Minutes of the Annual Parish Assembly held at the Memorial Hall, School Lane, on Thursday, 24^th April 2003 at 7.30 p.m.

Present: Cllr Mrs J.M.Papadopulos (Vice Chairman in the Chair).

County Councillor:- Cllr. F.Gibson, O.B.E.

Borough Councillor:- Cllr. W.G.Dyke.

Councillors:- J.D.Goring, J.A.Grey, A.L.Howard, M.L.James,

C.L.Jupp, Mrs P.Oakeshott (also Borough), Mrs S.Saunders

and Mrs A.Waugh.

In attendance: Rural Warden Steve Enright.

53 Parishioners.

Apologies for absence: Received from Cllrs. Brice and Parr, W.P.C.Mears and Katy Hill.

In the absence of the Chairman, the Meeting was chaired by the Vice Chairman, Cllr. Jennifer Papadopulos, who warmly welcomed those present to the Meeting. She placed on record the thanks of the Parish Council for all the hard work carried out by Councillors Bill Dyke and Linda Parr who were not seeking re-election in May. She also wished to thank Cllr. Peter Brice, who had decided to stand down from the Parish Council, having served for the past 20 years (16 of them as Chairman) and would not be seeking re-election in May. Cllr. Papadopulos observed that his passion for "quality of life" issues within the village would be greatly missed.

She introduced the remaining Members of the Parish Council and Les Pearton and Stuart Wright, who would be joining the Parish Council in May, due to an uncontested election in the village.

Cllr. Papadopulos explained that the format for the evening would be the same as the previous year. Most reports normally given at the Assembly were now contained in the Parish Newsletter, which had been circulated throughout the village. The Chairman emphasized that the Parish Council still wished to hear the views and opinions of those Parishioners present, and she invited them to make comment accordingly.

The Minutes of the Annual Parish Assembly, held on Thursday, 25^th April 2002, were confirmed and signed.

The Chairman introduced Rural Warden Steve Enright who was now based at Higham Library. Mr Enright reported that he saw his rural warden role as being the eyes and ears of the village, collecting and collating information from residents and passing it on to the rural beat officer. His duties could be as diverse as dealing with anti-social behaviour to arranging the disposal of abandoned cars. At the present time he was promoting the neighbourhood watch scheme within the village and had a Meeting arranged the following week with the local co-ordinators. He was also investigating funding for the provision of replacement anti-vandal fencing to the Multi-Purpose Games Area, which it was hoped would encourage more local people to use the facility. In addition, he was obtaining information on skateboarding equipment to determine if it might be feasible to have a skateboard park on the Recreation Ground.

Cllr. Oakeshott reported that, following her article on rural housing needs in the current newsletter, several people had already come forward with details of sites for consideration. She reminded Parishioners that it was anticipated that the development would take place on small sites of up to 4 dwellings - there would be no large estates within the village. One site currently under consideration was at Grove Farm where some cottages had been demolished in the early 1970's. It was hoped that three two bedroomed dwellings would be able to be provided on this site and plans would soon be available for consideration. She appealed to Parishioners to provide details of any other sites for consideration so that young people and young families would have the chance to remain in the village.

The Chairman ensured that all persons present had a copy of the "Higham Parish Council Annual Newsletter and Reports 2003" booklet before proceeding further. She proposed that all reports would be taken as read and invited comments from Parishioners at the end of each item.

1. Allotments (P.13)
2. Planning (P.8)
3. Recreation Ground (P.12)

The draft simplified statement of accounts for 2002/03 (P.6) was agreed by those present, this being proposed by Cllr. Oakeshott, and seconded by Cllr. Goring. Those present noted that the balance to be carried forward into the new financial year was £16,052.41, and that this figure included unused general and specific contingency funds, and funds for work carried out, and for which invoices were still awaited.

Cllr. Gibson congratulated the Parish Council on its Golden Jubilee Celebrations which had been awarded a Congratulatory Certificate from the County Council. He highlighted the new Government Formula for the funding of Local Government which had seen Kent only receive a 3.9% increase in contrast to other authorities in the North and Midlands which were awarded up to 8%. In order to preserve services, the County Council had agreed an increase of 12.5% in its Council Tax for the forthcoming year. The Audit Commission had rated Kent County Council as an "Excellent" authority, the top assessment achieved by only 22 of the 150 Councils examined. The Kent and Medway Joint Structure Plan had now been approved in draft and would be submitted for Public Examination later in the year. Under the Sustainable Communities Plan, the Deputy Prime Minister had now demanded that an additional 116,000 houses needed to be built in Kent, than had been previously required for the Structure Plan. This would put more pressure on the countryside and would need additional funding in the region of £7.4 billion for the provision of the necessary transport, schools, health and social services, which at the present time was not forthcoming.

The inclusion of Cliffe as an option in the South East Regional Airport Strategy had come like a bolt from the blue. The successful application for a judicial review by Kent, Medway and Essex Councils had caused the consultation process to be extended until the end of June and the consideration of Gatwick alongside Heathrow and Stansted. The white paper was widely expected to be published by the end of the year. The Regional Assemblies Bill, introduced in the Queen's speech, could affect the future existence of Kent County and the District Councils as we know them. The proposed South East Assembly could cover an area from Oxford to Dover and its representatives would be less than one fifth of the current number of MP's for the region. It was possible that the planning powers for both the County and District could be replaced by Local Development Frameworks.

Cllr. Gibson reported that the scheme for signing the lorry route to Hoo Junction was now progressing. He had been appointed to a Group of Members who would advise on the brief for the Scoping Study and Consultation Process for the proposed North Kent Regional Park.

He thanked District and Parish Members for their personal support over the past year.

Cllr. Dyke highlighted the proposed closure of the Higham Tunnel for a 12 month period from January 2004 to allow for the tunnel to be relined and necessary repairs and upgrading works to the tracks to be carried out. He thanked the Members for supporting him during the time he had represented the village as one of the District Council Representatives.

Cllr. Oakeshott reported that the necessary finance for the improvements to the traffic calming scheme had been ring fenced and she had asked if it would be possible to have weight restrictions placed on Forge Lane, Villa Road and School Lane. The newly refurbished Town Pier in Gravesend would be open by July. She thanked the Borough Council for continuing to cut the grass to the Recreation Ground. The Borough had funded a new cupboard for Age Concern at Merston Court.

The Chairman apologised that the report from Delia Goldie and the Options Club had unfortunately been omitted from the newsletter, but it had been placed inside as an insert.

She thanked Judi Stanley for all her help in compiling the copy material for the newsletter.

Eileen Harding of the DCPS and Cliffe Airport Campaign Liaison Group reported that the Group had now attended over 65 Meetings to do with the Cliffe Airport issue. She thanked all those who had already written to object to the proposals for Cliffe and reminded others that the deadline had now been extended until the end of June.

All those present watched the RSPB presentation on the Cliffe Marshes.

Eileen Harding introduced Perry Haines from the RSPB who confirmed that the Membership had, to date, donated some £850,000 to the war chest for the "No Airport" campaign, making it one of the most successful ever undertaken. He reminded Parishioners about the current RSPB postcard campaign which had already ensured that Alistair Darling had received in excess of 120,000 postcards objecting to the Cliffe proposal. He assured Parishioners that the RSPB would continue to work alongside the local community and urged all those who had not already objected to do so before the deadline expired.

Cllr. Waugh thanked Eileen Harding and Perry Haines for attending the Meeting.

Several Parishioners voiced concerns regarding the planned closure of the Higham Tunnel. Cllr. Oakeshott explained that part of the station car park would not be able to be used as it would contain the contractors equipment and vehicles, and the approach to the station would need to be kept clear to allow access for emergency vehicles. The Parish Council would endeavour to arrange a Public Meeting with Network Rail during the summer so that all Parishioners would be aware of the arrangements in good time.

None was brought to the attention of the Meeting.

Cllr. Oakeshott introduced Bob Ogley who gave an interesting talk entitled "Wind of Change".

Cllr. Waugh thanked Mr Ogley for attending the Meeting.

This was given as being Thursday, 29^th April 2004 at 7.30 p.m.

On behalf of the acting Chairman, who had left the Meeting during the interval for another engagement, Cllr. Oakeshott thanked fellow Members of the Parish Council, the County Representative, and Borough Representatives, for their support over the past year.

She thanked the Clerk for her continued hard work.

She thanked lady Councillors and Lesley Topping for providing a delicious buffet with wine.

Finally, in closing, she thanked all Parishioners for attending the Meeting and welcomed them back next year, and to future Meetings of the Parish Council.

There being no other business, the Meeting closed at 10.20 p.m.

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