HORTON
KIRBY AND
MINUTES of the MEETING of
the PARISH COUNCIL held on 4 October
2004 in the Village Hall, South Darenth at 7.30 pm.
Present: Cllr P
Bradley (Chairman),
Cllrs D Payne, G Piller, M Powsey, D Snape, , R
Valentine and I Wescombe
P McGarvey,
District Councillor
D Brazier, County
Councillor,
3 members of the
public
In attendance: C
Allart, Parish Clerk
Apologies for
absence: Cllrs A Burchmore and G Tripp
T Searles, District Councillor,
Declarations of
Interest: None
Cllr Payne
reported that she had not said that she had not seen a road sweeper for some
months. What she had said was that the
amount of rubbish and litter around the streets at the moment is unacceptable
and Minute 75 was amended accordingly.
RESOLVED that,
subject to the above amendment, the Minutes of the meeting held on 6 September
2004 be approved and signed as a correct record.
The clerk
reported that a cut of the whole field now cost £150 and a cut of 1 pitch only
was £80. The while lining cost £80 to
initially set up and £15 for re-marking before each match.
Paddocks and
Shrubbery Road Site Meetings
This had been
arranged for 17 October at 10 am.
Shrubbery Road
Play Area Replacement Scheme
The clerk
reminded members that progress needed to be made on this scheme.
Salt Bin School
Lane
County councillor
David Brazier said he had some discussion with KCC officers and was confident
that the parish council would not have to pay for this bin.
Triangle of Land
Franks Lane
Continuing
activity on the land was discussed.
Mention was made not only of burning on site but also bricks being
brought onto site.
Neighbouring
residents Mr and Mrs Fournel asked that thanks to Cllrs Wescombe, McGarvey and
Searles for representing local people so well at the Hearing be recorded in the
Minutes.
RESOLVED that the
clerk give an update to SDC officers on activities on site.
RESOLVED that the
Minutes of the Village Hall Advisory Committee held on
9 September 2004
be approved and adopted.
79 POLICING – PURCHASE OF BICYCLE AND CYCLE WEAR FOR BEAT OFFICER
The council
considered a request to contribute to the cost of this project which was
for PC Laidlow to use to cycle round his
villages. It would be transported on his
Police car between villages. The cost
had been put at £1000. Members were very
doubtful about the practicality of this scheme but also thought that they
should not be asked to pay for Police equipment.
RESOLVED that no
contribution be made.
The term for Roy
Cockburn’s trusteeship of this charity has come to an end and his re-election
is needed for him to continue as this Council’s representative. Members were unsure of the work of this
charity and asked that Mr Cockburn give them a written report.
RESOLVED that Roy
Cockburn be appointed as this Council’s trustee to the Anthony Roper charity.
Report
Members wish to
discuss how these (and presumably other small jobs in the parish) are carried
out and the costs involved. This could
include the possibility of trying again to recruit a handyman.
Discussion
Members
considered placing an advertisement in a local paper for a handyman for 3 hours
per week but Cllr Valentine offered to do any small jobs that needed doing free
of charge. It was agreed to accept this
offer with thanks and to ask him to keep a note of how much time was spent on these
tasks in order to assess how much work was involved.
82 PARKING ON PAVEMENTS BY SCHOOL AT START AND END OF SCHOOL DAY
The on-going
problem of parking on the footways in Forge Lane and Horton Road was discussed
at length with PC Laidlow. He said he
would monitor the situation and talk to drivers to try and educate them. However, members were not pleased to hear
that he would not give out tickets for obstruction because he would then have
to give tickets to drivers in places like New Road and East Hill as he can’t
differentiate and this would not be practical.
Councillors felt that he should use his discretion and take account of
the relative dangers involved.
RESOLVED that
1.
the Police be asked for their policy on parking on
pavements; and
2.
the Chairman of School Governors be informed of this
Council’s concern about the parking situation to see if anything can be done to
educate the parents.
Members were
informed that one of the boards had fallen on to someone’s head and caused
bruising. On inspection it was found
that the bolts fit sufficiently far into the frame to be secure and the problem
lies with the user making sure that the bolts are pushed right home. Notices had been put up to this effect and it
was hoped that this would be sufficient to stop this happening again.
Report
Now is the time
to start thinking about whether there are any items that we want putting on the
agenda for this meeting. The training
day(s) will also be under discussion and anyone who is interested in attending
might want to think about what subjects they want to be trained on.
Discussion
Cllrs Bradley,
Payne, Valentine and Wescombe as well as the clerk would attend the meeting.
To consider a
payment to Alan Burchmore for manning the office from 2 – 24 September.
RESOLVED that
£100 be paid to Mr Burchmore for his work in the parish office during the
clerk’s annual leave period.
SE/04/02296/FUL
Point Pleasant
Dartford Road
Two Storey side
Extension
The Parish
Council has no observations.
Pre-Application
Consultation
Royal Oak
Cottage, The Street
Replacement of
Garage and Conservatory with larger garage and side extension.
Members looked at
these plans and were concerned about the parking provision in front of the
property which would spoil the look of the house. They felt that the height of the 2 new
pitched roofs were too high. They also
wished to make it clear that comments made previously by Cllr Burchmore were
his personal views and not those of the Parish Council.
The following
decision notices have been received:
SE/04/01923/FUL
The Farmhouse,
Rabbits Road
Construction of
pitched roof over rear extension
GRANTED
SE/04/01972/FUL
107 Montgomery
Road
Single and Two
Storey Extensions
GRANTED
Local Board
Meeting
David Brazier
reported on the recent meeting which covered the topic of the threat to the
Green Belt including illegal encampments and the leisure plot industry where
plots are sold in the hope of getting planning permission to build. The Councils made it clear that permission
would not be possible and that the land was suitable only for picnics not
houses.
Highways
Re-organisation
Mr Brazier gave
brief details of this re-organisation ehich would see all highways functions
carried out by KCC rather than District Area offices. He said that operations would be kept local
by assigning a parish lengthsman to a group of parishes.
RESOLVED that the
schedule of accounts, as submitted, be approved and payments made accordingly.
Franks Hall Land
For Sale
Cllr Payne
reported that the grounds of Franks Hall were up for sale. She said that the cricket club had bought one
lot of land as an extension to its ground and that a club representative wanted
to know why the Parish Council was not buying some for public use to stop it
being bought by travellers.
Members asked the
clerk to find out more about the availability of the land.
Farmland at Rays
Hill
Local residents
reported that travellers had offered £200,000 to the owner for this land which
was many, many times more than its agricultural worth. There were concerns that gypsies in other
parts of the country had successfully appealed against refusal to let them live
on Green Belt land and this could happen here.
David Brazier said that the KCC gypsy officer was well-briefed about
this situation and had reported at the recent Local Board meeting that it could
not happen in Sevenoaks District as the Council has cast-iron Local Plan
policies, something that Chichester, for instance, when development had been
allowed, has not.
RESOLVED that the
public be excluded from the following item due to the confidential nature of
the business to be transacted.
91 WAGES
– SCHOOL PLAYGROUND AND WEBSITE UPDATING
Members discussed
how the locking and unlocking of the school playground was allocated between
the school caretaker and Mrs Reynolds.
They also discussed the website and talked about the council’s
requirements. Members were asked what
they would like to see on the website.
RESOLVED that no
increase in wages for these items be agreed for the current year.
The meeting ended
at 9.35 pm
Chairman
Date