Page 115 - Archive in reverse date order

The Inspector's decision is still awaited, but the Committee were shocked at the behaviour of one
or both of the applicants who, without any permission, closed the road in both directions on two
Saturdays whilst two large mobile home sections were delivered on a transporter lorry. These
were too large for the Lane to take – especially the second delivery- which carved sections out of
the banks on either side of the lane and caused destruction to trees. More pertinently, trees not
belonging to the owners of Little Acre and Little Haven were chain-sawed out of the way in total
disregard for the law and other peoples' property. Although the homes were delivered to Little
Acre we understand they were then transferred across to the Little Haven site. All this, of course,
in advance of the Inspector's ruling! David added that he had managed to get down to the site
and photographed and videod the chain-sawing activity – copies of which were provided to
Planning. The Inspectorate was uninterested and could/would not pass this information to the
Inspector.

4.5 Groupmail Service: Reminding the meeting that the Association had launched this service in
the autumn, David said that many members had already joined-up by providing their email
address. The purpose of the Service is that the Committee often needed members' help in fighting
a specific cause, when it needed local residents to make individual submissions – particularly on
Planning issues- as a letter from the Association counts as a single letter and will not ensure that
a case goes before the full Planning Committee. David added that the Groupmail service had
already proved a fantastic success – currently covering about one third of our members- but we
needed more members to join so that we can create a groundswell of local opinion and pressure
when really important issues arise. Moreover, this was a fantastically efficient way of us getting
urgent information to members when needed, including passing on crime prevention information
that has been provided to us by the Police. David urged that those present, if they had not
already done so, to please submit their email details via our website – and to urge their
neighbours to do the same.

4.6 Ongoing need for Volunteers: David informed the meeting that in several roads we still had no
Volunteers willing to collect subscriptions and deliver our annual Newsletter. These were upper
North Cray Road, Honeyden Road, Maidstone Road and High Beeches. The task in these roads
was currently being undertaken by the secretary and other committee members in addition to
their other responsibilities – and Volunteers here would be very welcome!

Regarding the Volunteers we did have – including the new ones who came forward last year to
look after part of The Grove and Gattons Way – Christine Moon and Chris Moon- David said
that we cannot thank them enough for their support. The help they give is invaluable! Thank
you. He added at this point a thank you to all the members of the Committee for the efforts they
have put in over the year- in particular to Jean Gammons who works tirelessly on all our behalfs.

4.7 Using NCRA Funds: David said that it was always important that the Association maintains a
small fighting fund to allow it to start to take or seek representation and or legal advice should
any serious issue arise. He reminded the meeting that at last year's AGM (and in the subsequent
Newsletter) that with funds of around £4,000 the Committee thought it would be a good idea if
some of that fund were to be used now for the benefit of the community. It did put a few ideas
forward but asked members to come forward with their own ideas. Sadly, no suggestions were
forthcoming.

So, having thought further, the Committee believes that we should start by arranging something
that would be of local interest and would bring the community together. An idea it had would be
to arrange locally themed audio-visual presentations (serious and amusing) that would be of local
interest and would bring the community together. Perhaps a presentation by a local community

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