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A calendar of all meetings and the latest published agendas are available here.

Public meetings are held at Lenham Community Centre, Groom Way, Lenham, ME17 2QT

 

March 2026

Temporary traffic management in the village

By now you will be aware of the temporary traffic management at the crossroads in the village. This has been put in place because the Red Lion and the Saxon Warrior buildings were both damaged by an HGV attempting to turn between the High Street and Old Maidstone Road and was hampered by cars parked on double yellow lines in the High Street adjacent to the junction.

There have been a number of comments on social media and elsewhere so we will attempt to respond to some:

• "There's no work going on!" - no, there currently isn't. This is because the various insurance companies involved will be agreeing the process and cost of the work and then will allocate it to whichever company has been chosen to undertake the repairs. That organisation will then have to bring together all the resources necessary to complete the work. In the meantime that process is outside of everyone's control although we have asked for updates on progress.
• "The lights are in the wrong place!" - The issue of traffic control and how it is set up and maintained is one for KCC as the Highways Authority and its contractors. In light of the obvious issues the parish council has asked for this to be reviewed, however while the current arrangement is in place please be mindful of the issues it creates, especially when parking in the High Street.

This incident has highlighted wider issues relating to HGVs and traffic though the village. There are already restrictions on HGVs through the village, although one might argue these are more ignored than observed. The parish council, along with other rural bodies, is in discussion with KCC to explore what more might be done and to look at what has worked elsewhere to reduce unnecessary HGV movements through rural settlements. It remains a fact, though, that hauliers pay significant amounts of road tax and are therefore entitled to use the road system available.

In the meanwhile, please be mindful of safety in terms of where and how you use this area, whether on foot or in a vehicle.

The former Marley site

The former site occupied for many years by Marley and more recently by Aliaxis has now changed ownership and is in the hands of Panattoni. If this name is unfamiliar to you that’s possibly no surprise, however Panattoni is one of the larger construction companies in the UK and recently brought the former Aylesford Newsprint site back into operation by completely rethinking the usage. It is now turning attention to the largely redundant former Marley Works.

At the end of January representatives from the parish, borough and county councils were invited to meet with representatives from Panattoni and hear the outline ideas for redeveloping the site, along the lines of the successful redevelopment of the former Newsprint site, in Aylesford. There was a very informative and well attended session at the Dog and Bear at the end of February.

While we understand that initial conversations were held with the borough council as early as summer 2025, Panattoni assures us local input to the emerging ideas for the site will be undertaken. Ongoing discussions with Panattoni are being planned and an outline planning application with more details is expected to be submitted to Maidstone Borough Council.

There is now a dedicated website www.Panattoni-MarleyWorks.co.uk which will provide you with an introduction to the company, the site and its history and offer you an opportunity to comment of the potential plans. 

Repairs to fencing in Maidstone Road car park and new bike racks.

The parish council will be replacing the boundary fencing around the car park off Maidstone Road, this month. This will require the car park to be closed for a short time - please observe the closure, failure to do so will extend the need for the car park to be shut and will hamper the works being completed in a timely manner. 

New cycle racks in The Square: the parish council intends replacing the old (and recently removed) cycle racks in The Square with new items appropriate to the conservation area. This will create some disruption for which we apologise but please bear with us.

Budget setting

The parish council submitted the proposals for the precept for the financial year 2026/27, which were accepted by the borough council at its full meeting in February.

The full budget papers will be available on the parish website from April.

It will come as little surprise to learn all our revenue costs are increasing; no-one is immune from that. However, we will continue to ensure that we get best value for money for the regular services we oversee and that, where possible, the work is awarded to local companies. These costs are mostly related to maintenance of green space and dealing with the trees for which the parish is responsible, ensuring the play areas are safe for little ones to use, that the village remains tidy and there are planted flower beds, the picnic area is kept clean and tidy and the Lenham Cross is maintained.

We are also responsible for looking after the Lenham Cemetery and this year, as part of our capital budget, we plan to tackle the footpath around the boundary to make sure that this is safe for people to walk over as well as the funeral vehicles to use to transport relatives to the graves.

Another capital project we will carry over from the current year’s budget is the upgrade of the CCTV coverage. This is already underway, we have been working with the Police to identify new locations for camera coverage, and this will be rolled out during 2026.

Our final capital project will be to start the development of the new nursery, this however depends on a successful match-funding bid for strategic funding from Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) on new builds, held by Maidstone Borough Council. Hopefully we will hear more about that soon.

Heathlands - Public consultation on the Supplementary Planning Document (SPD)

The parish council worked hard to provide a comprehensive and detailed response to the public consultation on the SPD relating to the so-called "Heathlands Garden Development".

The documents provided by MBC were complex and convoluted, especially the 500+pages lifted from the original Transport Assessment of 2017. Although the SPD was "approved" by the MBC Cabinet in February, that decision has been "called in" by our three borough council representatives and will go back for further discussion to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee at MBC on Wednesday 11 March. The parish council will be making further representations to that committee.

The parish council's response can be seen here.  The technical appendix can be seen here.

Parish Council meetings

I would like to remind everyone that all our meetings are held in public. They all take place in the Lenham Community Centre, and they all start at 7:30pm.

Each month we hold a full council meeting (always the first Wednesday of the month), then there is a dedicated planning meeting, usually on a Wednesday around the middle of the month, and finally a finance meeting on the last Monday of the month (although this gets moved around when a Bank Holiday is due).

Agendas are published on our website, all planning applications in the parish can be seen there as well.

If you want to raise something ahead of a meeting please drop into the Parish Office, at 1A High Street, and speak to the Parish Clerks – they will be happy to speak to you, and the Parish Office is open 10:00 – 13:00 Tuesday - Thursday.

It's your parish council, please come and find out what is going on!

… and finally

Now the new storage facility at the revamped public toilets is up and running, the “parish lock up” is clear and the Tourism Group will be looking for ideas about how to use this unusual building, in the heart of the village, to better effect. Look out for posts on local social media about how to share your ideas.

Cllr John Britt

Chair - Lenham Parish Council

 

 

 

What does Lenham Parish Council do?

Parish Councils are the tier of local government closest to the people. Although the parish council covers the Parish of Lenham it is not linked to the church in any way. All parish councillors are volunteers who dedicate their free time to enhancing their parish as best they can by utilising their individual skills and experience.

Those putting themselves forward to serve as a parish councillor have to submit to the regular election process, or, if filling a vacancy mid-term, can be co-opted for the remainder of that electoral term. Electoral terms are four years. The elections for a parish council will only go to a public vote if there are more nominations than there are spaces on the parish council. Lenham parish is currently represented by 13 parish councillors: four representing South Ward (everything south of the railway) and nine representing North Ward (everything north of the railway). All parish councillors have to agree to abide by the Nolan Principles of Public Office. Parish councillors receive no remuneration for their time.

The responsibilities of Lenham Parish Council include looking after open spaces, such as the William Pitt field and Cemetery, maintaining playgrounds and other amenities, providing Maidstone Borough Council with a view on planning applications within the Parish and undertaking projects to benefit the Parish. Lenham Parish Council also has a Neighbourhood Plan which was adopted as part of the Maidstone Local Plan in July 2021. This Neighbourhood Plan is active until 2031. For more details of the Lenham Neighbourhood Plan please refer to the information tab "Lenham Neighbourhood Plan" on this website.

In addition to holding a full council meeting monthly, Lenham Parish Council has two specific sub committees which also meet monthly: Finance and General Purposes (F&GP) and Planning and (Neighbourhood Plan) Implementation (P&I). Both these sub committees focus on specific issues of work and in some cases do the detail which is then referred back to full council as recommendations to be discussed and agreed.

Both of these sub committees are open to the public and can be attended by all parish councillors, however, while all nominated attendees and visiting parish councillors can participate in the discussions only those parish councillors nominated as attendees to that subcommittee are able to vote on recommendations that will go forward to the full parish council meeting for discussion and agreement.

Finance and General Purposes Committee (F&GP)

The F&GP subcommittee consists of six nominated parish councillors and addresses the financial issues which the parish council is responsible for: dealing with contracts for maintenance of open space; maintaining and upgrading play equipment and other financial matters as and when these arise. The committee oversees the preparation of the annual budget and also discusses all other non-expenditure related matters and makes a recommendation to the full parish council for discussion and agreement. The sub committee is quorate when at least four parish councillors, including the Chair, are present.

Planning and (Neighbourhood Plan) Implementation (P&I)

The P&I subcommittee consists of six nominated parish councillors as well as three members of the public (who are non-voting) and the parish's planning consultant (also non-voting). The subcommittee carries out two important functions: it is a statutory consultee for all planning applications in the parish and it is responsible for overseeing the implementation of the Lenham Neighbourhood Plan ensuring that the parameters and policies within the plan are actioned and reflected in the parish responses to planning applications. All recommendations from the subcommittee are referred to the next full meeting of the parish council for ratification. The subcommittee is quorate when at least four parish councillors, including the Chair, are present.

Our Mission Statement 

The Lenham Parish Council (LPC) is dedicated to enhancing the lives of all the residents of Lenham and its surrounding hamlets. LPC aims to maintain and protect the Parish environment and amenities. LPC strives to be pro-active in identifying and completing projects, large and small, that will benefit the Parish as a whole, with value for money always being sought. LPC aims to help keep Lenham Parish a unique and special place for residents and visitors alike as the world around us changes.

 

​​​Council Officers:

Parish Clerk & RFO: Lisa Westcott

Contact details Email: clerk@lenhamparishcouncil.org.uk            Telephone: 01622 829034

Deputy Parish Clerk & RFO: Sarah Newell

Contact details Email: deputyclerk@lenhamparishcouncil.org.uk        Telephone: 01622 829034

Financial and Administrative Officer: Audrey Ratcliffe

Contact details Email: info@lenhamparishcouncil.org.uk        Telephone: 01622 829034

 

 

Registered office: 1A High Street, Lenham, Kent ME17 2QD Open: Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday 10:00h - 13:00