Committee Members present: Cllrs C King (Chairman), D Keeley, (Vice Chairman), J Atkins, C Block,
Mrs S Boakes, Mrs B Brown, D Brown, Mrs B Keeley, Miss A Moloney, J Tucker, Mrs S Hunter (Town Clerk)

Members of the Public present: Mr Boyes, Ms Simmonds, Mrs M Smith, Mr Hickmott, Mrs Hutchinson, Ms Hutchinson, Mr Ward

1. Apologies for absence

Apologies for absence were received from Cllrs Mrs D Crook, C Grayhurst and L Withey.

2. Declarations of Interest

Cllrs D Keeley, Mrs B Brown and Miss A Moloney are Borough Councillors.

3. Open Forum

3.1 Mr Hickmott asked if the local bike club, along with the local bike instructor, would be able to meet at the Brookland Lake car park to display their bikes and give demonstrations on basic safety. The Committee agreed to this in principle, and would need plenty of notice for the Café to be aware and have sufficient stock and also to inform the fishing club.
3.2 Ms Heidi Simmonds asked if the Council had received the money for the play equipment at Potyns from TMBC yet. STC has not received this to date, but hopes to receive these funds in the very near future. Cllr Atkins asked if TMBC would be paying interest on the funds, the Clerk will ask this question of them.
3.3 Mr George Ward asked if the new play equipment at Potyns had been handed over to the Council, and complained that the area was unsafe at the entrance gate due to mud, and that the swings did not work properly. The Clerk has spoken to Maria Cook (the play equipment inspector) regarding the swing and will contact her again. The area by the gate is due to be covered with tarmac in the very near future.

4. Matters arising from the Minutes of the meeting held on 22 October 2007

4.1 Cllr Miss Moloney requested that the Council makes absolutely sure the Remembrance Day Parade leaves on time this year.
4.2 A meeting for the switching on of the Christmas lights for 2008 needs to be arranged soon. The Scouts, United Church, fairground and the Chamber of Commerce would like to be involved in a ‘Christmas Festival’ where the lights are switched on as part of that. The Clerk will speak to Mr Alan Totham.

5. Allotments

There are not any issues that STC is aware of at the moment.

6. Football

The goalpost at Holborough is in the process of being repaired. If the repair is unsuccessful the Council may need to replace them.

7. Review of Charges

After discussion it was decided that the charges for the Council’s facilities would remain the same, and they would be reviewed around next October ready for 2009- 10 budget preparation. The Clerk will compare costs with Aylesford Parish Council for burials/Cemetery charges.
Cllr Atkins is still unhappy about the cost of grave digging. He believes the Council’s charging structure is unreasonable and that the Council should distinguish between different plots and their location.
Cllr King asked the Clerk to carry out a thorough review of the charges and to give reports of the income and expenditure for the Cemetery over the past two years.

8. Cemetery Lodge (Update)

The Clerk has been unable to locate a scaled plan of the Cemetery Lodge. She has liaised with Cllr Grayhurst with regard to this and a scaled plan needs to be drawn up before a gas supply can be installed.

9. KCC Spreadsheet

There is nothing to update from the last Full Council meeting. This will be on the next Full Council agenda.

10. New Reporting Page on the Website

The new facility on the STC website works very well. It should reduce the number of times a ‘fault’ is reported. Cllr Atkins asked ‘what is the advantage of preventing Council tax payers from putting their comments on the website. The new web reporting page can be viewed by members of the public and if a problem, eg a street light not working, has already been reported, it will not need to be reported again.

11. Correspondence

11.1 KCC has sent the Council information regarding its re-tendering of subsidised bus routes.
11.2 Scope has informed the Council that its house to house collection will take place in Snodland on the 7 April 2008 and the 6 and 24 April 2009.

12. Any other items which the Chairman has decided are urgent owing to special circumstances

12.1 Cllr Tucker attended a meeting with KCC. KCC is planning to produce a guide for bus travel covering Snodland, West Malling and Kings Hill. It will not incorporate time tables.
Cllr Tucker has carried out an audit of bus stops in Snodland and not all show time tables. This should be rectified in the near future. There are plans to increase the outlets for timetables in the town. These will be issued around April this year, with a nil cost to Snodland.

The Chairman moved that the press and public be excluded from the remainder of the meeting because of the confidential nature of the business to be transacted.