Newsletter from Mid Sussex District Council - April 2025

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Raising awareness of heat pumps

Heat pumps are relatively rare in residential properties in the UK – there are only around 250,000 currently. This means that the vast majority of people will never (knowingly) have seen a home with a heat pump.

Nesta, the charity that focuses on innovation including a sustainable future, wants everyone in the UK to be able to visit a heat pump near them and get the support they need.

Visit a heat pump combines a digital platform along with recruitment and training of heat pump hosts, providing a full end-to-end service for the public to visit a heat pump and get further support to help them build their confidence. So far, nearly 400 hosts are listed and Nesta is aiming for over 1,000 visits in the next few months.

Anyone interested in being a host or visiting a heat pump can register their interest at: www.visitaheatpump.com

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Want to keep in the loop with what’s happening in your local community? Then sign up to our digital Mid Sussex Matters newsletter, a monthly email to help residents stay up to date with what’s going on at the Council and in the wider district. Scan the QR code or visit our website www.midsussex.gov.uk to subscribe and join thousands of residents who are already taking advantage of this valuable resource. Let’s work together for a better Mid Sussex.

To read the full newsletter, click the images to enlarge them or pick up April’s Cuckfield Life today.

Cuckfield Bookfest

Welcome to Cuckfield Life’s Cuckfield Bookfest event page. Here you will find our most recent information for everything Bookfest.

As a community interest group, Bookfest relies on the generous support from sponsors, benefactors and friends to help them host brilliant writers and new talents every year.

See also, Cuckfield Bookfest

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Cuckfield Bookfest 2025 dates

We’ll be back next year over the weekend of October 3rd – 5th so do please put the date in your new diary now!

As usual, the Cuckfield Festival management team has been busy planning the programme for 2025. After a quiet January, life got busy in February and we now have several authors lined up.

First up, at 10am on the Saturday morning, is Iain Dale coming to talk about his book on Mrs Thatcher, which is published in June. Iain said he thought 10am might be too early for an audience but we assured him that the people of Cuckfield love a political theme to start proceedings, particularly if it’s Iain delivering it.

Also on Saturday, we have a new venue for a session – Holy Trinity Church. Church Going by Andrew Ziminski is a stonemason’s guide to the churches of the British Isles. This book is a celebration of Britain’s most important and iconic buildings and the historic Holy Trinity Church is the perfect place for this session.

In 2004, Baroness Lola Young became one of the first Black women members of the House of Lords. Eight Weeks tells the powerful story of her determination to defy the odds; she has been an actress, an academic, an activist and campaigner for social justice and a crossbench peer. She is also a very beguiling speaker.

Jonathan Sumption’s latest book, The Challenges of Democracy and the Rule of Law has just been published and is already highly praised. We are particularly lucky to have him as he is very much sought after.

The book selected for the Big Book Group on Sunday evening is SWEAT by Emma Healey whose first book Elizabeth is Missing sold many thousands of copies all over the world. SWEAT is a novel exploring obsession, revenge and control and it will provide lots of points for discussion.

Lots more authors pending at this stage and as usual there will be something for children. Details of all events in due course and the website is the place to go for more information. www.cuckfieldbookfest.co.uk

Mid Sussex District Council newsletter - March 25

Green thumbs up from Mid Sussex residents

More than 99% of Mid Sussex residents believe that recycling is important with more than 91% making an effort to recycle at home, according to a survey carried out in January by West Sussex County Council.

Of those surveyed, a majority of 51% said they were very happy with their current fortnightly collection service for general waste and recycling, batteries and small electricals.

Although 43.7% said they rarely threw items in the rubbish bin because they were unsure if they could be recycled, nearly 40% said they were sometimes unsure about what could go in their recycling bin.

Items that caused most confusion for recycling were plant pots, garden waste, shredded paper and batteries.

Councillor Chris Hobbs, Cabinet Member for Leisure and Customer Services at Mid Sussex District Council, said: “It’s fantastic, and very heartening, to see that so many of our residents support recycling. We’ve got a really helpful guide on what can, and can’t, be recycled so that we can get even more items out of the general rubbish bin and into recycling. One of the key things to remember is that everything going into the recycling bin has to be clean, dry and loose and not in a plastic bag.”

The recycling rate in Mid Sussex is already 41.8% which puts the district well on its way to hitting the Government’s national recycling target of 55% by 2035.

To read the full newsletter, pick up your copy of March’s Cuckfield Life or click the images to enlarge them.