Majority support cricket on village green Continued from page one
World XI, David Folb, who has offered to send a team of ex-in- ternationals to play on The Green next season. The club believed a truce had
been reached when parish council chairman Cllr Chris Dyke offered to work with the club to draw up a new lease, which would encompass health and safety issues. However, following ameeting
of Bearsted Parish Council, An- drew Dampier again put a post on the ‘Save Bearsted Cricket Club’ Facebook page, saying:
“The resentment towards the club and those supporting the Facebook group could be felt in the air.
“Cllr Fabienne Hughes...
stated it was her view that no residents on The Green want cricket stopped. I do not share
THE club believes up to 10 properties could be affected by stray balls from the cricket pitch, but at least six of them had ex- pressed no interest in having protective netting erected accord- ing to cricket club chairman Steve Pearce. Mr Pearce said: “The cost of netting for all of them would run
to tens of thousands of pounds and take hours to put up and take down each time, so the cost and logistics would be something for a future discussion.” He maintained that the best protection would be gained by in- stalling netting on residents’ property and not on TheGreen, but said he would await the contractors’ findings.
Plan to replace stump with native tree
ANOTHER proposal has been made to remove a protected tree stump at a home in Sittingbourne Road, Maidstone. In October last year, Downs Mail reported that Maidstone Council’s planning committee had voted in favour of preserving the remains of a sweet chestnut inthe front garden of The Lodge. The tree had been cut down a year earlier and the council de- cided to place a tree preservation order to enable it to grow back – to the dismay of property owners Ronald and Kim Frazer. Anewapplication seeks to replace the remains of the treewith
a native rowan tree, which would have an initial height of 2m. According to the application form: “The tree will be moved slightly back from the road,which will allow it to grow without it interfering with the overhead telephone wire. The current sweet chestnut stump is unruly and,without frequent coppicing, has the potential to become extremely large and unmanageable. “A native rowan is a more manageable size for this location in
the garden. Replacing the bush with a rowan will enhance the amenity value of the grass bank by bearing blossom in the spring and allow the existing daffodils to bloom without interference from chestnut suckers.” Maidstone Council will decide on the application.
this optimism and I guess time will tell whether anyone looks to take out an injunction in the future.” Parish council vice-chairman
Cllr PaulYoung admitted that there had been some mis-com- munication between the various parties but said: “There is a massive groundswell of support for cricket on The Green. “I am concerned about the ru-
mour that we wanted to stop cricket there, because at no time has that ever been said. How- ever, we also have to live with our neighbours.”
Bulging bank accounts queried Continued from page one
was “not relevant” to ask what “one-off monies” they had in their bank accounts. Mrs Cooke explained Maidstone Council was required by law to have a level of general balances for unforeseen circumstances, as op- posed to earmarked reserves for specific purposes. Borough Cllr Jenefer Gibson (Con) wondered why some parish coun-
cils hold “fairly hefty sums”. Hers, Headcorn, has reserves of £18,000. “We have always run Headcorn Parish Council to the bone, and we don’t spend money unnecessarily” she added. Cllr Beerling (Lib Dem, Fant ward) said that “for the life of me I can-
not seewhy” a parish council should have hundreds of thousands in the bank, as it is public money. John Perry, chairman of Staplehurst Parish Council, said each resident receives a copy of its detailed accounts, including balances. His council’s general reserve is about 8%but it also has some committed reserves set against the precept. “I can’t speak for other parishes… but everything is extraordinarily transparent. I would always welcome anyone to come down to Staplehurst and go through our accounts,” he added. Mrs Cooke said the new scheme should be “simple and transparent and not increase the administrative burden” of either the borough or parish councils.
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