April Minutes
- Present: Sue, Helen, Alison, Jerry, Debby and Ian
- Apologies:.
- Announcements: welcome to helen our new Treasurer.
- Approval and signing of previous month’s minutes: The minutes were approved and signed .
- Neighbourhood Plan. Ian’s Neighbourhood plan sub committee met since the last KCG meeting. The Heritage and Buildings policy has been created in draft form awaiting consultation. it will be passed to DDC and when they are happy with the details will be passed back to the PC, probably in Autumn 2025 and could be published a year from now. the PC will be able to give us a breakdown of how the other draft policies are progressing eg Highways.
- Beach Management Plan. Sue contacted Alfie Gay re the White Cliffs conservation work being done in Walmer and Kingsdown. This was his email reply.
“The main activity in the autumn and winter will be cutting back holm oak and other invasive scrub from the vegetated shingle.
In spring and summer, the tasks will be a bit more varied; however, the main priority will be to find a way to effectively tackle some of the invasive plants such as alexanders and winter heliotrope.
I am keen on gathering data on some of the rarer species that live on the beach so we could do targeted counts of the bright wave moth, small blue butterfly, green-winged orchid, autumn lady’s-tresses etc”
- News about the beach huts near the Zetland Arms. The only news we seem to have is that the beach huts that were privately owned have been vacated with the owners having little notice to empty them. The council has now to find interested people from the waiting list to be prepared to pay £1500 per year to rent each one for a maximum of 3 years.
- DDC way forward for Walking and Cycling improvement plan. This is a lengthy document of over 70 pages. This is a recommendation where safe walking and cycling routes need to be developed.The most relevant one concerning Kingsdown appears to be p 62 , map 49. It concerns Glen Rd from the corner of The Rise to Glendale lodge and includes suggestions of a zebra crossing, priority areas for pedestrians, traffic speed reducing ideas and improved areas of sight. Ian is keen to include his in the neighbourhood plan and in negotiations with the developers, Foxwood.
6. WEBSITE/ICT: Jerry continues to send out news letters via the website and develop the information on it. Before newsletters are to be sent out we should check them thoroughly for errors to avoid having to repeat sending with corrections. he intends to start putting the committee meeting minutes on from January 2025 onward.
7. MEMBERSHIP: Family membership; 79, standing order. 2 cash. Single membership; 46 standing orders,4 cash. There are 4 free members and 31 unpaid but any still unpaid by the end of the year will be removed.
8. FINANCE-UPDATE; Annie is to provide Helen with the up to date finances and bank arrangements. helen is to chase her up for a meeting.
9. EVENTS AND PUBLICITY;The visit to Stodmarsh nature reserve earlier this month was a great success by all accounts. The information about the unique otter habitats along the river was particularly fascinating. It is a very special area.
10. FUTURE EVENTS; May 12th – Beach Management Plan talk by Alfie Gay. June 2nd- Guided tour of the newly repaired and refurbished Maison Dieu in Dover.June 20th Walk and Talk with Sue Buckingham.
11. PLANNING; We looked at the recent planning applications in Kingsdown. None seemed concerning.
NEXT MEETING: JUNE 4TH 2.30 AT IAN’S HOUSE.