BROOMFIELD AND KINGSWOOD PARISH COUNCIL

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Minutes of the Annual General Meeting of the Broomfield and Kingswood Parish Council held at Kingswood Primary School on Monday 14th May 2007.

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Present:

Cllr Bob Bowker (BB)                  Cllr Peter Coleman (PC)               Cllr Mike Evans (ME)

Cllr Maurice Fitzpatrick (MF)        Cllr Beth Hendy (BH)                    

Borough Councillor Peter Parvin, Leeds Ward (PP)

Sue Wotton – Clerk (SW)

Gail Gosden – Assistant Clerk and RFO (GG)

Ten members of the public

Cllr Bowker opened the Meeting at 7.10pm and thanked everyone for attending.

1.         Apologies for Absence

PC Stuart Thomas      Rest Day

Marilyn Grant*             On holiday

2.         Minutes of the Previous Annual General Meeting held on 22nd MAY 2006

The Minutes of the Annual General Meeting held on 22nd May 2006 had been approved and signed by the then Chairman, Cllr Dave Law, as a true record, at the subsequent Meeting of the Parish Council held on 5th June 2006.    Copies of these Minutes are available from the Clerk on request.

3.         Chairman’s Report – Councillor Bowker

Cllr Bowker presented and read the Chairman’s report to the Meeting for year 2006 / 2007 – copy on file and will be published in the Kingswood & Broomfield News June 2007 edition and on the Parish Website.  

4.         Other Reports

(i)         Police - PC Thomas not present, no report received.

(ii)        Maidstone Borough Councillor - Peter Parvin

Cllr Parvin reported that there was no change at Maidstone Borough Council following the elections on May 3rd.   The composition of the Borough Council will not be known until after its Annual Meeting being held on 17th May.

There has been no matter of significance for the Parish of Broomfield and Kingswood during the past year.   The proposed Rail Link at Woodcut Farm is being strongly opposed by KCC, MBC and local Parishes and it is hoped any Application for a development of this nature will not be approved.   However, there may be a small, high-tech industrial development in the same area, which would not seriously affect this Parish – the overall plan for this has already gone through.  

Attempts are being made to introduce a weight restriction for Chartway Street to stop heavy lorries using it as a short cut.   The B2163 through Leeds still suffers from HGVs using the

road illegally and Maidstone Police say they are trying to do something about it.   An interactive 30mph sign has been approved and will shortly be installed near to The Ten Bells PH.    At its junction with Burberry Lane, the B2163 has become an accident black spot with nearly one accident a month at this location over the past year, causing damage to property as well as delays and disruption.   It is hoped that applications for steel barriers and anti-skid surface will be approved.

Cllr Parvin considers that no extra housing should be built in the area of Ashford Drive at least until the sewerage issues have been properly resolved.

(iii)       Finance Report - Gail Gosden, RFO

Mrs Gosden presented and read the Financial Report for the year 2006/7 – copy on file and available from the Clerk on request.

5.         Co-option of Councillors  

Cllr Bowker stated that he, together with Cllrs Peter Coleman, Mike Evans, Maurice Fitzpatrick and Beth Hendy had been duly elected, but it was disappointing that only five people had stood for election when there were nine places on the Parish Council.  Cllr Bowker had never known this situation to occur before.   

Following advertising via the Parish notice boards and personal approaches to fill the remaining four places on the Council, the following three people had agreed to be co-opted:

Derek Hobson                              Tom Hoy                            Marilyn Grant*

Mr Hobson and Mr Hoy were present.   Mrs Grant was not able to be present due to being on holiday, but had confirmed in writing to Cllr Bowker in advance of this Meeting, that she was agreeable to being co-opted.

Cllr Evans proposed that the above be elected to the Parish Council, seconded by Cllr Hendy and unanimously agreed.     Cllr Bowker thanked them for volunteering and welcomed them to the Parish Council.   He confirmed that they are full Councillors, as if elected, with full voting rights, etc.

The Clerk reported that two further residents, Peter Newman and Fay Rouse, are currently giving consideration to being co-opted and it was hoped that one of these will fill the remaining one place on the Parish Council.

6.         Election of Chair and Vice Chair

(i)         Chairman

The Clerk asked if there were any nominations for Chairman.   Cllr Evans proposed that

Cllr Bowker should continue as Chairman, seconded by Cllr Coleman.   This was unanimously agreed.    Therefore Cllr Bowker was duly elected as Chairman.  

(ii)        Vice-Chair

Cllr Bowker then asked for nominations for Vice-Chair.   Cllr Coleman proposed Cllr Hendy, seconded by Cllr Fitzpatrick.   This nomination was also unanimously agreed and Cllr Hendy elected Vice-Chair.

7.         Sub-Committees

Cllr Bowker reported that there are currently three sub-committees, i.e. (i) Finance & General Purposes, (ii) Planning and (iii) Sports Field.   He considered that these sub-committees should continue but Meetings should only be held on occasions when it was not possible to deal with matters at the main Parish Council meetings, which should also help to reduce the currently high hours worked by the Clerks.   This was agreed.  Cllr Evans wished it minuted that any Councillor is entitled to attend any sub-committee Meeting, even if not elected to that sub-committee, and has full voting rights.

The following Councillors were then elected to the sub-committees:

(i)         Finance & General Purposes             Cllrs Coleman, Fitzpatrick, Hendy, Hobson

(ii)        Planning                                              Cllrs Coleman, Fitzpatrick, Hendy, Hobson

(iii)       Sports Field                                         Cllrs Coleman, Fitzpatrick, Hendy, Hoy

8.         Election of Representatives to Other Bodies

Parish Council representatives to other bodies are as follows:

(i)         Eastern Rural Parishes Policing Forum         Cllrs Coleman and Fitzpatrick

(ii)        Twinning Project                                             Cllrs Coleman and Fitzpatrick

(iii)       Village Hall Committee                                    Cllr Hoy

(iv)       Kent Association of Parish Councils              Cllrs Evans and Hendy

(v)        Neighbourhood Watch Liaison                       Cllr Bowker

9.         Any Other Business

Cllr Evans reminded Councillors that the majority of Parish Council business is carried out at the main, monthly Meetings and all Councillors should attend those Meetings whenever possible.   Attendance in the past has not been satisfactory.   Cllr Bowker also reminded Councillors that if they are not able to attend Parish Council Meetings regularly, particularly for long periods of time, they should contact him, as Chairman, to discuss what action, if any,  should be taken.   He stated that the honorable thing to do in these circumstances is to resign and allow someone else to take their place on the Parish Council.

Cllr Bowker reported that it had been agreed at a previous Meeting of the Parish Council, to only produce The Echo ‘on demand’ rather than monthly.   Cllr Hendy agreed to produce same as and when required, and a July edition may be published to give details of the new Parish Council and Website.   The site is a Parish amenity, open to all and can be updated with news, information, etc. – www.broomfieldandkingswood.org.uk     

10.       Date of Next Annual General Meeting

The next Annual General Meeting of the Parish Council will be held on Monday 12th May 2008.

Cllr Bowker declared the Meeting closed at 8.0pm.

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