Report of a meeting held on Tuesday, 2^nd March 2004

• Footpaths – Bruderhof Community . A problem had arisen with the footpath gate leading from Sandwich Road into the field. This has now been resolved. Also an excellent board-walk has been laid to mark the footpath which was commended by Councillors.

• Road signs. The signpost at the Frogham crossroads is still missing one of the fingers pointing to Aylesham but this has been ordered as has one for Barfrestone which is missing on the brow of the hill down towards Elvington. Also mentioned to the Highway Department was the need of either a new soak-a-way to deal with excess water between ‘Farthingales’ and the Church wall or to enlarge the one already in existence. They are looking into this and will contact the Clerk in the future.

• Speed Watch – to be carried forward as two more volunteers are needed.

• Green Day – this will be held on Saturday 20^th March at 10.30 a.m. Pickers and sacks have been supplied by D.D.C. and all rubbish will be collected within 2 days.

• Prima Windows had again been contacted due to the problems with parked cars on the road outside their premises. Mr J Halfpenny, Joint Managing Director, stated that he is looking to open up a paddock at the back of his premises for parking. This would hopefully be started at the end of March and finished hopefully in May. Residents in Mill Lane will be advised by letter that this is happening.

• Reports on meetings attended. Aylesham and Rural Area Partnership was attended by Councillor Barnett on 29^th January at Aylesham House where a number of people agreed to serve on different committees. It was agreed to contact former members to see if they would wish to become involved again.

• Medway Funding Fair at Maidstone on 5^th February was attended by Councillor Barnett and Craggy to give a better knowledge of who could fund projects in the village.

• The meeting of KAPC at Sandwich on 19^th February concerned communication within the village. Councillors’ Barnett and Craggy attended for the Parish Council also Dick Henley who runs the village website. This meeting was split into many sections and Mr Henley gave an informative talk on all aspects of the village website, about which a great deal of interest was shown. The idea of a leaflet for new residents was raised but it was thought that the website might take over from this.

• Mickele Cordes the Community Support Officer has an office in Aylesham House, as well as one at D.D.C. She stated that Aylesham now had a Sunday bus service to Folkestone and she was looking to extend it to Nonington. Councillor Barnett has volunteered to become involved in the Environmental Sub-committee. It was hoped that after Councillors Holt and Barnett had both been members of previous committees for some 2 years without anything concrete coming out of them, despite a great deal of time being spent going to committee meetings, this time would be more constructive. A vote was taken on whether to become involved in this new initiative and it was proposed that Nonington Parish Council appoint a member to the Management Committee. Councillor Holt volunteered. This was carried unanimously.

• Bus Shelter – Nothing had been heard from Gordon Measey concerning this subject. It is hoped that contact would be made this week.

• Footpath E330. A new footpath has been created which is well marked and follows a straight line from one end to the other. The owner of the land has contacted K.C.C. to have the old footpath removed and the new one put in its place. This could take up to a year. In the meantime both footpaths may be used.

• It has been decided to use the Dolphins Hall for future meetings of the Parish Council except the Annual Parish Meeting held in April which will still be held in the Village Hall where there is more space for members of the public. In the past there have been problems moving the meeting dates at the Village Hall, which will not arise at the Dolphins Hall. All Councillors voted in favour of the move and meetings will start at the different venue in May (18^th) and thereafter every 2 months.

• S.R.A. – Axing of train services to Snowdown. Documents have been requested from the S.R.A. When they are received a strategy will be considered to include some form of protest.

• Affordable Housing. Paperwork has been received from the Rural Housing Trust concerning the lack of affordable housing in Nonington. They would like to send a representative to the next meeting to give a talk on how this could be achieved. Firstly a survey of the village would be carried out to see whether a need existed for this type of housing. Normally 6 – 10 houses would be built this has happened in several villages nearby, Wingham being one of them. Land would be used that is on the edge of the village and would not normally be given planning permission. It was proposed that the Clerk contacts the Rural Housing Trust asking for someone to come and talk to us about the aims of the Trust.

• Recycling. Councillor Mowat stated that it is now 18 months since D.D.C. started their trial to recycle waste using black boxes which are collected every 2 weeks. They now want to increase the base to 30,000 homes. It was decided to write to Melanie Powell at D.D.C. to ask if all of Nonington can be issued with these boxes to enable more people to become involved.

• The Parish Council Meeting in May has been changed by 2 weeks, to the 18^th May at the Dolphins Hall.

Annual Parish Meeting Tuesday 6^th April 2004 at 7.30 p.m.