DownsMail In touch with your parish


Boughton Malherbe Council


Use it or lose it


BUS company Nu Venture re- ported that not many passen- gers were using the 59 bus on the east side of Kingswood on a Saturday. A warning was to be issuedto parishioners stressing that the service will be lost if people do not use it, although nothing is likely to change until April 2014. Parish council chairman Cllr


Robert Turner sent in a report in his absence to say he had heard that 50 caravans couldbe placedin Headcorn Road on a site that used to be known as Camden Farm, just outside the parish boundary. He asked for this point to be raised with bor- ough Cllr Richard Thick. Ron Galton reported that the


book by the Boughton Malherbe History Society was due to be launched. The order for printing had been increased to 500 be- cause of the interest that had been shown. The clerk reported she had received a letter from the society thanking the parish for the grant of £2,500, confirm- ing all surplus funds generated by sales would be given to the parish council. The council was pleasedto


see the police represented. There had been four crimes (two car thefts, a tractor theft and one incident of criminal damage) since the previous meeting three months ago. PCSO Nicola Morris was to be asked to find out when the next surgery was due to be held, as none had been held in recent months. It was reported that although Speedwatch surveys had re- vealed many motorists had been driving at and above 40mph, other drivers were becoming more aware of their speed. Due to the non-availability of the equipment and the lack of vol- unteers there had been no speed checks carried out recently. More volunteers were required. The clerk had received notifi-


cation that £500 would shortly be received from KCC Cllr Jenny Whittle’s highway fund. Potholes in Elmstone Hole


Lane had been repaired. The clerk reported that the improvedwarning signs for Liverton Hill had been ap- proved and were on order but might take a couple of months. Gully andcarriageway prob-


lems below Stream Farm seemed to have been resolved through the work undertaken when the hill was closed for two weeks. The five-bar kissing gate had


not been put in on footpath KH427. The clerk would check with the footpaths officer to see if it would be delivered. Further documents had been


46 East


received to help produce a plan in the event of a major emer- gency. A member of public voiced


safety concerns about children waiting at the bus stop at the front of The Homestead around 7.15am during the school term. It was felt they were at risk from speeding motorists on dark mornings. Kent Highway Serv- iceswas to be contacted for sug- gestions. Cllr Whittle reported that the


traffic regulation order for Liv- erton Street was due to be pub- lished. Maidstone Council had noti-


fied the clerk that Shaun Charl- ton, owner of the orchards below Ivy House Farm, was planning to build a house on the land and wanted to find out how the parish council would react. Members agreed not to make any comment until a full planning application had been received.


Bredhurst Council KHS pressure


FUNDING had been secured and it was confirmed by Cllr Vanessa Jones that the building of a permanent chicane in Dunn Street had been ear- marked for completion. Pres- sure was to be maintained on Kent Highway Services for work to be completed in the current financial year. The parish council raisedan objection to the proposed out- line application for the erection of four, three-bedroom semi-de- tached homes in Forge Lodge, Forge Lane. The parish council had sent a


letter to Maidstone Council’s enforcement department regard- ing Bredhurst Nurseries and asked residents to continue to forward dates of any alleged breaches to the parish and bor- ough councils.


Broomfield and Kingswood Council


Thanks to Beth


PARISH chairman Cllr Beth Hendy tendered her resignation with immediate effect. Council- lors expressed their apprecia- tion of the work she had undertaken over the past eight years and requested the clerk write and convey their thanks and good wishes. PC Brian Waghorn was now


the permanent parish neigh- bourhoodofficer, replacing PC Steve Older. Training for Speedwatch was


put on hold due to adverse weather conditions and the need to deploy staff accord- ingly. It was reported that Kent Highway Services had reversed its previous proposal, made in


July last year, to remove the lau- rel hedge in Gravelly Bottom Road. The hedge and road situ- ation would be monitored by KHS and reviewed in Septem- ber 2011 when, if necessary, it would be cut back to being in line with the front of the adja- cent footway. An email had been sent to


KHS requesting the four parish salt bins be refilled. KCC Cllr Jenny Whittle had urged the council to try to identify a loca- tion for jumbo salt bag storage as it had worked well in other local parishes. It was agreed to approach a local resident re- garding the storage of the jumbo bag and to send a letter of thanks for clearing and salting, at his own expense, Gravelly Bottom Road during the recent heavy snowfall. Flooding was reported in


Chegworth Road, creating prob- lems for motorists. A member of public had re- quested all information regard- ing public footpaths heldby the parish council under the Free- dom of Information Act. The as- sistant clerk had asked from the applicant more specific details of what was required, but to date had received no reply. Therefore she had responded with information that public footpaths are the responsibility of KHS, with the parish council having no direct responsibility. Resident Steven Adamson emailed a request for full-size goalposts at the sports field. Members agreed that there would be no change to the ear- lier decision by the Sports Field Committee and that seven-a- side posts would be installed if and when funding became available. The clerk had applied for


£500 funding from KCC Cllr Jenny Whittle towards the cost of replacing the damaged/stolen signs at the sports field. The clerk had received no


reply from the Langley Surgery since Cllr Bowker’s report of al- leged poor service to an elderly and vulnerable patient and the surgery’s failure to provide a home visit six weeks previ- ously. A village resident had written


for the support of the parish council regarding a parking fine issued in Maidstone. It was agreed that the council could have no input in this respect but the clerk should respond advis- ing the resident to contact bor- ough Cllr Peter Parvin for advice.


Pollution report Detling Council


THE council was going to askto MBC cabinet member for envi- ronment, Cllr Ben Sherreard, for a report on information gener- ated from a pollution monitor-


To contact Downs Mail just phone 01622 630330


ing station at the top of Scragged Oak Road. PCSO Lindsay Woods de- scribed in detail an increase in crime from the previous month, with theft being the most com- mon offence. She said theft from properties was “every- where at the moment”. PCSOWoods warned villagers


to be on the lookout for suspi- cious individuals who are using an excuse to be on your land without permission in order to "suss" out the property. Borough Cllr John Horne dis- cussed funding of local initia- tives such as playing fields by private agents wishing to de- velop land locally. He said: “There is a feeling, where there is pain there should be gain.” Cllr Horne added that the issue of transparency of Section 106 agreements was to be tackled by Maidstone Council's audit com- mittee. Cllr Clayton was interested in methods in getting the children of Detling outside and active rather than watching television. Cllr Horne said that there could be MBC funding for local groups such as the Cub Scouts or the Brownies, and he recom- mended Detling put a comment in.


The design statement for the village had been printed and the parish agreed it needed to be circulated to residents and adopted. Cllr Horne applauded Detling on this achievement and said MBC needed to recog- nise this. Cllr Clayton also showed strong support for the statement, saying it showed the “depth of professionalism that we have in the village”. PCSOWoods described an op- eration run by a team of police officers, including her, monitor- ing traffic on the A249. She said she was astonished by the fig- ures; between 8.30pm and 9pm her team counted 103 cars com- ing off the A249 at PilgrimsWay and into Detling village. Of that total, 59 re-joined the A249 while the remaining 44 cars went down Hockers Lane. The operation was hampered by snowfall on the day. PCSO Woods believed the number of cars rat-running would have been much higher without the snow. KCC had no plans to close the


entry to the village from the A249 at Pilgrim's Way, but PCSO Woods said she would pass her report to the county as she felt it was something KCC could bear in mind to support another way of stopping rat-run- ning through Detling. Cllr Clayton asked if it was advisable to collect a list of eld- erly or disabled people who might need digging out or look- ing out for, following a heavy fall of snow. It was stated that the St Martins organisation was


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