SHADOXHURST PARISH COUNCIL
Page 29
Minutes of the Annual
Parish Assembly, held at the
Shadoxhurst, on
COUNCILLORS PRESENT: Mr W Hollands (Chair), Miss M Smith Mr R Buss, Mr H Clark, Mr B Howe and Mr A Pilton
PARISH CLERK: Mrs J Batt
BOROUGH COUNCILLOR: Mrs A Hicks and Mr P Davison
MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC: There were no Members of the Public present.
1. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
There were no Apologies for Absence
2. ACCEPTANCE
OF MINUTES
It was unanimously agreed that Mr Hollands should sign the minutes of the Annual Parish
Assembly held on
Proposed Mr Buss Seconded Miss Smith
3. MATTERS ARISING
There were no Matters Arising.
4. CHAIRMAN’S REPORT
Prior to presenting his report, Mr Hollands read out a letter of resignation from the Parish Council from Mrs Hawkes.
Please see Chairman’s Report attached.
5. PARISH COUNCIL ACCOUNTS
These were circulated to those present and any questions answered.
6. SPEAKER FOR RECREATION COMMITTEE
Nothing to report.
SPC APM 13.05.09 Page 30
7. SPEAKER FOR THE YOUTH RECREATIONAL COMMITTEE
Nothing to Report.
8.
With regard to the £50,000 invested by KCC with the Icelandic Banks, the
situation looks quite positive and it is hoped to recover at least 80% of the
money. The important point regarding the
money is that the loss will not affect front line services as it was taken from
the KCC Superannuation Fund. 18 months
ago the pension fund was moved from equities to cash and this has saved about
£40 million.
Potholes continue to be a problem due to
the heavy lorries that use the roads and the
severe weather experienced during the
winter also exacerbated the problem.
Councillor Angell said he has stressed
the fact that the
is deteriorating badly to KHS and that
they need to bring their plans to resurface it
forward.
The Turner Centre in
The newly opened Tenterden Gateway has proved to be very popular and is
actually proving to be too small.
Councillor
Angell reported that other authorities around the country have approached
Ashford regarding the shared space. It
will not really be seen at its best until the development opposite Debenhams is
completed. The appearance of the area
has improved since the trees have come into leaf.
Councillor
Angell was pleased to be able to report that Kent County Council have got an
Excellent 4* rating again.
Adult
Social Services are rated very highly and education results across the county
have improved at KS1, KS2 and GCSE.
More
people are living independently with or without support. The KCC are particularly keen to encourage
befriending organisations.
There
have been no changes to the bus times due to the contracts being changed.
Councillor
Angell said he enjoys attending Parish Council meetings.
Mr Hollands thanked Councillor Angell for his attendance.
SPC APM 13.05.09 Page
31
9. BOROUGH COUNCILLORS’ REPORTS
Councillor Hicks reported that she
serves on the ABC Planning and Overview Scrutiny Committees and usually attends
the Local Development Framework meetings as well as investigating various
matters raised by residents.
Latest projects are the Town Centre
Action Plan and the Tenterden and Rural Actions Action Plan. Shadoxhurst Parish Council will have the
opportunity to make comments.
Councillor Hicks reported that she
has been involved in trying to reduce the impact of the Chilmington Green
Development.
The state of the local roads is of
particular concern and Mrs Hicks asked that a task group be formed to
investigate the state of the roads and has been to 2 meetings. After attending a meeting at the new KHS
Depot at Henwood, Mrs Hicks said she felt that Highways has been underselling
itself. Their budget has been
substantially increased and the following should be noted:-
KCC are currently testing and
trialling a new method of filling potholes and are liaising with Sat Nav
Companies, the Dept of Transport and Ordnance Survey to improve the quality of
the Data.
By the end of December Ashford had an
overall downturn in house prices of 15%.
Despite the objections of Woodchurch
Parish Council and ABC, supported by Mrs Hicks the Inspector allowed a
development of 4 houses within the Conservation Area. Mrs Hicks said that she was very disillusioned
at this result and has grave concerns for the validity of all Conservation
Areas.
David Hill, Chief Executive of ABC
is to leave at the end of the Summer.
On a positive note, Smiths, an
International Medical Company is relocating to Ashford, joining with other
large developments such as the new private hospital at
The State of the Borough Debate is
to be retained, but more members of the public will be encouraged to attend to
question councillors. ABC would like to
see a public debate.
Mr
Hollands thanked Councillor Hicks for attending the meeting.
Councillor
Davison reported that during the year he has supported the Parish Council on
highway
issues. KCC have apportioned more funding
to highways. They seem to be
addressing more of the problems and the situation seems to be more
realistic.
SPC APM 13.05.09
Page 32
Councillor Davison said he supports the
Parish Council where he can with regard to
applications. He is concerned
about the proposed development around Nickley Wood.
Councillor Davison has attended the Chilmington Workshops. He is concerned that
there
is not enough land for the development and it will gradually push this way.
Councillor
Davison reported that as a member of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee
he
had been involved in looking at the budget.
Measures are being taken to ensure that
the
budget can be met.
The recent
downturn in the housing market has not affected Ashford as much as some other
areas. The high speed trains may put
house prices up.
The
development of 31,000 houses in the area was supposed to be jobs led. Provided the money for the infrastructure is
forthcoming, the development will be successful.
Councillor
Davison thanked the Parish Council for their co-operation.
Mr Hollands
thanked Councillor Davison for attending the meeting.
10. ANY OTHER SPEAKERS
There were no other speakers.
11. FORUM FOR EXCHANGE OF INFORMATION
There being no other business the
meeting closed at
Signed ........................................................................................ Date ...................................
SHADOXHURST PARISH COUNCIL
CHAIRMAN’S REPORT FOR THE
ANNUAL PARISH ASSEMBLY
13 MAY 2009
My report this year will reflect what has been carried out by the Parish Council in the past 12 months.
Both old bus shelters were replaced by 2 new modern shelters which should require little maintenance.
Additional play equipment was purchased and installed in the sports field play area and we will continue to add more items when funds are available.
The Village Hall flooring was becoming costly to maintain and it was agreed to overlay it with a large tiled vinyl interlocked flooring.
All the above items cost the Parish Council only a small amount due to grants being obtained. Obtaining these grants was the excellent effort by Gill Hawkes.
Work has started on improving the
appearance of the village. Something I am very keen to see. Trees have been planted around the playing
field, also 2 willows were planted on the Village Green in
You will see the placing of 6 wooden large planter boxes around the Village Hall car park. These will be planted up shortly, hopefully giving colour in front of the hall.
The water pump on the Village Green has been overhauled and this will prolong its life. A vital part of the village history.
Insurance costs seem to increase every year. By transferring our policy from Zurich Municipal to Norwich Union we have saved almost £900, this saving enabled the council to
fix the village precept (collected in the Council Tax) for 09/10 at the same level as 08/09, thus no increase for our village precept portion.
As previously mentioned in my report, the obtaining of grant monies has been mainly by my Vice-Chairman Gill Hawkes. Sadly Gill has tendered her resignation from 1st May due to business commitments. The Council will certainly miss her and I sincerely thank her.
The roads around the village have had some improvements carried out (resurfacing and pot hole repairs), also anti skid surfacing, signage and speed limit signs. We will continue to press the KCC on pot holes etc.
The quarterly newsletter has been a success and my thanks go to Tony and Roslyn Brady in relation to the preparation and printing and to Bernard Howes for delivering to every house in Shadoxhurst.
Finally my thanks go to Judith Batt, our
Clerk, my fellow councillors, Borough Councillors, Aline Hicks and Peter
Davison and
Thank you
W G
Chairman