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BADGERS MOUNT RESIDENTS' ASSOCIATION

BMRA Newsletter - Autumn 2018

A fine Summer and Autumn after a cold wet Spring. Hopefully the Winter will not be too harsh.

Construction of the Care Home has moved on apace with the good weather. A fuller report can be found on the village website at: www.badgersmount.net/care-home.htm

Sevenoaks District Council (SDC) Local Development Plan

The consultation period on the Draft Sevenoaks District Council (SDC) Local Development Plan has now closed. Over 8,000 comments were received in total with comments on plans for our local area well over the thousand mark. The BMRA response can be found on the village website www.badgersmount.net [Read the full BMRA response (PDF)] and the BMPC response is on their website www.badgers-mountpc.co.uk

The next stage is for SDC to consider the comments received and submit their future plans to a meeting of the Planning Advisory Committee scheduled for 22 November. Disappointingly, the SDC higher command seems to have no overall plan or vision whatsoever. To date, they seem to be treating each development parcel individually rather than as part of an integrated overall plan for the District. This approach will do nothing to satisfy future infrastructure needs such as transport, shops, schools and medical facilities. The potential new housing will triple the current numbers in Badgers Mount and Halstead which would become the fourth largest conurbation in the

District after Sevenoaks, Swanley and Edenbridge, and about 50% larger than Westerham.


Watercrofts Woods cemetery

You may be aware that the cemetery applied for “minor” amendments to the existing permission to build a chapel which included a “Resomation Burial System” in which the body is dissolved in a heated alkali solution and the residue discharged into the public sewers, just leaving the bones to be crushed as with a conventional cremation. This system is not in use anywhere in the UK, and SDC refused the application as it would be a material change to the approved permission requiring a full application.
The owners are spreading yet more soil and rubble over the whole site and raising the general land level significantly. One resident commented, ‘Funny way to build a cemetery. Looks like it is being used for dumping excavation spoil.’

Due to several complaints about the constant noise levels the BMRA wrote to Charles Hook, the Environmental Health Officer for Dartford & Sevenoaks (charles.hook@dartford.gov.uk). He responded and recently visited the site and provided us with information on how to report excessive noise – see the last page of this Newsletter*. It appears that there are no limitations on when the contractors can work on the site. This matter will be discussed again at our next Committee meeting.

*Visit the SDC website for details on downloading and using 'The Noise App' to report noise nuisance:  https://www.sevenoaks.gov.uk/.....reporting_a_problem_out_of_hours


Badgers Mount is no longer Faceless

Badgers Mount now has an active Facebook group. The page link is a little tricky to remember, so an internet search might be the easiest way to navigate to it. Remember that Google is not the only search engine – for example, DuckDuckGo doesn’t track you or use your data without your specific permission. But if you are keen and fancy a challenge, then start typing this:
www.facebook.com/groups/1831340370289399/
At the time of writing, we are sitting at 14 members and ONLY those people can see what is posted and can contribute. With a few more members and some ‘likes’ we should be able to apply for a slightly snazzier link. We will let you know when that happens!
The page is designed to quickly share things that happen on the Mount and everyone can contribute. So, if you have comment on anything, a photo to share, an event that needs attending, then please get involved so everyone can be ‘up to date’ and be part of the evolving face of Badgers Mount.


Neighbourhood Watch

Following a recent meeting of our Neighbourhood Watch coordinators, it was decided that the most efficient and effective way of reaching everyone with a message quickly, should the need arise, would be if each coordinator had either a contact mobile number or email address for each household on their list. A mobile number could be used to join you to a WhatsApp group or an email address would assure you receive any information that way - the choice is yours.

We will soon therefore be calling on everyone, inviting you to provide us with either contact detail, should you wish to be kept in 'the loop' re any 'goings-on' in our area. Of course, if you prefer to not be contacted, that is fine, but if you wish to be included in any NHW alerts or reports in the future, you need to provide your coordinator with appropriate contact details. These details will be held by your coordinator only.


Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs)

Our previous PCSO, Ellie Collins, has recently moved on for pastures new. Badgers Mount is now covered by a team of 2 – PCSO Amy Hardy and PCSO Sue Harwood.  These 2 officers cover Riverhead, Dunton Green, Chevening, Knockholt, Halstead, Badgers Mount, Sundridge, Brasted, Ide Hill, Westerham and Crockham Hill.


Speed limit on village roads

We would respectfully remind residents that the speed limit on unadopted roads (Highland Road, Badgers Road, Johnsons Avenue & Milton Avenue) is 20 miles per hour. It is noted that a number of drivers ignore this, so the Road Maintenance Fund have installed a number of 20 mph signs and also ‘Slow’ signs at known dangerous points.


Subscriptions

Committee members will be calling on you either while delivering this newsletter or soon afterwards to collect the subscriptions for 2018 / 2019, which remain at £2 per adult with a maximum payable of £4 per house.


Coffee mornings

The coffee mornings are held every Thursday from 10.30 to 12.00 in the Memorial Hall. This is an excellent opportunity to meet other residents for a chat and keep up with local events, gossip etc.! Numbers attending recently have not been very high, so why not come along and join in?


Mobile Library – use it or lose it!

The mobile library continues to visit the Memorial Hall car park on alternate Thursdays from 11.10 to 11.45 during the coffee mornings. The next dates are 1st, 15th and 29th November. KCC carries out an annual review of the number of people using the library, and if the average for the year is less than 2, they stop the service. Knockholt lost their stop earlier this year because of the low average in spite of new residents using it every time for a few months before KCC carried out the review. Numbers using the library at our stop have diminished recently, so unless more people use it regularly we are likely to lose it when KCC carry out their next review in 2019.


Wine tasting

This event will take place on Saturday November 17th from 7:00 pm in the Memorial Hall. We have reached the minimum of 24 required for this event to go ahead. Tickets are now available, please see the posters pinned up around the district for more details and contact Zena Belton on 01959534566 or socialevents.bmra@gmail.com to arrange ticket payment and collection.


Social get together

How about an opportunity to meet up with the people who live in your community? A chance to chat with your neighbours, see what you might have in common.
‘Remember, nothing makes you more tolerant of a neighbour’s noisy party than being there’. Franklin P Jones

A chance to share tips about best restaurants in our area, places to go, or share contacts for people to complete jobs you need done.
In January we are planning to do just that, a social evening, not a party, not a quiz, not a dance, no games to play... but a way to mingle, chat, meet and share.

After all as one great comedian said
‘My neighbour asked if he could use my lawn mower, I said of course he could, so long as he didn't take it out of my garden’. Eric Morecambe


Badgers Sett

For the ladies of Badgers Mount. A group of us meet on the fourth Thursday of the month in the Badgers Mount memorial hall at 8pm. An opportunity to have a laugh and relax with new friends, while we drink tea or coffee or even wine. Just come along and find out how friendly we are, or contact Zena Belton on 01959534566 or at socialevents.bmra@gmail.com, we can even call for you so you don’t have to walk in on your own. We like to describe the Badgers Sett as a coffee morning in the evening with wine - we would love to see you there.

BMRA CONTACT DETAILS

Full contact details on the BMRA Committee page.

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