BISHOPSBOURNE PARISH COUNCIL
A Virtual Zoom Meeting of Bishopsbourne Parish Council was held on Tuesday, 16 March 2021 at 6.30pm. Present: Cllr R Prestige, Cllr K Martin, Cllr Andrews, Cllr B Dutta, Cllr Tapley & Mrs V McWilliams – Clerk
COMMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC
Four members of the public logged on to the meeting.
The manager of the Mermaid to introduced herself and gave a résumé of future events that they were considering once the Mermaid reopened. She hopes that they and the Council will work together. They welcome any suggestions or complaints that the Council might have. They are considering opening the garden perhaps once a month with a little light music. It is still only a suggestion. Once they have an idea as to what they will be allowed to do once restrictions are lifted everyone will be notified.
Residents expressed concern about the development of holiday lets at Gorsley Cottage. It has now gone to Appeal, and it is awaiting a decision.
COUNCILLORS’ REPORTS
Cllr Michael Northey reported that Kent County Council is preparing to lead an ambitious community-based programme of activities, to help children and young people reconnect with their pre-Covid-19 lives.
The Reconnect: Kent Children and Young People Programme will be available to every child and young person in Kent, from early years through to the end of secondary school and onto the age of 24 for young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities
The idea behind Reconnect comes from young people in Kent, who told KCC they would prefer a positive programme focusing on opportunities rather than emphasising the ‘damage’ that may have been done to them or their futures by the pandemic. The programme will be developed in partnership with stakeholders, and existing organisations that already engage with children and young people will be heavily involved. It will be a whole-council endeavour, reaching across all Cabinet portfolios and involving all political parties. The views of children and young people will be at the heart of the programme.
The five aims of the programme are to help Kent’s children and young people rconnect to:
- Health and happiness,
- Learning missed,
- Family, friends, and community,
- Sport, activities, and the outdoors,
- Economic wellbeing.
He reminded of Kent Together, details on the KCC website, phone 03000 41 92 92, 24/7 helpline which can give advice and assistance on such things as financial help, food supplies, picking up prescriptions, getting someone to talk with lonely people on the phone, further help with people with learning difficulties, etc.
City Councillor Mike Sole attended and reported that collections (or lack of them) have rather dominated my inbox in February. The triple whammy of Covid absences, the end of theSerco contract and a few days snow have made things very difficult for the council’s new waste collection company Canenco.
I have spent many hours helping residents get their bins collected. As at today, things are much better, but I am still aware of some homes locally that have not had their bins emptied for weeks and I am chasing these up.
Things have obviously gone very wrong. I have had it confirmed that the council will be seeking to recover money from Serco for not hitting their key performance indicators before their contract ended.
Despite all the problems of recent weeks, I remain hopeful that Canenco will, once things have settled down, be able to offer a more proactive and improved service.
It is a relief to see the Nailbourne levels slowly dropping. I am pleased that Highways England agreed to put in a temporary 50mph limit on the A2 that will have made is a little easier for residents in Out Elmstead Lane.
The council has recently agreed its budget. This was not without controversy and I
opposed the proposals to reduce the numbers of public toilets in the district and to reduce free disabled blue badge parking from 3 to 2 hours, but in the end these changes were voted through.
As it was not possible for the local community to upgrade and improve the Mill Centre in Bridge, the city council will now be looking to dispose of this as part of its capital disposal program.
The A2 is again full of litter, as are the lay-bys. Litter bins were also recently overflowing with rubbish. I have chased up the clean of the A2, as only one took place last year.
I recently visited the A2 laybys in the ward with a council enforcement officer. The council is contacting all landowners to try to see what action can be taken to clean up the areas. In one layby we were able to trace back some fly tipping to the offender who will now be contacted with a view to receiving a penalty.
1.APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
There were no apologies received.
2. MINUTES
The minutes of the Virtual meeting held on Tuesday 5thJanuary 2021 were approved but not signed. Proposed by Cllr Dutta; seconded by Cllr Andrews.
3.MEMBERS’ INTERESTS
No notification by members was given of any pecuniary or personal interest in items.
4.MATTERS ARISING
There were no matters arising from the minutes not on the Agenda.
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FINANCE
Lloyds Bank£15,294.30
Monies out
Val McWilliams Clerks Salary (2 months March/April 26 hrs. at £10.50 = £273.00 + 0ffice maintenance £80 Stationary £3.75 + stamps £39.60
multipurpose labels (£14.94 +VAT £2.92 = Total £17.92)
TOTAL £414.27
Keith Symes Preparing ground for sandbag bins £110.00.
KALC Conference (£25.00 +VAT £5.00) Total £30.00
Electro pads Defibrillator (£72.00 +VAT 15.59 Shipping £5.95) TOTAL £93.54
TOTAL £647.81
Agreement to approve payment of the expenses due was proposed by Cllr Andrews; seconded by Cllr Prestige.
The Clerk will prepare the accounts for the end of year. She will also do the VAT returns.
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PLANNING
18/01379 Change of use of Barn to two holiday lets with two-storey side extension. Pett Bottom Road, Bridge, C44 6EH Granted.
20/02598 TPO no 2 1968 as per schedule.
Tadpole Tearooms, Frog Lane, Bishopsbourne CT45 Granted
20/02170 Mansfield Farm, Pett Bottom Road, Bridge, CT4 5PD. Extension to caravan site. together with winter storage. Granted
CA/20/01745 3 single-storey terraced holiday lets with associated storage, landscaping, access, and parking. Land adjoining Gorseley Cottage, Pett Bottom Road, Lynsore Bottom, Bishopsbourne. Following the refusal, the application has now gone to Appeal. If residents feel that they want to add any further comments they may do, so but they must be registered by 24thMarch 2021. The decision is still to be made.
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HIGHWAYS
Cllr Tapley reported that the drains outside the Duck Inn at Pett Bottom were still blocked and the road was constantly flooded. The Clerk had reported it to Highways but will do so again.
The Bridleway path CB 274 at the bottom of Rose Lane is full of potholes particularly where it become privately owned. The Clerk has been in contact with PROW who have promised to come out and inspect it. The potholes have now been filled.
The Clerk had heard from Highways asking if we could send our Action Plan list stating our Highways Improvement Plan.
It was agreed that we would request “slow signs” before the entrance to the Tadpole, also at the Bottom of Frog Lane where The Street joins Frog Lane.
Rose Lane to be resurfaced.
Underground pipe laid to take the water from The Old Cottage to the river rather than the water just draining on to the road. When it freezes it becomes very slippery. The question was raised that if someone were to slip on the ice and injure themselves who is responsible. The clerk will check with our insurance company.
The Clerk will complete the template and send it off to Highways.
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NEAME MEADOW
The clerk still has been in contact with Jamie Cole who says he has got enough wet pour left to redo the surfaces under the play equipment. It is hoped to get it done once the weather improves. He will also look at any repairs that need doing following the ROSPA report.
The Pest Control Management has inspected Neame Meadow and removed the moles.
The two new sandbag bins have now been delivered to Conrad Hall.
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FLOOD AWARENESS
Roger Martin, our Flood Warden reported that river levels along the upper Nailbourne, down as far as Bourne Park lake, have fallen over the last three weeks and, more importantly, the rate of flow is well down too. There should be plenty of space in the stream bed to deal with the runoff from the recent rain and hail. We should now hope for a long dry summer with farmers drawing heavily on the underground aquifers to leave more room for next winter’s rain.
While the river continues to flow, the automatic pumping of surface water from The Old Cottage across The Street will continue. When on site to discuss sandbags, Canterbury City Council confirmed to me that they approved and facilitated the installation of this arrangement and the new drain running from the other side of The Street over to the river. They were unable to pipe the water beneath The Street without the co-operation of Kent CC as highway authority, which was not available. It is worth noting that during the icy weather earlier this winter, the only safe part of roadway was outside The Old Cottage, where pumped water melted the ice; no sunshine reached any part of the roadway due to its low winter elevation.
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WASTE BASKET
The Clerk has still not been able to arrange for the black bin to be placed outside the Tadpole Tearoom. The Clerk is constantly in contact with CCC and Caneco but with little success. She will contact them again.
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WEBSITE
Cllr Dutta had been informed that our website is not secure as we do not have anSSL certificate (HTTPS) Eyelid Productions our server offered to move our site to his new server which supplies SSL and 5GIG email accounts for free. There would be a one-off cost of £70 for the move. It was agreed by all to go ahead and arrange it.
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FAST BROADBAND
Cllr Tapley reported that we are still waiting to hear from 47 residents before sending the requests in to Open Reach.
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CORRESPONDENCE
Emails sent to all.
Police Crime Report
Share your Opinions on Elections.
Forth Comin Elections
KRF Parish Partner Pack
Protection Alert
Libraries, Registration and Archives Draft Strategy 2019 – 2022
Assessing Housing Need: Delivering the Right Homes in the Right Places
Have We Got Rural News for You: Rural Kent e-newsletter 1, February 2019?
UK TERRORISM THREAT LEVELS – Developments in counter-drones technology
Canterbury City Council Annual Parking Review
Kent Minerals and Waste Local Plan 2013-30; Mineral Sites Plan and Early Partial Review
Kent PCC’s Newsletter – December 2018
Scam Alert
Kent Rural Police Task Forum Report
Pre-election Period Publicity
KALC February Minutes
Air Ambulance request for help towards cost of new equipment
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COUNCILLORS’ RESPOSIBILITIES
Cllr Prestige Nothing to report
Cllr Andrews – KALC- Nothing to report
Cllr Tapley. – Nothing to report
Cllr Dutta– Website – nothing further to report
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ANY OTHER BUSINESS
Cllr Tapley had received complaints about the amount of rubbish outside Mansfield’s at Pett Bottom It seems to be mostly empty food tins and food waste. It was agreed to contact Mansfield and ask if they could provide a bin for their drivers to put their rubbish in.
Cllr Dutta reported that residents had complained about the increased amount of dog noise in the village. Cllr Prestige said that since lock down the number of dog walkers had tripled along with the increased amount of delivery vans. Resident dogs did bark when other dogs were passing their property. It is hoped that once lockdown is over there would be less of the problem.
Following the Air ambulance letter asking for help with funding to purchase two top of the range ventilators costing £29,262.97. It was agreed to donate £100.00. Proposed by Cllr Prestige; seconded by Cllr Tapley.
We are now able to put bids in for Capital Grants. As the Boules surface next to Conrad Hall is in a dilapidated state it was suggested that we might apply for a grant to improve it. All councillors agreed. The Clerk will contact the Chairman of the Village Hall asking him to supply two quotes. As the hedge in front of the site needs renewing, we will include the cost of replacing it at the same time.
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NEXT MEETING
As we are still not sure when Zoom meetings will no longer be permitted. It was agreed to pencil the next meeting for 4thMay 2021. The Annual Village meeting will be decided once we have more confirmation about the lifting of restrictions from the Government.
The meeting closed at 7.40pm