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Clare Lake gets a spring clean


EIGHTEEN volunteers from East Malling and the local Community Warden unit joined forces to spruce up the Clare Lake banks and Blacklands path in East Malling on Saturday, March 4.


The volunteers cleared litter, and half a skip full of concrete pieces from a demolished fence. They also cut back brambles and grasses from a long-concealed ragstone wall. The wall then provided a comfy bench for a well-earned cup of home-made soup to celebrate the day.


The event was organised by East Malling and Larkfield Parish Councillor Michelle Tatton, who said: “We collected 16 bags of litter, half a skip of concrete and a small mountain of ivy and brambles. Clearing out the wall has made a huge difference to


Parishes gagged at site meetings


TONBRIDGE and Malling Council has overturned more than 40 years of practice and will now not allow parish councillors to speak at site investigations into planning applications.


The borough council raised a storm of protest just before Christmas when an announcement was made that parish council representatives and other interested bodies, such as conservation groups, would no longer be invited to site inspections.


During February, the borough council announced that it had reconsidered its position and parish councillors would be allowed to attend but only as observers. Developers will also be expected to open the gates to the property and then leave without taking part.


West Malling Parish Council is opposing the move. Chairman Trudy Dean said: “Since the borough council was formed in 1974, it has been the practice to invite parish councils and other interested bodies to site inspections. They are held infrequently, where applications are particularly complex, or cannot be seen from the public highway. These meetings on site are an opportunity for councillors to see things as they are on the ground, ask questions


New Speedwatch gear


TWO new Speedwatch machines have arrived for use by the volunteer groups in the three villages represented by Cllr Trudy Dean. They will be used to measure the speed of traffic in local roads in East and West Malling and Larkfield and pass on details of offending vehicles to Kent Police for action.


All information is now fed from every Speedwatch group in the county to the police so that people caught speeding in multiple locations will have all their offences added up, which was not the case in the past.


Information from Speedwatch groups is also passed to Kent


County Council to show the need for more police enforcement or traffic calming to be installed.


People concerned with traffic speeds in their local roads can join their local volunteer groups and receive a brief training.


Volunteers in Larkfield should contact Ron Moore via the parish council offices on valerie.severn@btconnect.com. East Malling volunteers should contact Michelle Tatton at Michelle.tatton@aol.co.uk and in West Malling, Richard Selkirk at Richard.selkirk@westmallingpc.org.


for clarification, and point out on the ground what their concerns may be about the effect on the surrounding area which is not always apparent from the plans. We know that planning applicants and developers often meet with planning officers on many occasions before an application is submitted, and this may be the only opportunity local people may have to point out improvements that might be made. Planning is a complex matter, and anything that can help understanding and improve the application is good in my book. The move is even more worrying as Tonbridge and Malling Council are no longer appointing a conservation officer, and so the inability of Malling Society members to attend these site meetings where they may have considerable local historical expertise, is a very backward step.


“I think the effect of what the borough council has done is that parish councils will ask for their own meetings with developers, and the borough officers will have to decide whether they wish to attend our meetings as well as their own, possibly doubling their workload.”


this path. I think the guys enjoyed bashing the concrete to bits but it was heavy work made so much easier by the large number of people who helped, from as far away as Maidstone.


“Special thanks go to the Roud family for providing the soup, and Gary Haffenden who dropped off a skip literally at an hour’s notice, to enable the clearance of the concrete.”


Cllr Trudy Dean, chairman of the Clare Lake Steering Group, thanked the volunteers and invited them back for the following Saturday, March 11, when Larkfield Explorer Group were helping to plant 600 hedging plants donated by Conservation Trust Volunteers and Kent Men of the Trees. They will provide berried plants for the birds and a pleasant green backdrop to the lake.


RETURN TO WORK COURSES SUCCESS


A series of four Return to Work courses held at the East Malling Centre over recent months has celebrated its success with a community lunch. Invited guests from the local area were served a freshly cooked meal by some of the students. The courses were run by Liz Simpson and Jennie Cooper and were aimed at mature students wanting to return to work after a period of non employment or redundancy. The courses were funded by a Lottery grant via Malling Action Partnership and further courses are planned.


Volunteer Pam Roud said: “The event was very enjoyable and the students felt the courses had helped them gain confidence to get back to work which is great to see. I also helped one young lady with basic cookery skills which she had missed out on at home."


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