In Brief
- The gullies on Juggs Road have been cleared by the South Downs Joint Committee.
- To properly manage the trees in the village, it is necessary to identify the owners.
The District and County Councils will be asked which trees they own, with a view to a ’map’ of trees being produced.
- Work has been done on Juggs Road to reduce erosion.
- Discussions are under way with E.S.C.C. Rights of Ways to consider ways of improving Juggs Road for walkers and cyclists.
- Some sign posts in the village have been replaced.
- The Parish Council has asked East Sussex County Council to consider bunding to protect verges on the south
side of Wellgreen Lane.
- Burger bar. The local PCSO is doing all he/she can to stop parking in the bus bay.
As part of the Village Action Plan, Steve Berry has offered to collect some ideas for improving the living
environment and would welcome any suggestions and thoughts from groups or individuals. The aim will be to
produce a shopping list of practical improvements which are within the power of the Parish Council or the community to effect.
Steve says "What I have in mind at the moment concerns such topics as street trees, footpaths and stiles, road verges and hedges
and the village greens but I'd really like to hear from others."
The Green Environment: first thoughts
Scope – potentially at least, all “semi-natural” habitats – woodland, grassland, hedgerows; road verges; rights of way;
parks and greens; and gardens; and the overall landscape in which all this sits..
Purpose – to raise awareness of the local (and even national in some cases) significance of Kingston’s natural environment;
to do as much as possible both to conserve and enhance it and to make it more easily accessible to a greater number of
people in the village.
Method - to make this section of the plan widely available for public consultation, with the immediate objectives of
identifying a series of relatively small-scale and short-term, achievable goals - and the means of reaching them! – and
(perhaps) a number of medium- to long-term objectives to be considered (perhaps?) by the Parish Council or (conceivably)
by a Kingston Volunteers Group.
Introduction – to spell out in more detail the topics referred to above; to set out and explain the conservation status
(e.g. SSSI, NNR) of some of the land and how it is currently managed; to refer to the populations of some species of national
importance within the parish (eg wartbiter cricket; early spider orchid) and to place all that in a regional and national
context.
Examples of short-term achievable goals
a) Rights of Way
Survey state of all rights of way and begin measures to improve them. One path that has already been much improved
following discussions with the Sussex Downs Conservation Board is the footpath from the top of The Street through
the woodland. Here, the board (SDCB) and subsequently the private landowner have installed steps and an all-weather
surface; thinned the sycamores and replaced or removed two stiles.
b) Hedgerows
Consider scope for new hedgerows. The new owners of the two (formerly Greenwood) fields south of Kingston Ridge have
already planted new hedgerows along some of the perimeter and these will soon become valuable wildlife habitats.
Another area that might benefit from a new hedgerow is the northern edge of the school playing field. Others might
be identified. Grants are likely to be available for this sort of work.
c) Road verges
Consider scope for more trees. ESCC is not averse to trees being planted in some road verges – they agreed to crab
apples being established outside my own house, for example. I have already contacted the Tree Officer at ESCC and
walked round the village with him to identify which areas might be planted. The apple trees in The Avenue –
all planted, I gather, on land owned by the Parish Council - need to be replaced but only after consultation with
householders in the vicinity. One-year old trees (whips) can be purchased at very low cost, need minimal
after-care (no stakes) or have a far better chance of surviving a move than older trees.
Other, random possibilities
Set up a village tree nursery
Establish a village green waste scheme
Identify trees eligible for TPOs
Restore roadside verges along Wellgreen Lane (currently ruined by encroachment by cars: that problem first needs solving!)
Begin programme of bulb-planting in some roadside verges
Produce leaflet about Kingston’s natural environment/rights of way
Identify site for village pond/boggy area
Selected additional screening around the tennis court
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