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Charity & Community
Sussex Snippets The Good Neighbours scheme is run for West Sussex County Council (WSCC) by the Royal Voluntary Service (RVS). It connects people who may be feeling isolated with volunteers who offer their help during 12 arranged home visits. The RVS is appealing for new volunteers to donate their time to help clients of the Good Neighbours scheme across West Sussex, particularly in the Crawley and Worthing areas where there are currently several people on a waiting list to receive assistance. 01903 257019 or email gnwscoastal@royalvoluntaryservice.org.uk Community and environmental aviation group, CAGNE, is urging supporters to write to the Secretary of State for Transport and demand that the growth proposed by Gatwick Airport from the main runway is a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP) under the Planning Act 2008 examination as it “will add approximately 55,000 extra flights a year 340,000 aircraft movements by 2033 with 61m passengers added to the current infrastructure.” A suggested letter can be found at www.cagne.org. The LoCASE programme is a unique opportunity for small to medium size businesses in East Sussex to improve their energy efficiency and overall performance. With free energy audits and grant funding of up to £10,000, businesses can cut overheads, gain a competitive edge, and enhance their brands. This will be achieved with support from Carbon Smart – selected by East Sussex County Council to deliver the LoCASE project. Eligibility rules apply. 01323 790030. A crowdfunding programme launched in May 2018 has seen more than 100 community-led projects in West Sussex hit their target and the window is now open until Thursday 13 February for community groups to put forward new initiatives and projects they would like to receive funding for. The West Sussex Crowd, run in partnership by West Sussex County Council and civic crowdfunding website Spacehive, invites communities to come together and propose ideas to regenerate their local areas. Since its launch, more than 2,800 local people, businesses, district/ borough and town/parish councils have backed projects across the county, collectively raising over £750,000 and showing the strength of community buy-in for their ideas. www.westsussexcrowd.org.uk. Following Eastbourne Borough Council’s declaration of a climate emergency for the town, a new organisation, Eastbourne Carbon Neutral 2030 (ECN2030), has been set up to tackle the challenge of achieving zero carbon emissions within a decade. Meanwhile Hastings Borough Council has confirmed it is now looking at two possible sites to install solar panels, both in Hastings Country Park. Hastings has also pledged to be carbon neutral by 2030.
A December meeting of the WSCC Performance and Finance Scrutiny Committee expressed concern over the programme and the predicted savings of the Whole Council Design project launched in 2019. In response to a report on the project by Katharine Eberhart, Director of Finance and Support Services, members noted: • The use of a new consultant was queried as work had already been done and there was a risk that a £19m investment might only achieve £17m of savings • Non delivery of savings would not invalidate work done by the previous consultants as many savings were to be made in areas of Children’s Services, such as using ipads to update cases on the road, which had subsequently needed increased spending in administrative support • Savings from the programme were at significant risk as the projects hadn’t reached delivery stage, but advances in IT meant the position to make progress had improved and there was confidence that the programme would achieve savings • The projected overspend of £1.5m was reported in the Total Performance Monitor and would be mitigated or balanced from reserves A further report on the programme with details of costs and savings would come to the Committee in January. Notices to: info@sussexlocal.net
