January 2025

Happy New Year!

2025 already looks like it's going to be packed full of change - we will do our best to keep everyone informed.

Government “Devolution” plans and what that means for us

At the end of December, the government published a White Paper which set out its plans for the reorganisation of local government. This is a far-reaching document with implications for the Kent and Medway area. If you wish to see the text of the announcement, given by Angela Rayner MP Secretary of State for Housing , Communities and Local Government, you can find that here: Deputy Prime Minister's speech on the Devolution White Paper - GOV.UK

The area known as Kent has one “first tier / strategic” authority, Kent County Council, and 12 borough / district councils of which Maidstone is one. Then, across Kent, there are over 300 parish and town councils as well, Lenham being one of these. The county and borough / district councils, along with the parish and town councils, are responsible for all the local authority-based services the citizens in the Kent area receive such as, social care, education, highways maintenance, housing, planning, refuse collection, maintenance of parks and green spaces and many more.

Medway is already a Unitary Authority, which means it is responsible for delivering all the sort of services in Medway that are presently delivered by the county and borough councils in the Kent area.

The White Paper proposes that the top two tiers of county and borough / district councils which deliver the current local government arrangements across Kent will be abolished, and new Unitary areas will be set up to deliver all the services, in the same way that Medway runs.

At this point it is not clear exactly how Kent will be reconfigured, but the possibility is that there will be three or four new unitary areas, with several of the current borough and district councils merging to form these. It is also possible there may be an elected regional Mayor to cover the whole of the restructured Kent / Medway area.

What the White Paper was “silent” on was the role of parish and town councils, no doubt this will emerge as details are firmed up.

It is understood that the Leaders of both Kent County Council and Medway Unitary Authority are in favour of supporting this change. It is also possible that the area may submit an early expression of interest to the Secretary of State to progress the proposed changes during the first round. If that happens then it is possible that the County Council elections planned for this May may be cancelled.

The ambition for these significant changes to come into being is currently projected as 2026/27. Achieving such change within this timeframe is going to be a mammoth task. There are, though, already services, such as Kent Fire and Rescue, the Police, the Kent and Medway Health Care Partnership, which operate across the whole area and hopefully incorporating lessons learned from these services will assist with the reorganisational proposals.

The Lenham Cross

We have had a few questions, recently, about the state of the Lenham Cross.

The Lenham Cross is one of only two chalk memorials in the south of England, the other being at Shoreham. Maintaining the Cross, which is registered with the War Graves Commission, has been a constant for the parish council. The parish council gets no outside assistance, whether financial or in terms of physical support, so is reliant on the assistance of volunteers to undertake maintenance. If you would like to be part of the working party, look out for announcements in the Spring.

The changes in climate, especially milder, wetter weather, have an impact on the chalk-based memorial. The parish council is aware of this and also cautious of asking volunteers to undertake heavy duty work to maintain it during inclement weather and on the steep scarp slope. As we get no financial assistance we include an amount for works within the parish precept and plan to do so again for the financial year 2025/26. I will be able to provide details of that once the budget is finalised later this month.

You may be aware that in November 2022 the parish council organised a rededication marking the centenary of the Cross, this was attended by the Deputy Lord Lieutenant Sir George Jessel. During 2022, ahead of the rededication, we spent IRO £10,000 providing additional security for the Cross in the form of fencing, native planting and gates, whilst enabling the landowner access to the farm land within which it sits.

Sir George visited again in 2024 to mark the 80th anniversary of the bombing of the REME soldiers during WW2. This event was marked by a parade of the REME with the band of the Coldstream Guards. For all these events the Cross was central to the activity.

Our plan is to revisit the maintenance early in the Spring, as we have been advised that attempts to remove the algae now will not work, due to the mild, wet weather. Access is also limited by the sharp scarp on which it is sited so we will have to take that into consideration when planning the clean up. Please contact the parish office if you'd like to be involved in the volunteer gang onnce work starts.

Update on capital projects

The planning application to repair and upgrade the public toilets in Maidstone Road was submitted to the borough council mid-September and has now been approved. This means the work to transform the public toilets will go ahead once the company is able to schedule it in - that's likely to be around February 2025..

The details of the financial arrangements regarding the chosen supplier will be published on this website once finalised.

Maidstone Local Plan - rollout

The ups and downs of the Maidstone Local Plan continue to overshadow much of the parish council’s thinking. You may have seen the recent article in the KM (here’s the link to it: https://www.kentonline.co.uk/maidstone/news/it-will-be-so-upsetting-to-see-everything-i-ve-loved-comple-314434/ ) which gave the impression that the battle is over,

I can assure everyone that it is not! We intend to ensure that all the cracks in the plan which were papered over during the inspection are now dragged into the spotlight to show how implausible the whole scheme is.

One battle may be lost, the war continues.

A20 Maidstone Road

We are still working with KCC in the role as Highways Authority following the recent meeting organised by our KCC Divisional Member Cllr Shellina Prendergast, . The report, which will go to the Joint Transportation Board as a recommendation, shared the outcome of a recent review of the A20, not just as it passes Lenham but almost into Maidstone. This identified several “hot spots” from Turkey Mill right through to the known issues we have here in Lenham, specifically at the Faversham Crossroads.

Some of the suggestions along the route and through main settlements like Bearsted will involve minor changes to the infrastructure (through the construction of traffic islands, etc.) and making the access to the more rural bus stops along the route safer for pedestrians. There are also plans to extend a west-bound cycle route into Maidstone.

The one specific change which affects us is a speed reduction from 50mph to 40mph on the A20 as it approaches the Faversham Crossroads.  The speed checks which KCC has carried out indicate that this reduction is do-able and would be within what is termed the “compliance margin” (in that most traffic is already doing around 40mph now). Following a recent meeting with officers from KCC Highways, organised by Shellina Prendergast our County Councillor, we understand that this initiative is already costed into KCC's budget for 2025/26, so work on it will be able to start in the new financial year, which begins in April.

… and finally

The parish council has a vacancy for someone to be co-opted onto the council to represent North Ward for the remainder of it's term.

Anyone wanting further information should contact our Parish Clerk, Lisa Westcott or our Deputy Parish Clerk, Sarah Newell.

Cllr John Britt

Chair, Lenham Parish Council - (Lenham South ward)

 

Published agendas will be available here

What does Lenham Parish Council do?

Parish Councils are the tier of local government closest to the people. Although the parish council covers the Parish of Lenham it is not linked to the church in any way. All parish councillors are volunteers who dedicate their free time to enhancing their parish as best they can by utilising their individual skills and experience.

Those putting themselves forward to serve as a parish councillor have to submit to the regular election process, or, if filling a vacancy mid-term, can be co-opted for the remainder of that electoral term. Electoral terms are four years. The elections for a parish council will only go to a public vote if there are more nominations than there are spaces on the parish council. Lenham parish is currently represented by 13 parish councillors: four representing South Ward (everything south of the railway) and nine representing North Ward (everything north of the railway). All parish councillors have to agree to abide by the Nolan Principles of Public Office. Parish councillors receive no remuneration for their time.

The responsibilities of Lenham Parish Council include looking after open spaces, such as the William Pitt field and Cemetery, maintaining playgrounds and other amenities, providing Maidstone Borough Council with a view on planning applications within the Parish and undertaking projects to benefit the Parish. Lenham Parish Council also has a Neighbourhood Plan which was adopted as part of the Maidstone Local Plan in July 2021. This Neighbourhood Plan is active until 2031. For more details of the Lenham Neighbourhood Plan please refer to the information tab "Lenham Neighbourhood Plan" on this website.

In addition to holding a full council meeting monthly, Lenham Parish Council has two specific sub committees which also meet monthly: Finance and General Purposes (F&GP) and Planning and (Neighbourhood Plan) Implementation (P&I). Both these sub committees focus on specific issues of work and in some cases do the detail which is then referred back to full council as recommendations to be discussed and agreed.

Both of these sub committees are open to the public and can be attended by all parish councillors, however, while all nominated attendees and visiting parish councillors can participate in the discussions only those parish councillors nominated as attendees to that subcommittee are able to vote on recommendations that will go forward to the full parish council meeting for discussion and agreement.

Finance and General Purposes Committee (F&GP)

The F&GP subcommittee consists of six nominated parish councillors and addresses the financial issues which the parish council is responsible for: dealing with contracts for maintenance of open space; maintaining and upgrading play equipment and other financial matters as and when these arise. The committee oversees the preparation of the annual budget and also discusses all other non-expenditure related matters and makes a recommendation to the full parish council for discussion and agreement. The sub committee is quorate when at least four parish councillors, including the Chair, are present.

Planning and (Neighbourhood Plan) Implementation (P&I)

The P&I subcommittee consists of six nominated parish councillors as well as three members of the public (who are non-voting) and the parish's planning consultant (also non-voting). The subcommittee carries out two important functions: it is a statutory consultee for all planning applications in the parish and it is responsible for overseeing the implementation of the Lenham Neighbourhood Plan ensuring that the parameters and policies within the plan are actioned and reflected in the parish responses to planning applications. All recommendations from the subcommittee are referred to the next full meeting of the parish council for ratification. The subcommittee is quorate when at least four parish councillors, including the Chair, are present.

Our Mission Statement 

The Lenham Parish Council (LPC) is dedicated to enhancing the lives of all the residents of Lenham and its surrounding hamlets. LPC aims to maintain and protect the Parish environment and amenities. LPC strives to be pro-active in identifying and completing projects, large and small, that will benefit the Parish as a whole, with value for money always being sought. LPC aims to help keep Lenham Parish a unique and special place for residents and visitors alike as the world around us changes.

 

​Council Officers:

Parish Clerk: Lisa Westcott

Contact details Email: clerk@lenhamparishcouncil.org.uk            Telephone: 01622 829034

Deputy Parish Clerk: Sarah Newell

Contact details Email: deputyclerk@lenhamparishcouncil.org.uk        Telephone: 01622 829034

Registered office: 1A High Street, Lenham, Kent ME17 2QD Open: Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday 10:00h - 13:00h.

Responsible Financial Officer: Mr James Bate

Contact details Email: rfo@lenhamparishcouncil.org.uk