Haywards Heath Town Council leader unveils new policy plan for the future

The council said the plan offers fresh ideas and strategic thinking to map a way forward, providing a framework for the council and its committees.

HHTC leader Paul Lucraft introduced the plan at the council meeting on Monday, July 24.

His full statement at the meeting is as follows: “We live in a fantastic community and an area surrounded by beautiful countryside which we all value – we have a vibrant and successful town and we want to see that continue. Our aim is to help where we can to improve matters that affect the lives of our fellow citizens.

“We are living in a global climate emergency, people are suffering under the Cost of Living Crisis, there has been dramatic change in peoples’ lifestyles in recent years, partly ensuing from the recent pandemic and more people working from home.

“There’s a need this year to review the District Plan and update our own Neighbourhood Plan and then there is a planning application from Gatwick Airport for a second runway. The detail of the development of the Hurst Farm area needs our attention as it comes to fruition.

“Our town needs an active Town Council to work for the community. We mean to work positively to tackle the challenges that face us. The Town Council has a clear role to play in championing the interests of the town community and it can best do this through getting involved in projects and seeking to influence them for the best outcomes for the town. We have a community whose support and involvement we can draw on.

“There are also sections of our community who need our help and we want to help them, there is increasing hidden poverty, there is a need for more activities for younger citizens, there are many elderly and people in care who also need help. We see opportunities to help the broad community and involve them in projects too, hence our aspiration for the future at Clair Hall – the town needs a vibrant venue for mixed arts and cultural activities, we seek a partnership role in that. We look to work with the District Council to achieve these aims and await more information about their plans for Clair Hall and the way forward.

“We want to improve the Council’s outreach too and engaging with the community, it is important to upgrade the council’s website and social media – particularly we believe that this can help engagement with our young citizens and more generally by helping connect and inform people, businesses, community, voluntary and charitable organisations.

“We want to improve accessibility around town for those with disabilities by providing better information and support and working with partners and other agencies.

“We want to enable residents to reduce their carbon footprints, provide more and linked footpaths and cycle ways with clearer routes, mapping and signage and improvements to the town’s street scape to facilitate safe local journeys. South Road, the Broadway and Sussex Road would all benefit from improvements which would make them more attractive to all users. We want to work with WSCC on plans for improved road design, in-ground tree planting and lower speed limits. We would like to see better bus services.

We are thinking about how we can help further in achieving Net zero and will bring forth more proposals to help citizens, businesses and other organisations achieve that.

“We want to reach out to our neighbouring parishes whose residents regularly visit our town and who use its facilities, work here or shop here and we want to create a forum to discuss common issues.

“We recognise that times are difficult, and our citizens are struggling with the Cost of Living Crisis so we will be mindful of that and seek additional sources of revenues where possible and to leverage the resource of partner agencies, work with MSDC, WSCC and others. We also aim to justify the Council’s actions based on the premise that they are worthwhile if they provide added social value / environmental improvement / community pay back and we put money we spend back into our local community. Additional spending on top of our base budget should be justified on these criteria."

“In conclusion, Haywards Heath Town Council has the support of an excellent team of staff and we thank them for their good work for the Council. It is important that we recognise good performance and we are proposing to seek wider recognition and accreditation for the Council.”

The Town Council’s corporate priorities, which are presented through the green paper called 'Haywards Heath Town Council – A plan for the future – July 2023, is available on the Town Council’s website www.haywardsheath.gov.uk.