UPPER HARDRES PARISH COUNCIL
ANNUAL PARISH MEETING
MINUTES OF MEETING HELD ON 12th MAY 2008
AT BOSSINGHAM VILLAGE HALL
1, APOLOGIES, Simon Reed, Peter and Evelyn Crouch and Alison Fisher.
2, CHAIRMANS OPENING ADDRESS .The Chairman said that it had been a quiet year again this year. It was good to see so many parishioners attending as the weather was so good. (16 plus 3 cllrs).
There is still quite a bit of work to do outside BVH. Cllr Warner resigned due to pressure of work, a big thank you went to him, he had served on the PC for about 20 years with a short break. This has left a vacancy on the Parish Council.
3, MINUTES, The minutes were circulated and agreed, Proposed by David Palmer and seconded by Joan Faber.
4, MATTERS ARISING
A, RUBBISH AND POO BINS, No more were needed, we just need to move the one from the triangle to BVH.
B, GRASS BEHIND HALL AND BALL GAMES IN CAR PARK notices are to be placed in the car park re parking and games. Signs were agreed at the meeting. Cllr Hewitt to arrange
C, Front of BVH to be resurfaced and paving to be completed with cycle racks and a seat.
D, Hedging at the side of car park needs replacing as the sheep ate some..
E, Raise a point about the position of the HGV sign at Lime Kiln Lane.
5, REPORTS CHAIRMAN
A, MEMORIAL TREE, Keith Wallington who was a parish councillor, died suddenly in 2004. A weeping Beech was planted in his memory. Now the tree is well established, a memorial service will be held at the tree on June 1st at 12.30pm. Margi Walker will hold a short service and afterwards at Cllr Hewitts house.
B, KCC MINI BUS, KCC has offered to provide a mini bus which will be sponsored by them. It will be insured taxed and serviced by KCC but the PC would have to provide the fuel. If there is enough interest, the PC will need volunteers, they should contact the Chairman or clerk.
6, CLERK,
A, AUDIT, this years audit has been completed and handed to Andy Lingwood who is the internal auditor for checking.
B, ACCOUNTS FOR YEAR were circulated and explained. They were agreed, proposed by N Fisher and seconded by D Barlow.
7, LOCAL ORGANISATION ACTIVITY SUMMARY
BOSSINGHAM BROWNIES have continued to thrive will a full capacity of 30 reported Maxine Blades
Within their weekly meetings they enjoy playing games, learning crafts, working towards their badges and exploring the minnis. They enjoyed a pack holiday last year to Hythe, and the pack joined with other Brownies from the district at the recycling revels and the Stitch in Time afternoon where they all learned to make a needle case. They also went to the Marlowe Theatre to see Aladdin.
BOSSINGHAM YOUTH CLUB has been running independently for two years now. There are 38 members with 24 regular attendees.10 from Stelling Minnis, 7 from Bossingham, 4 from Petham and 3 from Nackington. The age range is 10 – 18 years and they try to hold meetings on 1st and 3rd Friday of the month in term time only.
Members have been enjoying equipment purchased via grants. They enjoyed a Christmas meal at the Rose and Crown.
The club is down to 5 adult volunteers who. due to work and family commitments are restricted to when they can help.They are desperate to get some adult males to help.
The two Parish Councils help by paying the rent for BVH which has enabled the club to keep membership fees to a minimum of £1 per session. Report from Claire Champion.
CHALLENGE YOUTH GROUP which promoted the Duke of Edinburgh Awards have had another successful year said Simon Warner. Groups had been on back packing holidays to Snowdonia, the Lake District, the Yorkshire Dales as well as Kent and Sussex. There were more than 40 members working towards different awards. During the year four gold medals, three silver and four bronze awards had been achieved. The group still run their own mini bus and it meets on 1st and 3rd Tuesday of the month during term time. New members are welcome to attend.
GARDENING GROUP
The society is flourishing and members have enjoyed meetings with speakers, outings and several shows of which the autumn show is the most popular. Instead of a plant show this year they held a strawberry tea in August.
GUIDES
The Guides have 18 members at the moment and have been enjoying a new uniform which is designed to make them feel “cool”.
They have been taking part in district and county activities and have recently held a successful recycled fashion show which raised £68 for Diabetes research.
NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH
Pam Chatfield co-ordinator was pleased to report that there had been no crimes in the parish this year.
RAINBOWS
Lisa Wright reported that there were 8 Rainbows in the pack and they have just celebrated their 3rd birthday in January. The group is thriving.
SCOUTS
You name it and the local Scouts group do it. From bike rides and hiking to a survival night, and fishing from Deal pier, they have enjoyed another action packed year. The pack is at full capacity and have been enjoying the new equipment they aquired with grant money last year.
BOSSINGHAM VILLAGE HALL
During the past 12 months the floor has been re varnished and the kitchen, hall and toilets have been redecorated. New strip lighting has been installed and the drainage problem on the south side has been rectified.
Upper Hardres PC has continued to provide excellent support.
The management committee continues to investigate ways of further improving the hall for the community. It is hope that the kitchen will be refurbished soon, also the roof needs cleaning off and the area at the front of the hall will be resurfaced. The Church in the Hall have provided a Loop system for the hard of hearing.
THE HUNDRED
2007 was another busy year. It had been decided that the subscription fee should be held at £3pa. but many members have provided more than this when paying their fees. There is current membership of 127. The Hundred has continued to provide a news letter and articles in the parish magazine. The show group have produced live entertainment which is excellent. There have also been talks and walks .The 7 villages comprising the Hundred are Bossingham, Nackington,Lower Hardres, Petham, Upper Hardres and Waltham.
INVITED ADDRESSES
CLLR JOHN SIMMONDS OF KCC represents 9 councils. He congratulated all who take part in all the activities and make the community a very successful village. The Parish Council is a very important part of it and was pleasantly surprised at the number of parishioners who turn out for our APM.
KCC have kept the council tax at 3.97% this year. They needed 61m from the government this year but only got 9m which has made life very difficult. The elderly have increased in numbers.
Immigration has caused a big strain on finances, although the govt owe Kent 8.8m they are refusing to pay it. Kent has a large number of unaccompanied minors from other countries to look after.
There are 3 key points KCC are working towards, 1 is bed blocking, try to keep people in their own homes. There is a handy van service which can come and do odd jobs free, 2 is to prepare the young for work by teaching them skills to enable them to be employed, 3 is, we have two universities but students don’t stay once they have finished their degree. We need to make Kent a place to stay.
CLLR MIKE PATTERSON CCC
The budget costs have been kept as low as possible and CCC didn’t cut back on services. Concurrent Function funds were looked at and are still being fully funded. The new bus passes are being funded by the govt.
Traffic wardens have a new name of Traffic Management operatives under the new act which will allow parking fines on different levels.
The corporate plan for next 4 years has 38 major schemes in Canterbury.
Some of which are, Wincheap development, A2 slip road, Park and Ride, move coach park, HerneBay improvements, WhitstableCastle, The Marlowe, The Beaney and enlarge park and ride at Old Dover Rd are just a few.
The existing contract fro the park and ride buses is ending soon and a new contractor called Kent Top Travel has won the deal. There will be new buses as existing ones are old.
CLLR ROSEMARY DOYLE CCC
Her first comment was,” what a lovely lively village you have”
She agreed that waste bins were a problem and that CCC should work with PC’s. Concurrent Function funding was working well now, she had worked on this through the scrutiny review. The bus passes were working well and people were using them more which meant that some car parks were not so full.
She explained that she is a member of the Rural Commission and has meetings in lots of places which allows her to compare which made her come back to the fact that we have such a lively community.
QUESTIONS WERE PUT TO CLLRS
Comment was made about 60mph going into 30mph with no slow down space. There is nothing we can do at the moment, it’s down to govt.
Yellow lines near school, could we have double yellow lines, but again the govt do not allow on rural roads. They were told how difficult it is having school on a boundary between two councils.
8,ANY OTHER BUSINESS
A, The village shop has been entered in to the “Retailer of the Year” and has been one of seven to be selected to go to the finals
B, Mr and Mrs Loft have taken over the organising of the play area behind the BVH.
C, Speed Watch, Andrew Hewitt attended a meeting with Police to find out how it will work. We need to buy equipment and need volunteers to run it. If there is enough interest we can borrow Lower Hardres equipment but we would need training.
Chairman Andrew Hewitt thanked the councillors for their time and clerk for her work.
Meeting closed at 9.35pm
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