ELHAM PARISH COUNCIL
MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL PARISH MEETING
FOR ELHAM PARISH ELECTORS
HELD ON MONDAY 30 MARCH 2015 AT 7.30PM
IN THE PEGGY PIKE ROOM AT ELHAM VILLAGE HALL
Present: Cllr. Miss Briony Williamson(Chairman); Mrs. Jenny Martin, Clerk.
County Cllr. Miss Susan Carey; Cllr. Geoff Clements; Mr. Derek Boughton (Elham Historical Society and Elham and Acryse Samaritan Fund); District Cllr. David Godfrey; Mr. Frank Hobbs (Elham Valley Cricket Club); Mr. Chris Jelly (Elham Environment Group and Elham Walkers are Welcome Group); Cllr. Colin Johnson; Miss Sarah Martin; Mr. Jeff Martin; Cllr. George Palmer;District Cllr. Stuart Peall; Cllr. Ken Percival; Mr. Henry Shackleton, President, and Mrs. Susan Foster, Elham Valley Branch of the Royal British Legion; Cllr. Martin Turner; Mrs. Cathy Westbrook (Marketing and Fundraising Officer,AgeUK Hythe and Lyminge); and Mr. John Worrall.
The Chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting.
- Apologies for Absence
Apologies were received from Cllr. Mrs. Kate Baker:Mr. Peter Bell (Friends of St. Mary’s Church); Mr. Hugh Buckhurst (Elham Gardening Society); District Cllr. Miss Pam Carr; Mr. Jon Daw (Chairman, Elham Valley Model Railway Club); Mr. Gary Harrison, Kent CC Community Warden;Cllr. Mrs. Sharon Jacob;Ms Helen Lester (Elham Pre-School);Dr. Geoff Macdonald (Elham Valley Twinning Association); Mrs. Mary Morgan, Churchwarden, St. Mary the Virgin Church, Elham; Mrs. Judith Ridley(Elham Circle); Mr. Tony Rossi (Elham Village Hall Association); Rev. Kevin Taylor, Elham Methodist Church.
- Minutes
On a proposal by Cllr. Clememts, seconded by Cllr. Johnson, it was unanimously AGREED that the minutes of the Annual Parish Meeting for Electors held on 12 May 2014 beADOPTED. They were duly signed as a correct record.
- Matters Arising from the Minutes
None.
- Chairman’s Report from Cllr. Miss Briony Williamson
“Elham has once again had a busy year, with much going on and plenty to celebrate. I’m sure all here would agree that it is a beautiful village, in a wonderful natural setting, with a warm and welcoming community.
The Parish Council plays an important part in helping this community run smoothly and I would like to thank all of our Councillors and external volunteers who have put in a lot of time into various projects around the village.
Thank you, as always, to Chris Jelly and John Buss for ensuring that Elham and our surrounding countryside and footpaths are kept tidy, well-marked and accessible. It is with much regret that I learnt that John Buss was to move away from Elham, he has been a wonderful asset to us for many years and will be sadly missed. Our loss is surely Etchinghill’s gain!
It is super to see the allotments thriving, I understand they have a constant waiting list of keen gardeners which is fantastic. Perhaps a future project might be to try and secure an additional plot somewhere in the village to ensure more of us are able to eat locally grown produce and reduce our food miles? Elham Farmers’ Market, even though only running twice a year, continues to draw locals and visitors from afar and is now a wonderful bi-annual event that many look forward to.
The issue of reducing the speed of traffic through the village has become more prominent, last year a survey was undertaken which showed that the vast majority of the community were concerned about the speed of traffic in Elham, and they would support any measures we can find to reduce this. Sadly, volunteers for Speedwatch are in very short supply, especially with John and Jane Buss leaving the village. Peter Beales is still kindly helping us despite moving to Lyminge, but we now only have Mike and Gerry volunteering in Elham. This makes the scheme almost impossible to run, and whilst it has always proved beneficial in helping to raise awareness of the issue of speeding traffic through the village, it is never going to create any major impact as we only appear a handful of times every few weeks in high-vis jackets. A large majority of residents and those using our facilities such as the school and shop, feel that a permanent visible solution, such as a flashing Speed Indicator Device, would be of benefit. To this end, a small group are working with Kent Highways to determine viability, costs and a possible location for such a device.
A major project that the Council funded this year was the restoration of the War Memorial. The work was carried out to an excellent standard and was completed in time for the special Remembrance Sunday service, which in 2014, marked 100 years since the start of World War One. Thank you to the Royal British Legion for helping us remember the people from our community that were lost in wartime.
It is lovely to see new businesses opening in Elham, there seem to be many changes happening at the moment and I would like to wish success to them all. I was pleased that David Ratcliff has been championing efforts to get improved Broadband to the area, it is so vital for local businesses, and those working from home, that we get better broadband speed into the village. It seems as though Lyminge and Barham manage to have gas, mobile phone signals and superfast broadband, but Elham are left without. Damian Collins is speaking to BT to see what would need to be done to extend facilities from Lyminge, and David has been investigating an option with VFast. Hopefully a viable solution can be found soon.
Elham Primary School is very lucky to have new Head Teacher Dan File taking them forwards, he joined the school in September and has already made a very positive impact on the children and parents. Hopefully the community will support the School Fete on Saturday 27th June, this is such a vital fund-raising event in the school calendar.
Play for Elham work hard to raise funds to keep the park insured and in good condition. Whilst only a small group of three busy working mums, we still try to run activities for the children such as the Halloween Parade, Mum’s Nights Out and Craft Workshops. We will be asking for help at our gardening Tidy-Up events in the play area, in Spring and Autumn, and need ideas and volunteers for fund-raising events to ensure we can meet the ever-increasing £2,000+ cost of the insurance for the play equipment.
The weather, again, has played a key part in our village this year. Continuous rains brought the worry of difficult and stressful conditions to many of our local residents, in particular to those living along the banks of the Nailbourne. Thankfully, the rain was not quite as persistent as in the previous year, and major flooding was avoided (so far), despite groundwater levels being very high. I would like to thank Southern Water who undertook some major works to improve the flow through our sewerage system and try to ensure that less groundwater impregnates the narrow pipes we have. I would like to thank again, Jon Worrall, for his persistence to ensure that improvements were made. The community meeting with Southern Water was particularly useful in outlining issues and informing the community of steps being taken. Thank you to Ken Percival who helped get all of the right people to that key meeting, and thank you to the Nailbourne and Little Stour River Management Group, who continue to ensure that our waterways are kept in the best possible condition.
At our March meeting, Councillors agreed to support a project to get a defibrillator sited in the village. This is a life-saving device that can be used if someone is suffering critical heart irregularities. We have applied to the British Heart Foundation for a grant to go towards the cost of the defibrillator, the Parish Council will part fund it, and we are also looking to raise funds towards the cost of a special cabinet that will mean it can safely be stored on the outside of a building, ensuring it is accessible at all times. If any local organisations or individuals are able to help us with the costs please speak to our Clerk. We also hope to have a collection box in Lyminge Pharmacy.
I would like, of course, to thank all of our Councillors for their hard work over the year. Thank you in particular to John Buss for being Vice Chairman and stepping in when I’ve been unable to attend meetings. The Grounds Maintenance Committee have again worked extremely hard to ensure that our areas of land, shrubs, hedges and trees around the village are kept tidy.
Sadly, we have several members of the Council that will be stepping down this year, I would like to thank them all for their commitment to the Council, in particular, Colin Johnson and George Palmer will be very sadly missed after many, many years on the Council. With the elections in May, we are still looking for more candidates to apply to the Council and need them to contact our Clerk as soon as possible for the application papers as the deadline is the 9th April. In particular, we feel it would be useful to have someone who could represent the farming community.
Huge thanks go to our Clerk, Shirley Marshall, who worked for 12 years for Elham Parish Council, she worked tirelessly and was always to hand whenever we needed her. It was with regret that I accepted her resignation last year. We are extremely lucky to have ‘acquired’ Jenny Martin, she has recently moved to the village and is an experienced Clerk. She has already brought many super ideas to the table as to how we can improve the way we do things as a Council. Her energy and hard work will, I’m sure, mean that Elham Parish Council will continue to make a very positive impact on the village and its community.”
- Financial Report from Mrs. Jenny Martin, Clerk
The 2014/2015accounts will be closed shortly after the end of the financial yeartomorrow.The current position is:
Balance brought forward as at 1 April 2014 £39,268.21
Overall income to date 2014/2015, including £16,119 Preceptand £890 Grant £21,443.70
Expenditure to date 2014/2015 £23,255.37
EstimatedYear-End balance2014/2015 £36,640.00
The estimated Year-End General Fund balance of £36,640.00includesa VAT refund of £957.66 on expenditure incurred in 2013/14. TheCemetery has generated £2,103.00incomethis year.
During the 2014/15 Council Year, the Parish Council restored Elham War Memorial to commemorate the Centenary of the start of World War I, at a cost of £6,424, funded partly from Reserves.
The Budget has been held at £17,000.00 for several years, which is now paid partly from Precept and partly from Government grants passed on through Shepway DC.
- Report from County Councillor Miss Susan Carey
“Your County Council provides over 300 services with around half the revenue budget devoted to social care this includes protection of children, work with vulnerable families to get their lives back on track, lifetime care for those with a learning disability and care for vulnerable adults.Demand for these services has been growing and we are working with partners (particularly the NHS) to help people maintain their independence and reduce or avoid the need for more expensive care options.Our social care obligations are our top priority but are hardly ever in the spotlight unless something goes wrong.
KCC also plays an important role in building new schools, providing support services to schools, nurseries and childminders.Our other services include trading services, gypsy sites, public health, libraries, waste disposal, regeneration projects and emergency response.You may not directly make use of any of these but they need to be provided and your council tax pays towards this.
KCC also receives grants from the Government and to help reduce the national deficit these have sharply reduced.KCC has made savings of £350m since 2010 to cope with reduced grants, increased demand and rising prices (around + 18% RPI or +14% CPI).During this time the KCC share of your council tax has risen just under 2%.We have worked hard to make sure the savings do not affect frontline services by making use of new technology, streamlining our procedures and reducing staffing.Looking ahead we expect we need to save another £209m over the next three years and this will be much harder to do as the ‘easier’ savings have already been made.
Despite the financial challenges KCC committed £10m to a £40m project with the Government and BT to ensure that broadband reached 91% of households in Kent.This project began in December 2013 and is due to complete by December 2015.KCC has recently agreed a further £5.6m to match-fund a grant from the Government to reach a further 4% of properties.Recent correspondence with local people has suggested that some of the low connection speeds are due to the service providers and a better service may be available from another company. However, there is no doubt that some properties will remain a challenge to reach.
Another vexed issue is traffic through the village.Various ideas have been suggested but none meet our traffic regulations.Kent Highways have promised that communities that run Speedwatch will be backed by visits from the speed camera van.I have recently been asked whether a pedestrian crossing could be provided for the village and I have asked Kent Highways to look into this.
I am pleased to report that there will be a Spring blitz on pothole repairs and later this year more extensive resurfacing work at Cullens Hill from its junction with White Horse Lane to its junction with Old Road/The Row including Mount Bottom and Magpie Lane, Keepers Lane from its junction with Oak Hill to its junction with Acrise Park Road, Straight Hill from its junction with Canterbury Road to its junction with Fir Tree Hill and the whole length of Hog Green.
In the last year, I have been very pleased to provide a KCC Member Grant of £287 to Elham Village Hall to create a garden for the Pre-School, £350 to Elham Cricket club towards a new mower and £800 to Elham Parish Council for new village signs.The AONB unit is meeting the other half of the cost of these signs through a grant I provided the previous year.
Volunteer effort to clear the Nailbourne last Autumn attracted more help from the Environment Agency, proving that communities willing to help themselves stood the best chance of getting extra assistance from outside bodies.”
- Report from District Councillor Miss Pam Carr
Cllr. Miss Pam Carr was unable to attend the meeting, but in response to questions from the Parish Council over lorry parking in the Shepway area and Operation Stack, sent copies of questions from District Cllr. Lynne Beaumont to the Leader of the Council, with responses, which were read out.
Following recent concern over excavations at the Palm Tree site at Wingmore, Cllr. Miss Carr intended to speak to the Shepway Planning Department tomorrow morning.
She also provided a contact for the Chairman in case of further problems with the litter bin at the Playing Field.
The Parish Council looked forward to welcoming Cllr. Miss Carr to its next meeting on 13 April, being her last before she retires from Shepway District Council.
- Report from Mr. Gary Harrison, Kent CC Community Warden
Mr. Harrison sent the following report:
“It’s been another good year in Elham regarding Anti-Social Behaviour, with absolutely no reports to myself. I strongly believe this is due to the continuing engagement of young people by all the groups in the community, including the cricket club, football club and the village hall by allowing them to play football or games in the court when it has not been booked or in use. I would also like to thank the Parish Council for supporting these groups and the parents who give up their free time to help out.
Dog Fouling has been reported on a few occasions but in general it is very low. If it is noticed I urge you to report it, please.
A small number of break-ins have been brought to my attention, although not recently, so I urge you all to be on the look-out for any suspicious vehicles or people, as this may be the part of the jig-saw missing after a crime has been committed.
Heating Oil theft is still ongoing, although not so much this year due to the price of the oil falling.
Scams are on the increase and again, it is the elderly that get caught out via phone or cold-calling at their doors. If you know any elderly residents that may be vulnerable, please let me know and I can visit and give advice on how to stay safe.
Speeding is always going to come and go but in general I have had very few reports, which I put down to the wonderful work of the Speedwatch team that give up their spare time to carry out this work. If anybody knows of any new volunteers please let the Parish Council know.