NONINGTON PARISH COUNCIL

Report of a meeting held on Tuesday, 31st August 2004

Affordable housing.

The survey forms will be sent to us on 18th September for distribution.

Concealed entrance signs at Nonington Court Road.

A meeting was held with James Bowen of the Highways Division of D.D.C. when he agreed that signs were needed. He also stated that the road was not up to K.C.C. standards but work to improve the road would not be decided until the new financial year.

Footpaths

Share Ways Gate. Since the gate was stolen people have been driving into the field to dump rubbish. The Landowner and the farmer, will be erecting a bar across the entrance to the field to stop this in the near future.Yew Tree Cottage. The problems with blocking this footpath have now been resolved and the path cut back.

Kent Cottage – Ash Path. The footpaths officer, Melvyn Twycross, has informed the Parish Council that this path has now been cut back.EE306 at the corner of Beauchamps Lane now has a new stile and dog gate.

EE309 St Albans Downs this path is on land owned by Mr Fox-Pitt and at the St Albans Downs end there is no path in the wood. The footpaths officer from D.D.C. has been in touch with the Farm Manager and the problem should be resolved in the Autumn.

EE304 this footpath runs from the ‘Promise’ towards Church Street Farm and has never been reinstated after ploughing. A letter has been sent to Messrs. Warners at Ash asking that it now be reinstated but no reply has yet been received.

Prima Glass. The problems with parking on the road have now been ongoing for some 16 months, near accidents are now becoming commonplace. The Clerk was asked to write a letter to P.C. Ian Foster a Rural Affairs policemen asking for his help to expedite the new proposed car park at the back of Prima Glass. A copy of the letter to be sent to Prima Glass and the Highways Department for information.The missing 30 mph sign near Snowdown bridge is to be replaced.

Dover District Councillor Knight stated that with regard to the new housing at Aylesham the general outline had been agreed in July but now fine tuning of the details had to be agreed upon. With regard to the roads he stated that K.C.C. had no transport plan for the area so it is important that the Parish Councils concerned become involved. These would include Nonington Aylesham and Wingham as special traffic measures need to be in place our case must be put to D.D.C. Transport Department without delay. Both Councillors Knight and Bartolo were very supportive of efforts to get some affordable housing in the Parish with the help of the Rural Housing Trust. They also stated that the new development at Aylesham would have far less affordable housing than they had hoped.

Pond/Tree Wardens. It was decided that as we have an active Pond Committee the need for Pond/Tree Wardens was not needed.MJS Engineering – solar powered road beacons. These would cost £2,500 each which is far too much for the Parish Council to consider. However, they may be of interest in the future.

Parish Council Audit. This has now been completed and approved by the Audit Commission. Cllr Holt stated that credit should be given to the Clerk as the Audit Commission raised a host of questions that had to be answered leading to extra work.

Pond and Playground. The SRB application for funding is now being finalised this would help to pay for fencing along Holt Street, 2 new picnic tables with concrete bases together with a waste bin. The SRB has suggested that the Parish Council contributes a sum of £100 towards the cost and the Bruderhof Community have agreed to donate 2 picnic tables at an estimated value of £450 each. This would make up half of the sum of £2000 being the cost of improvements. Proposed that the council approve the project and contributed £100. Proposed – Cllr Craggy Seconded – Cllr Holt passed unanimously.

Cllr Barnett being the project leader of the Pond Committee did not vote on the above and was then unanimously re-elected to continue leading the project.It was agreed that small trees and brambles would be removed from the pond area and the ground prepared to allow grass to be sown, this would improve the ease of maintenance, the appearance of the area and help the pond. The cost of the grass seed will be in region of £100. The grass would be cut back when needed by the Pond Committee. Some areas would be left wild to encourage wildlife.

A National Playing Fields audit of the playground was carried out without contacting the Parish Council and appeared in the form of 3 glossy brochures which included colour photographs and 2 appendices and obviously cost a great deal of money. The Parish Council has a safety audit and risk assessment carried out every year by Wicksteeds who inform us what needs to be done in the playground. This includes recommendations for future replacement of equipment, often up to 5 years hence. This has to be carried out so that our insurance is not invalidated. If the D.D.C. department concerned with this commissioned work had contacted the Parish Council copies of this could have been sent to them, this is the same for every parish. A simple survey could have provided all the information required thus saving a great deal of time and money. The Clerk was asked to write a strong letter to Roger Madge of D.D.C. setting out the above points and asking why this money was spent without contacting the Parish Council or surveying what had already been carried out by them.

Meetings attended. The Snowdown Regeneration meeting has been postponed until early October. A meeting on 22nd July was attended by Cllr Craggy regarding the Aylesham and Rural Area Partnership this included (a) a visit to the Kings School Sports Centre as plans are being considered for a Sports Centre at Aylesham. (b) A meeting regarding a Farmers Market at Aylesham is being held next Thursday. (c) The bus service to Folkestone on a Sunday will end on 5th September. We were not asked to donate towards this but may well be asked to next year. Aylesham would not donate this year unless Nonington was included in the service. The Management Committee meeting of this group was attended by Councillor Holt. The meeting spent 2 hours discussing road improvement which were recommend from a D.D.C. meeting held for Parish Councils in our area. Nonington Parish Council had not been invited so our views were not included. Councillor Holt complained to the D.D.C. and put forward a number of concerns regarding road improvements. An email was sent to Tim Ingleton of Highways expressing our concern that we were not included on the mailing list, this error hopefully has now been dealt with. It is important that all meetings which may concern Nonington, whether called for Aylesham or Snowdown Regeneration, be attended.Councillor Hammond has agreed to attend the meetings of the Kent and Dover Board.

Bulk Waste. District Councillor Bartolo stated that this had been a mixed success in Aylesham with people dumping rubbish at the collection point some days before and the driver of the vehicle then having to load it onto the carrier on his own. Complaints had been received regarding the amount of dog mess in Vicarage Lane and the lack of a dog bin. Clerk to contact the Dog Warden to see if 2 notices can be erected warning the owners of these dogs that they face prosecution for not clearing up the mess. The Parish Council will consider the possibility of a dog bin at the next meeting. Cllr Holt requested a letter be sent to Seeboard/EDF regarding the three power cuts suffered by the village in the last few weeks.

Next full Parish Council meeting is on 2nd November 2004 in the Dolphins Hall at 7.30 p.m. District Councillors Bartolo and Knight expressed their regret that they could not attend.

Mrs Linda Player, Clerk to the Parish Council, 01304 840410 linplayer@hotmail.com