Parish and Town Councils
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Parish and Town Council submissions to the Canterbury City Council electoral review This PDF document contains 11 submissions. Some versions of Adobe allow the viewer to move quickly between bookmarks. Click on the submission you would like to view. If you are not taken to that page, please scroll through the document. I trust the Parishes views will be taken into consideration when recommendations are put forward. Kind Regards Dr Andrea Nicholson Chairman Ward, Lucy From: Blean Parish Council Sent: 10 December 2013 14:47 To: Ward, Lucy Cc: Subject: Canterbury District: Proposed Boundary Changes Follow Up Flag: Follow up Flag Status: Flagged Dear Lucy, At the meeting of Blean Parish Council last evening (9th December) it was unanimously agreed to concur with the letter sent to you by the Chairman of Hackington Parish Council. This being, that it is proposed that a new Ward of three Members be created, which encompasses the present Hackington, Blean and Harbledown parishes plus all those residences on the North side of Giles Lane, which are presently in St Stephen’s Ward, and all those properties North of the A28 which presently border the south side of Harbledown Parish. Blean also agrees with Hackington that the name of the new Ward should be the Blean Forest Ward. Kind regards Denise Horswell Clerk to Blean Parish Council 1 Ward, Lucy From: Ray Evison Sent: 08 December 2013 17:08 To: Ward, Lucy Cc: William Leetham; Denise Horswell; J. D. Larkinson Subject: Canterbury District: Proposed Boundary Changes. Follow Up Flag: Follow up Flag Status: Flagged 8th December 2013 Dear Lucy Ward. I write as Chairman of Hackington Parish Council which is within the present Blean Forest Ward of the District Council. Our Council has considered the options available for recommending to the Commission and we have consulted with our neighbouring councils of Blean and Harbledown. I think Blean P C are broadly in agreement with the proposal that follows. Harbledown P C are adopting a wait and see stance. Hackington Parish Council proposes that a new Ward of three members be created which encompasses the present Hackington, Blean and Harbledown parishes plus all those residences on the north side of Giles Lane which are presently in St Stephen's Ward and all those properties north of the A28 which presently border the south side of Harbledown parish. By our calculation the total number of electors in this area would be approximately 9,000 and therefore close to the required number for a three member Ward. The three parishes have similar community interests and responsibilities. They are astride major roads from the coast leading into and out of the City and have shared concerns about traffic management, road conditions and maintenance. They are all within and surrounded by the Blean woodlands. The concern for the environment within the woods and for the maintenance of good access to the several aspects of their hinterland is a shared responsibility. Of more concern to Hackington and Blean parishes than perhaps to Harbledown parish is the increase in Houses of Multiple Occupancy, driven by the shortage of student accommodation on campus at the University of Kent, which is fundamentally changing the cohesion of our villages. We feel that there would be a commanality of interests in the proposed new Ward to which District Councillors could collectively and therfore effectively direct their attentions. Given the location north of the City and our surrounding landsacpes we feel the name of the new Ward should be the Blean Forest Ward. 1 In Broomfield the parish council created a Community Park from a former land-fill site, which includes a regional standard BMX track. There are regular training sessions and competitions held at the BMX track by the local club. The Parish Council has leased land for an allotment site in Broomfield. Plots have just been made available to the local residents in the parish. The parish council produces a newsletter 4 times a year and local residents deliver these to every household in the parish. The parish council also organises events during the year and they rely on local volunteers to help with these. A Garden Safari is held annually and local residents open their gardens to allow visitors to look and the money raised from this goes to charity and community projects. The parish council also organises a Family Fun Day annually and could not do this without the volunteer help from local residents, the money raised again goes to a local charity and the community fund. At Christmas a party is held for the younger children, this is all provided free by the parish council; a disco, children’s entertainer and food are all provided. Father Christmas visits on his sleigh and gives every child a present before they leave. The help to run this is reliant on our local volunteers. The parish council has a Christmas float which tours the area in the weeks leading up to Christmas, it also works with the local church to ensure the tree in the churchyard has lights for the festive season. There are two Grade 1 listed buildings in the parish St Martin’s Church and Herne Windmill, the windmill is open to visitors during the summer months and it also houses the parish council office. There is an amazing sense of community and residents do really come together especially when there are issues they are unhappy about. Recently Tesco’s proposed taking over one of the village pubs for a Tesco Local store and residents, aided by the parish council, strongly opposed this and after several months were successful and the idea was dropped. Currently there has been consultation for the new Local Development Plan and residents have been very responsive in letting the parish council know, what they do not want to see happen in the parish with regard to proposed new developments. The Parish Council would not want to see the parish divided in anyway but would accept the area being made bigger if it was necessary, they appreciate that with fewer councillors it will be necessary to change the ward boundaries in some areas. The preference is certainly to leave the current parish boundary in place; it would be very disappointing if the parish was changed in any way and certainly not what the residents would want as we have such a thriving parish community. The Physical Boundary. The existing parish boundary is well defined although it does have a couple of quirky bits going towards Canterbury. Our Parish lies to the north east of the City of Canterbury, south of the Thanet Way (A299 and A2991) and the urban area of Herne Bay. To the east it follows the Roman road ‘Heart in Hand’ down to ‘Cherub Cottage’ (formerly Edgehill) on the corner of Ford Road in conformity with the neighbouring Parish boundaries of Chislet and Hoath. It continues to follow the Hoath Parish boundary south-westerly to the 'The Cottage' (Hicks Forstal). On the southern edge it follows the Sturry Parish Council boundary behind New Road Cottages, along footpath CH67. It then cuts north to form a western boundary (at footpath CH4) passing up through West Blean Woods to Bleangate. Going north the Western boundary continues along the natural boundary of Plenty Brook, crossing the Thanet Way (A299) at Bullockstone, near the site of the old ‘Tom Thumb’ bridge, before rejoining the Old Thanet Way (A2991) at Eddington. Many thanks Monica Blyth Parish Clerk Ward, Lucy From: Fuller, Heather Sent: 09 December 2013 09:23 To: Ward, Lucy Subject: FW: Electoral Review of Canterbury Follow Up Flag: Follow up Flag Status: Flagged From: Nicholas Clarry Sent: 06 December 2013 17:24 To: Reviews@ Subject: Electoral Review of Canterbury Dear Review Officer I refer to the Canterbury Electoral Review Consultation. Ickham and Well Parish Council considered this issue on 25th November 2013. The decision of the Council is to support changes to ward boundaries that would link the Parish to Bekesbourne or Littlebourne but not Marshside. The Parish Council does not wish to see Ickham and Well redesignated as or linked to a City ward. Yours faithfully Nicholas Clarry 1 Canterbury District Electoral Review: New Warding arrangements Public Consultation Response from Littlebourne Parish Council December 2013 1) Introduction 1.1 Littlebourne Parish is rural in nature and sits in Little Stour Ward, one of the eight rural Wards in the Canterbury District. It has a single Councillor representation. 1.2 There are two other Parishes in the Ward, Wickhambreaux (also serving the village of Stodmarsh) and Ickham (also serving the outlying areas of Well and Bramling). 1.3 Current electorate (2012) is 2163 and, according to estimates provided by the District Council this is due to rise in 2019 to 2211. 1.4 The average electorate proposed by the Boundary Commission in 2019, which the new wards are meant to meet, will be 3167. 1.5 As it currently stands Little Stour Ward will meet only 70% of its targeted total. 1.6 The Littlebourne Parish Council discussed the Electoral Boundary Review at its meeting of November 14 2013 and the summary rejection of its objections to the proposal to reduce the number of District Councillors to 38, but decided nevertheless to submit a response to the Boundary Commission covering new Warding arrangements. 1.7 Since no member of the public can be expected to produce a complete proposal for every Ward in the Canterbury District, it follows that small groups of individuals (including Parish Councils – our own comprises eight members) are no better equipped. Larger organisations might fare better in this respect, but the Boundary Commission has specifically asked for responses from the public.