Notice Board

Tuesday 3 December 2019

Emergency Road Closure - A2 Key Street Roundabout, Bobbing

It will be necessary to close A2 Key Street Roundabout, Bobbing from Friday 6th December 2019 for up to 1 night to eastbound traffic only.

The road will be closed at the junction with the A2.

The alternative route is via Sheppey Way, Bobbing Interchange and the A249.

It is planned that the road will be closed between 20:00 and 06:00.

The closure is necessary to enable FM Conway to carry out urgent works to repair an expansion joint on the eastbound deck.

This Notice applies when the relevant signs and barriers are on site and is valid for a period of no more than 5 days.

The KCC Highways 24hr Contact Centre helpline is: 03000 418181

For details of roadworks, please see: www.kenttraffic.info

Kent County Council - Highways, Transportation & Waste
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Monday 2 December 2019

UpARA Charity Fundraisers for Upchurch Village Hall

Bryn Howells
UpARA
Email: uparaupchurch@gmail.com

Website: www.upara.club

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The Crown at Upchurch Over 70s Community Christmas Lunch

Monday 23rd December at 12:00pm

Annmarie is hosting a FREE and friendly Christmas Lunch for over 70s residents who for whatever reason will find themselves alone in Upchurch this Christmas.

Enjoy a lovely home-cooked Christmas Turkey Lunch with all the trimmings, followed by either Christmas Pudding, Apple or Mince Pie.

To give as many older residents as possible the opportunity to enjoy a Christmas Lunch in the company of others means that spaces will be limited to individual Upchurch residents aged 70 or over. The pub is unable to cater for extra family members or couples, unfortunately. Thank you for your understanding.

Please call to book: 07740 775199 - 01634 233896

Let’s make this a Merry Christmas for everyone!

With donations from:

G.A.F French Ltd

www.gaffrenchltd.co.uk

DGL Testing Services Ltd

www.dgltesting.co.uk

Annmarie Hoare

The Crown at Upchurch

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Sunday 1 December 2019

Upchurch Village Christmas Tree 2019

Upchurch Parish Councillors, Tyrone Ripley, Neil Sheppard, Gary Rosewell and John Arnold were helped by Shoun Bearup and Bob Friend today, to put up this year's village Christmas tree and Santa's sleigh and reindeer lights.

Thanks very much to Shoun and Bob for all their help.

This year's lovely tree was once again very kindly donated by Bob Friend and family.

Thank you, Bob 🎄🎅🏼 👍🏼 😀

Councillor Tyrone Ripley

Upchurch Parish Council

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‪Important Consultation on Potential Alterations to Chalkwell 326/327 Bus Services

Chalkwell Coach Hire have announced an important consultation on potential alterations to the 326/327 bus service that links Sittingbourne to the Medway Towns via the villages of Newington, Upchurch and Lower Halstow.

Residents are invited to submit their views to the bus company either in writing or by completing the online consultation form at the link here >> http://bit.ly/2rFWIti

The closing date for submissions is Sunday 15th December.

The operator wrote:

“Chalkwell Coach Hire are the operators of the 326/327 bus service that links Sittingbourne to the Medway Towns via the villages of Newington, Upchurch and Lower Halstow.

We provide this service at our own commercial risk, with Kent County Council supporting evening and Saturday journeys.

The 326/327 service has been greatly impacted by the SGN roadworks on the A2, with the closure of Newington in July and the current 42 week programme increasing our costs and journey times dramatically. We understand that these roadworks are essential in order to replace an ageing gas line. However, they make operating buses very difficult and are causing punctuality issues.

We have requested reasonable financial compensation from SGN who have so far refused to meet our costs. Likewise, Kent County Council are not in a position to provide assistance. This is not a sustainable position for us and because of these factors beyond our control, there are elements of the 326/327 service that are no longer commercially viable.

We are therefore considering withdrawing some of the 326/327 service or re-timing the existing journeys. Before making any decisions, we would like feedback from our customers and the community.

As a local family-owned business we appreciate that our customers depend on this service for a variety of reasons, including accessing education, employment and health facilities. If you are particularly dependant on an element of the 326/327 it is essential that you let us know your views. The journeys that are most likely to be affected are services to Medway schools and off-peak services during the hours of 9am to 3pm, Monday to Friday.

It is not likely that services to Sittingbourne schools will be affected, as these are generally well used. Also, if you have any views on how the 326/327 service can be improved then please do let us know below.

Alternatively you can write to us at Chalkwell Coach Hire, The Coach Depot, Unit 2A Church Road, Sittingbourne ME10 3RS. The closing date for submissions is Sunday 15th December. The current 326/327 service can be found here.

If you wish to let SGN know what you think then please contact them here.”

Upchurch Matters

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