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Keep in Touch
Website: www.greatchartwithsingletonpc.kentparishes.gov.uk
Twitter: twitter.com/GCwSPC
Facebook:
facebook.com/greatchartwithsingletonparishcouncil
Great Chart wi th Singleton
P a r i s h Newsletter Autumn 2017
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Inside this edition
Chairman’s Report Page 3
Ashford Borough Cllr Blanford's Report Page 4-5
Ashford Borough Cllr Barrett’s Report Page 6-7
Great Chart and Godinton Wl Page 8
Friends of Singleton Lake Page 9
Welcome to the new PCSOs Page 10
Great Chart and Singleton Youth club Page 11
Singleton Environment Centre Page 12
Parish News Page 13
Clubs and Groups Page 14
Useful Information Page 15
Parish Contact Details Page 16
Great Chart with Singleton Parish Newsletter is published by the Parish Council and is distributed to every house within the parish. We are pleased to accept submissions for articles, events and group details. We are also able to offer advertising and sponsor-ship opportunities for local businesses. Please contact the Clerk on 01233 616923 or email [email protected]. Any views or opinions in this news-letter are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily rep-resent those of the Great Chart with Singleton Parish Council.
Newsletter advertising We are able to offer advertising and sponsorship opportunities for local businesses. If you are interested please contact the Clerk on
01233 616923 or email to [email protected]
Cost of advertising: A5 full page £160 one issue
Multiple £140 per issue (for four issues) Parishioners £105
½ A5 £100 one issue Multiple £90 per issue (for four issues)
Parishioners £67.50 ¼ A5 £55 one issue
Multiple £50 per issue (for four issues) Parishioners £37.50
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Chair’s Report
Welcome to the autumn parish newsletter. As yet we have had no frost so all of the trees are looking fantastic in their autumnal rig out!
Your Parish Council has been incredibly busy over the summer months dealing with a huge number of planning applications coming for the Chilmington development. Our separate committee met in Au-gust and September and is meeting again on 1st of November to discuss planning applications. We
have received the first plans for dwellings and are in the process of completing a response for these at this present time.
Many of you will have seen the first of two major access points to Chilmington Green – the new roundabout on the A28, complete with new streetlamps – I am sure this junction will work better when the 3
rd road is opened as at present vehicles are using both lanes
and this can be confusing.
Your Parish Caretaker continues to smarten up our Parish and is receiving much praise for the work he is doing! If you know of an area (footpath, hedge, or anything) that you think we can tidy up and sort ,please contact the Clerk.
I am very pleased that we have two new PCSOs, Catherine Ste-venson for Great Chart and Nikki Potter for Singleton – I hope to meet them soon, but our Clerk is pleased with their keenness and level of communication from the outset, which is brilliant.
We still have our KCC Community Warden in our Parish, one day per week – but she seems to be keeping on top of things, together with all the issues that Lydd present to her too
Many of you will have read that an inquiry has been called for the A28 widening scheme, due to start in Spring 2018 although I hope that this will not delay the work at all. We will arrange an update at a PC meeting from Barry Stiff, KCC Highways Manager in charge of the scheme – so hopefully we will have some good news in the next issue.
Ian McClintock
Chair– Great Chart with Singleton Parish Council
Ian McClintock
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Ward Member—Great Chart with Singleton North
The Kentish Stour Countryside Partnership, who do
so much for Singleton Lakes and Buxford Meadow,
have updated their noticeboards along the Green Cor-
ridor which circle Ashford. I unveiled the one at Sin-
gleton Lakes on 3rd
October with representatives of
the KSCP and the Peter Adams Trust who, with a
number of Borough Councillors, have provided the
funding. Council members went on a tour of recently completed sites
in the Borough. Good examples of houses, built by Crest Nicholson,
can be seen at Finberry as well as an award winning set of six hous-
es by David Cox at The Old Clockhouse, Challock. Houses at Pop-
pyfields in Charing were good, too, with some fine detailing. Finally,
we visited Crescent West, opposite the Rusty Bolt roundabout in
town, which were less expensive but seemed finished to a good
standard.
Cllr Jessamy
Blanford
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Viewing housing is important at the moment when we are study-
ing the detailed Chilmington Green application. I am so con-
cerned that designs here will be top of the range. I have also
arranged to see the new housing in Tenterden later this month
to assess how the Taylor Wimpey development is progressing
and if there are any lessons we should learn.
Ashford Planners are assessing the response from the latest
consultation on the Local Plan. Inevitably, some further sites
have been submitted. In Great Chart one is at Toke Farm on
the A28; a second is in Sandy Lane and a third is a develop-
ment of 50 caravans as retirement homes on Chart Road next
to the Chilmington Gypsy site. Although these will be assessed
for suitability by the planners, they will not be included in the
draft Local Plan as, to include these and other sites submitted
around the Borough would mean another round of consultation.
I think everyone is now very keen that the draft Plan is finalised
and sent to the Secretary of State so that there can be an Ex-
amination in Public early in 2018.
My activities as Deputy Mayor have involved me in a number of
local events – all interesting – and a visit with other Councillors,
representatives of the Borough and pupils from Homewood
School on a Twinning visit to Fougères, in Brittany, where we
met the Mayor and representatives from Bad Münstereifel. We
were kept busy but had a good time with a Medieval Banquet in
a nearby forest, a tour of Fougères Castle, one of the biggest in
France and a dinner in a deconsecrated church. Next year Ash-
ford is due to host the Twinning event. I hope we can keep up
the standard.
Cllr Jessamy Blanford
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Dear Residents,
It has been a busy summer period in Singleton South for myself and I wish to convey the main points of the work I have done. Firstly, I attended a meeting with the residents group of Old Orchard to listen to the care firm Independent Lifestyles UK who purchased, and intend to use, 16 Old Orchard as a residential home for adults with learning disabilities and complex needs. The residents were rightly wor-ried that this change of use would result in extra
parking, potential intrusion to their safety (and that of their children) from the new residents, and a depreciation of their house values once this new facility opened. It was a long meeting, and whilst I, and all the residents made it clear to Independent Lifestyles that a 4 Bed house in an already cramped cul-de-sac was a far from ide-al location for a "mini care home", some progress was made. Namely that it was agreed that any parking above the quote given to the house would occur outside of the cul-de-sac. Any and all resi-dents could air their concerns with Independent Lifestyle at any time, and get a timely response. And finally that boundary fences at the front of the property would be re-instated and/or enhanced.
I personally spent a lot of time on this case, trying to help the resi-dents who had little consultation that this firm was coming to their cul-de-sac. And I hope as time goes by they will contact me if there is anything else I can do to help.
In other matters the TRO (Traffic Regulation Order) is due to go live in the next few weeks outside Great Chart School, which will mean ABC can enforce parking on the Zig Zag lines. This project is a long time coming and I hope it delivers a safer school run for par-ents and teachers.
I recently had a site visit at the Singleton Centre Shops, close to the school, and discussed with ABC officers the lack of mainte-nance to the centre and what can be done. Subsequent to this a meeting with the management company is being arranged to try to get the litter, damaged bins, over grown trees and general wear and tear taken care of.
Cllr Bill Barrett
Great Chart and Singleton South Ward Councillor’s Report
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The Oast Play Park and the bottom of Singleton Hill is to receive more attention from Aspire (ABC's in house grounds maintenance team). This will include trimming back the avenue of trees overhanging branches so the leaves don't fall on the play area and make it slip-pery. And cutting to a lower level the hedging around the play area so to open up sight lines and make it safer for users.
In regards Singleton Lake I am happy to report that the PSPO (Public Space Protection Order) has led to a large reduction anti social be-
haviour compared to the summer of 2016. There were incidents of over night fishing and yob fishermen entering the water to cast to-wards the Lakeside houses. These incidents were reported to Kent Police and I urge residents to ALWAYS report infringements of the PSPO by telephoning 101. Whilst the PSPO will never completely eradicate ASB at an area like Singleton Lake, it does at least give Kent Police (and indeed ABC) powers to evict and fine users of the lake complex who don't abide by the rules.
One very good side effect of the PSPO is that as the incidents of night fishing have collapsed by 70% so has the littering at the lake..
I wish all residents a good autumn and please be in touch if there is anything I can help with.
Cllr Bill Barrett
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Great Chart & Godinton WI
Great Chart & Godinton WI meet every 3rd Wednesday of the month at Godinton Village Hall at 7.30pm. Members not only come from Great Chart & Godinton, but also from Singleton, South Ash-ford and Willesborough. This year we have enjoyed a varied pro-gramme of talks and activities from the History of Folklore of East Kent to discussing WI Resolutions on Tackling Loneliness and End-ing the The Plastic Soup.
On Saturday 24th June Great Chart Primary School had their Fete where we manned a promotional stall for the WI. Though the weather was inclement it was a very enjoyable and productive af-ternoon amongst some very talented and entertaining pu-pils.
The Activity Group meet 1st Wednes-day of each month. They have enjoyed outings to Whitsta-ble for Oyster tast-ing; Hythe for Fish & Chips and did an amazing Bluebell Walk. They also had games of Darts & Doughnuts, Scrabble & Scones and Bingo & Buns. This group really enjoys their sports and culinary delights!
The annual Garden Party, where we enjoyed lots of nattering and delicious nibbles was held in the spacious and interesting garden of one of our committee members. There were also numerous games in which to participate plus a Treasure Hunt for unusual items hid-den amongst the plants and shrubs. This was made harder as it was getting dark by the time we all started due to the relaxed at-mosphere.
For further information contact:- Secretary Janet Goodwin 01233 332510 or committee member Pamela Grigg 01233 878013
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Friends of Singleton Lake
The Autumn kicked off with a popular event at Singleton Lake-
the Bat Walk with Kent Bat Group. Thank you to everyone who
came and made it a memorable evening. We heard and saw
many bats including the Pipistrelle. We’re hoping to host another
one next year among other fab events that are in the pipeline.
Saturday 23rd
Septem-
ber was a busy day for
Friends of Singleton
Lake. We had a stall at
the Ashford Volunteers
Fair to try and recruit
some new members. It
was a fun morning and
it was great to talk to
so many eager people!
After this we headed
straight to the lake for our Tree Identification Walk with help from
The Roots Project. This was a brilliant afternoon outdoors in the
warm autumn air and we learnt lots about the different types of
tree around the lake.
Our next event is:
Saturday 4th Nov - Litter Pick - meet at 10am in the car park for
the last litter pick of the year. Equipment provided and light re-
freshments will be provided afterwards.
We hope to see you there!
Ashford Volunteer Fair 2017
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Welcome to the new PCSOs
In the past year the reduced funding available to Kent Constabulary
has resulted in many changes. One of these is where, in the past
few months a group of eleven PCSOs was responsible for the
whole of Ashford, including the rural areas. This has now changed
and the parish has two dedicated PCSOs, one for Great Chart and
one for Singleton. Please welcome them in the parish and say hi if
you see them out and about. Below is a brief introduction from
them.
My name is Catherine Stevens and I am the Police Community
Support Officer for Great Chart. As the title suggests, I work within
the community. I am here to provide a visible presence whilst offer-
ing reassurance and crime prevention advice. I work alongside the
police officers, special constables and council wardens, acting as
the eyes and ears on the streets. I also play an important role in
preventing and addressing anti-social behaviour. I am regularly pa-
trolling the Great Chart area, either on foot or in a police vehicle, to
provide any support that is required within the community and
hopefully, in doing so, deter any undesirable behaviour. I am very
much looking forward to working with you all to help make Great
Chart a safe place for all those that live and work here.
So, if you see me out ‘on the beat’ please come over for a chat, and
as always, if you see anything suspicious and need to report it to
police then dial 101 or, if it is an emergency, 999.
Hello my name is Nikki Potter and I would like to introduce myself
as the new PCSO for Singleton. I have been a PCSO with Kent Po-
lice for more than ten years, serving as the local officer for Kenning-
ton, so it will be quite a challenge to ‘start again’ in a new ward, but
one I am looking forward to and in due time hope to meet many of
you on my patrols. I am also the local officer for Beaver ward; an-
other new challenge lies ahead for me!!
Very best wishes
Nikki
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Great Chart & Singleton Youth Club
The Youth Club should be celebrating its 10
th birthday this October, but since we
ended up with only 3 adult volunteers and 3 young adults helping out we made the difficult decision NOT to restart in September as it is impossible to manage a regular attendance of 60 young people with so few adults. During the months before the end of July the challenging behaviour became too difficult to manage with so few of us. My two colleagues told me that they could not continue to attend every week and that made it impossible to restart in September.
I am in the process of sending out a letter to all the parents of the members over the last 2 years in the hope that we can get some help to come forward – of course the more people we can get to help means the less frequent they have to come along. I am confident that more help will come forward and allow us to reopen this much used and valuable community facility again, in January.
We do have a Club Charter that forms the basis for everyone’s behav-iour when attending. We need the volunteers to maintain the good be-haviour and ensure that all the young people that attend have a good time each Friday.
Historically, we go right through the half terms and only break for the longer holidays – this gives everyone a chance to take a break and have a home life too!
So if you think you can give up a Friday evening at Singleton Village hall between 6.30 pm and 9.30 pm – PLEASE, PLEASE get in contact with me – either using my contact details in this newsletter or via Face-book, look for Great Chart and Singleton Youth club, using the mes-saging service.
We have been one of the most successful Youth Clubs in Kent (I must thank ALL of our previous & current Volunteers for this) and with a little bit of help from our Community we can be a great Club again and a safe and interesting place for our young people to come on a Friday evening.
Ian McClintock
Chair Great Chart & Singleton YC
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Singleton Environment Centre
As many of you will know already, the current operators of the Sin-
gleton Environment Centre (SEC), The Conservation Volunteers
have decided to take advantage of the ten year “break” clause in
their lease with Ashford Borough Council and will be vacating the
centre early next year.
The Parish Council believes the SEC to be a very important asset
to the local community, offering, as it does, a wide variety of envi-
ronmental activities as well as hosting the Footprints Café and the
Soothing Pod.
We believe bringing the SEC “under the wing” of the parish will
enable the activities at the centre to continue in their current form.
For this to happen it will be necessary to form an “entity”, probably
a charitable trust or perhaps a company in the community to man-
age the centre. This will need help from the community in the form
of trustees, willing to give up some of their time and expertise to
help manage the centre. We have already identified two volunteers
ready to act as trustees, but a realistic number to run the trust is
six, so we are looking for a further four people. If you are interest-
ed and think you can help, please contact the parish clerk, either
by ‘phone (01233 616923) or e-mail ([email protected])
As this is a major undertaking for the parish, through this newslet-
ter we would like to know if you think this is a good idea. We wel-
come your views which can be expressed via the ‘phone or e-mail
details above, or in person at a future parish council meeting. We
look forward to hearing from you!
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Parish Council News
Budget 2018/19
Great Chart with Singleton Parish Council is in the process of setting the
precept for the 2018-2019 financial year. This is a very important time of
the year when projects are formulated for the benefit of parishioners.
This year we have been productive and installed benches and picnic ta-
bles, revitalised the flowerbed and kept the area generally tidy and litter
free. Still to come is refurbishment of the Great Chart Village sign and
the installation of a new sign for Singleton Village. There is, however,
more to be done. The play park at the bottom of Singleton Road in Great
Chart needs complete refurbishment. The equipment is now more than
twenty years old and is in need of replacement. This will be an expen-
sive undertaking and the parish council will need to support the Playing
Fields Association to ensure it’s completion. As part of our caretaker
scheme the parish currently shares a van with Kingsnorth. As the parish
grows and the workload increases, it would be more efficient if the parish
were to have a van of it’s own.
If you have any ideas for projects around the parish or comments on the
above, please e-mail the clerk at [email protected] .
Cuckoo Park
Since July this year the parish council has been fully responsible for the
maintenance of Cuckoo Park. The parish caretaker conducts a weekly
inspection of the equipment and surrounds, but if in between you notice
a fault, please contact the clerk on 01233 616923 or via email at-
Neighbourhood Watch
Andrew Judd, Head of Neighbourhood Watch for East Kent held an in-
formation session at Singleton Village Hall explaining the benefits of
Neighbourhood Watch. The event was very successful with residents
signing up to be coordinators. If you are interested in becoming a coordi-
nator and would like to find out more please get in touch with the Com-
munity Warden Joanna Watts (contact details can be found on the infor-
mation page)
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Clubs and Groups
Beavers—Thursdays 5:30-7 pm at GCVH, boys and girls aged 6-8 Contact Stuart Norman 07786 633959
Singleton Rainbows Wednesdays 4:15-5:15 pm at SVH Fridays 4:15-5.15 pm SVH
Cubs—Fridays 6:30-8 pm at GCVH boys and girls aged 8-10 ½ , Contact Jill Lane 01233 641773/ 07799 886549 [email protected]
1st Great Chart and Singleton Guides
Mondays; 6:30 - 8:30 pm at SVH- Contact Terry Lockwood – 07704 359434
Scouts—Mondays 7-9 pm at GCVH boys and girls aged 10 ½ -14 – contact Dave Gathern 01233 633966/ 07961202097
Dream Dragons Theatre Wednesdays 7-10 pm at SVH contact 01233 668767 or www.dreamdragons.co.uk
Peak Ma Taekwondo Tuesday 5.30pm-6.30pm Beginners 6.30pm-8pm Advanced Thursday 6.30pm-8pm Juniors 8pm-9.30pm Seniors SVH– Master Geoff 6th Dan -07836621060
St Mary’s Great Chart & Singleton Sunday services 9:30am at St Marys in Great Chart;11am at St Mary’s in Single-ton Village Hall, Hoxton Close Contact Rev Tim Wilson 01233 620371 E mail [email protected] Website www.stmarysgreatchart.org Pastoral Care: 07756 805507
Youth Club Fridays 7-9 pm SVH Ian McClintock email: [email protected]
Speed Watch-Gary Parry Great chart with Singleton Speedwatch Coordinator 01233 640110 [email protected]
Great Chart Cricket Club www.greatchartcc.co.uk
The Grapevine Community Café at Singleton Village Hall Mon & Thu am
Singleton Giant Email:[email protected] Phone: 01233 610241
Stardust Studios – Children’s Dance Classes— Classes held at SVH, Contact Natalie Kitts 01233 625786/07899 844956 [email protected]
Burton Grove Football Club Contact Justin Day Tel: 07717411029 [email protected] Pilgrims FC (Youth Football Club) Contact Name: Kyran Wilford Contact Number: 07984352008 Email: [email protected]
Grace Fellowship at Singleton Road http://www.gracefellowship.org.uk/
Abbreviations: SVH-Singleton Village Hall—GCVH-Great Chart Village Hall
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Useful Information
Allotments
Parish Clerk – 01233 616923-
Dog Warden
Colin Leek – 01233 330340 –
Litter/Overflowing bins/ fly-
tipping:
Mobile Library
Knoll Lane: Thursdays 15:50-16:05
Coronation Drive: Saturday
(fortnightly) 10:55-11:25
Aske’s Court Friday 15:45-16:15
Emergency Contacts
Emergency Services 999 Non-emergency police 101 or email to
KCC Community Support Warden – Joanna Watts
[email protected] or 07703454186
Environment Agency, General Enquiries: 03708 506 506
Floodline 0345 988 1188 Incident Reporting 0800 80 70 60
UK Powernet General Enquirers 0845 601 4516
Power cut 0800 31 63 105 and the new number 105
Gas Leaks 0800 111 999 South East Water 03330 001122
Kent County Council/ Enquiries/ Social Services 03000 414141
Booking Venues
Great Chart Village Hall— Tel: 01233 610173
Email [email protected].
Singleton Village Hall—Tel:07887 575647,
Email: [email protected]
Great Chart Playing Fields—Buxford Pavilion— Tel: 01233 427407
Email: [email protected]
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Parish Contact Details
Great Chart with Singleton North
Parish Councillors
Ian McClintock
07919 278828
Singleton South
Parish Councillors
Geoff Darvill
01233 642357 [email protected]
Yolanda Barker
01233 610241
Malcolm Eke
01233 638062
Peter Barker
01233 610 241
Sally Gathern
07815 803862
Paul Tate
07850 082023
Amanda Hodgkinson
01233 633843
Malcolm Wiffen
01233 635016
Angus Willson
07976 239295
Janet Sullivan
01233 645400
Great Chart and Singleton North Ward
Councillor
Jessamy Blanford—01233 840050
Singleton South
Ward Councillor
Bill Barrett—07449 454044
Kent County Councillor
Charlie Simkins -01233 756705
Kent County Councillor
Dara Farrell
Parish Clerk - Aniko Szocs—01233 616923 or [email protected]
Parish Office Singleton Village Hall, Hoxton Close, Ashford TN23 5LB
Office opening hours 9 am -1pm other times by arrangement.