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Chilham Square
Check out our what we are doing page to find out what we are doing to improve pedestrian safety and parking in the Square
 
 
  Chilham Parish Council has set up the following committees to address local issues.  
     
  Planning Committee: This committee reviews all planning applications received from Ashford Borough Council and makes recommendations to the full council on how it should comment.  
  Reference is made to the guidelines in the Parish Design Statement produced in 2004 following full consultation involving every household in the parish. It was formally adopted by Ashford Borough Council as Supplementary Planning Guidance. It contains details of the history and development of the parish, its qualities and its character and other useful information for developers. Any property owner in the parish planning improvements or alterations is strongly encouraged to consult this document and the design guidelines it contains.  
  The 1995 Parish Appraisal is another source of information for planning decisions.  
  Subcommittees have also been set up with responsibility for liaising with ABC regarding local needs housing and accomodation for older persons in rural areas - see userful information panel on right for more details..  
     
 

Roads and Transport Committee: This committee is responsible for liaising with Kent Highways on major highways issues affecting the parish. Reporting of day to day issues such as potholes, signs and verge cutting is the responsibility of the clerk.

  
     
  Communications Committee: This committee is responsible for drawing up terms of reference for the parish website with the clerk, acting as the user group for the development of the web-site and implementing ideas to improve communications within the parish. Regular items are now included in Parish News, we now produce a quarterly newsletter and parishioners have the opportunity to raise concerns in an open forum before each council meeting.  
     
  Finance Committee: This committee meets once a year to agree annual budget and decide on the next years precept. It also holds adhoc meetings to resolve any financial issues passed to it from a council meeting - eg the allocation of recycling credits.  
  The precept for 2010/11 has been set at £16,996. This was based on a budget including the following assumptions:  
  1) Regular expense items remain unchanged  
  2) Allow £2500 for special projects - this would include £675 for mermbership of Wealden Wheels  
  3) Allow 1.5% for inflation  
  The annual return for year ended 31 March 2010 has been audited by the audit commission with no issues arising.  
  The audited accounts can be inspected by any local government elector by contacting the clerk or by using the feedback form on our how are we doing page.  
  We have so far received 3 bids for grants from the £4.2k recycling credits for 2009/10..The allocation for previous years (since 2008) has provided over £10k for 18 local projects. The grant is allocated based upon the following criteria:  
  1)community  
  2) youth  
  3) seniors  
  4) environment  
  5) funding  
  By encouraging local organisations to finance their projects by supplementing our funding with grants obtained from ABC or ACR Kent for example, we hope to maximise the benefit the parish achieves from the recycling credits it raises each year from the recycling centre in Taylors Hill car park.  
  An example of this is the OWL village hall renovation project - the village hall provided £1500 and this was matched by the parish council ... with this initial funding a £4250 grant was obtained from the ABC community grant fund and a further £4926 obtained from the ACR Kent small community grant fund.  
  As a result a badly needed renovation project costing over £12,000 was possible.  
     
useful information
 
This page only provides detail of the main committees and sub-committees. See the full list for details of other committees, sub-comittees and representatives.
 
Local Needs Housing

Following a parish wide survey in 2006 that suggested that 12 properties with a mix of 2 and 3 bedroom dwellings would go someway to meeting the identified need.

Downland Housing, the Registered Social Landlord (RSL) selected by ABC produced detailed plans towards the end of last year for 11 new dwellings at Shrimpton Close. These were supported by the parish council and a successful open meeting attended by 20 members of the public further endorsed the plans.
As a result, Downland Housing submitted a planning application to ABC. The original design statement hasnt changed but there have been a number of minor changes including reducing ridge levels and installing solar panels and the result can be seen from the new site plan, floor plans, elevations and birds eye view. The application was supported by the parish council who also sent a councillor from the planning committee to speak in support of the application at the planning meeting and ABC granted Downland Housing planning permission.
A meeting was held with local residents on 15th April in the Methodist Church, OWL to discuss contractors proposals. Work started in September and is expected to run for 40 weeks..
The contractors, Westridge Construction, have provided a site setup plan and traffic management plan to explain how they propose to manage the site.
 
Older Persons Housing in Rural Areas
ABC are working with rural parishes to see if a scheme similar to that implemented in Icklesham, East Sussex would be of benefit in their area.
Chilham has been grouped with Wye and Hastingleigh and work is starting to identify the need.
 
ABC Development Plans for Chilham
ABC plans for Tenterden and the Rural Areas include plans to build 30 new homes by 2013 at the former Chilham Sawmills site.
The plans include the following statements:
"Residential development (indicative capacity 30 units) here will provide the opportunity to enhance the appearance of this key entrance point and is likely to be a more attractive proposition for the market to deliver."
"Providing a safe vehicular access to this site is a key consideration given its proximity to the A28 / A252 junction. In recent years this junction has been re-modelled to reduce traffic speeds but local concerns remain over its safety record. Any proposals to develop this site shall investigate the opportunity to provide a traffic-signalled junction at this intersection within a Transport Assessment. Should a traffic-signalled junction be shown not to be necessary on the grounds of highway safety or traffic capacity in a Transport Assessment, then access should be provided off the A28 between the A252 junction and Mill Lane."
Further details of these plans can be found on the ABC website.
The parish council requested feedback from parishioners and supported the proposals with a number of qualifications at its August 2009 meeting.
 
Chilham Square
We have produced a short paper Enhancing Chilham Square - the story so far to explain the background, current status and key issues affecting the initiative to enhance the square and its environs.
Chilhams Future Delivery Board has been set up by the parish council with responsibility for delivering a longer term solution. For more information check their website.
 
Train Service
South Eastern were planning to cut off peak services to 3 trains each way on weekdays and none on weekends. The council combined forces with Wye and Chartham councils, our borough councillor and CEPS to raise a petition to preserve our current service. Over 800 names were collected from our parish and the petition taken by train to London and presented to South Eastern. We are delighted to hear that the current off-peak service will be preserved but we must continue to fight against reductions in the peak service.
 
Hedges and Verges
We are concerned about overgrown hedges on health and safety grounds - they can scratch cars, force pedestrians into the road and cause accidents.
We are working with local landowners to overcome problems and can escalate to Kent Highways if no action is taken.
If you need advice on how to maintain your hedge our hedge trimming tips could be a good place to start,
 
Open Forums
If you want to bring an issue to the attention of the parish council you can contact the clerk to request an open forum prior to the next council meeting
 
WhatsOn Listing
We are trying to build a WhatsOn listing for events for the parish. If you have an event and would like it included please contact the clerk.