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West Malling Parish Council Annual general meeting The first post- election full parish council meeting incorporated the annual general meeting. During the AGM, the pre-election chairman and committee chairmen were re-elected with the exception of the chairman for the planning committee and the council’s vice-chairman. These were vacant as a result of the post holder not standing for re-election and have now been taken up by two longstanding parish council members, Richard Selkirk and Hazel Marlor. Two new parish councillors, Linda Javens and Catherine Lane, were also welcomed and introduced to the meeting.
The current committee structure, finance and general purpose (F&GP), amenities, planning, and highways, transportation and street lighting (HTS) will remain unchanged for the time being. However, it is likely to be reviewed and possibly realigned during this year to allow the parish council to properly process its increasing workload.
These are notes on some of the items discussed at West Malling Parish Council meetings in May and June.
Parking review The borough council has agreed to consult residents of Offham and Norman Road again in the autumn about parking arrangements in these roads. The consultation will be accompanied by an exhibition by the parish council of the borough’s proposals. Large scale maps and consultation response forms will be available. The re-run of the consultation is necessary owing to the very low number of responses received by the borough council in the first consultation.
West Malling High Street You may have noticed that the down-lighter units on the recently installed highly visible LED halo type Belisha beacons have not been working properly. This fault was reported to Kent Highways and their Tonbridge and
Heritage weekend
THERE’s a chance to explore interesting and historic places on your doorstep completely free of charge during Heritage Open Days.
A number of venues in West Malling will be among those in Tonbridge and Malling who will be throwing open their doors during Saturday and Sunday, September 12 and 13 as part of a national initiative.
They include St Mary’s Church, Pilsdon at Malling Community, the Twitch Heritage Centre and West Malling Baptist Church.
Malling area traffic engineer had intended to trial a new type of fitting for the units. However, this has proved unsuitable and TMBC will now use a street lighting engineer to re-assess the lights and hopefully, solve at least some of the issues with the down-lighters.
Manor Park Country Park Once part of the 18th century estate created by Thomas Douce, Manor Park, West Malling, has been carefully transformed into an attractive location with an impressive variety of habitats and landscapes and excellent facilities and play area. The park will be running a daily Summer Holiday Activity Trail from July 24 to September 6 and you can drop in to the eco-friendly Green Café any day between 10am and 3pm and for £2.50, pick up a trail sheet. Explore the park following the self-led activity trail and see what you can discover about the park. All completed trail sheets will receive a small prize (with the last trail sold at 3pm).
Also, following a grant from KCC Cllr Trudy Dean, Sunday Junior Park Runs are coming to Manor Park. Park Run is a community event that offers free weekly timed events come rain or shine at local venues. Park Run is looking for volunteers to help run these weekly events; if you are interested in helping with the project, please contact
maidstoneoffice@parkrun.com as soon as possible.
The Malling Society Parish councillors had put forward Mr Bernard Tyson, past chairman of The Malling Society, as a candidate in the Kent Association of Local Councils (KALC) Community Awards scheme 2015 and were delighted when their nomination was successful. The awards are made in recognition and acknowledgement of those who have made a significant contribution to their local community. Among other achievements, Mr Tyson was chairman for
over 20 years and instrumental in the Malling Society becoming an influential body in Kent and in the local community as well as successfully setting up and running the Twitch Heritage Centre at Douces Manor.
And a reminder that copies of the West Malling Town Walk, described as “a gentle one hour’s stroll over approximately 2k” are available via the society on 01732 841170 or from the Twitch Heritage Centre, for a small fee of £1.
SECAmbs Parish councillors received an update on the remit of the South East Coast Ambulance Service, which has changed dramatically in the last few years. The ethos of the service is to take people to hospital if that is the only place they can receive the level of medical help they need. It is recognised that going to hospital can be traumatic (even if the treatment itself is relatively minor). Thus SECAmbs paramedics, now trained to university degree level and qualified to carry out complex medical procedures, will increasingly operate in tandem with doctors’ surgeries and other established care pathways, such as mental health and social care. The 999 and 111 call centre staff will assess and action the most appropriate response to meet the needs of the patient, whether an emergency ambulance response for life-threatening situations, to treatment in the home for minor injuries, thus ensuring that each patient receives the care they need as well as reducing the number of hospital admissions.
Finally please note that parish councillors can be contacted via the parish clerk on 01732 870872 during office hours. Or why not come to one of the monthly meetings in the village hall in Norman Road? Full details are available from the parish clerk’s office.
LOCAL CONTACTS
Trudy Dean, Malling Action Partnership chairman E:
trudy.dean@
kent.gov.uk T: 01732 843 119
Citizens Advice Bureau – T: 01732 440488
Tonbridge & Malling Borough Council main switchboard – T: 01732 844522
Pothole
reporting – T: 08458 247800
Travel Enquiries Trains – T: 08457 484950 Nu-Venture Buses – T: 01622 882288 Arriva Buses – T: 0871 200 22 33
www.malling.org.uk
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