Swale Borough Council Asks Local People for Their Input on Council Matters

Local communities will now have greater involvement in council decisions after a date was set for the first round of area committee meetings at last week’s annual council meeting.

The four area committees - Eastern, Sittingbourne, Sheppey and Western - will help give local people their say on council matters.

The first meeting will be the Western committee on 1st September, followed by Sittingbourne on 8th September, Sheppey on 22nd September and Eastern on 29th September.

Cllr Mike Baldock, deputy leader of the council, said:

“Area committees give local councillors a chance to reconnect with the public and bring valuable local insight to council decision-making.

We plan for the first round of area committee meetings to take place in September, however we now need to consider how we get the committees off the ground while taking social distancing rules into account.

Once off the ground, committees will draw up work programmes to improve quality of life in their areas and enable local insight to be brought to bear on issues being decided by the cabinet or the whole council.

Following consultation with the public late last year, we’ve decided on four areas - Eastern, Sittingbourne, Sheppey and Western - to allow for the nuances of town, country and coast to be fairly represented.

Honest and open dialogue with the public is a key priority for us, and we’re excited to get the first round of committees up and running”

The four committees will be made up of all the councillors representing wards in the following areas:

• Eastern - Abbey, Boughton and Courtenay, East Downs, Priory, St Ann’s, Teynham and Lynsted and Watling wards.

• Sheppey – Minster Cliffs, Queenborough and Halfway, Sheerness, Sheppey Central and Sheppey East.

• Sittingbourne - Chalkwell, Homewood, Kemsley, Milton Regis, Murston and Roman.

• Western - Bobbing, Iwade and Lower Halstow, Borden and Grove Park, Hartlip Newington and Upchurch, the Meads, Woodstock and West Down.

Swale Borough Council

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Saturday Night Mussels Special at Upchurch River Valley Golf Course

Jenny Giles - Upchurch River Valley Golf Course

Telephone: 01634 360626

Website: www.rivervalleygolf.co.uk

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Poolside Bar Courtyard Presents The Mel Harris 60’s Show at Upchurch River Valley Golf Course

Free Entry - Non Members Welcome

Jenny Giles - Upchurch River Valley Golf Course

Telephone: 01634 360626

Website: www.rivervalleygolf.co.uk

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Changes at Upchurch's Co-op

After 5 years away, Nik Clements has returned to Upchurch's Co-op this week as the new store manager. Nik is delighted to be back working in the village and looking forward to becoming more involved with community life and seeing all your familiar faces again in store.

As the store manager, Nik is keen to hear what customers would like to see in our local Co-op. She will read all your feedback and where possible will make improvements based on your comments while continuing the good work her team already does.

Please continue to complete the 'your store your say' surveys using store number 7889 at >> www.yourstoreyoursay.com for your chance to win 1 of 10 £250 vouchers each month.

Thank you

Good luck Nik 🤞🏼

David would like to thank you all. Upchurch is the best store he has worked in, he says, with the best team and the loveliest customers. He will be back in August covering holidays, so you haven't seen the last of him just yet!

We wish David well in his new role and would like to thank him for all his hard work in Upchurch, particularly during the Coronavirus lockdown when the village really needed its local Co-op.

Thank you, David 👏🏼

Upchurch Matters

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Swale Borough Council Opens Second Round of Discretionary Grants Scheme to Help More Small Businesses Get Back on Their Feet

Small businesses in the tourism, hospitality and leisure industry could be eligible for support from Swale Borough Council’s second round of discretionary grants.

The second round of the discretionary grants scheme is aimed at those businesses who directly support Swale’s visitor economy and who haven’t yet qualified for any government grants to support them through the impact of COVID-19.

The council has already handed out more than £1 million in discretionary grants designed to help specific types of micro and small businesses who were not eligible for the small business grant scheme or the retail, leisure and hospitality grant schemes offered by the government.

Now that 130 businesses have received their grants, the council is opening the discretionary scheme for a second round.

Cllr Monique Bonney, cabinet member for economy and property at Swale Borough Council, said:

“The government guidelines on who should receive the discretionary grants were very strict in the first round.

Now that we’ve helped 130 businesses who fell into the categories of flexible workspaces, market trader’s, B&Bs and charities, we are adding another category for businesses that specifically support our visitor economy.

This includes tourism businesses and our hospitality and leisure service providers who are crucial to helping get our local economy going, especially now the summer is here, and lockdown restrictions are easing.

We have £400,000 left in the pot to give to eligible businesses and if we have some remaining after this round, we may open the scheme up for a third round to expand the criteria even more.

Local businesses are important to the community and we’re doing everything we can to support them. As well as the discretionary grants, we’ve also paid more than £27 million in small business and retail grants.

The grant scheme opens today (22nd July) for one week and we urge anybody requiring business support to sign up for our business emails to stay up to date on what’s available.”

Now that the first four categories have received support, a fifth category has been added:

1. Small businesses in shared premises or other flexible workspaces, e.g. industrial parks, science parks, incubators etc, which do not have their own business rates assessment.

2. Regular market traders who do not have their own business rates assessment.

3. B&B’s that pay council tax instead of business rates.

4. Charity properties in receipt of charitable business rates relief that could otherwise have 

been eligible for small business rates relief or rural rate relief.

5. Businesses that directly support Swale’s visitor economy; this can include tourism, hospitality & leisure service providers but does not include sporting activity providers and/or supply chain businesses.

For more information about what help is available for businesses visit: www.swale.gov.uk/advice-for-businesses

Businesses wanting to sign up for updates from the council should Email: edu@swale.gov.uk

Swale Borough Council

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Poolside Bar Courtyard Music Nights July - November at Upchurch River Valley Golf Course

Jenny Giles - Upchurch River Valley Golf Course

Telephone: 01634 360626

Website: www.rivervalleygolf.co.uk

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