News | Sponsored parish council
downsmail.co.uk
Parish avoids
a rise in tax TOVIL Parish Council has stuck to its pledge to keep its share of the council tax static for another year. The budget will stay at £64,000 through making cuts such as its communication spend. Some re- serves will be allocated as a contin- gency to meet anticipated cuts from the borough and county councils. Members agreed to hold reserves
under three defined headings cov- ering general contingency funds, election costs, and provision for community facilities. It was also agreed to allocate
£2,416 from reserves to cover the cost of repairing the burial ground wall. Quotes will be sought to re- build the wall and remove soil banked up behind it.
Tree felling
HALF the cost of taking down two trees at Crisbrook Meadow will be paid by the parish council. Members were told that the ash
and field maple near the barnwere leaning and, if they were to fall, would block the footpath at Mount Ararat. Loose Valley Conservation Society, which jointly owns the site with the council, will pay the other half of the £400 bill.
Summer fete
SEVERAL location are being con- sidered for the summer fete. Tovil Parish Council is keen to
hear from anyone interested in as- sisting with this year’s event. They should call the parish office on 01622 675628.
Bus shelter
COUNCILLORS volunteered to move the flower planter by the bus shelter in Tovil Green “to the sunny side of the street”.
Sign is safe
TOVIL’s community sign has passed a health and safety assess- ment “with flying colours”.
Council meetings to move to new community centre
MEMBERShave agreed to make theAGMtheir first public forum at Tovil Parish Council’s new home at the YMCA centre in Barfreston Close.
Councillors heard that all work
will be finished by then and car- pets, telephones and broadband in- stalled.
Members have enlisted them-
selves to move their office from Tovil Working Men’s Club to the new base at Tovil Community Cen- tre andwere due to get keys by the end of January. The meeting is on Monday, April
25 from 7pm, beginning with a public question and answer ses- sion. In the meantime, the council will use Tovil Working Men’s Club, where it is contracted to pay the rent until June. Tovil Parish Council, which has supported the new community centre, was among those repre- sented at the handover of the build- ing by Golding Homes to
Maidstone YMCA. The centre will be managed by the YMCA’s Lesley Hardy-Harris. Rob Foley will over- see the new pre-school that will be fully operational by Easter, and Sue Thompson will be part of the team. Groups including Tovil Christian Fellowship and the Lighthouse Group will be among those sharing the YMCA building with Tovil Parish Council.
Resurfacing concerns raised Parking fears
MEMBERS will request a sitemeet- ing with highways engineers out- side the Royal Paper Mill after councillors heard the road is to be resurfaced. Cllr David Fleck said: “The road is
already so high here that traffic is running up on to the pavement. By raising the road surface on Tovil Hill, this will be an even greater worry.” The chairman agreed to write to
the council and call for a site meeting. County councillor Brian Clark said he would also take up the issue.
Order ‘will hit outlying areas’
MEMBERS believe creating a Pub- lic Spaces Protection Order (PSPO) in Maidstone will justmove trouble into outlying areas such as Tovil. Councillors will write to Maid-
stone Council about Maidstone’s proposed PSPO, which would cre- ate a town centre zone where drinking in the street, begging and sleeping rough is banned. Tovil Parish Council says laws
exist to tackle the “small minority of people causing trouble” but are
not being fully utilised. A PSPO will simply “displace the problems away from the town centre into the suburbs and parishes”. Councillors will also express con-
cern about homeless people being criminalised for sleeping rough. If Maidstone Council does intro-
duce a PSPO, Tovil Parish Council says the boundary in Tovil should be extended to cover the river areas of Millers Wharf, Bridge Mill Way open space and Hudson’s Quarry.
KCC and Maidstone Council are to be told about blocked drains in Burial Ground Lane and cars park- ing on the junction of Wharf Road. Councillors heard that since dou-
ble yellow lines were removed from Wharf Road, parents were adding to the hazard by pulling up to drop children off at Archbishop Courtenay school and parking in Eccleston Road. The council is to ask the school if
the gates can be left open to allow parents to pull off the congested roads at peak times. Maidstone Council parking serv-
ices will be asked to monitor vehi- cles restricting the view from Wharf Road into Church Road.
Floodwardens THE parish council is to ask river- side residents to be floodwardens. Cllr Abigail Hogg asked that her
letter explaining the high risk of flooding and calling for volunteers be posted to those in the Millers Wharf and boatyard area. She told members that following
the “final push”, further training could be arranged and materials, such as high-visibility jackets and signs, could be ordered.
THIS PAGE IS EDITED BY TOVIL PARISH COUNCIL
CLERK: Alison Chew, Parish Office, Rear of TovilWorking Men’s Club, Tovil Hill, Tovil, ME15 6QS TEL/FAX: 01622 675628 EMAIL:
tovilparishcouncil@btopenworld.com
30 Maidstone Town February 2016
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56