Dear Councillor, 

There will be a meeting of the COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT committee to be held at 7:30pm on Thursday 11^th June 2020 using Microsoft Teams. 

Members of the public have a right to and are invited to attend the virtual meeting using Microsoft Teams. If you wish to attend, please email the office@hurstpierpoint-pc.gov.uk before 4pm on 10^th June 2020 to be sent an electronic invitation. 

Sarah Groom, Clerk to the Council 

AGENDA   

1.  Apologies for absence and declarations of interest: to receive and accept apologies for absence and to record any declarations of interest. 

2.  Minutes of the Community Engagement Committee Meeting held on 6^th February 2020:  to receive and accept the minutes. 

3.  Matters arising from Community Engagement Meeting held on 6^th February 2020:  to consider matters arising from the Minutes, which are not covered elsewhere on this agenda.  

4. Adjournment for questions from the public:  The Committee is asked to consider whether to adjourn the Meeting in accordance with Standing Orders, in order to receive questions from members of the public. 

5. Parish Council Grant Applications:  The Committee is asked to note that a decision was made by the Strategic Policy Group to defer all decisions on all grant requests until the situation becomes clearer with regards to the effects of COVID-19 and consequent future needs of the community. All grant applications that have been received by the Parish Council Office are listed below. The main contact for each application has been contacted and the situation explained.  

(5.1) Small Grants:   

Grants gifted in 2019/2020 

Grant applications that have been received and deferred for 2020/21: 

(5.2.) Health & Wellbeing Grants: The Parish Council agreed to a new Health and Wellbeing budget for the Community Engagement Committee for the year 2020/21. Some of this budget was planned to be spent directly on projects to benefit our community and some will be awarded in grants.  However, due to the current COVID-19 crisis some of the projects that we have been considering may have to change. The Parish Council have made the decision to put the Health & Wellbeing grant budget as well as our general grant application process on hold until we are clearer about the effect of COVID-19 on our villages. We will then have a clearer idea of what our local needs are.   

6. Community initiatives and projects:   

(6.1) Hurst Festival Grant application – Hurst Festival committee has submitted a grant application to the Parish Office for £2,500. This grant was planned to go towards the Super Sunday event for the community. Councillor Lowman was contacted by a representative of the Hurst Festival in May 2020 regarding their options for the Festival this year and next due to COVID-19. The Chair of Full Council suggested a small informal group of Councillors should be established to meet with the Hurst Festival Trustees to plan a way forward.  

(Ref:  Signed application form Hurst Festival 11Mar20, Santander statement Hurst Festival Feb2020, Final accounts 2017 as submitted to Companies House, 2019 Hurst Festival brief report and 2018 Festival Year accounts final as submitted to Companies House.)  

RECOMMENDATION:  The Community Engagement Committee establish an informal group of Councillors to meet with the Hurst Festival Trustees. 

(6.2) Newsletter Costings – The Assistant Clerk was asked to look at reducing the distribution cost for the newsletter including a possible partnership with Hurst Life which was suggested at the Community Engagement Meeting held on 6^th February 2020.  

 Ref: Briefing Note: Newsletter Cost 18.2.2020 

RECOMMENDATION: The committee AGREE to the new reduced price from Hove Leaflet Distribution.  

(6.3) Community Engagement Budget Update – A note was taken to full council to help understand the financial risks to the finances of the Parish Council due to COVID-19. The Parish Council during this period will receive reduced income from hiring and potentially rent. The income was assessed as low, medium or high risk, while expenditure was categorised as discretionary or non-discretionary. Please note the Village Centre and Hurst Meadows were not included. Since this meeting was held it has been established by the Chair of the Finance and Governance committee that sums of money have already been committed such as the Christmas Lights, Village Garden and Newsletters. This means there is a discretionary amount of roughly £14,000 across the entire budget for this financial year that may need to be spent elsewhere when COVID-19 is over.  

Due to this the Community Engagement budget cannot be spent on any new grants, health and wellbeing grants or projects (old or new) unless it is something that needs immediate support and is required and agreed by the Community Engagement committee. This would then be taken to the Finance and Governance committee who will need to confirm the availability of those funds against other liabilities.  

Ref: C19/110.3 Finance & Governance Committee (12 March 2020) Cllr Llewellyn reported on the activities of the Finance and Governance Committee and in particular the recent work of the Interim Finance Officer on the financial risk of COVID-19 to the council’s income and expenditure (See Briefing Note). (The Hurst Meadow finances had been removed as it was ring-fenced.)  Income had been assessed as a low, medium or high risk and expenditure had been assessed as either discretionary or non-discretionary.  The assessment showed a £20,000 margin, to the good, for any priorities for the Council. Cllr Majsai suggested the Health and Wellbeing budget would be used to support the Council’s response to the coronavirus.  The Village Centre Trust finances were also being risk assessed.  The Chairman thanked Cllr Llewellyn and the Interim Finance Officer for their good work in this matter.  The Committee had also considered the recommendation from the Staff Panel of 3 March 2020.  

(6.4) Project Review – There are currently several projects that are on hold due to COVID-19 including the Safe Place Training and Defib Training for Court Bushes Community Hub. Once we can safely gather people, the Assistant Clerk will re-arrange all the training and other elements to ensure these projects continue.   

The Assistant Clerk contacted the Hurstpierpoint Society for an update regarding the Heritage Trail. David Clark confirmed that since the meeting on the 27^th February they had not been able to progress on the design of the map and notice. This hold up has hindered the writing of the text for both the leaflets and website for visitors to download. The Hurstpierpoint Society would like to offer more guided walks and have offered two during the Festival in September if this goes ahead. Due to the current situation these walks can only happen if the guides are willing, taking regard of their own health risk status. The Assistant Clerk will remain in contact with the Hurstpierpoint society to progress this project when restrictions on isolation have been lifted.  

Work on the Village Garden has been able to progress as the contractors, Greenscene are working. The planting improvements and installation of new planters took place on Wednesday 27^th May. To protect staff and the members of public the area was cordoned off while working throughout the day on the green. The Garden will then receive on-going maintenance work as planned.  

(6.5) Impact of COVID-19 – Chair to bring a verbal update.  

(6.6) Reeds Lane Play Area Update – Briefing note to follow.  

(6.7) Rotary Club Involvement – On the 1^st April 2020 the Sussex Vale Rotary Club contacted the Assistant Clerk for ideas on how to provide support for those in need across our area. The Chair of the Community Engagement committee contacted the Rotary Club directly and gave several ideas, such as activity packs for children and providing board games, puzzles, books etc.. to Ladymead Nursing home. On the 1^st May the Chair received an email from the Rotary Club confirming that they had provided Children activity packs ready for distribution by the Hurstpierpoint food bank. They had also provided four large jigsaws to the Ladymead nursing home.  

(6.8) #Lovewhereyoulive with Keep Britain Tidy Campaign – Concerns have been raised at the Strategic and Policy meetings regarding the increase of litter, fly tipping, dog poo and general waste within the Parish. The Parish Office have registered with the Keep Britain Tidy website and will receive emails with latest campaigns and ideas on: 

1. Cutting Litter 

2. Ending Waste 

3. Improving Public Places 

4. Educating Future Generations 

The Parish Office on 20^th May posted a Facebook link promoting the #LoveWhereyoulive campaign and this has been shared to the Hub. The Parish Office also plan to use the ‘Do it for your dog’ campaign from Keep Britain tidy and post a youtube video about picking up your own dog’s waste in June. (video https://youtu.be/VFEeF_O5B3g). 

The Keep Tidy Britain website also has campaigns available that can be used for all the above problems including posters and web campaigns. At present the below campaigns focus on the current climate issue with COVID-19 and PPE waste issues. The links below show the posters that are planned to be displayed on notice boards in Hurstpierpoint and Sayers Common in June. All posters have a web campaign equivalent, and these will be displayed on the Parish Council website and Facebook page.  

The Keep Britain Tidy website also helps with dog waste issues including a ‘Dog Poo Fairy’ poster/sticker campaign which is a light-hearted campaign but has an important message that although some people may believe there is, there’s no such thing as a dog poo fairy. The campaign is charged at £45 +VAT for 10 A3 Posters and 10 bin stickers, £75 + VAT for 20 A3 Posters and 20 bin stickers and £160+VAT for 50 posters and 50 bin stickers.  

(REF: Dog Poo Fairy Order Form 3.6.20) 

The other available dog waste campaign is called ‘Were watching you’ the posters have a set of eyes only and the wording ‘Thoughtless dog owners, we’re watching you!’.  The eyes highlight at night, in a style of you are being watched like Big Brother. The council who experimented with this campaign surveyed specific areas for weeks before the posters went up and then during the campaign to see if the posters made a difference. The dog waste improved by 77%. For this campaign the Parish Council would need to purchase the posters and other merchandise and have a dedicated member of staff/volunteers or councillors monitoring specific areas for dog poo (counting how many un picked up dog poo there is before, during and afterwards). 

(REF: Were watching you application form (non-members) 3.6.20) 

RECOMMENDATION: The committee AGREE to use the free posters and social media campaigns from Keep Britain Tidy. The committee DISCUSS options of using the ‘Dog Poo Fairy’ and ‘Were watching you’ campaigns for the future.  

7. Publicity: The Committee is asked to note the following: 

(7.1) Newsletter –. A newsletter was due to be distributed in June however this was postponed as most of the information was no longer relevant. Instead, information leaflets giving phone numbers, websites and email addresses of groups and organisations that could help during COVID-19 have been sent out to the residents of Hurstpierpoint and Sayers Common. Three information leaflets have been successfully delivered to all the residents in the parish by a group of young volunteers organised by a local resident and her daughter. Cllr Shorrocks and Majsai also assisted in the distribution and all parties have been thanked by the Full Council.  

(7.2) Website – The Assistant Clerk has been working closely with the website developers and organising the contents and images that are needed for the new site. The website advisory group has had the opportunity to look at the first draft mock-up of the homepage and give feedback to the developers. Once the initial look is decided on then more of the pages can be built and the design will be shared with the Full Council for review. The Assistant Clerk contacted the vicar from Hurstpierpoint who kindly shared several photos of the Village which she has given permission to use on the website. More photographs need to be taken or found within the Parish to help the look and feel of the website.  

(7.3) Social Media – The Parish Council Facebook page has been regularly used to post all COVID-19 updates including useful links and organisations that can help anyone who is vulnerable or in need. The Parish Office has seen a positive response from the ‘design your own playground’ and all drawings have been uploaded to Facebook and a link shared with the Hurst Hub page. The Parish Office is hoping that by sharing links on the Hurst Hub page it will in turn increase the followers to our Parish Council facebook page and improve the visibility of the Council.