Updates from the Councillor Surgery - January

Thank you to those members of the public that attended our Councillor Surgery on Saturday 10th January 2026.

A number of issues were discussed and as promised please see below an update on those items.

1. Goals on the Nutham Lane Village Green - as residents know the goals left on the field were removed by Horsham DC. As I discussed on Saturday through the suggestion of Cllr John Potts and Cllr Graham Watkins we have secured new goals courtesy of Southwater Royals FC. Our Executive Officer and his team are trying to find somewhere these can be stored so that they do not have to go in a residents garden and once we have this confirmed then we will be able to deliver the goals to Nutham Lane Village Green and nearby residents to use.

2. By-Election - A by-election has been called to fill the current Southwater South vacancy and it is scheduled to take place on Thursday 12 March 2026. This by-election is for this single seat only, for the remainder of the current term. The next ordinary parish elections are due in May 2027, when all councillors’ terms end and every seat is up for election again, so anyone who wishes to continue must stand for election. This means the successful candidate in March 2026 will be in post for just over a year before the May 2027 elections. The by-election is administered by Horsham District Council and charged to the Parish Council where the cost is met from a combination of either earmarked reserves specifically held for election costs, general reserves and if used, will need to be replenished through future budgeting decisions. In simple terms, if reserves are drawn down now, they need to be replenished through the 2026-27 budget so the Council remains properly provided for any future by-election risk and the May 2027 ordinary elections. It is correct that we have not had an election for some time and this has been because we have in the past struggled to get applications for the vacancies therefore no election has needed to be called. It’s great that we now have people wanting to become Councillors. In 2025, when we had vacancies, we had 7 applications and from that we co-opted three new Councillors – Cllr John Potts, Cllr Phillipa French and Cllr Malcom Brierley.  All three have been a real asset to the Council since they joined.

2.Easteds Barn - we were asked what the plan was with the funds should the sale go ahead and what the update is on the proposed purchase. At this moment in time all we know is that Solicitors for both sides are in discussions and we have no further update on a likely completion date. As has been explained, the funds from any sale can only be used on Capital Expenditure not to reduce the precept or be used for general funds. With this in mind there will need to be thought given to what this is used for and so initially the funds will be invested and these will accrue interest in a 12-month fixed term account. No decision has been taken at the moment on what the funds will be used for.  

3.Potholes - as always we have areas of Southwater Roads with some bad pot holes - Cripplegate Lane and Station Lane were mentioned as being very bad in places Roads are dealt with by West Sussex Highways and while the SPC officers can raise issues of Pot Holes reported, it is aided greatly if local residents contact West Sussex Highways directly. Therefore please reach out to your West Sussex County Councillor Nigel Jupp with any concerns and ask him to chase Highways up. We are aware the Central Government have given extra funds to get potholes sorted. In the latest Government report West Sussex are showing as yellow which means they have made some inroads to clear the potholes but not enough so we need to work together to get these areas resolved.

 Our Surgeries are held the first Saturday of every month and it’s a great opportunity to come along and discuss issues. We often have HDC Councillors attend and sometimes our County Councillor too. We look forward to seeing you at our next Surgery in Feb 2026.

With regards

Cllr Nikki Knott

Vice Chair of Southwater Parish Council