Continued from page 33 East Sutton Council Crime report


DownsMail In touch with your parish Stratton Richey held a meeting


ONE crime was reported – a case of criminal damage to a property. Amap of fire hydrant loca-


tions had been received by the clerk and inspectionswere to be carried out. Cllr Jenny Whittle said KCC


was to start on a major project to fill pot holes, and any that needed repairing should be re- ported.


Confirmation of the bus shel-


ter grant had been received and an order was to be placed. A plan for a 20-berth cattery


at Linden Lea had been refused by Maidstone Council. The parish council agreed to


pay for the kitchen refurbish- ment at the village hall.


Playground work THE wet pour kits and seats for the playground and skatepark were awaiting installation when the weather improved. Cllr Bill Smyth had been carrying out a weekly risk assessment and fill- ing in the forms for the clerk to keep on file. The footpath signs at Court


Egerton Council


Lodge and Rockhill Road had been repaired with new signs. A fallen treewas reported along the footpath behind the houses at Glebelands, and part of the bank had collapsed, leaving only a narrow strip for walkers. This was to be reported to KCC. The road collapse on the cor-


ner of Crockenhill and Forstal Road had been reported. Resi- dents were urged to report all potholes and road damage to Ashford Council. The clerk was to report the dreadful state ofNew Road from Egerton to Pluckley. Richard Hopkins andMalcolm


Iles had checked the French drain at the cricket pitch and found it to be solid with mud and foliage. It had been decided that the beech trees overhanging the cricket pitch needed to be felled. Richard was to clear and renew the pea beach along the edge of the cricket pitch andMal- colm was to plant shrubs to sta- bilise the bank. The estimated cost was £1,500 but it was hoped to keep this down with help from the cricket club personnel. KCC had sent an engineer to


find the source of the water run- ning down to the cricket pitch, and it would seem itwas coming from under the village hall. Cllr Alison Richey was to check the plans to see where the drainage pipes were for the hall. Letters were to be sent out re- garding the emergency plan, ask- ing people with experience and equipment to get in touch, and to find out whowould be in need of help.


42 South


about community responders – 20 people had applied to be re- sponders. The coffee morning group had offered to raise funds for a defibrillator and Stratton was trying to raise money for kits. Kent Ambulance would provide two kits. Mr Downs had arranged to


have the hedging along New Road cut back. Marie Summers had raised the


issue of Egerton being in the Medway directory rather than the Canterbury one. The council had tried over the last 10 years to get this changed but a letter would be sent to BT. The pre-school wanted to re-


locate from the village hall to the primary school,whichwould in- volve building work at the school. An application for fund- ing had been made to KCC, and there was £3,000 being held in the games barn account.


Headcorn Council Homes plan


A MEETING was to be set up with Andrew Connors, of Maidstone Council, regarding the release of the Golding Homes development in Grigg Lane. It was resolved to donate £400


to Headcorn Football Club to- wards a new mower. It was resolved that the village lengthsman should be an em- ployee of the parish council and would be employed for 15 hours per week. Staff


salaries at the


playscheme were set at £7.10 for leaders and £6.85 for assis- tants. The daily charges would remain at £3 per day and £4 on the day. This would be re- viewed before the end of May if a grant was not forthcoming from Maidstone Council. It was resolved that parish- ioners’ questions would be recorded on a separate page at the end of the minutes. Parish- ioners should be encouraged to write to the parish council so that their query could be under- stood and researched prior to the meeting, or passed on to another authority. Cllr Sally Lewer said two resi-


dents had attended parish sur- gery and issues raised included car debris left in the hedge at Shenley Crossroads and the mangled road nameplate, and a plan to build a house in the gar- den of a home in Forge Lane. The communications group


had met and discussed the parish logo, notice boards and the parish surgery. The neighbourhood plan group


had discussed the content and administration of the village questionnaire. The full plan would be scheduled for referen- dum between 2014-15. Cllr John Russell said the toi- lets were in good condition and


the play area was fine apart from rust showing on the slide, which would be looked at by Open Spaces. Cllr Caroline James said a new Speedwatch rota had been de- vised and the equipment would be operational from April. Headcorn Aerodrome Consul-


tative Committee had published a list of aerobatic free flying days. Several events were planned, including a horse show on May 12 and the Model Flying Association weekend on Sep- tember 14-15. An aero club race was being discussed. Ameetingwas held with high-


way steward Gemma Catt, Kent Highways district manager Richard Emmett and engineer John Reynolds to discuss traffic calming, one-way systems and junction improvements.Many of the items had been passed to the transportation team for investi- gation. Cllr David Fox had been con-


tacted by Mr Wheal regarding his voluntary work ensuring the vis- ibility and availability of fire hy- drants within parishes, and had requested a meeting to discuss his project.


Hunton Council Speedwatch kit


THEparish council had obtained a grant for £1,800 towards Speed- watch equipment but a quote for Unipar Services had put the total cost, including VAT at £2,364. Guy Oliver, who was leading the Hunton Speedwatch team, had looked into borrowing the equip- ment fromYalding council, but it was often not available. It was agreed that Hunton should fund the extra £564 for the equipment. The actual cost to the parish council, after reclaiming VAT, would be £170. The clerk had written to the village hall management com- mittee saying that the Feed-In Tariff (FIT) payments from the solar panels on the village hall roof must be passed on to the parish council. Committee chair- man Alan Bishop said he was happy with this arrangement, but there had not been a meeting since the letter was received. Around £1,500 was due from FIT payments since March 2012. A cheque for £120 was sent to


Yalding Parish Council towards this year’s playscheme. Two cheques, each for £50


were sent to the tree warden and pond warden schemes. It was confirmed that Anne Bishop would like to continue as tree and pond warden. The parish was to contact


PCSO Jo Watts for her feedback on Hunton Christmas market in terms of traffic, parking, com- plaints received and any poten- tial improvements. David Smith of KCC gave an update on the footpath from Bensted Close to the village hall.


The parish had been told before Christmas that the bridges were available and the hedge cutting had been done but was still too high in the middle. The chair- man was concerned as Tregoth- nan Estate had said it had not received the legal agreement from KCC and that no work could be undertaken on its land until this arrived. Mr Smith said the footpath was


high priority with KCC and would be completed in the fi- nancial year ended March 31, 2013. The path would be main- tained byKCCand the parish has offered to help with hedge cut- ting and grass trimming. After speaking to Richard


Dixon of KHS, the clerk reported the white lining down to Bensted Close from the village hall would be done in the new financial year when fundingwas available. KHS was hoping to carry out a


long stretch of patching work from Church Cottage towards Bensted Close. County Cllr Paulina Stockell advised that the road markings for the 20mph speed limit out- side Hunton School would be done soon. The signs had been installed in West Street and she asked whether the scheme was working. Members agreed it did not work in school times and needed policing. She advised that it should be policed as itwas experimental. Annette Trought, chairman of


the Hunton Parish Plan steering committee reported that a small group would trial a pop up vil- lage shop, selling home-made items, farm produce etc. The first was expected to be outside the church near Easter. Hunton fete would be held on


June 22. It was agreed the parish pre-


cept for 2013/14 should be in- creased to £17,000 from last year’s £15,000, due to the re- placement of the concurrent functions scheme resulting in an estimated shortfall of £2,800 in income. This equates to £56.82 per band D property.


Langley Council Hall extension


THE clerk had met with the agent who submitted the plans for the village hall extension and confirmed that the land to be built on was owned by the parish council.Notice of the application had now been given to the parish council. The council’s response to Gold-


ingHomes’ planned development of 5,000 homes was agreed. The clerk reported that there


had been motorbikes in Abbey Wood. There were two faulty lights on


theA274, and one in Green Lane. A pot hole was reported in Horseshoes Lane. It was agreed to ask for a speed limit reduction to 30mph


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