The village of Benenden in Kent

Minutes of the Ordinary Meeting of the Council held on Monday 21st November 2005 in the The Pavilion, Iden Green.

Present: Mr P Conway Mrs C Pitt Mr J Clarke Mr R Lake Mr P Message
Mr S Hockney
Apologies: Mr G Reynolds, Mr R Garnier, Mrs D Bailey

MINUTES: The Minutes of the Ordinary Meeting of the Council held on Monday 17th October 2005 were confirmed and signed.

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST: None

MATTERS ARISING:

Clerk to contact relatives of Harmsworth family re May trees on Benenden Recreation Ground
Cllr Clarke to raise with Highways the issue of a pavement along Cranbrook Road
Highways to amend signage at the crossroads. A larger Give Way sign from the Iden Green approach; reinstating the crossroads sign from Cranbrook approach; a crossroads sign by the telephone exchange on New Pond Road and to repaint the white lines at the crossroads. Cllr Clarke reported that according to Highways currently the crossroads signage was legally fine, that Highways felt that often people didn’t take due care.

PLANNING
·        Cllr Conway read through Cllr Garnier’s Planning report.
·        Eaton Cottage – there was concern as the plans show an increase of 50% in size. Approval was recommended subject to any comments from the conservation officer.
·        The Bake House – parish council recommended approval of change to garage.
·        Mulberry Cottage – Cllr Pitt raised concerns about the renewal of the planning application in order to avoid enforcement. Cllr Davies agreed with Cllr Pitt that if it was the same planning application there would be concern. He will look at the file and report back to the Clerk.

BENENDEN VILLAGE HALL

Cllr Clarke reported to the council his meeting with Cllr Lake , the Clerk and a licensing specialist solicitor on how the hall should approach the licence issue as the original advice had been to keep to Temporary Event Notices, but the Hall will exceed the allowance of 12 by April 2006. It has been agreed to apply for a premises licence which will last 10 years, for Cllr Clarke to be the Designated Officer and Personal Licence holder, for Cllr Lake to become a Personal Licence holder and for both of them to attend the necessary courses in January 2006. It was agreed for the Clerk to sort this out rather than the solicitor as his fees were high.
It was agreed that there had been a lack of clear guidelines from TWBC which had resulted in this confusion.
Hurstway will be sorting out the flooring in the toilets and their retention fee to be paid.

PRECEPT
·        The Council agreed to refer this to December’s meeting to allow for Cllr Reynolds to go through it with the Clerk.

PARISH COUNCIL
·        Cllr Conway reported to the council the meeting between Cllr Conway, Cllr Reynolds and Cllr Pitt to discuss issues regarding resignations It was agreed that Cllr Conway and Cllr Reynolds will now both stand for election in May 2006. Cllr Bailey and Cllr Message both not to stand for election, but Cllr Message to retain an interest in Footpaths.
·        Cllr Pitt argued that there should be personal approaches and advertising to encourage as many people as possible who are interested to apply. It was felt strongly that as the council is democratic that there should be a pool of candidates for villagers to choose from.
·        Cllr Conway felt that from May 2006 there should be more delegation of responsibilities. Examples included Housing and Regional Development, Primary Scholl, Building Control, Benenden Village Hall, Financial Services, IT/Website.
·        Cllr Clarke expressed concern that by now not resigning Cllr Reynolds and Cllr Conway had caused unnecessary upheaval

PRIMARY SCHOOL

Clerk reported that there had been problems contacting Lynn Nelson re follow up to the workshop as she had been off ill.
Cllr Conway asked the council to comment on Site 8. There was concern regarding the entrance/exit via BVH. As this is owned by Harmsworth Trust whose regulations state that all villagers have to benefit, there could be a problem.
After much discussion it was agreed by the council that sites 1, 9, 10 and 12 should have been considered to the same extent as Site 8. It was agreed that a letter would be sent to Lynn Nelson detailing why the council felt that all these sites should have been fairly considered, to ask for it to be done so, and to inform the Chair about membership of the Contact group and when they are to start meeting.
It was felt that the council should decided which councillors to be in the contact group, to discuss this at the next meeting when it’s known how many councillors will be in the contact group.
Cllr Davies reiterated that the community’s views are fully taken into account, stating that he could be contacted if a villager would like their views known and he will pass it on but the final decision rests with the planners.

CORRESPONDENCE

The Clerk informed the council of the visit by the Princess Royal on 9th December to open the Weald information Centre. Benenden was asked to contribute and help would be needed to put together a display board. Cllr Davies kindly offered to do this.

AOB

Cllr Message updated the council on the footpaths grant. He has now got the relevant quotations and will be filling out the necessary forms.
Cllr Lake reminded the council that St George’s Club would like to arrange their 6 monthly meeting.

The meeting was opened to the public where there was a discussion regarding the workshop for the new primary school and the sites chosen.

The meeting closed at 9.55 pm

		Minutes for November 2005 Click for minutes for October 2005 These notes are abstracted from the original minutes-for the full and proper copy please contact the Parish Clerk
		BENENDEN PARISH COUNCIL Minutes of the Ordinary Meeting of the Council held on Monday 21st November 2005 in the The Pavilion, Iden Green. Present: Mr P Conway Mrs C Pitt Mr J Clarke Mr R Lake Mr P Message Mr S Hockney Apologies: Mr G Reynolds, Mr R Garnier, Mrs D Bailey MINUTES: The Minutes of the Ordinary Meeting of the Council held on Monday 17th October 2005 were confirmed and signed. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST: None MATTERS ARISING: Clerk to contact relatives of Harmsworth family re May trees on Benenden Recreation Ground Cllr Clarke to raise with Highways the issue of a pavement along Cranbrook Road Highways to amend signage at the crossroads. A larger Give Way sign from the Iden Green approach; reinstating the crossroads sign from Cranbrook approach; a crossroads sign by the telephone exchange on New Pond Road and to repaint the white lines at the crossroads. Cllr Clarke reported that according to Highways currently the crossroads signage was legally fine, that Highways felt that often people didn’t take due care. PLANNING · Cllr Conway read through Cllr Garnier’s Planning report. · Eaton Cottage – there was concern as the plans show an increase of 50% in size. Approval was recommended subject to any comments from the conservation officer. · The Bake House – parish council recommended approval of change to garage. · Mulberry Cottage – Cllr Pitt raised concerns about the renewal of the planning application in order to avoid enforcement. Cllr Davies agreed with Cllr Pitt that if it was the same planning application there would be concern. He will look at the file and report back to the Clerk. BENENDEN VILLAGE HALL Cllr Clarke reported to the council his meeting with Cllr Lake , the Clerk and a licensing specialist solicitor on how the hall should approach the licence issue as the original advice had been to keep to Temporary Event Notices, but the Hall will exceed the allowance of 12 by April 2006. It has been agreed to apply for a premises licence which will last 10 years, for Cllr Clarke to be the Designated Officer and Personal Licence holder, for Cllr Lake to become a Personal Licence holder and for both of them to attend the necessary courses in January 2006. It was agreed for the Clerk to sort this out rather than the solicitor as his fees were high. It was agreed that there had been a lack of clear guidelines from TWBC which had resulted in this confusion. Hurstway will be sorting out the flooring in the toilets and their retention fee to be paid. PRECEPT · The Council agreed to refer this to December’s meeting to allow for Cllr Reynolds to go through it with the Clerk. PARISH COUNCIL · Cllr Conway reported to the council the meeting between Cllr Conway, Cllr Reynolds and Cllr Pitt to discuss issues regarding resignations It was agreed that Cllr Conway and Cllr Reynolds will now both stand for election in May 2006. Cllr Bailey and Cllr Message both not to stand for election, but Cllr Message to retain an interest in Footpaths. · Cllr Pitt argued that there should be personal approaches and advertising to encourage as many people as possible who are interested to apply. It was felt strongly that as the council is democratic that there should be a pool of candidates for villagers to choose from. · Cllr Conway felt that from May 2006 there should be more delegation of responsibilities. Examples included Housing and Regional Development, Primary Scholl, Building Control, Benenden Village Hall, Financial Services, IT/Website. · Cllr Clarke expressed concern that by now not resigning Cllr Reynolds and Cllr Conway had caused unnecessary upheaval PRIMARY SCHOOL Clerk reported that there had been problems contacting Lynn Nelson re follow up to the workshop as she had been off ill. Cllr Conway asked the council to comment on Site 8. There was concern regarding the entrance/exit via BVH. As this is owned by Harmsworth Trust whose regulations state that all villagers have to benefit, there could be a problem. After much discussion it was agreed by the council that sites 1, 9, 10 and 12 should have been considered to the same extent as Site 8. It was agreed that a letter would be sent to Lynn Nelson detailing why the council felt that all these sites should have been fairly considered, to ask for it to be done so, and to inform the Chair about membership of the Contact group and when they are to start meeting. It was felt that the council should decided which councillors to be in the contact group, to discuss this at the next meeting when it’s known how many councillors will be in the contact group. Cllr Davies reiterated that the community’s views are fully taken into account, stating that he could be contacted if a villager would like their views known and he will pass it on but the final decision rests with the planners. CORRESPONDENCE The Clerk informed the council of the visit by the Princess Royal on 9th December to open the Weald information Centre. Benenden was asked to contribute and help would be needed to put together a display board. Cllr Davies kindly offered to do this. AOB Cllr Message updated the council on the footpaths grant. He has now got the relevant quotations and will be filling out the necessary forms. Cllr Lake reminded the council that St George’s Club would like to arrange their 6 monthly meeting. The meeting was opened to the public where there was a discussion regarding the workshop for the new primary school and the sites chosen. The meeting closed at 9.55 pm