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SWINGFIELD PARISH COUNCIL MINUTES

Minutes of a meeting of Swingfield Parish Council held at Swingfield Village Hall, on Tuesdav 29 November 2005

PRESENT: Councillor R D Curd (in the Chair), Councillors Mrs A Hanner, V Hamler R Hoult-Lukey, S Lee, A Nichol, H O'Grady and C D Tearle.

Apologies for absence: Councillor P Major.

Officer in Attendance: Mrs T Wiles, Clerk and Treasurer

5011.DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

Councillor V Hamler and Mrs A Hamler declared a prejudicial interest in minute 5014.4 (Parish Council Budget 2006/07 - the item which related directly to Parish Maintenance only) and would only leave the meeting if this item was discussed.

Councillor R D Curd declared a prejudicial interest in Minute 5013 
Planning Application -- Reference Y05/1472/SH - 385 Canterbury Road, Densole and was absent ITom the meeting during discussion and voting on this item.

The Clerk and Treasurer declared a prejudicial interest in Minute 5014.3 -: Financial Matters review of Clerk's salary and was absent ITom the meeting during discussion and voting on this item.

5012. MINUTES

The minutes of the meeting of the Parish Council held on 25 October 2005 were submitted, approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

5013. PLANNING MATTERS

The Chairman reported that two planning applications had been received since the last meeting of the Parish Council.

Note: At this point the Chairman left the meeting and the Vice-Chairman took the Chair

Application reference Y05/1472/SH Land Adjoining 385 Canterbury Road, Densole (Black Horse Meadow) was ,?onsidered at the meeting. This application was for 98 dwellings. The issue of requesting an Article 4 Notice to remove all permitted development rights was also considered.

PROPOSED BY COUNCILLOR A NICHOL
SECONDED BY COUNCILLOR S LEE and

RESOLVED:
1. To strongly object to planning application reference Y05/1472/SH. The grounds for refusal to include being contrary to the Local Plan, highway related issues, no recreation area, infrastructure issues, size and density of the application insidious creeping urbanisation, domino effect.

(Voting for 7; Against 0; Ab 0)
PROPOSED BY COUNCILLOR S LEE

SECONDED BY COUNCILLOR A NICHOL and

RESOLVED:
2. To request that an Article 4 Notice be served on the site removing all permitted development rights.

(Voting for 7 Against 0 Ab 0)

The Chairman then resumed the Chair.

The response of the Parish Council to the other application is attached at Appendix 2.

5014. FINANCIAL MATTERS

Councillors considered the Financial Report and Accounts for Payment, which was circulated at the meeting.

PROPOSED BY COUNCILLOR C D - TEARLE
SECONDED BY COUNCILLOR A NICHOL and

RESOLVED:
1. To approve the accounts a copy of which is attached to these minutes as Appendix 1, and to make the payments due.

PROPOSED BY COUNCILLOR C D TEARLE
SECONDED BY COUNCILLOR A NICHOL and

RESOLVED:
2. To exclude the public from the meeting for the following item of business on the ground that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 1 of schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972.

Parish Councillors reviewed the salary of the Clerk and Treasurer in accordance with the National Pay Scales.

PROPOSED BY COUNCILLOR S LEE

SECONDED BY COUNCILLOR H O'GRADY and

RESOLVED:
3. To increase the salary of the Clerk and Treasurer to point 6 on the National Pay Scales with effect from 1 January 2006.

The Clerk and public were then invited back into the meeting.
Councillors considered the draft budget and precept for 2006/07 presented by the Clerk and Treasurer. Councillors noted that the income to the Parish Council in respect of the granting of the easement at St Peter's Church has been included in the budget. Parish Councillors then asked questions and the Chairman and Clerk and Treasurer responded. It was also agreed that the Clerk should write the Twinning Association requesting a breakdown of how the donation made by Parish Council had been spent during the year.

A copy of the budget is attached to these minutes.

PROPOSED BY COUNCILLOR A NICHOL
SECONDED BY COUNCILLOR H O'GRADY and

RESOLVED:
4. To receive and approve the Budget for 2006/07.

5. To precept the District Council for the sum of £5500.

5015. REPORT OF THE COUNTY COUNCILLOR AND/OR DISTRICT COUNCILLOR

The Kent County Councillor and District Councillor were not in attendance.

5016. ROADS AND FOOTPATHS

It was reported that the drain repairs in Pay Street carried out in October 2005 has caused the road surface to shrink in the area surrounding the repair.
The works requested in Boyington Lane had still not been undertaken.

The Clerk reported that the operations manager at Kent Highways had advised that he was not prepared to take any further action regarding the fence at 1 Pay Street. He had referred the Parish Council to the Planning Department.

PROPOSED BY COUNCILLOR H O'GRADY

SECONDED BY COUNCILLOR A NICHOL and

RESOLVED:
To take no further action regarding the fence at 1 Pay Street.

5017. PARISH MAINTENANCE

Green moss was reported on the pavement in Densole Way. No other maintenance issues were raised.

5018. KENT ASSOCIATION OF PARISH COUNCILS/OTHER COMMITTEES

The Parish Council representative gave a resume of the matters discussed which included the following:
Planning User Group - The planning procedure had again been discussed, particularly how the call-in procedure works. The District Council were also to consider this as part of a communications strategy.

5019. CORRESPONDENCE

The Clerk reported on correspondence which had been received since the last meeting and which would be circulated to all members. Details are contained in Appendix 3 to these minutes.

NOTE: At the conclusion of the meeting the Chairman announced that he was stepping down as Chairman with immediate effect. He thanked the Parish Councillors for their hard work and support over the years he had been Chairman. The Vice Chairman would act as Chairman until the Parish Council Meeting in January 2006, when a Chairman would be elected