Issue 25 September 2022

Matters

Contents

New home for Quarry Café and Community Fridge

The new Quarry Cafe and Community Fridge A popular community café in the Stone Quarry area of East Grinstead has been saved after Mid Sussex District Council provided them with a new home.

The Quarry Café and Community Fridge has been supporting the local community for over five years, initially as a community café, and expanding when the pandemic struck to providing a community fridge by collecting surplus food, creating ready meals, and sharing them with local people in need of a helping hand. The café and community fridge provides a place for the community to meet up and enjoy quality food and drink at affordable prices. It also helps to prevent food waste by collecting surplus food and sharing it amongst the community 

The future of this vital drop-in centre and food distribution facility was put in doubt recently when the group found out they needed to vacate their existing premises on Holtye Avenue. However, Mid Sussex District Council has now agreed a 30-year lease for the former Post Office in Hollands Way, that will enable the café and community fridge to continue providing services for Stone Quarry residents and the wider East Grinstead area, including nearby villages.

The project will bring an empty property back into use and will safeguard the long-term future of a vital community facility. The Council won’t be charging any rent for the first five years of the lease, which will afford Quarry Café and Community Fridge financial breathing room while they renovate their new home and turn it into a vibrant community hub.

Charitable Foundation, Clarion Futures is contributing approximately £70,000 towards the refurbishment, furnishing and decoration of the new café, with the help of one of their contractors United Living, who will deliver a significant amount of the refurbishment work through Social Value.

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West Sussex County Council has submitted a reserved matters planning application to create an ‘all-through’ primary and secondary school as part of the Burgess Hill Brookleigh development (formerly known as the Northern Arc).

The school will be fully inclusive and include a Special Support Centre to support children with special educational needs and disabilities attending the new school.

The University of Brighton Academies Trust has been appointed to run the new all-through school. West Sussex County Council is creating the secondary school element and the primary school element, which will be designed and built later, is being created by Homes England.

The design of the new secondary school building aims to achieve Passivhaus certification, which sets the standard for low-carbon emissions, use of sustainable energy, and helping to reduce the impact of climate change. The building will be highly energy efficient and generate its own energy on-site using nearly 1000 solar photovoltaic panels, ensuring no use of fossil fuels in the running of the building.

The scheme has been designed to protect, conserve and enhance the rich biodiversity found on the site, and you can view the proposed design of the school at https://youtu.be/zSeonaHiXFs

To view the Planning Application, please visit the MSDC Planning Portal using the reference DM/18/5114.
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