Please be advised that the locations detailed below are due to be closed on the dates and times specified for carriageway stud reinstatement.

Work for this section of the A286 was originally planned for 30^th September to 4^th October and unfortunately was delayed due to unforeseen circumstances. Please accept our apologies for the inconvenience caused.

An alternative route for traffic will be signed on site.

Please note that these works are weather dependant, we will endeavour to inform you should there be significant changes to the programme.

This road closure is covered by the 14.1 order made on 11^th January 2025.

You can find more details on surface dressing treatments and the stages involved on our website:Road surface dressing - West Sussex County Council

If you have any questions regarding this specific closure, please reply to this email directly.

Further information can also be found viaone.network

I’m delighted to say that five of our six play areas in Chichester have now been completely refurbished — and it’s wonderful to see so many of you already enjoying them! I’d like to thank to everyone who has taken the time to share their thoughts with us. The feedback we have received has been fantastic and your comments are greatly appreciated by everyone who has been involved.

Major upgrades have now been completed at Priory Park, Parklands, Whyke Oval, and Oaklands Park, following improvements to Florence Road play area earlier in the year.

If you haven’t visited Oaklands Park play area yet, I’d really encourage you to go and explore it. We’ve transformed the space into a flagship ‘destination play area’ — a vibrant and inclusive space that aims to bring joy to families; support children’s physical, social, creative and emotional development; and enhance the city’s appeal as a visitor destination.

Thanks to additional investment from Chichester City Council, the new play area is larger than a typical park and offers a full ‘day out’ experience for residents and visitors alike. It features a wide variety of physical, creative, and inclusive play equipment to encourage longer visits and imaginative play.

For younger children, there’s a climbing tower with net and slide; a multi-play tractor, spinner bowl, springer ‘bugs’, and stepping pods. Older children can enjoy a challenging climbing unit, zip wire, and supernova (round balance beam). Children of different ages and abilities can also test their speed and strength over an agility trail with an interactive play timer, or get creative with tactile, imaginative and musical elements.

It’s really important to us that all of our play areas are open and accessible to everyone, and so we worked closely with a local children’s charity, Parents and Carers Support Organisation (PACSO), to ensure that our plans feature a range of inclusive play equipment. In Oaklands Park, you’ll find inclusive items such as a tower with ramp and slides; basket, cradle and ‘you and me’ swing seats; and roundabout and trampoline.

This transformation is part of a £800,000 project to revitalise and enhance our five play areas in Chichester. As we head into the final phase of the project, which will see work start at the Amphitheatre this autumn, I’d like to thank everyone who helped shape our new and improved play areas — from the children, parents and carers who use the spaces and shared their ideas for improvements, to those who gave their views in our public consultation earlier this year. And, of course, this project couldn’t have become a reality without the hard work of our Parks and Gardens team, who have done a wonderful job. We are also hugely grateful to the local organisations and partners who helped deliver this project, including Chichester City Council for their support and additional investment in the Oaklands Park project.

All the play areas have been very well received by the community and it’s been fantastic to see them so well used since they reopened. If you and your family want to explore these play areas, you can find your nearest one on our Chichester District Council app:www.chichester.gov.uk/chichesterdcapp. The app allows you to sort the play areas by distance and can also display them on a map. You can download the app from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store.

As well as looking after our play areas, our 12-strong Green Spaces team cares for and manages a range of parks; gardens; ponds; sports pitches; local nature reserves; and open spaces. When you next visit one of these spaces, please give our team a wave if they’re out and about. You can find out more about their work at:www.chichester.gov.uk/parksandgardens

Best Wishes

Cllr Mark Chilton

Cabinet Member for Finance, Corporate Services and Chichester Contract Services at Chichester District Council

Please see file attached.

I wanted to make you aware of a couple of projects in the local area which you might be interested in knowing more about.

1. Volunteer task on Centurion Way at Singleton Station Sunday 28^th September. “hoe and sow”. The SDNPA volunteers will be there between 10 and 3pm (unless we finish sooner). It would be great if anyone else from the wider community wanted to join in they could drop by at anytime, no need to stay the whole day. There will be gloves, tea and coffee available but if anyone wants to come all day they should bring lunch. We don’t have many hoes, so if anyone has one they should bring it along. I appreciate it is short notice so understand if you don’t have a way of sharing this more widely.

1. Singleton School Wood. Singleton School and the South Downs National Park have permission from The Goodwood Estate to plant a woodland for use by the school for outdoor learning. This will be planted this autumn/winter. To protect the woodland a deer fence will be erected around the field before planting begins. There is more information on the attached document. Please do get in touch if you would like anymore details or if you think there are specific groups or people who should be informed. It would be great if the community wanted to get involved in the project as well as the School.

Best wishes

Chloë

Singleton and Charlton Pamondayrish Council

Meeting Dates for 2025

Meetings are held in Singleton Village Hall at 7pm

Annual PC Meeting & Annual Parish Meeting

Held in Singleton Cricket Club at 7pm

Full Parish Council Meeting Monday 20^th January 2025

Full Parish Council Meeting Monday 17th March 2025

Full Annual Parish Council Meeting Monday 19th May 2025

And Annual Parish Meeting Singleton Cricket Club

Full Parish Council Meeting Monday 21st July 2025

Full Parish Council Meeting Wednesday 17th September 2025

Full Parish Council Meeting Wednesday 19^th November 2025

Date of Release:20 August 2025 Ref:4509

Council adopts new Chichester Local Plan

Chichester District Council has officially adopted the Chichester Local Plan 2021–2039, following approval at a Full Council meeting on Tuesday 19 August.

This marks a significant milestone in shaping the future of the area, setting out a comprehensive vision for the area’s economy; transport and housing needs; environmental and historic protection; community health and wellbeing; and cultural development.

The adopted plan, which covers the area of the Chichester District outside the South Downs National Park, identifies housing requirements and development areas to support economic growth and deliver new homes over the next 14 years. It also includes a wide range of policies addressing areas such as design standards, climate change, and the natural environment.

“This is a major achievement and great news for our area and communities,” says Cllr Bill Brisbane, Cabinet Member for Planning at Chichester District Council. “The Chichester Local Plan has been one of the most complex pieces of work we have ever undertaken. The council has worked incredibly hard to prepare and now adopt the new Local Plan, having faced a number of significant challenges, particularly around roads, wastewater, and water neutrality.

“Planning affects where we live, work and relax; where new shops and community facilities are built; and it protects our historic buildings and the natural environment. The Local Plan addresses all of these issues and more, helping to make Chichester a vibrant and greener area. This gives us the opportunity to create a better future for our residents and businesses.

“Preparing a Local Plan is a difficult and lengthy process, and I would like to thank everyone who has been involved in completing this important piece of work. This includes everyone who has shared their views in the public consultations that we carried out in the lead up to, and throughout, the examination process — your input has played an important role in shaping the plan.”

Adoption of the plan follows completion of an independent examination process, which began in May last year when the council submitted the plan to the Government’s Planning Inspectorate. The Inspectors assessed the plan, supporting evidence, and public feedback, and held a series of public hearings before identifying a number of ‘main modifications’ needed to make the plan ‘sound’. In April and May, the council consulted on these modifications and after reviewing the responses, the Inspectors issued a final report confirming that the plan, with the recommended modifications, is sound, legally compliant, and ready for adoption.

The Local Plan will guide future development and provide the policies against which planning applications will be assessed. It also supports parish councils in preparing neighbourhood plans.

Bill adds: “All Planning Authorities are expected to meet the housing needs figure that is set by central Government for their Local Plan area. This drives the current level of housing supply and the housing requirement, which forms the basis for the Local Plan.

“Given the local challenges we face — particularly around transport infrastructure and environmental constraints — the plan we submitted for examination proposed a housing requirement of around 90% of the government’s housing needs figure for this area. However, based on the evidence, which included representations from National Highways in relation to the A27, the Inspectors concluded that there wasn’t sufficient justification to set a housing requirement lower than the full identified housing need. However, they permitted a stepped requirement, beginning with 575 homes per year as originally proposed by the council, but only for the years up to 2029/30, increasing to 701 per year following this, to enable an average of 638 homes per year over the full plan period.

“The Inspectors agreed that the most suitable location for housing growth is Chichester and the east/west corridor, which is where the majority of the proposed new housing and strategic sites are located within the Local Plan.

“The adopted plan also includes a wide range of robust policies aimed at protecting and conserving our area’s environment and historic character. It places greater emphasis on design standards and includes more policies relating to the natural environment.

“While the plan seeks to use as many brownfield sites as possible for development, our area lacks a legacy of large industrial sites that are suitable for significant levels of brownfield redevelopment. However, where opportunities do exist, for example in the Southern Gateway area, the plan sets out how the council will actively work to utilise these and unlock potential.”

People can find more information about the Chichester Local Plan, at:www.chichester.gov.uk/localplan. Information relating to the examination process, can be found at: www.chichester.gov.uk/localplanexaminationand the Planning Inspectors full report and the Full Council report are both available at: www.chichester.gov.uk/localplanexaminationnews

A message from the Interim Chief Fire Officer of West Sussex Fire & Rescue Service, Gary Ball:

Good afternoon,

Thank you to all of you who have already taken part in our public consultation on the proposals for our next Community Risk Management Plan and shared your views.

This plan will set out the direction of the fire service for the next four years, and so we are really keen to hear from as many people as possible as part of this public consultation to ensure we are supporting the needs of all residents living and working in our communities.

We are now around half way through our 12 week public consultation period, so if you haven’t yet completed the short online survey I would really encourage you to do so before it closes on September 22 to ensure that we have the widest range of views from our communities as possible.

If you are able to raise awareness of this public consultation with your councillors by sharing this email with them to encourage them to have their say too I really would appreciate any support you are able to provide in helping us spread the message far and wide.

Our consultation can be completed online, or by filling out a paper copy of the consultation. If you would like a paper copy, please either email yourfireservice@westsussex.gov.uk or 01243 786211 and one will be sent out.

Thank you,

Gary

Hello All

We want to let you know that our local government reorganisation engagement survey is now live at: www.shapingwestsussex.org. Please make sure that you take part in our survey to help shape the future of local government in West Sussex. The survey is open until 11.59pm on Wednesday 13 August. We would also be grateful if you could help us to promote this to friends, family, colleagues, residents, community groups and businesses. If you would like any promotional assets – including social media graphics, leaflets or posters - please let us know and we will send them through.

We have also attached the prospectus pack, which provides more detail on the options. This is also available for people to look at on our www.shapingwestsussex.org platform.

If you have any questions or need any further help, please don’t hesitate to let me know.

Many thanks

Sarah

Please see attachment below.

Council starts to prepare for local government reorganisation

To ensure it is at the forefront of preparations for local government reorganisation, Chichester District Council has made some changes to the way its senior management team will work.

Its current Director of Corporate Services, John Ward, has been made Chief Operating Officer. He will take on the day-to-day management of the council to enable the Chief Executive, Diane Shepherd, to focus on preparing the council for local government reorganisation. Diane will continue to be responsible for the strategic overview of the council’s work, including preparing the council for the changes ahead and will remain the Chief Executive of the council.

To coincide with this, Diane will reduce her hours and will work three days a week from June. She will continue with this arrangement until 31 March 2027, when she will retire after 40 years of working in local government. Following this time, John Ward will then become the Head of Paid Service and will lead the council through the shadow year, before it joins the new unitary authority.

The changes will not increase costs and will result in a small saving to the council.

“We are really pleased that Diane will be leading the council through this transitional period. She is an exceptional leader, who is highly respected amongst our communities, and has she has made a significant contribution to the district and its success over the past 34 years,” says Cllr Adrian Moss, Leader of Chichester District Council.

“These changes will allow her to focus on preparing for this huge change, to ensure that we achieve the very best outcomes for our staff and communities.

“We also know that John will play a vital role in making sure that council services and projects continue to be delivered to a high standard, while the local government reorganisation work moves forward.”

“It has been a privilege to lead this council over the past 13 years and so I am really pleased that I have the opportunity to prepare the council for this next chapter,” says Diane Shepherd, Chief Executive at Chichester District Council. “My priority is to achieve the very best options and outcomes for our staff, councillors and communities under the new authority. It’s also fitting that after working at the council for 34 years, I have the opportunity to mark the end of my career here, at a place that has given me so many opportunities and memories.”

The government has stated that it wants all areas of the country to have unitary councils, with each serving an average of 500,000 residents. This is likely to result in the creation of one or two unitary councils within West Sussex. This would mean all of the existing councils moving into the new unitary councils. Each area has until 26 September this year to submit detailed proposals.

In Sussex, the timeline is for the unitary authorities to be ready in shadow form in 2027, and for the new councils to come into effect in 2028. People can find out more about devolution and local government reorganisation by visiting:www.chichester.gov.uk/devolution

Please see file attached. 

Please see attachment below.

Drones

Drone Classes and Subcategories

The UK drone legislation divides drones into three main classes: A1, A2, and A3. Each class has its own set of rules and regulations.

A1 Subcategory: Fly over people, but not over crowds. This subcategory includes drones with a flying weight of less than 250g.

A2 Subcategory: Fly close to people. This subcategory includes drones with a flying weight of 250g to 2kg.

A3 Subcategory: Fly far from people. This subcategory includes drones with a flying weight of less than 25kg.

Registration and Competency

To operate a drone in the UK, you need to register it with the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and obtain a Competency Certificate (CofC).

Registration: You need to register your drone if it weighs between 250g and 25kg or has a camera. You can register your drone online through the CAA website.

Competency Certificate: You need to obtain a CofC if you want to fly a drone in the A2 or A3 subcategory. The CofC requires you to pass an online test and demonstrate your understanding of drone safety and regulations.

Operating Areas and Restrictions

There are certain areas where drone flying is restricted or prohibited. These areas include:

Airports: You cannot fly a drone within 5.5 kilometers of an airport or any area designated as a restricted airspace.

National Parks: You need to obtain permission from the park authority before flying a drone in a national park.

Military Areas: You need to obtain permission from the military authority before flying a drone in a military area.

Crowded Areas: You cannot fly a drone over crowded areas, such as sports events or festivals.

Safety Considerations

When flying a drone in the UK, you need to consider the following safety factors:

Height: You cannot fly a drone above 120 meters.

Distance: You need to maintain a minimum distance of 50 meters from people and buildings.

Speed: You cannot fly a drone at a speed greater than 50 knots (93 km/h).

Weather: You cannot fly a drone in bad weather conditions, such as strong winds or low visibility.

Penalties for Non-Compliance

If you fail to comply with the UK drone legislation, you may face penalties, including:

Fine: You may be fined up to £1,000 for flying a drone without permission.

Prison Sentence: You may be sentenced to up to 5 years in prison for flying a drone recklessly or negligently.

Drone Confiscation: Your drone may be confiscated if you are found to be flying it illegally.

The Drone and Model Aircraft Code - Attached below.

Please find attached Southern Water Presentations

Date of Release: 22 May 2024 Ref: 4330

Council agrees funding for vital river restoration projects in Chichester District

Projects aimed at restoring three of the Chichester District’s rare river habitats have received a boost after councillors agreed to help fund them.

At a Chichester District Council meeting on Tuesday 21 May, councillors agreed to invest £180,000 over the next three years, as part of two projects being led by the Western Sussex Rivers Trust (WSRT), formerly known as theArun and Rother Rivers Trust (ARRT), to help restore the River Lavant and also the Ems and the Hambrook.

The money will part-fund two posts. One post will work on furthering a restoration plan for the Ems and the Hambrook. The other will begin work on a similar plan for the Lavant.

“We are delighted to be able to support the Western SussexRivers Trust in their critical work and help fund these key projects,” says Councillor Jonathan Brown, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Environmental Strategy at Chichester District Council. “The trust approached us for help, and we felt that it was crucial to support them in this way because our contribution will in turn help them to unlock further potential funding from other sources.

“Many people may not be aware but the rivers Ems, Hambrook and Lavant are among only 283 chalk streams and rivers in the world. These are globally significant but very rare habitats and are almost exclusively found in the south of England. None of these rivers has official protection but we are seeking to gain better protection for them through the Chichester Local Plan and its Strategic Wildlife Corridors policy.We appreciate that this isn’t enough on its own and that significant recovery work also needs to take place.

“Sadly, these rivers are now suffering from the effects of a number of activities including: pollution; habitat loss; drought; and, interruptions to their natural processes and flow. In addition, the River Ems is also suffering the effects of over-abstraction, a process where water is removed for domestic, industrial uses and agriculture.

“These chalk streams also feed into the internationally protected Chichester Harbour Special Protection Area and so it is absolutely vital that as a council we do all that we are able to do in order to support their protection and restoration for future generations. These projects will safeguard the future of three of the most significant rivers and streamsin our district which will then also have a positive effect on our harbour.

“Working with our partners on projects such as these is key. Our role is to help facilitate other organisations who have the expertise to enable results that the council wouldn’t be able to achieve on its own.”

The projects are catchment-based plans, so not only would they look at the rivers and streams themselves, but also the whole landscape area that feeds into them.

The work will focus on restoring the natural function in the river channels; tackling invasive non-native species; andriver re-meandering. This is work that creates a new meandering course or reconnects cut-off meander. Thiscan slow down river flow and is also known to have a positive impact on sedimentation and biodiversity.

Alongside this work, the project officers will also work with landowners and the local community to carry out citizen science, which would include a range of activities such as monitoring water quality, biodiversity and encouraging people to report incidents.

Getting the public and local community involved is key to gathering good statistics in order to gain good outcomes. The officers will also run public events to build community engagement and understanding of the issues affecting the rivers — this will feed into finding potential solutions.

The Western Sussex Rivers Trust (WSRT) isone of a national network of river trusts that aim to protect and restore our rivers and streams. The Trust’s area covers nearly all of Chichester and Arun Districts. The trust has been working on a series of catchment-based plans for the restoration of rivers and their tributary streams within Chichester District.

As part of the projects the council will meet regularly with WSRT to monitor progress

Please see attachment.

Priority Services Register

Please see attachment below.

Please see attachment below.

See PDF Below

Please see attachment below. Submitted to SDNP on 7/11/23.

Please see attached information.