News from your Parish Council

News from The Parish Council
At the 22nd June Parish Council meeting we were pleased to welcome Sarah Corby as a Councillor completing our complement of five Councillors. We agreed an updated Job Description and remuneration scale, based on which to advertise the post of Clerk to the Parish Council, filling the vacancy arising as Roy Wade is retiring after many years of service to the Council. We thank Roy for agreeing to help us through the transition and wish him well in his well-deserved retirement.

A theme of the meeting was improving the décor and attractiveness of our village through better addressing street cleanliness and litter removal, providing sustainable planting and flower arrangements, and repainting assets such as the Telephone Kiosk next to the Village Hall. We also announced that we are considering the cessation of the public telephone service, which has not been used in over two years, and buying the Kiosk (at a nominal £1 cost) to decorate and reuse for our own purposes. We acknowledged objections based on the public telephone being possibly required as an emergency telephone of last resort (in a prolonged power cut, for example) and were advised of other potential problems. The Council’s view is that such problems are not insuperable, but we undertook to survey wider community views before making a final decision.

As expected, the standing “Highways” agenda item covered a lot of ground. Richard provided an update on Speedwatch and announced that all five Councillors had agreed to participate in regular (monthly) sessions, hopefully demonstrating our commitment to the scheme and its importance in helping to create a safer village environment. But we still need more volunteers to maintain a regular, effective speeding deterrent. We would love to hear from you!

We also made a plea for villagers to help us to help the community. Other than our own reports, only one report of a vehicle exceeding the 7.5 tonne weight limit was made following the procedure outline in my last update from the PC. The Police are not yet taking the matter seriously and we need help to impress upon them the extent of danger represented by these frequent transgressions. It is also to be hoped that our new Beat Officer (whose contact details are on the PC website) will be able to assist in this regard.

Chenice spoke about planned discussions to create a safe footpath to Quex, which we noted should extend from the south of the village enabling safe access for all. In answer to a question, we confirmed our continuing commitment to the “Twenty is Plenty” campaign and, following an item on the BBC 4 programme “Any Answers”, your Council had written-in to support the panel’s unanimous view that 20 mph should be the default speed limit in residential areas. The North Thanet Link Road consultation has now closed, and we look forward to the outcome. The Parish Council had submitted its response and we trust that individuals from our community also responded to emphasise the weight of its views.

Wendy spoke about our wish to honour the long service of the previous Parish Councillors and discussed possible actions including virtual (web-based) testimonials, a plaque honouring previous Chairpersons in the Village Hall, or on a public bench, but other ideas from the community will be welcome.

Our next meeting will be on Thursday 24th August at 7.30 pm in the Village Hall.
Richard Steel (Chair)