News
News items are listed in chronological order (latest first). They will be removed when the list becomes too large and/or the item is no longer relevant.
01 May 2025Maintenance of Estate Roads
At the AGM in March (draft minutes in the Library) we reported that 2025 would be a consolidating year as regards road repairs on the Downlands Estate. There will be a focus on a large number of relatively small road repairs rather than any major resurfacing activity this year. As planned, we have undertaken a review of the proposed works and have now instructed Hailsham Roadways to commence the works which consist of kerbing, gulley repairs and patching on a number of the Estate roads. The works will start on 6 May with a planned completion of end May/early June. Please take care when passing contractors on the roads and be prepared to give way/wait a minute or two if need be, before passing. Many thanks
01 May 2025We'll Shortly have a Vacancy
The Roads Company has three directors - Robert Corbett (Chair), Brian Howe (Ops) and Stewart Fuller (Co. Sec). We are supported by an Administrator – Caraline Marchant, and several advisors. We need more support, please. Stewart is standing down at or before the AGM in March 2026 and we are looking for someone to take his place. If you’re interested in the position of Director and/or Co. Sec or would like to help out in any other way, please email us or use the Contact Us page. The work is interesting and not arduous. We’d love to hear from you. Thank you.
01 May 2025Website Statistics - 2025
Monthly viewing statistics for this website in 2025:
| Month | Sessions | Page Views |
| Apr | 131 | 299 |
| Mar | 198 | 600 |
| Feb | 172 | 376 |
| Jan | 185 | 472 |
| Year to Date | 686 | 1,747 |
22 April 2025Traffic Control A259 - 28 April
Openreach are planning to undertake works on the A259 at the top of Friston Hill during the evening of Monday 28 April between 8pm and 6am Tuesday. There will be four-way traffic lights including a control on the exit from Windmill Lane. The work should only take a few hours.
15 March 2025AGM Minutes
The AGM was held on 10 March in the village hall with a record attendance. The Directors’ Report and Accounts were reviewed and approved, and Brian Howe, who has a background in property and estate management, was elected a director.
A presentation to the meeting showed that the annual road fee should be in the range £150-£200 per household on the Estate to maintain the roads in good repair. This is well below the level of some similar private road/street organisations. A fee of £135 was initially proposed for 2026 as a move towards the above target level. However, after a detailed discussion the shareholders approved a figure of £140 for next year, and invoices for this amount will be issued in January 2026.
Several further items were discussed during an active Q&A session, including the road maintenance programme, payment profiles by street, road wardens, the build levy for property extensions and developments, speed limits, and a review of IT and resident engagement.
The (draft) AGM minutes along with the associated Report and Accounts for 2024 are available in the on-line library, together with similar papers for 2022 and 2023.
23 February 2025AGM
The EDDR AGM (reviewing the year 2024 and looking forward) will be held on Monday 10 March 2025 at 7.30pm (doors 7pm) in the village hall. The agenda and supporting papers have been delivered or emailed to shareholders. All Estate residents are welcome to attend but only shareholders whose fees are up to date are entitled to vote.
