Visible Policing - have your say

Invitation to attend 'Saving Visible Community Policing' conference - Friday 6th December.

It is our pleasure to invite you to our 'Saving Visible Community Policing' conference on the morning of Friday the 6th December 2013 at the Kent Police College, Coverdale Avenue, Maidstone, ME15 9DW. This is a real opportunity for you to have your say on the next round of funding cuts and to debate the impact on policing in the county.

You may be all too familiar with the stresses and strains of resourcing and funding cuts on our vital public services. Crime and public safety are of utmost importance to our communities, families and friends. Therefore, when making key decisions, we want to ensure that we consult as widely and in-depth as possible.  That's where we need you.

As a resident of Kent, you play a part in keeping our community safe and quite rightly you should have a say in the future of policing in the county. That's why we are particularly keen to have your input and considered views on the next round of policing cuts, including the possible impact on visible community policing.

The event will set out a number of scenarios and options and it's a chance to get everyone involved in shaping the future of Kent's policing. We hope you will take up this invaluable opportunity to speak to both of us by attending our event.

So please find out more here and book your place today.

Budget = Cuts

Council bosses say increasing income and prioritising "core services" will be their focus as they battle with another cut in government grants. Parking charges will rise and the district's share of council tax will go up by the maximum two per cent allowed (unless a local referendum takes place) as officials try to balance Canterbury City Council's (CCC) budget.

The authority must slash £5.5 million by 2017-18, in addition to £4 million already found through savings from schemes including shutting Herne Bay, Whitstable and Canterbury Heritage museums for winter.

Although the amount of central Government grant to be awarded will not be formally announced until next month, CCC expects a cut of 13 per cent for 2014-15 – a reduction of £1.3 million from £10.2million to £8.9 million.

For the year 2015-16 the authority expects a further reduction of 16 per cent, taking the grant down to £7.5 million. Additional reductions are forecast at nine per cent for 2016-17 and ten per cent for 2017-18.

Council services have been ranked in order of importance to help work out where money should be spent and where savings can be made, but city council chief executive Colin Carmichael warned tough decisions lie ahead. He said:

"It is a very significant reduction and we can't just carry on doing things the same way. We have to work out what our core business is. There is no way to just carry on squeezing everything and trying to find the extra savings. It will not work. Within the next few years, councillors have to make a decision on what we won't do any more."

Consultation on the new proposals will start after they have been discussed by members of the council's ruling executive committee tonight (Thursday 7th Nov). They include raising parking charges in some city centre car parks by 20p an hour, and increasing the authority's proportion of the council tax by two per cent, or about 7p a week for a Band D property. The hike would bring in an extra £170,000 a year.

Officials can boost income by making sure planned new homes are built, earning a portion of the Government's new homes bonus. There is also rental income from Whitefriars shopping centre and other property, including the Military Road offices left empty by staff cuts. But Mr Carmichael warned that services would be affected:

"If people care enough about their local services they will get involved and they can find different ways of doing things. It has already worked with the Westgate Hall and it could work elsewhere. We also need managers within the council to come up with creative ways to reduce costs and increase income."

No large-scale redundancy programme is planned, but vacant posts may not be filled and each department will continue to be reviewed. Each service has been set a 20 per cent savings target between now and 2016. Cuts could also be made to the civic office, with the Lord Mayor undertaking fewer engagements. The council may also now charge for any house or street renaming services. Council leader John Gilbey said:

"The world of local government funding has now changed forever. We have to accept that there is less money available."

thisiskent 7th November 2013

MOD Shoeburyness - Forthcoming Activity Alert 18-27 November 2013

Detailed below is advance notification of activities which may be noticed in your neighbourhood. All of the limitations and stipulations outlined below apply.

*Date *

Reason for Notification

18 November 2013

Explosions may be noticed.

19, 20, 21 November 2013

Gunfire and Explosions may be noticed, 08:00.

22 November 2013

Explosions may be noticed.

Some Public Right of Way routes will remain closed overnight.

23 & 24 November 2013

Some Public Right of Way routes will remain closed.

25 & 26 November 2013

Gunfire may be noticed.

27 November 2013

Gunfire and Explosions may be noticed.

Note:

Local Gunfire = Gunfire that is likely to be noticed only by communities close to MOD Shoeburyness.

Gunfire = Gunfire that may be noticed by communities in the vicinity of the Thames Estuary.

Explosions = Explosions that may be noticed by communities in the vicinity of the Thames Estuary.

MOD SHOEBURYNESS WEBSITE

This information was correct at the time of publishing. The most accurate and up to date information can be found on the MOD Shoeburyness website at www.shoeburyness.qinetiq.com, why not visit and save it to your favourites for quick access.

I hope that you find this information useful. Please feel free to pass it on to your neighbours.

Pier news: decking to be replaced for £140k

More than 700 square metres of the timber decking that surrounds the central tarmac area on Herne Bay pier will be replaced in a project costing around £140,000.

Inspections have shown that while the pier's substructure is sound, the timber runners and decking are not in such good condition and have deteriorated since the pavilion was removed. The area around the seaward end has been closed off for safety reasons, but the repairs will mean it can reopen.

The council's Executive member for Herne Bay pier, Cllr Jean Law, said the work would ensure the pier will continue to be an asset for the town. She added:

"The future for the pier is looking really bright, with the success of the new beach hut village and some great events that have taken place this year – and more to come in the run-up to Christmas. We are also hoping for some exciting proposals to come through from potential operators of the main deck area. We're very pleased to be getting this work done to the decking out of peak season so that disruption is kept to a minimum and hope people like the end result."

The 12 village beach huts will remain open for business throughout the work and hut tenants are asking for the continued support of customers. The popular helter-skelter is scheduled to return for Christmas clad in lights and there will be additional children's stalls.

Santa will be at the business fair in Mortimer Street on the first weekend in December and then on the pier each weekend until Christmas, and the Pier Trust is organising German-style market stalls at the pier entrance each weekend in December. Charity groups or traders wanting a space should email david.mccormick@tiscali.co.uk

Chairman of the Pier Trust, Doreen Stone, said:

"The trust is delighted that the extensive renovation of the wood on and beneath the pier by the city council is starting and will be fully cooperating with the engineers while this work takes place. We're looking forward to weeks of activities in the lead-up to Christmas, so come and join in the fun and support your pier."

CCC website

Beach hut owners to start paying market rent

Canterbury City Council is seeking views on future charging arrangements for beach huts. Ongoing tenancy negotiations with Beach Hut Owners' Associations prompted the council to seek external legal advice on its position. As a result, a number of changes are being made to beach hut tenancies and the associated fees.

The council's barrister provided very clear legal advice that it is obliged to run its beach huts on a commercial basis and charge a market rent at the earliest opportunity – which is when the new tenancy agreement comes in to effect on 1 April 2014. Otherwise the council would not be acting in the best interest of general tax payers living in the district.

Operating commercially means that the council can no longer offer a reduced rate to residents of Canterbury district compared to non-residents, or offer the long term discount to owners who have had a hut for more than 15 years.

The council must also stop charging hut owners a 'supplementary rental fee' of five times annual rent should they sell their hut. This had been applied to try and keep annual rents down. However, instead of applying this charge (of anywhere between £1,380 and £1,840), the council will now only charge an administration fee of £463 to hut vendors to cover staff costs.

To ensure that the market rent is set fairly and independently, the council appointed an external valuation office to make that assessment. This work was carried out for the council by DVS, who operate on behalf of HM Customs and Revenue and who used rent levels at over 50 other comparative sites, amongst other information, to calculate the market value.

So pretty, so welcoming.

The current 2013/14 fees are £276 in Herne Bay and £368 in Tankerton per year. Subletting is not currently allowed and the cost of selling a hut is between £1380 and £1840.

DVS have advised that for 2013/14, the annual market rent for Herne Bay should be £475 and Tankerton should be £650 – payable by all hut owners. If subletting is allowed, the market rent increases by 20%. However, the cost of selling a hut would be reduced to £463.

The council is aware that the annual increases will be difficult for some beach hut owners. To help make this easier, the council is considering applying the move to market rents over the maximum acceptable period of two years – views on this are being sought as part of the consultation.

The consultation is also asking for views on the market rent set by DVS and whether sub-letting should be allowed or not. The matter will be considered by the Overview and Executive committees in December.

Chief Executive Colin Carmichael said:

"Having received the barrister's clear advice, the council has a statutory duty to comply."

Executive member for foreshore services, Cllr Peter Vickery-Jones, said:

"I am genuinely unhappy that we are having to put these proposals forward. We are mindful of how difficult this will be for some beach hut owners and we have done our level best to lessen the impact as much as possible.

However, we are obliged to take note of the advice given and I hope that owners will understand our position. I am keenly interested to hear responses to the consultation and these will be seriously considered in our debate."

More information and details about how to respond to the consultation can be found HERE.

CCC website

Council Priorities: where will the axe fall?

Now we can all play Predict-a-Cut™ - it's as easy as 1-2-3!

1. Download a copy of the Council's priorities in handy spreadsheet format.
   
2. Tinker with the little buttons on the column headings to sort and filter the list. 
3. See which functions you think are most likely for the chop, and share your thoughts with the rest of the world using the comments below. 

Please note: statutory services must be carried out somehow, even if on a shoestring. Discretionary services can be cut altogether.

To get you started, here's a list of the Discretionary services and functions, sorted by budget... so sharpen your axe and get chopping!

View fullsize

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HBM

Council Priorities: where will the axe fall?

about 10 years ago

The Council's priorities. Theirs, not ours.

about 10 years ago

Council's priorities not secret, not confidential, just rubbish

about 10 years ago

Council's priorities aren't secret - they're confidential!

about 10 years ago

Our Council's secret priorities

about 10 years ago

The Council's priorities. Theirs, not ours.

Here's the list in handy spreadsheet format, and here's the much less helpful PDF format file provided by our Council.

Well, here it is at last - the list that was compiled in secret and kept under wraps for as long as possible. It's curiously instructive to see just how misguided and skewed CCC's priorities seem to be:

• The Marlowe Theatre (5) ranks above Coast Protection (23).
• The Beaney Museum (7) ranks above Herne Bay Regeneration (49). 
• Marketing and Communications (14) ranks above Homelessness (40).
• The Roman Museum (21) ranks above running Elections (67) .
• District Life magazine (34) ranks above Public Health (63).
• ... and so it goes on. 

So, how did we end up with this nonsense? It would appear to be the result of a chain of errors and failings.

The first and most fundamental problem is the Council's lack of clear purpose. As business jargon and management-speak has infected many aspects of everyday life, it has become fashionable to have a "vision" or "mission statement". Put simply, this is having a clear and agreed answer to the question - what are we here for?  Our Council doesn't appear to have a clear understanding of its purpose.

The next problem arises when the Council tries to identify how to achieve its (unstated) purpose. The 10 Pledges that appeared in the 2011-2016 Corporate Plan are a mixture of "nice to have" and political expediency. They are not guided or unified by a clear purpose, nor do they take account of the Council's statutory obligations... which creates the next layer of problems.

A handful of officers and councillors used the 10 Pledges to assess the value of 70 varied Council functions, and then prioritise them.  Given our Council's instinct for secrecy, we will probably never know who was involved, or how they arrived at each score. We will never get an explanation as to why the Beaney scores 5/10 for Health and Wellbeing, but Food and Occupational Health only scores 1/10 for Health and Wellbeing. The lack of logic, and transparency, fatally undermines this system of scoring.

This fatal flaw in scoring is literally multiplied by the weighting factors applied to the 10 Pledges. Again, we don't know, and will never know, how or why these weightings were arrived at.

Finally, we have the folly of mixing statutory and discretionary functions in the priority list. If a function if statutory (i.e. the Council is legally obliged to do it), it is completely irrelevant how it fares in the Council's quirky scoring system - there's simply no point in including it.

If you download the spreadsheet of Priorities, you can filter out the statutory functions and see what's left. These are the (only) things that our Council can cut, and inevitably the big ticket items will be the most tempting.

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HBM

Council Priorities: where will the axe fall?

about 10 years ago

The Council's priorities. Theirs, not ours.

about 10 years ago

Council's priorities not secret, not confidential, just rubbish

about 10 years ago

Council's priorities aren't secret - they're confidential!

about 10 years ago

Our Council's secret priorities

about 10 years ago

Council's priorities not secret, not confidential, just rubbish

The city council has finally published its league table of services as it lays the ground for further budget cuts and savings.

It has put the controversial Local Plan, in which more than 15,000 new homes are planned for the district, atop the pile, with the cost of running democracy second and development management third.

Culture in Canterbury also features highly with the Marlowe Theatre at five out of 70, the Beaney at seven and the Roman Museum at 21. Meanwhile, rubbish collections are ranked 28 and public toilets are 53.

The lowest scored services were elections, archives and the council's obligations under the Freedom of Information Act.

Executive members and senior officers drew up the table as the council prepares to lose 45% of its income by 2017.

It means certain services and staff will face the axe. Mr Carmichael will go into greater details with officers at the staff conference on November 14. In his letter to council workers, chief executive Colin Carmichael said:

"All this information is being used in our star chambers to think about whether we need to continue to deliver these services and, if we do, whether to do so at the current cost level."

The table was created by rating each service out of 10 against each of the council's 10 pledges on its corporate plan. These have titles such as economy, safety, homes, culture, health and well-being, and young people.

Questions may be asked about those ratings after the Marlowe Theatre received 4/10 for health and well-being and the mayor's office received 3/10 in every single category, including housing, safety and protecting the environment.

The Conservative controlled authority came under fire earlier in the year after it created the list but refused to let anyone see it.

Cllr Alex Perkins, the leader of the opposition Lib Dem group, believes the people of the district should have been allowed to rate the services they use. He said:

"If the council are going to determine funding according to a league table of priorities then they should be local residents' priorities. not council leader John Gilbey's. Why don't the council ask people to give their own scores and actually prioritise what local residents want for a change."

The league table is published in the agenda for the executive meeting at the Guildhall tonight (7th November).

HB Gazette 7th November 2013

HBM

Council Priorities: where will the axe fall?

about 10 years ago

The Council's priorities. Theirs, not ours.

about 10 years ago

Council's priorities not secret, not confidential, just rubbish

about 10 years ago

Council's priorities aren't secret - they're confidential!

about 10 years ago

Our Council's secret priorities

about 10 years ago

Council's priorities aren't secret - they're confidential!

Definition of secret: not known or seen or not meant to be known or seen by others. Definition of confidential: intended to be kept secret.  [Oxford Dictionaries online] 

Who does Cllr Gilbey think he's kidding? 

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Canterbury City Council is one of the most democratic local authorities in the country, claims leader John Gilbey. He hit out after the Kentish Gazette reported that the council had drawn up a league table of its 71 service areas and ranked them in order of importance but refused to reveal it.

Cllr Gilbey denies the council is guilty of secrecy. He told last Thursday's meeting of the ruling Conservative executive: 

"Some of these documents are kept confidential for many reasons and are looked at very carefully.  I think this is one of the most democratic councils we have, I honestly believe that.  That is why I don't take kindly to people inventing stories."

Last week it emerged that the league table is a key document as the council prepares for the 2014/15 budget. It is facing a cut of 50% in income by 2017 and scored each service according to importance and against the pledges in its corporate plan.

The Marlowe Theatre was fifth in the table and refuse collection came 29th, but none of the other positions are known and some are almost certainly facing the axe.

The council claims it will make the league table public next month when the proposed budget for next year is published.  But Cllr Alex Perkins, leader of the council's opposition Lib  Dem group, is demanding it is released now.  He said:

"The Gazette is absolutely right and deserves praise for bringing the council's appalling secrecy to everyone's attention.  There is absolutely no reasonable justification for the current leader of the council to keep the council budget formation process confidential.  And the Gazette has certainly not invented any of this as John Gilbey has claimed. 

The current leader and a tiny handful of Conservative councillors keep jealous control of all the budget information declaring it 'confidential' and refusing to share it even with their own backbenchers, let alone opposition councillors or the public.  It's completely unacceptable - it's your money after all."

Kingsmead Field campaigner Sian Pettman said:

"There's a worrying disconnect between Cllr Gilbey's perception of democracy and that of many of the district's residents.  His authoritarian style of leadership is ill-suited to the 21st century."

University of Kent Emeritus Professor of moral philosophy Richard Norman added:

"If Cllr Gilbey thinks that this is one of the most democratic councils, he needs to be aware that there are a great many people in Canterbury who don't see it that way."

The council will begin its consultation on the budget in November and will look to approve it in February.

HB Gazette 17th October 2013

View fullsize

HBM

Council Priorities: where will the axe fall?

about 10 years ago

The Council's priorities. Theirs, not ours.

about 10 years ago

Council's priorities not secret, not confidential, just rubbish

about 10 years ago

Council's priorities aren't secret - they're confidential!

about 10 years ago

Our Council's secret priorities

about 10 years ago

Our Council's secret priorities

Oh dear... the Council that represents us and works for us is refusing to tell us what they're doing. It's a kind of nanny-dictator state. 

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Canterbury City Council has produced a league table of its 71 service areas in order of importance, but is refusing to reveal how it has ranked them. The Gazette has learned that the Marlowe Theatre is fifth in the league table while bin collections - a service delivered to every home in the district is 29th.

Senior officers and councillors spent hours in meetings scoring the service areas according to the council's priorities and rated each one against its 10-pledge corporate plan.

Colin Carmichael, the chief executive of the Conservative-controlled council, says he is determined to keep the league table a secret until the next budget is published later in the year.

"This is the first time that we have actually taken a step back and asked questions about everything that we do. But I can't let people see it because we are only half through."

The league table was compiled as the council assesses the way it will run its services in future. lt is steeling itself for a 50% drop in income by 2017.

Members of the ruling executive injected their political priorities into the rankings which could be used to cut some council services completely as the drive to save money intensifies in the coming years.

Asked why the Marlowe scored so much higher than bin collections, Mr Carmichael said the theatre "ticked several boxes" on the corporate plan pledges.  He said:

"Refuse collection, for example, scores mid-range at 29th on the priority list as it scores highly against only two of the 10 pledges, but it is a top political priority and it is a statutory service. The Marlowe can be seen to fulfil more pledges. It is important economically for us as we didn't want that end of the city to lose out with the building of the Whitefriars shopping area."

Lib Dem group leader Alex Perkins is furious at the decision to keep the league table secret.

"Presumably, they'll only show people when they've made all their decisions.  Here we are yet again with the council taking decisions with public money on the basis of its own political agenda and refusing the public the right to know how it is ranking services. If that's not a sign of how the council is going to hell in a handcart, then I don't know what is.

HB Gazette 10th October 2013

View fullsize

HBM

Council Priorities: where will the axe fall?

about 10 years ago

The Council's priorities. Theirs, not ours.

about 10 years ago

Council's priorities not secret, not confidential, just rubbish

about 10 years ago

Council's priorities aren't secret - they're confidential!

about 10 years ago

Our Council's secret priorities

about 10 years ago

Tories step back over new boundaries

Conservative members of Canterbury City Council have stepped back from making a formal proposal to the Boundary Commission about planned new ward boundaries across the district.

The Local Government Boundary Commission for England is asking for people's views on the subject. Following a six-week public consultation, the commission announced it may recommend the council has 38 councillors in the future, 12 fewer than the current arrangements.

The organisation now needs information from people and groups across the district to help it to produce a new pattern of wards to accommodate the 38 councillors. In drawing up new boundaries, the commission aims for each councillor to represent roughly the same number of voters.

Canterbury council leader John Gilbey said:

"It is essential the setting of new boundaries doesn't lead to accusations of gerrymandering or voter manipulation by the council. After discussions with colleagues, I have taken the view the council itself should step back and let the Boundary Commission decide the new wards based on its own studies and after giving detailed consideration to the opinions of any individual, group and parish council."

On the decision the cut 12 council members, Cllr Gilbey said:

"I am thankful to the Boundary Commission for their considered approach in considering whether the number of councillors should be reduced to 38. This was not a request we made without giving a lot of thought. but we felt it was unfair on local taxpayers to make them pay their hard-earned cash on sustaining 50 councillors at the possible expense of crucial services many cherish."

People have until December 10th to submit their views. Further information on the review and interactive maps of the existing wards can be found at consultation.lgbce.org.uk and www.lgbce.org.uk Residents will have a further chance to have their say after the commission publishes its draft recommendations in March next year.

HB Times 10th October 2013

MOD Shoeburyness - Forthcoming Activity Alert 2-11 September 2013

Detailed below is advance notification of activities which may be noticed in your neighbourhood.

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Date: Reason for Notification

2, 3, 5, 6, 9, 10, 11 September 2013: Explosions may be noticed.

4 September 2013: Gunfire and Explosions may be noticed.

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Note:

Local Gunfire = Gunfire that is likely to be noticed only by communities close to MOD Shoeburyness.**

Gunfire = Gunfire that may be noticed by communities in the vicinity of the Thames Estuary.**

Explosions = Explosions that may be noticed by communities in the vicinity of the Thames Estuary.      **

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MOD SHOEBURYNESS WEBSITE

This information was correct at the time of publishing. The most accurate and up to date information can be found on the MOD Shoeburyness website at www.shoeburyness.qinetiq.com, why not visit and save it to your favourites for quick access.**

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I hope that you find this information useful. Please feel free to pass it on to your neighbours.

Pier Trust EGM Minutes

I couldn't make it to the EGM on 10th July, so I asked the Trustees what had happened, and what the results were of any votes that were taken. I got conflicting reports as to whether anything had been sent to some or all of the members. I hadn't received anything, and neither had several other paid-up members.

I knew that one of the motions to be voted on was the election of Trustees. I asked who the Trustees of the HBPT now are. There was no answer. I find this astonishing and disappointing.

The Board should have published the Minutes to the membership within days of the EGM - that's simply courtesy. Given that they hadn't published the Minutes, the reply to any member asking for the identity of the current Trustees should  have been to rattle off their names. Instead, I was told that my request would be considered.

However, the day after threatening to raise the matter of Secret Trustees with the Charity Commission, the Minutes and the identity of the Trustees appeared on the HBPT Facebook page. The Minutes are reproduced below.

The current trustees are:
Doreen Stone - chair
Aileen Barker - membership and lots more
David McCormick - Health and Safety and Events
Lynn Faux-Bowyer - Treasurer
Andrew Cook - CCC appointed trustee - Company Secretary
Joe Howes - CCC appointed trustee - external liaison

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The EGM Minutes

HERNE BAY PIER TRUST
Minutes EGM 10th July 2013 Christchurch Hall Herne Bay

Present: Doreen Stone (Chair)
Aileen Barker
Lynn Faux-Bowyer
Joe Howes
Andrew Cook
David McCormick
Members as recorded on signing in sheet.

Agenda item 1:
Doreen Stone began the update announcement with the fact that the Pier Opening day was attended by the National Piers Society which is very supportive of what was being organised. They also suggested that they may consider holding their next AGM in Herne Bay.

(The meeting was interrupted by the arrival of Andy Newell, former member and trustee. When he was asked to leave because an EGM is open only to members, a member on the floor made a proposal, which was seconded, that the Meeting be suspended until he left followed by a unanimous vote in favour. He did leave and the meeting resumed.)

DS continued with the update – The Trust had been granted a Planning Permit for 18 Retail Huts (an initial 12 to be followed by a further 6). She announced that the Trust had applied for the Lease of the complete platform area now it had been confirmed that the Golf Application would not operate this year. The £2k loan money had generated 1.5 jobs on the Pier so far and one hut owner was already considering employing extra staff to meet demand for teas/cakes etc.

HBPT needed an income of £65,000 to move to the next stage of managing the platform. Work by CCC on renovating the decking where the next 6 huts are to be built would begin in Oct. She suggested the Trust should now plan for an all weather building/structure on the platform which, if it included a heritage and information centre, maybe with a sea- themed attraction? One of our members has suggested approaching RIBA (Royal Institute of British Architects) to hold a design competition for students of architecture for Herne Bay Pier.

Agenda Item 2: Election of Officers.
There were 2 applicants – Aileen Barker & David McCormick. They both spoke to the Meeting and the voting took place.
Ds informed the meeting and listed the Proxy votes she had received – a total of 24 supporting her choices and 1 against the motions.
Total number of votes possible (incl proxy votes) = 42.
Results: Aileen Barker total in favour - 41
David McCormick total in favour - 41.
Both candidates unanimously elected as HBPT Trustees.

Volunteers- have become essential to the running of the Trust and there was a suggestion from the floor that maybe a 2nd tier of 'management' to work alongside the Board should be considered. This was agreed and that the trust should ask the Charities Commission for advice on this.

Agenda Item 3: This motion was to confirm the ruling in the Articles of Association and the Memorandum of Association the Board of Trustees can operate within the constitutionally specified number of Trustees required at any one time with a minimum of 5 and a maximum of 11. This was agreed – 41 for and 1 proxy against.

Agenda Item 4: That the Articles of Association be amended to state that the term of office for non CCC appointees is 3 years and that they must stand for re-election after that period; trustees to be permitted to hold position for a maximum of 3 consecutive terms. This was agreed 41 for and 1 proxy against.

The Chair, Doreen Stone, thanked everyone for attending and hoped they would spread the word on the positive progress of the HBPT. Meeting closed @ 19.55

After the meeting closed some points were raised for Board discussion eg
More notices about activities on pier such as:
- Boards with Hut Vendors names listed
- Large Chalk Boards with notices
- Press releases on regular basis showing how new businesses were being supported and new employment created by the Hut Village
- The importance of integrated community involvement to raise the profile of Herne Bay.

Local Plan: Responding Online

click

[from the CCC website] The instructions below will help guide you to make comments on-line. If you need more help, then please contact CCC using the contact details at the bottom of the page.

1: Open the Consultation Portal

Go to http://canterbury-consult.objective.co.uk/portal/ between the 20th June and the 30th August 2013. Select ‘Canterbury District Local Plan Preferred Option Consultation 2013’ at the bottom of the page.

2: Register and Log-in

You can read the document without signing-in but as we are unable to accept anonymous comments you will need to register and log-in before submitting comments: Click Login/Register

If you already have a user name and password, login using these. If you do not already have a user name and password you will need to register. The information box below will help you.

If you have made comments on a previous local plan consultation (written or online), you will already have a user name and password. If you need help, please contact us (details below) and we will be able to provide them for you.

3: Make and submit your comments

Once successfully logged in, click ‘Read and comment on document’.

You can then begin to read the draft Local Plan. You can skip straight to the part of the plan you are interested in by using the contents list on the left hand side of the page, or read straight through the document using the ‘next page’ button.

You can comment on each part of the document by clicking the ‘Add Comments’ button: click this button by the paragraph or policy you wish to comment on.

Indicate whether you wish to support or object; add your comments and any supporting documents and press ‘submit’. If your comment is very long, the system may ask you to provide a summary of your comment.

You can then continue to read through the document and make as many comments as you wish.

For assistance on submitting your responses online, please contact Planning Policy:

Telephone: 01227 862 199 or Email: planning.policy@canterbury.gov.uk

Draft Local Plan

click

The Draft Local Plan 2013

MOD Shoeburyness - Forthcoming Activity Alert: 24-31 July 2013

Detailed below is advance notification of activities which may be noticed in your neighbourhood. All of the limitations and stipulations outlined below apply.  **

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Date: Reason for Notification

24, 29, 31 July 2013: Explosions may be noticed.

30 July 2013: Gunfire and Explosions may be noticed.

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Local Gunfire = Gunfire that is likely to be noticed only by communities close to MOD Shoeburyness.

Gunfire = Gunfire that may be noticed by communities in the vicinity of the Thames Estuary.

Explosions = Explosions that may be noticed by communities in the vicinity of the Thames Estuary. 

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This information was correct at the time of publishing. The most accurate and up to date information can be found on the MOD Shoeburyness website at www.shoeburyness.qinetiq.com, why not visit and save it to your favourites for quick access.

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I hope that you find this information useful. Please feel free to pass it on to your neighbours.

Paying for Sturry

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Here’s what our new housing estates look like [Draft Local Plan 1.57]:

Hillborough Site - 1000 dwellings; Employment floor space 33,000sqm (Altira Park, extended); local shopping only; doctor’s surgery; community facilities. New link to Thanet Way via Altira Park and limited access to Sweechbridge Road; provision of new west-facing on-slip to Thanet Way at the Heart-in-Hand junction; measures to discourage additional traffic using Heart-in-Hand road; contribution towards the provision of Herne relief route and new Sturry crossing. This is alongside the area that the Sainsbury proposal is for (95,000 sq ft plus petrol station). The map shows a primary school on site but the words don’t mention it

Herne Bay Golf Club - 400 dwellings; Employment floor space 1ha of mixed commercial uses; local shopping only (i.e. no supermarket); 8ha of sports and leisure facilities, including cricket, football, hockey, tennis and open space; 1.25ha set-aside for Herne Bay High School but no mention of what it will be for; doctor’s surgery; care home. Contribution (to be agreed) towards the provision of Herne relief route and new Sturry crossing; new footpath/cycle path in conjunction with Strode farm

Strode Farm - 800 dwellings; the words say Employment floor space 15,000sqm; local shopping provision only; community facilities, including new parish hall and local needs housing. Picture suggests commercial/leisure, so conceivably there will be no employment floor space. Provision of new relief route for Herne and contribution (to be agreed) towards the provision of new Sturry crossing; new footpath/cycle path to be provided in conjunction with Hillborough site

Greenhill - 600 dwellings ; community facilities to be determined; recreation and leisure facilities, new allotment provision; contribution towards the provision of new relief route for Herne and new Sturry crossing.

2.23    There’ll be another 190 houses at Bullockstone Road – there’s no other information at all on this. This is particularly worrying given that Bullockstone Road is intended also to be the Herne relief road.

2.40    30% of the new housing on any development of more than seven houses will be affordable housing.

The Herne Bay and Hersden housing estates will pay for the Sturry crossing entirely. Canterbury won’t contribute at all. This is money that will have been earned by Herne Bay for improvements in Herne Bay, but it’s being siphoned off for Sturry.

Retail Strategy

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"The retail offer of Herne Bay, also dominated by independents, should benefit from regeneration efforts identified in the Herne Bay Area Action Plan, which seeks to improve the retail offer and increase the amount of consumer spending retained in the town." [Draft Local Plan 4.9]

The Herne Bay Area Action Plan (HBAAP) was written over a period of a couple of years, ending in 2009. In 2009 the Council appointed developers to develop the Central Development Area (the area that centres on William Street and Morrisons). The Council and the developers have failed to interest any major retail player in their plans in the years since then. We are nearly four years on and the Central Development Area plan is dead in the water. Despite this, the Council is still clinging to this plan as its only idea to regenerate Herne Bay. This means that our retail centre will continue to struggle whilst Canterbury's is expanded and improved. Our fear is that this will mean that Herne Bay will become a dormitory town, surrounded by housing estates, with no town centre to speak of, and all the consumer spending will be bled out into Canterbury.

"… Where the growth of non-retail uses reduces the availability of choice for customers and creates 'dead frontages', there is a loss of vitality of the centre and attractiveness to customers. This is particularly marked in Herne Bay town centre, where strict application of the Primary Shopping Frontage policy will assist with consolidating the main shopping streets, and ensure there is an accessible central core of shopping for Comparison and choice and which supports the planned regeneration activities. The Herne Bay Area Action Plan includes specific development proposals for the town centre, including significant retail provision." [Draft Local Plan 4.17]

This means that, whatever happens to our town's shops, in some areas owners will not be able to convert a shop into a restaurant or bar. This seems unnecessarily restrictive when the Council is doing nothing to enhance the town's retail offer.

Local shops such as:

Herne Bay Road/ St Johns Road, Swalecliffe;
Sea Street, Herne Bay;
Canterbury Road, Herne Bay;
Reculver Road, Beltinge;

will be protected from "damaging development elsewhere". [Draft Local Plan 4.25]

We think that this has huge implications. The Central Development Area dream has already failed. The Council will oppose the Sainsbury at Altira. We are not going to be allowed to have more "comparison shopping". At the same time, the town's population will increase by thousands. We cannot picture the town's much bigger population all driving into town to shop at Morrison's or the Co-op. the Local Plan will drive even more Herne Bay people to spend their money outside the town.  

"… Herne Bay has an under-performing town centre, due to the limited range of comparison goods retailing and the strength of Canterbury. Once completed, significant comparison retail in the Central Development Area, as well as other allocations in the Herne Bay Area Action Plan, will use and indeed exceed, any available capacity for additional floor space for the foreseeable future." [Draft Local Plan 4.32]

This paragraph claims that, once the Central Development Area has been redeveloped, that will soak up the entire town's demand for stuff like clothes, household goods and bigger purchases. There are two problems with this.

• One, there's no prospect of any large retailer wanting to take space in the Central Development Area.
• Two, the town's population is going to expand by an additional 37 to 47%.

Even if the Central Development Area did happen, we don't see how it can handle Herne Bay's shopping needs. The Council's insistence on flogging this dead horse means that we won't get any new retail space in the town centre at all. This will do nothing to regenerate our town and support our independent tradespeople.

"…For Herne Bay, the retail study identified very modest levels of capacity. Implementation of the foodstore envisaged in the Adopted Masterplan for the Central Development Area would use this remaining capacity, as well as those increases in capacity that result from increasing Herne Bay Town Centre's market share for convenience good expenditure. […] Any out-of-town capacity would be removed by the provision of food retail floor space in the Central Development Area, since Herne Bay would become more self-sufficient in convenience goods terms. Regeneration activities identified in the Area Action Plan are key to ensure additional retail capacity is generated. The Council will resist any out of town development that would threaten implementation of the Area Action Plan and regeneration of the Herne Bay Town Centre." [Draft Local Plan 4.34]

In this paragraph, the word "capacity" means "demand". The Council says that all Herne Bay's future food shopping needs for the new, massively expanded, population will be met by the supermarket planned in the Central Development Area. The trouble is, none of the major supermarket chains wants to open a store in that area. This means that we will not get a local supermarket to meet our food shopping needs.

"…Herne Bay will undergo significant changes over the life of the Local Plan. Regeneration schemes as set out in the Area Action Plan are attracting significant new investment through the implementation of Development Principles Supplementary Planning Documents for:

Central Development Area (Policy HB1);
Beach Street (Policy HB2);
Bus Depot (Policy HB3)."
[Draft Local Plan 4.50]

We know that nothing has happened on the Central Development Area for nearly four years. There is not so much as a whisper of possible investment for the Bus Depot site. Bill Murray has plans – mainly housing – for Beach Street. We think that the Council is being overoptimistic when it says that these areas "are attracting significant new investment." If they really were, the Council would have wanted to tell us all about it.  

"As well as enhancing the retail and cultural offer, status and trading performance of Herne Bay, these will help to retain a higher proportion of residents' expenditure within the town, much of which has been lost to nearby centres of Westwood Cross and Canterbury. There is no significant capacity beyond the floor space on these identified sites and it is imperative that regeneration of the town is not threatened by development of out-of-town floor space." [Draft Local Plan 4.51]

The Council tells us regularly that 70p in every pound leaks out of Herne Bay to be spent elsewhere. Then in the paragraph above it says that all our demand for shops and shopping can be met by the sites already identified in the existing, dormant or failed, plans. We simply do not see how both these statements can be true.  

"Herne Bay is a traditional seaside resort in a desirable position with reasonable transport links, improving beaches and a nostalgia factor that draws people to the town in the summer season. However, during the rest of the year there is insufficient tourist income to maintain a basic level of tourist infrastructure. Planned investment in the sea front will improve the town's tourism prospects. In addition to this, a major events programme has provided new reasons to visit in recent years and there are modest signs of a recovery in business." [Draft Local Plan 6.45]

The Council recognises the problem that the town has little tourist trade in the winter but seems to think that we can overcome this by having a few new benches and some events. We don't think that this provides us with a stable tourist income for October to May. The Local Plan needs to recognise that Herne Bay needs a proper strategy for tourism

Water & Sewage

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"Known areas at risk of flooding include Blean, Chestfield, the Gorrel Stream, Swalecliffe Brook, Westbrook, Plenty Brook, Stour, Little Stour and Nailbourne river." [Draft Local Plan 7.32]

The Council accepts that we have some known flood areas.

"The infrastructure along the coastal lowlands with respect to foul and surface water drainage is nearing saturation despite improvement works." [Draft Local Plan 7.33]

We have a known sewage management problem and yet the Council is proposing lots of new housing. The Plan says that this problem will need to be dealt with (new treatment works etc.) but it does not say how, nor does it say how it will be paid for.

"On sites that have not been previously developed within the Environment Agency's Zones 2 & 3, no development will be permitted unless an exceptional justification can be demonstrated." [Draft Local Plan 7.41]

We think that both the Greenhill site and the Golf Course site might include areas which are at significant risk of flooding as defined by the Environment Agency. It is very difficult to be sure of this as the Plan only includes cartoon maps rather than proper plans that are to scale, but it does look as if residential housing is being planned for some flood risk areas. In addition, if this is a natural floodplain that is going to be built on, there will be an increased risk of flooding further down the line in central HB if all this housing is built.

The district is already water-stressed in terms of public water supply. There is no proposal to deal with the added demand on water that another 14,000 to 18,000 people will make. [Draft Local Plan 7.59]

Public Transport

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The Council still has not produced a Transport Strategy for the district. This is particularly worrying given the scale of new building that the Council is proposing. [Draft Local Plan 1.36]

Both the City Council and County Council will work together through the planning process to facilitate the use of sustainable transport by:

• looking to locate development near existing transport hubs
• requiring facilities for walking, cycling and public transport and
• ensuring mixed-use developments where housing and employment are located in close proximity to encourage shorter commuting journeys.
• [Draft Local Plan 1.38]

The major development sites proposed for Herne Bay will be dependent on car transport – they are nowhere near "existing transport hubs". The Council has also said nothing about the number of jobs that will be created on Herne Bay's new housing estates and has produced no the evidence that they will be delivered.