The Rosemary Centre & War Memorial

In the light of the many social media postings regarding The Rosemary Centre and the Village War Memorial the Parish Council is advising residents and any interested parties of the following –

• The Rosemary Centre is owned by Kent County Council (KCC) who put the site up for sale by auctionjt
• Following contact from a number of residents and Parish Organisations the Parish Council submitted a request to Dartford Borough Council (DBC) for The Rosemary Centre to be designated as an ‘Asset of Community Value’ (ACV)
• Such a designation does not necessarily prevent the sale but provides the ‘community’ with a ‘right to bid’ for the ownership of The Rosemary Centre and allows 6 months for the 'community' to raise the required finance
• KCC are aware of the situation but, at the time of this posting, it is not known whether the sale scheduled for today (1st May) has been withdrawn pending Dartford Borough Council’s decision as to whether the nomination as an ACV has been successful. The decision is not expected until probably the middle of June
• With regard to concerns over the War Memorial, the Parish Council has accepted an offer from KCC for the transfer of an area of the site around the War Memorial to the Parish Council thus enabling the Remembrance Day Wreath Laying Service to continue in its current form
• The original Victorian School building is registered with DBC as a ‘Non-designated Heritage Asset’ this offers no guaranteed protection of the building but does require DBC’s Planning Department to take into account the buildings appearance and history when considering any application to develop the site

Hopefully the above answers many of the recently expressed concerns