POLO: Parishes of the Lower Ouse
24th Nov 2009
Willie Edmonds, RPC Chairman, writes:
POLO - What is it?
In this neck of the woods, POLO stands for Parishes Of the Lower Ouse.
Founded roughly ten years ago, in essence POLO involves representatives from the parish councils and parish meetings along the valley: Kingston, Iford and Swanborough, Rodmell (and Northease), Southease, and Piddinghoe. They meet twice a year to share information and attempt to co-ordinate on mutual concerns. We have no authority to carry out decisions affecting the parishes collectively. So, we meet mainly as a forum for information sharing.
The chairmanship and hosting rotate around the parishes each year. Rodmell is coming up for its third turn in 2010.
Guess what is our Number One common pressing issue? The road (C7) of course. So, what have we done in this regard?
- Ouse Valley Greenway: 7 or 8 years back, we co-ordinated on a feasibility study for a Newhaven to Lewes cycle and footway. This hit specific practical problems, and awareness of the enormity of funds required became daunting. But the vision (ie: Paris to London via Rodmell) remains there, and efforts are still being made to secure piece-meal measures of a bit more footpath available here and there.
- C7 LATS (Local Area Transport Strategy) was dreamed-up by the county council, arising out of a series of consultation meetings 3 or 4 years ago. POLO reps met up several times for this, and we now have a strategy document - rather fuzzily wrapped in bureaucratese, and with insufficiently sharp focus because of allowing for every possible consideration. Bluntly, it states the obvious need to deal with traffic speed and quantity, and parish accesses ... As well as everything else: better public transport, footpaths etc ... However, pedestrian and cyclists' needs and safety always seem to come low down the priority list.
- Keep on meeting - we last met on 17 November in Kingston. POLO now includes a Kingston Road and Cranedown representative, and we try to enact some of the LATS policies. Kingston PC (POLO chair holders in 2009) has agreed to call a meeting in the next month or so, with our County Councillor, David Rodgers, to try and take this stuff forward a little more effectively.
Other common concerns:
The River Ouse: Concerns that its banks cannot be sustained indefinitely (sea level is expected to rise by 800mm by end of this century). The Environment Agency has consulted with us on this, and currently appears to be resigned to maintaining the present status-quo – one suspects that this out of immediate financial expediency. Should we be letting the river take its natural course and spill over the banks to recreate a floodplain? Very sensitive for the farmers especially, and for low-lying Iford.
South Downs National Park (SDNP): to come into being in March 2010, and in full operation in March 2011. The DEFRA rep spoke at last May’s meeting. We now have two candidates from POLO standing for PC reps on the SDNP Authority. There are all sorts of challenging implications for us, but we now need to seek out its advantages for us rather than quibbling about the problems - especially in terms of sustaining local economy, social diversity, and environmental protection and enhancement.
Fighting Dutch Elm Disease: although we don't do much about this, we raise awareness of the issue in the valley and encourage contributions to the agency dealing with this disease.
The Waste Incinerator: first scheduled for Bedingham, but now under construction in Newhaven. There is heightened recycling awareness through valley.
Viridor: This source of grant funding from the Landfill Site company has now just concluded. POLO had a rep on the grant allocation committee, and saw to it that all the POLO parishes took good advantage of this for community projects.
That’s about it. Only to say that we are now frequently cited as a model of “parish clustering” - a vogue idea in local government circles. However, it is difficult to see that we can take this very far, although it’s certainly good to know our neighbours all the same.