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Parish Council Chairman’s Report 2008 read at the
Annual General Meeting of the
held at
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Parish Council Chairman’s Report 2008
Despite the inauspicious start, with many vacancies after the election, we have acquired active new members by co-option, so have a full quota of Councillors. The only cloud to our silver lining is that we cannot be an “expert” Council, which would give us some privileges, (and possibly even some extra funds), because we are not all elected – so you must all make sure there are at least 9 candidates NEXT time!
This report is uncannily like the one I gave in 2007 – because a lot of projects have come to fruition during the year.
The most obvious improvements this year have been to the sportsfield, which now has a fenced children’s play area and picnic benches, all very visible following coppicing and hedge planting. We are trying to get funds for a skateboard area, and have also opened the car park gates to make access easier. We still seek a solution to safe access on foot.
One good result is that our planning application to close the old children’s play area has now been approved by MBC, and a lease is being prepared for it to be used by the neighbouring houses as part of their gardens. I think this “only” took 4 years from our initial idea, not helped by our first planning application being refused by MBC.
The saga of the new affordable houses and the drainage system has been rumbling on, seemingly for ever, but there appears to be some light at the end of the tunnel, (hopefully not an oncoming train!) as the Council has approved their construction in principal, and actual initial plans for the houses have been seen, with problems being ironed out in committee in preparation for a planning application. The drainage connection will be downstream of what appears to be the problem section leading from the Ashford Drive manhole, and Southern Water still insist, having used camera inspection, that there is no problem in any case at present because of their flushing regime. The people in Ivy Close, (where it took 6 hours to clear a blockage on April 20th), may disagree with this. We shall see!
We had a number of complaints about the danger to road users caused by parking outside the new houses on Lenham road, but after explaining the problem to the householders, they have in a very public spirited way removed the problem. A good result, and welcome to our new parishioners!
At times we all l wonder why we try to do anything, when items like the drains and the mud filled lay-bys in Gravelly Bottom Road seem to go nowhere, but our Clerks do spend a lot of time routinely chasing MBC and Kent Highways on our behalf, helped by our Borough Councillor Peter Parvin. Planning is another sore point with us, as we try to keep faith with our parishioners feelings, expressed in their replies to the the Village Appraisal, that new housing should be in keeping with the open nature of the village. We do try always to keep to this idea, but local democracy is now routinely overruled by the Government’s new planning guidelines - even if MBC support us, they are then overruled by the planning inspectors!
Finally, I have been very aware for the past year that much of the work of the Council was being done by other members, and I intend to propose two of them for the posts of Chairman & Vice Chairman. They will do a good job for the Council and Parish.
Bob Bowker