Covering the villages of Four Elms, Hever & Markbeech

Category: Latest News (Page 3 of 17)

Current Public Consultations

There are several public consultations that are currently live and are open for comment. Please click the link to participate should you wish to:

Funding available for voluntary or community groups

If you would like to do more in your community, for your community, whether it be sharing skills, spaces and resources, helping families to work and play more together, food growing or community cooking and meals, or perhaps supporting the environment through upcycling or community litter picks, the Community Mobilisation Fund may be able to support you. There is currently funding available for voluntary or community groups of up to £1,000 to assist with projects. Community groups play a vital role in supporting and bringing together local people.  The Community Mobilisation Fund will help support individuals and new/existing community groups by enabling practical support, such as skills development and capacity building, alongside local activities and events.

The fund is available for voluntary groups and community groups other not-for-profit organisations providing services within the Sevenoaks District, which benefit residents of the Sevenoaks District.

To apply, please complete   Community Mobilisation Fund Guidelines and Application – 2023-24   which must be sent to contact@bettertogethercommunity.org.uk by 5pm Friday 8 September 2023

Councillor Vacancy – Four Elms Ward

Are you interested in being a Parish Councillor? Hever Parish Council has a vacancy for a Co-Opted Councillor,  Four Elms Ward,  to represent the interests of those living or working in the Parish.

The Parish Council consists of a group of 10 voluntary Councillors who live or work locally and are supported by the employed Parish Clerk.

For an informal chat, or more information on how to apply, please contact Rachael Turner, Clerk and RFO at clerk@hever.org

or see Co-Option AD 23

Free Summer Family Fun Day – Four Elms Tuesday 15th August 10.00 am

Sevenoaks Free Family Fun Days include everything from crafts and games to sports and face painting in a friendly, safe environment.

There’s no need to book, simply turn up and have fun. Please visit www.sevenoaks.gov.uk/summerfun or  social media accounts before setting off as the programme may change at short notice, especially if there’s wet weather.

Enjoy the day together with your children – bring a picnic and stay for the whole day. Some locations will be providing refreshments. Remember, please bring suitable clothing for the activities and the weather, as well as sun cream and plenty of water. Children must be supervised by a parent or guardian at all times. Activities are aimed at children under the age of 12 and may not be suitable for very young children.

The days are funded by Sevenoaks District Council, run by Play Place and supported by town and parish councils who are providing the venues. See the attached for more information:
Summer Family Fun Day 2023 Leaflet

Public Consultation launched – GTR and other rail operators

Public Consultation launched – GTR and other rail operators
I am writing to inform you that the independent passenger watchdogs London TravelWatch and Transport Focus are today (Wednesday 5 July) starting public consultations on behalf of GTR and other rail operators across the country, up until 26 July.
They are inviting feedback on our proposals to better support passengers by moving ticket office colleagues from behind traditional ticket offices windows, which would close, onto station concourses. The proposed changes would mean colleagues are where customers need them most, making them more visible and accessible to customers.
The aspiration is that colleagues would move to roles that cover a broader range of customer needs in the future – from travel and fares advice to accessibility assistance.
The proposed changes reflect that the way customers buy tickets has changed significantly in recent years, with a reduction in ticket office use. In fact, 9 out of 10 tickets are now purchased outside of traditional ticket offices, be it online or through digital via smart devices or contactless, with ticket machines also able to sell the vast majority of ticket types.
Of course, our colleagues play a valuable role in helping customers, which these proposals aim to enhance. In-person assistance would still be available to help customers use machines and advise on the best value-for-money fares.
I’d like to highlight that no stations that have staff today would become unstaffed, and station opening hours would remain the same. However, the hours when ticketing assistance would be available might change. You can view a comparison of current and proposed hours when ticketing assistance would be available on GTR’s websites. You will see that many would remain similar or would offer longer hours:

Thameslink – Public consultation
Southern – Public consultation
Gatwick Express – Public consultation

The safety of our customers and security of our stations remains an absolute priority for us. Under the proposed model, staff would be available in the main station, providing a more visible presence to help deter anti-social behaviour, with continued robust support from our team of rail enforcement officers and the British Transport Police.

Furthermore, if the proposals go ahead, all the accessibility assistance we provide today would remain and continue to be in line with our Accessible Travel Policy (ATP).
The proposals include the option for some larger stations to provide additional retailing assistance. The GTR stations suggested for this revised format are: Bedford, Brighton, Chichester, Eastbourne, East Croydon, Finsbury Park, Haywards Heath, Horsham, Huntingdon, King’s Lynn, London Blackfriars, London Victoria, Luton Airport Parkway, St Albans City, Stevenage, Sutton, Welwyn Garden City and Worthing.
This could also include stations managed by other operators, on our network: Ashford International (SE), Bromley South (SE), Cambridge (GA), Clapham Junction (SWR), Dartford (SE), Fareham (SWR), Hastings (SE), Havant (SWR), London Bridge (SE), Peterborough (LNER), Portsmouth & Southsea (SWR), Rochester (SE), Southampton Central (SWR), St Pancras International (EMR), Tonbridge (SE) and Wimbledon (SWR).
Alongside the public consultations, run by the independent watchdogs, train operators will consult with union representatives of station colleagues. Our people are incredibly important to us, and we’ll be keeping them informed and we’ll support them throughout this period.
We understand that stations are a key part of the local community, so we are encouraging everyone with an interest – be it stakeholders, passenger groups, and customers – to review the proposals for their area and provide feedback to the consultation. No final decision has been made, we really want to hear from as many people as possible and encourage all to take part in the public consultation that starts today.
This is an important consultation to us, and as such we have taken a number of steps to ensure the consultation is promoted to local communities. As of today, you will see poster notifications alongside audio announcements at all our stations. A press release is being issued to all our local media contacts in order to raise awareness locally. Information is also being made available more directly to our own customers through our Customer Relations team, via our e-CRM customer database and of course our websites hold all the details pertaining to the proposed changes including a customer question and answers section:
Great Northern – Public consultation
Thameslink – Public consultation
Southern – Public consultation
Gatwick Express – Public consultation
Finally, I include below the relevant information to take part in the consultation:
Consultation information
• For more details about the proposals in your local area go to:
Great Northern – Public consultation
Thameslink – Public consultation
Southern – Public consultation
Gatwick Express – Public consultation
For a comparison of current and proposed hours when ticketing would be available, please view the station-by-station consultation document.
• To understand which watchdog to contact about your local station(s), please view our guide here.
• For more details about the consultation go to transportfocus.org.uk and londontravelwatch.org.uk
• For information on how this will change the railways nationally go to raildeliverygroup.com/customer-focused-reform
The consultation runs from 5 July 2023 until 26 July 2023. Responses must be submitted via the main consultation; operators cannot pass on feedback on behalf of others.
If you have any other questions about the consultations or the proposed changes, please don’t hesitate to contact our team at gtrpublicaffairs@gtrailway.com.
Best Regards,
Farzana
Farzana Hakim
Head of Public Affairs and Partnerships
Govia Thameslink Railway

Late May Bank Holiday Refuse Changes

Following the late May bank holiday, there will be some changes to residents’ refuse, recycling and garden waste collection days.

There will be no collections on Monday 29 May and all collections this week will be one day later than usual until Saturday 3 June.

Residents are requested to put their black and clear sacks and their garden waste out at 7am on their collection day.

For more information visit www.sevenoaks.gov.uk/refuse

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