Villagers warned over sports hall
EAST Peckham Parish Council has issued an open letter to residents following a row over an £80,000 repair bill for the village sports hall. Chairman Cllr David Poole posted a lengthy ex- planation on the parish website after anonymous petitions were placed in the village stores, Co-op and newsagent’s shop. The council said it wanted to set the record straight on a number of “erroneous and mislead- ing” allegations that were circulating in the vil- lage.
Councillors had been criti-
the possibility of legal redress and compensation in respect of the bad construction.” He added that until recently there had been no
cised for imposing a 76% rise in its council tax precept from £73,295 to £129,525 to fund repairs at the hall in Pippin Road. Built in the 1960s, the hall needed £50,000 in emergency repairs five years ago, but further work became necessary. Defending the £80,000 scheme which has just
been completed, Cllr Poole said it was hoped the tax increase would be for one year only. It had been decided to fund the repairs from the 2011/12 precept rather than saddle the village with high debt charges for many years. He told parishioners: “The obvious causes of
the bad condition of the hall are lack of mainte- nance and bad construction.We are investigating
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The 10-week project involved converting dis- used changing rooms into a council meeting room and office, allowing the council to save rent by moving from its base at the Curran Hall. The upgraded accommodation could also be hired out to generate income.
provision in the precept for the upkeep of the hall and consequently very little maintenance had been done. “Part of the reason for this was prob- ably to keep the year on year percentage rise as low as possible. As far as can be ascertained the total money now being spent is less than the sums that should have been provided for maintenance over the years.” The council had ex- plored the possibility of a grant but had found that this was not avail- able for maintenance, refurbishment or run- ning costs.
Cllr Poole said the work would allow continued
use of the hall while the council investigates the procurement of new facilities, if that is the wish of the community. A questionnaire had resulted in 50 replies with
62% of those in favour of a new sports hall either now or in the future. Parishioners were warned that “lists in circula-
tion” were not a petition “as there is neither the name of a sponsor nor any indication of how the list will be used”.
Snodland burglary ATEENAGERwhostolemoneyin ahouse break-in atSimpsonRoad, Snodland, was jailed for 90 days. Peter George Taylor (18), of Sir Evelyn Road, Rochester, admitted burglary and theft betweenMarch 30 and April 13 last year and askedforafurther49offences tobe considered.
Hi Kent venue change HIKenthasannouncedachangeof venue for its aftercare clinics for hearing aid users in Larkfield. The charity,which supports the
deafandhard-of-hearing, willhold free clinics at Larkfield Library, Martin Square, on April 18 and May16,from10am. Clinicswillno longer be held at Abbeyfields.
Before After
A former aerobics instructor teaching 20 classes a week, Liz said she was able to keep her weight in check. But after her first marriage broke up, shehad to give upworkto look after her four chil- dren, and found that, with no ex- ercise, she continued to eat large portions and piled on the pounds. She decided to lose weight after meeting her second husband Steve and, after having two more children, decided to keep going with the diet until shehadlost five stone. Liz’s story appeared in the April
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