The members of the Parish Council had two important items to consider at the start of the four year life of the council. The first was to adopt the Code of Conduct which all members have to abide by. A copy is available from the clerk and will be posted on the Kennington website. The new code allows a member who might have a prejudicial interest to make a presentation to the council before withdrawing from the meeting. The members of the Parish Council took this opportunity to propose a change to their Standing Orders to allow any member of the public to make a statement or ask a question. The full details will be decided at the July meeting. It had always been the custom and practice to allow public speaking at the Chairman’s discretion but it was felt that this should become a right for local residents to raise matters at meetings.
The second discussion was on whether or not to follow the government scheme to become a Quality Parish Council. It was agreed that while the council meets most of the tests there would be a considerable amount of additional work for the clerk and additional expense to the council tax payers without any perceived additional benefits to the village. It was decided not to apply this year and review the matter in a year’s time.
Anthony Roberts had informed the clerk that WREN had given £6,300 towards the second phase of the community woodland in Kennington Road. A meeting had been arranged for Wednesday 25th July at 7.30pm in the Village Hall to form a Friends’ group.
A meeting was held to discuss the localised problem of anti-social behaviour in Playfield Road and on the playing field. Over twenty residents and Sgt Price, Pc Delaney and the Crime Reduction Officer shared their views. The police explained the measures that were being considered to alleviate the problems. It was agreed that the most important action that local people could do was report incidents quickly and get a unique reference number (URN). There was praise for the work of the new community officer, Pc Sean Delaney (Del).
The clerk had sent off the Heads of Terms to T Mobile and had instructed the Parish Council’s solicitor to start work on the alterations to the lease held by the Playing Fields Association and prepare a lease for the Telecommunication Mast on Playfield Road Playing Field.
The gate to the cemetery in Sandford Lane is to be removed for repair in July.
