Agendas

The agendas for each monthly Council meeting and each monthly Planning meeting are posted on the parish notice boards in advance of the meetings. They are also available below. Once the meetings have taken place minutes are drawn up. These minutes are ratified at the next full Council meeting and the approved minutes are then made available on this website.

Meetings Timetable and Venues

All Westfield Parish Council meetings are open to the public. There is always a chance for parishioners to speak to address any item on the agenda.

Council Meetings are held at the Community Hall dining room in Workhouse Lane, Westfield. They start at 7pm usually on the first Wednesday of every month.

Planning meetings are held at the Community Hall dining room in Workhouse Lane, Westfield. They usually start at 6:30pm usually on the first Wednesday of every month.

The Annual Parish Assembly is held either in the Parish Hall, Vicarage Lane, or in the Community Hall in Workhouse Lane. It is in the evening, usually a Tuesday in April or May each year. 

Schedule of meetings 2012

Minutes

The minutes for each meeting are approved at the following one. Below are the approved minutes for the last six months of council meetings. If you would like access to earlier minutes please see our archive page or contact the clerk by telephoning during normal office hours, send an e-mail or write a letter clearly stating which minutes you require. There may be a small charge for this service. See our Freedom of Information pages.

Clerk's contact details:-

Telephone 01424 751531 e-mail westfieldparishcouncil@yahoo.co.uk

Letter to, Mrs B Balkham, Clerk to Westfield Parish Council, Fir Tree Cottage, New Cut, Westfield, E Sussex, TN35 4RJ

Reports to Committees & Annual Report

The clerk produces a monthly report for Council. This is a report of matters dealt with since the last Council meeting. Reports may also be produced to inform the business at other meetings. The Council publishes its annual report each May. This includes an account of Council business over the last year and includes a brief summary of the income and expenditure for the year ending 31st March.

Reports more than twelve months old may be obtained by contacting the clerk.

To read this year's 2011-12 annual report click here

Applications

Westfield Parish Council is a consultee on planning applications made in the parish. The decisions to grant or refuse permission are made by the planning authority, which in Westfield is Rother District Council.

If you want to know more about an application then make a note of the reference number and use it to search for full details  by following this link to the Rother District Council planning website. 

  http://www.rother.gov.uk/index.cfm?articleid=361

There is a three week public consultation period and during this time you will be able to comment on applications.

Last up-dated 16 May 2012

Current Westfield applications

1. RR/2012/934/P Beauport Holiday Park, The Ridge West. Variation of condition to allow seasonal occupancy of holiday caravans between 1 March and 31 January in any year.
2. RR/2012/845/P 9 Moat Lane. Erection of wooden garage.
3. RR/2012/770/P The Oast House, Kent Street. Construction of 20m X 40m riding manege for horses within existing paddocks.
4. RR/2012/695/P Hooters, Moat Lane. Proposed replacement dwelling and associated outbuildings
5. RR/2012/699/O Little Hides Farm, Stonestile Lane. Occupancy of property in non-compliance of an agricultural occupancy condition for a period of more than ten years.
6. RR/2012/705/P Troyd Farm, Moat Lane. Demolition of existing dwelling and garage and erection of replacement dwelling and garage.
7. RR/2012/694/P  45 Westfield Lane. Propsed conversion of garage and single storey over. Proposed roof conversion and single storey extension, along with internal alterations to facilitate the same.
8. RR/2012/631/O Whitelands, Westfield Lane. Single dwelling house.

Recent Decisions

1. RR/2012/682/P 410/12 The Ridge. Residential development to provide three dwellings served by new vehicular access drive formed from an existing vehicular access to rear of nos. 410/12 The Ridge. Refused 16.5.12
2. RR/2012/570/P Ightham, Kent Street. Extension to dwelling. Approved 9.5.12
3. RR/2012/503/P Southings Manor, The Down. Erection of agricultural barn similar in footprint to that approved under RR/2010/2490/P with a pitched roof and 1metre increase in height. Addition of solar panels to south facing roof slope, creation of access track to barn. (retrospective). Approved 8.5.12
4. RR/2010/2865/O Westfield Springs, Brede Hill. Lawful use of building as single dwelling. Refused 4.5.12
5. RR/2012/625/P 20 Westfield Lane. Proposed extension to provide additional living accommodation. Approved 3.5.12
6. RR/2012/603/P Platnix House, Harts Green. Extension to dwelling ans additional parking. Approved 3.5.12
7. RR/2012/554/P Unit 5 Wheel Farm Business Park. Proposed solar panels to roof. Approved 1.5.12
8. RR/2012/393/P "White Walls" 14 Moat Lane. Erection of 2 pigeon lofts (part retrospective) Approved 25.4.12
9. RR/2012/494/P Ravenscroft, Cottage Lane. Proposed extension. Approved 24.4.12
10. RR/2012/414/P 19 Stablefields. Proposed garage and porch conversion and roof alterations. Approved 13.4.12
11. RR/2012/425/P Woodville, Wheel Lane. Renewal of extant permission RR/2009/88/P for demolition of existing buiding and erection of 2 four bedroom semi-detached dwellings. Approved 10.4.12
12. RR/2012/328/P Land at Moat Lane. Outline: erection of detached bungalow and detached garage. Refused 5.4.12
13. RR/2012/326/P The Hastings Centre, The Ridge. Proposed fence and gates. Approved 5.4.12
14. RR/2012/262/P 1 Vale View, New Cut. Infilling of existing balcony to form en-suite bathroom. Approved 27.3.12
15. RR/2012/335/P 111 Westfield Lane. 2 storey extension at rear (retrospective). Detached replacement garage and new front porch. Approved 27.3.12
16. RR/2011/2636/P Wheel Park Farm, Wheel Lane. Outline: Erection of two industrial buildings with associated parking and landscaping. Approved 21.3.12
17. RR/2012/238/P Riverdale Cottage, Kent Street. Replacement of conservatory with larger extension (retrospective). Approved 15.3.21
18. RR/2011/2289/P Land at Goulds Drive. Amendment to planning permission RR/2009/2990/P to convert units 1 and 2 into 5 X 2 bed self-contained flats to let them with associated car parking. Approved 9.03.12

For details of decisions made more than three months ago, visit the Rother District Council website.

Annual Summary

Annual Summary

Audit arrangements

Westfield Parish Council’s accounts are prepared in accordance with the Accounts & Audit Regulations 2011 (SI 817) and are subject to both internal and external audit.

Our internal auditor is Mr L Matthews of Tunbridge Wells, and the Audit Commission has appointed Mazars LLP to be our external auditor.

The full audited accounts for the year 2010/11 are available on request. Neither the internal auditor nor Mazars reported any matters of concern for these accounts. A summary is available on this website.

Account summaries are also available for previous years.

The completion of audit summary is available as a pdf file below

Precept and Budget

All parish councils have the right to raise money by precept (a mandatory demand) on the district council. The precept required by Westfield Parish Council is collected by Rother District Council as part of the council tax levied on tax payers in the parish.

Previous year's precept requirement

2007/08 £27,200 (equivalent to 25.1p per week/per elector) 

2008/09 £28,300  (equivalent to 26.1p per week/per elector)

2009/10 £28,300 (equivalent to 26.1p per week/per elector)

2010/11 £30,000 (equivalent to 26.8p per week/per elector)

2011/12 £30.000 (equivalent to 26.7p per week/per elector)

Current year precept requirement

2012/13 £30,000 (equivalent to 26.7p per elector/per week)

Each year the Parish Council considers what must be spent to maintain parish assets and support the community. On the basis of these considerations a budget is set and the precept requirement is calculated.

Background to the project

Some background information relevant to the Parish Council’s decision to support the Westfield Down project.

For many years there had been a lack of adequate recreational facilities for the residents of Westfield Parish. The play equipment was out-dated, the Parish Field was set up for football use which deterred other more general recreational use, the Scout HQ was an ancient Nissen hut and the site on which it stands has a limited tenancy. A survey of all Rother District’s recreational facilities identified Westfield as having the worst in the district and the Council determined to address these issues.

The major land owner of Westfield Down began discussions with the Parish Council in 2003 and out of those discussions a project emerged which offered an opportunity to address all these issues on a single site. In 2005 the Parish Council discussed the Down proposals with Rother District Council and the plan was formerly adopted in the District Plan in 2006, after a full public consultation and a government inspector’s report which supported the scheme. The four main advantages to the residents of Westfield were accepted.

• Firstly the potential to resolve all the recreational needs of the Parish on a single site

• Secondly the drawing of a development stop line at our eastern boundary providing a limit to any further development or extension of the village along that boundary

• Thirdly a reduction in the number of proposed houses that the draft District Plan had allocated to Westfield. Rother had identified a site off Fishponds Lane that could accommodate 67+ houses. The Parish Council negotiated that that proposal be removed from the draft District Plan and replaced with the Down housing allocation of at least 22 (now settled at 39 due to economic pressures).

• There was also a fourth consideration, namely the release of the Parish Field from regular football use, allowing it to revert to a general recreation facility more in keeping with the original endowment.

In 2008 some of the play equipment intended for the Down was installed on the Recreation Ground using money from a government grant. This was because we decided that the delays in progressing the Down project should not be allowed to disadvantage our young people any longer. This new provision does not detract from the Down scheme; it provides further opportunities for developing a wider range of recreational provision that will encourage healthy outdoor leisure opportunities for Westfield’s residents.

The site which neighbours the cricket field will provide an open space that can meet the recreational needs of our community for many years to come.

Dr C Richardson 2010

Chairman, Westfield Parish Council