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Website: www.greatchartwithsingletonpc.kentparishes.gov.uk

Twitter: twitter.com/GCwSPC

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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 theclerkgcwspc@gmail.com. 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 theclerkgcwspc@gmail.com

Cost of advertising: A5 full page £160 one issue

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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 (theclerkgcwspc@gmail.com)

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 theclerkgcwspc@gmail.com .

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-

theclerkgcwspc@gmail.com.

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 jillmlane@msn.com

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 rector@stmarysgreatchart.org Website www.stmarysgreatchart.org Pastoral Care: 07756 805507

Youth Club Fridays 7-9 pm SVH Ian McClintock email: ian.mcclintock59@yahoo.co.uk

Speed Watch-Gary Parry Great chart with Singleton Speedwatch Coordinator 01233 640110 gary@wthp.co.uk

Great Chart Cricket Club www.greatchartcc.co.uk

The Grapevine Community Café at Singleton Village Hall Mon & Thu am

Singleton Giant Email:peter@singletongiant.org.uk Phone: 01233 610241

Stardust Studios – Children’s Dance Classes— Classes held at SVH, Contact Natalie Kitts 01233 625786/07899 844956 info@starduststudios.co.uk

Burton Grove Football Club Contact Justin Day Tel: 07717411029 dayj14@sky.com Pilgrims FC (Youth Football Club) Contact Name: Kyran Wilford Contact Number: 07984352008 Email: kyranw.pilgrimsfc@gmail.com

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-

theclerkgcwspc@gmail.com

Dog Warden

Colin Leek – 01233 330340 –

colin.leek@ashford.gov.uk

Litter/Overflowing bins/ fly-

tipping:

streetscene@ashford.gov.uk

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

csu.ashford@kent.pnn.police.uk

KCC Community Support Warden – Joanna Watts

Joanna.Watts@kent.gov.uk 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 greatchartvillagehall@yahoo.co.uk.

Singleton Village Hall—Tel:07887 575647,

Email: singletonvh@btinternet.com

Great Chart Playing Fields—Buxford Pavilion— Tel: 01233 427407

Email: gcpfa@barkercomputersolutions.co.uk

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Parish Contact Details

Great Chart with Singleton North

Parish Councillors

Ian McClintock

07919 278828

ian.mcclintock59@yahoo.co.uk

Singleton South

Parish Councillors

Geoff Darvill

01233 642357 geoffsvhpc@gmail.com

Yolanda Barker

01233 610241

y.barker@barkermanor.co.uk

Malcolm Eke

01233 638062

malcolmeke@aol.com

Peter Barker

01233 610 241

p.barker@barkercomputersolutions.co.uk

Sally Gathern

07815 803862

sallygathern@aol.com

Paul Tate

07850 082023

paultatepc@gmail.com

Amanda Hodgkinson

01233 633843

amanda4single-ton@btinternet.com

Malcolm Wiffen

01233 635016

malcwiffen@btinternet.com

Angus Willson

07976 239295

angus.willson@btinternet.com

Janet Sullivan

01233 645400

janetsullivan36@msn.com

Great Chart and Singleton North Ward

Councillor

Jessamy Blanford—01233 840050

jessamy.blanford@tiscali.co.uk

Singleton South

Ward Councillor

Bill Barrett—07449 454044

barrettwbarrett@aol.com

Kent County Councillor

Charlie Simkins -01233 756705

charlie.simkins@kent.gov.uk

Kent County Councillor

Dara Farrell

Dara.Farrell@kent.gov.uk

Parish Clerk - Aniko Szocs—01233 616923 or theclerkgcwspc@gmail.com

Parish Office Singleton Village Hall, Hoxton Close, Ashford TN23 5LB

Office opening hours 9 am -1pm other times by arrangement.