The Council meeting is open to press and public. If you would like to attend this meeting, please notify clerk@sandgatepc.org.uk in advance. Letting us know allows us to make sure we have sufficient seats for you and allow reasonable spacing.

We keep a full list of previous Sandgate Parish Council Meeting Agenda and Minutes on this website. We publish those agendas a few days before each meeting, and will also post draft minutes in the week after a meeting.

Most of our meetings are broadcast live on our Facebook page. We’ll then leave those recordings on Facebook for a few months after the meeting so you can watch them back later.

Minimum Notice

We issue agenda’s at least three clear days before a meeting. We display them on the noticeboard in the library, Parish noticeboards on the Village Green and by Enbrook Valley shops, and on our website.

The minimum three clear days for notice of a meeting does not include:

• the day of issue of the agenda, or;

• the day of the meeting, or;

• a Sunday, or;

• a day of the Christmas break, or;

• a day of the Easter break, or;

• of a bank holiday, or;

• a day appointed for public thanksgiving or mourning.

Meeting in Public

All meetings of our Council are open to the public, except in limited defined circumstances. We can only decide, by resolution, to meet in private when discussing confidential business or for other special reasons where publicity would be prejudicial to the public interest.

Those reasons might include, for example, discussing the conduct of employees, negotiations of contracts or terms of tender, or the early stages of a legal dispute.

The post Parish Council Meeting Agenda 19-11-2024 appeared first on Sandgate Parish Council.

Happily there was a bit more sunshine this week and a couple of lovely warm spells, although it was not to last and we are to experience close to frost temperatures this coming week.  Not really surprising for mid-November.

Warm weather has an effect on the clearing of the plots before the winter sets in.  For example the asparagus ferns have only just started to turn yellow which means they can now be cut right down to the ground and compost added to help feed the fat juicy shoots we are expecting next spring.    If we had some hard frosts, then many of the plants would have been affected and subsequently cleared away by us already.  There are still many leaves on the trees which means we have work to do to collect them when they fall.

An executive decision was taken to lift the dahlias.  At Pent Farm they were in danger of rotting before the top growth was frosted, and at Enbrook we have never had to lift them as they have always survived the winters however the space they took up will now be given to growing food.

The good news of the week is that some of the broad beans seem to have survived the hungry mice and are just starting to appear through the soil.  Still not sure if we will have enough but another tray of around 120 cells was sown in the week which is hoped will mean there will be plenty to plant in the coming weeks.

Something else was finding their dinner in the garden, as we noticed there was a huge amount of what looked like pigeon feathers.  We can only imagine that the owner is no more and perhaps a local fox got lucky.

What’s Next?

• Clear leaves if any more have fallen
• Clear the growth to the back of the purple sprouting bed
• Raise the netting over the purple sprouting
• Continue to put down more compost and wood chips

This weeks update from the Sandgate Community Garden Diary.

The post Sandgate Community Garden: Update 17th November 2024 appeared first on Sandgate Parish Council.

Sandgate Sea Water Testing Protocol:

You can find previous Sandgate Parish Environment Committee Agendas and Minutes on this website. We publish agendas a few days before a meeting. The Clerk then posts draft minutes in the week after a meeting.

We broadcast our meetings live on our Facebook page. Those meeting recordings are then left live for a few months after the meeting, giving you the chance to watch it back later!

The next suitable meeting will formally approve the draft minutes of this meeting. When approved, the Chairman of that meeting then signs them.

The signed minutes of the meeting serve as the legal record of what has taken place at the meeting. Before a meeting approves the draft minutes of a preceding meeting, the meeting may, by resolution, correct any inaccuracies in the draft minutes. The attendance (or otherwise) of the Chairman or those voting in favour to amend or approve of the minutes is irrelevant.

Only if meeting minutes are found to be inaccurate after they have been signed can they then be altered. Inaccuracies in signed minutes can only be amended by resolution at a subsequent meeting.

The post Environment Committee Minutes 11-11-2024 appeared first on Sandgate Parish Council.

Finance Committee Agenda

Reports

PWLB bonds

Our Finance Committee meeting is open to press and public. Please could any member of the public who wants to attend notify us via clerk@sandgatepc.org.uk in advance. This allows us to ensure we have sufficient seats and allow reasonable spacing.

We publish our financial reporting on the “in-running” budget monthly. So at this meeting we will consider the reports since the last meeting.

Previous Sandgate Parish Council Finance Committee Agendas, Minutes and Financial Reports.

We use (the excellent) Scribe Accounts to manage our Council accounts and generate reports.

Sandgate Parish Council’s finances are governed by our Financial Regulations and Standing Orders, and every Town and Parish Council has similar rules. Because those rules govern our financial management, we can only amend or vary them by a Council resolution.

The Council’s Standing Orders require quarterly reporting of receipts, payments and balances. For instance, they say at 17.c:

The Responsible Financial Officer shall supply to each councillor as soon as practicable after 30 June, 30 September and 31 December in each year a statement to summarise:

i. the council’s receipts and payments for each quarter;

ii. the council’s aggregate receipts and payments for the year to date;

iii. the balances held at the end of the quarter being reported

and which includes a comparison with the budget for the financial year and highlights any actual or potential overspends.

We’re now publishing our reports monthly, exceeding that requirement. Consequently we will consider the reports at the next Parish Council Resources Committee meeting.

The post Finance Committee Agenda 18-11-2024 appeared first on Sandgate Parish Council.

Where has the sunshine gone?  We have seen a fleeting glimpse of it this week, but it soon scuttled behind a cloud so that it has been gloomy and dull every day.  It seems we are stuck in this weather pattern but hopefully it will change soon.

It is easy to forget how quickly it gets dark now in the afternoon.  Plans get made to do things, but before you know it, the sun (wherever it is) goes down and it stops anything and everything.  Such was the case this week when some of the lads from Napier Barracks came out to help start to shift our delivery of compost from ‘The Friendly Farmers’ up to our compost compound in the garden.  They are unable to turn up until after 2pm, and before we knew it we were plunged into darkness!  The good news is they are fast and strong which meant the task got done and there was even time for a celebratory cup of tea and a biscuit.

Having the compost ready to hand it meant that we could continue to apply a good mulch of it to some of the other plots.  We also continued with laying some of the wood chip paths, clearing more of the rampaging nasturtiums and yet more weeding and general clearing.  The leaves are still falling, and so the task of collecting them will occupy us for a few more weeks yet.  The hedge got another cut, which we hope will now be the last for this year. 

All this activity and application of organic matter was getting our garden robin very excited as he would flit in and out of the plots, retire back to the trees and sing at the top of his voice which was a delight to see and hear although he is too shy to be able to photograph clearly.

Not all the wildlife is so welcome.  Having sowed some 300 broad bean seeds for The Community Garden and for Pent Farm, they were put inside one of the greenhouses at the farm.  On the next visit to the farm it was clear that a mouse had discovered the seeds and had dug up quite a few and had made short work of them right there and then.  The next idea was to cover the seed trays in a metal mesh to stop them being eaten, which usually works, but not in this case.  So having lost many more seeds the last resort was to upend some large and tall plastic pots to stand the seed trays on.  Fortunately for us this seems to have done the trick as no more damage has occurred, although it could only be a matter of time!  More seeds have had to be ordered…

What’s next?

• Sort out the potted bay trees
• Sow some more broad beans
• Move some more compost and wood chips
• Clear more leaves and add to the leaf compost bin

This weeks update from the Sandgate Community Garden Diary.

The post Sandgate Community Garden: Update 10th November 2024 appeared first on Sandgate Parish Council.

You can find previous Sandgate Parish Planning Committee Agendas and Minutes on this website. We publish agendas a few days before a meeting. The Clerk then posts draft minutes in the week after a meeting.

We broadcast our meetings live on our Facebook page. Those meeting recordings are then left live for a few months after the meeting, giving you the chance to watch it back later!

The next suitable meeting will formally approve the draft minutes of this meeting. When approved, the Chairman of that meeting then signs them.

The signed minutes of the meeting serve as the legal record of what has taken place at the meeting. Before a meeting approves the draft minutes of a preceding meeting, the meeting may, by resolution, correct any inaccuracies in the draft minutes. The attendance (or otherwise) of the Chairman or those voting in favour to amend or approve of the minutes is irrelevant.

Only if meeting minutes are found to be inaccurate after they have been signed can they then be altered. Inaccuracies in signed minutes can only be amended by resolution at a subsequent meeting.

The post Planning Committee Minutes 21-10-2024 appeared first on Sandgate Parish Council.

This follows work done by the Parish Council a year ago to test the water at Granville Parade, because of concerns about the accuracy and reliability of the data published by the Environment Agency and Southern Water. We decided that we should issue advice to sea users on best practice so that they may enjoy the sea in a safe manner – the signs that have now gone up.

Based on the sea water testing, Sandgate Parish Council reluctantly decided last year not to apply for the Seaside Award, Keep Britain Tidy’s nationwide standard for the best beaches across the UK.  Sandgate had been proud to receive the Seaside Award for the last ten years and the Parish Council wrote an open letter in April 2024 to various organisations to explain this decision (https://sandgatepc.org.uk/2024/04/04/sandgate-parish-council-and-the-seaside-award-2024/).

The Parish Council has again reluctantly decided not to apply for the Seaside Award this year, as conditions have not changed.

Our open letter contained specific recommendations for Southern Water and the Environment Agency and we can now provide an update on these as follows.

We recommended that Southern Water should update their wastewater handling so it no longer requires discharge of sewage to sea at Granville Parade (and elsewhere). We also recommended that, in the interim, the sewage outfall pipe at Granville Parade should be extended further out to sea by Southern Water to help keep sewage spillage away from the bathing area and beach.

Southern Water responded that they “do not have any plans to extend the sewage outfall pipe at Granville Parade as the Sandgate area is already achieving the Government’s target.”

We also recommended that the Environment Agency’s sampling point for Sandgate should be at Granville Parade as this is where most people swim. Currently, the sampling point for Sandgate is at Seabrook Point: a mile west from Granville Parade and to the west of a sewage outfall pipe. The prevailing current in this area runs west to east and testing therefore fails to pick up pollutants which are dissipated in an easterly direction towards Sandgate and Folkestone. The Environment Agency’s response explained that designations for bathing waters are decided by DEFRA. The Bathing Water Regulations and application guidance are currently being revised and during this time, DEFRA is not accepting applications for bathing water designation.

DEFRA expects to begin accepting applications again in Spring 2025 and the Parish Council, working with the District Council, will be applying to DEFRA for the beach at Granville Parade to be designated as bathing water, with water quality testing being undertaken at that location.

The post Sandgate Beach Sea Bathing appeared first on Sandgate Parish Council.

The rainfall for October was a substantial 82.3mm, but this week has continued to be mainly dry with mostly cloudy and dull days with the odd bit of sunshine.  However the temperatures are good enough for plants to continue to grow meaning that the grass needs cutting even though it is soggy underfoot.

We had meant to cut the hedge back again this week but it will be relisted as a job for next week as were preoccupied with bringing wood chips up to the garden and laying them down to replenish the old paths.  A large tray of broad beans got sown for planting out some time in November, and more will need to be started off this coming week.  The weeds along the hedge line were cleared as were wheelbarrow loads of nasturtiums which had started to take over the asparagus plots as well as amongst the radishes and spinach.

Both the winter and the French radishes were ready for picking, as well as plenty of spinach, some kale and the last of the summer sown spring onions.  We had a sit down session to tackle the spring onion seed heads which were grown at Pent farm in the hope of being able to sow them this coming spring.  It seems we had plenty of flowers but possibly not enough bees to fertilise them.  It was a struggle to retrieve what seeds there were and nobody is convinced that growing our own was a brilliant idea!  We will give it a chance in February when it is time to start the sowing season again.

As well as laying the wood chip paths, our other main consideration is to get any empty plots covered with a layer of new compost.  We have so far emptied our compost bays where it was stored, and having turned the main compost heap into a neighbouring bay, we were able to use a few barrow loads at the bottom of the heap which was usable.  The activity of revealing and turning the compost brought our garden robin right up close to swoop in and pick up anything that looked tasty enough.  We left the covers turned back so that he could continue to scavenge.

It will be a while before we have any more of our own compost and so we resorted to calling on the ‘Friendly Farmers’ in Densole to bring us a couple of ton bags full of great compost they make on the farm.  Now the issue is to get that compost up to the garden but with any luck, perhaps the lads at Napier barracks will be free sometime next week to give us a helping hand.

What’s next? 

• Get the compost moved
• Finish laying the wood chips
• Cut the hedge again
• Trim the bay trees and raise up in the pots

This weeks update from the Sandgate Community Garden Diary.

The post Sandgate Community Garden: Update 3rd November 2024 appeared first on Sandgate Parish Council.

The Planning Committee meeting is open to press and public. If any member of the public wishes to attend, please can they notify clerk@sandgatepc.org.uk in advance. This allows us to ensure we have sufficient seats and allow reasonable spacing.

Previous Sandgate Parish Council Planning Committee Agenda and Minutes. We publish agendas a few days before a meeting. We then post draft minutes in the week after a meeting.

Most of our meetings will be broadcast live on our Facebook page. Recordings of the meetings will be left on Facebook for a few months after the meeting so they can be watched back later. Comments left on Facebook broadcasts during the meeting are not be monitored and are not a way of feeding back to the Council.

Minimum Notice

We issue agendas at least three clear days before a meeting. We display them on the noticeboard in the library, Parish noticeboards on the Village Green and by Enbrook Valley shops, and on our website.

The minimum three clear days for notice of a meeting does not include:

• the day of issue of the agenda, or;

• the day of the meeting, or;

• a Sunday, or;

• a day of the Christmas break, or;

• a day of the Easter break, or;

• of a bank holiday, or;

• a day appointed for public thanksgiving or mourning.

Meeting in Public

All meetings of our Council are open to the public, except in limited defined circumstances. We can only decide, by resolution, to meet in private when discussing confidential business or for other special reasons where publicity would be prejudicial to the public interest.

Those reasons might include, for example, discussing the conduct of employees, negotiations of contracts or terms of tender, or the early stages of a legal dispute.

The post Planning Committee Agenda 11-11-2024 appeared first on Sandgate Parish Council.

The Environment Committee meeting is open to press and public. If any member of the public wishes to attend, please can they notify clerk@sandgatepc.org.uk in advance. This allows us to ensure we have sufficient seats and allow reasonable spacing.

Previous Sandgate Parish Council Environment Committee Agenda and Minutes. We publish agendas a few days before a meeting. We then post draft minutes in the week after a meeting.

Most of our meetings will be broadcast live on our Facebook page. Recordings of the meetings will be left on Facebook for a few months after the meeting so they can be watched back later. Comments left on Facebook broadcasts during the meeting are not be monitored and are not a way of feeding back to the Council.

Minimum Notice

We issue agendas at least three clear days before a meeting. We display them on the noticeboard in the library, Parish noticeboards on the Village Green and by Enbrook Valley shops, and on our website.

The minimum three clear days for notice of a meeting does not include:

• the day of issue of the agenda, or;

• the day of the meeting, or;

• a Sunday, or;

• a day of the Christmas break, or;

• a day of the Easter break, or;

• of a bank holiday, or;

• a day appointed for public thanksgiving or mourning.

Meeting in Public

All meetings of our Council are open to the public, except in limited defined circumstances. We can only decide, by resolution, to meet in private when discussing confidential business or for other special reasons where publicity would be prejudicial to the public interest.

Those reasons might include, for example, discussing the conduct of employees, negotiations of contracts or terms of tender, or the early stages of a legal dispute.

The post Environment Committee Agenda 11-11-2024 appeared first on Sandgate Parish Council.