Swale Borough Council - Heritage Strategy Consultation

Artists illustration of repaired and re-purposed
Sheerness Dockyard Church.
Heritage at Risk Grade II* listed building.
Image provided courtesy of Hugh Broughton Architects
with Martin Ashley Architects.

Newington archaeological site. Remains (in-situ) of
a Romano-Celtic Temple and its 3D reconstruction.
Persimmon Homes site off Newington High Street.
Images provided courtesy of SWAT Archaeology.

People are being asked to comment on Swale Borough Council’s new heritage strategy and action plan. This outlines the council’s plan to protect and manage the borough’s vitally important heritage.

The council’s cabinet last night (18th December) gave the green light for the heritage strategy and action plan to be made available for public consultation from tomorrow, until the 31st January.

The strategy confirms the council’s position in seeking to positively manage the wide range of heritage assets in the borough. It also set out how the council will support amenity organisations in projects focussed on bringing the borough’s heritage to life. An example of this is the Sheerness Dockyard Preservation Trust’s plans for the sensitive partial re-building and remodelling of the grade II* listed Royal Naval Dockyard Church in Sheerness into a bustling enterprise centre and hub for start-up businesses.

A major focus of the strategy will be to effectively tackle the range of problems which have led to some buildings and areas within the borough being placed on the local and national heritage at risk registers. The council is aiming to work with a range of different parties to make positive strides in this challenging area.

The borough-wide strategy will work to make sure that both rural and urban heritage is given the protection and ongoing sensitive management it needs to allow current and future generations to enjoy and learn from it.

Improving the understanding and awareness of the borough’s heritage, and the benefits it brings are crucial to the success of the strategy in the long terms will be. The council is keen to work with others in making the maritime, aviation and defence heritage of the borough known to a wider audience, given that some of the heritage in question (notably the grade I listed Boat Store) is of national, if not international importance.

Cllr Mike Baldock, cabinet member for planning, said:

“We have a wide range of heritage assets across the borough including more than 1,400 statutory listed buildings, 4 registered parks and gardens, 22 scheduled monuments, 50 conservation areas, and an increasing range of archaeologically important sites.

The strategy outlines how we will review and analyse our heritage sites and areas, giving us a greater understanding of what’s needed to conserve its special character into the future. This important groundwork will also put us in a stronger position to apply for future heritage-focussed funding to achieve enhancements to parts of our historic environment”.

We successfully applied for £1.9 million heritage lottery funding last year to improve the buildings, facilities and green spaces at Faversham Rec, and through this strategy, the Council will continue to support the heritage-focussed projects of other parties which will bring about real and long-lasting public benefits.

This strategy helps us understand how we will protect and conserve the borough’s precious heritage assets up until 2032 and we want community groups, local residents, businesses and other stakeholders to have their say in how we do and prioritise this.”

The strategy and two supporting appendices (including the action plan) can be accessed online at www.swale.gov.uk/heritage-strategy

People can send their feedback by Email to HeritageStrategy@Swale.gov.uk or via post to Heritage Strategy Feedback, Planning Services, Swale Borough Council, Swale House, East Street, Sittingbourne, ME10 3HT.

Printed copies of the heritage strategy will be available to view at:

• Swale Borough Council Office in Sittingbourne

• Sheppey Gateway in Sheerness

• The Alexander Centre in Faversham

• Boughton-under-Blean Library

• Faversham Library

• Minster-on-Sea

• Queenborough Library

• Sheerness Library

• Sittingbourne Library

• Teynham Library

Swale Borough Council
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Latest POLICE.UK Crime Data for the Area - November 2019

Hartlip, Newington and Upchurch

Here is a brief summary of the crime information for the past 2 months:

	October 2019	November 2019
All crime	42	40
Anti-social behaviour	7	4
Bicycle theft	0	0
Burglary	0	4
Criminal damage and arson	8	5
Drugs	0	0
Other crime	1	1
Other theft	3	2
Possession of weapons	0	0
Public order	4	5
Robbery	0	0
Shoplifting	1	0
Theft from the person	0	0
Vehicle crime	6	0
Violence and sexual offences	12	19

Please visit: www.police.uk for more information including outcomes for these crimes and contact information for your local policing team. Lower Halstow and Iwade Here is a brief summary of the crime information for the past 2 months: October 2019 November 2019 All crime 46 37 Anti-social behaviour 12 3 Bicycle theft 0 0 Burglary 0 1 Criminal damage and arson 2 2 Drugs 2 0 Other crime 2 3 Other theft 2 0 Possession of weapons 0 0 Public order 2 3 Robbery 0 0 Shoplifting 0 2 Theft from the person 0 0 Vehicle crime 0 3 Violence and sexual offences 24 20 Please visit: www.police.uk for more information including outcomes for these crimes and contact information for your local policing team. Upchurch Matters

Swale Borough Council - Swale Council Responds to Parent’s Concern of Reported Over-crowding on School Buses

Cllr Roger Truelove, leader of the council, said he has spoken with Kent County Council (KCC) this week following a question from a concerned parent about over-crowding on school buses.

Cllr Truelove said:

“We have spoken with KCC who have assured us that although they are unable to enforce operations on commercial bus services, they will contact the bus operators to share parents’ concerns.

The school bus routes in question carry children from Sheppey and the wider Swale area into Sittingbourne schools and are commercially operated by Chalkwell, Travelmasters and Arriva.

Each bus is licensed to carry a certain number of passengers and it is an offence for the driver to permit the bus to be overloaded.

That said, it is not unlawful for passengers to stand even when there may be ample seating available although standing passengers shouldn’t stand adjacent to, or forward of, the driver’s cab.

Parents who are concerned about their child’s travel to school should contact the Department for Transports Office of the Traffic Commissioner, who are responsible for bus operator compliance.”

Department for Transport regional Office of the Traffic Commissioner:
Ivy House,

3 Ivy Terrace,
Eastbourne
BN21 4QT

enquiries@otc.gov.uk

0300 123 9000

Swale Borough Council

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Swale Borough Council - A Brand New, State of the Art Digital CCTV System for Swale?

Swale Council’s cabinet is being asked to approve the upgrade of the borough’s CCTV system, upgrading to a digital system that will bring the service back under council control.

The upgrade of the 52-camera system will be decided at council’s cabinet meeting later this week (18th Dec).

If agreed, councillors will decide who will install and maintain the system following the successful tender process with nine bids earlier this year.

The £250,000 upgrade includes new digital cameras and a control room at Bourne Place multi-storey car park that will monitored at known times of peak crime and anti-social behaviour.

The CCTV system is currently operated by the Medway Commercial Group, on behalf of the CCTV partnership with Medway, Maidstone and Gravesham councils.

The new operator would install and maintain the new system for up to five years when the current contract ends in March.

Cllr Richard Palmer, cabinet member for community at the council, said:

“We want to bring the safety of Swale residents and visitors across the borough back into our control, so the upgrade of 52 new cameras and Swale-based control room will be a key investment.

Our current cameras are coming to the end of their life span and don’t often provide clear enough images to help the police with prosecutions.

The new CCTV system will help us prevent and detect crime, provide quality evidence to the police for prosecutions and manage emergencies and major incidents.

If agreed, not only will the new system improve safety across the borough but will also provide cost savings that we can allocate to other safety initiatives.”

Swale Borough Council

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Vehicle Tyres Slashed - Newington

Hartlip, Newington & Upchurch Ward

Crime Number: 46/237942/19

Between Friday the 13th and Saturday the 14th of December, all 4 tyres were slashed on a vehicle in Hasted Road, Newington.

If you have any information that could help investigators please contact Kent Police on telephone number 101 and quote the relevant crime number above.

For more information on crime prevention visit: www.kent.police.uk

Kent Community Messaging

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Santa’s Sleigh Round Returns to Upchurch

A big thank you to Santa for returning to Upchurch again this Christmas, courtesy of Upchurch Parish Council and Sittingbourne Christmas Lights Association.

All proceeds from this year’s collection will go towards Upchurch Village Hall.

Thanks to Cllr Richard Palmer for the photos.

Upchurch Matters

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