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Lynsted with Kingsdown Parish Council
Chairmans Report
to the
Annual Parish Meeting
Tuesday 2nd May 2006.
I am pleased to give this report of the Councils work and achievements over the past year.
It has become increasingly difficult to know and decide which of the Councils activities to highlight.
Although I may not do justice to all the many sections of the Council, no one section, committee or representative is more important than the other.
We all have a role to play, some of us have more time available than others.
But what must be remembered, however, that as parish councillors we undertake to give a commitment to the community.
It is important that we all strive towards the same goal for the benefit of our parishioners, that we support each other in difficult times and thereby command respect of everyone.
Playing Fields.
I think the time is right for me to remind you of the situation at the Playing Fields at Frognal Lane.
These of course are jointly funded by ourselves and Teynham Parish Council.
Some five years or so ago a radical change took place in that the joint parish councils agreed to maintain the field as an “ open space “ for the benefit of the communities.
The Management Committee became responsible for the general maintenance of the field i.e., grass cutting and boundary fences etc.
A Sports Association was set up by the Clubs using the field, they became responsible for the sporting activities and for their own funding.
They purchased the Cabins and carried out a programme of extensive refurbishment.
I think it is fair to say that the management committee have suffered in the past from a loss of continuity of members from each of the parish councils.
It has, historically, been a problem getting councillors to take up duties on this committee.
We are fortunate now to have two councillors, namely Yvonne Bowling and Frank Champion who are dedicated to the running of this facility.
In fact Frank has recently been appointed Chairman of this committee.
I am confident that with these two people the management committee will continue to be run in an efficient manner.
Lighting.
Within our Parish we have 43 lighting columns and / or brackets which we own and are responsible for the maintenance of. The energy electricity charges have in the past been reimbursed by Swale Borough Council.
We are at the moment, under the guidance of our lighting representative Frank Champion, investigating the possibility of moving the supply and maintenance to a grouping organised by Kent County Council.
They would oversee the contracts for the Parishes and Boroughs within the scheme and apportion charges according to the number and types of lighting.
This would hopefully enable our Parish to reduce our overall lighting costs - we await results of the study.
Publicity and Website.
This section continues to spread the news of our success throughout the Parish the Borough and beyond.
I am personally aware of people in Australia and America who follow our work with interest via our Website. I understand they like to be kept updated on our activities and like our profile section.
Thanks are due here to our councillors Julie Barrett and Bob Baxter for their continued work on one of our more important facilities, that of publicity.
I should also mention, although not a parish councillor, Nigel Heriz-Smith who acts as our Webmaster, without whose expertise we could not function .
Parish Plan.
Wow ! how about this !
From start to finish in just about 12months, a fantastic achievement!
Although too many people , councillors and members of the community alike to mention individually.
It is absolutely right for me to mention John Disney in his capacity as co-ordinator.
John has organised, nurtured and cajoled his team and the end product is something we should all be proud to be associated with.
We now have the wishes and aspirations of our parish on record.
The difficulty now is fulfilling all these wishes, but with continued dedication and hard work of the Action Plan Groups I am sure we will see some important results.
The culmination of all this was the very successful launch day held on 25th. March 2006 at which the Mayor of Swale Cllr. Bryan Mulhern accepted a copy of the Plan on behalf of the people of our parish.
Orchard Group.
This group, another of our success stories, continues to go from strength to strength, they have a varied programme of events throughout the year.
Other organisations within the parish are encouraged to use this facility. But the group have experienced difficulty recently concerning insurance coverage.
They have had to draw up a “ disclaimer document “ for other groups wanting to use the orchard for events. This could well limit the usage beyond the Parish Council.
Standards Committee.
This committee under the guidance of Julie Barrett has worked hard throughout the year and produced the following documents and guidelines for the Council in consultation with the Kent Association of Parish Councils.
- Code of Conduct.
- Standing Orders.
- New Procedure for Membership of Committees.
- Terms of Reference for all Committees.
- Guidance on Councillor Attendance Records.
- Job Specification.
- Job Description.
- Procedure for Co-opting New Councillors.
- Role of the Parish Councillor.
- New Councillors Welcome Pack.
Other Committees / Representatives.
- K.A.P.C.
- Footpaths.
- Tree Warden.
- Properties.
Although I have not itemised or reported at length, these are an important part of the normal work of the parish council.
Affordable Housing.
This is part of the normal planning remit, it was a need identified from the Parish Plan returns.
With Teynham Parish Council we surveyed and identified areas that may be possible sites for affordable housing. We have taken advice from Graham Thomas of Swale Borough Council and Jennifer Shaw who is the Housing Enabler of Action with Communities in Rural Kent.
Planning Committee.
Some 27 applications were considered over the past year a decrease of 12 from the previous report.
We are of course a statutory planning consultee and we normally have 21 days in which to respond to applications.
This parish council was one of the first if not the first to allow members of the parish to address the Council on planning matters.
The Committee will listen to observations made and consider any letters written by parishioners.
But at the same time they consider the planning guidelines and instructions as they understand them.
Each member of the committee, given normal circumstances, will have seen the applications in advance of the meeting and had an opportunity to view the site if they thought appropriate.
At the meeting they will discuss the application and make known their individual thoughts and concerns if any.
Then and only then, will a democratic decision will be taken and the Clerk instructed to respond accordingly to Swale Borough Council.
It is important to note that the councillors who make up the committee are extremely dedicated to planning matters and they do not take decisions lightly. If an objection is made they always try to give valid reasons and observations.
Some applications can be complex, but we are fortunate in having two councillors with a wealth of experience in these matters. One of whom has a great understanding of the planning system and it’s guidelines and one who has spent a lifetime in the building and construction industry, whose views and observations command respect.
I refer to Cllrs. Bob Baxter and Frank Champion respectively.
In conclusion , on behalf of our community ,I wish to thank all parish councillors for their work support and commitment during the past year .
A year in which there have been a number of issues which unfortunately have deflected from our normal and important parish council work. Despite these various challenges I feel we have achieved real progress and have a parish council which is run efficiently and to a professional standard.
I make no apologies for the length of this report , other than to say , “ if it hasn’t been done then I cannot report it “.
T. M. English.
2nd. May 2006.
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