HORTON KIRBY AND
MINUTES of the MEETING of the PARISH COUNCIL held on
Present: Cllr P Bradley (Chairman)
Cllrs
A Burchmore, G Piller, M Powsey, D Snape, G Tripp,
R
Valentine and I Wescombe
In attendance: C Allart, Parish Clerk
P McGarvey District councillor
T Searles, District councillor
R Gough, County councillor
4 members of the public
Apologies for Absence: Cllr D Payne
Declarations of Interests: None
160 POLICE MATTERS
Compensation for Criminal Damage to Parish Council
Property
Cllrs Burchmore & Snape each submitted a
suggested draft letter to be sent to offenders to request compensation for
criminal damage. It was agreed to go
ahead with these letters once clarification from the Police was received
concerning the information given as it was not immediately clear which names
went with which crimes. An appropriate
amount to cover the costs of reinstatement would be requested.
Police Restructuring Proposals in North and
Cllr McGarvey gave a report following the recent
meeting in Farningham. He said that
being part of the West Kent area was preferable because most of the resources
of North Kent are taken up by the problems of Gravesend and
RESOLVED that the proposal to include the whole of
the Sevenoaks District in the West Kent Policing area be supported.
161 MINUTES OF THE LAST MEETING
RESOLVED that the Minutes of the meeting held on 6
February 2006 be approved and signed as a correct record.
162 MATTERS ARISING
New Office Assistant
The point was raised that the person appointed might
need a Police check in view of the pre-school meeting in the same building.
163 RECREATION AND OPEN SPACES COMMITTEE
The Minutes of the last meeting were received for
information.
164 LAND ADJACENT TO THE SOUTH SIDE OF RAYS
HILL HORTON KIRBY, KNOWN AS SOUTH FIELD
An informal group of villagers asked the parish
council to consider the future of this land. There was a great deal of
discussion on the best course of action should this land come up for sale by
auction. It was recognized that, based
on the cost of other areas of agricultural land in similar circumstances, the sale
price could be well above market value which would make it difficult to raise
sufficient funds. The Parish Council
advised the group that the best course of action would be for the village to
buy it, so pledges of donations from villagers should be secured in advance of
the land coming up for sale. At the same
time the Parish Council would investigate the possibilities of taking out a
loan.
165 REPLACEMENT FENCE IN CHURCH GRAVEYARD
Cllr Tripp reported that the fence in the churchyard
extension was in a very poor state and asked that the Parish Council assists
financially with its replacement as St Mary’s PCC has no spare money for this
work. She said that the Horton Kirby
village society might also help with money and labour.
It was agreed to get an idea of the costs involved
before considering the matter again.
166
The Parish Council was informed about a consultation
process to find out whether the Trust (
167 BANK OF
New Accounts
RESOLVED that 2 new accounts be opened one for each
of the reserves so that the interest earned on the money can go directly into
those funds.
New Mandate
RESOLVED that a new mandate as attached be forwarded
to the Bank of Ireland in order to comply with new regulations.
168 LEAVES IN THE BURIAL GROUND
A letter was received from Mrs Knight concerning
problems from leaves in the burial ground.
RESOLVED that Mrs Knight be informed that, with
regret, the Parish Council was unable to assist with the clearing of leaves
from individual plots.
169 LITTER BASKETS FOR LITTER AND DOG WASTE
A proposal by Mr Abery to supply and empty litter
baskets throughout the parish was considered.
He gave a price for installing and emptying 75 baskets which was many
more than the Parish Council had in mind.
RESOLVED that Mr Abery be asked to present a price
for up to 15 bins (including some dog waste bins) in Parish Council-owned open
spaces only.
The following applications had been received for
comments:
SE/06/00194/LDCEX
The Old Vicarage,
Conservatory
The Parish Council has no objections to this
application.
SE/06/00349/FUL
Tregea,
First floor side extension
The Parish Council has no objections to this
application.
The following decision notices had been received for
information:
SE/05/2412/FUL
6 East Hill,
Rear external staircase to give access to
accommodation at first floor level via new doorway
REFUSED
SE/05/02580/FUL
Conservatory
GRANTED
SE/05/02726/FUL
Single storey rear extension, new rear dormer and
new front porch
GRANTED
SE/05/02941/FUL
19 East Hill
Single storey rear extension and front porch.
GRANTED
SE/05/03155
Land East of
Construction of new highways access and closing off
existing access and associated tree planting
GRANTED
SE/06/00091/FUL
6 East Hill,
Rear external staircase to give access to
accommodation at first floor level via new doorway
GRANTED
171 REPORTS OF COUNCIL REPRESENTATIVES
Horton Kirby
Paper Mill
Cllr Wescombe reported on a meeting he had had with Robin
Hales, Chief Executive of Sevenoaks District Council and Kelvin Hinton, Head of
Planning. Mr Hales was apologetic about not having
spoken to this community about proposed changes and agreed to keep the village
fully informed in future.
Cllr Wescombe kept members up to date with recent
agreed changes to the plans including reduced density, increased parking
requirements, changed road layouts, which did not include a roundabout at the
bottom of East Hill, and softer landscaping.
He had also had discussions with Environment Agency officers who said
that they do not want to see the river split into two as neither would then
sustain a full chalk stream ecology. It
had been suggested that the village could put forward a plan for maintaining
just the part that runs behind the houses in
Members were interested in hearing this information and
felt that it was still of the utmost importance to continue to press for a
roundabout or other measures to help reduce the undoubted problems at the
Station Road / A225 junction in morning peak times. Roger Gough, county councillor agreed to look
into the necessary criteria for junction improvements.
172 REPORTS OF DISTRICT COUNCILLORS
Cllr McGarvey reported on progress being made on the
173 REPORT OF
Roger Gough reported that there will be a KCC
subsidy to allow the last two 414 buses of the evening to continue. He added that the tender documents include
these buses going to Southdowns.
174 SCHEDULE OF ACCOUNTS
RESOLVED that the schedule of accounts, as submitted, be approved and payments made accordingly.
175 ANY OTHER BUSINESS
Peacocks
Cllr Snape told members of the problems being
encountered because peacocks owned by the Fighting Cocks were roaming around
damaging private gardens and causing a hazard to road users in The Street. Environmental Health had not been able to
help as they said they were wild birds and the Police had not considered the
matter to be important. Various
suggestions were made to try and help.
The meeting ended at 9.29 pm
Chairman
Date