REPORTS OF PARISH COUNCIL COMMITTEES
Reports on the work of Committees during the past year
were given by Committee Chairmen and Spokespersons:-
The Chairman reported that Pop-up-Power had been installed
in the Square, which gave an independent electric power source for
events. New equipment had been placed
in the
BMX
Park
and negotiations were in hand
with MBC to hand over the Cherry Close Play Area to the Parish Council. This would be done when the play area had
been brought up to a satisfactory standard and the lease agreement
finalised. The Parish Council would
then start applying for funding to put in some new play equipment.
Cllr. Osborne reported on the work of the Planning
Committee, the main concern being the KIG application which had recently been
considered by
Maidstone
BC
and was now awaiting determination by
the Planning Inspector in September/October this year. Cllrs. regularly attended MBC Development
Control Meeting to support or object to planning applications. There were still concerns that their
comments are not listened to.
Cllr. Goodwin reported that negotiations were ongoing with
the owner of the Texaco Garage to place bottle banks on the site. This was a joint venture with Harrietsham
PC. Ideas for improving the recycling
site at
Old Ashford Rd.
were also being considered and discussion was taking place with Lenham
Storage who were looking to help businesses in the area with a cardboard
collection service.
Cllr. Nye reported on the success of setting up a Business
Assn., one of the projects started by the Parish Plan Steering Group. He stressed there was still a long way to
go but was hopeful that the businesses would form a Committee to move this
forward.
Cllr. Davison had been involved with the Planning and
Transport & Highways Committees. He was still concerned at the amount of jobs outstanding after these
had been reported to Kent Highways and hoped that the setting up of the
Parish Portal would improve things. The safety improvements to
Maidstone
Road
had been completed and he was still looking
for funding for Speedwatch.
The Chairman was pleased to report that after much hard
work by Cllr. Crutcher the Lenbus would be starting in July. There were now a few more drivers and a
flyer would be sent to the outlying parts of the Parish informing them of the
service and how to obtain membership forms for people to use the bus. It was felt that Cllr. Crutcher had done
a wonderful job to get the project underway and thanks were also given to
B.Cllr. Sams for all his help.
Cllr. Younger was hopeful that the Youth Council would
continue although some of the long standing members were now moving on. There were plans for a music festival and
many youngsters were interested in joining the Youth Council to promote this.
Cllr. Greenwood reported on the work undertaken on the
open spaces around the village. He
was liaising with
Swadelands
School
on the litter
problems created by the School and hoped that by discussing the problem with
some of the staff and pupils things would improve. Ongoing work to keep tidy the Churchyard
and Cemetery had taken place and the drains had been attended to in the Car
Park. Work to the Picnic site was
also ongoing. The gates recently
placed at each end of the
Pilgrims
Way
on the section from
Faversham Rd.
to Hubbards Hill to deter
4x4s and motor bikes were proving a problem and discussions would be taking
place with KCC, the Police and neighbouring properties.
Cllr. Richards had spent a lot of time on restructuring
the website and he was looking at various ways to promote Lenham.
Cllr. Barr reported the following:-
The Steering Group continued to meet and several of the
items mentioned by Cllrs had come from the Parish Plan. He thanked Mr. Alan Reading for all his
help in setting up the Business Assn and Cllrs. Nye,
Greenwood
and Goodwin for all their work in
getting it off the ground. The
Welcome Pack was, however, proving more difficult to organise but he was
hopeful that it would happen at some stage in the future.
With regard to future development in Lenham he reported
that since the KIG application the Local Development Framework had been put
on hold. However, progress was
continuing and being monitored by the Planning Committee and it was hoped
that the Council would be able to make recommendations to the LDF.
Publicity continued to be a worry as the Parish Council
still did not appear to get through to Parishioners despite information being
put on the website and the Chairman’s reports appearing in Focus. He felt it was extremely important to
raise the profile of the Council and hoped that the BBQ on the 25th July at the Picnic Site would bring the community together.
B.Cllr. Marshall had enjoyed working with the Parish
Council over the past year. There
had been a variety of issues relating to Kent Highways and it was proving
very difficult to get things done. Also, a lot of his time had been spent at
Planning Committee.
B.Cllr. Sams agreed with Cllr. Marshall on the problems
with Kent Highways and felt that when the new
County
Cllr.
was elected they would need to get involved with trying to sort out these problems. He reminded Cllrs. how much C.Cllr. Lord
Bruce-Lockhart was missed.
The Chairman thanked all the Cllrs. for their reports.
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