DownsMail In touch with your parish Continued from page 30


the clerk would contact Richard Emmett of Kent Highways about approved contractors and de- tails of the specification. KHS had approached The


Ridge regarding cutting back vegetation. Clean and Tidy, the company


carrying out litter picking in Bearsted, had approached the council about the village street sweeping contract. However, it was agreed to first see if a local person wished to take on the job. A play area inspection had shown a number of areas in need of attention. A resident of East Sutton Park


had emailed about the ‘creeping effect’ of building works there. Land had been used for storage and parking and it was feared this could be used as a car park.


Egerton Council Sheep escape


IT appeared that fencing near the stream needed to be im- proved as sheephad escaped into the lower recreation ground and a sheep had been seriously injured by a dog that had been taken there by its owner. Sheep had also gone further into the recreation ground one Sunday morning. The clerk had made up a poster to put on the gate to warn people not to take dogs in there as it was intended for grazing. Stuart Pearson of the cricket


clubwas making a picnic bench for near the play area. It would be stored safely during the win- ter months. The clerk had been in touch


with Ashford Council’s dog wardens about a dog that was consistently allowed to stray in the village and on the recreation ground. The dog warden had visited the dog owners before and again warned them to keep the dog under control. He and his colleague would carry out more undercover visits to keep track of them and other irre- sponsible dog owners. It was reported that some peo-


ple were using the ordinary waste bins for dogwaste, which was unhygienic and noxious for those emptying the bins. The clerk had therefore made up posters to place on the ordinary bins to tell the public not to use them for dog waste. All funding, including from


the Football Foundation, was now secure for the sports pavil- ion project, and work could begin. There had been some public concern about the foun- dation’s sign, which gave the impression it was the only fun- der. It was agreed to flag up the fact that many people in the vil- lage had helped to fund the project; the FF had in fact only given 10% of the funds. Once the pavilion was complete, con-


38 South


sideration should be given to placing a plaque on the wall with named donors inscribed on it. The car park sign was to be straightened. Kent Highway Services had


twice been informed about stop- ping HGVs reaching Egerton from the A20 via the back of Pivington, Leacon Lane, Char- ing Heath and Lenham Heath. There would be restrictions placed near the George Inn, Burscombe, Link Hill and Pem- bles Cross so HGVs should not get to Pivington other than via Pluckley/New Road. It was sug- gested that the units at Piving- ton should be asked to tell their delivery agents the proper route to access the site. The council was to decide the


best way of utilising the red telephone box it has adopted at Stonebridge Green. It was noted that one village had installed a heart defibrillator in a redun- dant phone box. Refurbishment/replacement


of the village sign would be considered in May.


Councillor tribute COUNCILLORS observed a minute’s silence in memory of Cllr Sandra Sarton. Cllr Bridget Dungey reported


Headcorn Council


that ‘Ascot’ had been chosen as the theme for the church flower festival. She also said that the tree for


Lord Sandy Bruce-Lockhart was due to be planted. Community warden Viv Hick-


mott announced that she had stepped down from the youth forum.


Councillors agreed to give


£100 to Headcorn Guide Group from the National Savings Recreation fund for new equip- ment and funding. Following a letter received


about a tripping accident in the High Street, a request had been made for more information to help identify the exact location of the incident. It was agreed, in principle, to


apply to Maidstone Council for a 125-year lease for land at Red- hill Stables to be used as a com- munity asset. Cllr Martin Round reported


that the music workshops had finished, and that the Green Room would be available for young people to meet on Thurs- days from 5.30pm to 7.30pm. More detailed information would be sought about the skateboard plans. Local organisations had been contacted about the village emergency plan and a stall would be booked at the May fair to give the public more infor- mation about the project. Cllr Lyn Selby reported on the


new hangar at Headcorn Aero- drome. Work was progressing


slowly and the airfield was tak- ing a keen interest in the elec- tric planes project and hoped to upgrade the existing two four- seat Cessna aircraft. It was decided that Headcorn


Day would be the weekend of September 3 - 4. A barn dance would be held on the Saturday evening with the remaining events on the Sunday, from 11am. Cllr David Fox reported that a couple had approached the open spaces committee to make a donation towards some new play equipment in memory of their son. An order would be placed with Sovereign.


Amsbury issues RESIDENTS living in Hunton Hill had written to the parish council regarding the volume of HGV traffic travelling to and from Amsbury Farm. The issue had already been reported to KHS, which was not able to take any action. Another resident had complained about the floodlights at Amsbury Farm being on at night. PCSOs Richard Chainey and


Hunton Council


Dave Rowley agreed to attend the village fete on June 25 to put on a display and talk to resi- dents.


Chairman Cllr Roger Sawtell reported that he had met with KCC’s David Smith to review the progress of agreements re- lating to the Bensted Close to village hall footpath, and the work carried out to date on the hedge. Once the agreements were in place, the second sec- tion of hedging work could be carried out. It was hoped that by June 25, the bridges would be in place and a strip would have beenmown for the path. It was agreed that not all of the hedge work would be carried out this year due to birds nest- ing. It was reported that the gate-


ways project had been signed off by the KCC cabinet member. The council had asked Kent Highways to commence work. Following a short lead-in time to order materials, construction would start soon, according to KHS. The chairman reported that he


had recently invited Richard Dixon and Michael Heath of KHS to Hunton to consider the highways issues affecting West Street, namely the hedge dip- ping into the ditch, lack of white lines at the sides of the road and a lack of a 20mph speed limit outside the school. Mr Heath stated that, due to ero- sion, the road was wider than it should be and he would send out an engineer to measure what width the road should be and how far it had encroached on to the land. Items discussed at a King


To contact Downs Mail just phone 01622 630330


George V Playing Field commit- tee meeting included the foot- path, hedging, health and safety issues and the expenditure ac- count for the field. A letter had been written to local borough Cllr Brian Mortimerwith regard to obtaining professional advice about the car park.


Outdoor exercise IT was narrowly agreed to pro- ceed with the project to install outdoor exercise equipment on the playing field. The total spend would be £9,000, of which £8,000 would be from the parish reserves and £1,000 from KCC Cllr Eric Hotson. There were three votes in favour, three votes against and one abstention, but chairman Cllr David Burton’s casting vote carried the motion. Clarendon Homes applied to


Langley Council


call two of the six homes ear- marked for The Brambles in Ul- combe Road, ‘Groveland’ and ‘Woodbury’. The clerk was to further in- vestigate costs with Kent High- way Services for a gateway feature, which is usually 1.5m wide but where space is tight could just be a single white post. A quote from Wright Land- scapes was accepted to remove and burn trees on the allot- ments for £100. Cllr Burton advised he would contact Leeds Parish Council re- garding the traffic monitoring device project. Permission was granted for a


spit roast to be installed at a wedding reception due on July 20, 2012. It was allowed for the bar end of the village hall. Local residents had raised the


issue of overweight lorries trav- elling throughHorseshoes Lane. It was agreed to advise PC Brian Waghorne and PCSORichard Kirby for an official letter to be sent to the Kent Police borough commander and KCC.


Risk assessment Loose Council


THE parish council’s liability to members and other volunteers regarding path gritting was dis- cussed, and it was agreed that a risk assessment be carried out before any further path clearing took place.


PCSORichard Chainey re- ported that a main offender had been arrested in connection with nuisance youths at the field and that some home visits had been carried out. Community warden Liz Lo-


vatt mentioned nuisance park- ing in Lancet Lane, and chairman Vianne Gibbons read out the response from Loose School in connection with the parish council’s letter about in- considerate parking. There were reports of dog


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