General Purposes Meeting

General Purposes Meeting Birchington Parish Council Council Offices, 2 Albion Road Birchington CT7 9TY 12th December 2017 at 18:30hrs

Present: Chair of General Purposes: Cllr Vanda Alexander (VA) Vice Chair of General purposes Cllr. Phil Fellows (PF) Cllr Neville Hudson (NH) Chairman of BPC Cllr Marcel Pooke (MP) Vice Chairman of BPC Cllr Stuart Alexander (SA) Cllr Robert Wright (RW) Cllr Linda Wright (LW) Cllr David Brown Clerk to the Council Caroline Vincent

Apologies: Cllr Liz Hurst (LH) Cllr Jack Cohen (JC)

Declarations of Interest: GPC17/75 – There were no declarations of interest.

Minutes

GPC17/76 The Minutes of the GP Meeting, held on 7thth November 2017 were presented for approval. The Minutes were accepted by NH and seconded by MP, all agreed as a true and complete record. The minutes were approved and signed by the Chairman.

Matters arising from the Minutes GPC17/77 – there were no matters arising.

Actions Outstanding: Clock – Stuart, no-one seems to know where the operating switch is, a bit of a stand SA still. NH suggested a photo be taken and contact the manufacturer explaining the problem and see what we can do. DB will take a photo. CV

Clerk to pursue Jessica Bailey to see when free to attend a Full Council.

Recreation Ground Plaque issue is with TDC Shelters legal fees – Boys and Maughn have been instructed. Water supply allotments arranging a water clock – SA said this is complicated and the ground needs to be dug out. SA will arrange a quote to see how much it would be to fit this timing switch. Linda came into the meeting at 18:46pm. VA – suggested contacting the allotment in Westgate, see how they get around the issue with water. SA

1 GPC17/78 Chairman’s Report

VA said there will be a street surgery for the Neighbourhood Plan on Saturday 16th December to engage the public and to try to enlist some volunteers. Leaflets will be handed out as well as being advertised on Facebook, it will hopefully generate a lot of interest.

VA spoke about the Seaview pub and asked members if we should invite the new owner to a meeting? NH suggests we wait and see what they propose to do with the CV property first. There was a discussion about the pub in Acol and the planning issues. LW feels we should protect the exterior of the Seaview pub. MP said we do not know what they are planning with the property yet so it is all up in the air, there is no more we can do. NH said we need to be careful. VA suggested we monitor this for now.

VA handed over to DB to talk about Code Club. DB said it is not a roaring success but a beginning success and would like to see more join up, there are currently 17 but usually only a max of 8 that attend. There are children coming from Sandwich and Deal which is positive. LW spoke about a company called inkinddirect.org who take items from companies that are end of line and can include building materials, toiletries, office equipment and suggested it may be worth getting in touch with this company as it would be useful Coding Club. RW asked if the club will ever be on a different day as a lot of kids have sports clubs happening on a sat, DB said it’s not a problem to change to an evening after school. NH suggested we look next year.

GPC17/79 Christmas Event. – Update PF – Started by saying he has Santa organised and ready for Saturday. There will be 2 stages with events going on including carol singing and dancing. Performances from local artists. There will be the candle lit parade, finishing with carols round the Christmas tree with mince pies and mulled wine. A candle lit evening service will be held at the church at 6pm. PF said he does need a couple of volunteers at the grotto, 12-3.30pm as well as some help setting up setting up in the morning and at the parade at 4pm to give out glow sticks etc. There will be a collection at the grotto for donations to the church’s charity and the church will be providing teas/coffees for donations too. DB mentioned that the Code Club will be at the old office too! LW said it would help if we have a barrier to cover both sides of the road during the parade.

Total spend of £1300 in total, within budget.

GPC17/80 Twinning/TAC/TAG – Update LW – no minutes for twinning, last meeting no-one turned up on the agreed date, held another one a week later, discussed the French coming over for a day trip to Canterbury, possibly 7th January. They are trying to encourage more members, difficult getting people to go on trips due to cost and low members and could really target 25 to 45 year olds, work out ways to encourage people to join, there was talk of a fish & chip supper.

TAC – AGM elected officers, no changes. Discussed a recent decision for the lorry park, use of Manston for operation stack be extended to 2019. LW spoke of 2 applications for funding to set up transport projects but it’s felt it is probably oversubscribed and may not be successful. LW reported to them about our Neighbourhood Plan and that it was progressing well. There were concerns from both Broadstairs and Cliffsend over the proposed windfarm and the affects it will have on them.

2 GPC17/81 Traders Association – Update VA – asked how things were progressing with the proposed trader’s association. NH said this will need looking at. PF said the traders seem to be interested in helping towards Christmas lights in the future and having a Christmas fund for this. MP said we should start planning for this in January as it is also a good time to look for Christmas items that other towns give up. Good idea to put hooks up in the summer ready for the lights in December whilst the weather is better. NH said we should get a street plan and ask peoples requirements for next year and suggest a monthly fee. LW – more projector lights available, maybe easier to use than normal lights but agreed we do need a trader’s association.

GPC17/82 Clerk Correspondence The Clerk confirmed an application has been sent to Historic England to try and list the Seaview pub. TDC had also been informed and at this stage until we know what the new owner is planning to do with the property there is nothing more we can do. LW said she has spoken to Jacob in conservation, to arrange for him to come along and help form a plan regarding conservation.

GPC17/83 Allotments & Parks SA SA said that Tom has now cut the excess branches but had to leave some due to a lot of dangerous junk in the way, which was not safe to do. NH said we should encourage the allotment tenants to have an association to tell us if they are happy or if anything needs changing, how can it be improved. Do they need any facilities? Are they prepared to pay for it? SA is going to talk to mike and get all tenants together to discuss the future of the allotments. LW suggested the Clerk send a letter to ask for the junk to be removed from behind the shed and to be taken away? MP suggested a site visit should be arranged. SA will arrange with Mike. SA commented that the charges should be considered. SA also spoke about the land leading up to the allotments and the query over who owns this lane. There was a discussion on who owns the triangular piece of land near the allotments, believes it is the end property, it is possible they may know. Meeting closed at 19:40 pm Date of next meeting Tuesday January 9th, 2017 at 18.30 hrs.