‘Selmeston’ describes both the local government and the ecclesiastical parishes of that name, which share boundaries but have wholly separate administrations. For local government purposes, Selmeston is a Parish Meeting, the lowest tier of local government. It held its first meeting as such in 1894.
Agendas for forthcoming meetings can be found above as well as published in the Parish News and circulated by email to those residents who have provided an email address.
Minutes of meetings, which normally take place twice a year, in April/May and October/ November, will be circulated by email to residents and can also be downloaded above.
A Parish Meeting is usually appropriate where the population is fewer than 150. Unlike a Parish Council, a Parish Meeting is not a corporate body representing its electors but consists of all the electors, who must elect a chairman annually. The chairman (Bryan Stevens) has responsibility for every aspect of the civil administration of the parish, including the holding of any property and the protection of amenities such as footpaths. In the case of Selmeston, the only significant property is the war memorial, for which nearby Alciston has joint responsibility. The village hall is managed separately from the Parish Meeting, by trustees appointed under a trust deed.
Selmeston is part of the Arlington ward of Wealden DC, which also includes Alciston, Berwick, Chalvington & Ripe, Deanland and Laughton.
The ward returns one councillor. This is currently a Conservative, David Watts. Selmeston is represented at the East Sussex County Council as part of the Arlington, East Hoathly and Hellingly division. Our representative is Nick Bennett (Conservative) who has served on the Council since 2009 and who currently holds a number of important positions, including that of Lead member for Resources.
The parliamentary district for Selmeston is Lewes. The general election in 2019 re-elected a Conservative, Maria Caulfield.
Reference is made in minutes and Agendas to the “AGAR”. All Parish Meetings in England are required to complete an AGAR. This comprises an Internal Audit Report, a Governance Statement and Accounting Statements. Any person has the right to inspect and make copies of the accounting records.
Parish Meetings where the higher of gross annual income or gross annual expenditure does not exceed £25,000 (as in the case of Selmeston) are able to declare themselves exempt from sending their AGAR for external audit by completing a Certificate of Exemption and sending this to the external auditor. The duly approved elements of the AGAR must then be published together with the Certificate of Exemption and displayed on the appropriate website or otherwise displayed in the local area.