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Minutes of the Annual Parish Meeting of the
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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) Cllr Derek Hobson (DH)
Cllr Tom Hoy (TH) (7)
Borough Councillor Peter Parvin,
Sue Wotton – Clerk (SW)
Gail Gosden – Assistant Clerk and RFO (GG)
Eight members of the public
Cllr Bowker opened the Meeting at 8.0pm and thanked everyone for attending.
1. Apologies for Absence
Lord Bruce-Lockhart, OBE In
Cllr Marilyn Grant On holiday
PC Stuart Thomas Rest Day
2. Minutes of Last Year’s Meeting
The Minutes of the Annual Parish Meeting held on 5th June 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 3rd July 2006. Copies of these Minutes are available from the Clerk on request.
3. Launch of Parish Website – Tom Stewart
Cllr Bowker
welcomed Mr Tom Stewart to the Meeting. Mr Stewart apologised for the absence of the Webmaster, Clive Stanley,
who was travelling back from
The site is now basically built and ready to be updated and added to with news, reports, photographs (always particularly popular), information, etc. Although instigated and funded by the Parish Council, the site is for the use and benefit of the whole community and will be produced in conjunction with the Kingswood & Broomfield News. It will include Parish Council Agendas and Minutes, a ‘What’s on Diary’, information and contact details for Parish clubs and organisations, links to other sites and to advertise ‘one off’ events such as Quiz Nights, Jumble Sales, etc. Funding for the site has been approved for an initial trial period of six months during which its use and popularity will be monitored, so use it or lose it!
The site address is: www.broomfieldandkingswood.org.uk and anyone wishing to submit items to be included should contact the Clerk at: bandkparishclerk@aol.com
At the conclusion of Mr Stewart’s presentation, Cllr Bowker thanked him for attending and updating the Meeting.
4. Affordable Housing Update – Jennifer Shaw
Ms Shaw reported that she would update the Meeting on two issues. The first of these was the Housing Needs Survey carried out in January 2007 by way of Register of Interest forms and the second was the result of the ‘Walk the Village’ in December 2006 to identify possible sites.
(i) The first Housing Needs Survey was carried out in 2004 and identified 21 households that met the criteria. The usual recommendation is to build 50% of the total homes required and it was therefore agreed that a scheme in the region of 11 houses would be needed. Following the most recent survey in January this year, Ms Shaw had received 58 Register of Interest forms of which 41 met the requirements. This was comprised of 26 single people,
6 couples without children and 9 families (70% overall currently live in Kingswood), with a fairly even split of rent or part rent / part buy and also confirmed that the need had increased considerably since the 2004 survey.
Using the same 50% formula, it is now considered that a scheme of 20-23 houses would be required to meet the current requirements and the latest survey had served to reinforce that there is a real need for Affordable Housing in the Parish. (Ms Shaw had made enquiries today and had established that the cheapest property currently for sale in the Parish is on the market at almost £204,000 and was thus beyond the reach of many).
(ii) The ‘Walk the Village’ in December 2006 had resulted in 13 sites being revisited or newly identified (none of these was commented on at the time), details of which had been forwarded to Steve Clarke at MBC’s Planning Department for consideration and comment regarding suitability. Mr Clarke’s subsequent report to Ms Shaw (previously circulated to Councillors and available from the Clerk on request) had ruled 8 sites out and 2 that were not classed as ‘exception sites’ as they were within the Village Envelope and thus beyond financial means as they could potentially be sold at a high price on the open market.
Therefore only 3 out of the 13 sites identified, all of which have met the planning criteria, could be further considered, as follows:
(1) Small
parcel of land at the rear of the Post Office in
(2) Land adjacent to
(3) Land adjacent to
In conclusion Ms Shaw stated that it is now up to the Parish Council to make a decision as to whether or not, to take the matter of Affordable Housing forward. She urged Councillors to consider the matter very carefully and hoped they would agree to pursue the building of affordable homes for local people as there is clearly a significant need. She went on to say that there are many villages in and around Maidstone and right across Kent that have very successful schemes and in her experience, Ms Shaw has never come across a community that has regretted building an Affordable Housing scheme, which also serves to retain young people in their local area and thus support the schools, shops, post offices, etc.
Ms Shaw has resigned from her job as Rural Housing Enabler and stated that she has enjoyed working with the Parish in respect of Affordable Housing. Cllr Bowker thanked Ms Shaw for attending the Meeting and on behalf of everyone on the Parish Council and residents, thanked her for the valuable assistance and her enthusiasm in this respect and wished her well in her new job with Ashford Borough Council.
5. Report - Kent County Councillor – Lord Bruce-Lockhart, OBE
The Clerk reported
that Lord Bruce-Lockhart had sent his apologies for not being able to attend
this Annual Meeting due to being in the
6. Reports from Parish Organisations
Representatives from the following organisations were present to give annual reports as follows:
Badminton Tony Skinner
Book Club Nigel Cuming
Footpaths Officer Rob Schroeder
Neighbourhood Watch Bob Bowker
Parish Churches Mike Evans
Twinning Project Tony Skinner
Written reports, read out by the Clerks, had been received from:
Dog Training
Drop In
Friends of Leeds & Broomfield Churches
Kadela After School Club
Leeds & Kingswood Scout Group
7. Any Other Business
There being no other business, Cllr Bowker declared meeting closed at 9.02pm.
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