HORTON KIRBY AND SOUTH
DARENTH PARISH COUNCIL
MINUTES of the
MEETING of the PARISH COUNCIL held on 18 DECEMBER 2003 in the Parish Room,
Village Hall, South Darenth at 7 pm.
Present: Cllr P Bradley
(Chairman),
Cllrs A Burchmore,
D Payne, G Piller, M Powsey,, G Tripp, R Valentine
and I Wescombe
T Searles, District Councillor (arrived later),
P McGarvey, District
Councillor
1 member of the public
In attendance: C Allart,
Parish Clerk
Apologies for absence: Cllr
D Snape, D Brazier, County Councillor,
Declarations of Interest:
Cllr Burchmore declared a
personal interest in Minute 115 due to his involvement with the Valley Players
and the item in the clerk’s report on the Newsletter due to his membership of
the Horton Kirby and South Darenth Branch of the Conservative Association.
Cllr Bradley declared a
personal interest in the item in the clerk’s report on the Newsletter due to
his membership of the Horton Kirby and South Darenth Branch of the Conservative
Association.
Minute 117
Cllr Wescombe asked that the
words “Action Group” be omitted from the suggestion that was agreed as it was
his recollection that the decision had been made to ask whether there was local
interest in forming a committee to decide on how the Action Group funds should
be spent.
RESOLVED that, subject to
the deletion of the words “Action Group” from the first paragraph of Minute
117, the Minutes of the meeting held on
27 November 2003 be approved and signed as a correct record.
Villages Design Statement
Cllr Burchmore told Members
that new planning guidelines (PPG3) stated that new housing development should
have a minimum of 50 houses per hectare.
Paper Mill Re-Development
Cllr Wescombe up-dated
Members. He and Malcolm Green would be
meeting the planning officer on 6 January 2004 and Frank McConnell of the
Swanley Chamber of Commerce had raised the matter with Robin Hales, Chief
Executive stressing the importance of the site.
RESOLVED that the Minutes of
the Westminster Field Advisory Committee held on 11 December be approved and
adopted.
Members gave consideration
to this matter raised by Cllr McGarvey last meeting (Minute 129) about the
intention of Sevenoaks District Council to withdraw subsidised passes for the
elderly. He had new information which
indicated that the half price county-wide scheme might be retained but it was
remarked that this was very much more expensive for regular users because of
the high price of fares to Dartford and Bluewater.
Cllr McGarvey also referred
to a petition campaigning for the retention of the 20p bus pass and members
agreed that this parish council should write in support of it.
Parish Councillors discussed
the contents of an email from Cllr Powsey which raised residents’complaints on
the Arriva bus services.
It was agreed that Arriva
should be sent a copy of the complaints and asked for their comments. A copy would be sent to Sevenoaks District
Council’s transport officer.
Report
Two years ago when the house
behind the Vicarage (Kirby Grange) was developed and the entrance walls were
built down to the highway, the parish council questioned whether this was their
land. In fact I have now heard from KCC
that, as we thought, a wide part of the frontage is highways land. Concerns were raised because this land had
been earmarked for a footway and we did not want this jeopardised by the
landowner claiming the land after a certain time. However, KCC say that they will be able to claim the land back at
any time if they do need it, so is it worth pursuing the matter of getting
these walls removed?
Discussion
After some discussion it was
agreed to write to the owners of Kirby Grange making them aware of the
situation.
Report
In conjunction with the
Police, SDC has organised a crime prevention advice roadshow to tour the
parishes. They have a bus but the
organisers would rather it was held in village halls during the winter. Sat 28
February has been pencilled in the hall diary for the visit. Sevenoaks want the hall to be provided free
of charge because they say this is a partnership project.
Discussion
Members felt strongly that
Sevenoaks District Council are happy to call something a partnership when they
want money from the parishes but not so keen when they want to pass on costs
(such as with the public toilets).
RESOLVED that no
contribution be made towards this crime prevention advice roadshow.
A letter from the Horton
Kirby and South Darenth Branch of the Dartford Conservative Association was
considered. It asked that the parish
council newsletter be free of political intonations.
RESOLVED that the clerk, as
editor of the newsletter, be empowered to remove all political content from
future newsletters.
Report
The 2 new square downpipes
on the pavilion seem to be holding up against vandalism much better than the
old round ones did. One more is needed
on the corner nearest to the car park.
Some time ago a quote was received from Chris Elliott for £360. He said that the materials came to £240 and
he could reduce the labour element if he could do the work whilst doing other
work on site. As he will be on site
during week beginning 5/1/04, is this a good time to get the work done?
RESOLVED that a third square
section downpipe be installed whilst the other pipe renewal work is being done.
Report
Details obtained by Cllr
Valentine on Community Wardens were circulated to Members for information and
consideration.
Discussion
During a brief discussion on
the Community Warden Scheme which is free but has to be justified by crime
reports etc, Cllr Wescombe reported that, at the meeting with Superintendent
Hewitt, a second type of warden called a Police Community Support Officer was
mentioned. (This was the warden that
was offered to all parishes last year, at a cost of £15,000, after budgets had
been set and for which an illegal deadline of less than a week was set for
responses).
Cllr Wescombe gave brief
details including the fact that the Home Office pays half of the cost per
officer and he suggested that sharing a PCSO with Sutton-at-Hone might be a way
forward. Members thought that more
details were needed. For instance,
could the officer be taken away from his patch to work somewhere else during an
emergency, what times would he/she work and what input would the parishes have
in saying where, when and what duties were carried out?
It was agreed that further
details in answer to the above questions were needed and that Sutton at Hone
and Hawley Parish Council should be contacted before the next meeting when a
decision would have to be made in order for provision to be made in the budget.
SE/03/02759/FUL
The Stores, The Street,
Horton Kirby
Change of Use from B1 office
to Single Dwelling and Alterations to Front Elevation (amendment to previous
approval SE/03/00312/FUL)
The Parish Council has no
comments on this application.
The following notice of
appeal has been received:
SE/03/00799/FUL
Riseley Hall, Eglantine Lane
Erection of Stables
It was agreed to submit all
previous comments to the Planning Inspectorate.
The following application
has been withdrawn:
SE/03/02398/FUL
Westminster Mill, The Street
Erection of Electric Gates
to Existing Development
RESOLVED that the schedule
of accounts, as submitted, be approved and payments made accordingly.
Establishment of Register of
Local Tradesmen
Cllr Wescombe asked for the
establishment of a register of tradesmen to serve this parish, Eynsford,
Farningham, Fawkham, Shoreham and Hartley.
It was agreed that this
would be a good idea and should be done.
Water Leak in Fireman’s Run
between New Road and East Hill
The Chairman reported that
there was a substantial leak along this path which would be very dangerous when
it freezes. Thames Water had apparently
said that it was the owner’s responsibility and would not do anything about
it.
It was agreed that Thames
Water should be informed that this land is not registered with the Land
Registry and its ownership was not therefore known.
Kingfisher Place
Cllr Searles reported that
the residents of Kingfisher Place want to buy the pavement in front of their
properties so that they can park on built-up slabs in their front gardens.
The meeting ended at 8.40
pm.
Chairman
Date
BOOKLET FOR THE VILLAGES
Montgomery Road resident
Ronald Walford has produced an informative leaflet for residents of Montgomery
Road flats. It contains everything you
need to know and where to go and has been well received by West Kent’s
tenants. Mr Walford wonders whether
this should be made more widely available and has offered to help extend it to
include Horton Kirby. Costs would be
staff costs of supplying information and printing costs.
Please ask if you want to
see the booklet.