WOODCHURCH ANNUAL PARISH MEETING
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MINUTES
Minutes of the Woodchurch Annual Parish Meeting, held on Friday, 23 April 2010
at the Memorial Hall, Woodchurch at 7.30 pm
Prior to the start of the meeting Frank and Lucy from Woodchurch Primary School gave a very interesting presentation in which they put forward the views, about the village, of the children who attend the school. Mr Robinson thanked Miss Hall, Head Teacher and the children for attending.
ATTENDANCE: Nineteen Members of the Public were in attendance
The Parish Council Chairman, Jamie Robinson, was in the chair.
The Chairman opened the meeting by emphasizing the fact that the Annual Parish Meeting is for Villagers, not the Parish Council and that everyone is entitled to speak, but requested that the normal rules of debate be observed.
The Chairman then introduced the KCC Councillor for Woodchurch, Cllr Mike Angell,
ABC Ward Members, Mrs Aline Hicks and Mr Peter Davison,
Mr Tony Mobbs, Vice Chairman of Woodchurch Parish Council and Mrs Judith Batt,
Clerk to the Parish Council.
APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
Apologies were received from Miss R Dewar, Mrs J Haynes, Community Warden Chris Banyard
and PC Justin Farrow
MINUTES OF 2009 MEETING
The minutes of the meeting held on 24 April 2009 were accepted and it was unanimously agreed that Mr Robinson should sign them.
REPORT BY PARISH COUNCIL CHAIRMAN
1. Provision of facilities:
The Council has continued to use the village precept to maintain the Green and the village
assets owned by the Council. The Green is an important part of village life and we try to
ensure that it is maintained to the levels we all enjoy and that it will remain a central element
of village life. Following consultations in the village the council has decided to purchase and
install some adult exercise equipment on the Green.
2. Parishioners will have noticed that the village precept has remained the same as last year. Woodchurch is midway in the league for the precept in Ashford Borough for Band D tax at £23.12, with Pluckley at £48.79 and Kenardington £49.00 as comparisons.
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3. As a Council we have responded to questions regarding the Regional Development Plan. The plan makes it clear that there will be infrastructure problems and it is not clear how this will be addressed and we have responded accordingly.
4. We have continued to liaise with Highways to report problems with the roads, obviously pot holes have been a big issue this winter and we have been reporting pot holes directly onto the highways web site, to speed up the process. A visit was made by highways to the village to discuss access, signage and road damage issues. We were successful in having the winter gritting re-instated following its withdrawal the previous winter.
5. Planning decisions have continued to be of major concerns in the village and the council has tried to maintain a consistent approach to planning applications following the Village Plan and The Village Design Statement. There have been a number of planning decisions during the year that have been opposed by both the Parish Council and ABC, which have been subsequently approved by the HMI Planning Inspectorate.
6. The Parish website has been extensively developed and we try to provide an up to date profile of the village, its services and events.
7. Our School continues to provide an excellent education for our children and the new Head Teacher Miss Patricia Hall expressed her apologies for being unable to stay for the meeting tonight.
8. The Council has carried out a complete revision of the Asset Register estimating the value of the property owned by the Council. This is required for insurance purposes. A full risk assessment of the assets as required by law has also been carried out.
9. A Local Needs Housing Association survey of local housing needs has been carried out and identified the need for more local housing.
10. We tried to ensure that footpaths around the village are maintained, and we succeeded in getting a number of styles repaired and replaced following complaints.
11. Village Clean Up Day Saturday 17th April
There was a good turn out for the village clean up day and we are indebted to John Brymer for organising this yet again. A considerable mound of litter was collected, the vast majority of it rubbish thrown from cars.
Jenny Stone has now retired as the village cleaner and I would like to extend my thanks on behalf of the parish Council to Jenny for all the work she has put in to keep our village clean.
A new Village litter picker and cleaner Danny Norris, has been appointed and has begun clearing and sweeping the footpaths which already shows an improvement, as well as carrying out weekly litter picking.
12. Finances see separate report.
13. I would like to thank Councillor Mike Angel for his financial support for the village exercise equipment. A decision is awaited from ABC regarding a grant application made to them.
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14. Policing
The Parish Council has been actively liaising with the local police at a number of levels,
including the Police Liaison Committee, our local Police Response Officer Justin Farrow,
and our Community Warden Chris Banyard. There has been some antisocial behaviour in
the village but thanks to various measures taken, things have improved.
PARISH COUNCIL FINANCIAL STATEMENT
The receipts and payments summary for the year ended 31 March 2010 was circulated.
The accounts book and the minute book are available for public inspection on request.
The balance at bank as at 31March 2008 was £28547.81.
The Precept for the year 2008/09 has been set at £20,000. We are also to receive a Concurrent Functions grant of £2391.16 making a total of £22391.16.
A VAT claim for the year ended 31 March 2008 has been submitted for £628.80.
REPORT BY CLLR MIKE ANGELL – KCC
Mr Angell reported that this last year has been notable for the dreadful winter weather and the damage that has been done to our roads, particularly in the rural areas. Woodchurch and its surrounds have been badly hit.
Having been in almost constant touch with Kent Highways, with numerous email exchanges and meetings Mr Angell knew that it has been a very worrying time for everyone who has had to run the pothole obstacle course every day. He believes that the road repair teams have been doing a great job and is glad that KCC is putting in extra money to get the repair job done, he hopes properly. He said he is able to report that the new contracts have now been let and the work will be done by Walkers in Ashford and Shepway.
As Deputy Cabinet Member to Kent Adult Social Services and KCC Older Peoples’ Champion, Mr Angell continues to spend a lot of time listening to Older Peoples’ Forums and their ideas and feelings about various subjects. Their main concerns are about transport, lack of convenient bus services and isolation where they do not have their own transport. In some cases the worries are about getting to hospital and back in order to keep appointments. There is now an
Ashford Forum in the making and as soon as the date of the first meeting is arranged Mr Angell will do his best to let people know.
The Parish Council asked for some money to top up the amount required to purchase the Community Exercise Equipment and Mr Angell said he welcomes this project and has agreed to a grant of £2900.
He was also pleased to have been able to authorise a grant towards the cinema equipment and hopes this will prove to be of great benefit to the village
KCC has also approved an amount to help with the cost of replacing the asbestos roof on the annexe.
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Mr Angell said he was very pleased to see, from the minutes, that young people are being involved in local matters on the Village Hall Committee.
Mr Robinson thanked Councillor Angell for attending the meeting.
REPORT BY COUNCILLOR ALINE HICKS – ABC
Mrs Hicks reported that she serves on the ABC Planning and Overview Scrutiny Committees and
has been the representative for ABC on the Romney Marsh Internal Drainage Board.
The most interesting thing about the Overview and Scrutiny Committee was being on the
Task Group which examined the Council’s budget for 2010. There are few factors which remain constant throughout a financial year and Central Government has been known to change financial objectives and grants after a budget has been set, so any budget, including a parish budget is really only a best guess at breaking even.
There have been some memorable cases on the Planning Committee. Mrs Hick believes that we should help owners to preserve their listed buildings and that commercial operators should acknowledge they are in a competitive environment.
In Woodchurch in particular there have been several contentious planning applications and considering the problems over the development at 40 Front Road, she feels that the Planning Officers should better be able to enforce good working practices.
Earlier this week there was a Public Hearing regarding a garden encroachment on agricultural land at Shirkoak Park. Mrs Hicks believes that the Inspector fully understood all the issues.
A decision will be made in a couple of weeks.
The Stonebridge development caused a lot of public interest, but at the end of the day, Mrs Hicks had to support the plans, mainly because there was already planning permission for a less desirable project on that site and secondly because she was able to negotiate minor alterations with the Planning Department. The application is due to be discussed at the Planning Committee on 28 April. There was a condition imposed referring to a limit of 60 bedrooms in the care home itself and it is this consideration that is up for reconsideration.
Recently the KCC has been seeking views on “public rights of way open to all”, of which there are several in Orlestone Woods. Mrs Hicks reported that she had contacted people who she thinks are most likely to be affected by the inconsiderate 4 x 4 leisure drivers etc and has advised KCC of their views.
A major event at ABC was the appointment of the new Chief Executive, John Bunnett. He visited Mrs Hicks and discussed the problems in the Ward of South Weald. He has recently produced a 5 year plan based on commercial objectives. With the national economy so weak he will be seeking to streamline the Borough and obtain value for money. Every household in the Borough recently received a questionnaire in which they could tell ABC where they would like the money spent and the areas which should be prioritised in the future. There is widespread acceptance within the public sector and in the country at large that we can no longer afford all of the policies and programmes that have been produced over the last 10 years. We will have to make choices between the services we value most highly and those we can no longer afford to
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provide. Mr Bunnett anticipates a 15% reduction in expenditure. Ashford Borough Council have had different advisors from those used by Kent County Council.
The present Leader of ABC, Paul Clokie is stepping down in May and will be replaced by
Paul Bartlett. Paul represents Weald East and understands the needs of the rural areas.
Mrs Hicks thinks he will ensure that the Council is run fairly and efficiently in conjunction with the Chief Executive.
Woodchurch Road, through Shadoxhurst, has been completely resurfaced. The pavement outside the Mission Hall in Stubbs Cross is being properly repaired and Mrs Hicks feels that this shows that KHS take notice of our reports. We must continue to report all problems with the highway.
The Architect Terry Farrell visited Ashford on 22 April and discussed ways of improving the area around the station.
Mrs Hicks feels that it will be very interesting to see how the result of the forthcoming General Election will reflect on Parish Councils and affect everyone in general.
Mrs Hicks thanked all the members of the Parish Council, especially the Chairman and Clerk and also thanked everyone present for attending and helping to make the event such a success.
Mr Robinson thanked Mrs Hicks for attending the meeting.
REPORT BY COUNCILLOR PETER DAVISION – ABC
Mr Davison reported that he serves on 8 Management Committees at ABC as well as being a Governor for Hamstreet School and Chairman of the Friends of his local church.
He reported that the new Chief Executive of ABC is keen on having a more open and inclusive local government.
The current Leader is stepping down and being replaced by Paul Bartlett. Mr Davison hopes he will visit all the villages in due course.
Mr Davison reported that with regard to Woodchurch, he has been involved with issues such as flooding, highways and in particular pot holes which have been a nightmare. KCC has paid out a lot of money to drivers who have experienced damage to their cars due to the state of the roads. Mr Davison feels that this money should be being put into repairing the roads to prevent the damage.
Woodchurch has experienced problems with antisocial behaviour in the past few months. Mr Davison feels that this is a difficult area and is not sure whether it is best to come down heavily on the perpetrators or to take a lighter touch approach.