HORTON KIRBY AND
MINUTES of the MEETING of the PARISH COUNCIL held on
6 November 2006 in the Village Hall,
Present: Cllr P Bradley (Chairman)
Cllrs A Burchmore, M Powsey, D Snape, G Tripp,
R
Valentine and I Wescombe
P McGarvey District
councillor
T Searles, District
councillor
R Gough, County councillor
1 member of the public
In attendance: C Allart, Parish Clerk
Apologies for Absence: Cllr G Piller
Declarations of Interests: None
90 POLICE MATTERS
General
Neither the beat officer nor the PCSO were
present, but Cllr Burchmore presented a report after
discussion with PCSO Hylands. He stated that the person who carried out the
phone booth vandalism was known to Peter Hylands who
had visited the parents and alerted
Office
in Village Hall for PCSO
Cllr Burchmore
reported that Peter Hylands wanted an office and a
laptop so that he could keep all his records locally. Members asked Cllr Burchmore
to remind PCSO Hylands that the use of the parish
room in the afternoons had always been possible provided there was liaison with
parish office staff on times and that a laptop should be provided by the
Police.
Replacement
for PC Laidlow
Cllr Burchmore was
asked to find out why we have no replacement for our beat officer yet and what
West Kent Police’s plans were in this respect.
Cllr Searles
reported that 14 new PCSOs which would be joint funded by the Government and the Police were planned
for the Sevenoaks District though he mentioned that funding after 2008 was
still unknown.
91 REPORTS OF DISTRICT COUNCILLORS
Christmas
Refuse collection
Members were informed that those residents
with Monday collections will miss one collection this Christmas/New Year. The collection due for 25 December will be
cancelled so there will be a gap between 18 Dec and 2 January.
Cllr McGarvey stated that year
round fortnightly collections could well be on the way.
RESOLVED that a complaint be
made to Sevenoaks District Council that Monday collections would suffer once
again.
92 REPORT OF
Member
Community Grant Scheme – Hedge along
RESOLVED that a
grant be applied for under the KCC Member Community Grant Scheme for the survey
for this hedge.
93 MINUTES
RESOLVED that the
Minutes of the last Parish Council meeting on 2 October 2006 be approved and
adopted.
94 RECREATION AND OPEN SPACES COMMITTEE
Terms of Reference
RESOLVED that the terms of reference for the recreation and open spaces
committee be as follows:
Scope of Committee:
Westminster Field (including public conveniences)
100 Year Wood
Heathside (excluding that part now
enclosed as a garden area to the village hall)
Top Paddock
Lower Paddock
Play Areas
Quorum:
The quorum for the committee is 3 voting members.
Delegated Powers:
to consider and make decisions on all aspects
of the areas covered by the scope of the committee;
to consider and make decisions on all matters
referred to it from time to time by the parish council;
to approve expenditure within the limits of the
budget set by the parish council;
to request estimates for items not within
approved budgets;
to appoint additional voting and non-voting
members of the committee up to a maximum of 9 voting members and 5 non-voting
members; and
to appoint sub-committees for general or
specific matters.
Minutes of the last Meeting
The Minutes of the last meeting were received
and various recommendations for expenditure not included in the budget were
considered.
In connection with recommendation 29 (b), the
clerk reported that, after discussion with the contractor, he had suggested
flail mowing now and weedkilling in the spring as strimming of the brambles was not possible. This alternative was accepted.
RESOLVED that £5000 from the budget contingency
fund be allocated for those recommendations in the recreation and open spaces committee
numbered 25 (h), (i), (j), (k), (m) and (n), 26 (f)
and (g), 28 (a) and (b) and 29 (b) and (c).
SE/06/02506/LBCALT
Franks Hall,
Widening of existing single width door in
stable block to double width
The Parish Council has no comments on this
application
SE/06/02600/FUL
Oak View Stud Farm
Field shelter and access in Mussenden Field
The Parish Council objects to this
application on the grounds of its intrusive siting in
the Green Belt
SE/06/02735/FUL
Single storey rear extension
The Parish Council has no comments on this
application
The following decision notices have been
received for information:
SE/06/0919/FUL
11 Coopers Close
Detached 3 bed house with integral garage and
parking space
GRANTED
SE/06/01663/FUL
Provision of external staircase and door to
provide loft access
GRANTED
SE/06/02090/FUL
Additional first storey to flank to provide 2
no. en suite bathrooms
GRANTED
SE/06/02235/FUL
137 New Road
Single storey rear extension GRANTED
SE/06/02302/LBCALT
Old School Cottage,
Repair of Peg tile roof
GRANTED
96 RESIGNATION OF PARISH COUNCILLOR
Cllr
RESOLVED that
Cllr Burchmore be appointed to the Welfare Working
Group to replace Cllr Payne.
97 PARISH BROCHURE
A suggestion put forward by Cllr Wescombe that a parish brochure would be useful when a
large number of new people will enter the parish when the mill site is
developed was considered. He suggested
that it could be funded by advertisements and distributed by
The
clerk had details of professionally-produced parish guides which have 50-60%
editorial.
RESOLVED
that Members take away the sample brochures to look at and consider the matter
again at the next meeting.
98 REMEMBRANCE SUNDAY SERVICE AND TWO
MINUTES SILENCE
Members were informed of the Two Minutes
Silence on Saturday 11 November at 11am at the Village Hall and the Remembrance
Sunday Service at St Mary’s at 10.30 am on Sunday 12 November. The clerk asked who would be able to install
and light the maroons for Saturday’s brief ceremony. The Chairman offered to set them off.
99 ALLOTMENTS
Risk
Assessment
A draft risk assessment was considered.
RESOLVED that the
risk assessment as attached as appendix
A be approved and adopted.
Policy
Members considered a policy for running the
allotments.
RESOLVED that this
Council’s policy for allotments, as
attached as appendix B, be approved and adopted.
100 CAR SHARING
Details of Kent Car Share were received.
RESOLVED that the
Parish Council promote this scheme via the website and the next newsletter.
101 KCC TOWARDS 2010
Members considered whether this Parish
Council would like a presentation on this subject by a KCC Cabinet or local
Member including a DVD show. Roger Gough
was asked if he could get copies of the DVD so that parish councillors could
view it at home and then ask any questions on it at a future meeting.
102 REPLACEMENT NOTICEBOARD ON MILL GREEN
Initial ideas for a new noticeboard
for
Members felt that one of the drawings showing
a base and plinth that incorporated representations of local features should
also be part of a final design choice.
RESOLVED that
103 ST MARY’S CHURCH CHRISTMAS LIGHTING
RESOLVED that a
donation of £75 be made to St Mary’s Church as a contribution towards the cost
of the Christmas floodlighting of the church.
104 CLOSING OF NATWEST RESERVE ACCOUNT
RESOLVED that the
NatWest reserve account be closed and the amount be
transferred to reserves in the Bank of Ireland.
105 CPRE – ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
Notice of the CPRE AGM on Friday 24 November
from 2 pm at Harrietsham was received.
106 THREAT TO POST OFFICES
Members asked for details of this campaign to
save rural post offices so that they could write as individuals.
RESOLVED that a
letter from the Parish Council be written in support of our local post office.
107 SCHEDULE OF ACCOUNTS
RESOLVED that the schedule of accounts, as submitted, be approved and payments made accordingly.
108 EXCLUSION OF PRESS AND PUBLIC
RESOLVED that the
press and public be excluded from the meeting during discussion of the
following item due to the confidential nature of the business to be transacted.
109 CLERK’S HOURS
Overtime
Payments and Contract of Employment
The clerk had asked for agreement to the
payment of overtime worked that had accrued over the past year. She had also asked the Parish Council to
consider amending the clerk’s contract to take account of overtime payments and
to consider an upward revision in the standard weekly hours of work.
The clerk and clerical assistant were asked
to withdraw from the meeting during discussion on this matter.
RESOLVED that we make a payment in line with
the volume of works to recover and maintain the accounts and that all and any
other payments should be held in abeyance until a review of the clerk’s roles
and responsibilities in relation to the other parishes in the Darent Valley be conducted by the Vice Chairman.
The meeting ended at 10.05 pm
Chairman
Date