THE MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF HEVER PARISH COUNCIL .

TUESDAY 20 th March  2018  AT 7.30PM.  Held at Hever Village hall.

Present:  Cllrs., John Hodson (JH) (Chair), Angela Haydon (AH), Bonnie White (BW) Stephen Lark (SL), Joanna Wade (JW), Christine Thompson (CT), Stephen Sadler (SS), Rick Brookes-Smith (RBS) Anita Sebastian (AS) Duncan Leslie (DL)

Also in attendance: Charlotte Cole (CC, Clerk), Matthew Dickins (MD), and 2 members of the public

The meeting commenced at 7.40pm.

 

1. To receive apologies – Peter Lake (PL) – notes sent “Kent Highways are on the case re Four Elms Cross roads, and I am trying to find ways of improving school signage around the ‘King Henry’. Our roads are in a shocking state. Use the KCC app to report potholes etc. just put in ‘Kent Highway Services ‘ and follow the easy instructions”.

2. To receive declarations of interest in respect of items on the Agenda. To be specified per item.

3. To approve accuracy of minutes from the previous meetings Approved by all and signed by JH.

4.  Public Forum

Gerry Ryan i) Confirmed that would be attending and presenting at the HPC Assembly on 15th May on behalf of Hever village hall.  ii) Concerns over water flow outside Seven Acre Farm and risk of highway flooding and ice. Clerk – to liaise with Edenbridge Town Council and log on KCC website.   Iii) Requested further clarification about precept – Chair explained rationale of increase (see January notes) and would share on Assembly newsletter and at Assembly.

MD updated from Sevenoaks District Council (SDC) – involved with licensing issues, noise complaints and planning locally.  Unable to attend Assembly due to clash at SDC.  MD then left.

 

5.  SS updated from meetings regarding Housing needs survey / Community Led Housing meetings with Clerk, SDC and Rural Housing Kent.  The time frame and options / possible implications discussed at length.

 

·         It was resolved by the full Council to proceed with SDC funded parish wide Housing needs survey.  SS to lead on and to work with Clerk to customise the questionnaire, working with SDC and Rural Kent and to confirm they will work with SDC and the Rural Housing Enabler to try to meet any identified housing needs.

 

6.  Four Elms village hall update  – AH declared an interest as married to one of the trustees.  Letter from Trustees circulated with agenda.  Discussions had regarding all the village halls and HPC offering assistance / overview where able.  BW trying to meet with Mike Fellows (re; Four Elms village hall).  Clerk updated that all village assets (Churches, schools, village halls etc.) had been contacted to offer presentation space at Assembly.  To include board for feedback on open spaces also.

7.  Grant applications – Community First Responders £1,500 applied for.  £250 agreed to and card and gift as thanks for volunteers time for training sessions locally.

Resident of Four Elms applied for £500 towards hire of Four Elms village hall for weekly coffee mornings.  Discussions regarding numbers attending (reportedly ~4-5), how advertised and efficiencies of heating a hall etc.  Resolved to fund directly to village hall 2 months of hire and request further information from organiser.

 

JH noted that historically had offered contractors support with public liability insurance premium, this was no longer felt appropriate and instead should review pay rate noting been working for HPC for over a year.  Noting that is contracted, not employed by HPC.  Clerk to benchmark rates and report back.

 

JH and JW had discussed Clerk’s hours in view of short term additional workload – playground development, GDPR etc.  Proposed an additional 3 hours a week to be funded until end June to cover this.  Council agreed to this.

 

JW advised that Mr and Mrs Gower who had run the local newspaper / leaflet delivery service across the parish for many years were retiring.  £50 gift towards a holiday agreed to.

 

8.  Santander scam avoidance session for over 60’s offered – queries as to why age limited.  Clerk to investigate if they have leaflets that could be delivered / to gauge interest before commiting.

9.  PCSO – Offer to top up local input at cost to HPC discussed.  Declined due to cost and that Council tax already funds Kent Police.

10.  Agenda for AGM / Assembly – Timings, agenda discussed.  BW, AS, Lisa Cowell (HRA) offered to assist with leaflet drop.  Clerk to clarify that Priest in Charge invited to talk.

11.  Four Elms crossroads – post most recent accident, SS had contacted Highways requesting physical structure to protect pedestrians.  Highways response as below;

 

“ From an initial assessment on Google Street View, there appears to be existing measures in place on the Pootings Road approach to Four Elms Crossroads that should provide warning to drivers of the hazard. 

At Four Elms Farm there is a road narrows warning sign accompanied by a SLOW road marking. Shortly followed by the speed limit gateway that has Dragons teeth leading into yellow backed 30mph speed limit terminal signs and village sign, red surface treatment, 30mph speed limit road marking and virtual road narrowing. There is a direction sign just after the gateway which clearly shows the crossroads layout, this is followed by two 30mph speed limit road markings, an advance stop sign (65 yds) with 30mph repeater sign and two more 30mph speed limit road markings. Just after this there is a raised table feature infilled with red surface treatment and this leads up to the junction where there is the STOP sign and road markings.

If the above signage and features are still present (Google captures are from June 2017) and the signage is clearly visible, clean and maintained, then there is more than sufficient warning of the speed limit and crossroads junction. I would suggest that if drivers are failing to stop at the junction then they are either; ignoring all of the signage, have fallen asleep, are distracted inside or outside of their vehicle or possibly under the influence of drugs or alcohol, all of which are beyond our control and cannot be engineered out of the equation.

I have checked the injury crash record for the last three years and there has been three slight injury crashes at the crossroads, two were low speed impact involving turning movements and the other was similar circumstances to the crash below but from the opposite direction. This is not a significant crash record for this type of junction where two ‘B’ class roads converge.

Taking into account the engineering measures already in place on all approaches and the fairly good safety record, KCC would not be looking to introduce any further improvements at this moment in time”.

Schemes Project Manager | Highways, Transportation and Waste

 

It was believed that PL had previously requested improved signage and re painting of white lines in this area.

 

BW reported concerns from locals about dangers of parents / carers driving / parking around Four Elms school, which she had also witnessed and discussed with 2 of the school Governors.  Discussions had regarding the pattern of this behaviour at other schools and frustration by many.  BW to d/w Head of school to express Council’s concern.

 

12i. Draft complaints procedure adopted.

12ii.  General Data protection regulations – Clerk updated on action to date and still required (full summary sheet attached to agenda).

The public task basis in Article 6(1)(e) may appear new, but it is similar to the old condition for processing for functions of a public nature in Schedule 2 of the Data Protection Act 1998.

One key difference is that the GDPR says that the relevant task or function must have a clear basis in law.  The GDPR is also clear that public authorities can no longer rely on legitimate interests for processing carried out in performance of their tasks. In the past, some of this type of processing may have been done on the basis of legitimate interests. If you are a public authority, this means you may now need to consider the public task basis for more of your processing.  The GDPR also brings in new accountability requirements. You should document your lawful basis so that you can demonstrate that it applies. In particular, you should be able to identify a clear basis in either statute or common law for the relevant task, function or power for which you are using the personal data.  You must also update your privacy notice to include your lawful basis, and communicate this to individuals.

13. Four Elms playground update. 

·         Held 2 open events in Four Elms (daytime and evening) to study plans / options and to receive feedback.

·         Suggestions also received from village leaflet drop and facebook posts.

·         100 competition entry forms provided to school  > 50 completed and 4 prizes awarded to best entries.

·         Multiple designs and pieces of equipment studied.

o   Willerby’s have kindly donated their time and skills to remove existing concrete and rubber and lay new turf.

o   Caretaker will remove existing equipment and give to scrap.

o   Primary school PTA have agreed to fundraise for some pieces of equipment.

§  Main piece of equipment ordered from

Removal and closure of playground Easter holidays (30 March – 15 April).  Installation Summer half term (26 May).

The question of whether to increase the ground space of the playground was discussed again and declined for a number of reasons which have been considered multiple times in previous proposals (including planning, cost, loss of open space for other activities, proportionate to number of local children etc.)

14.  Gatwick – Gatwick’s possible plan for more long haul flights and therefore larger planes.

15.  Matters arising from previous minutes -all actioned.  Noted the improved appearance of the pond fishing area and MONK filter installed.

16.  Planning and Licensing – update attached to agenda.  Noted concern over 3 festivals over Summer in Hever.  Clerk is working closely with Chiddingstone PC and trying to plan with organisers and SDC to minimise disruption for locals.

17. Urgent / other issues.  Concern about Sunday noise from ? Cowden gun club.  Sight lines for traffic at How Green Lane junction poor due to overgrown private hedges.

18.  Other correspondence for noting –attached to agenda.  Parish wide litter pick rearranged to April 14th FE 09:30 – 10:30, Hever 11 – 13:00, Markbeech 2 – 3pm.

Clerk reported back from Edenbridge Town Council meeting – Rural task force and local PCSO increasing back in number.  Improved Speedwatch system to be launched.  Local fire station recruiting and been invited to Assembly.  Noted that 171 local calls were missed last year due to lack of staff.  Nearest full time station is Sevenoaks.

Clerk updated on website updating – will be clearer who is source of information, have a parish calendar and GDPR compliant for subscriptions.

Request from Hever school for fete on Saturday 7th July (set up 6th).  Granted.

Clerk reported on cycling event (UK cycling events) on 26th May.  Have enquired regarding litter, road closures etc.

Meeting ended 9.40pm

 

 

NEXT MEETING AGM PRIOR TO ASSEMBLY 15TH MAY  HEVER VILLAGE HALL 5.45 PM