Sussex news bulletin for Wednesday, February 7

Sussex World reporter Sam Morton brings you the news making the headlines on Wednesday, February 7

Transcript

00:00 Hello, I'm Sam Lawton and here is your daily Sussex News bulletin on Wednesday, February

00:04 7th.

00:05 Asda has opened a new store at a petrol station in West Sussex. The re-branded Asda Express

00:11 has replaced the co-op store at the boulevard in Nelson Road, Goring-by-Sea. It comes after

00:16 Asda launched a programme to convert hundreds of convenience stores and attach petrol station

00:21 forecourts acquired from the co-op group last year. Asda will open 110 Asda Express convenience

00:27 stores in February, a record for a single month, to accelerate its growth strategy in

00:31 convenience and put it firmly on track to reach 1,000 UK stores in total for the first

00:36 time. Many stores are opening in locations across southern England, an area where Asda

00:41 has traditionally been under-represented. The next to Sussex petrol station to see this

00:46 change will be at Chichester Road, Bognor Regis next Wednesday.

00:49 Meanwhile, East Sussex Council tax bills will increase again in April after county councillors

00:54 agreed their annual budget for the coming financial year. On Tuesday, East Sussex County

00:59 Council agreed its annual budget for 2024/25, with proposals including a 4.99% increase

01:06 in council tax. This increase, which includes a special charge for adult social services,

01:11 will see an average band D household pay the county council £1,778.31 next year. That

01:19 is £84.51 more than the current year. Councillor Nick Bennett, Conservative Cabinet Member

01:25 for Resources and Climate Change, said "The proposal to increase council tax is not made

01:29 lightly particularly given pressure on household budgets, but we have to protect our services

01:34 now and for the future. Demand for care services continues to grow and we have little choice

01:39 but to increase local taxation." Finally, buses operating between Horsham and

01:45 Gatwick Airport are set to run a new 24-hour service. Metro Bus 200 route has announced

01:51 it will operate 24 hours a day from the airport to Horsham from February 24th. And the news

01:57 is being celebrated by local residents. Many have taken to social media praising the return

02:01 of the service, which was stopped during the pandemic. One person said "Wow, this is

02:06 super" and another added "This is well overdue". Another traveller said "Kiss

02:10 goodbye to expensive taxi fares". For all of those stories and much more, you

02:14 you can see our website, sussexworld.co.uk.