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MINUTES OF WOULDHAM PARISH COUNCIL MEETING
TUESDAY 1st
MARCH 2011 AT 7.30PM
WOULDHAM
VILLAGE HALL
Present: Cllr
K Malkinson (Chairman)
Cllrs D Adams, T Fulwell, J Head, A Parnell, D Parris, K Savage
Mrs S Egglesden (Clerk)
In Attendance:
Borough Councillor R Dalton
PC J
Wilkinson and colleague
Community
Warden D Liepnik
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ACTION |
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1 |
APOLOGIES There
were apologies from Borough Councillor D Davis, County Councillor P Homewood
and PCSO J Stoner. |
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2 |
MINUTES Cllr Fulwell requested that the line under item 17, ‘Cllr Fulwell raised a query with
audit procedure and the Chairman requested that he put this in an email to
the Clerk to look at’, to be deleted from the minutes as he stated he had
been unable to ask a question at the meeting. Councillors disagreed with this, advising that the minutes
reflected what had happened at the meeting and it was then agreed to
leave this line in the minutes.
Therefore the minutes of the Parish Council meeting held on the 1st
February 2011 were proposed by Cllr Adams and seconded by Cllr Stone, to be a
true record of proceedings and it was agreed that they be signed by
the Chairman. |
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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. |
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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. |
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5 |
POLICE & COMMUNITY WARDEN’S
REPORT The police report had been
circulated to Councillors prior to the meeting. Cllr Parris asked PC
Wilkinson if the Police had followed up on the report made last month
regarding the vandalism to headstones in the churchyard. PC Wilkinson agreed to look into
this. Cllr Savage asked if the arson
in Knowle Road and the container theft in the car park, on the police report,
were related. PC Wilkinson confirmed that they were not. Community Warden Liepnik
reported on a fly tipping incident in Hill Road. A number of addresses relating to this had been obtained and
this was currently being investigated.
There have been a number of complaints about ‘dog faeces’ again. TMBC are looking into this, with the
following action being taken:- i)
2 x leaflet drops on health/caring for dogs and
clearing up dog faeces ii)
story telling exercise at the 3 village schools iii)
28/4/2011 – dog show in Wouldham on the recreation
ground iv)
a repeat of the bag and flag exercise The Chairman advised that the
fly tipping rubbish in Hill Road had been reported immediately but had taken
over a week to clear and asked CW Liepnik if he could find out why it had
taken so long. Cllr Parris asked about the
procedure for applying for another dog bin on the recreation ground in the
far corner. Cllr Head advised that
the Parish Council had requested one here before but it had been turned down
as it was too far for the Veolia workmen to walk to. Cllr Parnell asked about the
Youth scheme’s in the village and PC Wilkinson informed the Parish Council
that the Youth Bus was not coming to the village and they were waiting for
the village teenager’s to come back to them with ideas on what they want in the
village. PC Wilkinson, plus her
colleague and CW Liepnik left at 7.45 pm. |
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6 |
BOROUGH COUNCILLORS REPORT
Cllr Dalton reported on the
Council Tax collected by TMBC, KCC, Kent Police and Kent Fire. The Government Grant has been cut by 28%
but there would not be any redundancies or cutting of services. The Council Tax D banding for
Wouldham for 2011-12 is broken down as follows:- TMBC including Parish Council
Precept - £222.70 Kent Police - £138.68 Kent Fire - £67.95 KCC - £1047.78 Total for Wouldham Band D -
£1477.11 with no increase from TMBC or KCC for this year. They would be considering a 3% increase
for next year. An interest free loan is
available to the Parish Council from TMBC, which would be collected from the
precept over 4 years. Enquiries on
this can be made through Cllr Dalton. |
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7 |
COUNTY COUNCILLORS REPORT No report this month. |
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8 |
MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC No members of public present. |
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9 |
PLANNING: Planning applications considered and commented upon, by
Planning Committee: TM/11/00171/FL
- Front porch at 12 Walter Burke Avenue, Wouldham – No objections Planning consents issued:
TM/11/00010/FL – Natural swimming pool and associated solar panels at Squires
Court, Starkey Castle Farm, Wouldham Road, Wouldham – Permission Granted TM/00090/ELEX – Erection of new terminal pole to support
an existing overhead line at land at Pilgrims Way, Wouldham – Permission
Granted Planning applications refused: None to report Other Planning Issues: The
Chairman updated Councillor’s on the planning application for the new Village
Hall. TMBC’s Development Control has
advised the Parish Council that they should seek full planning consent rather
than outline.. The Chairman requested
agreement from the Parish Council to go ahead with looking into building a
new village hall/obtaining full planning consent. All Councillors agreed to this. The Chairman advised that the Village Hall
Committee would be looking at the following:- i)
carrying over the charity status to the new hall ii)
looking into getting a professional fundraiser
involved iii)
appointing an agent, as TMBC had suggested
this. The Chairman and Clerk have
already had a meeting with Architect, Martin Hunt, with a view to Martin
acting on the Parish Council’s behalf in drawing up the plans and obtaining
full planning consent.(Martin Hunt has previously worked on the application
for the Access Road planning consent). iv)
looking into the size/type of building required. v)
looking into parking/linking the hall with the
existing recreation ground car park. The Parish Council have already
confirmed that Lafarge will lift the covenant on selling the current hall as
long as the proceeds go towards the new hall. It was agreed that the Village Hall Committee would
start the initial investigations into the building of the new hall and report
back to the Parish Council. |
Village Hall Committee |
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10 |
STREET LIGHTING: Cllr Adams did not have any new
streetlight issues to report this month. |
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11 |
HIGHWAYS & VERGES
The Clerk
was still chasing up the outstanding Highway’s issues. Cllr Savage reported a large pothole on
the Rochester Road by the Cricket Ground.
Although this was not in the parish of Wouldham, it was agreed that the Clerk would report this to Medway Council.
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Clerk
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12 |
FOOTPATHS/PROW Cllr
Stone reported that the hedge had been planted on the first part of the
footpath, MR1 with a wire fence around it. Cllr
Adams asked if PROW would replace the missing railing in Hill Road. The Chairman reported that the Clerk had
asked and the answer was ‘no’ as it was not actually on the footpath. He therefore suggested it would be up to
residents here to look into filling the gap. |
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13 |
ALLOTMENTS
There was
nothing to report this month.
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14 |
WOULDHAM COMMON
The Clerk
reported that the Fire Pit and the Valley of Visions interpretation panel had
been installed on the Common.
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15 |
VILLAGE
HALL Cllr
Stone reported that the electrical work had been carried out and a Test
Certificate is in the post to the Clerk. |
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16 |
RECREATION GROUND
The Clerk
reported that Fawns had been instructed to carry out the RoSPA work and
fitting of new swing and seesaw seat.
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17 |
FINANCE General – The Internal Audit Review
checklist, along with the Internal Control Procedures had been circulated to
the councillors last month. This
looked at the: - i) The
scope of the internal audit ii)
Independence iii)
Competence iv)
Relationships v)
Audit
Planning and Reporting Councillor’s agreed that
the review of the internal audit met the standards and that there were not
any areas of concern. Financial Statement – February
2011: This had
been circulated to councillors prior to the meeting, although the bank
statements had not arrived in time for the bank account figures to be included
this month. The Clerk was unable to
obtain a statement print-out from the bank, as 2 signatures are required for
this. It was agreed that the
Chairman and Vice-Chairman would sign a letter enabling the Clerk to obtain a
statement print-out from the bank in future, if and when required. Bank Position as at 24/02/11 Current Account £100.00 Reserve Account unknown due to statement not
arriving in time. Building Society £10,289.98 Income for February 2011
Cheques signed:
The following cheques were signed
for the Village Hall Management Committee:
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Clerk
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18 |
SPECIAL ITEMS Items for the Church Newsletter –
It was agreed
to report on the Police and Community Warden’s report, welcome the new shop
owners to the village and to mention the new village hall plans. The Tramway – A meeting had been held with
Mike Bax, the Trust Surveyor for the Maths School, the Chairman, Cllr Stone
and the Clerk to discuss the Maths Schools plans for the Tramway area. A note from the meeting had been circulated
to all councillors prior to the meeting. The Chairman run through the
discussion that took place at the meeting.
We are now waiting for Mike Bax to come back to the Parish Council
with further information regarding the number of parking spaces. Councillors all agreed that a
parking area would be an improvement to the Tramway area. |
Cllr
Parnell
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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. |
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20 |
DATE
OF THE NEXT MEETING: The next meeting will be held on Tuesday 5th April 2011 at
7.30 pm. |
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21 |
COUNCILLORS/CHAIRMAN/CLERK Cllr Fulwell asked for
a copy of all the work taken place under the Valley of Visions scheme as he
wasn’t aware of the work taken place in Hill Road. The Chairman advised that all the cost for the Valley of
Visions work are reported in the minutes every month and suggested Cllr
Fulwell looked at the leaflet for routes.
Some of the work, such as the resurfacing of Hill Road had been
carried out by PROW. Cllr Adams asked for
the Parish Council to investigate further into why the Youth Bus is no longer
turning up in the village. It was agreed
that the Clerk would contact the people who supply the bus and pass this
information onto the Chairman so he can speak with PC Wilkinson at the next
ASB meeting on 8/3/11. Cllr Head asked if the
Parish Council had considered providing the children in the village with a
memento for the Royal Wedding. After
much discussion, it was agreed that Cllr Adams would ask the school if
they had made any plans for a party or a memento and the Parish Council could
then consider making a donation, agreed via email as time was running
short. It was also agreed that
the Parish Council would look into providing a memento for the Queen’s
Diamond Jubilee next year, as it was felt that this was more of an occasion
and it would also give the Council more time to look into this. Cllr Parris asked if
the Parish Council have any control over the size of buses travelling through
the Village as she had noticed many empty double decker buses. Councillors advised that this is not an
area where the Parish Council can advise on and the buses would pick up significantly
more people on route before reaching their final destination. Cllr Parris advised
that despite the Land registry information that the Chairman had obtained,
she felt that the blocked alleyway in the High Street, discussed last month,
did not belong to the property next to it.
Cllr Dalton suggested she contacted TMBC’s Enforcement Department with
the information, which she agreed to do. There
being no further business to discuss the meeting closed at 9.00 pm. |
Clerk/ Chairman Cllr Adams All
Cllr Parris |
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