Minutes of the Barham Annual Parish Electors Meeting Held at the Village Hall on Thursday

Minutes of the Barham Annual Parish Electors’ meeting held at the Village Hall on Thursday 10 April 2014

Present

Parish Cllrs David Wood (Chairman), David Tamsitt, Ernie Mullett, Liz Minter and Val Steer.

Welcome

The Chairman, Cllr Wood, welcomed everyone to the meeting. He explained this was the annual meeting for residents to find out what was happening in the village and on the parish council.

Apologies for absence

Apologies for absence were received from Parish Cllr Caroline Ridgeway, Parish Cllr Andy McElroy, and PCSO Lisa Williams and resident Valerie Caless.

Minutes of the Annual Parish Electors’ meeting heldon 20 May 2013

The Chairman apologised that at the last year’s meeting the Clerk had had to leave the room as she became unwell and the questions session had not been captured therefore.

At this point in the meeting, he introduced the new Clerk to the Council, Amanda Sparkes.

Cllr Tamsitt proposed and Cllr Mullett seconded that the Minutes were a true record of the meeting.

For a set of last year’s full Minutes, either contact the Clerk and request a hard copy or electronic copy, or please visit the parish council website at the following link

Chairman’s report

Cllr Wood apologised to anyone who had attended the parish council meeting on 3 April that had been non-quorate. He said that had been unacceptable and unprofessional, and he thanked Cllr Tamsitt and Cllr Mullett who had attended and who did their best under what the law allowed.

Cllr Wood drew attention to the parish council elections due to take place in May 2015. He explained that Barham had not had a contested election for a long time and he felt that was not a good thing, and he urged residents to stand.

Cllr Wood advised there had been 23 new planning applications in the last year. He advised that Barham Court Farm is included in the Canterbury district draft Local Plan as a SHLAA (Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment), but there is no planning application for it as yet.

Barham has been classified as a ‘larger village’ along with Sturry, Bridge, Chartham, Hersden, Blean and Littlebourne in the Local Plan. The parish council fought this in summer 2013 as they felt that the basis for the categorisation had been on a Rural Hierarchy Study that was flawed. Some parishes had sent in amendments that did not get incorporated. Cllr Wood commented that he felt the study was a waste of taxpayers’ money. Canterbury City Council however did not accept the arguements and continue to classify Barham as a large village.

The second draft of the Local Plan is due out in a few weeks. However, only comments on the 'soundness' and 'legal compliance' of the document will be invited.

Cllr Wood explained that the Barham Bowls Club had asked for a page to be hosted on the parish council website. The council’s website is hosted by Kent County Council, free of charge, and the parish council said yes to this request. Cllr Wood said that the parish council would consider a request for separate pages for any local society, and attract more users to the parish council’s own website in the process. The clubs would need to send data to the Clerk themselves and keep their information updated.

Cllr Wood advised that there had been another change in PCSO for the village. PCSO Ben Hedley-Smith had been moved to another area, and his replacement is PCSO Lisa Williams.

Cllr Wood concluded that the parish council was planning a litter pick for the village on Saturday 10 May 2014, and that the details of it would run in the parish magazine in time to drum up support from residents.

Draft Accounts for 2013-2014

Cllr Wood drew attention to the draft Income and Expenditure balance sheet presented to all residents. He explained these still had to be presented to both the Internal Auditor andthe parish council.

He explained expenditure had decreased in 2013-2014 from 2012-2013, but that there were reasons for that:

i) Street lighting is usually a city or county council managed function, but Barham has responsibility for its own 60 columns. The parish council is trying to get the columns updated to ultimately save energy costs and ensure the columns are safe, but they are waiting on a survey by AMEY (KCC’s own contractors) which has been delayed. There will be significant expense involved in the update programme however. For example, to replace one column costs in the region of £2,000. So the parish council has made budget provision for this.

ii) Play area expenditure is also to become due.

These two items partly account for the difference in the year end balances.

Cllr Wood explained about Section 137 expenditure, and that the Chairman’s Allowance referred to a presentation leaving gift to the retiring Chairman Linda Davies during the year.

He invited questions on the draft accounts. There were none.

Precept budget for 2014-2015

Cllr Wood explained that the precept for 2014-2015 had been increased. He explained that the Cllrs had worked through a detailed budget in heavy detail. However the concurrent function shortfall imposed by Canterbury City Council had been out of the parish’s control. Additionally, the councillors hope to work on other projects, and apart from the concurrent grant, the precept is the parish council’s source of income .

A resident asked if the parish council had got a five-year finance projection. Cllr Wood advised, no, not currently.

Report from Kent County Cllr Michael Northey

KCC Cllr, Michael Northey read his report to the meeting. This is attached as an appendix to these Minutes.

This was received with a round of applause.

Report from Canterbury City Councillor Mike Sole

The new Canterbury City Councillor, Cllr Mike Sole then read his report to the meeting. This is attached as an appendix to these Minutes.

This was also received with a round of applause.

Fat funnels – an initiative running in the Nailbourne Valley to help keep the sewer clear

All residents present were given a fat funnel and an instruction flyer devised by the Clerk. The funnels are supplied free by Southern Water, to collect cooking fat which can then be recycled into biofuel, rather than clog up sewers. Fat solidifies in pipes which causes sewer blockages leading to flooding of homes and gardens.

The river group are forging this initiative, and have rolled the funnels out in Bridge, Bekesbourne, Patrixbourne, Bishopsbourneand Littlebourne, with a collection point at Bridge Farmers' Market (held every 2nd and 4th Saturday of the month from 9am-12 noon), although they can just be put in household waste.

Although Barham does not yet have a collection point even if the fat is put in normal household waste this is better than in the Nailbourne sewer.

If anybody would like a fat funnel, or more fat funnels, they may contact the Clerk. Additionally, it was suggested that the initiative should be published in the magazine and that a supply could be held at “Coffer Stop”.

Close of formal meeting

Cllr Wood explained that the meeting had reached the end of the formal proceedings. He explained that the Annual Parish Meeting format, now adopted at Barham, is for one guest speaker from an organisation, and reports from others available to read. These were on a table at the back of the room, and are also attached as an appendix to these minutes.

Guest Speaker, Kent County Council’s Community Warden, Gary Moore

Cllr Wood introduced Gary Moore, the KCC Community Warden. Gary thanked the Chairman for the opportunity to speak and advised he is part of the uniformed Kent County Council warden service. He covers Grove Ferry, Wickhambreaux, Ickham, Littlebourne, Bekesbourne with Patrixbourne, Bridge, Kingston and Barham. He is supposed to cover the area on foot.

He explained he served in the Royal Military Police and did close protection detail to the Queen, and also worked in the ambulance service. However, one night he fell asleep at the wheel and hit a tree at 60 mph, and broke 39 bones including his back and his neck. This meant he could not do the job anymore as he was unfit. He had a long recovery period, and then saw the job description for the community warden role and applied. They gave him a chance and he is now loving the job.

The wardens have been in existence since 2002. They work in the community with people at the point of need. They act like an old style ‘beat bobby’, and as a focal point for the community. The scheme was extended after three years as it was so successful. Wardens are based in both rural and urban locations, such as Ashford and Maidstone. Gary explained that the job contracts recently changed and the wardens are now county-wide so they can be a better resource for KCC.

In their roles, wardens tackle anti-social behaviour, and rogue traders. Gary explained they take their communities very seriously, and tend to work hours around the needs of the communities – sometimes early mornings, some late evenings, and they can be flexible with advance notice. For example, during the recent flooding, Gary said he spent a lot of time in Barham, and he witnessed a lot of multi-agency co-operation.

Gary mentioned a current advert on the television where a plane attracts and gets put together with a mass of spanners, nuts and bolts. He likened this to KCC – KCC has lots of different diverse departments – a warden can speak to any of these departments and other external agencies.

Gary spoke of a normal week, and that wardens may get involved in:

-Highway safety – the wardens have just got a new power to be able to direct traffic

-School safety – cycling course, and road safety, and teenagers safe driving. Gary explained his crash is being made in to a film with Kent Fire and Rescue – his car caught fire with him still in it and he got out just in time.

-Internet safety

-Scams

-Anti-social behaviour – wardens have the power under s17 to collect names and addresses

-Stranger danger

-Vulnerable people visits and visits to scam victims

-Wardens are also all domestic abuse trained and can get injunctions invoked.

Gary mentioned PredPol – predictive policing. This is from the USA, and is a system that puts vehicles out on anniversaries of incidents to reassure and give a visible police presence.

Gary spoke of a Kent wide search for a replacement hamster that had died. A little girl’s hamster, Stanley, had died while she was away for two days. Her own mother had also died just six weeks earlier, and the grandparents asked the warden service for help.

Gary explained the wardens are incident liaison officer trained and are able to react in emergencies or big incidents, and know who to call. They can also arrange rest centres.

Gary said he really enjoys his job and the community working. He is very happy working in the area and getting to know people.

Questions were invited. A resident asked what the differences were between the wardens and the PCSOs. Gary explained they are both trained by the police and both have Level 2 Police checks. The difference is that the PCSOs have more powers, and can be more confrontational, and they have access to police radio. Wardens are more about community engagement, and they tend to have life experience to draw on. Gary also confirmed that there were several female wardens too.

A resident asked if direct contact with wardens was encouraged. Gary explained yes, the numbers may be published in magazines of the areas covered. He reminded residents to dial 999 in an emergency and 101 in a non-police emergency though.

Cllr Minter asked if wardens give feedback to contacts/cases. Gary advised, yes, if appropriate.

Cllr Wood asked Cllr Northey to try and influence the placement of wardens around Kent and not keep moving them around. He then thanked Gary for his presentation. There was a round of applause given.

The meeting closed at 8.50pm. This was followed by refreshments and the chance to network, and meet representatives from the local organisations, and Cllrs.

Appendices:

Reports from County Cllr, City Councillor and local organisations:

Report of Kent County Councillor to Barham Annual Parish Meeting, 10 April 2014

Time again to say hello to everyone at the APM. Thanks for your usual warm welcome.

So what's been going on at Kent County Council, and more to the point how does it affect you? Yet again, for about the seventh year running, KCC has to make savings, this time of around £81 million. Efficiency savings have long ago been made, so now we have to transform the way KCC does things. You will not notice much difference in the services, but in the way they are brought to you. For example in the care of the elderly – there will still be the same level of care and home visits, but the number of agencies is being reduced from over 120 to 23. This will result in savings, and will help KCC to monitor the level of care more effectively, with fewer agencies to partner, and fewer staff needed to do the monitoring.

Sadly, for the first time in four years KCC has had to raise council tax, by just under 2%.

This will raise ten million pounds.

One thing you may notice is that from this April, each local County Councillor will have a reduction of about £20,000 in available grants. There will still be some, but it will be harder to share them out fairly and widely. So if you need a cash injection for a worthy cause, make a good case! I have pledged £5,000 towards the village hall redevelopment.

The days are long gone when 'The Council' did everything. These days there is huge partnership working – which was seen well during the recent floods. No wonder they hit us so hard – the weather people say the winter rains were the worst for 248 years. This is a huge time in history – 248 years ago, Jane Austin had not yet been born, we still owned America, John Wesley was still roaming England on his horse. Barham as we know was badly hit. The City Council did a terrific job in helping and co-ordinating, and the community response was terrific. On my travels I also saw huge involvement from KCC Highways, the Environment Agency, Southern Water, the Ambulance Service, Red Cross, the Army, Police, Kent and Medway Fire and Rescue service, the MP, community wardens, many local councillors and parish chairmen. Even TV crews.

The KCC Cabinet is discussing in their meeting in May ways to bring in money for enhanced flood protection measures for the future.

The roads were badly hit. The government has given KCC an extra £8.6 million to repair Kent roads. KCC is also applying for further funding, especially under the Bellwin Scheme, which is a national government scheme to help councils with emergencies. There are now over 40 crews on Kent roads in the Find and Fix scheme. The average turn-round to mend a pot-hole is 13 days. Please continue to report road damage in the usual way via the KCC website –

Foreign lorries are now being charged £10 each to enter the country, towards road repairs. KCC has been pressing for this for years. The bad news is that the national Treasury is keeping the money – again KCC are lobbying hard for some of the money to come back to Kent, as we bear the brunt of the damage and wear and tear from these heavy vehicles.

So it is a continuing story of great co-operation and understanding of what can and can't be done. This is a diverse and beautiful community and you have such a fine parish council and

vigorous local life. It is a privilege to be your representative on Kent County Council.

Michael Northey 10 April 2014

Report of Canterbury City Councillor to - Barham Annual Parish Meeting 10 April 2014

Thank you for inviting me here tonight. As a former parish councillor elsewhere, and indeed the husband of a former Kingston parish councillor, I am well aware of the hard work that parish councillors do. I hope to attend as many parish council meetings as I can, but as I have already found out that will not always be possible due to clashes of meetings between the parishes and the city council. However I will send you a written report prior to each meeting that I cannot attend.

As I was only elected four weeks ago I do not have too much to report on this occasion. I am however delighted to be able to tell you that the A2 is being cleaned of litter this month. I have also been assured that this will include the slip roads that are in a terrible state. The contract for litter clearance allows for two cleans a year. There is an argument, based on the current state of affairs that that is not adequate, however I don’t believe that the A2 was cleaned last autumn. Once this clean has taken place I shall chase up to ensure that it happens more regularly.