Documents

Minutes of Parish Council Meeting 4th July 2017

Minutes Uploaded on September 12, 2017

 

WATERINGBURY PARISH COUNCIL

Minutes of Parish Council Meeting held on 4th July 2017

7.30pm Wateringbury Village Hall

 

Present

Cllr R Tripp (Chairman)

Cllr M Cayzer                                              Cllr L Simons

Cllr C Talbert                                              Cllr D Marks                  

Cllr K Fisher                                                Cllr F Fielding

Cllr M Daly

                                                                                                                     

In attendance:

Mrs S Cockburn – Clerk to the Council

Cllr M Balfour – Kent County Councillor

Mrs T Bailey – Rostrum Correspondent

9 members of the public

 

 

The Chairman opened the meeting by reminding everyone in attendance the meeting may be filmed, recorded, photographed or otherwise reported and asked if any person present intends to make a video or audio recording of the proceedings.  None

 

                  

 17/027       APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

Apologies received from Cllr Wells  Cllr S Jessel

17/028       DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST/DISPENSATIONS

None                                                                  

17/029       ANNOUNCEMENTS

The Chairman reminded everyone there would be no Parish Council meeting in August – next meeting 5th September. There would be an unveiling of the Blue Plaques in the village on Saturday 9th September and everyone was invited.

17/030       REPORT FROM COUNTY COUNCILLOR

Cllr Balfour reported Kent County Council were subject to finance and budget restraints.  There were continuing problems with Arriva buses over their timetables, but Kent County Council had no control of it.

The funds for a report into the problems of the crossroads was raised but Cllr Balfour said it could be a long protracted process

Cllr Tripp told Cllr Balfour that when he and other councillors met with Crispin Kennard of Tonbridge & Malling Borough Council at the crossroads to discuss pollution Mr Kennard was unaware of the funds that were being made available.

Mr Kennard had said there was only one set of pollution monitoring equipment in the Borough and this was at present in Tunbridge Wells.  Mr Kennard would endeavour to get the equipment for Wateringbury

The Chairman said complaints had been received from residents in Pizien Well Road on vehicles using it to avoid the traffic backlog experienced at the traffic lights.

The Chairman thanked Cllr Balfour who left the meeting at 7.55pm

17/031       REPORT FROM BOROUGH COUNCILLOR

Cllr Jessel was not present

17/032       CRIME REPORT

Crime report attached which had been taken from Kent Police website

17/033       MINUTES OF PARISH COUNCIL MEETING HELD ON 6th JUNE 2017 TO BE APPROVED FOR ACCURACY

The Minutes having been read were approved by Cllr Cayzer and seconded by Cllr Talbert.

17/034       MATTERS ARISING FROM MINUTES OF MEETING HELD ON 6th JUNE 2017  

                   Matters Arising attached.

17/022 – iCloud/Drop Box – Cllr Daly had looked into this and found there could be some form of link-up with Google.  It was agreed the Clerk would contact Cllr Daly

17/022 – Pizien Well Road – Councillors discussed the concerns of residents and that Kent County Council had since indicated they would look into some form of traffic calming if the Parish Council supported this. All councillors voted in favour and it was resolved that Kent County Council be asked to look into this together with any other suitable measures for the safety of the residents.

17/022 – Possible Survey on Roads – Cllr Marks had been in touch with a company who carried out road surveys. The cost would be £375 to measure the frequency of traffic using rubber road strips.  This would be on one stretch of road only and if traffic queued then the figures would be invalidated.  Cllr Marks agreed to ask or the cost of a survey on two roads, one each side of the traffic lights. 

17/22 – CCTV village hall –  Cllr Simons said she had a meeting arranged with Mike Hoiles, Chairman of the Village Hall Committee, the following week to discuss the options for the CCTV

17/022 – Car Park letter to Tonbridge & Malling Borough Council – letter sent again – still no reply

17/022 Cemetery Car Park hedge – only 2 of 3 quotes had been received. This would go forward to September meeting

17/022 – Iron Fencing Bow Road – Cllr Marks said that Mike Pursey of Wateringbury Pear Orchards had asked his advice on the fencing and Cllr Marks helped with moving the dangerous pieces of fencing. Wateringbury Pear Orchards were still waiting for information from Tonbridge & Malling Borough Council about the fencing.

17/022- Cleaning of Village Signs – Cllr Fisher had inspected the signs and reports were given to Councillors.  Two of the four signs needed attention and Cllr Fisher agreed to obtain a quote for repairs

Item 7 – Annual Parish Meeting – unmapped culverts in village.  Cllr Fielding was still looking to obtain a map.

17/035       MINUTES OF ANNUAL PARISH MEETING HELD ON 9TH MAY TO BE APPROVED FOR ACCURACY.

Adjourned from the last meeting. The Minutes having been read were approved

17/036       REPORTS FROM COMMITTEES AND REPRESENTATIVES ON OTHER BODIES

Finance & General PurposesNo meeting    An invoice had been received from Joint Parish Council Transport Consultative Group for £50 for administration. Council had had no one attending since last year. Cllr Wells had indicated that he would be happy to represent Council at meetings.  Council expressed their thanks to Cllr Wells and Cllr Marks stated he would be happy to help out.

It was reported that our tree contractor Grant Robinson of Wildwood Tree Care has had to retire due to health problems. It was confirmed that no advance payments had been made

Planning – meeting to follow 

Wateringbury  Sports & Recreational Association   – nothing to report.  Council had no representative attending committee meetings. It was agreed to ask the association for details of where and when their committee had meetings.

Village Hall – nothing further to report.  Councillors had a copy of the Village Hall accounts.

Tonbridge & Malling Area Committee of KALC_– Next Meeting 17th August

Parish Partnership Panel –  Next meeting 7th September

Kent Community Rail Partnership – Meeting 20th June

Highways & Transportation-Speedwatch – A new Committee had been formed with Cllr Tripp, Cllr Talbert, Cllr Simons, Cllr Marks & Cllr Wells. Cllr Simons agreed chair the meetings

Report on meeting with Crispin Kennard of Tonbridge & Malling Borough Council attached.

Speedwatch  -Councillors had an email from David Merry offering to take over a co-ordinator for Speedwatch

Allotments –  There are three vacancies

Cemetery – A Copper Beech tree would need monitoring as it was dying.

Village Warden – nothing to report

Joint Parishes Flood Group – report from Cllr Fielding attached.

 17/037       FINANCIAL STATEMENT AND ACCOUNTS FOR PAYMENT

Agreement of the Financial Statement was proposed by Cllr Fielding and seconded by Cllr Fisher.  All cheques were signed.

 17/038       PUBLIC DISCUSSION

Mrs Sarah Hudson reported bramble overgrown and hanging from the

Lock-up

Mrs Hudson referred to the Minutes which she felt were sterile and did not reflect the emotions of members of the public. The record of meetings in the Rostrum magazine differed from Council Minutes.

Mrs Hudson raised the subject of Speedwatch saying she felt deeply unhappy with the diminished support by present and previous members. Mrs Hudson said the Council had not thanked Charles Stroud for his work on Speedwatch.  Mrs Hudson used offensive language concerning Councillors and their work on behalf of the village

Mrs Hudson commented on the length of time it had taken to get work done on the village sign near the school.

Mr Charles Stroud echoed Mrs Hudson’s views on the lack of support for Speedwatch and stated that no Parish Councillor had ever been out with Speedwatch.    Cllr Talbert said this was untrue and corrected this by saying that he and other Councillors had been active members of Speedwatch, up until recently when one Councillor had resigned.  Cllr Cayzer stated when he was Chairman he did support the team. Mr Stroud referred to David Merry’s offer to take over as co-ordinator for Speedwatch and felt he would do an excellent job.

A member of the public asked if the Parish Council would write and thank Mr Stroud

One member of the public said he did not know the Speedwatch equipment was owned by the Parish Council and should the Parish Council review being independent from Speedwatch  Cllr Marks said Council could again consider being responsible for the equipment if they wished. The Chairman pointed out that Council had earlier voted on this and any change would have to wait for six months.

Mr Michael Williams referred to the iron fencing in Bow Road saying it was still a mess. It was stated that as it is a Conservation Area permission to remove was needed from Tonbridge & Malling Borough Council.

 A member of public asked about removing various fliers on posts and the traffic lights.  It was stated that a previous enquiry to Kent County Council had been told only those who erect the signs can remove them.

 

The meeting was closed at 9.30pm

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 16