News

Town Council to sponsor Floral Displays

Newhaven Town Council has agreed to providing floral displays in the Drove area of the Town. This follows on from the much appreciated wild flower display last year on the Drove Roundabout and this year will be extended to include other areas on the eastern side of the Town. There will also be some tree and shrub planting to compliment the displays. Planting will be starting during March.

Nominations needed for Young People's Awards

We are now looking for nominations for the new Young People of the Year awards introduced by the Young Mayor of Newhaven, Daly Tucknott to recognise and celebrate the positive things that children and young people in Newhaven achieve.  Daly feels that often young people get a bad press and wants to counteract this.

There will be one award for each of the following categories:

• Young Volunteer (someone who has done outstanding work in the community)
• Young Carer (someone who cares for their parent(s) or other family member
• Young Hero (someone who has done something really brave such as saving someone else from danger)
• Young Person of Courage (someone who has battled bravely against illness or disability)
• Young Achiever (someone who has achieved something outstanding through hard work and/or talent)
• Young Sportsperson (for outstanding sporting achievement)
• Young Fundraiser (someone who has campaigned to raise funds for something worthwhile)
• Young Group (a group of young people who deserve recognition)

Any young person who is aged 17 or under on 1st April 2010 and who lives or goes to school in Newhaven is eligible to be nominated.

Each individual winner will receive a cash prize of £50 and a commemorative trophy which will be engraved with their name.  The Young Group will receive a treat of their choice, such as a pool party or trip to the cinema.  The awards will be made at a ceremony at Tideway School, Newhaven on Tuesday 23rd March 2010.

If you would like to nominate a young person or a group to receive one of these awards, please click here to download a form (pdf 307kb).  The deadline for nominations is 14th February 2010.

Icy conditions in Newhaven

A number of local residents have contacted the Town Council raising concerns about slippery roads and pavements in the town during the current spell of snowy and icy weather.

East Sussex County Council is the local Highway Authority and as such the gritting of roads and pavements is their responsibility.  Whenever ice or snow is forecast, they pre-treat over 800 miles of the county’s road network with salt to reduce the potential for ice forming on the road surface.  The pre-treated routes comprise all the major roads across the county and also a significant number of interlinking minor roads to ensure that the strategic network is passable.  The County Council do not have the resources either in terms of vehicles or manpower to grit all the roads across the whole county at once and more minor roads can only be treated after the County Council are certain that the major roads are all clear.  Hand salting of pavements by the County Council (which requires a huge amount of manpower) is only undertaken when the roads are clear. 

At times when there is extensive snowfall and ice across the whole county for several days the resources of the County Council will be at full stretch and cannot cope with hand salting pavements.

Although Highway matters are not strictly speaking the responsibility of the Town Council, our councillors nonetheless share residents’ concerns about the state of roads and pavements in the town.  We are a very small organisation and certainly do not have the staff ourselves to undertake hand salting in the town.  However, it would be possible for the Town Council to finance the provision of additional salt bins in the town which local residents could then use as and when required.  Unfortunately this cannot be an instant solution – each bin would require a licence from the County Council and of course, would also need to be ordered, installed and filled with salt.  It is likely that many towns and villages across the country will also want to install bins and as a result there may be delays.  Decisions would need to be taken as to where to install the bins and how many the Town Council could afford.  Inevitably it would not be possible to provide one everywhere that ice was a problem.  It also needs to be borne in mind that existing bins are often a target for vandalism and that keeping them filled with salt can also be problematic.  The County Council used to provide grit bins at strategic locations, but has removed many of them in recent years because of constant problems with vandalism, the bins being filled with rubbish or dog waste and the salt in the bins being used by both local residents and people from further afield to clear their private driveways and paths.

It is very likely that the Town Council will be discussing this matter further over the next few weeks and we hope to have further information following the next meeting of the Council on 2nd February.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

The Town Council offices will close at midday on Christmas Eve, 24th December and will re-open at 9.30am on Monday 4th January 2010.

For emergency enquiries over the Christmas period please telephone Lewes District Council on 01273 471600 and listen to the recorded message.

Everyone at Newhaven Town Council would like to wish you a very Merry Christmas and a happy and healthy New Year.

Tree planting at Valley Ponds

 

Children from Meeching Valley School helped plant some rare Black Poplar trees donated by Wakehurst Place at the Valley Ponds on Thursday 17th December.  The trees around the Ponds are predominantly willows and the planting was part of a programme to introduce some different native species to the area.  

Car Parking Charges reduced

Lewes District Council has agreed to cut car parking charges in the town in the run up to Christmas to encourage more people to shop in the town centre.

All car parks in the town will be free of charge after 4pm so that people can drop into the town on their way home from work.  On Saturdays the multi-storey car park will charge a flat rate of 75p for the whole day.

The reduced rates will apply for the whole of the month of December.

New Youth Club opens at Denton Social Centre

A new youth club for 13-18yr olds has just opened at the Denton Social Centre in Denton Recreation Ground, Denton Road.  The club will run every Friday during term time from 7.45pm-9.45pm and will be operated by NCDA (Newhaven Community Development Association) with funding provided by Newhaven Town Council and South Heighton Parish Council. 

The Club will offer a range of activities including crafts, art and sport, together with access to lap tops for e-research projects plus a progamme of informal advice sessions.

Chloe Uncovers a Bike!

Chloe Avenell of Brighton Road, Newhaven was the lucky winner of a £250 voucher for a bike from Mr Cycles in Seaford in the recent photo quiz competition held by Newhaven Town Council to launch their Newhaven Uncovered project.

Chloe identified some difficult to recognise parts of Newhaven in 21 photographs and was the first correct entry drawn out of the hat.  Twelve lucky runners up received family tickets to either Paradise Park or Newhaven Fort.

Newhaven Uncovered is a project run by the Town Council to encourage you to look at the town in a different way.  Like an archaeological dig, this project aims to reveal some forgotten treasures and to signpost you to finding out more about Newhaven's rich history.

Newhaven Uncovered will take you on self-guided walks in the town linked to a series of interpretation boards, organise guided walks and highlight other local walks and trails.  There will also be a Newhaven Uncovered Resident's Guide to be published and delivered to every household early in 2010.

And coming very soon – What’s on in Newhaven for Children and Young People – a leaflet uncovering the wide range of youth activities available in the town, which will be distributed through local schools and youth groups and available at the library.

Money Available for Local Organisations

Newhaven Town Council has  launched its annual small grants scheme.  Every year the Council invites local groups and organisations who work for the benefit of Newhaven residents to apply for funding.  Grants awarded last year went to support all sorts of activities, including Christmas lunches and outings for the elderly and vulnerable, the purchase of play equipment for pre-school groups and the hire of a skip to enable local residents to clean up their area.

Councillor Graham Amy, the Chair of the Town Council’s Grants Committee, said “Newhaven has a really wide range of voluntary groups who work so hard for the local community.  We are delighted that we can help them in this way.”

Local groups who want to apply for grants can download guidance notes and an application form here.  The deadline for applications is 23rd October 2009.

Uncover Newhaven and Win a Bike! (closing date Mon 12th Oct)

To launch a new project called "Newhaven Uncovered" the Town Council is running a photo quiz.   Can you identify some difficult to recognise parts of Newhaven?  If you can you might win a £250 voucher for a new bike from Mr Cycles in Seaford.  There will also be runners up prizes of family tickets for Paradise Park and the Fort.  Come along to our office and pick up a form or download one here (pdf. 363 kb).  Closing date for entries is 12th October.

Newhaven Uncovered is a project run by the Town Council to encourage you to look at the town in a different way.  Like an archaeological dig, this project aims to reveal some forgotten treasures and to signpost you to finding out more about Newhaven's rich history.

Newhaven Uncovered will take you on self-guided walks in the town linked to a series of interpretation boards, organise guided walks and highlight other local walks and trails.

Look out for the Newhaven Uncovered Resident's Guide to be published and delivered to every household early in 2010.  This new guide will contain practical information about the town together with a handy map and other features.

New ASDA proposed for Newhaven

An exhibition was held at the Hillcrest Community Centre on 4th and 5th September at which exciting proposals to create a new supermarket, 280 homes and a hotel on unused land at Eastside were on display.

A developer called Avalon LLP is working in partnership with Barratt Homes and ASDA on the project. 

A 40,000 square foot ASDA is proposed, together with 14 new units for small to medium sized businesses, as well as a hotel and a pub.  The store would create around 350 new jobs for the town.  The houses would be one, two and three bedroom homes for local people situated behind the Brightwell Industrial Estate and would include a proportion of affordable housing. 

If the project goes ahead, it would also mean that the first part of the long proposed new port access road would be built as part of the development.

Further details about the proposal can be found at www.regeneratingeastsidenewhaven.co.uk

 

PICTORIAL MEADOW IN THE DROVE

The roundabout by B & Q in The Drove has burst into colourful bloom this summer with a spectacular mix of wild meadow flowers. The roundabout was seeded with this mixture by East Sussex County Council in the spring as an experiment. The seeds were supplied by a company called Pictorial Meadows who have provided seeds for similar planting schemes, notably in Sheffield, where a number of run down, derelict pieces of land have been transformed into vibrantly colourful flowering fields.

We understand that this has been very popular in Sheffield – but what do local people here think? Do you like the roundabout? Would you like to see this sort of wild flower planting carried out in other areas of Newhaven? Please let us know what you think – click on the contact us link on the right.