HORTON KIRBY AND
MINUTES of the MEETING of the PARISH COUNCIL held on
Present: Cllr P Bradley (Chairman)
Cllrs A Burchmore, D Payne, G Piller, M Powsey, G Tripp,
R
Valentine and I Wescombe
In attendance: C Allart, Parish Clerk
P McGarvey District
councillor
R Gough, County councillor
20 members of the public
Apologies for Absence: Cllr D Snape
(illness), Cllr T Searles (another meeting)
Declarations of Interests: Cllr D Payne declared a
personal and prejudicial interest in Minute 145.
133 ARRIVA BUSES
As a result of Minute 120 (12/05) Terry East, General Manager and Geoff Hempstead, Planning Manager of Arriva buses attended the meeting to answer questions from councillors and the public and to explain why the 414 service had been curtailed. During 55 minutes of questions and answers the Arriva representatives explained that the main reasons for the bus not going up East Hill to Southdowns in the late afternoon were the reduction in general usage and the 8 – 9 minutes delay that the trip caused to Horton Kirby passengers. They stated that commercially it was not good to inconvenience a greater number of existing and potential passengers for the sake of the occasional person on the bus for Southdowns.
Mr East stated that when the Fasttrack
bus service comes into operation the last 2 trips from
It was mentioned that the number of people on the buses would increase substantially once the free bus pass was implemented in April and Arriva were asked to asked to wait and see what happens thereafter before taking any further decisions.
134 POLICE MATTERS
Notes of a meeting held on 7 December with the Police were discussed.
Cllr Burchmore agreed to take on the role of press liaison to get information from the police officers in order to keep the public informed of positive outcomes from the PCSO. This was considered vital since, at the moment, the only information given out is crime figures which, because they have gone up, presents a very negative picture.
135 MINUTES
RESOLVED that the Minutes of
the meeting held on 5 and 28 December be approved and signed as correct
records.
136 RECREATION AND OPEN SPACES COMMITTEE
The Minutes of the last meeting were received for
information.
137 VILLAGES DESIGN STATEMENT
RESOLVED that a charge of £2
be made for each copy of the Villages Design Statement booklet.
Members were asked to decide a priority from the
three schemes suggested last meeting which were Fireman’s Run (asphalting);
Open Spaces (tidying); and
River Path (clearing weeds
to allow free passage in summer).
There was discussion on how all of these projects
could be carried forward by various means but it was
RESOLVED that Fireman’s Run
would be put forward for grant aid from the
139 CLERICAL ASSISTANT
There was discussion on duties, terms and conditions
of the new member of staff and how this would be done. It would be necessary either to employ an HR
consultant or find a standard package through NALC/SLCC. The Chairman and Vice-Chairman agreed to work
on this ready for a decision at the next meeting and, hopefully, an appointment
from April.
The clerk reported that the Awards For All grant application had been successful and £5000 had
been granted towards a feasibility study for a village hall extension. She asked members to consider how this work
was going to be taken forward as it would be necessary to consult locally to
find out what people wanted in order to draw up a wish list before employing
the professional help of an architect.
It was agreed that the best way forward would be to
find out from other village hall committees who had carried out similar work
how they approached the task in order to gain from their experience.
The Action Group treasurer asked the Parish Council
to accept the funds from the existing Action Group bank account, which needed
to be closed, and administer them in the short term.
RESOLVED that a Bank of Ireland No. 2 account be set
up to accept the Action Group funds until a new bank account can be arranged by
the group.
The clerk reported that no applications had been
received.
143
REPORTS OF DISTRICT
COUNCILLORS
Cllr Philip McGarvey reminded everyone of the District’s kerbside Christmas tree collection for recycling. Cllr Gill Tripp said that the general refuse collection had been excellent this year and asked that a letter of congratulation be sent to Richard Wilson and his team.
144
REPORT OF
County councillor Roger Gough
informed the Parish Council that he had added his comments in support of 2
points raised in objection to the Paper Mill planning application namely the
need to improve the
Mr Gough was pleased to report that in a recent assessment, Kent County Council had been awarded the top rating of 4* (only one of 4 in the country) for the services it provides.
145
SCHEDULE OF ACCOUNTS
RESOLVED that the schedule of accounts, as submitted, be approved and payments made accordingly.
The meeting ended at
Chairman
Date