Swale Borough Council Announces £1.59m Funding Boost for Local Projects

Schemes supporting local unemployed people back to work and providing specialist training for local small businesses are among the five projects in Swale that will be sharing more than £1.5 million of funding.

The Government announced five local projects are among only 10 in Kent to receive funding from the Community Renewal Fund this week. This funding will support the economic and community recovery from the pandemic through pilot schemes, which will run until mid-2022.

Swale’s priorities were agreed earlier in the year by a panel including the leader of Swale Borough Council, Cllr Roger Truelove, local MPs, Gordon Henderson and Helen Whately and local businessman Paul Winter.

Cllr Truelove said:

“We put great emphasis on skills and employment, and this obviously fitted the Government agenda.

“I am delighted with the outcome which will make a real difference in Swale. I would like to thank our MPs for their involvement and support.”

Bridge the Gap is a project run by training charity CXK which will receive £168,000 to deliver a programme of support to bring unemployed, and economically inactive, individuals back to the labour market. This will use a range of activities to engage with local people to help them develop work skills, increase their motivation, and support them both into work and once in employment.

Diversity House is receiving £424,000 to deliver an intervention service to support disadvantaged and marginalised local people with complex needs back into employment. This will focus on the life and social skills of people and seek to improve their employability whilst supporting their mental health and wellbeing to help them sustain employment.

NIAB EMR will deliver a project called Growing Green which will use £308,000 to upskill and enable micro and small and medium sized local businesses to innovate and respond to net-zero agenda. These businesses don’t normally access support available but will be able to take advantage of specialist training packages, business-focussed diagnostics to identify new processes and technologies, and demonstrations to help see the benefits of adopting a net-zero approach.

The Kent and Medway Partnership for Food, Enterprise and Health will receive £180,000 to strengthen local capacity to grow, process and use healthy food. This will include a community facility, where local communities learn the value of nutritious food, a business support facility, including a mentoring programme and an ‘Impact Investment Fund’, supporting investment in zero carbon and sustainable technologies.

East Kent College Group will receive £509,000 to deliver the Swale and Ashford Skills Renewal project to help local people develop life skills, raise self-esteem and remove barriers to progression. They will also provide digital devices and connectivity where IT is a barrier. A skills programme will be delivered for the existing workforce, linked to economic recovery needs. They will also carry out research into the post-pandemic skills gaps and create a bespoke action plan.

The UK Community Renewal Fund is targeted at supporting pilot schemes, which will run until mid-2022. It is hoped longer-term funding for projects will be made available from 2022 onwards through the Governments UK Shared Prosperity Fund, details of which are yet to be announced.

Swale Borough Council

Celebration of Life Memorial Service for Jayne Goodwin

Jayne Goodwin

All are welcome at a Celebration of Life Memorial Service for Jayne Goodwin at St Mary's Church, Upchurch, on Friday the 12th of November at 10:30am.

Dress code - Please wear colour

Donations - Blood Cancer UK

Thank you

The Goodwin Family

Appeal to Build New Homes and Public Spaces at Pump Lane, Rainham Dismissed

Appeal dismissed

The Secretary of State and Planning Inspectorate has dismissed an appeal by AC Goatham & Son challenging Medway Councils refusal to grant outline planning permission for significant redevelopment on land they own at Pump Lane, Rainham.

The appeal was dismissed on the grounds of:

• Highways - severe impact and substantial harm

• Landscape harm - significant weight

• Heritage harm - significant weight but as less than substantial harm

• Loss of grade 1 agricultural land

Medway Council was further awarded partial legal costs to be paid by the applicant after the council spent £250,000 defending its refusal during the appeal process, which was held virtually between February and April 2021.

Cllr Jane Chitty, Medway Council’s Portfolio Holder for Planning, Economic Growth and Regulation, said:

“I acknowledge that the Secretary of State has dismissed the appeal to build around 1,250 houses in Pump Lane. Our Planning Committee initially refused the planning application due to a number of concerns, including the severe impact the development would have on local roads, and I am sure they are pleased that the Planning Inspector and Secretary of State have upheld their decision.”

The plans

The controversial plan to build on working orchards in neighbouring Rainham North ward met with significant opposition, including protests and a long campaign from residents, Medway Councillors and the constituency MP, all of which fought to protect the valued farmland.

The site is located south of Lower Rainham Road, centred upon Pump Lane and extending, in part to Lower Bloors Lane to the east and Lower Twydall Lane to the west. The southern most boundary is formed of the railway. The site is currently used as commercial fruit orchards.

The proposals were for a residential development of up to 1,250 homes with landscaped areas, open spaces and other community benefits. It was proposed that at the heart of the development there would be a village green that would integrate with existing pedestrian routes. A new primary school with playing fields was planned for space at the rear of the existing houses on Lower Rainham Road.

Access to the development would have been from Lower Rainham Road and Pump Lane.

Refusal and appeal

Medway Council refused the outline planning application in June 2020.

AC Goatham & Son later lodged an appeal with the Planning Inspectorate in October 2020, challenging the council's decision.

Outline planning application MC/19/1566, including both Medway Councils letter of refusal, and the Secretary of States letter of dismissal, can be viewed at: https://bit.ly/2Yu27QN

Upchurch Matters

Bicycle Stolen - Newington

Hartlip, Newington & Upchurch Ward

Crime Number: 46/222520/21

On Tuesday the 2nd of November between 07:00 and 07:30, somebody stole a secured bicycle from, Playstool Close, 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

Consultation: Have Your Say on Swale Borough Council’s Draft Local Plan

People can have their input towards Swale Borough Council’s draft local plan, after councillors agreed to further consultation last week.

The consultation runs until 5:00pm on Monday, 29th November, and gives the chance for people to respond to a number of questions about a broad strategy for how the borough will meet future development needs.

The council has identified five potential options for delivering our future development needs for consideration and wants people’s views on how the local plan could address the key challenges facing the borough, including responding to climate change and the effects of the covid pandemic.

Cllr Mike Baldock, deputy leader of the council and cabinet member for planning, said:

“We want a local plan that protects what is important to the borough and ties controlled future housing delivery to improved infrastructure delivery, whilst also improving the policy requirements, for example on affordable housing and environmental protection.

“This consultation addresses recent changes in national planning policy and the impact of the covid pandemic on society, whilst also taking into account responses to our recent Reg 19 consultation.

This will enable the future reviewed local plan to be even stronger, and able to meet the changing needs of a post-pandemic world.”

Consultation documents are available at libraries across the borough, and can be viewed at: www.swale.gov.uk/lpc

Swale Borough Council

Upchurch Village Hall 60th Anniversary

Click photos to enlarge.

The village hall is officially 60 years old on 4th November this year. Unlike its 25th and 50th Anniversaries, there are no plans to celebrate this event. A few weeks ago, there was an afternoon tea party open to all villagers and those who use the hall to show off the numerous alterations that have been carried out during the past 2 years, mostly during the COVID-19 lockdown periods, and this was well attended at the time. Past history of the village hall has been written about many times and can still be found on Upchurch Matters as well as numerous other publications and websites. The following is a brief celebration of the village hall. A more detailed one, The History of Upchurch Village Hall, can be found on the Upchurch Village Hall website: www.upchurchvillagehall.weebly.com

It is believed to be as far back as the 1930’s that Margaret Neame who worked in the Upchurch Village Store first suggested the idea that Upchurch should have a village hall that served the whole community. However, it wasn’t until 1952 that the idea first started to come to fruition, culminating in the building of the first part of the village hall in 1961. This was followed by the addition of the back hall and stage area in 1974. During the 1980’s there were many different upgrades to the building including bringing gas into the hall in 1982 when at the same time the original electric heating hung from the ceiling were changed to floor-standing gas-fired heating units, converting the internal emergency lighting system from a continuously charged 12v battery-operated system to a mains electric powered system and installing a fully powered external emergency and security lighting around the building. In 1999, with the help of a £93,000 grant from the National Lottery Fund, the kitchen extension and toilet upgrading were carried out.

Most recently the hall has undergone a major refurbishment which included the replacement of the gas heaters for more economical ones, installation of an electrically operated smoke detection and fire alarm system, updating the main electrics, a new ceiling and lighting system in the main hall along with new fire doors and floor covering. Work in the back hall has included a new soundproof partition positioned on the upper level with a set of soundproof double doors linking it through into the stage area, an additional inner ceiling complete with module lighting panels, similar to that in the main hall and additional external lighting illuminating the car park area.

Upchurch Village Hall was first proposed some 90 years ago now and having come to fruition in 1961 and has been at the heart of the village community ever since. Whilst some of the village clubs that exist today functioned during the 1960s many do not. These include the Mother’s Union, the Darby and Joan Club, the Table Tennis Club, the Youth Club, the Badminton Club, Upchurch Horticultural Society and the Upchurch Play Group although the last two are still in existence but have transferred to other locations within the village.

Current groups regularly using the hall include Upchurch Active Retirement Association (UpARA), Bowls, Pilates, Tai Chi, Uplift, the Women's Institute, the Upchurch Players, as well as other groups meeting for socialising, health and wellbeing on a not so regular basis. All these, and others, are open to people in the village of Upchurch and the surrounding area. Additional to these activities the hall is also used as a Voting Station whenever there is a General or Local Election as well as being hired out for private functions such as Wedding Receptions, Birthday and Anniversary Parties, Theatre Rehearsals, Model Railway Enthusiasts, Spiritual Groups and occasionally for external Company Training of things such as First Aid and the like. Currently, the hall is also being used by Rainham Tuition, a private company that provides additional tuition for pupils approaching their 11+ exam.

Over the years operational costs have increased considerably. Currently, it costs in excess of £20,000 per year to keep the hall open. These costs include insurance, refuse collection, gas, water and electricity along with general running, cleaning and maintenance upkeep. Additional to these the Upchurch Village Hall Management Committee, (UVHMC), are required to hold various licences as well as carrying out statutory gas, electrical and fire inspections. This money does not come from grants as has much of the building works but the income from lettings. With the recent COVID-19 shutdown this has been a difficult time for the management of the hall as in spite of there being no income certain bills still had to be paid. Fortunately, because of careful financial management by the Trustees, the village hall has survived the shut-down and is once again fully open for all to use.

Most recently the UVHMC received a Hallmark 1 Award from the Action with Communities in Rural Kent, (ACRE), showing recognition of how the hall is both looked after and managed.

The village hall is now 60 years old. It is because of the work and attention that the various Management Committees, not forgetting the large number of volunteers at various times, have given to it over those years that it remains the safe and usable village hall that it is today. What the future of the village hall holds is unknown. What we can be sure of though is that if future Trustees look after it in the same way as all those have in the past it should still be the village asset that it is today and give many more people the use and enjoyment that it has for others over the past 60 years.

Edward Murphy with thanks to Jan Lacy