Your Town and Parish Council News May 2022, support for carers, countryside grants, and more

Celebration time!

It’s the Platinum Jubilee Celebrations next week (Thursday 2 – Sunday 5 June) to honour Her Majesty The Queen becoming the first British Monarch to celebrate 70 years of service.

Direct your residents to our campaign page for more details of what is happening locally to celebrate and to view photos from when the Queen has visited our county over the years.

Continuing the celebrations in June is Sussex Day on the 16, and the Sussex Flag will be flying from County Hall in Chichester to mark the 15^th anniversary of the day.

Our Record Office is holding a free online event on this day, celebrating the history of the Chichester Festival Theatre.

Our Library Service, in conjunction with Chichester Cathedral, are hosting crime fiction novelist Elly Griffiths who will give a talk on her books, some of which are based in West Sussex.

Support for unpaid carers

Unpaid friend and family carers across West Sussex could be missing out on benefits and funding that can help them and their dependants.

Along with the NHS and Carers Support West Sussex, we are supporting Carers Week, which runs from 6 to 12 June, to help make caring visible, valued and supported.

The aim is to highlight the help available to people who may not identify themselves as a carer, despite taking on caring responsibilities for their relatives and friends who live with disabilities, become ill, or older, and needed their support.

Please share this with your residents who are unpaid carers who may not realise they can get help and support.

Grants for improving our countryside

Parish councils in the High Weald area can apply for funding to improve an area for wildlife or scenic beauty through the Sussex Lund 2022 grant programme.

Sussex Lund supports small-scale, practical projects that improve the landscape of the High Weald AONB and the hamlets, villages and towns on its fringes. It also supports projects that help people to experience the landscape and build connections to it. 

 Previous successful projects include:

• Planting community orchards
• Restoring ponds and wetland areas
• Managing wildflower precious grassland; and
• Creating new habitats for dormice and barn owls.

Projects for 2022 could also include community events or initiatives that celebrate and raise awareness of the High Weald landscape and its special qualities, such as its iconic woodlands or dark skies.

Upcoming County Local Forums

Please let your residents know they can meet their local county councillors and ask any questions they have on county council-related business at forthcoming County Local Forums.

Officers from our Communities Team will also be available to help answer any questions on local community matters.

The County Local Forums will run on the following days:

• Tuesday 7 June, 7pm to 9pm: Mid Sussex County Local Forum at East Grinstead Library
• Thursday 9 June, 7pm to 9pm: Adur County Local Forum at Shoreham Library
• Thursday 16 June, 10am to 12pm: Chichester County Local Forum at County Hall, Chichester
• Monday 20 June, 7pm to 9pm: Arun County Local Forum at Bognor Regis Library
• Wednesday 22 June, 7pm to 9pm: Crawley County Local Forum at Crawley Library
• Monday 4 July, 7pm to 9pm: Worthing County Local Forum at Worthing Library
• Thursday 7 July, 7pm to 9pm: Horsham County Local Forum at Horsham Library.

Each forum covers the entire district or borough area.

Residents who are unsure of which County Local Forum to attend, can find the information for their local district or borough on our website.

Anyone who would like to attend a local session or ask a question, should email talkwithus@westsussex.gov.uk or sign up via Eventbrite.

If your residents have a question, please encourage them to email it to the above address at least five working days before the event as having the questions in advance will help ensure they can be answered in full at the meeting.

Volunteers needed for this year's Summer Reading Challenge

We are looking for your help to find volunteers from age 14 up to support children in our 36 libraries this summer.

Duties for volunteers will include:

• helping families register for the Summer Reading Challenge, which may include guiding them to use a computer, tablet or smartphone
• explaining to families how this year's challenge works
• talking to children about the books they have been reading.

The ideal commitment is a minimum of 10 hours from July to September but there can be flexibility in choosing days and times within this period.

Young applicants could also use this volunteering opportunity as part of their Duke of Edinburgh award, which must be agreed with the library in advance.

Free historic event 

People from across the world will come together for a free Transatlantic Ties Symposium at the University of Chichester on Saturday 11 June.

The symposium will mark the end of the Transatlantic Ties project, and will be a day of lectures and presentations exploring the shared history of West Sussex and the United States.

Residents can book a free ticket by clicking on the link below.

Organised by our West Sussex Record Office, the symposium will run from 10am to 4.30pm with lunch and refreshments provided.

A new Transatlantic Ties website will also be launched at the symposium, showcasing the results of this research including digital access to the archives and online learning resources.

The project came on the back of the discoveries surrounding the Sussex Declaration in 2017-18 at the West Sussex Record Office.

The rare copy of the US Declaration of Independence is one of only two ceremonial parchment manuscript copies in existence. The other is housed in The National Archives in Washington DC.

Covid-19 vaccination update

Please spread the word amongst your residents that the spring booster vaccination is available to eligible groups to help reduce the risk of people getting seriously ill from Covid-19.

People can get the booster three months after the date of their original booster if they are:

• aged 75 or over
• living in a care home for older people, or
• aged 12 or over and have a weakened immune system.

First, second, third and original boosters are also still available for anyone who is yet to have theirs.

Booked appointments and walk in sessions are available every day.

Book via the National Booking Service or call 119, which provides support in 200 languages.

For more information about the local vaccination programme, including details of walk-in sessions, click the link below.

Adult social care priorities

Find out what the five adult social care priorities will be over the next three years.

Watch our short animation and hear directly from the Cabinet Member for Adults’ Services, Amanda Jupp, who explains how the county council would like every adult to have the opportunity to live a good life.

To view the full strategy, which is also available in Easy Read, click on the link below.

Check out the updated Climate Change webpages 

Our climate change web pages have been updated using a new user-friendly format.

The new West Sussex Climate Action pages provide residents with a clear picture of how the county council is addressing climate change and aims to meet its ambitious carbon reduction commitment to reach net zero by 2030.

In addition, the pages suggest various actions residents can take, for example, being more energy-efficient, reducing food waste, using less water, or choosing to walk, cycle, or use public transport.

Further interactive enhancements will follow in the next few months. Please encourage your residents to take a look. If you have any questions on our climate change strategy please get in touch: climatechange@westsussex.gov.uk