MINUTES OF A GENERAL MEETING HELD AT THE
TOWN HALL BUILDINGS ON MONDAY 8th FEBRUARY 2016 AT 7.15PM.
PRESENT
Abigail Carden, (vice-chair), thirty members, Thanet
District Cllr Ash Ashbee, Westgate Town Cllrs Ash Ashbee, Tom King, Dave
Morrish, and Hannah Scott, and KCC Warden Laura Bungard.
Abigail welcomed all to the meeting.
APOLOGIES
Apologies had been received from KCC Cllr Jeff
Elenor, TDC Cllrs Sam Bambridge, and Carol Partington.
CHAIRMAN
1) W&WRA Officers. Abigail informed the meeting that following
the resignation of Richard Charlton the committee had co-opted her to act as
vice-chairman, and Pat Sawyer-Jones as secretary and in charge of bookings to
hire the Bake House. For the three
remaining general meetings before the AGM three of the TDC ward councillors had
agreed to act as chairman, starting today when Cllr Ash Ashby has kindly agreed
to fill this roll.
2) Post Boxes. A letter from the W&WRA is to be sent to
the appropriate department of the post office requesting the required
maintenance.
3) Flower Budget for
Westgate. This has been halved to
£1,500, and the best use for this will be looked into.
4) Rent for Bake House and
Meeting Room. This has been increased
from £235 to £260/month and will be held at this level for two years.
5) Committee. Nomination sheets for the new committee to be
elected at the AGM in May will go up in the Bake House at the beginning of
April.
6) Gardening Club. This club now meets at the Bake House once a
month.
7) Business Rates Refund. This has been fully agreed and is now awaited.
8) Pancake Race. This had had to be cancelled due to the
necessary paperwork not being completed.
It would be carefully looked at for future years so that the division of
tasks between the W&WRA and the Rotary Club are made clear or even possibly
that the W&WRA may take over completely.
It was hoped that the £100 road closure fee may be recovered. The bus company had been informed of the
cancellation.
MINUTES OF LAST MEETING
The minutes of the last meeting, (11th
January 2016), which had been circulated, were amended and then adopted on a
prop. by Don Eacott seconded by Ray Taylor.
MATTERS ARISING
1) Amendments to the
Minutes. Page 1, matters arising (1)
Chris Wyer had raised the subject of the post boxes. Page 2 planning (1) The application at 36,
Westgate Bay Avenue involved one large building.
2) Road Safety. Cllr Ash Ashby reported that procedures for a
possible additional crossing in Westbrook Avenue are at the moment held up due
to the inquest into the fatal accident, but a consultation will take place in
due course.
3) Refuse/Recycling. TDC have discussed the Christmas arrangements
and hope to improve on this for next December.
COUNCILLORS' / WARDEN'S / PCSOS' REPORTS
TDC Cllr Ash Ashby:
1) Bus Service. There had been interest in the division of
the no 8 and 8A buses between Canterbury Road and Westbrook Avenue and the
debate was ongoing.
2) Dog Bone Road Markings. Three had
been requested including one for a resident for a garage entrance with a
drop kerb. Funding was awaited.
3) Bridge Road Green. Members had seen some shrubs/hedges removed
and the ground levelled and seeded with grass.
This had been done to facilitate mowing.
No previous notice or consultation had taken place, and Chris Whittingham
asked councillors present to make known to other councillors and TDC officers
residents' concerns about the hedges around Westgate and Westbrook. It was recalled that about ten or twelve
years ago TDC had intended to remove all hedging around the footpaths and
greens of St Mildred's and West Bays and at a site meeting with councillors a
very large number of residents had attended and expressed their views that
these hedges which had been present for over one hundred years should be
retained. Councillors should be called if any further hedge destruction is
seen.
WTC Cllr Hannah Scott:
1) Grants Available for Not for
Profit Community Groups. Cllr Scott told
the meeting that £5,000 is available for applications which should be made
before 28th February.
Application forms are on the website or from the Town Clerk.
WTC Cllr Dave Morrish:
1) Double Yellow Lines. TDC are proposing, subject to comment and
consultation double yellow lines from the URC Church to the zebra crossing. In
Ivanhoe Road, following consultation the lines will be put to the correct side
of the road.
KCC Warden Laura Bungard:
Laura reported that TDC would be placing a rubbish
bin opposite the library.
Vulnerable Elderly – There is a multiagency
operation taking place and any information on those needing help such as warm
home alterations, Age UK services etc would be welcome.
Laura has also been involved in matters of highways,
graffiti, ASB meetings, and dementia training.
(There is a meeting on 8th March for carers of those with
dementia). TDC parking and litter
tickets have been issued. The FIDO (dog
mess clearing) vehicle has visited and will be in the Westgate and Birchington
area on Mondays. Grass verge parking can
cause problems and if the marks exceed a certain depth tickets can be issued,
however this can bring problems of road parking when wing mirrors are knocked
off. In some cases speeding is a
considerable problem.
The question arose from the floor re the promised
report from Westgate-on-Sea Town Council.
Cllr Ashby said one had not been prepared for this meeting but will
request one for next time.
CORRESPONDENCE
1) WTC Meetings. A letter from the Town Clerk stated that
members of the public are welcome to come to the meetings, and anyone who
wishes to speak at the meetings should give written notice by 4.00pm on the
Friday before the meeting. Filming or photography at the meetings are not
permitted without consent of the WTC, though there is thought to be a new law
concerning this.
2)
Police
Messages (by email). Police had warnings
of cars being broken into, fake police officers questing bank cards and
personal details, and scam emails.
PLANNING
1)
Castle Cottage.
Application for UPVC windows to replace aluminium windows.
2)
27, Westbrook Road.
Change of use to flats.
Cllr Ashby said anyone who may wish to call in an
application should contact their local district councillor.
TREASURER'S REPORT
Abigail gave this report:
Bank balance stood at £7,858 on 29th December, but this
included the new year lunch money that had been paid in.
The two payments queried were cheques 200377 to the Carpenter's Workshop
£110, and no 200376 for £15 for the pitch fee for the Community Centre fun day.
Abigail informed the meeting that the committee is
considering a proposal to alter the financial year end to 31st
January in order to provide time for the year's books to be completed and
audited for the AGM. As this would
involve an alteration to the constitution approval for this would have to be
given by members at the AGM.
SUNSHINE REPORT
Mavis reported six cards had been sent out to members this month.
MEMBERSHIP
Christina reported that seventy new members had recently
joined.
CIVIC REPORT
Margate Civic Society. Next meeting at the Walpole Bay
Hotel is on Thursday 3rd March 7.30pm when there will be a talk
“Policing the Past – Heritage Crime”.
Westgate Heritage Centre.
Saturday 12th March at
St Saviour's Church 10.30am when the AGM will take place followed by a talk by
Dr Dawn Crouch about St Saviour's church bells.
(SECOND Saturday of the month).
SOCIAL
Jane reported:
1)
Quiz Night.
Friday 12th February 7.00pm, £2 bring your own food and
drink.
2)
Sunday Lunch at the Swan. 21st February.
3)
Sunday Lunch at the Golf Club. March.
4)
Trip to the Secret Gardens and Afternoon Tea. 21st March £23 with Carol Peters.
5)
More local trips to be arranged.
ANY OTHER BUSINESS
1) Thatched House, 190
Canterbury Road. English Heritage had
been interested in possibly listing this house but the previous owners would
not allow access. It has now changed
hands but they do not consider that it meets the requirements for listing, but
the house does seem secure.
2) 27, Westbrook Road (see
planning page 3), in answer to a question Cllr Ashby said this had been an
illegal HMO but had now been cleared out.
The application had been called in by Cllr Sam Bambridge.
3) Large Holm Oak Tree opposite
the Library. Those who had cut this down
beyond reasonable pruning have been prosecuted by the council.
4) Shelter on Green above West
Bay Cafe. This had suffered from
vandalism, and members asked when repairs would be put in hand.
5) Westgate Community Centre
News. Easter Hunt 26th March
11.00am to 3.00pm, £1 per child. An
application for a grant to renovate one end of the building and patch up the car park has been applied for. The summer fun day is still awaiting
permission from TDC events dept before arrangements can go ahead.
6) Westgate Against Rubbish
Group. A clean up at Ursuline Drive and
the Town Green will take place on 27th February at 10.00am. Future event 4th - 5th
March “Clean for the Queen”.
7) West Bay Cafe. Alan Dolan the proprietor spoke about his
application for the cafe for a single storey extension over the cafe for a
restaurant. A pre plan has been sent to
TDC and Alan would be pleased to have some support from local people. Cllr Hannah Scott said that a restaurant had
been requested by residents on the recent survey forms. Alan was also known to make his cafe
available to the Local Astronomy Group for their meetings and educational
purposes. He would also make
improvements to the shelter if he could have part use of this for his
customers.
8) Allotment. Tony Snow told the meeting that he had been
working the W&WRA's half plot 30B at Lymington Road, but would now like to
pass this on to another member. It was
suggested that this be put in the magazine.
9) Tea Ladies. Pat Sawyer-Jones asked for new volunteers.
NEXT MEETING
Monday 14th
March, at the Town Hall Buildings, Westgate, 7.00pm for 7.15pm.
(The
Bowls Club being unavailable).
There being no other business the meeting concluded
at 8.30pm.
