Halling Parish Council - May 2006 Minutes

	Welcome to Halling On-Line
	The Community Centre, High Street, Lower Halling, Rochester, Kent ME2 1BS Telephone & Fax (01634) 241551 Clerk: Mr W R Swan
	Halling Parish Council MY06/01	Quick-Links back to Home Page Meetings

Meeting of Halling Parish Council held on 11 May 2006 at the Community Centre

Present: Vice-Chairman, Councillors Mrs Coleman, R Underdown, P Wyatt, L Hitchcock, T Reynolds, F Howard and R Swain.
W R Swan – Clerk and 3 members of the public.

1. Election of Chairman for ensuing year
The existing Chairman had stated at an earlier meeting that he did not wish to be considered and in the absence of any volunteers, Councillor Ballantyne offered to act as Chairman for one month initially to enable the Council to come up with a solution. The Clerk is to check on the legality of rotating the Chairman on say a monthly basis. A vote of thanks was given by Councillor Reynolds to the retiring Chairman, Councillor C Herbert, for all his work over the last 2 years.

2. Apologies for absence
There were apologies from the Chairman – family illness.

3. Minutes of last meeting
It was proposed by Councillor Wyatt, seconded by Councillor Hitchcock, that the minutes of the previous meeting were a true record. All agreed and the Vice-Chairman duly signed them.

4. Matters arising - none

5. Notification of Any Other Business
Councillor Wyatt – 1 item and Councillor Hitchcock – 1 item.

6. Election of Vice-Chairman
Councillor Ballantyne said that he would be prepared to act as Vice-Chairman after the Chairman situation had been sorted out. This was agreed by Members.

7. Appointments of Committee Chairmen and representatives on other bodies.
Councillor Wyatt agreed to continue as Chairman of Footpaths Committee, Councillor Underdown agreed to continue as Chairman of Planning & Development Committee and Councillor Ballantyne agreed to carry on as Chairman of Estates Committee for another 2 months.

8. Dates and venues of meetings for the year 2006/7
Members agreed the list which had been circulated by the Clerk with the Agenda.

9. (a) Estates Committee
The Chairman stated that concern had been expressed to Medway Council about their plans to site the recycling centre from Stake Lane car park to the car park in Howlesmere Close. The Clerk is to contact Medway Council about the planners refusal to allow building next to the railway in the case of Willow Cottage but were apparently hoping to sell off the car park in Stake Lane for housing.

(b) Footpaths Committee
The Committee Chairman, Councillor Wyatt, reported that he has arranged for Councillor Mrs Coleman and himself to meet with Viv Kent the PROW from Medway Council on 15 June 2006 about footpaths generally and in particularly the ones on the Marsh. He has been in contact with Lafarge about the Ticker path and there are still issues with the Warren path.

(c) Planning & Development Committee
The Committee Chairman, Councillor Underdown, reported that a detailed application had been received in respect of the demolition of Harris House and the erection of 16 houses on the site with 24 car parking spaces. It was agreed that the Parish Council would raise no objection to the application but would push for a Section 106 agreement to help the village.

The bridge over the river and the 1000 houses in Peters Pit have been approved by both Tonbridge & Malling and Medway Councils.

10. Harris House
The Chairman said that MHS have now got what they want with the plans for 16 houses
and he felt that the board of MHS should hang their heads in shame over what they had done to the elderly in Halling.

11. Halling Association
Councillor Underdown said that the plans for planting in Forge green had been postponed until October 2006 because of the drought conditions. The ground works are proceeding but the matter of CCTV needs resolving before the project can be finalised.

There will be a Summer Play Scheme in the Lower recreation ground and the school. There has been a Heritage application for Bishops Palace.

12. Lafarge
There has been no meeting of the liaison committee and we have been informed that any contacts concerning footpaths and other estates matters should be made through Mark Heeley of Workman Ltd.

13. Cemex
Nothing further has been heard on the development plans but the Company will be holding another public exhibition before any planning application is sent in to Medway Council.

14. Youth Club
Councillor Hitchcock reported that the 2nd session for the older members was going well.

15. Annual Parish Meeting.
The Chairman reported that it had been a good meeting but only 16 members of the public attended.

16. Correspondence
(a) Audit Commission – notice of audit
(b) Medway Council – notice of refusal for Willow Cottage
(c) Medway Council – approval land adj 27 The Street , Upper Halling
(d) Medway Council – Clerks’ liaison meeting 25 May 2006.
(e) Kent Downs AONB – The Orchid newsletter
(f) Medway Council – Medway Walking Festival 13- 21 May 2006
(g) Medway Council – development control liaison meeting 5 June 2006 at 5.30 pm
(h) Medway Council – Rural Liaison Cttee. minutes
(i) Office of DPM – LA byelaws discussion paper response by June 2006.
(j) Clerks & Councils Direct magazine
(k) email from Roger Knight - status of the churchyard
(l) Betty Head – thank you note for donation to WI
(m) Medway Council – Lotteries 7 Amusements Act renewal.
(n) Medway Council – Medway Local Transport plan
(o) KCPFA – newsletter

(p) Local Council Review magazine
(q) Land Registry – reply to land ownership on Marsh
(r) Groundwork update magazine
(s) Drought update
(t) KAPC newsletter
(u) Mark Tickner – Fire Brigade panto 13-16 December 2006.

17. Receipts - none

18. Payments                                     (£Net    Vat   Gross)
(a) Land Registry – fee                       16.00            16.00
(b) Home & Hobby – VH purchases          18.91 3.31    22.22
(c) BT – phone bill                                59.26 10.37   69.63
(d) Zurich Insurance – rnl 2006/7       1209.81 59.62 1269.73
(e) KAPC – clerk’s info day                     50.00   8.75     58.75
(f) E Head – WI donation                       50.00             50.00
(g) W R Swan – wages                        990.75            990.75
(h) Craigdene Ltd – playgrounds insp.     100.00 17.50    117.50
(i) Clive Stanley - fees for April 2006       77.00             77.00
(j) MKWCo - water on Marsh (rec)         108.46             108.46
(k) BT – broadband charges                   59.97 10.49     70.46

It was proposed by Councillor Hitchcock, seconded by Councillor Wyatt, that the above payments be ratified. All agreed.

19. Any Other Business
Councillor Wyatt said that the new roundabout on the A228 was still not satisfactory but Medway Council were having another look at the situation.

Councillor Hitchcock said that there would be no Funday this year because of lack of people willing to organise it.

20. Parishioners’ Questions
Among the points raised by residents were the following:
(a) Football pitches.
(b) Police attendances.
(c) Police surgery.

Last updated ~ 12 June 2006

Website problems? Please report any broken links to: webmaster.

Website maintenance by Clive Stanley Associates 01474 822676.