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The Parish Council The Parish Council is required by the Information Commissioner under the Freedom of Information Act to publish certain information. This can mostly be found below, but he also prescribes how this should shown. To see the version for Hildenborough click here, to see the Model Publication Scheme click here. One point of explanation, reference is made to 'Quality Parish Councils' . Hildenborough has not sought this designation because one prerequisite is that all Members are elected and, despite efforts to encourage people to come forward there has not been an election for some years. The legal powers of Parish Councils are extensive, to see them click here . They are all permissive rather than mandatory i.e the Council has the power to do something but does not have to. In practice few of these powers are used by Hildenborough Parish Council which exercises limited functions and is primarily concerned with:- * STREET LIGHTING (outside the built up area) * BURIAL GROUND, in conjunction with the Church * OPEN SPACES - Recreation Ground in Riding Lane, Village Green off Mount Pleasant and at Westwood, Seats, a Shelter and involvement with the War Memorial * APPOINTING Trustees to certain Charities * CONTRIBUTIONS to charities etc. and acts as a consultee on Planning Applications and Footpath matters and as the local focus when the other local government tiers consult. Some more details:- Street lighting At one time the Parish Council owned and paid for the maintenance and power for all of the lights in the Parish but used the Borough Council as their Agents to do so. Starting in 1993, when there was pressure to replace existing lighting which had 3 core wiring-which applied principally to the Gough Cooper estate- the Parish Council, aided by grants from the Borough Council, replaced all of the streetlights in the built up part of the village with adoptable schemes. To be adopted the scheme had to meet County Council design criteria about lamp distance, placing and the like which involved new columns (except for Francis Road). Once installed the new lamps were adopted by the County Council and were no longer a Parish Council responsibility. These adopted lights are periodically inspected to identify where action is needed, they have a set of criteria about speed of response with 'Keep Left' signage the highest, so instant action is unlikely but the sooner a fault is reported hopefully the sooner it will be fixed. If the fault turns out to be concerned with the wiring a specialist is often called in, meaning a further delay before the repair is done. Some lights, however, do remain the responsibility of the Parish Council, namely those between the War Memorial and the Station, upgraded in 2003 to help walkers, and several isolated lamps along Mill Lane and Riding Lane and in the passageways. These lamps are maintained for the Parish Council by a Contractor. To avoid confusion any fault discovered with ANY light should be reported to the Parish Clerk . Burial Ground Burial in the Churchyard is available to all residents of the Parish. Supervision of how the Churchyard is used is the responsibility of the Church. The Parish Council can provide or help fund a burial ground. In 1966 to meet this task an agreement was reached between the Church and the Council for the Council to assist with the cost of maintenance. A 1999 revision agreed that for the next 25 years the Parish Council would take responsibility for:- 1) Mowing and treating the grass within the area used for burials at any time. 2) Tree surgery and care of the shrubs in the same area. 3) Maintenance of the wall alongside the B245 and any hedges within the area used for burials at any time. 4) Any initial capital costs associated with the extension of the facilities for burial existing in 1999 (including that used for ashes) such as new hedges walls, fencing and drainage works so as to extend the existing areas to ready them for use. The definition means that as well as the lych gate and the paths a considerable area of Church land remains their responsibility, for example the grass by the car park. The Council's work on the burial ground is supervised by a Churchyard Committee, which instituted the 'nature area' alongside the vicarage . It has four members-two from the Church and Parish Council- and meets twice a year. After the 1999 agreement was reached work began on the extension of the burial ground into the Glebe Field. As part of an attempt to offset the extra cost imposed by the Parish Rate on the Parished areas compared to un-parished Tonbridge, for the last few years the Borough has made a Grant to the Parish of their estimate of the cost of mowing the churchyard to maintain a standard similar to that at Tonbridge Cemetery. Parish Councillors Chairman Mr. T Barton - 18 Hardwick Road, Hildenborough TN11 9LA - (01732) 832207 Vice Chairman Mrs. A Scally - Little Barn Limes Farm, Mill Lane, Hildenborough TN11 9LX - (01732) 834831 Mr. M F Baker - 28 Fairfield Way, Hildenborough TN11 9EU - (01732) 838792 Mr. P W G Lane - 16 Leigh Road, Hildenborough TN11 9AB - (01732) 832438 Mr. C Lewis - 24 Greenview Cresent, Hildenborough TN11 9DT - (01732) 833867 Mr. R P Mountford - 37 Greenview Cresecent, Hildenborough TN11 9DR - (01732) 833170 Mr. N M C Nairne - 6 Riding Lane, Hildenborough TN11 9HX - (01732) 832053 Mrs. M J Shaw - 17 Church Road, Hildenborough TN11 9JL - (01732) 832183 Mr. C P Smith - 43 Knowsley Way, Hildenborough TN11 9LQ - (01732) 833742 Mr. G Watts - 5 Orchard Lea, Hildenborough TN11 9BZ - (01732) 833852 Mrs. A J Woollett - 17 Brookmead, Hildenborough TN11 9DL - (01732) 832632 Clerk Mrs. P Gow - 60 Knowsley Way, Hildenborough TN11 9LQ - (01732) 832367 you can email the clerk at clerk@thisishildenborough.co.uk Delegated Powers Delegated power has been given to the Chairman of the Council , in agreement, with the Vice Chairman to spend up to £1000 if necessary before the next Council meeting. Similarly the Chairman of Open Spaces Committee has a float of £100 to allow urgent action between Council meetings. To better perform it's functions the Council (which meets monthly) has a set of committees. Parish Council Committee Membership and terms of Reference Membership of the Committees is decided at the Council's Annual Meeting in May. If necessary the non-executive Committees may co-opt until the following April individuals either with special expertise or so as to bring the Committee to acceptable strength. Annually at its first meeting each Committee will elect a Chairman from its non co-opted members. The Council's Financial Year starts in April but it must tell Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council the amount it wants to be raised for the coming year by early January. To make this decision at the December meeting it needs to set a Budget at the November meeting. To do this it needs, at its October meeting, to have before it or previously agreed to details of Capital Works and expected on going expenses recommended by Committees. This is so that they can be reviewed by Finance in the interim before November. Each Committee needs to take this timetable into account as well as any timetable for applications set by providers of grants. TERMS OF REFERENCE 1. OPEN SPACES A. To manage the Council's Open Spaces (Village sign, the War Memorial, the Recreation Ground in Riding Lane, West Wood and the Village Green) to ensure, where appropriate, their availability to all in a good, usable condition taking into account weather and agreed budgets. This includes the identification and later supervision of providers of necessary services so as to make recommendations for Council approval. The Chairman has a float of £100 to allow urgent action between Council meetings. B. To identify and make recommendation concerning the need for additional facilities which would benefit the Parish population together with ways of providing them, including identifying the detail of the scheme, cost, providers and the sources and method of funding (which can include Charities or other Governmental sources). 2. FOOTPATHS In co-operation with the County Council and local walking enthusiasts to seek to maintain safe access to the network of public paths in Hildenborough, identifying the need for any repairs and attempting to ensure these happen. To make comment on any proposals for change to the network. To publicise the network e.g. by publishing information,and organising walks and other events. 3. PLANNING It is responsible for considering, and commenting to the Borough Council on, all Planning Applications placed before it and any Local Plans or like proposals. Apart from the limited delegated power of Open Spaces this is the only Committee with executive powers, these have been delegated to it because the Council has only 14 days to respond to consultation on applications. 4. CHURCHYARD This Committee consists of two persons from the Council and two nominated by the Parochial Church Council. It is responsible for nothing other than identifying and recommending for action those works which are the responsibility of the Council. These are concerned with mowing the grass and looking after the trees and boundary hedges and some walls as detailed in the 25 year Agreement of March 1999. As a Committee it is not responsible for the management of the Churchyard or the upkeep of individual graves. 5. FINANCE It is responsible for overseeing the Council's finances, including the performance of necessary internal audit activities. It compares budget with actual results and may make recommendations. It considers draft committee budgets and makes recommendations about the overall budget to the council together with guidance about the precept to be raised. 6 MEMBERSHIP . For 2008/9 the council has made the following appointments --6.1 Finance Committee: Mr M Baker, Mr T Barton, Mr C Lewis, Mr R Mountford, Mrs J Shaw, Mrs A Scally --6.2 Open Spaces Committee: Mr M Baker, Mr T Barton, Mr P Lane, Mr C Lewis, Mr R Mountford, Mrs A Scally, Mr G Watts --6.3 Planning Committee: Mr T Barton, Mr M Nairne, Mrs J Shaw, Mrs A Woollett --6.4 Public Rights of Way Committee: Mr T Barton, Mr C Lewis, Mr M Nairne, Mr G Watts, Mr B Winter (co-opted to this committee), Mrs A Woollett --6.5 Churchyard Committee: Mr M Baker, Mrs J Shaw --6.6 In addition the Council recommends trustees for several Charities:- Helen Georgie Hills Memorial Fund: which provides grants to help in several ways concerning health or convalescence etc Leigh United which provides periodic payments for poor but only from that part of Hildenborough once in the old Leigh Parish Sir Thomas Smythe's which provides grants for the poor, aged or disabled and appoints representatives to certain other bodies namely Village Hall Representative: Mr T Barton Parish Partnership: Members volunteer for meetings as they arise Crime Prevention Panel: vacant Glaxo Smith Kline working party: Mrs. J. Shaw Parish Council Minutes, Committee Minutes and Agenda. From January 2009, the Agenda for Council meetings contain the Minutes of the Committee meetings held since the previous Council and will be posted to the web site with the Council minutes. You may download the minutes of the Parish Council Meetings by clicking on the Date below. The documents are in PDF format and require the Acrobat Reader. If you do not have it installed you can download it here. 
You can also download other documents by clicking on the titles below: Parish Council Meeting Calendar 2010 Parish Council Budget 2009/2010 Parish Council Budget 2006/2007 Parish Council Return 2008 Expenditure Summary 2008 |
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