OCTOBER 2008 PARISH COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES

Minutes of the Ordinary Parish Council Meeting

held at The Village Hall, Hothfield,

on Monday 13 October 2008

[ Draft Minutes - to be approved at next meeting ]

PRESENT:   Mrs S Whittington (Chair), Mrs K Pender, Mrs P Warren, Mr J Collins, Mr L Hughes,
Mr L Krause, Mr P Patten, and Mr A Rawlins                                                                                 

PARISH CLERK:                                     Mrs J Batt

BOROUGH COUNCILLOR:                            

MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC:    There were 5 Members of the Public present.

   1.      APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

An Apology for Absence was received from Mr P Howard (work commitment).

  2.       DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

There were no Declarations of Interest.

i.   Updating of Declarations of Interest for the Code of Conduct

                  The Clerk reminded Councillors that they should update their Declarations of Interest

                  with the Monitoring Officer if necessary.

  3.       PUBLIC INTERVAL

The meeting was open to Members of the Public from 7.03 – 7.20 pm.   

  4.   ACCEPTANCE OF MINUTES OF LAST MEETING

Minutes 70 were accepted and it was unanimously agreed that Mrs Whittington

should sign them. 

Proposed  Mr Collins    Seconded  Mr Patten

  5.       MATTERS FOR REPORT ARISING FROM THE PREVIOUS MINUTES   

                There were no Matters for Report that were not on the agenda.

  6.       FINANCE

            Bank Balance

            The balance stands at £11756.90 in the Reserve Account, £100 in the Current Account and

            £ 10256.10   in the Corporate Bond.  Of this 6204.91 (totals included in 2008/20029 budget

             noted) is reserved as follows:-

            Village Appraisal   -  1360.51 – 172.80 – 36.25 = 1151.46

            Road Sweeping    -  1815.95 – 112.00 = 1703.95

            ESA                               -  1515.00

 Newsletter            -    787.38 – 634.50

 Bus Shelter           -  1200.00

 Churchyard          -         NIL

            Total reserved monies £6204.91  

            Mrs Whittington asked for permission to donate £100 to KCC for the Children’s Halloween

            Party.    Charing Parish Council has agreed to donate £100.

            Resolution:  Councillors unanimously agreed to donate £100 to KCC for the Children’s

            Halloween Party.                                                                                                                              

              Accounts to be paid

            Resolution:  Councillors unanimously agreed to pay the above accounts.   

7.      GENERAL COUNCIL BUSINESS

Bus Shelter

The Clerk reported that she had been contacted by ABC, who wants to know whether

we still want the bus shelter cleaned by their contractors.

Councillors unanimously agreed that they no longer want the bus shelter cleaned by ABC.

Action: 

Clerk to inform ABC of the above decision.

                        With regard to the repair or replacement of the bus shelter, Mrs Whittington reported

                        that she had spoken with Autocross regarding repairs to the existing shelter and they

                        asked for photographs so that they can quote for the cost. They will replace the side

                        panels with steel bottoms and a polycarbonate top.

If the shelter is repaired, it was suggested that the Village Hall Committee could

                     use the redundant parts to make a smoking shelter for the Village Hall.

                     Action:

                     Mr Rawlins to take photographs of the shelter and we will send them to Autocross

                     and request a quote for repairs.

  Village Hall Trees

Nothing to report.  Plans are in hand for a smoking shelter.

Christmas Tree Lights

The Parish Council and Children’s Centre are both keen to erect a Christmas Tree.

It was proposed that the tree should be in the region of 20ft tall and several sites were suggested and need to be looked at again with regard to electrics for the lights and health and safety issues etc. 

The Children’s Centre will check their insurance to ensure that their Public Liability will cover it..

Action: 

Mrs Whittington will continue to liaise with the staff at the Children’s Centre regarding the siting, size of tree required, health and safety issues and insurance.  

Village Appraisal

The results have been returned and are being analysed by the Village Appraisal Committee. .

Maintenance of Playing Field

Mr Patten found the original agreement, between KCC and ABC regarding the field,dated 1988.  Borough Councillor Wallace is in the process of liaising with ABC and KCC to try and get an agreement from them as to who is responsible for the maintenance of the field.

Action: 

No action to be taken by the Parish Council at present, other than to give Mr Wallace our full support in his endeavours to resolve this issue.

Mrs Whittington reported that she was also concerned at the amount of debris in

Beech Drive.  Mr Wallace has contacted Mr Clokie who has agreed to visit Hothfield and

she asked as many Councillors as possible to attend the meeting if they can.

A date has still to be fixed.

The members of Community Payback have worked very hard around Hothfield in the

past few weeks cutting the grass and the verges but they are unable to clear Beech Drive.

Mrs Wickens from ABC has a meeting arranged with various agencies regarding

the regeneration of the estate in Hothfield, but the Parish Council has not been invited

Mrs Whittington suggested that Councillors should lobby Mr Watkin regarding

the debris in Beech Drive.

Action:  Mrs Whittington will continue to monitor the situation

  7.6  Telephone Box

                        BT made following suggestions regarding the issues with the Telephone Box:-

1.  If vandalism continues to be a problem the telephone can be removed at a cost of £2000 to the Parish Council                    

2.  Replace the glass with plastic

3.  The Engineer is looking into replacing the current box with a Small Gem.

                        Action:  Clerk to contact BT again regarding the Small Gem

  8.       NEWSLETTER

            8.1  Editing

                    Mrs Whittington asked Mr Twydell if he was prepared to continue to produce the

                    newsletter and he confirmed that he is happy to do so.

            8.2  Funding

                    Mrs Whittington and Mr Patten will arrange to meet with our Internal Auditor

                regarding funding the newsletter.

  9.       RISK ASSESSMENT

              Mr Hughes took the draft Risk Assessment and the ROSPA Report to look at.

              Playsafety left the MUGA off of the ROSPA Report.  The Clerk has written to them

              requesting an amended copy.

 10.       PLANNING

              10.1     Reply to questionnaire from ABC regarding Notification of Planning Applications

                     The Clerk was asked to inform Mr Vink the Parish Council do not think he should

                     change the status quo unless the Borough Council are going to supply all the

                     necessary equipment to allow Parish Councillors to view planning applications

                     electronically.

  11.       CORRESPONDENCE

              Charlton Athletic

              KALC Agenda for 01.10.08

              ABC Parish Forum – Chairman’s Report   

              KALC Parish News etc  

              KCC SERA South East Plan

              KCC RE Public Path Diversion Order 2 2008          

              ABC re Standards Board Meeting to be held 30.09.08    

              KCC Registers of Common Land and Town or Village Greens – Implementation of Part 1

              of the Commons Act 2006 from 1st October 2008

   Communities and Local Government – The making and enforcement of byelaws

Town and Parish Standard

Mr K Funnell – Interim Internal Audit Report 2008-2009

KCC re Rural Warden

NatWest re Corporate Bond

Kentish Stour Countryside Project

Kent Police – Country Eye

KCC – Kent Health Watch

ABC Minutes of Standard Committee held 30.09.08

KALC Notification of AGM

Emails received during the month were also read out by the Clerk.

Action:

Mrs Pender will pass those of interest to the Merry and Bright Club on to Mrs Green

  12.       ANY OTHER BUSINESS

              Mr Collins reported that some residents have had their number plates stolen. 

              Mr Rawlins reported that Mr Stanley wants to update the photographs of Councillors

           on the Website.

There being no further business the meeting closed at 8.55 pm.

HOTHFIELD PARISH COUNCIL                                                                      

PLANNING APPLICATION RECORD

9 SEPTEMBER 2008 – 13 OCTOBER 2008
 

Planning Applications Received

Full Planning Permission requested – Delegated to Officers unless otherwise stated:-