Ditton Gazette - Summer 2011

Summer 2011 Extracts

AWARDS FOR OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE VILLAGE

Pictured (L-R) KCC Warden John Newton, Mrs Sandra Hadaway, Cllr Mike Porter, Cllr Tony Mulcuck, Mrs Maureen Hall, Mr Floyd Risby and in front Mr Len Mace.

Ditton Parish Council Tax

Ditton Parish Council feels that it is appropriate to publish again an explanation of the Parish Council Tax the residents of Ditton are required to pay and why. Each year Ditton Parish Council along with all other parish and town councils across the nation are required to produce a budget estimating the costs the Council expects to incur to enable it to provide services and amenities for the community.

Each of our committees looks at what they are going to need to do during the following financial year and produces a budget for consideration by the Finance & Administration Committee (F&A). In December the F&A Committee considers the individual budgets and if necessary makes adjustments with a view to keeping the costs to residents at a reasonable level. It is a fine balancing act between providing the services the residents want and keeping costs of these services down as much as possible. The budget for this current financial year was finally estimated at £208,633.84, this is the precept. Full details of these estimates can be found on the Parish Council’s website in the minutes for the F&A Committee for the meeting of the 13th December 2010. The estimates were then ratified by the full Parish Council at the meeting held on the 5th January 2011.
Area Comparison
Ditton’s precept is high, but not the highest in the Borough. It represents the money required to run the Community Centre, Playing fields, Multi Sports Centre, Petanque Piste, Children’s play areas etc. This money is collected by Tonbridge & Malling Borough Council as part of your Council Tax and distributed to Ditton Parish Council in two parts during the financial year. An amount of £114.00 per household pays for the Parish precept. This is the highest in the Borough, Why? The amount of the tax depends on the number of Band D households we have in the Parish. Ditton has 1,830, if you divide this figure into the precept of £208,633.84 you will arrive at £114.00. The problem Ditton has is that we do not have sufficient Band D properties.
In fact we have less now than we did in 2010 since we were recently subjected to a boundary Review resulting in Ditton losing 300 properties to East Malling & Larkfield. If we had a similar number of Band D properties as say East Malling and Larkfield, who have around 5,279 in that band, and have a higher precept than Ditton, the Ditton Parish rate would be less than £40.00 per household.
Similarly, Aylesford has around 4,158 Band D properties to share the cost of running their Parish-if Ditton had the same amount as Aylesford the Parish rate would be £50.00 per household. (Figures for Band D properties are based on the Tax Base rates given by TMBC to enable parish councils to calculate the amount payable per Band D property).
Historic Background
Historically circumstances have prevailed against Parish Councils generally and in some respects against Ditton in particular. In 1990/91 the Business Rate from all commercial businesses in the parish, which up until that time was paid to the Parish Councils, were diverted directly to the Government and still does to this day. This resulted, at that time in an income loss of about £50,000 which, equates to 50% of the total income. At the same time the rate relief for the Community Centre was withdrawn, resulting in a Business Rate rise from £6,260 to £14,620. This meant a loss of income totalling £64,620 in that year. These losses have had to be made up each year ever since through council tax increases and greater income from the use of facilities.

At that time a conscious decision was made by the then Parish Council not to increase the precept by this amount and they absorbed the loss of income to keep the “Community Charge” low. Over the next fifteen years, precepts continued to be kept artificially low and Council resources were used up to subsidise parish running costs. This drained the Council’s reserves and it has, therefore, been necessary for recent Ditton Councils, to implement more realistic budgets ever since. We are currently striving to increase the reserves this Council holds, from investment income. This is proving difficult because we must bear in mind the fact that investment income may be required to meet Council running expenses. Some of our Parish neighbours minimised the impact on their residents by subsidising their precept from reserves. Ditton is not in a position to do this at present.
Business Rate/Government Changes
Since the introduction of the Business Rate, this Council has had to continue to pay the Borough Council business rates for the Community Centre, which this year amounts to £13,500. Over the years Government legislation has meant a lot of changes for Parish Councils, all of which have a cost implication, and Parish Councils have to absorb these costs. In addition to this Ditton Parish Council has to comply with the Accounts and Audit Regulations 2003 and The Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP), which means increased costs and staff time. Annual Audit Commission Fees increased substantially from £1,142.10 in 2002/03 to £3,600 for 2004/05. This currently costs £2,291.25 but added to this is a further cost of £1,872.00 per year for internal Audit fees. (Previously internal audits were carried out free of charge by Members of the Council, but new Audit Regulations meant that this is no longer acceptable and these now have to be carried out by competent independent auditors). Again, this Parish Council has had to bear these additional costs.
As a good practice employer, this Council has also had to implement legislation in Health & Safety and Employment Law to improve the terms and conditions of its staff. This too has had a corresponding effect on the Council’s expenditure requirements.

Acting upon recommendations from the Audit Commission an insurance review was undertaken of all the Parish Council’s assets and as a result of this exercise and the general high increases in insurance provision, premiums will continue to rise considerably. The Parish Council had also had to draft, adopt and implement a Disaster Recovery Plan at considerable cost of staff time.
Vandalism is an on-going problem, as are the costs associated with this, such as insurance excess payments for insurance claims and higher premiums, which have meant extra unplanned expenditure that has had to be absorbed by this Council. The Council also installed CCTV in 2007 which was expensive but has proved a great deterrent and has, on several occasions, provided useful information for the Police. Space had to be created within the Centre for the new Community Warden, which again had an unplanned cost implication.
Current Situation
The Parish Council has, by careful budgeting, managed to keep the precept as low as possible with just a 4p per week increase on last year and it is hoped that we will be able to continue to keep the precept as low as possible.
You may believe that this Council is being foolhardy in the way we manage our finances. We do not accept that this is so. We have budgeted to reduce our administration and staff costs during this year and we are not spending money on replacement projects such as play equipment. We are not running a fireworks display this year, and have not done so for the last three years. The last fireworks display we did run was completely funded from an outside business. The Function bars and the Kilnbarn are budgeted to be self-supporting. Our expenditure plans for this year have been pared to the bone. We have been obliged to put several projects on hold, although as the economic climate improves we hope that this Parish Council will be able to improve its services to the community. We hope this article has gone some way to re-assure residents that Ditton Parish Council does have the welfare of its parishioners very much in mind and that it does strive to give value for money.

The future’s bright, the future’s Red & Black Stripes

News from St Peter's Church

The Ditton Community Choir were involved for the second year in a Good Friday meditation service at St Peter’s church. The theme was ‘Forgiveness’ and this was portrayed in pictures and drama—with the choir singing The Prayer, What a Wonderful World, and two songs with an Easter theme. If you just enjoy singing and would like to come along please ring Priscilla on 01732 841257.

"CONGRATULATIONS ON 40 YEARS SERVICE AS A
PARISH COUNCILLOR"
photograph of Cllr. Anthony (Tony) Mulcuck (r) receiving an inscribed tablet from the Chairman, Cllr Mike Porter.

photograph of Cllr. Anthony (Tony) Mulcuck (r) receiving an inscribed tablet from the Chairman, Cllr Mike Porter.

At the Annual Parish Council Meeting held in May, congratulations were extended to Cllr. Anthony (Tony) Mulcuck on achieving 40 years unbroken service as a Parish Councillor to Ditton.
The Chairman, Cllr. Mike Porter, presented him with an inscribed crystal tablet to mark the occasion.

photograph of PCSO Ron Sayer THE POLICE COMMUNITY SUPPORT OFFICER

As the local Police Community Support Officer for Ditton, I would like to update you on some of the things your neighbourhood policing team have been up to over the last few months, and to offer some crime reduction advice to take us into the summer.
Local people have told us that motorbikes and other vehicles being driven anti-socially along public footpaths and other open spaces are a cause for concern. Officers have been monitoring affected areas at key times and have spoken to a number of people about their behaviour. Following this action there has been a reduction in reports about nuisance vehicles to police.
Officers will also soon be working with partners to ease parking problems outside schools in the area—especially at the start and end of the school day. If you park on the yellow zigzag lines outside the school entrance, or on the pavement, you risk receiving a £60 fine.
Parking inconsiderably or dangerously can cause significant problems for pedestrians and local residents. It also poses a problem for emergency service vehicles, which may have difficulty in responding to a 999 call because of hazardous or thoughtless parking. The community centre car park is a possible alternative location for legal, sensible parking, which could ease congestion around schools in the area.As we look forward to the warmer weather it is a good time to review your home security. The following advice could help protect you and your property, this summer.

Lock windows and doors when you go out, even when you are in your back garden. Think about what windows you leave open in hot weather as burglars will make the most of open doors and windows left open on hot days if they can.
Fit security measures such as door chains and burglar alarms to deter thieves.
Keep garages and sheds locked. They often contain expensive tools and ladders that could be stolen or used to break into your home.
Watch out for bogus callers. Always ask for identification and if you are unsure, don’t let them in. Report it if you have concerns.
Security mark your property. Security markers can be used on many different items from bikes and lawnmowers to laptops and mobile phones. Make a note of the serial numbers of your items and keep this in a safe place. You can register your property for free at www.immobilise.com
Thefts from vehicles are often opportunistic crimes so you can help by being careful not to leave anything valuable in your car and to make sure that sun roofs and windows are closed and all doors locked when you leave your vehicle.
Don’t give anyone the opportunity to see you putting your valuables in the boot or the glove box, as there are no real hiding places.

Call 01622 690690 to report a non-urgent crime or to be put in touch with your local officer. In an emergency call 999. You can send the team an email on: malling.neighbourhood@kent.pnn.police.uk
Have a safe and pleasant summer.

PCSO Ron Sayer

DITTON & MALLING ACTIVE RETIREMENT ASSOCIATION

At their May meeting the club held their annual Easter Bonnet competition. The entries were of a very high standard and a lot of thought and ingenuity had gone into the making of them. One of our male members had a go as well. Congratulations to all these members for taking the time and effort to do such a wonderful job.

photograph of some Easter Bonnets at DAMARA
The club, which is called DAMARA, and which has over 100 members, who must be over 50, retired or semi-retired and reasonably fit, meets usually on the second Wednesday of each month in the Oaken Hall at Ditton Community 1.30pm till 4.00pm, runs various sections for the leisure and pleasure of the members.
One of these sections is the New Age Kurling group who meet once a month, again at the centre, to play this new and fascinating sport.

Photograph of DAMARA New Age Kurling section
Above are some of the very enthusiastic players.
The next dates for the club meetings are: July 13th August 10th September 14th and October 5th. The December meeting is when we hold our Christmas Party and this is only open to members.
We also have a walking group that is run by Dawn Taylor, we walk twice a month, on the second and fourth Tuesday of each month. Each month we have a short walk of 3-4 miles and a longer one of 4-6 miles. We rotate in taking turns to drive, as there is usually only four of us who walk regularly, so we all go in one car. We have a list of walks, taking us up to January 2012. Very few of our walks are local as we like to see different parts of Kent. To name but a few: Laddingford, Rochester, Lamberhurst, Farthing Common, Pluckley, Chilham, Cooling and Dover.
We’ve seen lovely villages, beautiful houses, panoramic views. Walked through fields of sheep with young lambs, by ponds, lakes, streams and rivers, where we’ve seen ducklings and goslings and a snake swimming across a stream. Along the Pilgrims Way was a full size wood carving of a pilgrim, sitting on a bench. In a large garden, somebody with a sense of humour had placed a red telephone box with a skeleton inside. Walked through woods smelling of bluebells, orchards of apple and pear trees, fruits delicious to eat.
We have seen places in Kent we never had thought to visit and things you cannot see from a car window.
Found some good pubs to eat in. All with very good company, but we would welcome anybody who would like to join us, either from DAMARA or any local person who likes to walk.
For further details contact Dawn Taylor on 01732 842471.

CASUAL STAFF
VACANCIES AT DITTON COMMUNITY CENTRE

Ditton Parish Council is looking to establish a bank of casual staff who can be called upon to
undertake caretaking and
cleaning duties as required,
including evenings and weekends

*****
Interested?
Contact the Clerk or
Community Centre Administrator on 01732 844749
for further details

Any other clubs or organisations who wish to be included in this list please contact:
01732 844749

AWARDS FOR OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE VILLAGE Pictured (L-R) KCC Warden John Newton, Mrs Sandra Hadaway, Cllr Mike Porter, Cllr Tony Mulcuck, Mrs Maureen Hall, Mr Floyd Risby and in front Mr Len Mace.
At this year’s Annual Parish Meeting Certificates of Achievement were presented to members of the community that have made outstanding contributions to the Parish of Ditton. Chairman of the Parish Council, Mike Porter, presented the awards to: KCC Community Warden John Newton for his work making the people of Ditton feel safe and for his tireless work with the youth and support for the new youth centre; Mrs Sandra Hadaway has lived in the village for over 40 years and been part of Ditton Brownies for over 35 years — 15 as Brown Owl; Mrs Maureen Hall has lived in the village for over 40 years and been involved with Ditton Brownies for 30 years - 12 years as Tawny Owl; Floyd Risby for his exceptional work and commitment to the youth project; Mr Len Mace who has lived in Ditton for most of his life and has made a huge contribution to the village, not only to the organisation of the Annual Remembrance Service but also to the Scouts—Len gave 65 years service to the scouts which earned him The Silver Wolf Award in 2008 “in recognition of services to Scouting of the most exceptional nature”; Cllr Barry Stone for his hard work for the community as both a Borough and Parish Councillor; and finally Cllr Tony Mulcuck for his unstinting and conscientious work on the Parish Council for over 40 years along with his commitment and hard work to many Ditton clubs such as the bowls club, short mat bowls club and the Ditton and Malling Active Retirement Association to name but a few. Cllr Tony Mulcuck has been presented with an award for 40 years service to the Council - please see below for photo and details. The Council would like to make the awards an annual event so please watch out for more information on how to nominate someone early next year.


	“THE CHAIRMAN HAS VACATED HIS SPACE FOR THIS PUBLICATION WHICH THE COUNCIL FEELS IS IMPORTANT”
Ditton Parish Council Tax Ditton Parish Council feels that it is appropriate to publish again an explanation of the Parish Council Tax the residents of Ditton are required to pay and why. Each year Ditton Parish Council along with all other parish and town councils across the nation are required to produce a budget estimating the costs the Council expects to incur to enable it to provide services and amenities for the community. Each of our committees looks at what they are going to need to do during the following financial year and produces a budget for consideration by the Finance & Administration Committee (F&A). In December the F&A Committee considers the individual budgets and if necessary makes adjustments with a view to keeping the costs to residents at a reasonable level. It is a fine balancing act between providing the services the residents want and keeping costs of these services down as much as possible. The budget for this current financial year was finally estimated at £208,633.84, this is the precept. Full details of these estimates can be found on the Parish Council’s website in the minutes for the F&A Committee for the meeting of the 13th December 2010. The estimates were then ratified by the full Parish Council at the meeting held on the 5th January 2011. Area Comparison Ditton’s precept is high, but not the highest in the Borough. It represents the money required to run the Community Centre, Playing fields, Multi Sports Centre, Petanque Piste, Children’s play areas etc. This money is collected by Tonbridge & Malling Borough Council as part of your Council Tax and distributed to Ditton Parish Council in two parts during the financial year. An amount of £114.00 per household pays for the Parish precept. This is the highest in the Borough, Why? The amount of the tax depends on the number of Band D households we have in the Parish. Ditton has 1,830, if you divide this figure into the precept of £208,633.84 you will arrive at £114.00. The problem Ditton has is that we do not have sufficient Band D properties. In fact we have less now than we did in 2010 since we were recently subjected to a boundary Review resulting in Ditton losing 300 properties to East Malling & Larkfield. If we had a similar number of Band D properties as say East Malling and Larkfield, who have around 5,279 in that band, and have a higher precept than Ditton, the Ditton Parish rate would be less than £40.00 per household. Similarly, Aylesford has around 4,158 Band D properties to share the cost of running their Parish-if Ditton had the same amount as Aylesford the Parish rate would be £50.00 per household. (Figures for Band D properties are based on the Tax Base rates given by TMBC to enable parish councils to calculate the amount payable per Band D property). Historic Background Historically circumstances have prevailed against Parish Councils generally and in some respects against Ditton in particular. In 1990/91 the Business Rate from all commercial businesses in the parish, which up until that time was paid to the Parish Councils, were diverted directly to the Government and still does to this day. This resulted, at that time in an income loss of about £50,000 which, equates to 50% of the total income. At the same time the rate relief for the Community Centre was withdrawn, resulting in a Business Rate rise from £6,260 to £14,620. This meant a loss of income totalling £64,620 in that year. These losses have had to be made up each year ever since through council tax increases and greater income from the use of facilities. At that time a conscious decision was made by the then Parish Council not to increase the precept by this amount and they absorbed the loss of income to keep the “Community Charge” low. Over the next fifteen years, precepts continued to be kept artificially low and Council resources were used up to subsidise parish running costs. This drained the Council’s reserves and it has, therefore, been necessary for recent Ditton Councils, to implement more realistic budgets ever since. We are currently striving to increase the reserves this Council holds, from investment income. This is proving difficult because we must bear in mind the fact that investment income may be required to meet Council running expenses. Some of our Parish neighbours minimised the impact on their residents by subsidising their precept from reserves. Ditton is not in a position to do this at present. Business Rate/Government Changes Since the introduction of the Business Rate, this Council has had to continue to pay the Borough Council business rates for the Community Centre, which this year amounts to £13,500. Over the years Government legislation has meant a lot of changes for Parish Councils, all of which have a cost implication, and Parish Councils have to absorb these costs. In addition to this Ditton Parish Council has to comply with the Accounts and Audit Regulations 2003 and The Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP), which means increased costs and staff time. Annual Audit Commission Fees increased substantially from £1,142.10 in 2002/03 to £3,600 for 2004/05. This currently costs £2,291.25 but added to this is a further cost of £1,872.00 per year for internal Audit fees. (Previously internal audits were carried out free of charge by Members of the Council, but new Audit Regulations meant that this is no longer acceptable and these now have to be carried out by competent independent auditors). Again, this Parish Council has had to bear these additional costs. As a good practice employer, this Council has also had to implement legislation in Health & Safety and Employment Law to improve the terms and conditions of its staff. This too has had a corresponding effect on the Council’s expenditure requirements. Acting upon recommendations from the Audit Commission an insurance review was undertaken of all the Parish Council’s assets and as a result of this exercise and the general high increases in insurance provision, premiums will continue to rise considerably. The Parish Council had also had to draft, adopt and implement a Disaster Recovery Plan at considerable cost of staff time. Vandalism is an on-going problem, as are the costs associated with this, such as insurance excess payments for insurance claims and higher premiums, which have meant extra unplanned expenditure that has had to be absorbed by this Council. The Council also installed CCTV in 2007 which was expensive but has proved a great deterrent and has, on several occasions, provided useful information for the Police. Space had to be created within the Centre for the new Community Warden, which again had an unplanned cost implication. Current Situation The Parish Council has, by careful budgeting, managed to keep the precept as low as possible with just a 4p per week increase on last year and it is hoped that we will be able to continue to keep the precept as low as possible. You may believe that this Council is being foolhardy in the way we manage our finances. We do not accept that this is so. We have budgeted to reduce our administration and staff costs during this year and we are not spending money on replacement projects such as play equipment. We are not running a fireworks display this year, and have not done so for the last three years. The last fireworks display we did run was completely funded from an outside business. The Function bars and the Kilnbarn are budgeted to be self-supporting. Our expenditure plans for this year have been pared to the bone. We have been obliged to put several projects on hold, although as the economic climate improves we hope that this Parish Council will be able to improve its services to the community. We hope this article has gone some way to re-assure residents that Ditton Parish Council does have the welfare of its parishioners very much in mind and that it does strive to give value for money.
THE DITTON VILLAGE SHOW 2nd JULY 2011 It’s likely you know someone who has entered previous shows and who has won a prize. The standard can be high, but don’t let that put you off - you might surprise yourself. The show is early in the season so what you believe to be a less than worthy exhibit might be a winner! Why don’t you enter? It’s intended to be a bit of fun. Have a go! This year; by popular demand, we have re-introduced a class for children. All the other popular classes are still the same. These include those for fruit, vegetables, flowers, flower arranging, cooking and craft. Exhibitors may enter as many classes as they wish. The entry fee is 20p per entry per class up to a maximum of £3 per exhibitor. Prizes vary from 50p to £3 and there is no entry fee for children in their class (Class 1). The show is open for anyone to enter, except for professionals in any class, and is fully supported by the Parish Council. Schedules are available at the Parish Office and from Gary and Coral Smith at 5 Cherry Orchard. We look forward to seeing you on the day.

	The Ditton Community Choir were involved for the second year in a Good Friday meditation service at St Peter’s church. The theme was ‘Forgiveness’ and this was portrayed in pictures and drama—with the choir singing The Prayer, What a Wonderful World, and two songs with an Easter theme. If you just enjoy singing and would like to come along please ring Priscilla on 01732 841257.
ST PETERS AND ST PAULS PRE-SCHOOL A pre-school has been meeting in Ditton Community Centre since 1975. The current owners, Jackie Dearden and Nikki Bailey, took over in April 2001 and continue to provide a valuable service to the community. They celebrate each anniversary with an Easter bonnet parade and coffee morning. St Peters and St Pauls Pre-School prides itself on having good working relationships with outside agencies and local schools, therefore providing continuity of care for every child. The pre-school is an inclusive setting offering a varied and stimulating environment to all children and their families. They are often seen in one of the two local playgrounds or working round the quarry armed with magnifying glasses and binoculars for nature walks. They have enjoyed trips to Tonbridge Park, Rare Breeds Farm Ashford and Manor Park and are returning to The Museum of Kent Life again in July this year.
	For more information visit their website www.stpetersandstpaulspreschool.co.uk Or telephone Jackie 07729 042811 or Nikki 07717 025886.