Introducing James Minter - our candidate in the Snodland Town Council by-election

"It is a privilege to have been selected as your Conservative candidate for the imminent by-election. I'm 52, a family man, and have worked in Sales & Marketing within the flooring industry for over 30 years. My interests include cycling and there's always a challenge in the diary which needs training for!

I relish the opportunity to represent you on our Town Council. Snodland is a fantastic place to live, with a wealth of facilities. I believe in supporting local businesses, keeping litter where it belongs(!) and want to continue Anne Moloney’s work in creating a real feeling of community."

 James Minter

Merry Christmas to everyone!

Parking at Holborough Lakes

Several residents of Holborough Lakes have contacted us regarding the recently painted double yellow lines.

We thought it would be helpful to outline what we have done to help so far, what the guiding principles of parking enforcement should be, and what some potential solutions might be.

We believe the principles of parking enforcement on Holborough  Lakes should work as follows:

On the adopted public highway parking restrictions should only be

• applied AFTER consulting residents
• used in areas where there is: high volume traffic /  a need to prevent dangerous parking / a need to maintain access to properties or to other parts of the highway / a need to maintain highway safety
• painted on the road where they match an approved Traffic Regulation Order (i.e. not in roads like Booth Close and Alisander Close where there is no Order).
• enforced by the local authority (TMBC) and NOT a private parking company
• enforced when the road markings actually match the approved order
• compliant with the law and not seek to restrict parking for commercial vehicles or reserve spaces for visitors, which is not legal

Where roads are NOT adopted, parking restrictions should be

• enforced by a private parking company based on the legal agreement between the developer and the resident 
• primarily enforced in the interests of highway safety

Lastly, no road should have lines painted and then a "retrospective" TRO sought, as this pays no regard to the outcome of public consultations.

What we have done so far:

• We have visited some residents, where they have requested us to do so, and also had email exchanges with several other residents to try and address their concerns.
• Tracey Crouch MP has written to TMBC to ask for more details of how the enforcement will occur. 
• Cllr David Lettington has written to KCC to ask who gave the instruction for the lines to be painted in areas that don't have a TRO in place, and to ask which contractor carried out the actual line painting.
• We have agreed to attend a meeting with residents, which is likely to occur in January.
• Written to the developer to ask them to clarify their claims about what they agreed with KCC (the Highway Authority who approve the TRO) and with TMBC (who will have to enforce the Order).
• Offered support to a resident who has submitted a Freedom of Information request to KCC regarding the agreement between the developer, KCC and TMBC.
• We have established the line painting was paid for by the developer, so at least it is not public money that has been wasted in painting them incorrectly.

Some potential solutions:

There is no easy solution to the current situation. TMBC cannot enforce the double-yellow lines until the markings match the TRO. Many people also feel that the markings are in the wrong place and serve no purpose except to frustrate the daily life of many residents.

Therefore, we will seek to do the following:

• Ensure that residents are given the opportunity to express their views about where there is a need for parking enforcement.
• Persuade the developer not to apply any more road markings without a Traffic Regulation Order being in place first.
• Request removal of double-yellow lines where they serve no purpose, or do not match the principles outlined above, or do not comply with an approved TRO.
• Stop the private parking company from trying to enforce on the public highway.
• The cost of any line removal should be paid for by the developer. 

We recognise that this will not solve all of the parking problems on Holborough Lakes, but we hope it is a good start. We are happy to receive further feedback from residents.

Cllr David Lettington

david_lettington@hotmail.com

Snodland Town Council by-election - the facts.

On Thursday 19th January, there will be a by-election in the Snodland West & Holborough Lakes ward to fill the vacancy on Snodland Town Council.

Some of you may have seen claims on social media that the local Conservatives didn't want a by-election (which is true), and that this is because we are anti-democratic and just wanted to fill the vacancy with another Conservative (which is not true).

We think it's important to be clear and factual - so here are the facts about the by-election:

When a "casual vacancy" occurs on a Parish (or in our case, Town) Council, the normal course of events is that the council fills the vacancy by "co-option". This is common practice and happens in parishes and towns across the country. The main reason for this is that by-elections are very expensive and they must be paid for by the council which has the vacancy. This additional expenditure always ends up being paid for by local residents.

On the day the people of Snodland gathered to pay their respects to Anne Moloney, whose untimely death resulted in the vacancy, the Snodland Lib Dems delivered the paperwork calling an election which will cost Snodland tax-payers between £8,000 and £10,000.

Via the parish element of the Council Tax, the residents of Snodland West & Holborough Lakes hand over about £150,000 a year to the Town Council. To use over £8,000 of this to pay for a by-election means that either money cannot be spent on other services in Snodland, or that the Town Council will need to put up its Council Tax charge by over 5%. 

Neither of these is fair to the residents of Snodland.

Of course, we all support democracy, but we also support the residents of Snodland being able to keep their hard-earned money.

The irony of this election being called is that it is only being supported by a party whose candidates, at the last election in the same ward, came 13th, 14th and 15th in a field of 15.

The last time a vacancy occurred on Snodland Town Council, in 2013, it was filled by co-option. I know this, because I was the co-optee. This might lead people to think that the Lib Dems are right, and the Snodland Conservatives picked "one of their own", as has been claimed, but this isn't true either. 

At the time, three people put themselves forward to be co-opted without even mentioning their party affiliation, and the Council chose the person that they thought would make the best Councillor. In fact, I had been a Lib Dem councillor between 1995 and 2011, so the Conservatives had very little reason to support me. After joining the Town Council I saw that the Conservatives were doing a fantastic job of running local services and I was pleased to be asked to stand as a Conservative in the 2015 local election.

So, although we are disappointed that there is going to be a by-election, we will take part and we will fight hard to win. We hope that the residents of Snodland will continue to support us and elect another Conservative to be part of the team that will work hard to continue to improve Snodland and make it an even better place to live.

David Lettington