A hand holding a tablet displaying an online survey. Text reads: "East Sussex Have your say in the SAFER IN SUSSEX SURVEY. Complete online today!" Sussex Police & Crime Commissioner logo is shown. A coastal town is blurred in the background.

Safer in Sussex Survey

Residents are invited to have your say in Sussex Police & Crime Commissioner Katy Bourne’s survey which seeks to understand if residents have experienced crime and looks at what measures would make them feel safer in their communities.

This takes a few minutes to complete online, here: https://forms.office.com/e/iXZt8BCssv

Logos for East Sussex Highways, Balfour Beatty, and East Sussex County Council. The East Sussex Highways logo includes a road graphic; the County Council logo features three stylized blue waves.

Potato Lane Closure

Highways have advised us that Potato Lane has been closed due to excessive mud making the road unsafe for users. They intend to reopen the road tomorrow once the excess mud has been cleared.

Festive red banner with pine branches, red stars, and snowmen, featuring the text: "Connections. News and views from the region's voice for strategic transport." Snow and Christmas ornaments decorate the bottom.

DRAFT TRANSPORT STRATEGY CONSULTATION – CLOSES 07/03/2025

Last week the new draft Transport Strategy for consultation was published. The strategy sets out their vision for the South East, detailing plans to improve the transport system to grow the economy, better connect communities and reach net zero in the decades to come. They are asking residents, businesses and interest groups in the region to take part in the public consultation to give us their views on our proposals. Find out more about the vision, goals and missions outlined in the draft strategy and complete the consultation survey, which is open until 7th March 2025. Complete the Survey now: https://tfse.engage-360.co.uk/
A poster for a Lewes District Local Plan consultation drop-in at Ringmer Village Hall on Wednesday 29 January, 4pm-7pm, with icons of a scale, community, construction, sun, gear, graph, leaf, and dialogue.

LDC LOCAL PLAN CONSULTATION – EVENTS

LDC want to make responding to their Local Plan Consultation less daunting. To that end, they are arranging a series of events to assist:
Public webinar – Tuesday 14 January 2025, from 5pm to 6.30pm
To be held on Zoom
This will be recorded and made available on LDC website.
There will also be a consultation drop-in event – Wednesday 29 January 2025, from 4pm to 7pm
Ringmer Village Hall, Lewes Rd, Ringmer, Lewes BN8 5QH
A festive red Christmas ornament with a vintage car carrying gifts and a wreath inside, hanging by a ribbon. Text below reads "Merry Christmas" with a holiday office closure notice.

CHRISTMAS 2024 OFFICE CLOSED FROM XMAS EVE REOPENING 02/01/25

Illustration of a snowy village with colorful houses, pine trees, and a recycling truck. Text reads: "Reduce, reuse, recycle at Christmas." Logos for Lewes District Council and an envelope with "Keep me posted.

CHRISTMAS BIN COLLECTIONS AND YOUR 2025 CALENDAR

There will be no refuse, food waste, and recycling collections on Christmas Day, Boxing Day, and New Years Day, meaning there will be some changes to your regular collection schedule.

All collections will be carried out according to your collection calendar. If you need a new one you can download it from www.environmentfirst.co.uk.

Collection calendars for 2025 are also now available, and can be downloaded from www.environmentfirst.co.uk. There is now an option to download reminders directly to your smartphone calendar!

Changes to other collections

  • Clinical or sharps collections will be collected on Tuesday 24 and Tuesday 31 December due to the bank holidays.
  • Bulky waste collections will be suspended from Monday 23 December until Monday 6 January 2025.
  • Garden waste collections will be suspended from Monday 23 December for 4 weeks, resuming on Monday 20 January 2025.
A person in a high-visibility vest repairs a radiator next to a window. The image features a “Keep warm and well in East Sussex” logo and the website warmeastsussex.org.uk in the top left corner.

KEEP WARM HOME CHECK – NOW LIVE until the end of the March 2025

Keep warm home check A3 – A4 poster 4th Jan 24

Green and blue gradient background with icons for planning, nature, homes, and community. Text reads: "Lewes District Local Plan. Consultation starting January 2025." Lewes District Council logo in the top right corner.

LOCAL PLAN CONSULTATION FIRST PHASE: 06/01/25 – 28/02/25

Lewes District Local Plan consultation set for New Year launch

Residents across Lewes district are being encouraged to take part in the latest stage of consultation on Lewes District Council’s Local Plan.

Local plans set out where future development will take place, such as new homes and locations for business growth, as well the local policy requirements against which future planning applications will be judged.

A first phase of consultation that will run from week commencing January 6 to February 28 2025. Phase one of the consultation is on the detailed policies for the plan area and will consider sites within towns and a limited number of villages. The second phase will take place later in 2025 and have a greater emphasis on more rural parts of the district, while also re-evaluating areas considered during phase one.

Residents will be able to choose from a range of different ways to engage with the consultation. This will include an online webinar that will take place early in the New Year and a series of in-person drop-in events that will begin towards the end of January 2025.

Ahead of the consultation, Lewes District Council is running a short survey to find out about local people’s understanding of what a Local Plan is. The council will use what people say through the survey to help shape its future communications about the Local Plan. The survey, which will stay open until 5pm on Tuesday 31 December 2024, also gives respondents the opportunity to join the council’s Local Plan mailing list.

For more information about the Local Plan consultation, and to complete the short survey, visit

www.lewes-eastbourne.gov.uk/Lewes-Local-Plan

East Sussex County Council logo with blue wavy lines representing water below the council name written in blue text on a white background.

ESCC WASTE SITES CONSULTATION – OPEN UNTIL 22/12/24

Waste Sites Consultation – East Sussex County Council is consulting on introducing a booking system for local waste and recycling sites. The consultation is open until 22nd December 2024. You can reply to that on the link below. https://consultation.eastsussex.gov.uk/economy-transport-environment/booking-system-household-waste-recycling-sites/consultation/intro/

SOUTHERN WATER’S NEW RIVERS & SEAS WATCH SERVICE

While we work hard to cut storm overflows across our region, as set out in our £1.5bn Clean Rivers and Seas Plan, it is key that communities can view information on all our storm overflow activity.

From 13 November 2024, our new Rivers and Seas Watch service replaced the Beachbuoy online monitoring tool.

Rivers and Seas Watch now includes all of our storm overflows including those inland, not just our coastal overflows.

Rivers and Seas Watch has been running in beta mode on our website since June. During this time, we collected feedback from users, including Beachbuoy subscribers, campaign groups and local stakeholders, to ensure Rivers and Seas Watch provides relevant information in an easy to read format. Technology experts also fed into our Beachbuoy Independent Review.

Key features of Rivers and Seas Watch include:

  • Enhanced user experience across different devices (mobile, laptop, desktop), making it easier to find a location, and access and understand information
  • Comprehensive and accessible information on how the service works
  • An industry-leading mapping platform, presenting information in a clean and timely way
  • Improved email notifications, including start times, impact times and the release status
  • Integration with our overall plans to cut storm overflows, to help users understand what improvements are planned in each area

Improving how we communicate this important information to the public in a transparent, accurate and timely way is crucial. Rivers and Seas Watch has been created following a customer-first approach, engaging extensively with our community to understand their needs, wants and feedback from Beachbuoy.

Users can sign up for alerts for their local beaches on Rivers and Seas Watch, as data protection rules mean we cannot carry previous Beachbuoy users over.