Next Year's Budget
The local press has had fun with our budget for next year and some residents may have been misled into thinking that your Parish Council is engaged in an orgy of spending! For many years we have been taking a hard look at what the council does, cutting back on areas of spending that we don't feel give you value for money, and spending more on what we feel is important for the village. We spend less on cutting other people's grass and more on maintaining local bus services; less on lighting up empty streets in the middle of the night and more on facilities for young people; less on servicing loans so that we can invest in infrastructure. We want to solve the problem of parking in Wadhurst, not least because you tell us it's important for you that we do it. This year's increase in precept, which amounts to £2.50-£3 per year for a band D home will help us take the opportunity that we hope will be given to us to create long stay parking at the fire station. I know many are concerned about the idea, but we'll do our best to answer your concerns when we have a final proposal.    Tom Doyle, Chairman.

Winter Wonderland
The council has a small fund for community grants and this year we were pleased to help with further improvements to the village's Christmas lights. Congratulations to the Rotary club for organising such a splendid display. The next deadline for grant applications will be the 31st March 2011. For further details and the application form see the website.

Our new Parish Clerk
Following an advert in the Courier and with the help of the Sussex Association of Local Councils, a short list of 23 applicants was reduced to five selected for interview. Four appeared on the day of whom three were eminently qualified, a gratifying result. Marita Jones, based in Hawkhurst, was considered to be the outstanding candidate and has accepted the post. Marita qualified as a solicitor in 1989 but worked in local government (Maidstone Borough Council) for nearly 23 years before joining private practice in Maidstone in 2005, specialising in planning and environmental law. Marita has lived in Kent and East Sussex since 1983 and has a good grasp of local issues with a particular interest in the rural environment. The handover from Philippa Hewes and Sarah Codling, the interim clerk, is now underway, and contact details will be finalised shortly.

Snow Again
Perhaps weather patterns are changing; certainly the first snowfall coming at the end of November was an early start to winter. Everyone would like their road to have priority clearance. This is simply not possible. Many areas of the village benefited hugely from self help and thanks are due to the shopkeepers, householders and the firemen who cleared the pavements. The myth still persists that if someone has an accident on an area that you have cleared then the clearer is responsible. This quite untrue so do not be deterred from doing your bit.
ESCC Highways will no longer take responsibility for gritting anywhere other than the main roads because of their budget cuts. Instead they want the towns and parishes to assume the task but we do not have the financial resources or manpower to undertake widespread clearing. We have allocated £1000 from the budget to purchase a stock of grit for use on the pavements in the main areas of the village and a similar sum has been included in the precept for next year. It would be of great benefit if we had a group of volunteers who could be called on to assist with clearing should we get more snow.
Several of the side roads were kept passable by the residents and there is nothing to stop groups of householders purchasing a stock of grit for their community.