It is not easy at the moment to give you lots of interesting quotes from the work of the County Council. Strange times for us Councillors not knowing the Government intentions although may be by the time you read this we will know what is intended.
To elaborate. As you know the Government cancelled the elections for this coming May because of the new devolution for Local Government. Had there been elections those elected would only serve for one year and then it would be Unitary Elections in 2027 and then the Mayoral elections in 2028 with in all probability a General Election in 2029. However the reason we don’t know for definite at the moment of writing about the 2026 election is that the Reform Party went to Court and as far as I know the Government have to look again at their decision. Hopefully by the time you read this they will have made a final decision.
All that said I want to assure you that all our County Services are proceeding as they should. As you are all well aware we have had a huge amount of rain and it has made life very difficult with continuous flooding especially in our southern region and along the coast. Many of the roads have at various times been closed and of course as ever in our part of the world the normal flooding of fields around Pulborough and indeed Wisborough Green along with other places have looked like large lakes. Mind you these fields are really fulfilling their purpose, they are mostly flood plains or fields and take the bulk of the flood waters from our rivers and brooks.
It has of course meant a lot of work and Highways teams have worked around the clock to try and keep things moving. I personally thank them and of course the Fire and Rescue Service plus any other services involved for the work they do to try and keep us safe.
Trading Standards as ever hard at work in the background to make sure that we are kept as safe as possible from the unscrupulous. Just recently they prosecuted a retailer for the illegal sale of Tobacco and Vapes and the Bognor shop responsible was hiding these items in orange juice cartons can you believe. The Courts fined this retailer at Portsmouth Crown Court £105,000 quite a tidy sum.
For those who like walking the County is now working with other bodies from Portsmouth and along the coast on the long distance King Charles III national trail. This will eventually become a very long distance National Trail along the south coast and although I doubt I’ll ever do all of it I will try and do some when the weather improves. It appeals to me because as I get older I do not like hills so I’m hoping it’s all fairly flat. I hope I’m not kidding myself when I think back to walking along the eastern part of South Downs and the steep inclines along the Beachy Head part of the walks. Still worth giving it a go.
We would still love anyone to come forward if interested in our retained Fire and Rescue Service. I say retained because that’s mostly what we need in our area but retained or full time the Service is always pleased to hear from applicants.
It will be no surprise I am sure that the County Council will be asking us to vote on an increase of our part of the Council Tax of 4.99%. As I write this the Council meeting hasn’t been held to confirm this figure but it has been through the workshops and the Cabinet so that is the recommendation for the full Council. It is usually a very long meeting day but if it goes through unaltered our books will balance as they legally should.
I hope you all came through the floods and horrid weather, Spring is about to arrive and we can look forward to better times weather wise we all sincerely hope. Chris and I usually try and get a week in Loule in the Algarve in February just to get a break from England’s winter weather. This year it rained everyday and even our receptionist at our Hotel who usually say ‘we need more rain’, this year was saying ‘we want this rain to stop. You can never get it right can you.
Please, if you need my assistance with County matters contact me. My email is janet.duncton@westsussex.gov.uk mobile 07979 152898.
Janet Duncton,
County Councillor Petworth division,
WSCC representative on South Downs National Park