Weald down land December sunset 2017 looking toward Hailsham from Herstmonceux. We can remember that at this time of year this field would be feet deep in snow. Copyright photograph © Cleaner Ocean Foundation Ltd, all rights reserved.

COUNCILLORS SERVING IN 2017 INTO 2018

RAMBLING - This gate has seen better days, but that should not put you off from paying a visit to our glorious Sussex countryside. If you can spare the time, you will discover peace and the charm of living that town dwellers forget about as they inhale diesel particulates. It's good for you as well. Copyright photograph © February 2018 Cleaner Ocean Foundation Ltd, all rights reserved.

The above are members (councillors) of the Wealden District Council in 2017. They are entrusted to provide an effective administration, taking in taxes from the residents and businesses and doing their best to provide social and other services efficiently. The introduction of the Climate Change Act 2008 and the requirement to provide affordable land for sustainable development is a challenge that most councils in the United Kingdom are finding hard to adapt to, since directed to do so from 2012 in the National Planning Policy Framework Document.

Life in England is much harder now for young families who cannot afford to buy their own house, where the cost of living and the high cost of renting property leaves them unable to aspire to home ownership. This means a life of rentals and constant moving as landlords seek to get the highest possible rents for their properties in a market that is geared up to allow them to exploit the next generation, and the next and the next - unless something is done to break the cycle.

It was Margaret Thatcher who (in effect) cancelled low cost council housing, without giving a moments thought to the long-term ramifications for those at the other end of the earning scale. We wonder if our present Prime Minister, Theresa May, might try to do something about affordable housing to seek to re-balance the system. Obviously, once she sorts out the Brexit mess.

One of the problems might be that many councillors in the UK are either landlords or have close ties with land and property owners. If that is so, this is a clear conflict on interest that should be addressed. Councillors who do not have any residual interests will be more likely to want both affordable and sustainable housing for their constituents as they aim for a truly circular economy. The same rule applies to planning officers, some of which are known to have ties with the exploitative renting community. It is human nature to take advantage of a trusted position in public office and at the moment there are no outside safety nets to police the planning police - where we know from our investigations that the serious (organized) crime office will not get involved.

The fact is that affordable land has not been identified in Wealden land and at the time of writing, there are very few energy sustainable houses being built such as to get anywhere near the UN targets. We fear that Brexit may take England further away from the European lead targets as research funding will be near impossible to find once Horizon 2020 grants dry up.

You MP for the Wealden District is Nusrat Ghani. She takes over from Charles Hendry and before him, Sir Geoffrey Johnson-Smith. We hope that Ms Ghani does what she can to implement a low carbon society, aiming for a truly circular economy and fair taxes. Speaking of which, what about our Road Fund Licences. Where is that money going if not on building better roads and keeping the ones we have in good condition. Wealden is littered with potholes. When will we see an end to the Pothole Politics that the previous coalition Government favoured.

YESTERYEAR - This very large Victorian country house soaks up heating oil like there is no tomorrow. In fact, with the climate change act targets not being met by Wealden District Council at the moment, there may well be no tomorrow. Don't you just love the snow? Makes you think of winter when you were young. Enjoy it while you can. The councillors at Wealden are helping to make scenes like this a thing of the past. Copyright © photograph 27 February 2018.

Dick Angel - Kevin Balsdon - Jo Bentley - John Blake - Bob Bowdler - Don Broadbent - Norman Buck - Raymond Cade - John Carvey

  Lin Clark - Nicholas Collinson - Nigel Coltman - Ronald Cussons - Barby Dashwood-Morris - Dianne Dear - Phil Dixon - Pam Doodes

  Claire Dowling - Jan Dunk - Louise Eastwood - Philip Ede - Helen Firth - Jonica Fox - Roy Galley - Richard Grocock - Chris Hardy

Steve Harms - Jim Hollins - Peter Holloway - Johanna Howell - Toby Illingworth - Stephen Isted - David Larkin - Andy Long - Michael Lunn

Philip Lunn - Barry Marlowe - Nigel McKeeman - Rowena Moore - Kay Moss - Douglas Murray - Ann Newton - Ken Ogden

Amanda O'Rawe - Charles R Peck - Diane Phillips - Mark Pinkney - Major Antony Quin RM - Ronald Reed - Dr. Brian Redman

Carol Reynolds - Greg Rose - Peter Roundell - William Rutherford - Daniel Shing - Oi Lin Shing - Raymond Shing - Stephen Shing

Angela Snell - Robert Standley - Susan Stedman - Rupert Thornely-Taylor - Roger Thomas - Bill Tooley - Jeanette Towey - Chriss Triandafyllou

Peter Waldock - Neil Waller - David Watts - Mark Weaver -Graham Wells - David White - John Wilton

A WHITE CHRISTMAS - Lobby your councillors for more to be done to combat climate change or we will lose our winters altogether and your children will never see the sight of a snowy field or experience the crisp air on a winter walk. Copyright photograph © 27 February 2018 Cleaner Ocean Foundation Ltd, all rights reserved.

COUNCILLORS SERVING IN 2002 - 2010

We pay a lot of public money for the civil servants that run our councils. The quality and integrity of the staff that members of our councils hire and trust to do things correctly and honestly is paramount. The moment that anyone becomes aware that an officer of your council is abusing their position of trust - you should haul them up for an investigation and if impropriety is established, then that/those civil servants must be dismissed for the good of the council - in the process losing their pension rights - as forfeiture in stead of a prosecution perhaps - except where the abuse of trust is so beneficial in terms of fraudulently obtaining gains, such as a gain in land value.

There are many well documented examples of abuses on the www.bushywood.com and other anti-corruption websites. The unlawful demolition at Bushy Wood is the lead case, hence the name of that website. you may be told by your officers that the published cases are untrue. If you are told this we advise reading the papers for yourself, and reprimanding the officer(s) who are spreading confusion, because in all likelihood it is those officers who are up to no good.

Another case where your officers failed to act to protect a tenant is the case of the farmer Anne Harris. Judge Kennedy is quoted as saying that her case was the worst case of harassment that had come before him in the Eastbourne County Court. He fined her landlord Mr Anscombe ten of thousands of £pounds for his actions that were only possible because your council failed to act to stop him. Setting fires adjacent to her home as he did could well have ended in a death and a murder charge. Fortunately, Mrs Harris made a legal stand before the harm escalated.

Lessons to be learned. Let us hope that all of you will do your utmost to ensure that such repeats of history do not happen again. It is up to you.

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