The Badgers Mount Residents' Association (BMRA)
News update - 27/6/14 SUMMER GARDEN PARTY – SATURDAY,
5TH JULY 2014 A Summer Garden Party will once again be held
between 2 and 6 pm at Oaklea, Highland Road by the kind invitation of Dr.
Mary Bliss. Oaklea is located off the track into the woods from Badgers
Road. Additional signs to the party will start at the top of Badgers Road.
However, if you are unsure please contact us or check out the ‘House
Locator’ page on the website. Please walk if you are able as
parking is extremely limited. Tea, coffee, soft drinks, cakes, biscuits
etc. will be served. Any donations of cakes will be gratefully received on
the day at Oaklea (am preferably). There is no charge for this event but
to gauge likely attendance for catering purposes please contact Gordon
(534279) or email us and also let us know if you will be bringing a cake.
You are more than welcome to bring your own picnic along too if you wish.
A number of tables & chairs will be provided but feel free to bring yours
if you would prefer! Children are especially welcome to come and explore
this large garden which includes swings, tennis court (please bring own
racquets and balls) and croquet lawn. The Garden party will go ahead
even if the weather is bad – undercover facilities are available in the
Garden. Come and join us for as long as you like, there’s no need to stay
for the entire time if you don’t want to!
THE BADGERS MOUNT PARISH COUNCIL WORKING GROUP Invites
all residents to attend a meeting on Thursday, 17th July 2014. Time
7.30 for 8.00pm. The Memorial Hall, Highland Road, Badgers Mount.
An open meeting will be held to let the Working Group update you on the
progress towards the commencement of the
Badgers Mount Parish Council next year, and for you to ask
questions about any concerns you have. Presentations will be given on
the background to the formation of the new Parish Council, decisions that
have been made so far including the first year budget, items still being
investigated and the way forward. Displays including Parish boundary
and the budget breakdown will be available before and after the meeting
for you to look at. Refreshments will be available before and after the
meeting. We look forward to seeing you all there!
MEMORIAL HALL AGM The Memorial Hall AGM will be held
on Friday 4th July in the Hall at 7.30 for 8.00 pm. This will be the first
AGM held under the new constitution and the change of status to a
Village Hall. Please come and show your
support of the only community facility we have in Badgers Mount, including
volunteering to become a committee member. Refreshments will be available
before and after the meeting.
BMRA Newsletter - April 2014
A warm welcome is extended to all new residents of Badgers
Mount from the Residents Association. We produce four newsletters a year
(roughly one every 3 months). We hope you find them informative and
useful. If there is anything that you wish to know about Badgers Mount,
please get in touch via the above email address or visit badgersmount.net
where a wealth of information about the community awaits!
50th
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING The 50th Annual General Meeting of the
Association will be held on Thursday 8th May in the Memorial Hall starting
at 8.00 pm. As usual, refreshments, including something to celebrate the
50th AGM, will be available from 7.30 pm before the meeting, and also
after (if there is any left!!) This is your opportunity to hear what your
committee has been doing during the past year and raise any issues you may
have. All members of the present committee are willing to stand
again. It would be beneficial for someone with an interest in organising
social events were to join the committee. If you are interested in joining
us please get in touch via the above email address to find out more.
BADGERS MOUNT PARISH COUNCIL The working group
preparing for the new Badgers Mount Parish Council which will be effective
from May 2015 has continued to meet. Currently the group are looking at
the first year budget and discussing with Shoreham Parish Council what of
their assets, contracts etc. will be transferred.
At our meeting in
early April, Philip McGarvey (previously an acting Clerk for Shoreham
Parish Council, current Chair of Farningham Parish Council and a Sevenoaks
District Councillor) was co-opted to the Working Group. Councillor
McGarvey has a wealth of Parish Council knowledge which he has kindly
offered to share with the Group as it prepares for the new Badgers Mount
Parish Council.
A Public Meeting is being arranged in the coming
months for a full update, and there will be a meeting on Friday, 10th
October at which Michael Fallon, MP for Sevenoaks and our County
Councillor Roger Gough will be speaking. More details will be
given nearer the time but make a note in your diary now.
A general
update on the work in progress will be given at the conclusion of the AGM
by the Working Group’s Chair Councillor John Grint. For those unable to
attend this will appear in our next newsletter.
CREMATORIA UPDATE
The appeal against SDCs refusal of planning permission for a
crematorium south of Orchard Barn (opposite Polhill Garden Centre) was
refused by the Planning Inspector. The main reasons were because of harm
to the Green Belt and the urbanising effect on the area, and also noting
that the applicant had not demonstrated that there was no alternative site
available. He did, however, accept that there is now a need for a
crematorium in the Sevenoaks area, whereas when there was an application
for a crematorium at Watercrofts Woods about 20 years ago, one of the
reasons for refusal was the lack of proven need.
The application
for a crematorium north of Oak Tree Farm, adjacent to the hardcore
crushing and recycling operation (in the next field to the Orchard Barn
application) has also been refused by SDC. Principally the SDC Development
Control committee used the Inspectors reasons already mentioned for
refusal of the Orchard Barn application, since the harm to the Green Belt
would be similar.
The application for a crematorium at Watercrofts
Woods, almost opposite Badgers Rise, has been withdrawn to allow
ecological and other surveys/investigations to be carried out but will be
resubmitted later. This site is the nearest to us. The site currently has
permission for a woodland burial ground, chapel and ground maintenance
store. Adding the cremator would effectively be expanding the permission
already granted although the design of the chapel is very different from
the previously approved building. The estimated number of funerals carried
out would probably be 5 or 6 each day compared with one or two a week for
the woodland burial site.
We have submitted objections to all three
applications, and will no doubt also send an objection to the resubmission
for Watercrofts Woods. POLICE SURGERY PCSO Jenny
Boyden will be holding a Surgery between 11.00 am and 12.00 noon on
Thursday 15th May during the coffee morning. Please come and meet her if
you have any questions or concerns. LITTER & DOG WASTE
There have been a number of complaints about the amount of
litter which is dropped on roads and footpaths in Badgers Mount,
frequently fast food packaging. There is also a considerable amount of
garden waste (lawn mowings, prunings etc.) which is dumped on verges,
particularly on the Orpington Bypass, or over fences into wooded areas,
particularly those of FM Conway Ltd. This makes the community look so
untidy, and we would ask that everyone takes their litter with them and
disposes of it in their own bins. For garden waste, if you don’t compost
it yourself, SDC provide a collection service which is far cheaper than
the potential £1,000 fine if you are caught dumping or littering. We are
hoping for a long, hot summer and would remind you that dumped garden
waste can dry out and become a fire hazard.
There has been a
noticeable increase in the number of bags of dog waste being tied to
branches or fences along roads and footpaths or even dropped over a fence
into other residents’ gardens. There are five strategically positioned dog
waste bins in Badgers Mount which are there for your use. Please use them
as it is not nice for others to have to clear away your bags of dog waste.
BONFIRES & NOISE NUISANCE Now that summer is
here, we make the usual request about trying not to cause a nuisance to
your neighbours by having smoky bonfires, allowing dogs to bark all day or
playing loud music in the garden. Your neighbours are entitled to enjoy
their homes and gardens just as much as you are entitled to enjoy yours
without nuisance from them. SPEEDING VEHICLES ON POLHILL
ROUNDABOUT Yet again, there have been
a number of incidents involving vehicles speeding around the Polhill
Roundabout late at night. The issue was brought to the attention of the
Sevenoaks Community Safety Unit and if you become aware of this happening
please report this to ‘101’ so that the Police can try to apprehend those
involved in this anti-social and potentially dangerous activity. We have
been advised that action is more likely to be taken if you make contact
via this number. SPEED APPEAL UPDATE You will probably have seen that the signage to reduce the
speed limit on the Orpington Bypass to 50 miles per hour has just been
installed, so the limit is now in force. Please make sure you don’t get
caught!! GYPSY & TRAVELLERS SITES You may
have seen in the Sevenoaks Chronicle that SDC has proposed a number of
sites for additional Gypsy and Travellers sites. A full consultation on
the proposals is expected to take place in May and June. SDC has to
identify 72 additional pitches within the whole Sevenoaks District. The
site adjacent to Knockholt Station, which is actually in Halstead, only
has temporary permission at present and this is due to expire later this
year. This is the closest site to us and SDC are proposing that this
should become a permanent site with 12 pitches. Similarly a potential site
in Filston Lane, Shoreham has been identified for 15 new pitches and this
is being strongly opposed.
The consultation will follow a similar
format to the KCC Minerals and Waste Development Consultation. Strong
planning reasons will help to have sites removed whereas emotive ones will
not. If the additional pitches are not identified, SDC cannot refuse
applications where travellers buy a piece of land and then want to
establish it as a residential site. SUMMER GARDEN PARTY
We will be holding a summer garden party at Oaklea, Highland
Road (off Badgers Road going towards the woods) by kind invitation of Dr
Mary Bliss from 2.00 pm on Saturday 5th July. Everyone, including
children, is welcome to come and explore this large and interesting
garden. You can try your hand at tennis (please bring your own racquets
and balls) or croquet. To give us an indication of numbers and to assist
us in organising catering, please let us know if you will be attending
either via the email address at the top of this newsletter or by phoning
Gordon on 01959 534279. There will not be a fixed charge for entry, but
donations, particularly of cakes or sandwiches, will be most welcome.
BADGERS MOUNT WEBSITE
Our webmaster has asked us to remind you that the website
address has changed. For an interim changeover period, anyone using the
old address was automatically transferred to the new address, but after
two years that facility has ceased so you must use the new address as at
the top of this newsletter.
BMRA CONTACT DETAILS
Full contact details on the BMRA Committee
page.
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