Sussex Police
As he was on duty, local Police Community Support Officer Craig Dunlop addressed the meeting as the first item on the agenda.  PCSO Dunlop explained the reorganisation of the police force in the local area to form the Midhurst & Petworth Neighbourhood Specialist Team (Ed. A document with details will be published on the website shortly).  He urged everyone to report information to the police either via their webiste or using the  (see Directory), not forgetting that in an emergency, 999 was still the number to use.

Parish Council Report for 2008
Frances Russell reported on the activities of the Parish Council, whose formal AGM will be held on Monday 19th May in the Moonlight Tea Rooms.  She explained that we were unusual for a small village in having had a Parish Council election and in having a full complement of seven councillors.  She thanked Betty Birch who had stood down after several years for all her contributions to Council matters and paricularly for the work on her special interest, the Childrens' Playground.  Miss Russell went on to thank others including the Secretary, Gwen Miles, the Reverend Colin Bradley for use of the Church and Diane Griffiths for the refreshments provided.

Miss Russell also reported that the stolen speed activated sign will be replaced on Cocking Hill  with a model that will be less likely to be stolen.  She did not have a definite date when this will take place.  She  said that the general opinion is that it had had an effmade a difference to driving speed whilst it was working and that drivers were slipping back into their old bad habits now that it was gone.  She reminded the meeting that the police had recently caught many speeding motorists using their mobile speed traps in Cocking, a majortiy of those caught being local drivers.

She reported that the Parish Council had been consulted on 11 planning appications over the preceeding year, of which only one had been contentious.  She also reported that the Council had raised concerns with Sussex Police over the withdrawal of the mobile police station and its replacement by the Neighbourhood Specialist Team.  Although the sessions had not been heavily attended, it had represented a really visible police presence which was not a common sight.

Miss Russell reminded the meeting of the Parish Council's continued support for the establishment of a South Downs National Park and for the inclusion of the Western Weald within its boundaries.  She pointed out that the boundary would start near the turning to Graffham if the proposal of the Inspector to exclude the Western Weald were to be upheld.  She also mentioned the successful Bonfire and Fireworks night, thanking Gill Buchanan, the Sports Field Committee, Sue Renshaw, Richard and Pauline Marks for their efforts.

Miss Russell told the meeting that the planning application for the second bus shelter had been submitted and it was hoped that it would be in place before the winter.  She also reported that the meeting that the Playground Project Day that had successfully tidied up the playground despite a poor attendance, and the Clean Up Cocking Day that had to be abandoned due to untimely snow fall.  She finished by bringing the Chichester District Council Green Waste Scheme to the meeting's attention.

There followed some discussion on the merits of the scheme versus compost heaps and the problems with rats that they, and wild bird feeding, had caused in the village. District Councillor John Cherry added that there would be an invitation and  a public meeting before such a scheme would be started and it was only because Cocking was conveniently on a route between Midhurst and the bulk composting site that it would be included.

Other topics of general discussion were

• The theft of the Cocking village sign in Bell Lane
• The fact that the bonfire site on the Sports Field was still littered with large tree stumps
• The loss of the tractor used to mow the Sports Field
• The disppearance of the rubbish bin by the bus shelter (reportedly being replaced on a new base)
  

County and District Councils
County Councillor, Tex Pemberton having given his apologies, it was left to District Councillor, John Cherry, to speak to the Parish Meeting.

His topics were:

• The National Concessionary Fare scheme, which now gives free bus travel across the country to the over 60s. He reported that this could cost the District Council £90K - 250K this year as the government had not covered the full cost.
• The removal of telephone boxes by BT due to very low use.  He said that Bepton's box had been removed following a local consultation and Cocking's would be reviewed too.
• Local housing for local people. Singleton has had 13 units handed over, Graffham is putting land aside and there have been similar schemes in Petworth, Northchapel and West Dean.
  

He added that

• The District Council's website had been updated and was now easier to use
• Chichester DC was one of only three councils in the country to be awarded maximim marks for 'value for money' by the Audit Commission for the last three years running.
• TheCouncil was the second best for recycling in the UK - which he said was a tribute to the public.
• Local Searches (required when purchasing a house) were now much faster following computerisation (down to 5 days from 42 days).
• 70% of housing applications now take place online.

Mr Cherry was asked to pass on the fact that buses serving Cocking tended to be old and unreliable.  The high cost of the service to those without the subsidy (e.g. families) was also raised.

Community Centre
Mrs Russell told to the meeting that as previously reported, the Manor Barn scheme had proved financially unviable as there was no partner to share the running costs.  She reported that the architect had not given up the possibility of other solutions based on the Barn, but that in the meantime other solutions had to be considered.  The Council had written to the Cowdray Estate to ay that they would not be pursuing the Manor Barn scheme and proposed that a replacement of the pavilion at the Sports Field would be pursued.  No reply had been received yet, but she believed they wanted to grant only a three year lease.  Miss Russell said that this was too short in relation to the replacement cost of facilities and there were still concerns over level of use and vandalism on the site.  She stated her opinion that there was a 'chicken and egg' situation -  poor facilities meant low use and  low use was being cited as a factor against spending money at the site.