Survey for Herne Bay clock tower

Work has started on a hi-tech structural survey of Herne Bay’s landmark clock tower. Three-dimensional laser scanning is being used on the clock tower, and engineers will also be making a hands-on inspection of every stone, fitting and fixture. Part of the survey will include the use of ‘rectified photography’, enabling an accurate scaled image of the clock tower to be made.

Following the detailed inspection, a report will be submitted to the city council, containing recommendations and cost estimates for future repairs and stonework replacement. Standing at nearly 25 metres tall, the clock tower was built in 1837 as a gift to Herne Bay from town benefactor, Anne Thwaites. The clock tower is made of Portland stone over a brick core and built in the style of a Greek temple.

The council’s senior surveyor, Colin Pengelly, said:

“Since it was built, the clock tower has been exposed to the rigours of the marine environment. Some areas have been eroded by the constant wind and salt-laden atmosphere and require remedial attention. We also need to look at some earlier, inappropriate repairs that need attention. The clock tower is not suspected of being in any immediate danger, but given its iconic importance to the town it is essential that the council knows what resources will be required to ensure its ongoing survival.”

Stonewest of Croydon has been appointed to carry out the £10,000 survey.  The company has previously carried out work on St Paul’s Cathedral and St Pancras railway station.

Runners and riders

Here are the candidates for Herne Bay for the local elections.

"Standards"

Standards for England "We believe in principled local politics. Our mission is to champion and promote high standards of conduct amongst our local politicians".

Roger Matthews did wrong. He accepts he broke the rules. Standards for England agree he broke the rules. Guess what happened next...

The Ethical Standards Officer found that, in respect of his promotion of the proposal to develop land at Greenhill, the member breached the Code of Conduct by bringing his office into disrepute. The member also breached the Code by failing to withdraw from a meeting when two planning applications in which he had a prejudicial interest were considered. The Ethical Standards Officer took all the relevant circumstances into the case before deciding that no further action needed to be taken.

Following his clearance on corruption charges in 2010, the police were less than happy (having spent a lot of time and effort on the case) and probably hoped someone could make something stick. The Standards Committee had not received an official complaint about Cllr Matthews before or during his trial. The Standards Committee do not have the power to initiate enquiries or disciplinary proceedings - they can only act in response to complaints received, and details of the complainant are not published. We don't know who lodged the complaint about Cllr Matthews with the Standards Committee.

The Standards Committee decided, for whatever reason, that this was too big/difficult/hot to handle and passed it up to Standards for England, their overseeing body. The heroic and highly principled conclusion that Standards for England have arrived at is to do absolutely nothing. Their "reasoning" being that the trial had been expensive, Matthews had withdrawn from his party, and there's an election soon anyway. CCC's Standards Committee cannot appeal against this decision.

"Standards for England" - aren't they breaching the Trades Descriptions Act in some way? Cllr Matthews appears in today's papers saying "I broke the rules"; Standards for England's investigation confirm this; no action is taken, no sanction imposed.

---

Read the Standards for England report.

Complain about Standards for England HERE.

---

HBHRS Wine & Wisdom 26th March

HBHRS Wine & Wisdom Evening at Christ Church: Entry by ticket, details TBA.

The town's councillors

Tuesday 15th March 6:30pm

Salvation Army Hall, 33 Richmond Street, Herne Bay

Rejoice, dear reader - a special day approaches! Half a dozen or so times a year the chosen few gather together to discuss and vote on things that matter to Herne Bay. On Tuesday, our town councillors will assemble at the Salvation Army Hall, eager to answer your questions. Someone from the Royal Mail will be there to "discuss the concerns" about the experimental system that was inflicted on us before Christmas (and before the snow). The councillors will be deciding where to reinstate the Red Shelter, AKA the Threepenny Bit Shelter; they'll also be neglecting public gardens to save money; considering parish grant applications; discussing No Fishing signs and road re-surfacing; and hearing from the Coastal Towns Manager.

It's an open public meeting.

---

1. Apologies for absence

2. Disclosures by members and officers

Members and officers are invited to declare any interests and whether the nature of them is prejudicial or personal.

3. Public Question and answer session PDF 54 KB

A written question has been received from Dick Eburne on the existing powers of Parish Councils and the cost to the taxpayer of these Councils. His questions and the officers responses are attached to the agenda.

Additional documents:

• Questions from Dick Eburne, item 3. PDF 64 KB
• eburne appendix, item 3. PDF 1 MB

4. Public participation

Provided that notification has been given to the Chief Executive by 12.30pm on Monday 14 March 2011, members of the public may speak on any item on the agenda for a maximum of three minutes. The Chairman to report any notification received.

5. Minutes - 1 February 2011 PDF 75 KB

To confirm as a true record.

6. Actions arising from the last meeting not dealt with by separate reports

7. Royal Mail

At the last meeting the Panel AGREED that a representative of Royal Mail be invited to attend the next meeting of the Panel to discuss the concerns regarding the experimental system for postal deliveries in Herne Bay.

Heulyn Davies, Senior External Relations Manager, Andrew Mills, Head of Deliveries for Kent and Martin Woods, Delivery Lead Kent Project will be attending the meeting as Royal Mail's representatives.

8. Forthcoming decision list - 1 March to 30 June 2011 PDF 73 KB

TO REVIEW the list and consider if the Panel should be consulted on any of the decision topics.

9. Kent County Council's Forward Plan

At the present time there are no relevant decisions on Kent County Council's Forward Plan that will affect the Herne Bay area.

10 Green Shelter relocation PDF 81 KB

Jeffrey Hall, the City Councils Asset Inspector, will attend.

11. Parish Councils Capital Grant Applications PDF 87 KB

TO CONSIDER the report of the Head of Community Development and Outdoor Leisure

Additional documents:

• APPENDIX 1 Overall CIFT Totals All Parishes 2011-12, item 11. PDF 58 KB

12. Changes to planting and maintenance arrangements

Further to the discussions at the last meeting, officers have advised that the specification for some shrubs will be reduced from "ornamental" to "amenity" throughout the district. In practice all this means is that the shrubs will be pruned less frequently and the weeding done less often.

The areas affected are: 

• Dane John
• The Three Cemeteries
• War Memorial Park
• Tower and Waltrop Gardens

Three years ago substantial savings were made on bedding plants and the amount of bedding throughout the district was reduced in the less sensitive areas. Officers received very few comments about this and the changes went largely unnoticed. It is thought the same will be true of the changes in shrub maintenance.  TO NOTE

13. No fishing signs at the pond , memorial park, Herne Bay

TO DISCUSS, at the request of Councillor Ron Flaherty, the appearance of the above signs. The City Council's Outdoor Leisure Manager has advised that fishing in the boating lake is illegal due to the following byelaw.  10 (iii) "take, injury or destroy, or attempt to take, injury or destroy any fish in any such water, or willfully disturb or worry any waterfowl".  Every so often people start fishing in the boating lake and the police / PCSO's and staff ask people to stop due to the byelaw.  A review of the open space byelaws was discussed at a Members briefing on 5^th January 2011 and it was agreed to defer a review so that the implications of the Localism Bill could be considered.

14. Resurfacing of roads in Herne Bay

To DISCUSS, at the request of Councillor Matthews, the following questions:  Can KCC advise why newly re-laid roads are breaking up?  Is a lower standard of surfacing being used than in the past?  Is there any national standard on resurfacing roads?

15. Progress report of the Coastal Towns Manager PDF 56 KB

TO NOTE the report of the Head of Culture and Enterprise

16. Date of next meeting

It is anticipated that the next meeting will be held on Tuesday 7 June 2011 at 6.30pm in the Salvation Army Hall, 33 Richmond Street, Herne Bay, subject to the annual Council meeting approving this date. Future panel dates, also subject to annual Council meeting approval are as follows

• 19 July 2011
• 13 September 2011
•  8 November 2011
• 3 January 2012
• 13 March 2012

All at 6.30pm in the Salvation Army Hall.

17. Any other urgent business to be dealt with in public

18. Any other urgent business which falls under the exempt provisions of the local government act 1972 or the freedom of information act 2000 or both.

It will be necessary to pass a resolution to exclude the press and public for any business under this item.

HBHRS Lecture 17th March

Mr. Ian Tittley: "History of the Natural History of North Kent"

The Herne Bay Historical Records Society Lecture meetings are held in the Lower Hall, Herne Bay United Church, High Street, Herne Bay (click here for a picture). Doors open from 6.30pm, the lectures start at 7:00pm. Meetings are open to members and guests.

The meetings are free to Members on production of their Membership cards (if requested). Visitors may attend if there is room, when a charge of £2.00 per meeting will be made. The Annual Subscription for 2010/2011 is £10.00 per member, falling due on October 1st.

Bottle tops!

At last there's something useful to do with your plastic bottle top collection. Local artist Karen Simpson has put out the call for bottle tops, which she will magically transform into a deck chair! Karen has an impressive track record of making silk purses out of sow's ears through her Shore is a load of rubbish initiative, and has displayed her work across Kent.

Have a look at her Shore is a Load of Rubbish website to see the deckchair taking shape, and see the FlotsamWeave website for more of her work.

Party on the Pier

WHEN: Saturday 12 March 2011 from 10am – 10pm
WHERE: Pier Pavilion Herne Bay
WHY: To celebrate 100 years of roller skating
WHAT: Free events for everyone to enjoy
HOW: Just come along!
 
10:00 to 11:30    Family Skating Session
11:30 to 12:30    Artistic Skating Workshop
12:30 to 14:00    Roller Hockey Workshop
14:30 to 16:00    Family Skating Session
16:00 to 17:30    Roller Derby
17:30 to 19:00    Roller Hockey Match
19:00 to 21:00    Social Skate
21:00 to 22:00    Roller Disco

All events are free.

Exhibition of roller skating memorabilia in the Pier Cafe all day.

Herne Bay Pier Trust members may claim free skate hire for them and their family by quoting their membership number. Non-members will be charged for skate hire only.

The Herne Bay Pier Trust in association with Southern Water is proud to sponsor a day filled with fun and activities for all ages at the launch of British Tourism Week 2011. The National Piers Society invited every pier in the country to join in this celebration of our nation’s piers and seaside heritage, encouraging residents and tourists to visit and highlighting the importance of maintaining and restoring our piers.
 
Herne Bay’s pier was unique. It was the second longest in the country and the first to install a permanent roller skating rink. Our roller hockey teams compete at international level and have played at the pier since the beginning of the last century. This hundred year old history of skating on our pier will come to an end in 2011 when the current pier pavilion is demolished and a new rink opens at Greenhill. So we decided to make our Party on the Pier a very special celebration of this unique relationship.

Sponsored and supported by Herne Bay Pier Trust and Southern Water in association with British Tourism Week.

Windfarm extension: Vattenfall says...

Kentish Flats Extension

Vattenfall has started a discussion and consultation with the local community, local authorities and statutory consultees regarding the extension of Kentish Flats Offshore Wind Farm. It would like to extend the 30-turbine scheme by between 10 and 17 turbines and if 3 megawatt (MW) turbines are used this would give an additional installed total capacity of between 30 and 51MW.

If consented and built Vattenfall expects the extension to generate between 90,000 megawatt hours and just over 150,000 megawatt hours (MWh) of green electricity every year, which is equivalent to the total annual electricity needs of between 20,000 UK households and 35,000 UK households*.

If extended, Kentish Flats, with between 120 and 141MW total installed capacity would be expected to generate between 350,00MWh and just over 430,000MWh of green electricity every year, which is equivalent to the total annual electricity needs of between 82,000 UK households and 96,000 UK households.

Due to its size the proposal will be considered and consented by the Infrastructure Planning Commission following an extensive community consultation with the people of Kent. Discussions with the IPC have already taken place and if you would like to find out more about the consultation process please visit:
IPC- Kentish Flats extension - Pre-application (new window)
IPC - planning commission (new window)

The zone that Vattenfall is considering to develop the extension in is more than 7km from shore and covers nearly 8 sq km. More information will follow shortly about Vattenfall's plans, the community consultation and how the public can effectively engage with Vattenfall ahead of a planning application sometime in 2011.

In May this year Vattenfall was offered the opportunity to extend both Kentish Flats and Thanet Offshore Wind Farms by The Crown Estate, which leases the seabed on behalf of the UK Government to wind farm developers like Vattenfall. Vattenfall assessed the feasibility of both projects and has decided to seek consent from the IPC for an extension to Kentish Flats only.

The Crown Estate (new window)

The 90MW Kentish Flats has been generating green electricity since 2005. Find out more about this project by visiting:
Kentish Flats Offshore Wind Farm (www.vattenfall.com, new window)

*This is calculated in the following way:
Number of hours in the year: 8760
Installed capacity: 30 to 51MW
Average industry capacity factor for offshore wind: 35%
Average annual UK household electricity consumption: 4,478 kilowatt hours (kWh)
For example: (8760 x 30 x 35%) x 1000 = 91,980,000kWh divided by 4,478 = 20,540 homes.

Windfarm extension: your opinion

The Vattenfall roadshow came to town, well the King's Hall, to tell all-comers about the proposed extra turbines at the Kentish Flats windfarm, 5 miles off the Herne Bay coast.

They lease the seabed from the Crown Estate, and their lease is measured in megawatts (MW) of electricity output. The proposed extension permits 51MW of production. If they install turbines that are the same size as the current ones, they will need 17 new turbines. Their planning application would allow then to install bigger turbines, but there would have to be fewer of them, to stay within the 51MW limit.

The Vattenfall guy I spoke to said that Vattenfall were just keeping their options open as to what kind/size of turbine to install when they start construction - in 2014, according to the plan. I assume their eventual decision will be guided by profit.

See, print or download a copy of the Public Opinion Survey here. Or fill it in online at Vattenfall's website here.

Annual Projects and Business Exhibition

The exhibition aims to engage with the local residents and businesses of Herne Bay, providing information on the progress made on the live regeneration projects over the past twelve months and about future plans for the town. Project Officers attend the event to discuss and answer any questions on any of the projects featured.

Last year we attracted a record attendance with over five hundred people visiting the exhibition in a single afternoon. Topics included: the Central Development Area proposals, the relocation of the pier sports centre to Herne Bay High School, the Pier, Memorial Park improvements, Beach Street to Central Parade and the Herne Bay Festival.

You are invited to the Annual Herne Bay Projects Exhibition on Wednesday 9th March 2011 (2 - 7pm) at the King’s Hall. The event will display a series of information stands on many of the major regeneration, business and community projects happening in Herne Bay. It is an opportunity for you to catch up on the progress made over the last twelve months and to view the plans for the future. City councillors and project officers will be available to answer your questions and provide more information about any of the projects featured; some of those you can expect to see include:

• The Central Development Area Masterplan
• The Herons Leisure Centre Extension
• Herne Bay High School Sports Arena
• The Memorial Park Improvement Plan
• The Future Options for Herne Bay Pier
• The Reculver Country Park
• The Friends of Herne Bay Museum
• Bay Card: The loyalty card for Herne Bay
• Herne Bay Festival 2011
• The Oyster Coastal Cycle Route
• Play Provider Nework
• Age Concern
• Herne Bay in Bloom
• The Friends of the Downs

Please put this date in your diary, tell your family, friends and neighbours, everyone is welcome; your participation is important in shaping the future of Herne Bay.

We look forward to meeting you at the Exhibition!

Windfarm extension consultation

Vattenfall is in the process of putting together an application to add up to 17 wind turbines to the existing 30 turbines at the five-year old Kentish Flats wind farm.  It’s really important that the community and all those with an interest in our proposal to extend Kentish Flats get involved and tell us what they think.

From 31 January until 4 March 2011 Vattenfall is conducting a community consultation regarding the proposed extension which is located off the coast near Herne Bay and Whitstable.

There will be two public consultation events in February in Herne Bay and Whitstable and we encourage as many people as possible to come along:

Wednesday 23 February 2pm – 8pm, Kings Hall, Beacon Hill, Herne Bay
Thursday 24 February 2pm – 8pm, Whitstable Castle, Tower Hill, Whitstable

Recycling bags

The unutterable shambles drags on. Canterbury City Council's ham-fisted penny-pinching, masquerading as waste reduction and cost saving, has proved such a failure that even they have had to accept it. I expect they'll say 'you said, we listened'. They never say 'we screwed up, we're sorry'.

Once upon a time, we had adequate numbers of adequate recycling bags, and could get more from the Council offices if we ran out. The Council decided that some 40% of the bags being distributed for recycling were not being used for recycling. Their solution was to distribute fewer bags and make us register if we needed more. Coincidentally, and to worsen the situation, these bags provided under the new regime were of inferior quality - the initial batches were simply not fit for purpose.

Not surprisingly it all went wrong, in entirely predictable ways. The bags split, so people double-bagged their rubbish, and got through their small supply of bags at twice the rate. Registering for more bags was not a smooth or convenient process for many. People resorted to using carrier bags, or just putting their recycling rubbish in the landfill bins. The Council said we could BUY more recycling bags from the supermarkets. Bloody cheek.

The Council repeatedly told us what a great idea it was and how swimmingly well it was going, how the wrinkles would be ironed out, and it was all for the best in the long run. But now, at very long last, the penny seems to have dropped. The Executive meeting on Valentine's Day now has an extra, urgent item to consider regarding the provision of recycling bags. The preamble says "the service would benefit from an increase in sacks offered. This has followed customer feedback which has been critical of the number and quality offered" - a lot of under-statement in a small space, if you ask me.

Your local crime stats

If you're of a nervous disposition, or prone to fretting, this may not be for you. On the other hand, it may be just the thing to put your mind at rest. The Government has decided that it would be a good thing for us all to know just how much crime is going on in our neighbourhoods. The idea behind this is that once we have some hard facts at our fingertips, rather than hysterical scare-mongering from the media, we will be better able to tell the police what we need and want from them. Hmmm.

---

The Home Secretary (Theresa May) says that this is just the start of greater transparency in crime, policing and justice and will allow people to hold their local forces to account.

"We want people to be able to see what crime is happening on their street and to be able to tell their local police if they have concerns, and challenge them about how issues are being dealt with. From today, this new information will allow them to do just that.

This is a major achievement, reconnecting the police and communities through the power of information. But this is just the start. We want to build on this by working with the police and communities to explore how we can go further and faster and drive forward even greater transparency across crime, policing and justice."

---

Anyway, if you're up to it, click over to www.police.uk where you can bash in your postcode and see the awful/unvarnished/encouraging truth, depending on where you live.

Herne Bay's redevelopment

A scheme for the redevelopment of Herne Bay town centre is now moving to the next stage in the approval process. Plans for the Herne Bay Central Development Area (CDA) will be considered at various city council meetings – Overview and Scrutiny Committee on Wednesday 26 January, a special Herne Bay Area Member Panel on Tuesday 1 February, Development Control Committee on Tuesday 8 February, a special Executive on Monday 14 February and Full Council on Thursday 17 February.

Consultation on the draft development brief for the CDA took place last summer. Around 120 written responses were received, showing that local people were broadly in favour of the plans. Issues raised included the need to maintain a good level of parking, a desire to see Herne Bay’s Victorian architecture reflected in any scheme and concern about possible impact on retailers in Mortimer Street and the High Street.

The council has been working through all the comments and amendments have been made to the scheme to address them. These will now be discussed by councillors at the forthcoming meetings. Papers for these will be available at council offices and on the council’s website five days before each one. Members of the public can register to speak by emailing democraticservices@canterbury.gov.uk or calling 01227 862004 at least one working day before the committee.

The comments and the council’s response to them can be viewed on the Herne Bay Projects page on the council’s website.

To read the supporting committee report, visit the committee meetings page (item 8).

The council is also gearing up for the annual Herne Bay projects and business exhibition at the Kings Hall between 2pm and 7pm on Wednesday 9 March. This popular annual event will update local people on the progress being made on the town’s big projects, including the Central Development Area.

Town Centre Development - consultation outcome

As you may remember, dear reader, Canterbury City Council very kindly ran a public consultation exercise last summer/autumn to find out what Herne Bay thought of their proposals for our town centre. This is the development that centres on the William Street car park, and involves putting up a large supermarket next to the, er, current supermarket, and building a hotel and some shops and houses.

The consultation ended on September 26th 2010, and the Council are now ready to tell us the results. (What took them so long?) The object of the exercise, according to Council policy HB1 is:

Planning Permission will be granted for proposals which deliver the comprehensive and high quality redevelopment of this prominent town centre site to act as a catalyst for the overall regeneration of the town in accordance with the Development Principles Supplementary Planning Document that accompanies the Area Action Plan. 

Such redevelopment should provide additional community, residential, retail, health, office and leisure uses, create a new south facing built frontage to the rear of 108 – 224 High Street, establish clear and strong pedestrian links across the site to William Street and to the Memorial Park, and deliver high quality and co-ordinated public realm and retain overall levels of car parking.

"Public realm" - a phrase that never sees the light of day in everyday conversation, so why use it in public documents?

Anyway, the results are out and will be presented at the next town councillors meeting - the Herne Bay Area Members Panel, Salvation Army Hall, 33 Richmond Street, Herne Bay, Tuesday, 1st February, 2011 6.30 pm.

No Post? Here's a number to call

Hats off to Kay McPherson for tracking down a phone number that seems to make a difference: she called it, then her post turned up. It might work for you.

Ring the number and report your problems

I agree with Dan Woollett. The postal service in Beltinge is just not happening at the moment. For the last two weeks I have used the Royal Mail customer services line to lodge a fail-to-deliver complaint. Then my post arrives two days later. Both times they claim no one else has had the same problem.

Please encourage your readers to phone 08457 740740 and report when post does not come as this new system is just not good service. If this trial area does not make its voice heard then the country will suffer in the future.

HB Gazette letters, 16th December 2010

---

Well, there you have it, dear readers - the future of the country is in our hands. It's your patriotic duty to complain, so now you know that you have the unimpeachable moral high ground, get cracking!

3rd Class Post

At last, we have something that looks like an explanation for our local postal service falling apart. One of my many tireless and diligent spies has been out and about quizzing the foot-soldiers of the Postal Empire, and has managed to winkle out some worthwhile information. As many people had been suspecting for a while, we have fallen foul of progress, in particular the Post Office's evidently bonkers notion of "four wheels good, two wheels bad".

---

Sent: Monday, December 13, 2010 8:33 PM

To: hernebaygazette@thekmgroup.co.uk

Subject: Mail deliveries in Herne Bay

I read with interest the letter in last weeks Gazette "What is happening to our Post deliveries", as I and a considerable number of others in Herne Bay have been having similar problems since mid-November (before the snow & ice). I have on a number of occasions been to the Sorting Office to enquire if there was a problem as my and my neighbours deliveries had dropped from daily to what appears to be every 4 days, when we receive a larger than normal delivery.

Each time the answer has been that there was no problem and the mail was being sent out as normal. However, one postman I asked did give me a sensible answer. Namely, that the problems have arisen since the Royal Mail stopped using Bicycles and moved to the current “Trolley” system. It appears that there are not sufficient vehicles to ferry the postman, their trolleys and the mail to all the required locations and as such a sort of rota system is in operation.

The response from the post-person seems logical and does explain the lack of deliveries. If this is the case, why will not the local sorting office tell us what is happening and what they are doing to correct the matter. Or is this yet another way of justifying the potential move to Canterbury. And on a matter of principle, if they cannot deliver to the Service Levels, why do they continue to accept first & second class mail only to deliver a third world service?

Regards
A.W. – Herne Bay

King's Hall wins the People's Millions

RESULT! The King's Hall is in line for £49,970 worth of rejuvenation, courtesy of the People's Millions.

The project will see students and staff of Canterbury College work with Herne Bay Conservation Trust to rejuvenate an Edwardian historic building, the King's Hall, overlooking the sea on the Downs at Herne Bay.

Students still seeking employment will gain two additional qualifications working on the project in scaffolding and Health and Safety. When completed, the old theatre foyer will provide an exhibition space and a cultural centre which the entrant states the town badly needs.

It will be used by students and local groups to showcase work in sculpture, art, photography and the College’s music students offer weekend performances.

Posted by mctrout on 23 Nov 2010
This would be a wonderful opportunity to make greater use of this splendid Edwardian building and rejuvenate the foyer area to create a more attractive community space.

Posted by The_Pitts on 23 Nov 2010
Herne Bay is in dire need of good community spaces. This project will provide an excellent venue for local organisations and the community as a whole.

Fight Night Flights

HB Times 28th Oct 2010