ACTION

1

APOLOGIES

There were apologies from Cllrs Fulwell, Parris and Savage, Borough Councillor

D Davis, PCSO J Stoner and PC Wilkinson.

2

MINUTES

The minutes of the Parish Council meeting held on the 1st February 2011 were proposed by Cllr Stone and seconded by Cllr Adams, to be a true record of proceedings and it was agreed that they be signed by the Chairman.

3

MATTERS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES

Members agreed that any matters arising from the minutes would be dealt with under the appropriate heading, as the meeting progressed through the agenda. 

4

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

Cllr Head declared a personal and prejudicial interest in any issue that arose relating to grounds maintenance work within the parish. She also declared a personal interest in items relating to the Tramway and the Allotments. The Chairman declared a personal and prejudicial interest in any issue that arose relating to Lafarge.

5

POLICE & COMMUNITY WARDEN’S REPORT

The police report had been circulated to Councillors prior to the meeting. It was pointed out that the Post Box mentioned in the police report had not been stolen, but knocked over by a lorry, whose driver then took it away to return to Royal Mail with post all in tact. Cllr Head confirmed that the Post Box has now been reinstated.

6

BOROUGH COUNCILLORS REPORT

Cllr Dalton reported that they would be a closure in the High Street, Aylesford from 7pm today until 7pm tomorrow evening.

Both Cllr Dalton and Davis are standing for the forthcoming Borough Elections and Cllr Dalton told the Parish Council that it had been a pleasure working with them during the last 4 years.

7

COUNTY COUNCILLORS REPORT

Cllr Homewood informed the Parish Council that his funding has started again for the coming year: £10,000 Members Grant and £25,000 Highways Grant, plus the remainder from last year’s Highways Grant.

The Chairman advised that the Parish Council is looking to get on with the next stage of the planned access road and would be looking to Cllr Homewood for a grant to get the engineering plans in place. It was agreed that the Chairman/Clerk would forward the information to Cllr Homewood.

Chairman/

Clerk

8

MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC

No members of public present.

9

PLANNING:

Planning applications considered and commented upon, by Planning Committee: TM/1100695/RD – Details of archaeological watching brief pursuant to condition 2 of planning permission TM/11/00010/FL: natural swimming pool and associated solar panels at Squires Hall, Starkey Castle Farm, Wouldham Road, Wouldham – No Comments

Planning consents issued: TM/11/00171/FL - Front porch at 12 Walter Burke Avenue, Wouldham – Permission Granted

Planning applications refused: None to report

Other Planning Issues: Nothing to report.

10

STREET LIGHTING:

Cllr Adams did not have any new streetlight issues to report this month.

11

HIGHWAYS & VERGES

The pothole at the junction of Knowle Road/Pilgrims Way, reported by Community Warden Leipnik, had been put on the Parish Portal and is scheduled for repair this month.

The Clerk reported on an email received from a resident expressing concern regarding speeding traffic and parking in the High Street. It was agreed that there was not anything that the Parish Council could do and this should be passed onto Karole Reynolds at TMBC and the Police. The Clerk would respond to the resident accordingly.

Clerk

12

FOOTPATHS/PROW

Cllr Adams asked if Trenport had made the footpath at the back of Oldfield Drive a permissive right of way. The Chairman agreed to contact Trenport regarding this.

The Clerk reported back on footpath MR1 advising that PROW have advised that they do not have the funding to carry out the agreed work here. Cllr Stone advised that the fencing wire holding up the new whips has been cut so people can cut across to walk in the farmer’s field. It was agreed that Clerk would write a letter to David Munn asking when he intends to carry out the improvements to MR1.

Clerk

13

ALLOTMENTS

The rent had been paid by Headland (£169.00) and the Allotment Association (£360.00)

14

WOULDHAM COMMON

Cllr Head advised that she had been litter picking on the Common. There were reports that the fire pit is being used. Cllr Parnell suggested putting a litterbin on the Common. After much discussion it was agreed to see how the situation with litter is over the summer.

The Chairman suggested getting railings and a gate on the Common to finish off the area. Councillors agreed that this could be funded by the wayleave grant, perhaps topped up with Cllr Homewood’s Members Grant if required. The Chairman agreed to obtain some quotes for ‘estate railings’.

Chairman

15

VILLAGE HALL

Cllr Stone reported that due to the Village Hall not having enough money coming in, the Booking Clerk/Cleaner position had been reviewed. Ms Harmer would finish in this position at the end of April. A contract cleaner, Clean to Gleam would be carrying out the cleaning, with the Parish Clerk dealing with the bookings. It was hoped to now save around £100 per month.

Cllr Stone explained that the VHMC was running to a very tight budget and could not afford all the maintenance costs associated with the hall. It was also pointed out that the Parish Council own the hall and there is not a lease agreement between the Parish Council and VHMC, so the Parish Council should be responsible for the maintenance if the VHMC did not have the available funds. Currently there is an outstanding bill for the electrical work for £625 (net) and a quote has been obtained from a carpenter for £495 for necessary work to the majority of the doors/fire exits. It was agreed that the Parish Council would pay for the electrical work and the VHMC would pay for the carpenter.

Discussion took place regarding the heaters and making regular hirer’s aware that they must be conservative with using the heaters, especially now the warmer weather is here or else the VHMC will have to revert to the meter system again.

The Clerk requested suggestions for advertising the village hall. Cllr Parnell agreed to put detail in the Parish Magazine and Cllr Adams suggested the Clerk contacts the school secretary to place an advert on the school notice board.

MEMBER OF PUBLIC

The member of public requested permission to speak as she had missed the member of public agenda item. The Chairman advised that he would not normally allow a member of public to speak after item 7, but Councillors agreed to her speaking on this occasion as the meeting had progressed quickly this evening.

The member of public, a resident in Rectory Close, wanted to raise a concern about parking issues here although she appreciated the overall lack of parking in the village. She advised that sometimes you can only just get a vehicle along the road and this raised a concern regarding an emergency vehicle attempting to access Rectory Close. Although the Parish Council is always concerned about the lack of parking in the village, the situation is not going to change immediately, but there are on-going discussions for potential parking plans in the village, including the possibility of a lock up car park in the Tramway area and parking behind the High Street in the Parish Council access road plans. Parking behind the church was discussed. The land here belongs to Lafarge and they want to sale it to the Church, who do not have the money to build a car park, and even then, we cannot be sure if it would solely be a church car park or a car park for the village.

The Parish Council agreed, that if the parking situation in Rectory Close could restrict an emergency vehicle then this was a police matter and the Clerk would inform them of the problems here.

The member of the public left the meeting.

Cllr Parnell/

Clerk

Clerk

16

RECREATION GROUND

The Clerk advised that she had received an email from Mid Kent Water advising that work is to be carried out on the pumping station in Knowle Road opposite the car park. They have requested the use of part of the car park for a portaloo/container with water facilities during the work, likely to last a couple of weeks in the summer. It was agreed that the Clerk would get back to Mid Kent Water requesting a site meeting to discuss positioning of the portaloo/container and a possible fee.

Clerk

17

FINANCE

General – The Clerk had received the Outturn Statement from TMBC requesting the signature of the Clerk or Chairman confirming that the allocation from TMBC had been spent in full for 2010-11. The Clerk confirmed that the money had been spent and duly signed the form.

The Clerk had received a form from Natwest Bank for the Chairman and Cllr Stone to sign, confirming that only 1 signature is required in order to obtain a bank statement from the branch. The Chairman and Cllr Stone duly signed this.

Financial Statement – March 2011: This had been circulated to councillors prior to the meeting. The Chairman verified and signed the bank statement.

Bank Position as at 28/03/11

Current Account £100.00

Reserve Account £19,610.09

Building Society £10,289.98

Income for March 2011

Cheques signed:

The following cheques were signed for the Village Hall Management Committee:

18

SPECIAL ITEMS

Items for the Church Newsletter – It was agreed to report the new Booking Clerk details for the village hall and on Mrs Rodwell, a teacher at Wouldham Primary School who is retiring at Easter after 37 years at the School.

Photographic Exhibition – The Chairman advised that in Cllr Parris absence, he had been asked to clarify that the photographic group must be made up from Parish Councillors. It was agreed that this is how the group was originally made up and chairman agreed to inform Cllr Parris of this.

Cllr Head advised that Mark Peters had offered his services in an unofficial capacity, and had offered to assist with a book.

Cllr Parnell

Chairman

19

CORRESPONDENCE LIST: The list of correspondence received and letters sent during the last month had been circulated to all councillors prior to the meeting.

20

DATE OF THE NEXT MEETING: The next meeting is due to held on Tuesday 3rd May 2011 which is prior to the election. It was therefore agreed, that as this is the Parish Council’s AGM as well, the meeting should be deferred until after the election, taking place on Tuesday 10^th May 2011 at 7.30 pm.

21

COUNCILLORS/CHAIRMAN/CLERK

Cllr Adams advised that he had attended Mrs Rodwell’s retirement presentation at the school and he passed on her thanks for the Parish Council’s letter.

Cllr Adams suggested that the Parish Council advise the organisers of the Youth Bus that the reasons for its failure might be due to the lack of advertising as many village youths did not know about this facility. It was agreed that the Clerk would contact Pauline Wagon informing her of this.

Cllr Parnell asked what the law is regarding off road vehicles such as Quad Bikes driving on roads. Councillors advised that this is illegal if they do not display number plates or are not taxed, then they should be reported to the police.

There being no further business to discuss the meeting closed at 9.25 pm.

Clerk