This site is not intended to be a social media free for all, it will purely be a place for truthful public information which is currently sadly lacking.
However you can visit 'What's Going On In Northiam' via Facebook and comment.....click on the logo..!
But please feel free to go to this local site which does not censor the voice of the people like N&NNB site does as the site only allows comment which are favourable to the CIC....
Over to you Northiam, to raise any concerns please make contact at the email below where legitimate and sensible matters will be considered for publication.
We have recently received these documents regarding the AGAR complaints for the year 2023/2024 - we will be continue to add some narrative to these documents to help explain the results.
Page 1 – Item 1
During the year 23/24 since they took office in May 2023 have spent £170,352.14. By not having a proper monitoring system in place this means that they – as the corporate body trusted with responsibility for parishioner’s money – have spent £55,352.14 more than they authority for as they had only budgeted and received via the precept (Council Tax) for £57,500, (£114,000) for the two years since they have been in office.
So what did they do? - They raided the reserves!
This included money specifically set aside in case there was a shortfall in the rental income received from the former Blue Cross site (SFF) site, which was earmarked to cover the ‘approx.’ £25K pa owed to the government in annual loan repayments.
Up until the last election in May 2023, the general reserves had been well managed.
Since the new council took over, the External Auditor has listed a catalogue of errors and misdemeanours, as you can see in the report.
Page 2 – Item 2a
The £100,000 that is mentioned was an extra council tax precept amount, which was raised and held in separate reserve BEFORE the SFF site was bought. This was the money to be used to cover any shortfall in the £25K loan repayment form the SFF bungalow and stable rentals.
The following are the Parish council Minutes showing why this money was raised.
Page 2 - Item 2b
No Clear Explanation of the history of the £100K reserves – which this Council failed to do…they couldn't’t as they were spending it!!
Northiam Parish Council Minutes – 12th January 2017
"Item 16 FINANCE, OTHER MATTERS:
Precept for 2017-18
The Precept, in spite ever increasing expenses, has not been increased since 2009.
Due largely to the Council’s ambitions for the Blue Cross site it was proposed that in order to cover possible future repayments the Precept be increased this year to £150,000. It was proposed by Cllr Sargent and seconded by Cllr Pratt; the vote was unanimously in favour.
It should be borne in mind that should we fail to acquire the site that future precepts would be appropriately reduced nearer to current levels."
This money was not a ‘slush fund’ or a ‘piggy bank’ to be raided whenever they were short of cash; this had always been recognised – up until May 2023 when this council took over - as a ‘specific’ reserve. Now the spending of £55K from this fund cannot be accounted for, because as the report says – “there was no budget monitoring or management of reserves during the year” and “the Council has been using its earmarked reserves to fund general expenditure.”
This is the key reason why the Northiam Parish Council failed the external audit, they then argued and procrastinated when this was discovered and as a result the External Auditor has charged them over £15K of your money, to sort out this mess. They then failed to post this report on the parish council website as they had a statutory duty to do, until the External auditor phoned them and instructed them to do so.
You can read all this in the report - Therefore, is this a parish council you can trust or have confidence in? – We don’t think so!
Please see below the payments that these Councilors have paid over the past two years (May 2026 - May 2025). You see will that they have spent £170K whereas they only budgeted and received a precept (Council Tax) to support payments to the value of £114K.
This means these Councilors have willfully and recklessly spent almost £60K - over and above - of YOUR money. Money that had been raised and set aside and specifically held - in order to pay any shortfall of income from the SFF site which is used to pay for the Annual Loan Repayment. So this Council have now charged you TWICE - which is why the percept (Council Tax) was raised by £25K this year as the money that could have been used to pay the loan - was the £60K that they spent!!!!!
**********************VERY IMPORTANT INFORMATION - Parish Meeting 14th March*******************
During last night's Parish Council Meeting - 14th March 2025 - Chairman Michelle Fairbrass was asked by a member of the public whether or not she would resign if she were to be found as responsible for any wrongdoings regarding the current Financial complaints from the AGAR that have been submitted by the External Auditor?
Michelle confirmed that if she were responsible for any wrongdoings, she would feel compelled to resign.
This presumably means that as ALL Council members are Corporately responsible, which was publicly confirmed by the Clerk during the meeting, they would all need to resign and therefore be precluded from standing for re-election, which of course would then be necessary.
Maybe they should all be aware of the fact that despite some (not all) of the Councillors apologising for the Councils illegal overspend of 50k, 'ignorance of the law' is no excuse. Actually, in this case, it is clearly 'total ignorance of the law' !
IT HAS COME TO OUR ATTENTION THAT THE £25K PRECEPT RISE WHILST NOT 'UNLAWFUL', DOES AMOUNT TO AN INDICATION OF DUBIOUS PRACTICE !
THIS WOULD HOWEVER BE CONSIDERED AS NOT 'MORALLY CORRECT' GIVEN THAT THE MONEY (£100K RESERVE) HAD BEEN SET ASIDE IN THE 'KITTY' - WHAT'S LEFT OF IT - TO COVER SUCH A MONETARY SHORTFALL !!!
This 'kitty' money is a 'special noted reserve'. This is the very money that the CIC & NPC have been unlawfully overspending!!!!
This is money (originally £100K)- that was SPECIFICALLY raised via the Council Tax (precept) in 2017 in order to cover such income shortfall from the SFF site - this income is the contribution from the SFF site that is required to pay the annual payment of the loan.
SO MY QUESTION IS................................... Why has this 'kitty money specific reserve' not been used to pay the shortfall?
By using this 'kitty money specific reserve' the precept would not have needed to be increased - by £25K this year - and thus prevent an unnecessary precept rise and an additional burden on the residents?
THIS CURRENT COUNCIL AND THE CIC SHOULD ALL BE REMOVED - BY A PUBLIC MEETING AND A NEW ELECTION CALLED.
THE SFF SITE IS NOT IN A 'WHITE ELEPHANT' BUT IT IS A 'GOLD MINE' - IF MANAGED PROPERLY - BUT IT HAS BEEN TOTALLY MISMANAGED BY THE CURRENT INCUMBENTS.
THEY ARE ALL CORPORATELY RESPONSIBLE FOR THESE ACTIONS AND SHOULD ALL BE BARRED FROM STANDING IN FUTURE ELECTIONS.
THESE COUNCIL MEMBERS ARE ALL AFFILIATED TO THE CIC – IN SOME FORM OR ANOTHER - SOMETHING THEY FAILED TO DISCLOSE ON THEIR PERSONAL DECLARATION - WHICH THEY SHOULD HAVE DONE.
The Blue Cross site was originally created by Kitty Kompot (as the League of Dumb Friends). She donated the land to the charity in order to provide a rescue sanctuary for horses coming home from the trenches after WW1.
As the years went by the Blue Cross was very well financially supported by the residents so when the Blue Cross announced that they were leaving Northiam the local community was shocked. Then it was discovered that the Blue Cross intended to leave the village in 2010.
After several failed housing applications the Blue Cross decided that their best bet was to allow the village, Northiam Parish Council, to buy it.
In 2020 Northiam Parish Council purchased the site for £1.3M
At Last Night's Meeting - 13th February
Northiam Parish Council decided to put the 'Precept' (Council Tax)
up by - at least - another £25K pa. to cover the ALL the Income Loan Repayment
Pete Sargent and Northiam Parish Council have proposed to increase ALL resident's precept payment by at least £122 for Band D Houses......
This is without any normal 5% increase to the precept in order to cover maintenance costs in the village for grass cutting and the wages of TWO clerks.
The reason for the increase is to cover the interest payment for the SFF Loan - which was originally agreed to be part funded by the £25K income from the SFF site.
When the Government loan was agreed - Pete Sargent assured the Government that the payments were affordable as this was a problem.
£50K was to be paid annually by the extra £50K from the precept.
The other £25K was to be funded from the income from the site which included The Stables & The Bungalows.
This is due to the total mismanagement of the site by the CIC - who have done nothing except plant a few 'Nut Trees' and give away free Pumpkins.
The only activity that the CIC have bothered with is the Pop Up Pub - of which the CIC keep ALL profits - and as far as we can make out - have never paid any rent to Northiam Parish Council for usage of the site for the Pup Up Pub.
The CIC have consistently interfered in the running of the stables, which is not part of their management agreement and has potentially cost the Parish Council over £40k during the last FIVE years.
The current Parish Council have also completely failed in their management of the Stables and this is why they are going to raise the precept by another £25K pa in order to force the residents to pay for their mistakes.
Click on the link opposite to see all the income that Pete Sargent assured the Government that the site would generate in order to justify that the loan was 'Affordable' for the residents.
Click on the link opposite to see the - redacted - loan agreement to the Government - which clearly shows in the agreement (Page 14) that only £50k was going to be raised annually via the precept.
Page 14 also points out that the £100K raised previously would be available if the income from the site did not make £25K pa for the first 5 years.
£50K of this £100K is still available as Reserves.
Page 16 states the Affordability of loan was originally highlighted as 'Not Satisfied'. The affordability was ticked as 'Satisfied' when this was answered by the promises Pete Sargent made on showing the income that the CIC will be earning, on behalf of NPC, from the site - (also shown separately as the BX Cashflow link)
CONTACT THE PARISH COUNCIL CLERK - POINTING OUT THESE DOCUMENTED FACTS - THAT PETE SARGENT IS FULLY AWARE OF!
ONE QUESTION WOULD BE - WHY HAVE NPC AND THE CIC CONSISTENTLY CONTRIVED TO MAKE THE SFF SITE FINANCIALLY FAIL?
Click on the link below to see the original plans for the former Blue Cross site - now known as SFF... as stated by Pete Sergeant.
See the SFF Info page for all the latest information
LATEST NEWS - 2nd September 2024 - Westminster Confidential
An alleged horse murder, police protection at a parish meeting and council office and notice board defaced with hated filled graffiti
You could not imagine a more bucolic English scene. Beautiful rolling Sussex countryside, white painted country cottages, a heritage steam railway running by the village and Bodiam Castle, an imposing moated medieval ruin dominating the valley.
But this quintessential sleepy English village hides some of the most vicious in fighting by former and sitting parish councilors and their friends involving hate filled Facebook posts, false allegations, dodgy contracts, one sided council investigations, favours for friends, while Sussex police and the Rother District Council try to pretend nothing is happening here.
If this was inner city London or Birmingham such battles would be factional or party political. But here it is not politics but rival personalities who either want to control events or who are convinced dirty business is afoot in secret meetings.
Visit David Hencke on his Westminster Confidential to keep up with all his latest news click on https://davidhencke.com/
Have The CIC Purchased A DeLorean????
For those of you that may have just bought the latest version of the Northiam Parish Magazine you may be aware that the
Northiam St Fancis Fields CIC may have purchased a DeLorean motor car - similar to the one that was featured in the movie franchise 'Back To The Future'......Otherwise how else could the CIC have published a sparkling article giving a glowing report concerning an event
BEFORE the alleged event - that was - in fact ultimately cancelled......................... after the glowing article had been published!!!
Parish Clerk
It has been brought to our attention that the newly resigned clerk appears to be back??
This is the same clerk that already has resigned twice before and has also successfully received a financial settlement from NPC.
Why is she now back working in the Parish Office??
Does this mean that she is now re-employed for the third time?
Good afternoon gentle reader you have no doubt just received your new Council Tax Bill and will see that NPC has increased the annual amount you pay to Northiam Parish Council by 3.3%
Therefore some questions have to be asked - yes prices have gone up ......................BUT...
1. Why are this lot so useless at managing NPC funds?
2. Look at historic payments lists in order to see just how much is being paid for the maintenance of the SFF site.......Why are the CIC not paying these bills out of the profits from the Pop uP Pub? Who really believes that the CIC only made £30 after 26 events?
3. So this begs the questuion.....How much more money will this council DEMAND in order to pay for all the requirements in order to fund Pete Sergeant's Vanity Project - The Sports Pavilion? Nothing has been mentioned and no costing's have been discussed - IN PUBLIC - regarding, cleaning, sewer charges, utilities, maintenance etc etc etc .....
Be sure to ask all the questions at the first available public meeting ...considering there is no clerk...why no go prepared to ask all of these questions at the Annual Parish Meeting.
Is there any further information as to why last week’s Parish Council meeting was ‘postponed’ with less than three hours’ notice?
To our knowledge this has never, ever happened before for any other Parish meeting in the village. As we understand the situation at ‘Northiam Voice’ if there is no public meeting.
No Payments can be made.
No Decisions of any kind can be taken by the Councilors of NPC.
This also applies to the proposed ‘Planning Application Discussion’ with regard to the new ‘Sports Pavilion’!
PROPOSED NEW SPORTS PAVILION
The Section 106 agreement states 'recreation ground' and 'ground maintenance' provision which has already taken place.
The football club own the pavilion - it was sold to them so the village would not have to pay for its upkeep.
Will the new pavilion - if built - be used for:-
Events
Meetings
Functions
Fundraising
If this happens it will take income for other venue's
Village Hall, Church Hall Rose and Crown, which is a much-needed income for these places.
If a new meeting place is needed then why is the Oast at SFF not being used as it has already been made into a meeting room and using this space would give an income to SFF?
Questions that should be asked about the pavilion are:-
Who will own it?
Who will pay for its upkeep?
Who will pay the bills?
Who will clean it?
Will NPC receive rent for it being used for things other than for Football?
Don't the children and adults of the village deserve a playground to be proud of? Go and look at the Staplecross playground!
Why are NPC proposing to spend all this money on something they don't even own? The football club have allowed their hut to get into such a bad condition and this has happened because of no ongoing maintenance or Fundraising.
What Fundraising are the Football Club currently doing which will substantiate their claim for such a major, single, public expenditure when they pay less than £100 per year to NPC? Is the proposed £200K= spend warranted to the Football Club when they only pay £100 per year rental?
Carolyn Pierce and her family, over the years, have been involved with the football club not only with voluntary maintenance but also the original construction of the existing building.
Residents of Northiam Paul Mitchell has just contacted me and asked me to post this comment on Northiam Voice with regard to the Parish Council Meeting held last Thursday (08.02.24)
NORTHIAM PARISH COUNCIL MEETING - 08.02.24
The problem is that the current NPC (and CIC members) bullied and engineered their way into power at the last election due to a ridiculous ruling whereby anyone can vote for up to 9 people !! Only needed 200 people to vote for their own and the NPC was taken over from those who knew what they were doing for the village.
Now we have got a Council in charge of itself and doing what they want to do, not what the majority of the non biased people in the village want or expect.
Just see how the attitude of the council members at the meeting last week changed towards the villagers who challenged anything. Abusive, bully boy tactics and no sense of discussion or acceptance of questions that they did not like - not particularly democratic some might say.
Good to see that someone has actually started to put the facts on a web site to be read outside of social media - northiamvoice.co.uk makes a good read of various issues and I doubt it will stop raising and reporting more controversial matters that need airing !!!
NORTHIAM PARISH COUNCIL MEETING - 08.02.24
I understand at the meeting last night NPC were verbally attacking the audience - who are the precept payers and also the payers of the SFF loan. This was because the public questioned how public money is being spent by the Councilors of Northiam Parish Council.
PROPOSED NEW SPORTS PAVILION
When the Donsmead housing estate was built and the section 106 legal agreement was signed by the developer and Rother district council (RDC) there was £192,000 designated to Northiam for the playing fields Click Here To View 106 Document . Some of this money has already been spent on the entrance by the 'Churchill Gates' to allow for cars to be parked without destroying the grass area. The remainder, or at least a good chunk of it, should be for the much wanted play area for the village children.
See Page 9 of the Document.
“Northiam Recreation ‘ Ground Contribution” means the sum of one hundred and ninetytwo thousand nine hundred and twenty pounds (192,920) payable to the Council as a contribution to the improvement of
Northiam Recreation Ground in accordance
with the provisions of Part 3 of Schedule 3 save to the extent that this is altered in accordance with Clauses 6.18 arid 10."
So why is a member of Northiam Parish Council so determined to spend all the remainder of the money and probably a great deal more on a 'Sports Pavilion' for the benefit of the Football Club?
Why is money not being spent on completely refurbishing and updating the Children's Play Area - bearing in mind that the Children's Play Area for the Donsmead was never constructed?
Is this 'Sports Pavilion' perhaps going be used for Northiam Bonfire Society or The Pop Up Pub.....how is this defined as 'Recreational Usage'?
Please feel free to go to this local site which does not censor the voice of the people like N&NNB site does as the site only allows comment which are favourable to the CIC....
Over to you Northiam, to raise any concerns please make contact at info@northiamvoice.co.uk where legitimate and sensible matters will be considered for publication.
