Alison Bennett's Monday Mail: Guess Who's Back?

Guess who’s back?

The Monday Mail is back after its summer break. I started this weekly newsletter before I became an MP in September 2023. So today’s edition marks the newsletter’s third anniversary. A big thank you as ever to the volunteers who make sure that my words land in your inboxes at 8am each Monday. 

School funding in West Sussex 

Last week Parliament returned too. It was the first chance MPs have had to quiz the new Prime Minister, Andy Burnham. On Tuesday afternoon Burnham gave a statement and then took questions for over three hours, which was a feat of endurance for sure. He answered 125 questions, and I got called four questions from the end. I decided that it was worth the time in the Chamber waiting to be called because I wanted to put to him the challenges that schools in West Sussex are having with low funding levels compared to neighbouring areas.

Earlier in the year I met Mid Sussex secondary head teachers. They explained that despite years of campaigning, West Sussex remains one of lowest funded local authorities in the country. This is because unlike neighbouring Surrey, West Sussex has no significant Area Cost Adjustment (ACA), which means that West Sussex is treated as if it has the same cost base as the least expensive regions of the North of England.

Take housing costs as one element of this, last week the Times reported that Brighton is now a more expensive place to live than Paris, and this has a spillover effect for housing costs here, and for young teachers at the start of their careers hoping to live in the city.

Back in July, the Liberal Democrats brought a motion to West Sussex County Council setting out the challenges, and they asked West Sussex MPs to raise this in Parliament. In response to my question, Andy Burnham said that the matter would be raised with the Education Secretary, so my next step is to follow that up with Lucy Powell.

There is a video about this on my social media pages. Here is the Facebook post.

Food waste and recycling

There are some encouraging early results from Mid Sussex’s new food waste and recycling service, following its first six months of operation. 

As Councillor Simon Hicks explains in his latest update, recycling rates have risen significantly and the amount of residual waste has fallen. However, there are still areas where the service needs to improve, in particular around communal properties and missed collections. Read Simon’s full update on Facebook. 

If you are having difficulties with your collections, do feel free to contact me on the email address below, and we will raise this with Mid Sussex District Council, or approach your district councillor directly.

Mid Sussex District Plan consultation

Finally, a reminder that the consultation on the proposed changes to the Mid Sussex District Plan closes at 11.59pm today, Monday 7 September. I submitted my views last week. I know many residents have concerns about the scale and location of the additional housing being proposed, and it is important that those views are heard. If you haven’t yet responded, there is still time to do so.

Details of how to share your views can be found here.

Getting in touch

My parliamentary email address is: alison.bennett.mp@parliament.uk. If you need my help, please get in touch.

Best wishes,
Alison

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