Kent Police Surgery - Hartlip, Newington and Upchurch Ward

PC Jez Chittim.

Swale Neighbourhood Officer PC Jez Chittim is holding a police surgery at Holywell School, Forge Lane, Upchurch, ME9 7AE so residents can raise concerns about local policing issues they may have.

PC Chittim will be in the school reception on Saturday the 21st of September between 4:00pm and 8:00pm.

The surgery is for Hartlip, Newington and Upchurch residents, and it is an opportunity to find out what is being done to tackle the issues that matter to you.

If you are travelling by car, please park in the staff car park at the front of the school, and PC Chittim will let you in the gate.

Email: Jez.Chittim@kent.police.uk

Contact your local policing team at: https://bit.ly/3pprLHW

Is it an emergency? If so, please call: 999 now

Upchurch Matters

Fuel Stolen - Oak Lane, Upchurch

Hartlip, Newington & Upchurch Ward

Crime Number: 46/155838/24

Between 17:00 on Thursday the 12th of September and 07:00 on Friday the 13th of September, somebody stole a large amount of fuel from a farm in Oak Lane, Upchurch.

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

Upchurch Bingo Group

Our bingo sessions are held in the back room of The Crown, Upchurch.

The next session is on Tuesday the 17th of September.

We open at 7:30pm with eyes down at 8:00pm.

Entry is £1.

To play costs £3 to £6 per set of books, for 12 games.

We are a non-profit group and all book sales are distributed as prizes.

There is also a small raffle. 

Why not join us for an evening of fun?

Sylvia Roberts

Swale Borough Council - Changes to Some Waste & Recycling Collections

Recycling and waste collection rounds across Swale are being updated to provide a more reliable service.

Around 1 in 8 households will have a change in the day their waste is collected and will receive a letter confirming their new days.

The council’s contract with SUEZ has been running for almost six months, and while improvements have been made, the service is not yet performing as well as expected.

To address this, a thorough review has been carried out to identify the remaining areas for improvement. This looked at factors such as the number of properties on a round, vehicle access issues, and the types of vehicles being used on rounds.

Changes are being made to address these issues with some rebalancing of collections throughout the week, along with some changes to routes, and the types of vehicles used.

Cllr Rich Lehmann, chair of the council’s Environment and Climate Change Committee, said:

“We know the contract has got off to a rocky start, and we sincerely apologise for the disruption and frustration people have suffered.

“We have spent a considerable amount of time and effort working to improve collections, but it’s clear that to make the final push to reach the level of service we want, we must make some changes to the rounds.

“The majority of people will continue to have the same collections on the same day as now, but it may be at an earlier or later time in the day.

“Around 1 in 8 will have a change to either their day of collection, the week for each type of collection, or both.

“We know this isn’t ideal, and the changes are likely to cause some short-term disruption, but we believe this will help us move the service towards where we need it to be.

“We are writing to those households affected to let them know their new days, and what the arrangements are during the transition. If you haven’t received a letter, then there will be no changes to your collection.”

The day changes may mean some households will receive the same type of collection two weeks in a row during the transition period.

It is important to note that the garden waste and clinical waste services will remain unaffected by these changes.

The council's website will continue to display the current collection schedule until after the last scheduled collection before the changes take effect.

Swale Borough Council

St Mary's Church Fundraising Sale

Saturday 14th September between 10:00am - 11:30am

Homemade Cakes, Jams, Pickles, Scones and Savouries

Also Puzzles, Books, Bric-à-brac and sometimes Plants

Something for everyone!

Refreshments

Please help support this ancient building - Thank you

🍰 🍓 🧩 📚 🎨 🪴 ☕️ ➕

Upchurch Matters

Swale Borough Council - Waste and Street Cleansing Survey Launched

Swale Borough Council wants local people to share their views about the rollout of the new waste and street cleansing contract.

The council is carrying out a review into the contract with Suez, which began in March, and is looking at a range of issues related to the start of the new contract, including resources, staffing, data, rounds, contract management, and communications.

To make sure people can give their experiences of the move to a new contract, a survey has been launched to get insights into the preparations for the change and experiences following of the rollout.

Councillor Rich Lehmann, chair of the Environment and Climate Change committee at the council, said:

"We know that the move to the new waste contract has not gone as well as we wanted, and we’re still working hard to get Suez to deliver the level of performance we expect.

“We want to hear people’s experiences about how it went: what went wrong, where did you look for help, what happened when you reported it.

“This will help us carry out the review by making sure people’s experiences are central to what we’re looking at. These responses will help identify areas for improvement to make sure the service is operating effectively for everyone."

In addition to the survey, the council is carrying out workshops with council officers and Suez representatives, as well as consulting with parish councils and the upcoming round of area committee meetings.

The public survey will close at 11:59pm on Wednesday the 2nd of October and is available at: www.swale.gov.uk/waste-contract-survey

Hard copies are also available on request.

Swale Borough Council