September 2023

KCC review of the Community Warden Service

KCC is reviewing the Community Warden Service. The parish council has very strong links with Martin Sherwood, our local community warden, and we are anxious to ensure that any revisions to the service retain solid connections with our local communities.

This consultation runs to the 3 October 2023, more details can be found at: www.kent.gov.uk/communitywardenreview

If you would like a paper copy to fill in and return, these are available at the Library and the Parish Office.

We would encourage everyone to record their views on this excellent service.

Community Speed watch

The complaints about people speeding through the village continue. The recent traffic incidents along that stretch of road, which sadly led to the death of a motorcyclist, have been raised, once again, with KCC, as the Highways Authority, and also Kent Police. We have asked for further discussions with our partners to see what can be done to make this piece of road safer, if anything comes from those discussions we will keep you updated.

While it is difficult to influence poor driving, the parish council would like to re-instate the Community Speed Watch scheme in Lenham. To do this we would need to gather a small group of volunteers prepared to give up some of their valuable time to reinstate this activity, training would be provided.

Community Speed Watch has proved effective with results elsewhere leading to things like speed cameras being located in black-spots. While we do not envisage that happening in Lenham we would like to restart the regular sessions which stopped because key people were no longer able to support them. They did make a difference with regular offenders ending up with formal warnings and, if those are broken, appearances in court.

This is a national scheme supported by Police forces across the country as well as here in Kent. It relies on volunteers assisted by training from Kent Police to use the equipment, which Lenham Parish Council owns.

If you would like to learn more about the National Community Speed Watch scheme, please follow this link to the website: https://communityspeedwatch.org/FRONT-v2-Home.php .

If you are interested in becoming a volunteer, please contact Lisa Westcott, the Parish Clerk.

Pavement improvements to the High Street

The parish council is in discussion with KCC, as the Highways Authority, and MBC to make a small change to the pavement at the top end of the High Street.

The proposed improvements will see the pavement extended where it presently disappears between the Chinese and the Hairdressers and will mean that people walking at that end of the High Street will no longer have to squeeze between parked cars.

The improvements will be funded from S106 money, generated by the building of new homes in the parish, as well as a generous contribution from the Almshouses.

Maidstone Local Plan Review

Contrary to some "rumours" that are circulating, the proposal at Heathlands is not "a done deal", in fact the review of the local plan is still very much in the “waiting” phase: the independent Inspector, Mr Spencer, has just accepted some additional information on water treatment, submitted by an organisation called Fish Legal, which may raise significant issues which are yet to be resolved - if at all.

That information was out for additional consultation until 16 August after which the responses will need to be reviewed and set against all the other information, so there is a long, long way to go yet.

As you would expect, LPC submitted a robust and detailed response supporting this new and important information relating to how the treatment of waste water from the possible 5,000 new homes will be dealt with. All the responses to this additional information, including from CPRE, SOHL and LPC can be seen here.

The inspector is expected to provide an interim update, although at this stage we do not know when that will be available. Once we have seen that and been able to study it in detail we will then be in a position to work out what we might do next.

What is patently clear is that the opposition to the potential development of a new town at Lenham Heath led by Lenham Parish Council and supported by SOHL, Harrietsham Parish Council and others has delivered considerable difficulties for the borough council in terms of getting this plan agreed. We have constantly pointed out the shortcomings of the proposal and MBC and their partner, Homes England, have been at a loss to demonstrate they have any grip of the detail required to even begin to get this scheme over the line.

So far Maidstone Borough Council has already spent in the region of £1.75 million of our money on trying to make this idea for a new town a viable proposition. We suspect that more funds will be required to even begin to make the crucial elements of this idea viable let alone deliverable and we doubt it can ever be sustainable.

The parish council continues to work with Save Our Heath Lands (SOHL) and others to scrutinise all the documentation and to continue to take action to defend the village against this proposal for what amounts to a new town. 

SOHL and the parish council would like to thank those who have already supported this effort, without that help the fight against a new town would not be possible.

If you feel you could support SOHL’s efforts, please get in touch with SOHL via the Go Fund Me page: https://www.gofundme.com/f/save-our-heath-lands

Throughout this process the parish council has taken, and continues to take, legal and professional advice so this is very much a situation of “The fight goes on!”

Would you be able to give our community some time?

Much of what we do relies on people volunteering their time and skills. The parish councillors are all volunteers who give up significant amounts of time to keep things going, but there are lots of little ways that you could help which would not involve that level of commitment. If you would like to find out more please contact Lisa Westcott, the Parish Clerk.

Cllr John Britt (Lenham South)

Chair: Lenham Parish Council

Published agendas will be available here

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.

 

Councillors register of interests can be found here.

Council Officers:

Parish Clerk: Lisa Westcott

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

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

Responsible Financial Officer: Mr James Bate

Contact details Email: rfo@lenhamparishcouncil.org.uk

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