Maidstone Council. Ryarsh Council Lorry traffic


DownsMail In touch with your parish Many residents and council-


was also agreed to replace the sign at Nevill Park Lake, which is now in poor condition. New K Frames will be in-


IT was reported that Explore Living had made contact with Borough Cllr Matthew Balfour following the Downs Mail re- port about lorries travelling through Ryarsh for Workhouse Quarry out of hours. Explore Living wrote to the tenants of Workhouse Quarry about this. It was reported that nothing had changed and that lorries were continuing to operate out of hours. The chairman would contact Explore Living again. RegardingWorkhouse Quarry,


a suggestion was made that some of the land could be used for allotments. The chairman would make inquiries into this. With regard to Ryarsh Brick- works, the council was waiting for the Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council enforcement team to take action concerning out of hours operations. The chairman had been in contact with a local builder about repairing the entrance to the village hall. It had been sug- gested that volunteers from the village could help with the works to save costs. It was reported that, unfortu-


nately, Speedwatch would stop operating in Ryarsh, due to lack of volunteers. The road closure of Roughetts Road reported at the last meeting would no longer be taking place. It was reported that the ‘space


for sale’ advertising signs along the M20 have now been re- moved. It was also reported that the footpath beside the motorway and alongside Ryarsh Brick- works was slipping towards the motorway. It needed to be closed as it was not suitable to be used. The clerk was asked to report this. The clerk was asked to look


into funding opportunities for the play area at the recreation ground.


Snodland Council Twin celebration


THIS year is the 25th anniver- sary of the twinning arrange- ment with Moyeuvre Grande in France. Representatives will be visiting Snodland on the week- end of May 21. The council had agreed to


host a full civic occasion and a gift will be presented to the vis- itors. It was agreed that the local MPand county councillor should be invited, together with members of the original twin- ning committee. Members agreed to go ahead


with the required work on the mortuary roof. New signs for Holborough Park and Potyns were agreed. It


stalled at the Salting Road and Brook Lane entrances to Nevill Park. The total cost, including installation, would be around £3,000. A final agreement was made


to go ahead with the new lights for the multi-use games area (MUGA). It had taken quite some time to find a company that could do the work within the budget of around £9,000. The new lights would cost £5 per hour to run so the current charge for use may have to be reviewed for next year. It was agreed that the council would look into the require- ments for granting a lease to Snodland Football Club on one or more of the playing pitches. This was regularly done in other areas and would help the club to be in a position to bid for grant assistance. Essential decoration and re-


pair work would be done on the referees’ changing room at Po- tyns. It was agreed that the council


would put forward two areas for inclusion in the Queen Eliza- beth II Jubilee Fields Trust scheme. The places to be nomi- nated would be the Recreations Ground with Slough Fields Al- lotments and Nevill Park. Several members of the public


attended the planning and envi- ronment committee meeting when representation was made against the planning application from Berkeley Homes to site a new car park immediately be- hind the gardens of the houses in Holborough Road. The land behind these houses is desig- nated as public open space. The committee discussed the appli- cation and decided to object strongly on the grounds of loss of public open space and amenity to the residents of both Holborough Road area and Hol- borough Lakes. Representation was also made against an application in God- den Road, which included a garage that would extend from the front of a house some five and a half metres. The planning commitee objected to this appli- cation on the grounds that it would be detrimentalto the generalstreet scene and would cause a loss of continuity to the general area.


Rabbit fencing


Wateringbury Council


THE council would write to Network Rail to request a speedy erection of a rabbit- proof fence along the boundary of the playing fields with the rail embankment. Rabbits were a continuing source of damage to the surfaces of the fields.


lors expressed concern at the amount of dog mess on the vil- lage pavements. Most dog own- ers acted responsibly, but in recent times there appeared to be have been an increase in unsocialbehaviour by dog owners who did not pick up after their pets. The borough dog warden could help, but needed details of offenders to be successful. Details were given of the


launch of Friends of Watering- bury Church, which will raise money for capital projects to upkeep the village’s ancient church building. It will not be involved in financially support- ing the day-to-day activities of the church. It was reported that a quiz


night had been held in aid of the village hall and had raised over £600. Councillors agreed to a re-


quest by Mrs Farrell to plant a tree at the cemetery in memory of her husband. Councillors had met with


Kent Highway Services officer Terry Drury to discuss traffic matters in the village. Work to prune and tidy trees


and hedging at the playing fields had been carried out. It was hoped that residents would support the workforce week- end, which included a bash the trash session at the fields.


Lorry obstruction


West Malling Council


A RESIDENT of Orwell Spike complained that lorries were causing an obstruction and cre- ating rubbish through parking on both sides of Ashton Way. The resident asked for the intro- duction of official lay-bys and bins or double yellow lines. Cllr Trudy Dean responded by stat- ing her reluctance to propose a lay-by as it could create worse problems. Her alternative was to prevent parking through the in- troduction of bollards or a sim- ilar device. She resolved to look into funding such a scheme through her KCC member’s fund. The clerk was to ask UK Power Networks (formerly EDF) when upgrading work at Police Station Road and Frog Lane would be carried out. Cllr Dean reported that the


use of sand rather than a salt/ grit mixture was bad for cyclists and also left a mess on the ground. There had been com- plaints from some shopkeepers that the sand was trodden into their premises. It was reported that various potholes had been marked in Norman Road but no repair work carried out. Concern was expressed about Music on the Hill event to be held in Kings Hill on June 24-


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26. It was felt that measures ought to be in place to prevent rat-running through West Malling. However, it was also stressed that the event could be to the benefit of businesses in the parish. It was reported that there had


again been pony and trap races, with accompanying horse boxes and a lorry. PCSO Ed Moore had put the information on an intel- ligence report and tagged it for the gypsy liaison officer. How- ever, he stressed that unless of- ficers see the pony and trap themselves there was very little they could do. It was reported that the instal-


lation of a backboard for the ball park had been carried out by Simmons Lighting using their cherry-picker at a cost of £50. Mrs Hart reported that the Guides were nowmeeting at the Clout Institute and had 33 mem- bers. It was reported that Age Con-


cern Malling had suffered a loss of around £90,000 in grants. Cllr Dean reported that out of


her KCC member’s fund she had paid for seven re-furbished computers for the primary school. It was reported that the


Twitch Inn would reopen on Easter Saturday. Aplanning ap- plication form for the installa- tion of railings down the steps into the Twitch had been com- pleted.


Despite reminders, no reply


had yet been received from Beechcroft regarding permis- sion to fix railings.


Website news


West Peckham Council


THE new West Peckham web- site was no longer being used or updated. The clerk was to up- date the original parish council site and remove any links to the other site. PCSO Toni Matthews was ad-


vised that a car had been van- dalised the previous evening. Several suspicious vehicles had been seen in the area and re- ported over the previous few weeks. One of the Matthews Lane road signs had again been reported stolen. New potholes had appeared


along Stan Lane. There had been three reported incidents of


tyres being


dumped along the roadside. These had now been removed. The cutting back of the oak


tree on the village green had been completed. It was possible that some funding might be available for the broadband project. The village history and archiving project was taking shape, and some recording equipment had now been pur- chased.


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