Consultation Hub

We asked all the frontagers of Queens Road, Church Avenue, Gordon Road and Bridge Road about proposals to introduce speed cushions in Queens Road, a 20mph speed limit in all the roads and a 7.5 tonne weight restriction (except for access) in Queens Road between Mill Green Road and Bridge Road.

As a result of distributing around 450 letters and drawings and an online Have Your Say webpage we received 88 replies.

From those:

- Regarding the proposed speed cushions, 69 were in favour and 19 against;

- Regarding the 20mph speed limit, 75 were in favour and 13 were against;

- Regarding the 7.5 tonne weight restriction (except for access), 83 were in favour and 5 were against.

(1 paper was returned blank)

These responses indicate significant frontager support and as such we are proceeding to Statutory Public Consultation so that we may introduce these measures subject to receiving any further comments or objections from our statutory public consultees or the wider public. The process of Statutory Public Consultation is expected to happen over the next few months and any measures would be introduced in the coming financial year i.e. between April 2019 and March 2020.

The purpose of the consultation was to:

• Gain a better understanding of the VCS in West Sussex
• Gain a deeper insight into the needs of the Voluntary Community Sector (VCS)
• Gather your views on the current Voluntary Community Sector Infrastructure support
• Understand more about the challenges that the VCS are facing. 

Survey was live from 19^th February to 16^th March.  We received 163 responses from a range of organisations. Your greatest challenges were:

• Funding
• Recruitment and retention of volunteers
• Keeping track of changes in policy and/or legislation
• Engagement with Statutory Sector eg WSCC, D&B’s, NHS
• Premises
• Skills and Training

The results are part of the ongoing consultation process with the Voluntary Community Sector and were shared at the VCS Engagement Event in April as well as sharing findings with the Infrastructure Organisations.    Following on from the VCS Engagement Event and survey results, a series of focus groups will be set up on the following themes: 

• Volunteering
• Partnerships and networking
• Voice and communications
• Funding
• Training, governance and voluntary sector advice

We are hoping that group discussions on the above topics will take place over the coming months looking at different issues and identifying solutions that will make a positive difference going forward.

We asked for your feedback on the proposal to amend the number of places West Sussex County Council commissions at the Special Support Centre at Hazelwick School. The proposal aligned provision more closely with need and made best use of available funding.

43 of you took part in the consultation and fed back your views on the proposal via the online survey. 42 respondents were opposed to the proposal to reduce the number of places and 1 neither supported or objected to the proposal. 

35 of you who responded went on to give further detail on your views with the majority commenting on insufficient SEND provision, reducing choice for families and the quality of provision.

Your comments were fully considered and addressed in the Decision Report which can be viewed here. 

Based on evidence of the number of specialist places required for children with hearing impairment and that the proposal will not affect children currently occupying places in the Special Support Centre, the West Sussex County Council Director for Education and Skills took a decision that came into effect on 28 March 2018 to approve the proposal. The number of places the County Council commissions at the Special Support Centre at Hazelwick School will be amended to 4 places, for implementation from September 2018.

Thank you to everyone that responded.