ACTION

1

APOLOGIES

There were apologies from Borough Councillor D Davis, County Councillor P Homewood and PCSO J Stoner.

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 1^st 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.

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. 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.

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.

7

COUNTY COUNCILLORS REPORT

No report this month.

8

MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC

No members of public present.

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

10

STREET LIGHTING:

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

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.

Clerk

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.

13

ALLOTMENTS

There was nothing to report this month.

14

WOULDHAM COMMON

The Clerk reported that the Fire Pit and the Valley of Visions interpretation panel had been installed on the Common.

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.

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.

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:

Clerk

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

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 will be held on Tuesday 5^th April 2011 at 7.30 pm.

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