Rye Harbour Car Park which has helped the Parish Council enormously.
Paul and Debbie Ramsey of the New Inn Winchelsea for their voluntary work and for hosting numerous events for local charities.
Rob Brown for taking landscape photos for the Winchelsea Interpretation Boards.
IPC would like to thank all those who attended the meeting, and hope they found it informative and enjoyed it as much as we did. It was lovely to talk to so many residents over refreshments after the meeting.