20 September 2023

After a hectic few months after being elected to Swale Borough Council in May, I was hoping for a quite August, when the number of meetings at both Kent County Council and Swale Borough Council reduce and councillors aren't needed 'in the office' quite so much.

However, this wasn't to be the case. There were still plenty of meetings to attend, with the first meetings of the Steering Groups for both the Oare Gunpowder Works and Perry Woods (two fantastic natural sites we are lucky to have in our area), various meetings with KCC Highways to talk about future projects and improvements, and other casework-related meetings and calls.

I'm also currently a member of two groups which are primarily run by Faversham Town Council on two very different issues which affect both the town and the communities I represent across Swale East. The first is a working group set up to oppose KCC's proposed closure of Faversham's Household Waste Recycling Centre – which I have written about in the past two or three of these pieces. The second is a group working to bring a community bus service linking Faversham with some of the nearby villages which have been cut off since last year's KCC bus subsidy cuts.

The Community Bus plans are not finalised yet, but the current intention is for the bus to link up  the villages of Newnham, Doddington and Lynsted (all of which have no regular bus service currently) with the town, and also to provide a way for those living in town to reach venues that the current buses don't go to, such as the Aldi supermarket near the motorway junction. It will accept passengers using bus passes and will make use of existing bus stops across the area (which thankfully KCC have still left in place, even in areas which haven't had a bus since the start of the year).

Despite a grant from KCC to fund the costs of getting the project off the ground, it's still going to be an expensive project to set up and to run. One of the things that will make it financially viable will be a reliance on volunteer drivers. We've had a fair amount of interest from local residents in volunteering to help, but the more volunteers, the easier it will be to keep the service regular and reliable. If you are interested in finding out more about what volunteering would involve, please get in touch with Louise at Faversham Town Council on 01795 503286, or by email at louise.bareham@favershamtowncouncil.gov.uk.

FAVERSHAM TIP

Going back to the tip – the current position is that KCC have put their consultation on hold while they gather further evidence. They haven't been able to give any kind of indication of when the consultation will open, but I suspect it will be at some point this Autumn. I will continue to provide updates while this issue is ongoing.

 

Rich Lehmann
rich.lehmann@kent.gov.uk  
richlehmann@swale.gov.uk

http://kentgreencouncillors.news/

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