Archive for category: News

Since August 2022, our Bus Service Improvement Plan has helped thousands of East Sussex residents by delivering a wide range of enhancements to local bus services, including:

• Scannable QR plates at every bus stop, for easy access to live bus times.
• Traffic light priority at 29 junctions to help support reliable journeys.
• Over 100 new real time information boards to help you on your journey
• Upgraded bus stop infrastructure, including high quality bus shelters and improvements at Uckfield Bus Station and Hailsham High Street.
• The introduction of Flexibus, our on-demand bus service covering over 90% of the county, now providing over 800 journeys a week.
• Affordable travel options. From £1 short hops to reduced youth fares, these have made a real difference.

As our current BSIP funding comes to an end, the fare reductions will conclude on 1 February. The £3 national single fare cap will continue until March 2027, helping keep journeys affordable.

The Freedom Weekly Ticket, which provides unlimited travel for under 19s on all bus services in East Sussex, will change later to align with half term.

From Monday 16 February the cost of this ticket will increase to £20 for seven days of unlimited travel.

Thank you to everyone who has supported and benefited from our BSIP initiatives. Your feedback and ridership have helped shape better, more reliable services across the county.

For further information on BSIP, Flexibus or changes to fares, please visit the ESCC website: https://www.eastsussex.gov.uk/roads-transport/public/bus-service-improvement-plan

 

Join us for some Winter Work tasks January to March 2026 10am -12.30.

Bring your own flask. Biscuit break.

We will be using hand tools including birch poppers, targeting areas of particular habitat value or which are not suitable for machinery due to the terrain.

Friday January 16th

Thursday January 22nd

Friday January 30th

Thursday February 5th

Friday February 20th

Thursday February 26th

Friday March 6th

Thursday March 19th

• Meet at the car park on Red House Common unless otherwise listed.
• Tools will be provided but please bring gloves if you have them
• If you have not registered as a volunteer with East Sussex please let us know and we can email you a form.

It would be helpful if you could reply to  the folloiwng email address if you plan to join us for any of the dates mail@chaileycommons.org.uk

 

Happy New Year everybody! We start 2026 with some important news….

St Peter’s Church is closing due to urgent repairs to the floor being refurbished from January onwards. Chailey Repair Café is  moving back to Chailey Village Hall, (next to the Five Bells just 500 yards down the road from the Church) from 10^th January until the work in the church  is completed, when we will look forward to returning to the Church.

2025 was an outstanding year for the Repair Café – we tackled 736 of your repairs, 77% successfully, many  of those on the day.  Although we will always do our best to fix your item while you wait (we don’t offer a drop off service) sometimes the repair is just too complicated. When that happens, it is possible that the volunteer will offer to take your item home to complete as a private arrangement outside the Repair Café – but please note that is not always possible..

Our most popular service was sharpening, followed by  repairs to lamps, clocks, zips and  radios.

And the strangest things we tackled?   A hoverboard, a trimphone and a tiara!  Oh and numerous stuffed animals including  a  dog,  moth, pig, reindeer, squirrel, unicorn, furby, cuckoo, owl and monkey – we see all sorts at the Repair Café!!

Our 2026 dates are easy to remember  – we are normally  open every 2nd Saturday of each month between 10am – 1pm. Our new 2026 posters and flyers with all this year’s dates are now available at the Café, so you won’t forget!

Chailey Repair Café is part of a  world-wide movement where volunteer experts repair things free of charge – although a donation towards running costs is invited. Anyone can bring along broken items or clothing needing repair from home, and have a cuppa and a cake while they wait!

You’ll find us at Chailey Village Hall  on the A275 next to the Five Bells pub normally on the second Saturday   of each month (10^th Jan, 14^th Feb, 14th March and so on….) between 1000hrs and 1300hrs where we have a full Café service including our legendary cakes!

Contact  us at chaileyrc@gmail.com and we’ll see what we can do to help.

See you very soon and a very Happy New Year from all of us here at Chailey Repair Café!!

Bryan McAlley and the Chailey Repair Café team

 

Lewes District Council is developing a new Local Plan that will guide how our area grows and changes up to 2040. This Plan will set the framework for delivering the housing, jobs, community facilities, and services needed by residents, workers, and visitors—while ensuring growth is sustainable and well-managed.

On 11 December, a revised draft of the Lewes Local Plan will be presented to District Councillors. If approved, public consultation will begin shortly afterward. The consultation window will be short, so it is vital that as many residents as possible take part. A strong response is important: when the Plan is examined by a Planning Inspector, the level of community engagement and public support will be a key consideration.

Without an up-to-date Local Plan, the district is increasingly vulnerable to speculative and uncontrolled development, making this process urgent. The new proposal sets out a clearer, more strategic approach to identifying development sites—focusing on location, infrastructure capacity, environmental protection, and transport.

Key principles include:

• Protecting rural areas from development that would harm landscape character or biodiversity.
• Concentrating growth in and around Tier 1 and 2 settlements, where public transport and active travel options are strongest. Chailey is classed as Tiers 4 and 5, reflecting limited local services and reduced access to sustainable transport—meaning it is not considered suitable for significant planned growth.
• Ensuring development proposals demonstrate how they prioritise transport solutions such as walking, wheeling, cycling, public transport, shared mobility, and private vehicles.

Local Plan allocations will be required to:

• Provide or support early delivery of effective public transport and active travel links.
• Include comprehensive walking and cycling networks.
• Deliver mobility-hub infrastructure connecting homes with services and employment areas.
• Avoid any development that undermines sustainable transport or increases car dependency.

The Parish Council will share further information as soon as it becomes available.

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As you may be aware, central government is consulting on the future of local government in Sussex.

Residents, businesses and organisations are encouraged to give their feedback on the following options:

• A proposal for one unitary council for East Sussex, entitled ‘One East Sussex’, submitted by, Lewes District Council, Eastbourne Borough Council, Hastings Borough Council, Rother District Council and East Sussex County Council, based on the current East Sussex County footprint.
• Brighton & Hove City Council’s proposal for five separate unitary councils across East and West Sussex.

This is a chance to respond directly to government and influence what councils look like locally and how they deliver services in the future.

The consultation will stay open until Sunday 11 January 2026 at www.gov.uk/government/consultations/local-government-reorganisation-in-east-sussex-and-brighton-and-hove-and-west-sussex

Making it easier for residents to respond

Residents may find it easier to put their response in writing by email or letter to the following:

Email: LGRconsultationresponse@communities.gov.uk

Post:

LGR Consultation
Fry Building 2NE
Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
2 Marsham Street
London
SW1P 4DF

It is important to state where the person is responding from, ie:

• East Sussex
• Brighton and Hove
• West Sussex
• Not in East Sussex, Brighton and Hove, or West Sussex

The full set of consultation questions can be found here: Proposals for local government reorganisation in East Sussex and Brighton and Hove, and West Sussex – GOV.UK