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CHAIRMAN: Ivor Davies CLERK: Pauline Bowdery ASST CLERK: Melanie Fooks Parish Office, Beechen Hall,Wildfell Close,Walderslade, ME5 9RU
Tel: 01634 861237 email:
clerk@boxleyparishcouncil.org.uk Website:
www.boxleyparishcouncil.org.uk Contact details for parish councillors can be obtained from the parish office, the Useful Contact Details leaflet or the website Farm homes
THE parish council will be re- sponding to Medway Council on the planning application for 450 houses on greenfield land at Gibraltar Farm, Lordswood. The Environment Committee
heard that an action group had been set up, and agreed that whilst the development was just outside the parish boundary, the knock-on effect of additional traffic and the need for extra school places would have a serious impact on Boxley residents living in the NorthWard (Walderslade and Lordswood).
Planning news
IT WAS good news and bad news for the parish council’s environ- ment committee recently. The good newswas that the tech-
nical hitches that had plagued the Maidstone Council planning sys- tem seemed to have been resolved. The bad newswas that a backlog of outstanding planning applications resulted in 17 having to be consid- ered at the August meeting. Notification of planning applica-
tions in the parish appear on the Boxley Parish Council website and also on its Facebook page.
Woods clean-up
YOUNGpeople are often criticised and all you appear to read about in the papers is bad news. The parish clerkwas happy to re-
port that during the summer holi- days two young ladies turned up with their grandparents, who they were visiting, to borrow litter pick- ing tools from the office to clear lit- ter fromWaldersladeWoods. The clerk said many black bags of rubbish were disposed of and the young ladies and grandparents were very pleased to leave the woods looking cleaner.
Paths cleared
WALDERSLADE Woodlands Group spent a recent task day clearing paths and areas inWalder- sladeWoods. The work was planned to coin-
cide with the fruit picking season and access paths and excess bram- bles were cleared to allow black- berry pickers to get to this year’s exceptionally rich crop. Future plans are to include a dew pond on one of the plateaux to encourage wildlife, especially birds.
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Radio expert is guest at opening of allotments
BBC Radio Kent gardening expert Andy Garland joined plot holders and parish councillors at the offi- cial opening of the Dove Hill al- lotments at the site acquired by Boxley Parish Council in Sandy Lane.
After unveiling a plaque to cele-
brate the occasion, he congratu- lated everyone on the success of the project, which has transformed a steep hillside sheep pasture into productive allotments with a good approach road, rabbit and vandal- proof fence, piped water and a compostable toilet. Boxley Parish Council chairman
Ivor Davies thanked all those who had helped, especially Cllr Bob Hinder, parish clerk Pauline Bow- dery, and local resident John Brooks, as well as the Royal Engi- neers and Queen’s Own Ghurkha Engineers, and St Paul’s Scout group.
THE lottery grant project for the improvement work on Boxley Warren and along Pilgrim’sWay has now finished, but this is not the end of the task. Parish council chairman Ivor Davies said that “without the lottery funding, the support of The Kent Downs Countryside Partnership and, of course, the volunteer members of the Friends of Boxley Warren, the improvements would not have happened. The £54,000 grantwas just the start of it.” The Friends, who hold regular volunteer days, will now take over looking after the area and Boxley Parish Council has allo-
Warren work continues Local history goes online
cated an annual budget to pay for tools etc and provides insur- ance cover. The chairman added: “Resi-
dents often wonder what their precept gets used for.Well some of it is used to support three vol- unteer conservation groups within the area operating in the North (WaldersladeWoodlands), South (Vinters Valley) and here roughly in the middle of the parish.” The Friends, under their chair-
man Bob Hinder have recently installed two extra ponds which will drain water from the Pil- grimsWay footpath and also en- courage wildlife.
Concerns over Maidstone Studios
THE parish council’s Environment Committee, after considering feedback from residents and additional information received, decided at its August meeting to withdraw its overall objection to the development, but it has registered concerns about a number of issues.
Maidstone East September 2014
THE parish council is starting to development a local history page on its website (see “Local History” in the “Local Information” section). The first uploaded documents
are the initial investigation by resi- dent Tracey Winter-Biggs into the names of those who fell in World War I and who are named on the BoxleyWar Memorial, as well as a fuller list of parishioners who served in that war, many of whom survived. Anyone with any relevant infor- mation can email it to Tracey at
boxley.wartime@yahoo.co.uk. Also to be found on this page are details of several local history books, mostly written by local peo- ple. Areas covered are Boxley, San- dling, Vinters Valley and Walderslade. Parish Clerk Pauline Bowdery
said: “It is a small start, but there are many talented local historians in the parish and it is lovely to recognise their efforts.”
Andy Garland with Ivor Davies and other allotment holders at the opening and below, Finn and Phoebe Staples with Rusty the chicken and Andy Garland with Yvonne and Steve Peacock and their grandaughter Lily Horton
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