Hartley-Kent

News Nov - Dec 2025

Thu, 27 Nov 2025 21:29:00 GMT

10 November 2025 - Hartley Parish Council: District Plan
Parish council object to proposed sites HART4 (Ash Road), HART6 (Downs Valley). No objection to HART2 (Brambledown), HART7 (Breaker's Yard). They are in favour of large scale development at Pedham Place (option 2).
Hartley Parish Council

10 November 2025 - Hartley Parish Council: Land Sales by SDC
Parish council to submit Community Asset Transfer form for Caxton Close site, to pay full market value. They reserve right to claim adverse possession. Meeting of 8/12/25 has resolution to buy at the quoted price of £1,750.
Hartley Parish Council

10 November 2025 - Hartley Parish Council: Community Warden
After protracted negotiations both Hartley and Ash agree to sign the Warden Services Agreement with KCC.
Hartley Parish Council

10 November 2025 - Hartley Parish Council: Payments
Payments of £18,342 for November agreed. This included £4,667 for a quarter year's grounds maintenance, and £560 for 3 weeks' routine maintenance contract.
Hartley Parish Council

13 November 2025 - Delays after crash in Ash Road, New Ash Green, near junction for Church Road
Accident occurred at about 5.45am. It is understood no-one was seriously hurt and no other vehicles involved.
Sevenoaks Messenger

25 November 2025 - Longfield Parish Council: Fireworks
Good feedback received for firework display on 6th
Longfield Parish Council

25 November 2025 - Longfield Parish Council: Long Valley Hall
(1) Now that PC run hall and not management committee they have to change insurers, matter delegated to clerk. (2) Hirers report stage area has become slippery, agreed to apply non-slip coating for £140. (3) Elenor event to have £100 refund as donation.
Longfield Parish Council

27 November 2025 - Channel 5 documentary A Killer Makes a Call on Sarah Wellgreen who went missing from New Ash Green in 2018
First in a new series featuring crimes where the person convicted of the murder actually was the one who raises the alarm. Her friends hope that it will trigger a memory that may lead to finding her missing body.
Dartford Messenger

30 November 2025 - Hartley Crime Report: November
Crimes mentioned on e-watch were: Car theft - 1 (Caxton Close); Mobility Scooter theft - 1 (Bramblefield Close); Theft of parcel from doorstep - 1 (Silverdale)
E-Watch

30 November 2025 - Longfield Crime Report: November
Crimes mentioned on e-watch were: Criminal damage - 7 (Main Road - 6 (mostly same night), Station Road - 1)
E-Watch

08 December 2025 - Hartley Parish Council: Payments
Payments of £14,618 for December agreed. Includes £398 to empty cesspool, £541 for website hosting and support, £90 to deliver their newsletter.
Hartley Parish Council

News Sep - Oct 2025

Thu, 27 Nov 2025 21:28:00 GMT

03 September 2025 - Hartley Parish Council: Football
Hire charges for the 3 pitches to rise by 5 per cent from £2,300 to £2,415 that is £805 per pitch. Council say this doesn't cover their costs. NAG FC to be charged £10 extra every time they use the toilets in the pavilion.
Hartley Parish Council

03 September 2025 - Hartley Parish Council: Billings Hill Shaw
(1) Following meeting with New Ash Green Woodland Group, committee recommended creating an orchard there, initially with 12 trees. Grants to be investigated with the help of the NAG Woodland Group. (2) They now have permission to fell the dead ash trees which had a tree preservation order.
Hartley Parish Council

03 September 2025 - Hartley Parish Council: Manor Field
Testing found high bacteria levels in away dressing room cold tap, but as it wasn't used for drinking their contractor said it wasn't a risk to public health. System to be disinfected at cost of £544.
Hartley Parish Council

03 September 2025 - Hartley Parish Council: Chantry Avenue
Resident had complained of bird droppings on equipment. Council didn't think there was a problem but would ask routine maintenance contractor to keep a look out.
Hartley Parish Council

08 September 2025 - Hartley Parish Council: Neighbourhood Plan
PC agreed with recommendation they appoint planning consultant to advise on district plan, likely to cost over £5,000 but may be shared with Fawkham if they are willing.
Hartley Parish Council

08 September 2025 - Hartley Parish Council: Land Sales by SDC
Sevenoaks have replied to the PC's enquiry, basically they said if they want to prevent development the parish council will have to buy it themselves. It appeared the PC may be saying they have adverse possession of the plot in Caxton Close.
Hartley Parish Council

08 September 2025 - Hartley Parish Council: Parish Office
Air conditioning unit needs to be replaced at cost of £299.
Hartley Parish Council

08 September 2025 - Hartley Parish Council: Payments
Payments of £11,464 for September agreed. Included £585 for annual playground inspections
Hartley Parish Council

10 September 2025 - Police hunt for suspect after alleged assault involving hatchet in The Row, New Ash Green
Victim treated at Darent Valley Hospital, but injury not described as serious
Dartford Messenger

16 September 2025 - Sevenoaks council unveils plans for more than 17,000 homes across district after massive housing target hikes - including option at Pedham Place
Sevenoaks council announce plans to build 17,000 homes over the next 15 years to meet new government targets. This includes 580 houses south of Redhill Wood in New Ash Green. Local councillor for NAG concerned about lack of local infrastructure there.
Sevenoaks Messenger

23 September 2025 - Longfield Parish Council: New Barn Road
Council unhappy with how long roadworks have been going on for.
Longfield Parish Council

23 September 2025 - Longfield Parish Council: Long Valley Hall
Emergency light replacements done at cost of £1,343. Thanks were expressed to a retiring volunteer who had supported the Hall for 40 years. More information about lettings to be added to council website to save enquiries.
Longfield Parish Council

30 September 2025 - Hartley Crime Report: September
Crimes mentioned on e-watch were: Theft of vehicle - 3 (Church Road (2), Chapelwood Road)
E-Watch

30 September 2025 - Longfield Crime Report: September
Crimes mentioned on e-watch were: Theft - 2 (Kent Road - 1, Main Road - 1)
E-Watch

08 October 2025 - Kent restaurant winners at Asian Restaurant and Takeaway Awards 2025
Sher-e-Bangla in Station Road wins best Kent takeaway of the year; while Spice Village in New Ash Green wins best Kent chef award
News Shopper

25 October 2025 - Kent women speak about their experience of menopause
Article features interview with lady from Longfield, whose experience of a traumatic menopause led her to give up her career and retrain as a wellness coach
Kent Messenger

28 October 2025 - Longfield Parish Council: Parking
Rector of Church attended to raise problems they are having with parking outside the church. PC said it is difficult to get parking restrictions on a B road, but if the church and groups using the hall can provide evidence the council will support them.
Longfield Parish Council

28 October 2025 - Longfield Parish Council: Police
Local Constable reported on action being taken about motorbikes on the Gallops and Nitrous Oxide cannisters.
Longfield Parish Council

28 October 2025 - Longfield Parish Council: Long Valley Hall
(1) New volunteer recruited. (2) Billabong Play Space to be upgraded by Dartford BC in the new year.
Longfield Parish Council

31 October 2025 - Hartley Crime Report: October
Crimes mentioned on e-watch were: Criminal damage - 3 (Woodland Avenue, Church Road, Eaton Square); theft of wheelie bin - 1 (Manor Drive)
E-Watch

31 October 2025 - Longfield Crime Report: October
Crimes mentioned on e-watch were: Theft of vehicle - 1 (Pinden), Theft from Vehicle - 1 (Main Road), Criminal Damage - 4 (Main Road - 1, West Shaw - 1, Fawkham Road - 2)
E-Watch

Sevenoaks District Local Plan

Sun, 23 Nov 2025 16:40:00 GMT

Sevenoaks Council are consulting on their new district plan, which will run from 2027 to 2042. These are the rules people need to follow to get planning permission (in conjunction with national planning guidance issued by the government).

The main change is the increased housing targets. At the moment Sevenoaks only need to build 700 new homes a year. The new target is 1,145 homes a year, a total of 17,175 over the 15 years of the plan.

The draft plan contains a list of sites that will help the district meet this target. It allows for 4,000 units already with planning permission and likely "windfall" sites (ones that crop up later that are not currently allowed for). The proposed sites add another 11,400 units. Separately the council also propose to allow 2,600 units at Pedham Place Golf Course, between Swanley and Farningham. Wasps Rugby Club, which went into administration with debts of nearly £100m in 2022, also wants to build a stadium there. It is surprising that Sevenoaks are considering granting this when nearby Crockenhill Football Club had to drop down a division because Sevenoaks would not allow them to put up floodlights at the nearby Wested Lane ground.

Proposed development sites in New Ash Green and Hartley

Locally the sites in the plan are set out below. Considering the results of the settlement hierarchy assessment, Hartley appears to got off fairly lightly in terms of new development. New Ash Green looks set to increase by half as much again.

HART2 Brambledown and Wellfield (40 units)

HART3 Fawkham Business Park, Fawkham Road (31)

HART4 Land near Woodcroft, Ash Road (9)

HART5 Orchard Farm, Fawkham Road (40)

HART6 Land adjacent to Parkfield and Downs Valley (114)

NAG1 The Forge, Ash (10)

NAG2 Royal Oak Car Park, Chapelwood Road (9)

NAG3 New Ash Green Village Centre (70)

NAG4 Heaver Trading Estate & Swan Meadows Farm, Ash Road (80)

NAG5 Grosvenor, Church Road, Hartley (5)

NAG6 Land west of New Ash Green on Chapelwood Road (280)

NAG7 Slides Farm, North Ash Road (150)

NAG8 Melsetta, Church Road, Hartley (5)

NAG9 Land south of Redhill Road (580)

Sevenoaks did not accept all site nominations, the following were rejected.

1. Land to west of Manor Lane Hartley - this is the land that runs from Church Road to the back of properties in Manor Drive. The site was rejected on transport grounds, although part is due to be reclassified as grey belt.

2. Land at rear of Olinda, Ash Road and Chantry Avenue. Although council say it is due to be reclassified as grey belt, it should not be developed on open space and Grade 3 agricultural land grounds.

Green Belt Assessment

The following sites are provisionally categorised as grey belt. Details are in the Sevenoaks Stage 2 Green Belt Assessment (Oct 2025)

Northfield, the land between Hartley and New Ash Green was excluded from the study because it is deemed to be green belt of fundamental importance.

HA01 (Land at Bramblings)

HA02 (Woodland by Rectory Meadow)

HA03 (Rectory Meadow)

HA04 (Downs Valley to Fawkham Valley Road)

HA05 (Old Downs Wood)

HA06 (Land at back of Braemar Lodge, Castle Hill etc)

HA07 (Land at back of Rose Cottage, Castle Hill etc)

HA08 (Land at back of Holly Cottage, Castle Hill etc)

HA09 (Land at back of Greenacre, Hartley Green etc)

HA10 (Hartley Country Club)

HA11 (Hartley Primary School)

HA12 (Properties at bottom of Fairby Lane)

HA13 (Land at back of Chantry Avenue)

HA14 (Land at back of Chantry Avenue)

HA15 (Kingswood, Ash Road)

HA16 (Vrindhaven and Woodcroft, Ash Road)

HA17 (Land formerly part of Southdown, Manor Drive)

AG01 (Land to north of Chapelwood Road)

AG02 (Land bounded by Chapelwood Road and Manor Lane)

AG03 (Beachcroft Estate)

AG04 (Land at Ash Place Farm)

AG05 (Land at Ash Place Farm)

AG06 (Slides, North Ash Road)

AG07 (Grosvenor and Hamilton, Church Road, Hartley)

Settlement Hierarchy Assessment

A very important consideration for councils when deciding whether to grant planning permission is how "sustainable" the site is. The council has therefore made an evaluation of sustainability by means of a settlement hierarchy assessment. This was scored on a number of factors including existing population, transport (nearness to train stations and bus routes) and what services the settlement currently has (e.g. schools, doctors' surgeries, shops, halls, recreation space, churches, car parks etc).

To take an easy example, Ridley scores 2 points, one for the farm shop and one for the Church.

As well as the area itself, settlements were scored by services easily reachable but just outside. This meant that any services within 1.2km of the settlement boundary were also included. This has very significant consequences for Hartley, as this criterion means that all the services in Longfield and New Ash Green are counted in Hartley's assessment. New Ash Green, being out of range of Longfield scores very much less as a result.

The settlements were then sorted into the categories of Principal Town, Town, Primary Service Settlements, Secondary Service Settlements, Villages, Hamlets and Clusters. This was based on the score in the assessment, although Westerham kept its town status, even though it scored lower than Hartley in the lower category.

Selected scores from the assessment were:

1. Sevenoaks Urban Area (Principal Town) - 784

2. Swanley (Town) - 182

3. Edenbridge (Town) - 176

4. Hartley (Primary Service Settlement) - 148

5. Westerham (Town) - 126

6. Otford (Primary Service Settlement) - 98

7. New Ash Green (Primary Service Settlement) - 90

8. West Kingsdown (Secondary Service Settlement) - 55

9. Eynsford (Secondary Service Settlement) - 53

10. Seal (Secondary Service Settlement) - 50

11. Kemsing (Secondary Service Settlement) - 47

12. South Darenth (Secondary Service Settlement) - 45

26. Fawkham (Hamlet) - 18

32. Ash (Hamlet) - 14

40. Hodsoll Street (Hamlet) - 6

68. Ridley (Cluster) - 2

82=. Barnfield Park (Cluster) - 0

Changes to Bus Services from 1 September 2025

Sun, 31 Aug 2025 11:42:00 GMT

There are a number of changes, some may help, some very bad for local people.

470 bus Longfield to Bluewater

Service being axed

479 bus New Ash Green to Bluewater

new operator (Brookline Coaches of Ryarsh)
one additional journey to Bluewater
later last journey to New Ash Green from Bluewater (16:37)
school journeys to Longfield school (previously 489).

489 bus New Ash Green to Gravesend

new operator (1st Bus Stop of Gravesend)
school journeys to Longfield School rebadged as 479 service

So while there is a slight improvement for residents of Hartley and New Ash Green, practically everyone else loses by the changes. Longfield sees the number buses to Bluewater almost halve from 9 to 5 per day.

Worse still, New Barn, Southfleet and Betsham lose all buses to Bluewater. Not sure they will agree with the MP's claim on Facebook that the changes are a "big boost for residents in the south east part of the constituency".....

News July - August 2025

Sun, 31 Aug 2025 09:48:00 GMT

09 July 2025 - Hartley Parish Council: Cricket
NAGHCC said showers in pavilion are working now. They are struggling for players and also mention they have asked the fire brigade if they would like to train at Manor Field so the square can be watered that way.
Hartley Parish Council

09 July 2025 - Hartley Parish Council: Football
(1) Parking issues improving but congestion reported on Mondays because of the large number of hirers using the pavilion and field. (2) Following a complaint from a local resident about the noise and parking, NAG FC given retrospective permission to use Chantry Avenue on Tuesday evenings and Saturday mornings provided they are considerate about parking.
Hartley Parish Council

09 July 2025 - Hartley Parish Council: Billings Hill Shaw
Unsafe cherry tree to be removed for £300. Council also accepted quote of £1,400 to fell two ash trees with die back. Council to look at scheme to plant fruit trees.
Hartley Parish Council

09 July 2025 - Hartley Parish Council: Gorse Wood
Tree by property in Porchester Close to be reduced by 25 per cent and two dead ash trees to be removed. At full council of 14/7/25 it transpired the wrong tree was checked, the one the resident mentioned the tree surgeon said was OK, resident told they can cut back overhanging branches to their boundary at their expense.
Hartley Parish Council

09 July 2025 - Hartley Parish Council: Manor Field
(1) More water hygeine works, including converting toilets to run from rising mains. (2) Works on showers to cost £490.
Hartley Parish Council

09 July 2025 - Hartley Parish Council: Allotments
Inspection found 2 plots unworked, also some issues of overgrown vegetation, broken fence and damaged water pipe. Quotations to be obtained for necessary works.
Hartley Parish Council

14 July 2025 - Hartley Parish Council: Parish Office
(1) Problems with back up hard drives resolved. IT advisor suggested switching to cloud backup. Council at meeting 8/9/25 agreed to this at £5.20 per month. (2) Monthly staff consultation meetings to be instituted with chairman, vice-chairman, clerk, assistant clerk and Clerk's assistant.
Hartley Parish Council

14 July 2025 - Hartley Parish Council: Payments
Payments of £14,958 for July were approved. This included £334 for dog bin emptying, £300 to remove cherry tree at Billings Hill Shaw, £9,713 for pay and pension contributions.
Hartley Parish Council

15 July 2025 - Kent victims lose £515k to courier fraud by scammers posing as police officers or bank staff
In past year 63 reported incidents in Kent of people falling victim to fake officials. Further cases of attempted scams which failed include case from Longfield.
Kent Messenger

22 July 2025 - Longfield Parish Council: Whitehill Road
Member of the public reported speeding on road. PC replied that this is not borne out by KCC data, but to report any they become aware of.
Longfield Parish Council

22 July 2025 - Longfield Parish Council: Allotments
(1) Ivy at Nurstead Lane encroaching on neighbouring property, PC to get quotes for its removal. (2) Fly tipping at Whitehill Road
Longfield Parish Council

22 July 2025 - Longfield Parish Council: Play Areas
The 4 areas had a safety inspection by Playsafety Limited at a cost of £389.
Longfield Parish Council

31 July 2025 - Longfield Crime Report: July
Attempted Break in - 1 (Station Road)
E-Watch

31 July 2025 - Hartley Crime Report: July
Criminal Damage - 4 (Gorse Way, Porchester Close, Billings Hill Shaw, Quakers Close)
E-Watch

31 July 2025 - How Kent's councils could look after 'devolution revolution'
The government wishes to replace the two tier system of 16 councils in Kent with 3 or 4 unitary councils. Kent County Council published their proposals for 3 unitaries. Longfield would be in a North (Dartford - Swale) group while Hartley and New Ash Green would fall into a west group of Sevenoaks, Tonbridge, Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells. Final proposals have to be before the government by November with the new authorities going live in April 2028.
Gravesend & Dartford Messenger

01 August 2025 - Evolution Power removes BESS from solar farm scheme for land between Ridley and New Ash Green
The plans have been modified by removing the proposed Battery Energy Storage System [Additional information - a BESS would allow them to store power on site and then release it to the Grid at times of peak demand]. Local opposition group dismissed this as a "rebranding exercise".
Dartford Messenger

07 August 2025 - Government allows 245 acre solar farm
The Planning Inspectorate has upheld the appeal from RES to build 100,000 panels on land at Speedgate Farm, between Mussenden Lane and the M20 at Fawkham after Sevenoaks Council had reclassified the area as Grey Belt [additional note: presumably this would be following new planning guidance issued by the Department for Communities Housing and Local Governemnt in Feburary 2025]. The application says it will generate 49.9 MW of electricity, enough to power 22,500 homes. [Additional note: RES's website says the 22,500 figure is based on UK average annual consumption of 3,239 KWh, however Data from the Department for Energy and Net Zero for 2023 says that average annual consumption for the 7,093 metered properties in the DA3 area was much higher at 4,213 KWh]
Gravesend & Dartford Messenger

07 August 2025 - Second Nursery in same chain shuts
Abacus Nursery in New Barn closes on 23 July, following critical Ofsted report.
Gravesend & Dartford Messenger

13 August 2025 - Hartley Parish Council: Football
For next season Hartley de Sales FC require 1 11 x 11 yard pitch, NAG FC need two pitches 11 x 11 and 9 x 9. Hartley de Sales asked about extra grass cutting, told OK so long as they pay for it. HdeS also asked about using the toilets on Monday training days, told the hall hirer had problems of dog walkers coming in to use the toilets then, so the club will need to speak to the hirers.
Hartley Parish Council

13 August 2025 - Hartley Parish Council: Cricket
Manor Field pavilion showers to be reopened following negative legionella test. Club said they had people who could advise on plumbing, PC accepted offer. NAGHCC to make good spike damage to pavilion from away teams.
Hartley Parish Council

13 August 2025 - Hartley Parish Council: Manor Field
Two dangerous trees by car park removed at cost of £80. Overhanging trees on unregistered land by entrance to be crown lifted at cost of £400.
Hartley Parish Council

13 August 2025 - Hartley Parish Council: Longfield Hill
Network Rail have repaired damaged fence.
Hartley Parish Council

13 August 2025 - Hartley Parish Council: Playgrounds
List of minor works handed to Routine Maintenance Contractor for action at all 3 playgrounds. Replacement swing seat costing £125 bought for Woodland Avenue.
Hartley Parish Council

29 August 2025 - Cafe Lounge opens at former Fleur de The site in Rochester High Street, bringing an international flavour to the town
Second branch for Café Lounge, original in Camer Parade, Meopham. Bar manager "already has ample experience in the catering trade, having worked at the family’s Turkish restaurant, Efsane, in Longfield"
Medway Messenger

31 August 2025 - Longfield Crime Report: August
Theft from Vehicle - 1 (Whitehill Road); Criminal Damage - 1 (Main Road); Doorstep Theft - 1 (Bradbrook Drive)
E-Watch

31 August 2025 - Hartley Crime Report: August
Theft - 1 (Stack Lane)
E-Watch

31 August 2025 - Changes to Bus Services from 1/9/2025

News May - June 2025

Wed, 18 Jun 2025 22:26:00 GMT

01 May 2025 - Morrisons shop worker threatened
Balaclava clad robbers hold up Morrisons in New Ash Green on 24 April.
Gravesend & Dartford Messenger

08 May 2025 - Reform stun Tories to take over KCC with sweeping election win
Result of KCC Election: Reform (57); Libdem (12); Cons (5); Green (5); Lab (2)
Gravesend & Dartford Messenger

08 May 2025 - Castle Hill and Valley Road closures
2 day closure in May announced for BT Openreach works
Gravesend & Dartford Messenger

08 May 2025 - Liverpool men due in court after Morrisons raid
As a result of enquiries, Police in Merseyside arrest 2 men aged 34 and 44.
Gravesend & Dartford Messenger

12 May 2025 - Hartley Parish Council: Audit
Internal auditor had reminded council of the requirement to add supporting documentation to the agenda on their website. PC said it was too much work, and if anyone wanted a copy they should ask the clerk. Councillors also have to use a .gov.uk email address.
Hartley Parish Council

12 May 2025 - Hartley Parish Council: Annual Accounts
2024/25. Balance brought forward: £265,501. Precept £188,797 (+ 18 per cent); other receipts £49,781. Minus Staff Costs £102,923, Loan payments £651, other payments £124,505. End year balance to reserves £276,000 (+ 4 per cent).
Hartley Parish Council

12 May 2025 - Hartley Parish Council: Payments
Payments of £17,564 for May were agreed. This included £1,340 for invoices related to VE day event (not total cost).
Hartley Parish Council

15 May 2025 - Greatly missed' pub could return
New owners Alchemy Estates (Holywell) Limited have submitted an application to build a pub that looks like a house, with 6 bed and breakfast flats above. Cautious welcome from local politicians
Gravesend & Dartford Messenger

15 May 2025 - The cheapest and most expensive areas in Kent to buy a house
Hartley and Hodsoll Street ward the 5th most expensive to buy a house in Kent with a median price of £600,000. Most expensive is Sevenoaks West and Chevening at £1 million.
Gravesend & Dartford Messenger

15 May 2025 - Driver on wrong side of road after fleeing from cops
Woman from West Shaw, Longfield, fined £280 plus costs and had 12 points added to licence for several motoring offences.
Gravesend & Dartford Messenger

20 May 2025 - Longfield Parish Council: Streetlighting
Price increase of 4 per cent. Annual maintenance contract £2,306.
Longfield Parish Council

20 May 2025 - Longfield Parish Council: Long Valley Hall
Repairs to hot water tank, new timers installed.
Longfield Parish Council

20 May 2025 - Longfield Parish Council: Annual Parish Meeting
No members of the public attended
Longfield Parish Council

25 May 2025 - Hartley Parish Council: Manor Field
(1) Pavilion - showers cost a lot to maintain and only Cricket club have a league requirement to provide them. Consideration to be given as to whether NAGCC should take them over. (2) Complaints from other hirers that footballers are parking near pavilion when training. Committee decide time has come to replace bollard at entrance. In the meantime clerk given authority to close it if the bollard becomes damaged. (3) Pavilion. Hire charges from 1/7/2025 - weekdays £13 (formerly £12), weekends £15 (£14), regular hirers £11 (£10). (4) Kitchen boiler repaired at cost of £283.
Hartley Parish Council

25 May 2025 - Hartley Parish Council: Football
Hartley De Sales have 3-4 teams training there. NAG FC have U9 and U11 teams this season. Will be allowed to train in summer so long as doesn't clash with Hartley de Sales.
Hartley Parish Council

25 May 2025 - Hartley Parish Council: Allotments
A couple of fruit cages were permitted. Rents to increase by 5 per cent from 1/10/26.
Hartley Parish Council

25 May 2025 - Hartley Parish Council: Cricket
NAGCC asked for freeze in £1,392 hire fees due to lack of showers. Council put them up by 5 per cent to £1,462 but then gave £70 discount.
Hartley Parish Council

25 May 2025 - Hartley Parish Council: Gorse Wood
Two residents of Caxton Close asked for overhanging trees to be cut back. Tree surgeon said the ash trees were not a risk, so residents told they can lop them to their boundary if they wish.
Hartley Parish Council

25 May 2025 - Hartley Parish Council: Playgrounds
Quote of £822 to repair medium risk items at Woodland Avenue (kick wall, picnic table, bucket swing). Other items repaired at all playing fields.
Hartley Parish Council

25 May 2025 - Hartley Parish Council: Hartley Wood
Reports of motorbikes in woods. Network Rail to be asked for permission to set up CCTV cameras on their land.
Hartley Parish Council

31 May 2025 - Hartley Crime Report
Theft - 1 (Gorse Way); burglary of outbuilding - 1 (Church Road); Criminal Damage - 1 (Church Road)
E-Watch

31 May 2025 - Longfield Crime Report: September and October
Theft - 1 (Main Road); Criminal Damage - 1 (Main Road)
E-Watch

09 June 2025 - Hartley Parish Council: Ash Road
A member of the public attended to complain about speeding on Ash Road. They said 3 vehicles had hit their wall in last 13 months. PC to arrange meeting with KCC highways.
Hartley Parish Council

09 June 2025 - Hartley Parish Council: Land Sales by SDC
Sevenoaks have put 3 plots of land up for sale. PC say they want them to remain as green spaces. They are not sure whether Sevenoaks owns two of them.
Hartley Parish Council

09 June 2025 - Hartley Parish Council: Rubbish Collection
Parish council heard that Sevenoaks is changing bin collections, following direction they must collect food waste and glass in future also. Weekly food caddy collections from April, but this means the other collections will now be fortnightly. From June each house will have two wheelie bins for recycling and residual waste. Local residents in favour of bins and Health and Safety Executive have raised concerns about sack collections. Bins will cost £7m, partly offset by £650,000 government grant.
Hartley Parish Council

09 June 2025 - Hartley Parish Council: Payments
Payments for June of £20,604 were agreed. This included annual insurance premium of £2,915 and £2,600 for rent of parish office.
Hartley Parish Council

12 June 2025 - Former teaching assistant sent nude photos to teenager
Woman from Porchester Close referred to Woolwich Crown Court for sentencing after admitting offence. She had been given a suspended sentence last year for a road rage incident.
Gravesend & Dartford Messenger

16 June 2025 - Main Road, outside Longfield Academy, closed by South East Water for repairs
Two pipes repaired by South East Water on 14 June
Dartford Messenger

17 June 2025 - Fawkham residents angry at Sevenoaks District Council’s plans to sell treasured green space at Small Grains
Sevenoaks Council propose to dispose of a number of plots of land which they own which were not transferred to the West Kent Housing Association when it was set up in the late 1980s (according to the agenda they think it will generate capital receipts and reduce running costs. In Hartley they propose to dispose by auction land at back of 2-12 Northfield, land at the junction of Bramblefield and Hawthorns, land north of Woodland Avenue Park and land between 8 and 10 Porchester Close. Article relates to amenity land by Small Grains in Fawkham Green which they propose to sell for social housing if possible, or auction if not. A quarter of the residents of Fawkham have objected and the paper interviews a number of those opposed. Fawkham Parish Council have offered to take the site for amenity land. For their part the Council point out that Sevenoaks has the poorest provision of affordable homes in the county.
Sevenoaks Messenger

24 June 2025 - Longfield Parish Council: Long Valley Hall
Car park supposed to only be used by hall hirers, members of social club or field users, but is being used by others. Problems of anti-social behaviour there reported to police.
Longfield Parish Council

26 June 2025 - Biker dies after crash with car in Main Road, Longfield, near Dartford
Accident occurred about 5am at junction of Main Road and Station Road. Later report on 8/7/25 says the victim was a grandfather in his 60s.
Dartford Messenger

30 June 2025 - Longfield Crime Report: June
Criminal Damage - 1 (Station Road); Theft - 2 (Fawkham Road, Gorsewood Road)
E-Watch

30 June 2025 - Hartley Crime Report: June
Attempted Break in - 1 (Church Road); Attempted Car Theft - 1 (Church Road)
E-Watch

At risk of development? Open space at Brambledown and Hawthorns

30 June 2025 - Longfield Crime Report: June
Criminal Damage - 1 (Station Road); Theft - 2 (Fawkham Road, Gorsewood Road)
E-Watch

30 June 2025 - Hartley Crime Report: June
Attempted Break in - 1 (Church Road); Attempted Car Theft - 1 (Church Road)
E-Watch

County Council Elections 2025

Sat, 26 Apr 2025 10:31:00 GMT

Candidates - Dartford Rural (Longfield)

Michael Brown (Reform)

Alastair Humphreys (Green)

Russell Joyce (Heritage)

Jeremy Kite (Conservative)*

Catherine Stafford (Labour)*

Candidates - Sevenoaks Rural North Eastern (Hartley & New Ash Green)

Penny Cole (Conservative)*

Maxine Fothergill (Reform)*

Claire Fox (Labour)

Laura Manston (Green)*

Lise Michaelides (Liberal Democrat)

Starred candidates have stated they live in the area they propose to represent.

The Conservatives in both areas are defending very large majorities in the two local divisions. It seems they don't think Dartford Rural is at risk as their Facebook posts suggest they have directed campaigning to Ebbsfleet, West Dartford and Wilmington. As there are no elections in London this year, they have also drafted in activists from South East London. Their leaflets for Dartford Rural appear to be more appropriate for an election to Dartford Borough Council, as there is very little in them that are the responsibility of Kent County Council. That might be an argument for unitary authorities, so that the confusion as to which council deals with what would end.

Labour from their Facebook posts appear to be concentrating on Ebbsfleet, Temple Hill and The Fleet estate. Alone of the leaflets I have received for Dartford Rural, they seem to be the only one who knows what a county council does but don't appear to explain how they would do the things they campaign for.

Reform started very energetically in Dartford Rural, I received 3 leaflets and saw their canvassers at work before the election was called. But it seems they have written off Dartford Rural, their Facebook posts show them campaigning now in much the same areas as Labour with the addition of Wilmington. In Sevenoaks it seems the North East Division which includes Hartley and New Ash Green is their prime target, based on the local party's Facebook posts. They seem to be particularly annoyed that the Conservatives pulled out one of their leaflets from a letter box in New Ash Green, but this is a well known tradition of campaigning that opposition leaflets sticking out of letter boxes are fair game, although in today's surveilance society you are more likely to get caught on camera! Their leaflets in Dartford suggest the magic money tree is alive and well. They propose to freeze council tax yet at the same time spend more money. They also propose to abolish inheritance tax - not quite sure how Kent County Council can achieve that! By the way that would create an £8bn black hole in the nation's finances, and would require for example someone on average earnings paying an extra £300 every year in income tax to compensate.

Past Elections - Dartford Rural (percent of vote)

Source: Wikipedia

Party	2009	2013	2017	2021
Conservative	56	53	70	74
UKIP/Brexit/Reform/Eng Dem	20	30	10	3
Labour	12	18	16	16
Liberal Democrat	9		4
Green				7

Past Elections - Sevenoaks Rural North East (percent of vote)

Source: Wikipedia

Party	2009	2013	2017	2021
Conservative	56	49	78	59
UKIP/Brexit/Reform/Eng Dem	21	33
Labour	10	13	12	8
Liberal Democrat	13
Green		6	10	33

News Jan - Feb 2025

Thu, 17 Apr 2025 09:19:00 GMT

13 January 2025 - Hartley Parish Council: Woodland Avenue
Quote of £8,650 from Hoist Fencing accepted to replace perimeter fencing with round post and rail.
Hartley Parish Council

13 January 2025 - Hartley Parish Council: Community Warden
PC voted to pay Kent County Council for the cost of the Community Warden. Ash cum Ridley PC have offered to pay for 1½ days per week.
Hartley Parish Council

13 January 2025 - Hartley Parish Council: Finance
Following the decision about paying for the Community Warden and increases in staff and grass cutting costs, PC vote to increase precept for 2025/26 from £188,797 to £222,096. Parish Council tax to rise by 17 per cent.
Hartley Parish Council

13 January 2025 - Hartley Parish Council: Payments
Payments for January of £14,984 were agreed, including £1,372 on playground repairs and £400 to remove cherry tree at Hoselands Green
Hartley Parish Council

16 January 2025 - Auto parts trader was a 'true gent'
Obituary of Richard Chambers, aged 78, who owned the Gearbox shop in Cherry Trees for over 50 years
Gravesend & Dartford Messenger

19 January 2025 - Garden pagoda fire
2 engines from Dartford fire brigade attend at 10.47am at Conifer Avenue. Believed to be accidental.
Kent Fire Brigade

28 January 2025 - Longfield Parish Council: Longfield Hill Green
Local residents attended meeting and raised concerns that tree work proposed was insufficient, council to meet with residents.
Longfield Parish Council

28 January 2025 - Longfield Parish Council: Precept
Precept for 2025/26 to be £69,250. No increase in council tax.
Longfield Parish Council

28 January 2025 - Longfield Parish Council: Streetlighting
Provider changed from SSE to Ecotricity
Longfield Parish Council

28 January 2025 - Longfield Parish Council: Allotments
4 vacant plots at Nurstead Lane and 2 at Whitehill Road. All holders at Whitehill written to, warning them that if they keep chickens they must be registered. Problems with flytipping at Whitehill Road.
Longfield Parish Council

28 January 2025 - Longfield Parish Council: Long Valley Hall
Weekly bin collection to increase to £22. May need another collection due to increased lets. Council agreed to store mat for tap dancing classes.
Longfield Parish Council

29 January 2025 - Hartley Parish Council: Finance
As the amount in their account at Barclays exceeds the compensation limit, they have accepted advice to open another account, and are applying for a savings account at Lloyds Bank.
Hartley Parish Council

29 January 2025 - Hartley Parish Council: Parish Office
Quotation for photocopier from Ricoh of £157 per quarter plus copying charges, was accepted.
Hartley Parish Council

29 January 2025 - Hartley Parish Council: St John's Lane
Parish Council's Highway Improvement Plan called for double yellow lines opposite Grange Way. KCC say a Traffic Regulation Order Consultation would be required, and with the marking costs the total cost would be £3,125. PC don’t want to pay for this, so have asked Sevenoaks Council to pay.
Hartley Parish Council

05 February 2025 - Hartley Parish Council: Football
(1) NAG Football Club said girls team no longer playing at Manor Field. They also said matches had to be postponed because pitch markings had become invisible, PC said that was down to the weather. Club asked for reduction next season. (2) Hartley De Sales asked to remove portable goals. These had caused the pitches to be made slightly smaller.
Hartley Parish Council

05 February 2025 - Hartley Parish Council: Gorse Wood
(1) Removal of fly tipping to cost £475. (2) Resident of Porchester Close asked for tree to be reduced in height. PC told by tree surgeon they were not a risk but decided to reduce crown anyway. Survey also revealed trees with ash die back which need to be removed. Clerk and committee chairman to get quotes. (3) Tree had fallen on fence in Gorsewood Road, removed at cost of £120.
Hartley Parish Council

05 February 2025 - Hartley Parish Council: Manor Field
(1) Considerable discussion about water hygiene work in the pavilion. (2) Pavilion floor to be sanded and sealed at a cost of £1,482 to be paid out of Community Infrastructure Levy funds. (3) Weed Management Ltd reappointed to conduct weed and moss control at cost of £1,611.
Hartley Parish Council

05 February 2025 - Hartley Parish Council: Playgrounds
Some medium risks identified, equipment can continue to be used but repairs must be done in 3-6 months. These are Chantry Avenue (swing - quote accepted); Longfield Hill (fence - done); Woodland Avenue (kick wall, picnic table - estimated cost £460). They reappointed Safeplay as playground inspector for £1,237 per annum.
Hartley Parish Council

05 February 2025 - Hartley Parish Council: Allotments
Quote of £400 accepted to clear 2 overgrown plots.
Hartley Parish Council

05 February 2025 - Hartley Parish Council: Rectory Meadow
Quote from NW Kent Countryside Project of £1,890to cut grass in 2025/26 was accepted.
Hartley Parish Council

05 February 2025 - Hartley Parish Council: Hartley Green
Council to buy flagpole and union/VE flags out of chairman's allowance, cost about £230 plus installation. They are also prepared to spend up to £500 on a new frame and posts for the village sign.
Hartley Parish Council

10 February 2025 - Hartley Parish Council: Payments
Payments for February of £17,548 were agreed. This included £1,328 for Longfield Hill Recreation Ground fence repairs; £2,698 for works at Manor Field carpark, and £867 to set out the three pitches at Manor Field.
Hartley Parish Council

11 February 2025 - B260 Main Road, Longfield reopens after bus crash
Collision between bus and car on Main Road at Hartley Road junction, driver of car taken to hospital
Dartford Messenger

18 February 2025 - Longfield Parish Council: War Memorial
Member of the public present called for improved upkeep/enhancement. Told they will need to contact the PCC as it is on church property.
Longfield Parish Council

20 February 2025 - Villagers welcome news a new pub could rise from the ashes
Planning application lodged to rebuild the Green Man at Hodsoll Street following fire in 2021. The idea is for a ground floor pub with rooms to rent above. (Additional notes: as of 17/4/25 the application has not been determined. There are a lot of supportive comments on Sevenoaks's website, but some concerns that this might be a trojan horse application to get a house instead in a few years' time)
Gravesend & Dartford Messenger

28 February 2025 - Hartley Crime Report: January and February
Theft of vehicles - 2 (Ash Road, Dickens Close); theft of parcel - 1 (Northfield); theft of wheelie bin - 1 (Downs Valley); theft of lawn mower - 1 (Country Club); attempted break in of outbuildings - 2 (Ash Road, Church Road); Criminal damage - 2 (Church Road, Merton Avenue)
E-Watch

28 February 2025 - Longfield Crime Report: September and October
Criminal Damage - 3 (Fawkham Road, Main Road - 2); break into outbuilding - 2 (Main Road, Station Road)
E-Watch

News Mar - Apr 2025

Thu, 17 Apr 2025 09:19:00 GMT

04 March 2025 - Upset as school scraps World Book Day dress-up
Some parents disappointed after Langafel primary stop marking the day, because they say it is disruptive and a costly burden to parents
BBC Website

09 March 2025 - Hartley Parish Council: NAG Solar Farm
Two members of the public attended to request a contribution to the action group opposing the proposals. PC wasn't sure they are legally able to do so, and have requested advice from KALC. After receiving advice they refused the donation at the May meeting.
Hartley Parish Council

09 March 2025 - Hartley Parish Council: Payments
Payments for March of £31,878 were agreed. This included £8,650 for the Woodlands Avenue Park fence, £836 for repairs to fence at Garden of Remembrance, £7,930 for half year's grounds maintenance.
Hartley Parish Council

25 March 2025 - Longfield Parish Council: Payments
Included £1,334 for performing rights licence for Long Valley Hall, and £2,244 KALC/NALC annual subs.
Longfield Parish Council

25 March 2025 - Longfield Parish Council: Long Valley Hall
(1) Hire request from Little Longfield. PC agree and say after 6 months they could have the lower voluntary group rate, but they have no spare space to store their equipment. (2) Council turn down request for U9s to train on field as already taken by Longfield Tigers. (3) Repairs to Billabong Park cost £4,715.
Longfield Parish Council

31 March 2025 - Hartley Crime Report: March
Theft of dumper truck - 1 (Bramblefield); break in to garage - 2 (Brambledown, Bramblefield); criminal damage - 2 (Northfield, Wellfield)
E-Watch

31 March 2025 - Longfield Crime Report: September and October
Theft of vehicles - 1 (Essex Road); attempted theft of vehicles - 1 (Station Road)
E-Watch

02 April 2025 - Hartley Parish Council: Hartley Green
Quotation of £525 for new frame and post for village sign accepted.
Hartley Parish Council

02 April 2025 - Hartley Parish Council: Parish Office
Appointment of new assistant clerk confirmed after 3 month trial.
Hartley Parish Council

03 April 2025 - Magistrate apologises to drink driver for 'mix up' oveer arrest
69 year old from Wellfield had sent email saying he couldn't attend due to brother's funeral, but it wasn't passed on to magistrates who issued warrant for his arrest by mistake, with result he was arrested and held overnight by police.
Gravesend & Dartford Messenger

09 April 2025 - 'We will be stranded when bus route is scrapped'
Arriva plan to axe 489 New Ash Green to Gravesend route on 1 June. Interviews with local residents about the problems this will cause. This will leave New Ash Green and Hartley with just 5 buses a day, with the last one at 2.15pm
BBC Website

12 April 2025 - Bus service to hospital and shopping centre to be axed
Article about 477 bus being terminated at Dartford town centre. It also mentions that Arriva plan to axe the 489 New Ash Green to Gravesend route on 1 June
Gravesend & Dartford Messenger

14 April 2025 - Hartley Parish Council: Garden Waste
Sevenoaks have put the price of a bundle of garden sacks to £22. PC are allowed to resell at up to £5 more. They agreed to raise price they charge from £21 to £25.
Hartley Parish Council

14 April 2025 - Hartley Parish Council: Insurance
Successful claim made against council, so they will have to pay £250 excess.
Hartley Parish Council

14 April 2025 - Hartley Parish Council: Buses
Cllr Brazier (KCC) said 489 route is under threat. A 700 signature petition exists, if just a tenth of those actually used the bus it could continue, but passenger numbers are 1 or 2 per bus.
Hartley Parish Council

14 April 2025 - Hartley Parish Council: Payments
Payments of £27,488 for April were agreed. This included £1,752 for removal of slides at Chantry Avenue and Longfield Hill; £1,450 for tree works at Gorse Wood; £533 for allotments maintenance.
Hartley Parish Council

22 April 2025 - Longfield Parish Council: Long Valley Hall
Hire rates to increase, immediately for new bookings and from 1/8/25 for existing hirers. Hall available 8am - 11pm but any existing midnight bookings to be honoured. No payments in cash in future and deposit to increase to £150.
Longfield Parish Council

22 April 2025 - Longfield Parish Council: Parking
Council have requested Dartford BC review disabled parking outside Kent House Surgery in Kent Road.
Longfield Parish Council

24 April 2025 - MP 'deeply concerned' about solar farm
MP for Hartley and New Ash Green writes to Minister to object to the New Ash Green solar project. This is a proposal for a solar farm powering 17,000 houses on 235 acres of Green Belt near New Ash Green. He cites planning guidelines to prioritise previously developed land, loss of biodiversity, loss of farmland (it is said will switch from milk production to sheep grazing). He also raised concerns that the panels may be built by forced labour, in reply applicants say they will be ethically sourced. Article also has comments from head of No New Ash Green Solar campaign group who said 700 letters of objection had been lodged. Evolution Power cite national policy to combat global warming and said no solar farms could be placed in Sevenoaks that are not on green belt land. The paper also reports that another solar scheme at Speedgate Farm, Fawkham, previously refused by the council, has now gone to appeal.
Gravesend & Dartford Messenger

30 April 2025 - Hartley Crime Report
Criminal damage - 5 (Northfield (2), Wellfield(2), Woodland Avenue); theft of motor vehicle - 3 (Church Road, Gresham Avenue, Quakers Close); theft from motor vehicle - 1 (Russell Square)
E-Watch

30 April 2025 - Longfield Crime Report: September and October
Criminal damage - 1 (Essex Road)
E-Watch

New article - The Appleton Brothers of Fairby Lane

Sun, 01 Dec 2024 11:39:00 GMT

I am very grateful to Andrew Marshall, who has contributed this article about the three Appleton Brothers of The Stoep, Fairby Lane, all of whom were pilots in WW2. Karl joined the Fleet Air Arm but was killed in action on an anti-shipping raid near Palermo, Sicily in 1943. Llewellyn was a Hurricane pilot lost in the defence of France in 1940. The third brother James, survived the war and later became an attache, but he had to survive three years in a Japanese POW camp after being captured in the fall of Singapore.

For the full article see The Appleton Brothers of Fairby Lane.

News Nov-Dec 2024

Wed, 20 Nov 2024 09:52:00 GMT

14 November 2024 - Hartley Primary School
Leigh Academies backtrack on plan to drop Hartley from the name of the school after parents protest. Will now be called Leigh Academy Hartley
Gravesend & Dartford Messenger

15 November 2024 - Masked raiders from Chatham, Longfield and Sydenham, who robbed Swanscombe family jailed
26 year old man from Main Road Longfield, sentenced to 14 years 9 months for their part in 'brutal and terrifying' robbery of a family in their home at Swanscombe. He admitted some of the charges and said he was sorry for what he had done to the victims.
Gravesend Messenger

15 November 2024 - Low funded Longfield pharmacy has residents worried for the future
Interviews with owner of Hodgsons Chemist in Longfield and local residents, about the problems facing the sector. Opening hours and services may be reduced.
KMTV

News Sep-Oct 2024

Wed, 20 Nov 2024 09:51:00 GMT

02 September 2024 - Evolution Power reveals plans to build large solar panel farm on land near New Ash Green
235 acre solar farm and switching station planned for land east of New Ash Green, producing enough power for 17,200 homes. Green councillor said other options were better (probably didn't mean the nuclear power option suggested by some of the commentors on the article!)
Dartford Messenger

14 September 2024 - Fight between two boys at Longfield school led to one woman kicking, punching and pulling the hair of a mum in front of other youngsters
32 year old woman from Porchester Close admitted assault of parent of one of the boys on 4 April.
Dartford Messenger

20 September 2024 - Sevenoaks council to introduce reusable recycling bags to save £200k
New sacks to replace the clear bags currently used. Will be gradually rolled out but certain properties in New Ash Green will not be included.
Sevenoaks Messenger

30 September 2024 - Hartley Crime Report: September
Car broken into (Larksfield); theft of bank cards (Cherry Trees); Criminal Damage (Quakers Close, Wickhams Way)
E-Watch

01 October 2024 - Games machines smashed and money stolen at Long Valley Sports and Social Club in Fawkham Road, Longfield
Gang wearing overalls and masks made off with a large quantity of cash in the small hours of 1 October. Club forced to close for some days to make repairs
Dartford Messenger

03 October 2024 - So many will lose out if the adult education centre closes'
Hartley resident (pictured) speaks out against KCC plans to close the Victoria Centre in Gravesend. He said he would be happy to pay more for his course to save it. KCC say they can't afford to repair it and want to move to smaller cheaper locations.
Gravesend & Dartford Messenger

10 October 2024 - Nursery said: 'Don't panic but she's choked'
Gravesend mother said 'amazing' New Barn nursery saved her daughter who was choking on potato. This has led her to join fundraising campaign to buy LifeVac anti-choking devices for all early years settings. Donations online at bit.ly/bellalifevac.
Gravesend & Dartford Messenger

10 October 2024 - I had a heart attack at 33 - but they saved me'
Cliffe man gets to meet paramedics who saved him when he collapsed during charity football match at Corinthian Club, Fawkham.
Gravesend & Dartford Messenger

10 October 2024 - Cocaine smuggled on banana boats
Sentences of up to 16 years handed down to gang who brought in 1.4 tonnes of cocaine in a banana shipment at Sheerness and then moved it to a yard at Longfield.
Gravesend & Dartford Messenger

10 October 2024 - World first for pioneering school
Milestone special educational needs school in New Ash Green first school of its kind to become an International Baccelaureate World School. Picture of staff.
Gravesend & Dartford Messenger

16 October 2024 - Sher-E-Bangla Indian Takeaway in Longfield wins Kent Takeaway of the Year Award at ARTA 2024 for the second year running
Longfield take away wins Asian Restaurant and Takeaway award for best Kent Takeaway for 2nd year running.
Kent Messenger

17 October 2024 - Honour for ADHD Friendly School
Longfield School recognised by ADHD Foundation Neurodiversity charity. Description of some of the measures the school takes with picture of two teachers at the school holding award.
Gravesend & Dartford Messenger

17 October 2024 - Burglar caught after leaving DNA at North Kent homes
31 year old man from Luton jailed for 1 year 4 months after admitting a number of burglaries, including one at Larksfield in January. He left empty handed from that crime but left DNA enabling police to identify him.
Kent Live

22 October 2024 - Pensioner from New Ash Green left with large hole in roof after scam
Older and younger man pulled tiles off roof in North Ash Road and then demanded £1,500 from victim.
Dartford Messenger

24 October 2024 - Rogue traders who scammed elderly victims out of almost £500k for unnecessary building work ordered to pay back more than £100k
Two men from Gravesend and Basildon jailed for 5 years and 4 years, for defrauding elderly victims for unnecessary building work. One of the victims lived in Longfield.
Medway Messenger

24 October 2024 - Plastic waste-to-oil recycling company QMRE expands with new premises at Hoo creating 21 jobs
QM Recycled Energy, who converts waste plastic to oil, has just moved from a small R&D location at Longfield to a 25,000 sq ft factory at Hoo.
Medway Messenger

31 October 2024 - Hartley Crime Report: October
Theft of cars - 2 (Old Downs, Chantry Avenue), theft of Halloween decorations (Springcroft)
E-Watch

31 October 2024 - Longfield Crime Report: September and October
Burglary (West Shaw - club house); Theft from vehicle - 2 (Bradbrook Drive, Main Road); Damage to parked vehicles - 2 (both Main Road); Criminal Damage to Fence (Pinden). Nothing recorded on e-watch website for September.
E-Watch

News July - August 2024

Wed, 20 Nov 2024 09:47:00 GMT

05 July 2024 - Two hour delay after log strike
9:20 Longfield to Victoria train delayed by 159 minutes, after it struck a log on the line between Longfield and Farningham Road. It had to wait for engineers to attend, who confirmed it was OK to proceed
Editor

11 July 2024 - Three Gates Road in Longfield blocked by fly-tipped waste
Kent County Council will have to clear a truckload of fly tipped rubbish said to be 5 car lengths long.
Gravesend Messenger

19 July 2024 - Worldwide IT outage: Disruption in Kent as Thameslink, Southern Rail, Port of Dover and Dart Charge for Dartford Crossing affected by widespread IT issues
Longfield Surgery report being affected by the outage, which has affected many computer systems. Kent NHS say telephone and booking systems affected for many surgeries.
Kent Messenger

24 July 2024 - Large piles of rubbish fly-tipped in Hartley Bottom Road, Hartley
Hartley Bottom Road closed after 20 bags of rubbish dumped there (pictured). Fly tipping in Three Gates Road, Fawkham also.
Dartford Messenger

24 July 2024 - Pensioner injured during burglary in Brickfield Farm Close, Longfield, by two men posing as delivery drivers
Victim pushed to floor and cash and a watch taken.
Dartford Messenger

08 August 2024 - Market trial to help village grow
Open air market to be tried in centre on 10 August. Organiser said since she complained about anti-social behaviour there in the paper things have improved with more police patrols. One of the shopkeepers said the problem had been driving away trade.
Gravesend & Dartford Messenger

15 August 2024 - Pensioner hurt in house robbery
Two men forced their way into 70 year old's home in Main Road and stole a watch and cash on 22 July.
Gravesend & Dartford Messenger

16 August 2024 - Three drug dealers jailed after ‘suspicious’ Ford Transit stopped in New Ash Green and cocaine found in folded lottery tickets
Police stop transit van in New Ash Green and discover drugs haul. 45 year old man from Upper Street South jailed for 2 years 3 months.
Gravesend Messenger

24 August 2024 - Fire crews sent to Pinden recycling centre in Longfield near Dartford
6 fire engines from Dartford attend blaze first spotted at 11.19pm on 24 August, crews stood down 6.07pm on 26 August.
Dartford Messenger

31 August 2024 - Hartley Crime Report: August
Criminal Damage - 4 (all on 29/8 in Church Road)
E-Watch

News May - June 2024

Sat, 06 Jul 2024 15:42:00 GMT

02 May 2024 - Cyclist taken to Darent Valley Hospital after being hit by car and trailer on Main Road, Longfield
Cyclist knocked off bike by 4x4 at Pescot Hill
Dartford Messenger

31 May 2024 - Traders fear rising rents and anti-social behaviour is making New Ash Green Shopping Centre a ‘no go area’
Elderly said to be unwilling to visit centre at present due to anti-social behaviour including throwing flour and tomato sauce, criminal damage of windows and cars, laughing gas canisters. Police say reported incidents of anti-social behaviour has fallen in NAG. Increased rents said to be driving business away, new owners claim rents have to rise to pay for improvements and they have let 3 units recently. This article generated very many comments, many critical of police and parents. Also podcast available (https://www.kentonline.co.uk/kent/news/businesses-suffering-as-teen-gangs-terrorise-shoppers-307578/)
Dartford Messenger

03 June 2024 - Sun Rise Chinese Takeaway, in New Ash Green, closes after almost 40 years due to rising costs
After 38 years the Sun Rise Chinese Restaurant in New Ash Green is closing. Owners blame rising costs, and faced with the prospect of higher rents when the lease renewed in June, decided to call it a day. Some people have been bulk buying their favourites to freeze. Article features picture of first menu in 1986b when sweet and sour chicken was £1.95 (now £7).
Dartford Messenger

17 June 2024 - Hodgson pharmacy partners with Charac to enhance patient services
New service launched by Longfield Chemists. Article mentions that since Lloyds Chemists closed in Longfield, their work has gone up considerably, with 50% increase in prescriptions and 100% in over the counter sales
Kent Messenger

17 June 2024 - Is the Pharmacy First Scheme working in Kent?
Report on workings of scheme since it was launched in January. For seven common illnesses patients can get treatment and prescription drugs from chemist. They are paid £15 per consultation. Longfield chemist says he loses money on the scheme, because he has to employ another pharmacist. He had 150 patients under the scheme in April. He loses money on NHS work which is subsidised by his private work.
Kent Messenger

19 June 2024 - Witnesses sought after man ‘beaten with metal pole’ in New Ash Green
40 year old man from Dunton Green arrested after dispute over parking at Centre Road
Dartford Messenger

25 June 2024 - Longfield man jailed after raping woman following night out in Gravesend
Man from New Barn sentenced to 4½ years. Police praised courage of victim for coming forward.
Dartford Messenger

28 June 2024 - Various Roads in the District of Sevenoaks - Waiting Restrictions Consolidation Order
After many years of amendments, Kent CC propose to consolidate all the parking restrictions in Sevenoaks district into one order. There are no changes to existing restrictions. For Hartley this affects

Copse Side: entrance - no parking at any time, remainder - no parking M-F 7-10am
Quaker's Close: entrance - no parking at any time, rest of road up to Aspens - no parking M-F 7-10am
Wellfield entrance - no parking at any time, three disabled bays in rest of road
Merton Avenue - 1 disabled bay
Porchester Close - 1 disabled bay
Hartley Green and top of Castle Hill - no parking at any time
Ash Road outside Fairby Hill, Social Club - no parking at any time
Culvey Close parts of road- no parking at any time
Church Road outside RC Church- no parking at any time
Cherry Trees: nearest part to Church Road - no parking at any time; rest of road up to cul-de-sac - no parking M-Sat 8-6.30
Round Ash Way: approach road to school - various restrictions related to school hours
Fairby Lane: outside entrance to school - no stopping M-F 8.30-9.30 am and 3-4pm
The Warrens: Entrance and surrounding part of Ash Road - no parking at any time

Kent County Council

General Election 2024

Sat, 06 Jul 2024 15:42:00 GMT

Three Way Split

Our area is somewhat unloved by those who draw the boundaries for constituencies, so our area is now split into 3 constituencies. While Longfield remained in Dartford constituency, Hartley was moved to Tonbridge, as was New Ash Green from Sevenoaks Constituency. This left Fawkham remaining in Sevenoaks.

All Change in Dartford

Dartford took over from Gravesham in 2005 has the country's longest running bellweather seat, having returned an MP from the governing party every year since 1964 (Gravesham had an even more remarkable run since 1955, but voted Conservative in 2005 when Labour won the election. True to form Dartford switched to Labour with the winning candidate getting a percentage vote that matched Labour's score nationally. In recent years the Brexit vote has tilted the seat in a bluewards direction, and Labour was clearly the beneficiary of a large vote for Reform. As befits their status as safe seats, the Conservatives were comfortably returned in Sevenoaks and Tonbridge. The Independent Alliance candidate in Tonbridge scored a respectable 2% of the vote, although they do have a presence on Tonbridge and Malling Council.

The Campaign

The campaign locally appears to have been quite low key. Gone are the days when Dartford would be visited by major figures from both parties. The only such visitor I am aware of was former Home Secretary Priti Patel for the Conservatives. Election posters appear to have almost completely gone out of fashion, on a tour of parts of Longfield, Southfleet and New Barn I only saw 5 posters - 3 Conservative (Main Road (2) and Westwood) and 2 Labour (West Shaw and Kent Road). In Hartley the only poster I could see was for the Independent Alliance in Ash Road, surprisingly there were no Conservative posters in places that usually put one up in Hartley.

Labour also paid for a wrap around advert in the Dartford Messenger. The paper was at pains to point out that they are neutral, but any party running is welcome to pay for an ad.

The real battle is waged online now it seems. Both local parties have Facebook pages, although Labour has twice as many followers, perhaps an indication of the voting preferences of the middle aged. Both were actually very similar - pictures of the candidate with about half a dozen party workers or councillors outside a local landmark, with a caption saying something like "great evening campaigning in X". One Labour post has a picture captioned the candidate talking to a voter, who looks similar to a party worker in another picture...

Youtube advertising seems popular too. I've seen ads from the Labour candidates for Gravesham and Rochester, and also the Conservative candidate for Gravesham, however none for my own constituency, which suggests the targetting of ads could be improved. I understand Reform and Labour also posted a lot nationally on TikTok.

I received leaflets from all the candidates. Kudos to the Greens for eschewing glossy leaflets and sending a little square leaflet on recycled paper, although they did miss an apostrophe! One of my Conservative leaflets was delivered by the candidate himself, who appeared to be delivering leaflets on his own.

Like many MPs faced with an unpopular national party, the Conservative candidate fought a hyper local campaign, and his dedication to the constituency was acknowledged by Mr Dickson in his acceptance speech. I noted he also mentioned the Lower Thames Crossing and how it might not happen if Labour won. However I keep old election leaflets, and he had called for the crossing in 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2024. His leaflet five years ago claimed a vote for Labour was one for delay in it. He also made a lot of the Labour candidate being a councillor from South London, not surprising when I seem to remember he got a hard time from Labour in 2005 when he was the candidate who didn't live in the constituency. The truth is ambitious party members often have to try their luck in a lot of constituencies before being selected. Indeed former Dartford Conservative MP Bob Dunn was a councillor in South London before being selected in 1979, obviously it was OK for South London councillors to stand in Dartford then! It has been said that the Conservatives gave Reform too much of a free run, and certainly one of the Conservative leaflets for Dartford inferred that they thought there was little difference between the two parties, at the same time Reform was attacking them and saying there were.

Labour's leaflets were less detailed and tended to repeat the national message. Their candidate followed the rules of the game if you are not a local candidate, which is to be pictured standing in front of a lot of local landmarks.

The Green and LibDem candidates were the only ones who lived in Dartford constituency, and their sole leaflets were brief statements of national policy. Neither party targeted Dartford, I am told by people I know who live in Tunbridge Wells that they got many LibDem leaflets.

The Reform leaflet was the least local of all. Indeed the only picture was of leaders Nigel Farage and Richard Tice with the name of the candidate inserted at the top. Nearly all of the leaflet was about immigration, so people would have little idea of any other policies. The party did not stand in Dartford in 2019, because they agreed not to stand against sitting Conservative MPs, their result was similar to what UKIP got here in 2015. Reform, by the way, is not a political party run by its members like the other parties, it is a private company with registered supporters. As of 2024 it has 15 shares, 8 owned by Mr Farage and 5 owned by Mr Tice. So when Mr Farage became leader in June, it could be seen as more like a boardroom takeover!

This election saw a record number of MRP polls which try to forecast the result of each individual constituency. All but one gave the seat to Labour, and none gave Sevenoaks and Tonbridge to anyone but the Conservatives. The last YouGov poll was almost spot on for Dartford and Sevenoaks, and in Tonbridge the main difference was between the relative number of votes for Labour and the Greens. It may be that these polls helped to reduce Labour's share of the vote in the last days of the campaign as people may have thought they didn't need to vote, or could safely vote for someone else (a view encouraged by the other parties). Certainly turnout was down on 2019 and, as befits a bellweather seat, Dartford's turnout was almost exactly the same as the national average.

The result was announced at just before 5am. Labour have posted a video on their facebook page, which includes the Returning Officer, and what I thought were very gracious speeches from both the Labour and Conservative candidates.

The Results

Name	Vote	Percent	2019	Change
Dartford (Lab Gain)
Jim Dickson (Lab)	15392	34.6%	29.5%	+5.1%
Gareth Johnson (Cons)	14200	31.9%	61.1%	-29.2%
Lee Stranders (Reform)	9523	21.4%	n/a	+21.4%
Laura Edie (Green)	3189	7.2%	2.4%	+4.7%
Kyle Marsh (LibDem)	2184	4.9%	7.0%	-2.1%
Turnout		59.0%	65.7%
Tonbridge (Cons Hold)
Tom Tugendhat (Cons)	20517	40.8%	64.8%	-24.0%
Lewis Bailey (Lab)	9351	18.6%	15.1%	+3.5%
Anna Cope (Green)	7596	15.1%	7.9%	+7.2%
Terea Hansford (Reform)	7548	15.0%	n/a	+15.0%
John Woollcombe (LibDem)	4234	8.4%	12.3%	-3.9%
Tim Shaw (Ind Alliance Kent)	926	1.8%	n/a	+1.8%
Ian Grattridge (SDP)	156	0.3%	n/a	+0.3%
Turnout		69.3%	73.7%
Sevenoaks (Cons Hold)
Laura Trott (Cons)	18328	36.7%	61.7%	-25.0%
Richard Streatfeild (LibDem)	12888	25.8%	19.4%	+6.4%
James Milmine (Reform)	9341	18.7%	n/a	+18.7%
Denise Scott-McDonald (Labour)	6802	13.6%	13.5%	+0.1%
Laura Manston (Green)	2033	4.1%	3.4%	+0.7%
Elwyn Jones (Rejoin EU)	298	0.6%	n/a	+0.6%
Adam Hibbert (SDP)	209	0.4%	n/a	+0.4%
Turnout		67.9%	71.0%

Easter Bunny at New Ash Green

Mon, 01 Apr 2024 14:26:00 GMT

News January - February 2024

Mon, 01 Apr 2024 14:25:00 GMT

10 January 2024 - Tributes to matriarch of Glovers Farm in Hartley Bottom Road, New Ash Green
Obituary of Hilda Glover of Hartley Bottom Farm, described by community as "a beautiful soul". She started the tack shop in 1978.
Gravesend Messenger

21 January 2024 - Storm Isha hits Kent, with several Southeastern trains cancelled after greenhouse blocks tracks – but Dartford Crossing and Sheppey Crossing reopen
Damage included tree blown down at Manor Drive (pictured). Delays to trains due to trees, trampoline and a greenhouse being blown onto Kent tracks
Kent Messenger

11 February 2024 - Hundreds of new grammar school places needed in Kent by end of the decade with cost likely to ‘fall on the taxpayer’, education chief warns
County forecasts a shortfall in grammar places over the next 10 years due to increased housebuilding, and an influx of pupils from the outer London boroughs. North Kent particularly affected and county is considering whether the rules can be changed to favour local applicants. Interview with Church Road parents of one of 61 children in NW Kent who passed 11 plus but didn't get grammar place.
Kent Messenger

20 February 2024 - Residents in Ash Road, Hartley, and neighbouring roads left with no water and low water pressure due to leak
Outage lasted 4 hours and also affected properties in Fairby Lane, Church Road, Carmelite Way and Cherry Trees
Dartford Messenger

News March - April 2024

Mon, 01 Apr 2024 14:25:00 GMT

04 March 2024 - Former Fawkham Manor Hospital surgeon jailed after forgery and fraud trial
Former surgeon at Fawkham Manor Hospital given suspended sentence and unpaid work for claiming over £17,000 from insurers for work not done. Judge reduced sentence because of the 7½ year delay in bringing case to court.
Dartford Messenger

09 March 2024 - Mum from Longfield, Dartford becomes train driver after 10 year career break from being legal personal assistant
Profile of 52 year old woman from Longfield who trained as an accountant, but switched careers to drive trains for Southern Railway.
Dartford Messenger

15 March 2024 - Jaguar ‘stolen’ from Maidstone Road, Gillingham found in Church Road, New Ash Green
Car reported causing a nuisance in Caxton Close. Police chased it to New Ash Green. Occupants from Chatham and Longfield arrested.
Gravesend Messenger

20 March 2024 - 11 charged as police uncover Dartford drug ring
People charged allegedly supplied cocaine to users in Dartford, Gravesend and Longfield
News Shopper

25 April 2024 - Trial shuttle bus service starts from New Ash Green to Darent Valley Hospital in Dartford and Bluewater Shopping Centre in Greenhithe.
New Route C3 will run between New Ash Green and Bluewater/DVH from 9-3 on weekdays. Hartley resident welcomes the new service
Dartford Messenger

News November - December 2023

Fri, 29 Dec 2023 09:03:00 GMT

03 November 2023 - ABC Boxing Stables in Longfield needs £25,000 after being destroyed by blaze
Four engines from Dartford attend. Inside completely gutted. Temporary home for classes at Milestone School.
Dartford Messenger

04 November 2023 - Caravan fire in Longfield Hill, near Gravesend, was ‘deliberate’ act
Two engines from Dartford attend. Being treated as suspicious. Fire Brigade say there were no reported injuries.
News Shopper

14 November 2023 - Kent Air Ambulance lands in New Ash Green after road crash
Helicopter lands at the Minnis following car crash. Patient taken to hospital by road after treatment at the scene.
Gravesend Messenger

17 November 2023 - Leigh Academies Trust school Hartley Primary Academy rated Outstanding by Ofsted inspectors for second time
Hartley Primary was rated as outstanding across the board by Ofsted. They said "Pupils flourish at this school."
Dartford Messenger

21 November 2023 - New shuttle service between New Ash Green and Bluewater to replace axed 423 bus
Temporary 1 year replacement for the 423 bus from New Ash Green to Bluewater to 6 times a day from February. One of the comments says KCC have set a minimum of 10 users per bus to retain the service after that. Another comment says the councillor who is quoted as welcoming the new service was the one involved in cutting the 423 in the first place.
Dartford Messenger

21 November 2023 - The Dartford postcodes where homes sell the quickest and the slowest
Article quotes data from Property Solvers, which shows time taken in DA postcode from listing a property to submission of the transfer at the Land Registry ranged from 126 days (DA1) to 155 days (DA9). Our postcode DA3 was the second slowest at 145 days.
News Shopper

30 November 2023 - Crime Report: November
Selected crimes on ewatch website: Theft (Hartley Bottom Road); Criminal Damage to Car (St John's Lane)
E-Watch

20 December 2023 - Fawkham Manor Hospital surgeon found guilty of fraud and forgery but cleared of sending malicious communications
61 year surgeon convicted by jury at Maidstone of fraud and forgery against two insurance companies. But was cleared of further charge of malicious communication, containing false allegations against their whistleblower colleague.
Dartford Messenger

20 December 2023 - Tributes to Helen Bowen from Hartley who taught in Gravesend and Rochester
Obituary and picture of Helen Bowen, formerly of Hartley, who taught at Longfield School and many other local schools.
Medway Messenger

21 December 2023 - New Ash Green Tandoori goes up for sale on Facebook
Lease extends to 2026 with an option to renew. Article also mentions damage in recent raid on Co-op.
Dartford Messenger

27 December 2023 - Dartford: Connect 1 bus extended to Fleet Estate and Coombfield Drive
Changes to route of C1 bus from Longfield to Bluewater and Darenth. It will no longer run through Whitehill Road and Westwood but instead get to Bean via Green Street Green and Shellbank Lane.
News Shopper

31 December 2023 - Crime Report: December
Selected crimes on ewatch website: Criminal Damage (Caxton Close)
E-Watch

2021 Census - Population of Each Road

Fri, 29 Dec 2023 09:02:00 GMT

Road level census figures published

The Nomis website has published figures for the number of households and population of each individual postcode. The figures show a big increase in Longfield village since the 2011 census (2,105, +489), little change in Hartley (5,393, +64) and a fall in New Ash Green (5,609, -148).

For more details see webpage on 2021 population by postcode.

News Sep-Oct 2023

Thu, 28 Dec 2023 13:51:00 GMT

04 September 2023 - Hartley Post Office and Premier Convenience Store reopens following refurbishment
Picture feature on conversion of Fairby Stores into a Premier mini-mart.
Gravesend Messenger

09 October 2023 - Asian Restaurant and Takeaway Awards: Sher-E-Bangla best takeaway
Sher-e-Bangla in Station Road wins best regional takeaway of the year
News Shopper

20 October 2023 - Hartley woman demands Kent County Council pay for dogs £6k vet bill as grass ‘wasn’t cleared properly’
60 year old carer from Hartley claims Kent County Council's failure to sweep up cut grass led to her dog needing 2 operations costing £5,800. The article generated nearly 100 comments.
Dartford Messenger

30 October 2023 - Couple who moved to London Road, Deal ‘on a whim’ bag £390k in People’s Postcode Lottery
Couple formerly from Hartley win nearly £400,000 on the People's Postcode Lottery. They said they moved to Deal because it was livlier.
Deal Messenger

31 October 2023 - Crime Report: October
Selected crimes on ewatch website: Criminal Damage 2 (Ash Road - police camera, Chapelwood Road - oak tree), Theft 2 (Culvey Close, Hartley Bottom Road), Burglary 1 (Cherry Trees Shops)
E-Watch

News July - August 2023

Mon, 28 Aug 2023 14:13:00 GMT

02 July 2023 - Power outage sees almost 7,000 properties in New Ash Green and Hartley without electricity due to cabling fault
Fault in cable leads to power cut at 9.30am
Dartford Messenger

02 July 2023 - Fears over surge in anti-social behaviour in New Ash Green and emergence of huge laughing gas cannisters
Clean up of car park at New Ash Green found a large number of Nitrous Oxide canisters, including many large cans and the small bullet shaped ones. People unsure whether it is linked to recent upsurge in anti-social behaviour in the shopping centre
Dartford Messenger

04 July 2023 - New Ash Green Shopping Centre in Ash Road cordoned off after shop worker is attacked
Victim was able to be treated by paramedics at scene. Some items taken
Gravesend Messenger

11 July 2023 - Naturist club Eureka in Fawkham to host Good Vibrations Society Kent Launch Party after Sevenoaks council approves licence
Feature on the Eureka Club in Fawkham, under new management
Gravesend Messenger

18 July 2023 - Hartley Post Office to close for three weeks as part of refurbishment
Retail part of shop is being modernised
Gravesend Messenger

28 July 2023 - Final moments of headteacher from Our Lady of Hartley Primary School in Stack Lane, Hartley portrayed in BBC true-based crime film The Sixth Commandment
Dramatisation of case. One of the victims was Anne Moore-Martin, the first headmistress of Our Lady of Hartley RC School when it opened in 1976
Sevenoaks Messenger

31 July 2023 - New owners of New Ash Green Shopping Centre promise much needed enhancements
New owners revealed to be LTP (New Ash) Limited. Agents KMP Solutions promised some enhancements shortly. Local councillor said they believed demolition was less likely now. (Additional reporting) LTP (New Ash) Limited have registered 2 mortgages over the shopping centre to a company called The Button Corporation LImited who are based at the London address as LTP.
Dartford Messenger

21 August 2023 - The highest and lowest patient rated Dartford GP surgeries in 2023
Results of NHS Patient Satisfaction survey places Jubilee Medical Centre in Longfield/New Ash Green in 8th place out of the 10 surgeries in the Dartford area for overall patient satisfaction, with a score of 88.08%. The range for the borough was 84-97%.
News Shopper

30 August 2023 - Anger over housing plan on green belt site next to Corinthian Sports Club in Fawkham
FC Starke Ltd propose to demolish one barn and convert 3 others at Gay Dawn Farm, into 8 x 4 bedroom houses and 1 x 3 bedroom house. They claim they are no longer needed for agricultural use. Fawkham Parish Council argue that it is not a sustainable location and if they were to be built the local need is for small houses.
Dartford Messenger

News May - June 2023

Mon, 28 Aug 2023 14:13:00 GMT

04 May 2023 - Three men charged with drug offences after cocaine, cannabis and cash found in vehicles in New Ash Green and West Kingsdown
Three charged, including 44 year old from New Ash Green, after police find money and cocaine in van at Centre Road, NAG.
Dartford Messenger

04 May 2023 - District Council Results
Hartley bucked the national trend where the Conservatives increased their already large majority. The Conservatives also took the last Labour seat in Swanley (although they were probably only prevented in 2019 by UKIP and BNP running candidates there then). However elsewhere things did not entirely go their way. They lost all seats in Sevenoaks Town to the Liberal Democrats and the Greens swept the board in New Ash Green. It seems the effects of the referendum are still evident, Conservatives gain leave voting Swanley but in turn lost remain voting Sevenoaks.

Overall results: Cons 33 (-13), Libdem 14 (+11), Green 4 (+4), Ind 3 (-1), Lab 0 (-1)

Hartley and Hodsoll Street Ward:
Larry Abraham (Cons) 1,066
Penny Cole (Cons) 1,055
Perry Cole (Cons) 1,041
Mark Chang (Green) 381
Mike Young (Green) 381
Richard Cobbold (Green) 374
Cons 74.1% (+2.2%) Green 25.9% (-2.2%)
Sevenoaks Council

04 May 2023 - Lack of Candidates for Parish Councils
There were no elections locally. In Hartley there were only 12 candidates for 13 seats, in Fawkham 4 candidates for 6 seats, in Ash 8 candidates for 15 seats, in Longfield 8 candidates for 12 seats.

In Hartley the only candidates were from the "Putting Hartley First" grouping and I think all are existing councillors re-elected - Larry Abraham, Penny Cole, Perry Cole, James Colwell, Lesley Driscoll, Lawrence Glander, David Graeme, Mally Malham, Anne Oxtoby, Brian Ramsay, Ian Ross, Vince Sewell.
Sevenoaks Council

16 May 2023 - Hartley mum says fox experience is like living in a Disney movie
Picture feature on vixen and 8 cubs seen in Hartley garden
Dartford Messenger

20 May 2023 - School uniform supplier The Sewing Shop in Echo Square, Gravesend shuts down and sends customers to new suppliers in Chatham Dockside
Closure of supplier of school uniforms for Our Lady of Hartley RC School, for health reasons. New supplier based in Chatham
Gravesend Messenger

26 May 2023 - Cat dumped from car in Pinden near Dartford rescued by Shekinah Cat Rescue in Gravesend
Witness saw Grady the cat being pushed from a car, £600 quickly raised for vet's fees. Cats Protection say increase in numbers giving up cats to charity care for financial reasons.
Gravesend Messenger

12 June 2023 - Plans to turn Oast House Nursery in Ash, near Sevenoaks into 18 family homes
Plans submitted for disused 2½ acre nursery site, which was marketed in 2021 for £1.85m. Paper of 2/8/23 says plans rejected by SDC.
Dartford Messenger

16 June 2023 - Birthday Honours List
Longfield man, lately Chair, Business Radio Council, Federation of Communication Services, awarded British Empire Medal.
Kent Messenger

24 June 2023 - Money launderers involved in printing fake £20 notes in UK’s biggest counterfeit plot ordered to repay profits
56 year old man previously jailed for 6½ years ordered to pay £202,000 in confiscation order.
Dartford Messenger

30 June 2023 - June 2023 Crime Report
Selected crimes listed on E-Watch were: Attempted Burglary (Billings Hill Shaw), Theft from Car (Northfield, Chapel Wood Road), Criminal Damage of Car (Caxton Close), Theft of Wheelie Bin (Ash Road), Theft of Ring Doorbell (Billings Hill Shaw)
E-Watch

News March - April 2023

Mon, 01 May 2023 16:06:00 GMT

15 March 2023 - Longfield pharmacist says the sector risks closures due to rising costs
Owner of Hodgson Pharmacy explains the pressure chemists are under. His firm, he says, made its first loss in 2020 due to 30% government funding cuts since 2016. There's no way chemists can do all the extra things government wants them to do with things as they are now.
Dartford Messenger

23 March 2023 - Bike stolen and left dangling from Longfield Railway Station bridge
Bike stolen 2 weeks ago from bike rack outside Longfield Station was found yesterday hanging off railway bridge at the station.
Dartford Messenger

24 March 2023 - Man jailed after attempting to steal Longfield Co-op ATM using van
31 year old man of no fixed address jailed for 4 years 9 months after unsuccessful raid at the Co-Op in Station Road, Longfield, where the gang tried to pull the cash machine out but broke the van's chassis instead.
Dartford Messenger

26 March 2023 - Classic pictures from Kent pubs in the Noughties
Picture feature has photo of Morris Dancers at pub in January 2007.
Kent Messenger

28 March 2023 - Fire in derelict building
Large fire at former Anchor and Hope Pub attended by 6 engines. Cause believed to be suspicious.
Kent Fire Brigade

29 March 2023 - Litter still blighting access road to Barnfield Park traveller site near New Ash Green
Residents have kept side roads clear of rubbish, but it is being dumped on main access road, it is thought by outsiders. It seems there is a dispute between Kent County Council and Sevenoaks District Council as to whose responsibility it is to clear it.
Dartford Messenger

31 March 2023 - Images of items stolen from sheds in New Ash Green shared by police
Police seize goods from a property in Hartley, believed to be stolen from sheds in New Ash Green
Dartford Messenger

31 March 2023 - Crime Report: March
Crimes in March listed on the e-Watch website were Theft from outbuildings 2 (Northfield, Park Drive), Theft of wallet 1 (Cherry Trees), Theft of Car 1 (Castle Hill), attempted break in of garage 1 (Bramblefield Close)
E-Watch

03 April 2023 - Minibus stolen from Milestone Academy in New Ash Green
One of the special school's 4 distinctive minibuses stolen. They are used to take the children swimming and school trips and were donated by the Friends of the School.
Gravesend Messenger

08 April 2023 - Laughing gas canisters, baseball bat and knuckleduster found inside car in New Ash Green
Police in New Ash Green search 2 cars and find 70 canisters and money.
Gravesend Messenger

21 April 2023 - Travellers pitch up in Hartley village after leaving Swanley
After being moved on from Swanley, a small group of travellers moved to Hoselands Green, Hartley. The paper further reports on 25.4.23 that after being moved on by the police they went a few hundred yards to the Woodland Avenue Park. Another report on 27.4.23 said the parish council had obtained a court order to move them on. They also reported of allegations of anti-social behaviour. They are said to have left the site about 5pm on 28 April (DM 29.4.23). Council workers were seen picking up rubbish. It is believed they have moved to Gravesend or Gillingham. Councils have new powers to deal with unauthorised encampments, but it seems the root cause of the problem, a lack of gypsy sites in Kent, has not been addressed.
Dartford Messenger

30 April 2023 - Crime Report: April
Crimes in April listed on the e-Watch website were Criminal Damage 4 (Rectory Meadow 3, Quakers Close 1, Allotments 1), Theft of Car (Ash Road), Theft from Car (Springcroft)
E-Watch

News November - December 2022

Mon, 01 May 2023 16:05:00 GMT

02 November 2022 - Early 2021 Census Results
The ONS has just published the first information about small areas. The Middle Layer Super Output areas around here equate to the council wards - Hartley and Hodsoll Street, New Ash Green and Longfield and Southfleet. // Population // There has been a very significant increase in population of Longfield and Southfleet ward from 6,246 in 2011 to 6,837 in 2021. Hartley and Hodsoll Street ward's population has increased by 97 from 5,835 to 5,932 but lack of development has meant New Ash Green has seen a decline in population from 6,165 to 6,074.
Office for National Statistics

14 November 2022 - Parish Council: Councillors
All councillors except Cllr Penny Cole were in attendance as well as Cllr David Brazier (KCC). Cllr Brazier said the county council would be starting another round of cost cutting. No members of the public were there. Cllr Oxtoby declared an interest in one of the payments.
Parish Council Meeting

14 November 2022 - Parish Council: Finance
Council want to employ a planning consultant at £550 per day for 10 days to comment on the draft Sevenoaks Plan (the planning meeting of 9 November said the purpose was to stop any further development in Hartley). An additional £4,000 will be transferred from the General to Earmarked Reserve to cover the cost. They voted to dispense with regulation to get quotes for the work, because they were happy with the work he'd done before. They also authorised £2,000 to repair exterior woodwork at Manor Field Pavilion and £3,500 for repair to the safety surfacing of the roundabout at Woodland Avenue. They hoped the latter two could be financed from Community Infrastructure Money rather than reserves.
Parish Council Meeting

14 November 2022 - Youth Services:
West Kent Housing Association continue to speak to young people and take up their concerns where they congregate in Hartley, including Manor Field and Gorse Wood.
Parish Council Meeting

14 November 2022 - Parish Council: Website
General Purposes Committee decide on a new website with .gov.uk extension created by Vision ICT for £2,755 and annual fee of £560.
Parish Council Meeting

14 November 2022 - Footpaths:
General Purposes Committee claim there is a footpath from Old Downs to Fawkham Valley Road and plan an application to amend the definitive map if they can get local people to support it. At the full council meeting it was reported that Kent County Council had on record proof that no right of way could have existed 1995-2001 and 2008-2018 meaning there was little chance of claiming 20 years' usage as of right. Council decided to drop the plan.
Parish Council Meeting

14 November 2022 - Buses:
The council heard that Arriva are considering routing the 489 bus via Wellfield.
Parish Council Meeting

14 November 2022 - Finance: Precept
Council agree on a big increase in council tax for 2023/24 from £53.89 for a band D property to £62.50 due to increased expenditure leading to a projected deficit otherwise of £22,000.
Parish Council Meeting

14 November 2022 - Amenities: Allotments
They agreed to allow the allotment holders to organise a social event including fire pit, after hearing it was not a breach of terms.
Parish Council Meeting

14 November 2022 - Hartley Library:
Planning committee meeting of 9 November agreed to a disabled parking bay in Porchester Close, and heard that the Library had been added to the list of assets of community value, which would give the parish the right of first refusal to buy it if it became redundant.
Parish Council Meeting

14 November 2022 - Finance: Payments
Payments of £16,800 for November were agreed. This included £500 for the chairman's allowance, £3,012 for quarterly grounds maintenance and £50 to mark out a football pitch.
Parish Council Meeting

News January - February 2023

Mon, 01 May 2023 16:05:00 GMT

09 January 2023 - Parish Council: Councillors
All councillors except Cllr Alford were in attendance as well as Cllr David Brazier (KCC). Cllr Brazier said the county council had balanced the budget but more cuts were on the way including 38 childrens centres (one being at New Ash Green), possibly some libraries, and reductions in repair to potholes. Meeting ran from 7.30 - 8.26pm
Parish Council Meeting

09 January 2023 - Parish Council: Community Cupboard
Cllr Perry Cole said 460 people from Hartley were helped in the Christmas/New Year period. Three-quarters of them still require assistance.
Parish Council Meeting

09 January 2023 - Parish Council: Finance
Parish council approved recommendations from meeting of 14 December. They also voted to raise the precept by 16.3% from £138,000 to £160,000. This will mean more detailed reporting of expenditure under government regulations.
Parish Council Meeting

09 January 2023 - Parish Council: Community Transport
Cllr Perry Cole reported on a £450,000 fund run by Kent County Council for local bodies to run schemes to help those who have difficulty accessing public transport. Parish Council in favour in principle.
Parish Council Meeting

09 January 2023 - Parish Council: Payments
Payments of £11,000 for January were agreed. This included £1,653 for 60% of the cost of the new website. £331 for data backup services.
Parish Council Meeting

27 January 2023 - Teacher at Langafel Primary School, Longfield, to shave her hair off in bid to get £15k for therapeutic swing room
Room at Specialist Resource Unit will help special needs children "self-regulate, improve their balance and develop important motor skills, and calm them down."
Gravesend Messenger

02 February 2023 - Sale of shopping centre would be 'catastrophe' for New Ash Green Village
Concerns raised about future of shopping centre as its foreign registered owners Piperton Estates have put it up for sale. Article includes drawings of previous proposals for redevelopment.
Dartford Messenger

13 February 2023 - Parish Council: Councillors
All 13 councillors were present plus Cllr Brazier (KCC). No members of the public attended. No declarations of interest.
Parish Council Meeting

13 February 2023 - Parish Council: Councillors
All 13 councillors were present plus Cllr Brazier (KCC). No members of the public attended. No declarations of interest.
Parish Council Meeting

13 February 2023 - Parish Council: Community Transport
Cllr Perry Cole said he had rushed through a grant application to meet the deadline. He had also received 95 replies to a questionnaire he had circulated. The cost of hiring a minibus is about £500 per month. A scheme to share the bus with New Ash Green and use volunteer drivers was discussed.
Parish Council Meeting

13 February 2023 - Parish Council: Covid-19
Council revoked delegated authority given to the clerk on 5 May 2021 as it is no longer required
Parish Council Meeting

13 February 2023 - Parish Council: Ash Road
Road to be closed from 8pm to 5am from 14 February for up to 21 nights.
Parish Council Meeting

13 February 2023 - Parish Council: Payments
Payments of £20,000 for February were agreed. This included £237 to set out football pitch, £1,750 for chalk grassland management at Rectory Meadow, £225 for emergency light repairs at Manor Field pavilion.
Parish Council Meeting

28 February 2023 - Crime Report: February
Crimes in February listed on the e-Watch website were Theft from outbuildings 3 (Church Road 2, Bramblefield Close 1), attempted break in of outbuilding 1 (Church Road), Criminal Damage 4 (Wellfield, Woodland Avenue, Caxton Close, St John's Lane), Theft of vehicle 2 (Porchester Close 2)
E-Watch

House Sales 2022

Sun, 27 Nov 2022 11:31:00 GMT

So far sales this year show house prices continuing to rise by a median of about 6% per annum since the previous sale. Although there are signs that the rate of increase in recent years has slowed to more like 3-4%. It has been a record year for £1 million + properties with 3 busting into 7 figures - Leichvesta (£1.3m) and The Willows (£1.175m), Church Road, and Elizabeth Cottage (£1.3m), Gorse Way.

Road	Number	Date of Sale	Date of Last Sale	Price	Change since last sale	Notes
Ash Road	Alba	23/05/2022	N/A	£600000	N/A
Ash Road	Farleys	14/05/2022	N/A	£660000	N/A	Advertised price £660,000
Ash Road	Keverley	14/05/2022	N/A	£400000	7%	Advertised price £400,000
Ash Road	Tudor House	09/02/2022	N/A	£750000	N/A
Berrylands	Trowley Bottom	11/03/2022	19/09/2001	£675000	4%
Billings Hill Shaw	33	09/02/2022	N/A	£595000	N/A	Advertised at £625,000
Carmelite Way	28	28/03/2022	N/A	£567000	N/A
Cavendish Square	18	14/05/2022	N/A	£270000	N/A	Advertised price £270,000
Cherry Trees	23	31/05/2022	N/A	£575000	N/A
Cherry Trees	37	28/07/2022	06/12/2005	£480000	3%
Church Road	Leichvesta	16/06/2022	N/A	£1300000	11%
Church Road	The Willows	08/06/2022	N/A	£1175000	N/A	Marketed (8/6/22) at £1,175,000
Church Road	Timberlea	27/07/2022	N/A	£650000	N/A
Culcroft	11	15/08/2022	24/08/2015	£320000	6%
Culcroft	12	16/03/2022	13/10/2017	£336750	8%
Dickens Close	11	20/05/2022	05/12/1969	£666000	9%
Downs Valley	14	11/07/2022	22/06/2018	£682000	4%
Downs Valley	28	04/03/2022	18/08/2006	£840000	4%
Fairby Lane	14	14/05/2022	N/A	£600000	N/A	Advertised price £600,000
Gorse Way	Audrey Ellen	07/06/2022	07/03/1997	£885000	8%	Planning Permissions since previous sale
Gorse Way	Elizabeth Cottage	24/06/2022	07/11/2006	£1300000	6%	Planning permissions since previous sale
Gorse Way	Goldings	14/05/2022	N/A	£960000	6%	Advertised price £960,000
Gorse Way	Imoya	12/08/2022	03/07/2012	£885000	5%
Gorse Way	Woodlea	11/03/2022	N/A	£800000	5%
Gresham Avenue	Malmsey	27/07/2022	30/06/2017	£539995	5%
Johns Close	2	10/08/2022	19/06/2015	£712500	7%
Manor Drive	Cheslyne	27/01/2022	11/07/2003	£1155000	6%
Manor View	4	24/06/2022	17/10/2014	£675000	8%
Merton Avenue	4	30/03/2022	N/A	£495000	6%
Northfield	13	21/01/2022	24/07/2017	£355000	2%
Pitfield	32	16/06/2022	23/01/2006	£195500	4%
Pitfield	40	17/06/2022	06/06/2014	£177500	4%
Porchester Close	1	30/06/2022	27/08/1999	£377500	7%
Quakers Close	Piemont	26/08/2022	N/A	£452000	N/A
Silverdale	12	21/01/2022	22/12/2017	£306000	13%
Silverdale	16	25/02/2022	14/08/2015	£240000	7%
Springcroft	54	14/05/2022	N/A	£575000	6%	Advertised price £575,000
Springcroft	64	10/03/2022	28/03/2019	£860000	42%	Planning permissions since previous sale
Stack Lane	Dee Mead	20/05/2022	13/10/2021	£800000	138%
Stack Lane	The Hive	07/07/2022	29/08/2014	£620000	5%
Tates Orchard	10	11/07/2022	01/05/2003	£599000	4%
Wellfield	8	22/04/2022	25/09/1978	£383000	8%
Wellfield	19	23/02/2022	N/A	£262500	7%
Woodland Avenue	Credo	29/07/2022	18/12/2019	£532500	14%	Planning permissions since previous sale
Woodland Avenue	Culzean	10/08/2022	N/A	£520000	7%
Woodland Avenue	Four Winds	16/03/2022	N/A	£430000	N/A
Woodland Avenue	Srinagar	26/08/2022	18/02/2011	£585000	6%

Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2021. This data is licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

Boundary Commission Puts Hartley in Tonbridge Constituency

Thu, 10 Nov 2022 22:13:00 GMT

The Parliamentary Boundary Commission has now launched the final stage of the national review to decide which constituency we will be in to vote for MP. This will be open until the 5th December.

Overall the number of MPs will be unchanged at 650 but population movements mean that England will get an additional 10 MPs and Kent's total will rise from 17 to 18 MPs.

The Commission, which is non-political, works under rules set by Parliament. The absolute rule they must stick to is that each seat must have no fewer than 69,724 and no more than 77,062 electors. After that they then must take consideration for other factors like community identity. Although the Commission is non-political, they receive a lot of submissions from parties who are not! But they are forbidden from taking account of who might win a seat if the boundaries are changed, so the political parties have to show how their proposals meet the statutory criteria.

In our area change is necessary. Housing developments in Dartford mean the current seat has too many people and so must become smaller. Here is where another difficulty arises. The Commission must not cross regional boundaries, and Dartford is surrounded on two sides with other regions (London, East). Added to this the Commission took the decision early on that the Gravesham seat was to be inviolate. So this meant the boundary of Dartford could only be changed on one side. This would have unwelcome consequences for Hartley and New Ash Green.

Thus Wilmington, Sutton at Hone and Darenth are to be moved from Dartford to Sevenoaks constituency. To make up the numbers elsewhere, this also means that Hartley will be moved from Dartford Constituency and New Ash Green from Sevenoaks .... to Tonbridge Constituency(!!). One speaker from Tonbridge at the public hearing vividly and accurately called this "spare part surgery".

The proposals were supported by the Labour Party - losing 4 Conservative voting villages from Dartford constituency makes it a much more winnable prospect for them. Conversely of course, the Conservatives objected, although not to the principle of the Gravesham seat being unaltered. The only other support I could find for the Tonbridge constituency came from a New Ash Green resident, who said at least Hartley and New Ash Green would be in the same constituency this time.

There were a lot more objections, although it seems that the Commission has more work to do in explaining their work, because a lot of the objectors clearly thought the proposal was to change the council areas.

It was pointed out that Hartley and New Ash Green have almost no community identity with Tonbridge (or the south part of Sevenoaks for that matter), and if they cannot be in a north Kent seat then Sevenoaks would be the better option. This was well summed up in these comments to the review from local residents:

"Whoever drew up these proposals has clearly never lived nor I doubt, visited our area. Should they have, they would have found that geographically, historically and demographically, this area has more in common with Dartford (and to a lesser extent Gravesend) than to Sevenoaks let alone Tonbridge."

"We here ... have more of an affinity with Dartford than Tonbridge which is about 20 miles away whereas Dartford town centre is roughly 4 miles away. Our neck of the wood always seems to be the bit that is moved from pillar to post whenever someone or or some organisation decides to play about with the map..... Life would be much less complicated if the logical and geographical course was taken to put our enclave within the boundaries of Dartford for both council and parliamentary representation."

It was pointed out that Hartley and New Ash Green's links overwhelmingly look north:

Health - they are in Dartford and Gravesham area, unlike rest of Tonbridge
Schools - 89% of secondary children in Hartley attend schools in Dartford or Gravesham boroughs.
Work - 51% work in North Kent, only 9% in Sevenoaks/Tonbridge
Shopping - 82% comparison shopping is in Dartford or Gravesend, 1% in Sevenoaks, 0% in Tonbridge.

A number of objectors said the problem was when the Commission decided from the beginning not to change Gravesend which means they have not considered a Gravesham/Ebbsfleet seat. A couple of proposals both showed how moving Ebbsfleet to Gravesham could work, as it would set in train a series of changes which would keep most other wards in the Dartford seat, and Hartley and New Ash Green could then be in Sevenoaks constituency.

The Commission in their latest report come close to admitting Hartley and New Ash Green should not be in Tonbridge constituency, but say they didn't like any of the counter proposals.

"Although they acknowledged the merits of retaining the Ash and New Ash Green, and Hartley and Hodsoll Street wards in either a Dartford or Sevenoaks constituency, the Assistant Commissioners felt that no counter-proposal received would achieve this without undesirable knock-on effects."

First 2021 Census Results

Thu, 03 Nov 2022 22:03:00 GMT

On 2 November the Office for National Statistics released the first data for areas smaller than local authorities. For us this means the "Middle Layer Super Output Areas" which equate to the council wards of (1) Hartley and Hodsoll Street (2) New Ash Green and Ash (3) Longfield and Southfleet.

Some data is available for the smaller "Output Areas" which cover just a few roads each.

Population

The population of Longfield has risen significantly. Hartley has seen a small rise. New Ash Green a small fall, probably down to lack of new developments, clearly not the case in Longfield.

Population density for Hartley and Hodsoll Street is 451 persons per square kilometre, but this masks a massive range from 69 per sq km in Hodsoll Street and Ridley to 8,374 per sq km in Caxton Close and Portchester Close.

Ward	Households 2021	Population 2021	Population 2011	Change
Hartley and Hodsoll Street	2,427 (+22)	5,932	5,835	+97
Longfield and Southfleet	2,732 (+211)	6,827	6,246	+581
Ash and New Ash Green	2,461 (-7)	6,074	6,165	-91

The population of Hartley Parish alone is 5,411.

Age

Hartley and Hodsoll Street has the oldest age profile of anywhere in North Kent by some margin. 32.1% of people in Hartley are 65 and over, the only ward in north Kent to exceed 30%. This is a considerable rise since the last census when 27% of the population fell into this age group. New Ash Green has considerably greyed too with the proportion of their people over the age of 65 rising from 12.9% in 2011 to 22.2% in 2021.

The median age in Hartley is 52 years, for Longfield it is 50. New Ash Green is lower at 42. The most common ages at Hartley were 74 (118 people), and 72-73 (102 each)

Percentage of Population by Age Band compared with last census

	Hartley		New Ash Green
Age	2011	2021	2011	2021
Age 0 to 4	3.5	4.3	6.2	5.9
Age 5 to 9	5.4	4.5	5.7	6.6
Age 10 to 14	6	5	6.4	6.5
Age 15 to 19	5.6	5.3	6.6	4.9
Age 20 to 24	4.3	5	6.1	4.7
Age 25 to 29	3.4	3	6.7	5.6
Age 30 to 44	14	13.5	18.1	18.4
Age 45 to 59	22.1	20.4	22.4	18.8
Age 60 to 64	8.6	7	9	6.3
Age 65 and over	27.1	32.1	12.9	22.2

Sex

All three wards have around 52% population who is female. Given the older age profile, it is unsurprising that Hartley is the highest at 52.4%, this rises to 63.6% female in the Bramblefield Estate.

Marital Status

56.5% of Hartley and Hodsoll Street's adult population are married or civil partners, nearly all of opposite sex. 24.5% are single or co-habiting, 9.9% widowed and 9.1% divorced or separated.

When it comes to smaller areas, a lot of the differences can be put down the differing age profile. So Bramblefield has the highest rate of divorced (18.7%) and widowed (35.6%) and the lowest rate of single (never married) or cohabiting at 8.5%, while the younger area of Caxton Close has 43.3% single/cohabiting.

Migration

The local population is very stable. In Hartley 93.5% of the 2021 population were living there the year previously, with only slightly lower figures for Longfield (92.4%) and New Ash Green (92.2%). Most inward migration over the previous year was from within the UK. The people least likely to have moved over the previous year were from Cherry Trees and Carmelite Way, where 97.5% of the inhabitants had been there a year previously. The people most likely to have moved live in Springcroft and part of Gorsewood Road, but even then 90.4% had been living there a year before.

All three wards have similar levels of people born in the UK at around 93.5%. Less than 1% in all 3 wards have lived in the UK for less than 5 years. The highest numbers of those born abroad come from Europe, ranging from 2.3% (Hartley) to 2.9% (NAG), followed by Asia ranging from 1.2% (NAG) to 2.2% (Longfield).

Housing

Owner occupation has fallen slightly from 83.5% in 2011 to 81.7% in 2021. Although the aging population has meant that the numbers of people owning outright without a mortgage has risen. Owner occupation ranges from 33.9% in Caxton Close area to 97.8% in the Gorse Way area.

The biggest change is in private rented which rose since the last census from 4.8% to 8.1% of households.

Car Ownership

35% of households have 1 vehicles, 34% have 2 cars and 20% have 3 or more. One in ten households have no car, with the highest concentrations in Bramblefield (29%), Wellfield (18%), Brambledown and Caxton Close areas (15%). It seems a great shame that Arriva and Kent County Council have or plan to remove all buses serving Wellfield, where they are clearly most needed. As might be expected the more rural area of South Hartley is most likely to have a fleet of cars on the drive with 36% of households owning 3 or more vehicles.

Household Deprivation

53.6% of Longfield's households have none of the 4 dimensions of deprivation (that is education, health, housing and employment), with 53.3% for New Ash Green and 50.3% for Hartley. For Hartley the least deprived area is Fairby Lane / Chantry Avenue with 66.7% having no measures of deprivation. At the other end is Bramblefield, where only 26.6% of households have no measures of deprivation.

Passports

Nearly 90% of people in Longfield have passports, while the figure for Hartley and New Ash Green is around 87%. Some areas were significantly lower - Bramblefield (69.7%), Caxton Close/Porchester Close (70.3%), Brambledown/Pitfield (72.8%)

Ethnicity

93.7% of people in Hartley and Hodsoll Street said they were White, 3.3% Asian, 1.0% Black, and 1.4% Mixed. In New Ash Green, 95.4% were White, 1.2% each Asian and Black and 1.7% Mixed. For Longfield, the figures were 91.7% White, 4.4% Asian, 1.2% Black and 1.6% Mixed.

Identity

55% of the Hartley and Hodsoll Street ward identify as British only, 25.1% as English only, and 14.6% as English and British. Other UK and Irish identity made up 1.7%, while other identities (including other identities and a UK identity) were 3.7%. There were similar results for Longfield and New Ash Green wards.

Downs Valley and Old Downs area are most likely to think of themselves as British only (71.8%), at the opposite end the range were Brambledown/Pitfield (44.4% British only) and Bramblefield (44.7%). Bramblefield had the highest number of people saying they were English only (40.7%).

Religion

While nationally the number of people who are Christian has fallen below 50%, this is not the case in Hartley and Hodsoll Street, where 55.4% said they Christian. For the remainder the figures were No Religion (34.9%), Sikh (1.2%), Hindu (1.1%), Others (1.6%), Not answered (5.8%). Hartley seems to sit between Longfield (57.1% Christian) and New Ash Green (50.5% Christian). Within Hartley the range is from 40.6% Christian (Northfield, Culcroft, Hawthorns, Merton Ave) to 77.1% (Bramblefield)

Language

All adults in 97.6% of households in Hartley and Hodsoll Street have English as their main language (100% in Bramblefield). Conversely 0.9% of households have no English speakers or only children who can speak the language. There were similar numbers in New Ash Green and Longfield.

List of Output Areas for Hartley and Hodsoll Street Ward

Clearly they have tried to aggregate similar roads, but the need to have similar sized areas means that there are some odd shaped areas, in particular Stack Lane being put with parts of Woodland Avenue and Gorsewood Road.

E00124068	191	Hodsoll Street and Ridley
E00124069	117	Church Road (to Dickens Close), Dickens Cl, Green Way
E00124070	133	Gorse Way, Briars Way, Gorsewood Road SE
E00124071	141	Stack Lane, Woodland Ave E, Gorsewood Road SW
E00124072	124	Carmelite Way, Cherry Trees, The Warrens, St Johns Lane
E00124073	132	Billings Hill Shaw, Manor Drive, Berrylands
E00124074	151	South Hartley, Hartley Bottom Road
E00124075	170	Bramblefield
E00124076	137	Northfield, Culcroft, Hawthorns, Merton Ave
E00124077	138	Hoselands Hill, Copse Side, Hottsfield, Banckside
E00124078	129	Caxton Close, Porchester Close
E00124079	127	Brambledown, Pitfield
E00124080	122	Springcroft, Beechlands Close, Gorsewood Road N
E00124081	124	Wellfield, Fortuna Cl, Merryfields, Silverdale, Hoselands View
E00124082	121	Fairby Lane, Chantry Ave
E00124083	132	Larksfield, Gresham Ave, Woodland Ave (W)
E00124084	127	Downs Valley, Parkfield, Old Downs, Castle Hill, bordering Ash Road
E00124085	110	Round Ash Way, Oast Way, Conifer Ave, Culvey Close

News September - October 2022

Fri, 21 Oct 2022 11:04:00 GMT

12 September 2022 - Parish Council: Meeting
Meeting cancelled
Parish Council Meeting

18 September 2022 - The south London and Kent pubs currently needing a landlord
Paper quotes advert in findmypub.com. Ingoing cost £46,171 annual rent £37,739.
News Shopper

22 September 2022 - Rare moth species Clifden nonpareil sighted at Longfield railway station
Local resident from Bramblefield Estate spotted moth while crossing rail footbridge to Longfield. Previously thought to be extinct in UK.
Dartford Messenger

30 September 2022 - Crime: West Kent Watch
Crimes listed in September include attempted thefts from vehicles (2 - Briars Way, Church Road) and theft of catalytic converter (Ash Road) (It seems this site does not list all crimes)
West Kent Watch

30 September 2022 - Rural villagers fear being cut off as 423 Arriva bus service axed between New Ash Green and Darent Valley Hospital, Dartford
Arriva Bus company announce they will axe the route 423 from New Ash Green to the Hospital/Bluewater/Dartford from 1 October. Local Green Party representative campaigns against the cuts.
Sevenoaks Messenger

01 October 2022 - Police hunt suspect after teenage boy assaulted in field in Hartley, Longfield
16 year old taken to hospital after disturbance reported in land off Church Road on 30 September
Dartford Messenger

06 October 2022 - Guinea pigs stolen from New Ash Green found dumped in a park in Hartley
5 guinea pigs stolen from Animal Charity in New Ash Green on Tuesday. Four of the five discovered at Woodland Avenue Park
Gravesend Messenger

06 October 2022 - Man arrested after cocaine found in sock in Pinewood Place Dartford
19 year old man from Longfield arrested in connection.
News Shopper

06 October 2022 - Drivers to boycott Thamesgate Shopping Centre multi-storey car park in Gravesend after payment made cashless only
80 year old from Longfield (pictured) says he will not use car park in future as he prefers paying by cash. Says it will encourage people to go to Bluewater instead
Gravesend Messenger

07 October 2022 - Electricity: Power Outage
Electricity off 15:14 to 16:36 for emergency repairs. Probably due to fallen tree at Castle Hill.
UK Power Networks

09 October 2022 - Sarah Wellgreen search continues four years after her disappearance
Search for Sarah support group say they have not given up looking for her body so she can be properly laid to rest, and ask for any information that my help.
Gravesend Messenger

10 October 2022 - The Railway Tavern in Longfield to shut for £195k revamp
New licensees (pictured) outline their plans for the pub which include more outdoor seating, a tapas bar and live music.
Dartford Messenger

10 October 2022 - Parish Council: Councillors
Minutes not yet available
Parish Council Meeting

10 October 2022 - Neighbourhood Plan:
Planning Meeting of 31 August 2022 objected to Hartley being called a Service Village. (this is a new designation proposed by Sevenoaks for Hartley and West Kingsdown, which do not have the services of towns but have a substantially greater number of services than other settlements in the district) They are also concerned that developers may put in for planning applications before legislation changes, and so will pay planning consultant £400 to write objection if they do. (This was always a risk when Sevenoaks produced a district plan which didn't meet the government's housing targets and was rejected by the planning inspectorate. When this happens elsewhere, developers will sometimes nominate sites on the grounds the council hasn't planned for enough housing)
Parish Council Meeting

10 October 2022 - Burial Grounds: Fees
Committee recommended an across the board £5 increase in fees for those living in the parish and £15 for those who don't. The car park fee for weddings etc at All Saints' would remain at £45.
Parish Council Meeting

10 October 2022 - Burial Grounds: Manor Field
(1) They decided on 2 granite plaques for the plinths at £145 each, as less likely to be stolen than brass. (2) They authorised £230 to cut back trees at edge of woods. (3) They ordered clerk to write to people putting glass vases of flowers on graves, to tell them this is not allowed. Same goes for other burial ground. (4) They accepted an offer for a memorial bench.
Parish Council Meeting

10 October 2022 - Burial Grounds: Hartley Burial Ground
(1) Gate by Churchyard needs replacing. (2) Shed needs to be removed. Council to ask Sevenoaks if a replacement is permitted, as they need one for storage. (3) Concerns water spillage from tap onto path is creating a slip hazard.
Parish Council Meeting

10 October 2022 - Burial Grounds: Closed churchyard
Quotes of £240 for ivy clearance accepted.
Parish Council Meeting

14 October 2022 - 423 Arriva bus service axed between New Ash Green and Dartford serving Darent Valley Hospital 'causing isolation'
More local reaction to the axing of the 423 route, Hartley resident explains how they relied on the bus to get to medical appointments and cannot afford taxis.
Dartford Messenger

18 October 2022 - Fly Tipping in Grange Lane
More fly tipping spotted in road that had to be closed last year after fly tipping.

20 October 2022 - The Kent MPs who backed shortest-serving Prime Minister Liz Truss
The paper lists the 4 Kent MPs who publicly backed Liz Truss for leader, which includes the MPs for Dartford and Gravesham.
Kent Online

News July - August 2022

Fri, 21 Oct 2022 11:02:00 GMT

01 July 2022 - Medication and beauty products stolen from fire-hit Pender Pharmacy, Milton Road, Gravesend
40 year old man from Longfield arrested on suspicion of looting from burnt out chemist's shop in Queen Street, Gravesend
Gravesend Messenger

11 July 2022 - Parish Council: Councillors
9 of the 13 attended with apologies from Cllrs Sewell, Graeme, Ross and Ramsay. There were no declarations of interest
Parish Council Meeting

11 July 2022 - Parish Council: Payments
Payments of £18,585 for July and August were agreed.
Parish Council Meeting

11 July 2022 - Buses:
Cllr Brazier (KCC) announced KCC plans to cut £2.2m and 40 routes from bus service. Said Kent Karrier would be reprieved. Clear Chanel had asked PC for suggested locations for bus shelters (non-ad). Council had suggested Wellfield and Cherry Trees but neither were considered suitable.
Parish Council Meeting

11 July 2022 - Burial Grounds:
The committee met on 16 June 2022 but the minutes are not available.
Parish Council Meeting

11 July 2022 - Youth Services:
West Kent Housing Association deliver youth work on Thursday afternoons and evenings, during April/May youth worker engaged with 23 young people. General Purposes committee to make funds available for Family Fun Day in August. Additional Funday to be paid for by the council at Woodland Avenue on July 26th, provided by Playspace at a cost of £576.
Parish Council Meeting

11 July 2022 - Ash Road: Speeding
Resident wrote to complain of speeding by Black Lion, which has caused several accidents and is a danger to people leaving properties on foot where there is no pavement. General Purposes committee said they had raised this many times with KCC and police and got nowhere, so they didn't want to get involved.
Parish Council Meeting

11 July 2022 - Parish Council: Website
Working group to look at commissioning a new website.
Parish Council Meeting

11 July 2022 - Footpaths: Hartley Wood
Council to apply for path leading from Beechlands Close into Hartley Wood to be public footpath. 22 statements of use received but will have to be done again because they'd used the old form. They also plan to apply for path from Old Downs to Fawkham Valley Road if any support.
Parish Council Meeting

11 July 2022 - Parish Council: Staff
There was a Personnel Committee meeting on 22 June 2022 but the minutes are not available.
Parish Council Meeting

17 July 2022 - Fire at Longfield cornfield
7 engines and 2 all terrain vehicles attend blaze in ten acres of corn at Nurstead Lane
News Shopper

22 July 2022 - Fire in The Drive, New Barn sees homes evacuated amid gas fears
Fire in garage where gas cylinders are kept led to neighbours having to be evacuated
Dartford Messenger

27 July 2022 - Croydon fare dodger in court over £8 Southeastern train ticket
Man from Croydon ordered to pay £397 for not paying fare between Longfield and Bromley on 13 December 2021.
News Shopper

31 July 2022 - Crime: West Kent Watch
Crimes listed in July included: theft of car (Cherry Trees), theft of trailer (Hartley Hill), break in at commercial property (Cherry Trees) (it seems this site does not list all crimes)
West Kent Watch

22 August 2022 - Identical twin sisters from Meopham rescued from separation in London's East End celebrate 98th birthday together
Picture feature on 98 year old twins, one of whom lives at Old Downs Home, the other at Meopham. When they were born in Canning Town their parents thought they might have to give one of them up because they were so poor, but the community rallied around and saved them from being split up.
Gravesend Messenger

22 August 2022 - Cars crash into house and shop in Maidstone and Longfield
Two people hospitalised when car crashes into shop in Station Road, Longfield.
Maidstone Messenger

31 August 2022 - Crime: West Kent Watch
Crimes listed in August included: theft from public building (Wellfield), vandalism - smashed window (Caxton Close) (it seems this site does not list all crimes)
West Kent Watch

News May - June 2022

Fri, 21 Oct 2022 11:00:00 GMT

09 May 2022 - Longfield pharmacist meets The Prince of Wales
Picture of pharmacist from Hodgson Pharmacy meeting Prince Charles.
Dartford Messenger

09 May 2022 - Parish Council: Councillors
12 councillors were present, apologies from Cllr Alford. Cllrs Oxtoby and Graeme declared interests in payments. Cllrs Oxtoby and Abraham were reelected as chairman and vice chairman. Usual appointments to committees and outside bodies and council policy documents were approved.
Parish Council Meeting

09 May 2022 - Parish Council: Payments
Payments of £15,505 for May were agreed, including £1,801 for legal services in regard to Parish Office lease, £567 for firework display and £838 for work on Neighbourhood Plan.
Parish Council Meeting

09 May 2022 - Parish Council: Finance
The committee met on 27.4.22 but the minutes are not available. Annual accounts for 2021/22 show revenue of £164,779 and expenditure of £169,304 with reserves still very high at £268,811. Internal Auditor said they should look at the pay of their office staff as both have been at the top of their scales for some time and have had new duties.
Parish Council Meeting

09 May 2022 - Neighbourhood Plan:
Steering group has employed planning consultant to assist at £60 per hour.
Parish Council Meeting

09 May 2022 - Rubbish collection: Garden Refuse Sacks
Sevenoaks have increased the price of bundles of 25 garden waste sacks from £14 to £15, but now allow the parish council to sell them at up to £20 per bundle. Council agreed to increase price from £15 to £16.
Parish Council Meeting

09 May 2022 - Parish Council: Office Lease
The lease has been completed now.
Parish Council Meeting

09 May 2022 - Amenities: Manor Field Pavilion
Council refuse request to use pavilion for Antiques Valuation event.
Parish Council Meeting

19 May 2022 - Organ, photocopier and sofa fly-tipped in Culcroft, Hartley, near Longfield
Unusual case of flytipping at Culcroft (pictured)
Dartford Messenger

31 May 2022 - Crime: West Kent Watch
Crimes mentioned in May were: Theft from outside property (2 - Springcroft and Gorsewood Road); attempted theft of car (Church Road) and criminal damage to vehicle (Quaker's Close)
West Kent Watch

01 June 2022 - Life size mannequin of the Queen in Hartley village destroyed less than day after being put on display
Jubilee decorations at Hartley vandalised after only being up for a day. Local WI had set up and dressed a mannequin of the Queen on a bench on Hartley Green with cut out corgis, wig was found in St Johns Lane, crown in New Ash Green. Spokeswoman and majority of commenters blamed local kids, however some comments were unhappy at accusing children of vandalism without evidence.
Gravesend Messenger

13 June 2022 - Parish Council: Councillors
All 13 councillors were present. Cllr Graeme declared an interest in the Amenities Committee as he was related to the contractors.
Parish Council Meeting

13 June 2022 - Parish Council: Payments
Payments of £20,815 for June were agreed. Includes Marquee Hire £3,419, Jubilee event toilet hire £140 and firework display £750
Parish Council Meeting

13 June 2022 - Libraries:
Cllr Brazier (KCC) said a library review was likely as part of the county's review of all assets.
Parish Council Meeting

13 June 2022 - Amenities: Football
The Amenities Committee of 30.5.22 decided against providing an additional container for the football club on cost grounds. They said the main problem is that the club sometimes leave it unsecured, putting the cricket club's property at risk. Also club had left gate to field unsecured on occasion. Football club to be spoken to and if things don't improve council will ban them from using container.
Parish Council Meeting

13 June 2022 - Amenities: Cricket
Good start to 50th season for NAG & Hartley CC with first team's 100% record.
Parish Council Meeting

13 June 2022 - Amenities: Manor Field Pavilion
(1) Shower pump in Home Changing Room repaired at cost of £619. (2) Electrical repairs completed enabling them to get safety certificate. (3) They amended and full council approved the new hiring licence, which will say if they want music they will have to pay for a performing rights society licence.
Parish Council Meeting

13 June 2022 - Amenities: Allotments
(1) Committee acknowledge they must fence land under terms of lease. To spend £500 in removing damaged fence and its replacement. Ivy to be permanently removed, as it is causing problems for the neighbour. (2) Overgrown blackberry bushes on Larksfield boundary cut back by Kent Highways, but they say it is not their responsibility in future. (3) Two allotment holders report thefts from their plots. (4) Kent Parish Council association tell them they don't need any Covid enhanced cleaning now, so they voted to discontinue it. (5) Sevenoaks have told them they need to make provision for waste disposal, so they have bought 26 trade waste sacks for £80, and have to pay a "duty of care" levy of £152. They are looking for ways around this in future. (6) Calor Gas have increased price from 83.5p to 90p per litre. (7) They are looking at replacing strip lights with LED. (8) Legionella risk assessment found risk was low, they will review again in November 2023. They are to continue with the water hygiene services at an unchanged price of £636 pa.
Parish Council Meeting

13 June 2022 - Amenities: Community Garden
Original party does not want to go ahead, but another group does.
Parish Council Meeting

13 June 2022 - Amenities: Playgrounds
They were happy with the work done on inspections by the Play Inspection Company, so they accepted their renewal quote of £856.
Parish Council Meeting

13 June 2022 - Amenities: Trees
(1) Fallen and overhanging trees at Porchester Close to be dealt with by Sevenoaks Council. (2) Dead tree by Caxton Close car park made safe for £100. (3) Council to pay NPC Tree Surgery £600 to cut back and crown lift to 5m all trees on green by Hoselands View.
Parish Council Meeting

13 June 2022 - Amenities: Routine Maintenance Contract
Full council accepted committee recommendation to accept only quote of £9,880 from Mr G Pike for 2022/23. This is less than last year because maintenance of goal posts has been removed from contract.
Parish Council Meeting

30 June 2022 - Commonwealth Games: Gravesend's batonbearers for Queen's Baton Relay announced
One of the baton runners in the borough will from Hartley, who will represent England in the para bowls.
Gravesend Messenger

News March - April 2022

Tue, 19 Apr 2022 14:52:00 GMT

03 March 2022 - Van robber jailed for serious assault in Margate after row over a lighter
Two men jailed for 8½ and 4½ years for a number of offences, including theft of van at Hartley in September 2020.
KM Thanet

14 March 2022 - Parish Council: Councillors
10 Councillors were in attendence with apologies from Cllrs Ramsay and Perry Cole. Cllr Graeme declared an interest in one of the payments
Parish Council Meeting

14 March 2022 - Parish Council: Eileen Tucker
Cllr Oxtoby paid tribute to former chairman Eileen Tucker, who has recently passed away
Parish Council Meeting

14 March 2022 - Community Cupboard:
Cllr Penny Cole reported that it was joint winner of SDC's 'Making it Happen' awards
Parish Council Meeting

14 March 2022 - CCTV: ANPR Camera
Council agreed to support location of Automatic Number Plate Recognition Cameras in Hartley
Parish Council Meeting

14 March 2022 - Finance:
The committee meeting of 16 February largely dealt with reviewing existing policies. They said the general reserve was still too high, but won't be after they've spent £50,000 on resurfacing the Manor Field Carpark. The Platinum Jubilee is likely to overspend its budget. The full council agreed to apply to Barclays for a corporate crdit card with a limit of £1,000.
Parish Council Meeting

14 March 2022 - General Purposes:
Minutes of committee meeting of 2 March currently unavailable (1) The Parish Council and KCC have finally agreed to renew the lease on the parish office.
Parish Council Meeting

14 March 2022 - Finance: Payments
Payments for March of £11,200 were agreed. This included dismantling 4 ash trees at Grange Way (£400)
Parish Council Meeting

22 March 2022 - Laredo Western Town in Fawkham, near Longfield is being rebuilt after fire
Following recent fire which destroyed a third of the replica wild west town, the society plans to rebuild. They have received both cash and wood donations. They also plan a water tower in case of future fires, because they said the fire brigade had problems with low water pressure in the area.
Dartford Messenger

25 March 2022 - Police charge 10 people after dawn raids in Kent, Essex, London, Sussex and Suffolk uncover Chanel, Louis Vuitton and Gucci designer goods, cash and artwork
Address in Longfield one of 14 raided by police looking for suspects in fraud and cocaine trafficking.
KM Medway

12 April 2022 - Axing bus service from Bluewater to Longfield will be disaster says Southfleet villagers
KCC plan to axe 48 routes to save money. These include the 474/5 route from Longfield to Bluewater and the Sunday service on routes 423/489 and the Kent Karrier. County Councillor in charge and Hartley/New Ash Green councillor claimed KCC has no money for these buses after they've paid for the services they have to provide by law.
Dartford Messenger

15 April 2022 - House Fire In New Ash Green
Fire engine from Sevenoaks called to fire in kitchen at Olivers Mill, New Ash Green. One person checked for smoke inhalation at scene.
Kent Fire Brigade

11 April 2022 - Parish Council: Councillors
9 Councillors were in attendence with apologies from Cllrs Sewell, Colwell and Malham. Cllrs Graeme and Oxtoby declared an interest in one of the payments
Parish Council Meeting

11 April 2022 - Parish Council: Buses
Cllr Brazier (KCC) said Kent had received the highest grant of £35m for the Government's Bus Strategy, but it is very specific what it can be spent on.
Parish Council Meeting

11 April 2022 - Parish Council: Payments
Payments for April of £19,450 were agreed. This included £1,038 for Neighbourhood Plan Green Belt Assessment, £3,721 for Neighbourhood Plan Character Assessment (these two items may be covered by grants), £1,039 for propane.
Parish Council Meeting

11 April 2022 - Amenities: Community Garden
The committee meeting of 30/3/22 heard that Messrs Glovers had agreed their land at Manor Field could be used as a Community Garden, to be maintained by volunteers from Hartley and New Ash Green. Full council agreed volunteers could use the carpark once a month subject to other users having priority. They deferred other requests to have water barrels added to the pavilion and the removal of a fence panel to facilitate disabled access.
Parish Council Meeting

11 April 2022 - Amenities: Allotments
Warning letters to be sent to holders of 2 uncultivated plots. Council denied liability for neighbour's boundary fence that blew down. Council to seek quotations to demolish the remainder of their fence and erect a new one next to the neighbour's fence.
Parish Council Meeting

11 April 2022 - Amenities: Manor Field Pavilion
(1) Electrical Safety Report of 21/12/21 found works that needed to be done before certificate could be given. Council accepted quote of £500 from Harris Building Facilities Management for work. (2) Council agreed new hiring agreement form based on ACRE precedent agreement. (3) Quote of £60? from KCC Inspection Services accepted for fire extinguisher (4) Recent Heating repairs cost £336. (5) They agreed for letting for 50th birthday party subject to conditions, they also agreed pavilion could be used as meeting place for Ukranian refugees if needed. (6) Cricket club told normal use of pavilion could resume, provided it was well ventilated.
Parish Council Meeting

11 April 2022 - Amenities: Manor Field
Defective carpark floodlights repaired at cost of £459.
Parish Council Meeting

11 April 2022 - Amenities: Trees
(1) Scouts have offered to replace missing tree markers in Gorse Wood. (2) They agreed to reappoint Duramen Consulting for tree risk assessments, provided quote is not more than 10% above present costs. They said inspections required every 18 months, including at least 1 in 3 in autumn. (3) Trees at Billings Hill Shaw next to Grange Way footpath suffering from Ash dieback. Cost £400 to remove 4 trees. (4) Owner of Oaklands, Gorsewood Road raised concerns about tree at boundary in Gorse Wood. Council agreed to pay £400 to make safe, although tree surgeon said it wasn't very urgent. (5) Fallen tree and overhanging trees reported at Caxton Close. Council to investigate. (6) They decided to buy an additional fruit tree to go with the 6 already donated by Woodlands Garden Centre, to be planted in a circle at Billings Hill Shaw to celebrate the Platinum Jubilee. Quotations to be sought for a plaque.
Parish Council Meeting

11 April 2022 - Amenities: Playgrounds
Quotes to be obtained to cut back vegetation inside Woodland Avenue playground, and to fill in holes for former fence posts by youth shelter. They agreed to move the goal posts at Woodland Avenue to where the ground is less worn. They decided not to bother with load testing them, which had been recommended by the playground inspector.
Parish Council Meeting

11 April 2022 - Amenities: Dog bins
Bin at junction of Church Road and Manor Drive to be replaced at cost of £500 after being destroyed by car crashing into it.
Parish Council Meeting

11 April 2022 - Amenities: Cherry Trees
In February, landlords said they have appointed a contractor, but works will not start until March. Council noted they had not started yet.
Parish Council Meeting

11 April 2022 - Amenities: Hoselands Green
Council agreed to progress Cllr Perry Cole's suggestion to locate a Christmas tree here with lights powered from streetlights. The idea is to hold a carol service. A resident of Hoselands View raised concerns about health of trees at the green.
Parish Council Meeting

11 April 2022 - Amenities: Welcome Back Fund
Government funding for picnic benches at Longfield Hill and Manor Field, and benches at New Burial Ground and Rectory Meadow.
Parish Council Meeting

11 April 2022 - Amenities: Rectory Meadow
Council agreed to reappoint North West Kent Countryside Project to cut upper and lower meadow (6 days pa) and 1 day pa on woodland management for £1,750.
Parish Council Meeting

News January - February 2022

Tue, 19 Apr 2022 14:43:00 GMT

10 January 2022 - Parish Council: Councillors
9 councillors were in attendance with apologies from Cllrs Colwell, Driscoll and Ross. Cllrs Graeme and Oxtoby declared interests in one of the payments.
Parish Council Meeting

10 January 2022 - Parish Council: Neighbourhood Plan
Quotations of £2,900 for a Landscape Character Assessment and £650 for a website were accepted. It is likely there will be proportional costs for Fawkham and Hartley Green Belt assessment, currently £2,200 for both parishes.
Parish Council Meeting

10 January 2022 - Parish Council: Finance
The tax base has increased from £2,532 to £2,556 so although the council want to freeze the precept at £53.89 for a band D property, this will yield an extra £1,300 - a total of £137,768.
Parish Council Meeting

10 January 2022 - Parish Council: Payments
Payments of £12,200 for January were agreed. This included £1,850 to dismantle a dangerous ash tree.
Parish Council Meeting

10 January 2022 - Amenities: Allotments
The meeting of 5/1/22 agreed to pay KCC Soft Landscape Team £345 to remove diseased ash trees at Woodland Avenue entrance.
Parish Council Meeting

10 January 2022 - Amenities: Manor Field Pavilion
(1) Covid - Face masks became mandatory on 16 December, so they had put up notices in the pavilion. The meeting of 5/1/22 decided not to limit the number of any attendees. (2) Electricity - Emergency lighting tested an is OK. The 5 yearly electrical installation report had identified some problems, council to meet contractor to discuss. (3) Service Maintenance Contract - they accepted quote from Caches Limited of £470 for the coming year. (4) Conditions of Hire - They recommended and council approved proposal to amend conditions of hire to add clause about hirers bringing their own electrical equipment. (5) Hire of Pavilion - They decided to charge £9 a week for use of the pavilion to Sevenoaks Council's free wellbeing walks.
Parish Council Meeting

10 January 2022 - Amenities: Manor Field
(1) Car Park - no quotes received for resurfacing. (2) Fertiliser and Weed Control - they accepted only quote from Weed Management Limited of £1,182 to do same works as last year. (3) Worm Cast Suppressant - they decided not to bother with this as it hadn't worked in the past.
Parish Council Meeting

10 January 2022 - Amenities: Hartley Wood
The Scouts have offered to help find and replace council's missing ground markers.
Parish Council Meeting

10 January 2022 - Amenities: Playgrounds
The committee meeting of 5 January considered the latest Operational Inspection Report. It had made 18 recommendations for Chantry Avenue, 13 for Longfield Hill and 24 for Woodland Avenue. Routine Maintenance Contractor asked to look at them.
Parish Council Meeting

10 January 2022 - Amenities: Dog bins
Sevenoaks had told the committee a dog bin at St John's Lane/Grange Way would be a bad idea as it it too close to properties and will smell. Smart bin to be installed at Caxton Close car park and smart bin at Church Road/Manor Lane junction to be replaced with standard dog bin.
Parish Council Meeting

10 January 2022 - Amenities: Cherry Trees
Landlords say contractor has let them down, so they are having to retender.
Parish Council Meeting

10 January 2022 - Amenities: The Parade, Ash Road
Complaints about litter and state of boundary to be referred to shop owners
Parish Council Meeting

10 January 2022 - Amenities: Grass Cutting
Only one tender received from KCC Landscape Services, so accepted. (a) Open Spaces and Amenity Land 2022/23 £8,648, 2023/24 £8,994 (b) Manor Field/Longfield Hill 2022/23 £2,509, 2023/24 £2,609
Parish Council Meeting

10 January 2022 - Amenities: Billings Hill Shaw
Overhanging trees at entrance to be cut back for £150
Parish Council Meeting

13 January 2022 - Ebbsfleet Garden City parents sold dream new homes but cannot get children into nearby schools
New school Cherry Orchard Academy heavily oversubscribed, and sibling policy means even pupils living practically next door have not got places. One family has to send their child to Langafel, a 45 minute round trip twice a day. A number of comments point out that once again lots of new houses have been built without apparently the necessary services being built at the same time.
Gravesend Messenger

17 January 2022 - Could 2022 be the year you become a Foster Carer with Kent Fostering?
Sponsored article by Kent County Council feature couple from Hartley who have just been approved to become foster carers.
Kent Messenger

28 January 2022 - Man dies after two-car crash in Main Road, Longfield
70 year old driver killed after collision with another vehicle and telegraph pole at Main Road/Nurstead Lane junction at Longfield Hill
Dartford Messenger

09 February 2022 - North Ash Manor House
Sold at auction for £352,500 as current office building.
Clive Emson Website

14 February 2022 - Parish Council: Councillors
9 Councillors were in attendance with apologies from Cllrs Malham, Colwell, Graeme and Ross. There were no declarations of interest
Parish Council Meeting

14 February 2022 - Burial Grounds:
Minutes of committee meeting of 9 February currently unavailable
Parish Council Meeting

14 February 2022 - Parish Council: Finance
Cllr Ramsay pointed out that the budget for 2022/23 would result in a deficit of £17,275 for that year.
Parish Council Meeting

14 February 2022 - Neighbourhood Plan:
Cllr Alford reported a government grant had been received
Parish Council Meeting

14 February 2022 - Finance: Payments
Payments of £12,336 for February were agreed. Included £2,000 for Rectory Meadow and Gorsewood Management Days. Reviewing answers to Neighbourhood Plan survey (£1,379)
Parish Council Meeting

14 February 2022 - Transport: Buses
Cllr Brazier (KCC) announced cancellation of 489 buses on a Sunday and huge cuts to 423 during the week.
Parish Council Meeting

28 February 2022 - Crime Report
Reported crimes in February included: Burglary (Chantry Avenue), Breaking into outbuilding 3 (Woodland Avenue, Cherry Trees, Johns Close)
West Kent Watch

News November - December 2021

Fri, 03 Dec 2021 21:42:00 GMT

13 December 2021 - Parish Council: Councillors
Meeting ran from 7.30 to 8.02pm. All but Cllr Graeme (apologies) were present, as were the clerk and Cllr Brazier (KCC). There were no declarations of interest.
Parish Council Meeting

13 December 2021 - Refuse: Pepper Hill
Cllr Brazier said they plan to continue the booking system for recycling centres. However following consultation, they will make slots available on the day. He confirmed this had not led to an increase in flytipping
Parish Council Meeting

13 December 2021 - Ash Parish: Hodsoll Street
Cllr Perry Cole said the owners did not plan to rebuild after the fire. Locals are looking at whether they can acquire the site and build a new pub.
Parish Council Meeting

13 December 2021 - Planning: Neighbourhood Plan
Cllr Alford said 283 out of 2,500 questionnaires had been returned, mostly from older people. They plan Landscape Character (£2,900) and Green Belt (£tbc) Assessments. As they had no reply from the council's website provider they will set up a separate site using the government grant money they are applying for, although there is no guarantee the government will continue this in 2022. Councillors hoped the costs of all of this would be covered by grant money.
Parish Council Meeting

13 December 2021 - Charities: Community Cupboard
Following legal advice, the council agreed to pledge £5,000 for an extension to the Food Bank at West Kingsdown but only if they reach the £48,500 target. They are OK with West Kingsdown PC being the ultimate owner should the scheme wind up. Cllr Perry Cole said it is well used by Hartley residents and deliveries are available for those who can't drive.
Parish Council Meeting

13 December 2021 - Finance: Payments
Payments of £20,879 for December were agreed. As well as usual items, this included £645 for tree work at Woodland Avenue, £2,500 donation for portable goalposts, £102 for signs for the new burial ground.
Parish Council Meeting

Rail Usage Statistics for 2020-2021

As might be expected, rail usage locally fell in the year April 2020 - March 2021, Longfield saw 80% fewer passengers. Similar falls at other local stations - Swanley 74%, Meopham 76%, Sole Street 77%, Farningham Road 80%.

Station	Full Fare	Reduced Fare	Season Ticket	Total Entries & Exits	Total 2019/20
Longfield	33,692	41,144	42,896	117,732	585,630
Meopham	20,550	19,814	39,062	79,426	327,100
Farningham Road	12,078	13,962	12,892	38.932	198,984
Sole Street	4,048	5,292	4,522	13,862	59,448

Record Number of Million Pound Property Sales in 2021

Three properties in Hartley sold for 7 figures in 2021 - Orchard House, Ash Road (£1.16m); Ferndale, Church Road (£1.105m); and St Margaret, Manor Drive (£1.026m). None however have beaten the 2009 record of £1.32m for a property in Simmonds Drive.

51 properties were sold in 2021 and the average annual increase for unimproved houses was around the 3-4% mark.

News Sept - Oct 2021

Wed, 27 Oct 2021 17:00:00 GMT

01 September 2021 - Crime Summary - September
Merton Avenue (1 Criminal Damage - keying of car); Hawthorns (1 Theft of parcel from doorstep)
E Watch

19 September 2021 - University pupils across Kent speak out about student finance, debt and learning throughout the Covid-19 pandemic
Interview with 20 year old fashion media and promotion student from Hartley, who is studying at UCA at Rochester. She said she is not too worried about student loans because she believes the course will lead to a well paid job in fashion buying. However she thinks last year's fees were unreasonable given all tutoring was done on line.
Kent Messenger

21 September 2021 - Latest results from Kent magistrates' courts
47 year old man from Eastbourne given suspended sentenced and banned after being stopped being stopped in Longfield 3½ times over the limit and without a licence
Kent Messenger

13 September 2021 - Parish Council: Councillors
Cllrs Abraham, Alford, Mrs Cole, Colwell, Driscoll, Graeme, Mrs Oxtoby, Ross & Sewell were present. Apologies from Cllrs Cole and Malham. Council had 2 applicants for vacancy, appointed James Colwell. There were no declarations of interest.
Parish Council Meeting

13 September 2021 - Planning:
The minutes of the meeting of 8 September 2021 were agreed. Cllr Alford was unhappy with one of the planning permissions, and the committee proposed and council agreed to send a letter to Sevenoaks to query this.
Parish Council Meeting

13 September 2021 - Planning: Neighbourhood Plan
It was reported that "The Consultant needs to do some initial work prior to agreeing to take on the project" which will cost £1,200. Further expenditure to send a questionnaire to households also approved.
Parish Council Meeting

13 September 2021 - Planning: Assets of Community Value
The council rejected a suggestion by a local resident to add the Black Lion to the list, leaving only their own suggestion of the Library.
Parish Council Meeting

13 September 2021 - Amenities: Football
Committee will put to the Finance Committee a request for a donation of £2,500 to Hartley De Sales FC towards the cost of 2 portable goals they have ordered. Council will let them store them on Manor Field, secured by a chain, provided they insure the goals themselves. Club wanted to use them during the Cricket season, council said they will have to talk to Cricket Club first. Committee recommended and council agreed to freeze fees to football club at £1,900 for the 2021/22 season.
Parish Council Meeting

13 September 2021 - Amenities: Cricket
Club said 8 week coaching scheme had been successful with 40-48 attendees. They are just about able to field 2 sides.
Parish Council Meeting

13 September 2021 - Amenities: Allotments
(1) They agreed to continue with the £55 annual membership of the National Society of Allotments. (2) There is a dead ash tree on the boundary outside the allotments; KCC say it is not on highway land, but HPC say it is a hazard to the highway. If KCC do not agree to remove the tree, they authorised the clerk to do so. (3) They have served notices to quit on 2 holders and have created 3 new plots. The waiting list is only 3 but no-one wants the new plots because they are uneven with lots of stone and concrete in the soil. Council to get quotations to remedy this. (4) They had previously removed most of a damaged boundary fence in Woodland Avenue. Neighbour has built a new substantial fence on the council's boundary. Committee decide that once this is complete there is no point in them replacing their fence.
Parish Council Meeting

13 September 2021 - Amenities: Manor Field Pavilion
Committee reviewed Covid risk assessment and special conditions of hire. This includes now allowing use of changing rooms, and removing limits on numbers in hall, but other restrictions still apply e.g. only one person in kitchen or toilets at a time.
Parish Council Meeting

13 September 2021 - Amenities: Manor Field
Unusable bollard replaced. They have still not heard from Amey about car park resurfacing.
Parish Council Meeting

13 September 2021 - Amenities: Billings Hill Shaw
Tree surgeon to look at tree overhanging neighbouring property, any recommended works to be done.
Parish Council Meeting

13 September 2021 - Amenities: Gorse Wood
Neighbouring resident in Gorsewood Road says trees are blocking light. Council says the resident can reduce the canopy at their own expense. Neighbour in Porchester Close reported overgrown trees by their property, tree surgeon says they are OK, so council says neighbour can cut back overhanging branches at their own expense. Similar letter about overhanging branches at Caxton Close. Committee deferred consideration from Tree Risk Assessment to get specialist advice on future of Gorse Wood.
Parish Council Meeting

13 September 2021 - Amenities: Hartley Wood
Some of the ground survey markers on the parish council land are missing. Quotations to be obtained for a resurvey.
Parish Council Meeting

13 September 2021 - Amenities: Cherry Trees
Landlords of the shops say they will be repairing the paving slabs shortly.
Parish Council Meeting

13 September 2021 - Amenities: Playgrounds
(1) Annual inspection has a long list of minor repairs necessary which the council will ask the Routine Maintenance Contractor to do. (2) They rejected suggestion to add spikes to top of swings at Chantry Avenue to prevent bird fouling. (3) Quotation of £165 to replace damaged entrance gate at Woodland Avenue accepted.
Parish Council Meeting

13 September 2021 - Amenities: Litter Bins
(1) Council in favour of dog bins at Caxton Close and junction of Grange Way and St Johns Lane but have no money in budget, to ask if County Councillor or W Kent Housing Association will pay for bin if HPC agree to pay to empty them in future. (2) New dual rubbish / recycling bins with sensors to be rolled out in Sevenoaks District, Hartley is in phase 2.
Parish Council Meeting

13 September 2021 - Amenities: Bulky Waste
Free collection on 31 July. Others would cost HPC £250 for 3 x 45 minute stops
Parish Council Meeting

13 September 2021 - Amenities: Queen's Jubilee Canopy
Council agreed Brownies can plant trees at Hoselands Green or Billings Hill Shaw as part of this initiative
Parish Council Meeting

13 September 2021 - Amenities: Rectory Meadow
(1) Camp Fire reported in woods, council to inform owner. (2) Sign at Banckside Entrance to be replaced at cost of £164.
Parish Council Meeting

13 September 2021 - Amenities: The Parade, Ash Road
Waste dumped on verge reported to Sevenoaks Council. HPC suggest resiting bin there.
Parish Council Meeting

13 September 2021 - Finance:
Council agree to get corporate credit card with maximum limit of £1,000. Cost £50 plus £3 per card per month. Payments for September of £25,224 were agreed. This included £3,300 for tree work, £450 to fell laurel tree at Burial Ground and £2,780 for fence and gate to Gorsewood at Caxton Close.
Parish Council Meeting

22 September 2021 - Police investigate assault on girl in Vale Road, Northfleet after suspects flee in Volkswagen Polo
20 year old woman from Longfield arrested and released on bail pending enquiries, after witness sees girl assaulted by 2 people.
Gravesend Messenger

01 October 2021 - Longfield man confronts Insulate Britain protesters as they block M25 Swanley junction
Film of 38 year old Longfield man shouting at protesters who had glued themselves to the road at Swanley Interchange gets 1 million views on TikTok.
Dartford Messenger

12 October 2021 - Teen boy stabbed by stranger in New Ash Green park
18 year old taken to hospital. Suspect said to be aged 16-18, of slim build and wearing a grey tracksuit.
Gravesend Messenger

14 October 2021 - County's Mounted Police Officer Joins Rural Crime Team
Picture feature on New Ash Green based special constable who patrols on her 21 year old horse, Jack
Dartford Messenger

18 October 2021 - Banned Longfield driver crashed Vauxhall Astra into transporter van on M25 then invented friend to take blame
23 year old man from Main Road, Longfield, jailed for 8 months and banned, after taking cannabis, falling asleep at the wheel and causing a crash on the M25.
Dartford Messenger

20 October 2021 - Arrest made as Phoenix the foal dies two months after suspected arson attack at stables at Ash near West Kingsdown
Foal aged 4 months died under anaesthetic of skin graft operation following fire at stables at Barnfield Park. An earlier article (8/10) mentioned that another horse, Jimmy, had died in the attack also. Interview with horses' owner said the family have moved because of fears for their safety.
Dartford Messenger

Covid Update September 2021

Sun, 12 Sep 2021 10:22:00 GMT

Since the last update in April 2021, cases remained low until mid-June with the advent of the Delta Variant, which now makes up 99% of all cases (PHE Technical Briefing 21, page 26). Throughout April and May most days had less than 3 cases for each of Hartley, Longfield and New Ash Green. On 28 June the rate for the 3 parishes was 81 per 100,000 per week. This rate doubled every 7 days to peak at 651 per 100,000 on 19 July. Since then the rate has fallen to track just below the national average for England. On 6 September the local rate was 277 per 100,000.

The increased number of cases has had an effect on hospitalisations, but thanks it is believed, to vaccination the numbers have been far fewer. The number of Covid patients at Darent Valley Hospital now averages 20-30 when they were over 200 in January when case rates were similar.

In April 2021 none of the 20 deaths in the 3 parishes were attributable to Covid.

News July - August 2021

Wed, 08 Sep 2021 09:32:00 GMT

06 July 2021 - Medway fraudster ordered to repay just £1 to Longfield mum and daughter she conned out of £148k
They had been conned into investing in a non-existent property scheme. Paper says they haven't even received the £1 the court ordered to be paid. Fraudster, who received a 3 year 7 month term in 2019 and is out now, was pictured "sunning it up in Marbella and mixing with celebrities".
Dartford Messenger

08 July 2021 - Fire at property in Gresham Avenue, Hartley as firefighters called to roof alight
Believed to be accidental, no-one reported hurt.
Dartford Messenger

16 July 2021 - Swanley man arrested in connection with sexual assault at nature reserve near Longfield railway station
47 year old man arrested in after woman assaulted on Rectory Meadow footpath on 13 July.
Dartford Messenger

30 July 2021 - Missing: Louise Kerton's father speaks out on 20th anniversary of disappearance
Interview with father of Louise Kerton, who lives in New Ash Green. Louise, who was a trainee nurse at Margate, went missing while on holiday in Germany 20 years ago.
Thanet Messenger

01 August 2021 - Crime Summary - August
Church Road (shed broken into); Brambledown (criminal damage - car door glued); Woodland Avenue (theft of car)
E Watch

New Ash Green Craft Fair to Return

Wed, 30 Jun 2021 20:17:00 GMT

The New Ash Green Craft Fair and Market will return on July 18th to the White Swan, Ash. Open 11am - 4pm.

News May - June 2021

Wed, 30 Jun 2021 19:57:00 GMT

04 May 2021 - Role of community pharmacy constantly changing says Amish Patel who runs Hodgson Pharmacy in Longfield
Picture feature on Hodgson Pharmacy in Station Road, Longfield
Dartford Messenger

07 May 2021 - Conservatives retain local division with reduced majority
David Brazier was reelected councillor for the Sevenoaks Rural North East Division (Hartley, New Ash Green, West Kingsdown) of Kent County Council with a greatly reduced majority of 1,255 in an election that saw a 21 per cent swing to the Green Party. Turnout was up 4% at 34%. The experience of this writer is that only the Green Party appeared to have campaigned, I received 2 leaflets from the Greens and none from the other parties. Hartley has 2 other county councillors, Conservative husband and wife Perry and Penny Cole won Swanley and Dartford East for the party, perhaps the party has trouble finding local candidates in some areas.

The result was:
David Brazier (Cons) 2,887 (59%, -19%)
Laura Manston (Green) 1,632 (33%, +23%)
Ian Rashbrook (Lab) 572 (8%, -4%).

Overall the Conservatives have lost a little ground at Kent County Council, but their majority is not seriously threatened, overall a very good night for the Greens. The new council is Cons 61 (-6), Lab 7 (+2), Lib Dem 6 (-1), Green 5 (+3), Residents 2 (+1), Vacant 1.
KCC Website

20 May 2021 - Boss of Pyramid Screen Products in West Kingsdown hits out at justice system after Longfield man steals £17k and avoids jail
Man from Merton Avenue, Hartley, given 12 month suspended sentence and ordered to attend 25 rehabilitation sessions, after being convicted of stealing from his employer. Court heard he had similar convictions in 2000 and 2003. Victim says he thinks sentence was too lenient, and didn't even order the money to be repaid.
Dartford Messenger

21 May 2021 - I'm A Celeb star Vernon Kay scared by snake on ITV Game of Talents by Dartford care home's Danielle
Appearance of recreation and wellbeing champion at Old Downs Care Home appears on ITV's 'Game of Talents'. Before the pandemic she toured with a one woman show for 11 years and holds 7 Guiness World Records.
Dartford Messenger

25 May 2021 - Sarah Wellgreen investigation to feature on documentary My Lover My Killer on TV channel 5 Star
Sarah Wellgreen case featured in TV programme, following similar programme on Sky last year. The Search for Sarah Wellgreen case hope it will raise the profile of the search for her body.
Gravesend Messenger

03 June 2021 - Sidcup woman disqualified for drink driving in Kent
33 year old Sidcup woman fined, banned for 24 months and ordered to do unpaid work after being stopped in Whitehill Road, Longfield, seven times over the limit
News Shopper

03 June 2021 - Senior surgeon, from Chislehurst, charged with fraud, forgery and sending false information
He is accused that "he 'routinely inflated' fees for private medical procedures he carried out on patients. He worked at the former Fawkham Hospital.
Dartford Messenger

10 June 2021 - Chairman of Dartford Young Conservatives urges others to get involved with politics
Picture feature on 21 year old Longfield Parish Councillor and chairman of the Dartford Young Conservatives.
Dartford Messenger

11 June 2021 - Queen's Birthday Honours list recognises Kent people for their achievements and service in the community
Civil servant with DEFRA from Longfield awarded CBE
Kent Messenger

11 June 2021 - Zoopla Kent houses for sale: Most viewed homes on market
16th Century House in New Barn Road second most viewed house in Kent. Said to have been built with timbers from captured Spanish ship
Kent Messenger

13 June 2021 - Doctor's disgust at unsanitary conditions and food safety at David Lloyd Health Club in Dartford
A&E Consultant from Dickens Close, Hartley, raises concerns about hygiene aspects of health club. Their reply claimed they had dealt with the complaint. The article generated a lot of comments.
Dartford Messenger

16 June 2021 - Dartford council offers cash boost to hard-hit market traders and small businesses
Mostly about Dartford Town Centre, but council leader Cllr Kite, claims Longfield will also be helped by a "Support our Shops" initiative
Dartford Messenger

21 June 2021 - Trains cancelled on Southeastern between Swanley and Gillingham due to signal failure at Longfield, near Dartford
Services restored at 10.15am
Dartford Messenger

22 June 2021 - Community rallies to aid the fire-hit Green Man pub in Hodsoll Street near Meopham
Fire on Thursday 17th June badly damages the Green Man Pub in Hodsoll Street. Owner vows to rebuild as quickly as possible. Locals raise £6,000 to help out. It has been suggested it was caused by lightning but nothing official. Kent Fire Brigade website reports the call came at 3.39am adding "At the height of the fire, five fire engines, a height vehicle and a bulk water carrier were at the scene, and crews used hose reel jets and compressed air foam to bring the fire under control. Two fire engines and a crew from the Technical Rescue Unit remain at the incident, to check for remaining hot spots and to assess any damage. KFRS’ Volunteers are also in attendance, to provide support to affected residents in the area."
Gravesend Messenger

25 June 2021 - Grange Lane in Hartley closed for up to a week after fly-tipping
Road completely blocked after furniture, tyres and black sacks dumped in morning of 25th.
Dartford Messenger

25 June 2021 - Long Valley Hall in Longfield to be given new lease of life after £500k refurbishment project granted funding boost
Long Valley Hall to be saved from closure by £0.5 million refurbishment, paid for by Longfield Parish Council (£300K) and Public Works Loan Board loan to PC (£200K)
Dartford Messenger

Property Sales - June 2021

11 Ash Road - £402000 (Annual Change since previous sale in 1995 +6.1%) Planning permissions since previous sale

Rochford Church Road - £625000 (Annual Change since previous sale in 2018 -1.1%)

Goodwins Cottage Church Road - £577000 (Annual Change since previous sale in 1998 +3.4%)

7 Green Way - £510000 (Annual Change since previous sale in 2003 +3.8%)

7 Gresham Avenue - £520000

7 Silverdale - £220000 (Annual Change since previous sale in 2006 +3.1%)

County Council Election Result 7 May 2021

Sat, 08 May 2021 13:18:00 GMT

The result was:
David Brazier (Cons) 2,887 (59%, -19%)
Laura Manston (Green) 1,632 (33%, +23%)
Ian Rashbrook (Lab) 572 (8%, -4%).

Crime Update January - March 2021

Wed, 07 Apr 2021 20:58:00 GMT

Hartley

Bramblefield Close - Theft of Catalytic Converter (8 Jan)

Caxton Close - Theft of number plates (1 Dec - 10 Jan); Theft of Gate (26 Jan)

Dickens Close - Set fire to bonnet of car (20 Feb)

Hawthorns - Car Theft (10-15 Mar)

Porchester Close - Criminal Damage (1-28 Feb)

Wellfield - Theft of Catalytic Converter (1 Mar)

Longfield Village

Kent Road - Breaking into car (8 Jan)

Main Road - Attempted break into business premises (1 Feb)

New Ash Green

26 cases.

Source: E-Watch

News March - April 2021

Mon, 05 Apr 2021 18:01:00 GMT

07 March 2021 - Power Outage in Area
Said to have been caused by underground cables. One post said electricity people have told them in the past that the cabling needs modernising around here.
Nextdoor > Heart of Hartley

17 March 2021 - Dartford pre-school play area trashed by vandal teenagers
"Much beloved" forest playschool at the Fawkham Montessori Primary School at Corinthians Golf Club vandalised by group of teenagers on 6 March. Were scared off by site workers.
News Shopper

08 March 2021 - Parish Council: Councillors
Zoom meeting ran from 7.30 - 8.44 pm. Cllrs Oxtoby, Abraham, Alford, Bennett, Penny Cole, Perry Cole, Driscoll, Graeme, Hughes, Malham, Ross, Sewell were present. However minutes also record apologies of Cllr Hughes. No declarations of interest.
Parish Council Meeting

08 March 2021 - Amenities: Football
The amenities Committee of 12 February decided to freeze the annual fee for Hartley De Sales FC at £1,900. Club want to put a sign at entrance to Manor Field, council want more details.
Parish Council Meeting

08 March 2021 - Amenities: Cricket
The Cricket club informed the council they hope to run a full season from 24 April. They raised concerns about finding the container unlocked one week. Council said no information as to who did this. Also problems with lock on bollard at entrance, Mr Munday said that was down to freezing conditions.
Parish Council Meeting

08 March 2021 - Amenities: Litter Bins
Local campaigner asked for bins at Porchester Close and Woodland Avenue to dispose of the many nitrous oxide cartridges left strewn about. Told it was Sevenoaks council responsibility.
Parish Council Meeting

08 March 2021 - Amenities: Gorse Wood
Woodland Avenue resident queried why not all of Gorse Wood is designated as ancient woodland and raised concerns about tree felling there. Council didn't know why this is the case, and said they only fell trees when necessary. West Kent Housing have offered to contribute £272 towards the cost of replacement fencing and gate at Caxton Close, works began 26 January but had to be halted when gate was stolen. Mobile CCTV then installed on site. Total cost as a result increased by £600 to £2,780. Some recoverable by insurance claim. Fly tipping continues to be a problem with cases reported by Caxton Close car park and further into the woods. Full council accepted Sevenoaks Council's quote of £500 to clear the rubbish. In order to get rubbish cleared quicker in future clerk in conjunction with head of amenities committee given delegated authority to spend up to £1,000 without further reference to committee. They are going to try and get Sevenoaks to reinstate bulky waste collections there.
Parish Council Meeting

08 March 2021 - Amenities: Allotments
Council informed that supply difficulties have hampered repairs to close boarded fence panels. Quotation accepted to remove cherry trees on plots 34-36 so that they can be let again. An allotment holder asked for trees overshadowing their plot to be trimmed. Council replied trees are outside the boundary fence and tree surgeon said trimming them wouldn't help with overhanging. Suggested holder may like to take on of the new plots when cherry trees removed. KCC said they would only trim highway trees if they cause a problem to the highway.
Parish Council Meeting

08 March 2021 - Village Hall:
The Finance Committee meeting of 10 February recommended and full council approved gifting a number of improvements to the Village Hall, provided the bills go via the Parish Council so they can claim back the VAT: (1) Replacement steel fire exit door from kitchen (Harrison Building Contractors - £1,320); (2) New PIR light in kitchen (Harrison Building Contractors - £190); (3) New Stage and front window curtains (Curtain & Blind Co - £2,920).
Parish Council Meeting

08 March 2021 - Finance:
The Finance Meeting of 12 February also agreed a new reserves policy and made some minor changes to insurance relating to chairman's chain of office.
Parish Council Meeting

08 March 2021 - Covid-19:
Insurers have said services must be switched off, but council to check to see if it is OK to have them on for contractors working on Village Hall.
Parish Council Meeting

08 March 2021 - CCTV:
Back in February the council had decided to spend £7,000 on a WCCTV 4G Speed Dome CCTV system. However difficulties have arisen due to lack of streetlighting in Hartley and the charge Kent County Council would make to join it to what streetlights there are. Also Cllr Perry Cole said a wildlife camera might be cheaper and they should look at Sevenoaks Council's Fly Tipping Initiative. Council agreed to rescind earlier resolution and appoint Cllr Mr Cole to undertake further investigation.
Parish Council Meeting

08 March 2021 - Finance: Payments
Payments for March of £8,906 were agreed, mostly admin costs but also playground inspections £535, Manor Field hedge cutting £215, Empty Manor Field Cesspool £213, Litter Picking at various locations £330.
Parish Council Meeting

26 April 2021 - Parish Council: Councillors
The meeting of 12 April was deemed to be voided due to the period of national mourning. Cllrs Oxtoby, Abraham, Alford, Penny Cole, Driscoll, Greame, Malham, and Sewell attended with apologies from Cllrs Perry Cole and Hughes. They have received the resignation of Cllr Mohr, there being no request for a by-election, the vacancy will be filled by cooption. No declarations of interest by the councillors attending.
Parish Council Meeting

26 April 2021 - Queen's Platinum Anniversary:
Council agreed to spend £7,000 on celebrations on a date between 2 and 5 June 2022. This was the money the council had planned to spend for the 75th anniversary of the end of WW2.
Parish Council Meeting

26 April 2021 - Covid-19:
Manor Field Pavilion will open on 12 April but the only events allowed are supervised activities for children and parent and toddler groups. The cricket club can use the toilet if they agree to the special conditions of hire. Councils have been told they can't hold Zoom meetings after 6 May, so they have brought forward the annual parish council meeting to 5 May. The Annual Parish Meeting will have to be in person so they will see whether the school or church hall are big enough to accommodate it with the social distancing rules.
Parish Council Meeting

26 April 2021 - Manor Field:
Council agree to hire out Manor Field and Pavilion for a live music event in July. Amenities committee to sort out details.
Parish Council Meeting

26 April 2021 - Neighbourhood Plan:
They have set aside £24,000 to prepare the plan. After leafleting the parish they got 219 replies in favour of a plan and 3 against. A steering group of 3 councillors and 9 people appointed by the council to be set up.
Parish Council Meeting

26 April 2021 - CCTV:
Further to the decision at the meeting of 8 March, they agreed to buy 3 wildlife cameras costing about £500 from council's reserves.
Parish Council Meeting

26 April 2021 - Burial Grounds: Hartley Burial Ground
They are looking at creating a path to link the new Hartley Burial Ground with the old burial ground. They agreed to instal a gate and path if they get permission from the landowner whose land it crosses.
Parish Council Meeting

26 April 2021 - Finance: Payments
Payments for April of £16,932 were agreed. Other than admin costs, other significant items were Cutting trees at allotments £1,650; delivery of Neighbourhood Plan Questionnaire £300; allotment water charges £658; emptying dog bins for 6 months £858; bulk Propane £873; garden waste sacks £700
Parish Council Meeting

Covid Update

Mon, 05 Apr 2021 17:26:00 GMT

Since the August update, our area has been hit by a very severe second wave. Numbers of cases had been rising in October which led to the second national lockdown on 5 November. At the time the rate in the 3 wards that make up Hartley/Longfield/New Ash Green was 124 per 100,000 while nationally the rate was 247. However by the time the lockdown ended on 2 December, this had been reversed, nationally the rate was 151, but the rate for our area had risen to 253. The rising rates in Kent led the county to be put into the new Tier 3 restrictions, but the new variant meant these were insufficient. By the time the county moved to the new Tier 4 on 20 December, the rate for the Hartley/Longfield/New Ash Green Area had risen to 678. Even so the numbers continued to rise rapidly and did not peak until 2 January when the rate for this area was 1,184. In Hartley the figure that day was 1,245 cases per 100,000. The 3rd national lockdown began on 5 January.

Sadly the increased number of cases has led to more hospitalisations and deaths. For most of the first half of January over half the beds at Darent Valley were occupied by Covid patients. We owe a huge debt of gratitude to our health service staff. In our area there have been 30 deaths due to Covid in the three months of December to February.

On a more positive note the vaccine rollout locally has gone well. The latest figures to 28 March show that 74% of the adults in Longfield and Southfleet have had at least one vaccination. For Hartley and Hodsoll Street the figure is 72%, while for New Ash Green with a younger population, the figure is 63%. Again this would not have been possible without the amazing work of our NHS staff and the many volunteers at the vaccination centres.

Case rates in Hartley, Longfield and New Ash Green Oct 20 - Mar 21

News January - February 2021

Mon, 05 Apr 2021 17:25:00 GMT

11 January 2021 - Parish Council: Councillors
11 councillors were present, plus the clerk, Cllr Brazier (KCC) and 2 members of the public. Cllrs Mohr and Sewell were absent. Cllr Graeme declared an interest in Manor Field lettings as one of the would be hirers is a friend.
Parish Council Meeting

11 January 2021 - Health: Covid-19
Cllr Brazier said that if patients were unable to get to Meopham for vaccination, then local GPs could carry out vaccinations, however he understood Longfield/NAG surgery was not offering this service. As for reports on social media that the Meopham centre might close, this is not the case at present.
Parish Council Meeting

11 January 2021 - Roads: Cherry Trees
A member of the public asked about the prospect of paving repairs. Cllr Abraham said the area outside the Coop will be tarmaced and bollards added. Cllr Brazier said KCC had inspected the area and been in contact with the landlords.
Parish Council Meeting

11 January 2021 - Finance: Precept
Sevenoaks council have informed the PC that the tax base on which the precept is calculated will fall from £2,557 to £2,332. As the council were planning an unchanged council tax at £53.89 for Band D, this means the precept income will fall by £1,322 to £136,451.
Parish Council Meeting

11 January 2021 - Finance: Insurance
New bench on Hartley Green added to policy for additional premium of £1.94.
Parish Council Meeting

11 January 2021 - Village Hall:
The Village Hall Trust had requested a grant from the council but now doesn't need it because they have received £10,000 from the government support for businesses in the hospitality and leisure sectors.
Parish Council Meeting

11 January 2021 - Neighbourhood Plan:
The Finance Committee of 16/12/20 agreed to pay £1,500 to send a leaflet to all households about this. This is because the cost of such a plan is very high so "it would be necessary to obtain community approval and support." The Planning Committee of 23/12/20 also claimed such a plan "appeared to be the only way to truly protect the village from future development, despite the cost and lengthy process involved." However the Government's advice on neighbourhood plans says that such plans will have to plan for more housing if they are told there is a housing requirement in the area ("In the context of paragraph 14 of the National Planning Policy Framework, what does ‘policies and allocations to meet its identified housing requirement’ mean for neighbourhood plans? In order for a neighbourhood plan to meet the criteria set in paragraph 14b of the Framework, the ‘policies and allocations’ in the plan should meet the identified housing requirement in full, whether it is derived from the housing figure for the neighbourhood area set out in the relevant strategic policies, an indicative figure provided by the local planning authority, or where it has exceptionally been determined by the neighbourhood planning body. For example, a neighbourhood housing requirement of 50 units could be met through 2 sites allocated for 20 housing units each and a policy for a windfall allowance of 10 units. However, a policy on a windfall allowance alone would not be sufficient. Policies and allocations within other development plan documents, for example strategic site allocations or windfall development set out in a local plan or spatial development strategy, will not meet criterion 14b of the National Planning Policy Framework.")
Parish Council Meeting

11 January 2021 - Amenities: Allotments
The Finance Committee of 16/12/20 agreed to pay NPC Tree Surgery £1,650 to remove some trees.
Parish Council Meeting

11 January 2021 - Finance: Payments
Payments for January of £8,531 were agreed.
Parish Council Meeting

19 January 2021 - Kent Police release CCTV after huge brawl in New Ash Green
Further to fight reported previously police have arrested 4, weapons involved included baseball bats. The Hartley fight was said to be between the occupants of two cars.
News Shopper

22 January 2021 - We adapted and carried on, but we are not immune to this virus
Interview with female refuse collector who works in Sevenoaks District. She said the pandemic has led to a big increase in rubbish being put out. Normally they would only have to go to the tip twice a shift but it is now often twice that, often they cannot finish their rounds because of the volume of waste. She noted a big increase in food waste, especially after panic buying during the first lockdown. Refuse collectors have risen to the challenges of the increased volumes, while battling reduced numbers due to self isolation, and people working routes they weren't familar with as a result. Sevenoaks had to redeploy street cleaners to the bins over Christmas to cover the routes.
I Newspaper

06 February 2021 - The Great British Fake Off
(Also in Dartford Messenger 28.1.21) 54 year old man from Ash Road, Longfield sentenced to 6½ years after he was caught printing fake 20 pound notes in a warehouse in Beckenham. A total of £5m in counterfeit notes was recovered.
I Newspaper

08 February 2021 - Parish Council: Councillors
All 13 councillors were in attendance for the Zoom meeting, along with Helen Boden (clerk), Cllr Brazier (KCC) and 1 member of the public. Cllrs Perry and Penny Cole declared an interest in a planning application adjoining their house that the parish council has objected to.
Parish Council Meeting

08 February 2021 - Parish Council: Covid-19
Cllr Brazier said the county council run no symptom testing stations had been very busy. He also highlighted the "Helping Hands Scheme" to help self employed and those in digital poverty. Cllr Perry Cole said no-one from Hartley had requested help from Sevenoaks in November lockdown, but they have received two requests from Hartley in January.
Parish Council Meeting

08 February 2021 - Crime: Mobile Safety Camera
The council agreed to spend £7,400 with WCCTV for a mobile safety camera and training. It could be moved to different locations and record continuously, but would not be monitored by Sevenoaks. It appears it can only be mounted where KCC have street lights.
Parish Council Meeting

08 February 2021 - Open Spaces: Gorsewood
Meopham Fencing had won a £2,180 contract to install new 1.2m fencing at the Caxton Close end of the wood, and had started work on 26 January only to find a gate had been stolen the following day. According to the terms of the contract the council will have to claim on their insurance, subject to the £250 excess. In the meantime work was suspended; council decide work can recommence but want CCTV camera there first if possible.
Parish Council Meeting

08 February 2021 - Burial Grounds:
The committee meeting of 27 January discussed the following: (1) Burial Ground Regulations. One of the Fawkham and Hartley Churchwardens attended the meeting and explained the Fawkham Churchyard had a problem with decorations being left and they plan to introduce a removals policy. They wondered if the parish council would align policies, council didn't want to amend theirs as they thought they were fairly similar, but liked the Church's "trifold document" and may adopt that. (2) Manor Field (New) Burial Ground - Council now have retrospective planning permission granted, but need to comply with conditions. Rabbit guards to be removed now hedge established, mole hills noted, but not thought to be a problem. Path from carpark has vegetation and moss, will be swept more often to avoid being slip hazard. They will write to Glovers to request a gate from the existing burial ground to the Manor Field ground which will involve crossing land owned by the partnership. Waterlogging problems in carpark to be looked at by Mr Munday; they will also be seeking quotes for a signboard. They decided to keep both paper and computer burial registers for the new ground. (3) Hartley Burial Ground - they still intend to remove the shed if Mr Munday says it isn't needed. They announced the closure of the ground for new burials (still used for interrment of ashes). (4) Old Garden of Remembrance - following a request for burial of ashes there, they decided to close it to new burials, saying it will disturb existing ashes. (5) Grass Cutting contract 2021/22 - they had 5 quotes and awarded contract to Mr Munday for £5,616.
Parish Council Meeting

08 February 2021 - Finance: Payments
Payments of £9,439 for February were agreed.
Parish Council Meeting

17 February 2021 - Gravesend man spat at parking warden and said 'I have corona’
39 year old from Manor Forstal given 12 month community order and fined after he admits common assault after incident in Gravesend.
News Shopper

News November - December 2020

Mon, 05 Apr 2021 15:34:00 GMT

09 November 2020 - Parish Council: Councillors
11 councillors were present, plus the clerk, Cllr Brazier (KCC) and 1 member of the public. Apologies from Cllr Penny Cole and Ross were accepted. There were no declarations of interest.
Parish Council Meeting

09 November 2020 - Finance: Budget
They agreed the draft budget. The precept to remain unchanged at £137,774. Total projected income £162,247; total expenditure £170,867. The deficit to be financed from the council's considerable reserves. Significant changes over 2020/21 are: Employer's pension contributions +£3K, Burial Ground maintenance +£2K, open space grass cutting +£1K, open space miscellaneous -£7K, playground maintenance -£0.5K
Parish Council Meeting

09 November 2020 - Parish Council: Covid-19
Following government instructions, pavilion closed from 5th November. Cleaning to be suspended, but temperature checks on water outlets to continue. Office remains closed. Assistant clerk will work from office, clerk will work at home. Council agreed on one off payments totalling £1,600 to clerk and assistant clerk in recognition of work they'd done during pandemic.
Parish Council Meeting

09 November 2020 - Finance: Payments
Payments of £17,929 were agreed, save the pavilion water bill of £577 which they thought was excessive. Castle Water said it was an estimate and to do a meter reading if they wanted an accurate one, but councillors couldn't find the meter, so company will have to come out to do it.
Parish Council Meeting

09 November 2020 - Neighbourhood Plan:
Planning committee of 28/11 heard that Fawkham want to pursue an application for the valley to be designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty on their own and not as a joint application with Hartley.
Parish Council Meeting

09 November 2020 - Planning: Beechcroft Farm
Council raise objection to broiler houses being built on land to west 20/2772, although it Is in parish of Ash.
Parish Council Meeting

12 November 2020 - Crime: Ash Road
Network rail remove conspiracy theorist's banner on railway bridge at the bottom of Hoselands Hill
Nextdoor > Heart of Hartley

23 November 2020 - Car Fire in Dickens Close
Two engines called to car fire on drive at 12.18am. Thought to have been caused by electrical fault.
Kent Fire Brigade

26 November 2020 - Crime: Wellfield
Following robbery of parcel delivery van in Wellfield, 2 men from Gravesend and Chatham convicted.
Dartford Messenger

27 November 2020 - Crime: New Ash Green
5 rare tortoises stolen from house in Coltstead on 20/21 November
News Shopper

03 December 2020 - Tortoises are stolen in raid
Five tortoises stolen from Coltstead on 20/21 November
Dartford Messenger

03 December 2020 - Hospital full up with ambulances being redirected
"Pressure of Covid crisis is laid bare", about one in five ambulances at Darent Valley Hospital have been redirected from other hospitals, routine operations at DVH are now being cancelled. Increasing case numbers has led Kent to being put in Tier 3 restrictions.
Dartford Messenger

14 December 2020 - Neighbourhood Plan:
Planning committee of 9/12 decided to recommend publicising a Neighbourhood Plan for Hartley and to set aside £5,000 from reserves for it.
Parish Council Meeting

27 December 2020 - Health: Covid-19
Local hospital becomes latest to receive batch of the Pfizer vaccine, picture of member of staff first to receive vaccine
Dartford Messenger

29 December 2020 - Crime: Hartley Bottom Road
3 horse blankets taken, owner told a number of hay, equestrian tool etc thefts locally recently
Nextdoor > Heart of Hartley

30 December 2020 - Crime: New Ash Green
Brawl at New Ash Green Rugby Ground, weapons spotted by onlookers. Humorous commenters note the ground is on Punchcroft. (additonal information) Local people report fight ended up at Woodland Avenue / Church Road junction
Dartford Messenger

30 December 2020 - Police probe launched after mass brawl at New Ash Green sports pavilion field leaves man with facial injuries
Around 30 men said to be involved. Reports on the Next Door Heart of Hartley website say injured man found on junction of Woodland Avenue and Church Road in Hartley.
Dartford Messenger

Longfield Station Passenger Usage

Wed, 02 Dec 2020 10:00:00 GMT

The Office for Rail Regulation have published the station usage figures for the year ending 31 March 2020. Overall they show a 1.1% decline in rail usage nationally, although this can can probably be attributed to the early days of the pandemic.

Locally our stations showed a greater fall in numbers. Longfield fell from 299,510 passengers the year before to 292,815 in 2019/20 (this is half the published "entries and exits" figure). Meopham fell by over 5,000 passengers to 163,550 and Farningham Road fell by 6,000 to 99,492. All stations showed particular decline in season ticket usage, but it still makes up 50.3% of Longfield's passengers with similar percentages for Meopham and Farningham Road.

For a history of local passenger numbers over time, see the Railways history page.

News September - October 2020

Sun, 22 Nov 2020 12:20:00 GMT

Dartford man caught with shotgun and ammunition pleads guilty

(26.10.2020 News Shopper) Police following van from Temple Hill, Dartford see them collect orange bag from address in Longfield. Van stopped in Meopham where bag was found to contain weapon.

Hartley Parish Council Meeting 12 October 2020

Note: this is incomplete because several of the committee minutes are not yet available.

Parish Council: Councillors

All 13 councillors were in attendance for the Zoom meeting, along with Helen Boden (clerk), Cllr Brazier (KCC) and 1 member of the public. Cllr Hughes has signed her acceptance of office form. Cllr Malham declared an interest in allotments as an allotment holder, Cllr Oxtoby in works on Hartley Green as she is related to the contractor.

Burial Grounds: New Burial Ground

The council have been told by Sevenoaks Council that this has been built without planning permission, the original one having run out before they started works. Planting a hedge is not works. Council agree to apply for retrospective planning permission at a cost of £231.

Amenities: Cricket

The cricket club say they can't find anyone to take away the old sight screens. Council agree to pay Eastwood Metal Recycling to remove the screens whether or not the cricket club will contribute.

Amenities: Manor Field Pavilion

Council rejected request from member of the public for disabled toilet here, for spectators at football matches and burial ground visitors. Council point out pavilion is not used by footballers.

Remembrance Sunday:

Council decide that no service is possible due to Covid. Chairman and Vice Chairman will lay wreath.

Parish Council: Covid-19

In light of updated advice they have updated the special conditions of hire to the pavilion. New provisions include using the QR poster with mobile phone NHS app, asking attendees to wear face masks and to get tested if they develop symptoms within 10 days of visiting the pavilion. Cllr Perry Cole (Hartley & Sevenoaks) reported local cases were mainly related to schools, care homes and people returning from holidays.

Finance: Payments

Payments for October of £11,554 were agreed

Sarah Wellgreen: police call off search for body two year on

(9.10.2020 News Shopper) Kent police confirm they have called off the search for her body after 2 years. Her mother tells of the devastation the loss has caused to her family, and thanked police and others for all their efforts. Local search group vow to carry on looking. Police call on her murderer to do the decent thing and say where the body is.

New Ash Green Woman Honoured

(9.10.2020 Kent Messenger) Retired 83 year old music teacher awarded British Empire Medal (BEM) for services to community in New Ash Green, which includes running a weekly music workshop for 40 years.

Singer HRVY to join Strictly Come Dancing launch after clear Covid test

(Gravesend Messenger 9.10.20) Pop star, who originally comes from Hartley, to join Strictly Come Dancing contest.

Milestone Academy in New Ash Green sends pupils home after staff member tests positive for Covid-19

(23.9.20 Dartford Messenger) Years 7-11 told not to return to school until 7 October.

Longfield Academy confirms staff coronavirus case as potential contacts told to self-isolate

(14.9.20 Dartford Messenger) School has not decided to send any pupils home because the staff member concerned didn't have direct contact with any pupil.

Parish Council Meeting 14 September 2020

Planning: District Plan

Cllr Alford has been told applying for Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty Status on Fawkham Valley would take 20 years, so they decide to look at the option of a neighbourhood plan.

Planning: Fawkham Manor Hospital

Council decide to object to the application to build 12 houses and 20 apartments here on green belt and traffic grounds

Parish Council: Website

Ahead of the September accessibility deadline, they have paid University of Kent £25 for a health check, which said it was mainly OK, but needed several PDF documents converted to an accessible format

Burial Grounds:

This committee met on 2 September but minutes are currently not available

Finance: Payments

Payments of £18,810 for September were approved. These included £780 for a VE/VJ commermoration seat on the Village Green, £320 for tree works at Hoselands Green, £547 Covid related expenditure

News July - August 2020

Sun, 06 Sep 2020 12:20:00 GMT

28 August 2020 - More Arriva drivers from Northfleet depot test positive for coronavirus
At least 3 drivers test positive for Covid. Union says management refused to allow contacts to self isolate on pay, and that they hadn't informed the public. Comments suggest many members of the public are putting drivers and passengers at risk by not wearing masks on the bus.
Gravesend Messenger

26 August 2020 - Car thief found sleeping in stolen vehicle in Swanley jailed
20 year old man jailed for 3½ years after stealing car from New Ash Green. Police found him asleep in it at Swanley.
News Shopper

27 July 2020 - This is where you can use the Eat Out to Help Out scheme in Gravesham and Dartford
Local restaurants registered with the scheme where diners get 50% off meals up to £10 discount are: Hartley Country Club, Costa Longfield, Spice Village and Royal Oak New Ash Green
Gravesend Messenger

Parish Council Extraordinary Meeting 23 July 2020

Parish Council: Councillors

10 councillors were present for Zoom meeting, along with Helen Boden (clerk), Cllr Brazier (KCC) and 1 member of the public. There were no declarations of interest

Parish Council: Covid-19

The Amenities Committee of 7 July had voted to hold off opening the Manor Field Pavilion except for access to the toilets for the Cricket Club. Following Government and Action on Communities in rural Kent advice they decide to open the Pavilion, but not the kitchen or changing rooms. Signage to be followed and a maximum of 6 (or instructor plus 3) to use it, hirers to wipe clean surfaces touched, follow signage and police use of toilets to ensure social distancing. As the cricket club were the only ones using the pavilion at the moment they thought once a week clean was sufficient but paid Dartclean an extra £8 to sanitise surfaces. The clerk confirmed that they are covered by insurance as long as they follow official guidelines. (2) Regarding playgrounds as well as government and ACRE advice they had heard from Association of Play Industries. They felt the government guidelines were not feasible in particular providing stewards, booking system, cleaning daily, provision of hand sanitiser, relocation of equipment and new exit/entries. They decided to take a "pragmatic" approach and open all three playgrounds but tell parents they are responsible for cleaning equipment and sanitising their children's hands. (3) Parish Office arrangements of clerk working from home and assistant clerk from the office thought to be working satisfactorily

Parish Council: Data Protection

Their current GDPR officer is leaving the area so they agreed to pay Satswana £150 to provide the service in future.

Parish Council: Website

They discussed the measures needed to meet the government Website Content Accessibility Guidelines by September 2020. They have problems with agreeing terms with the contractor they had agreed upon. However now their curent provider reckoned they can do this free of charge. They agreed to proceed on that basis but allowed the appointment of one of the other original bidders if this doesn't work.

Popular baby names locally

(26 August 2020) As well as publishing the annual list of top 100 names for new born boys and girls, the Office for National Statistics now give statistics for the top 100 by local authority area for 2019. The national winners Oliver and Olivia did well locally, but in Dartford and Sevenoaks George was the winner. Olivia was the top girls name in Dartford and Sevenoaks but in Gravesend Amelia came out top. Ava was 4th nationally but didn't feature at all in Dartford top 100.

Boy's Name	Dartford	Gravesham	Sevenoaks	National
Oliver	3	1	2	1
George	1	4	1	2
Noah	3	23	8	3
Arthur	2	11	2	4
Harry	6	1	5	5
Others	Henry (5)	Leo (2); Henry (4)	Freddie (2)
Percent choosing top 100 name	44%	40%	53%	49%
Girl's Name
Olivia	1	4	1	1
Amelia	6	1	6	2
Isla	3	4	17	3
Ava	Not in top 100	4	32	4
Mia	3	12	10	5
Others	Ruby (1); Sophia (3)	Sienna (2), Eva (3)	Isabella (2); Florence (3); Sophie (3); Daisy (5)
Percent choosing top 100 name	35%	28%	41%	40%

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

Parish Council Meeting 13 July 2020

Parish Council: Councillors

All 12 remaining councillors were present, plus Cllr Brazier (KCC) and 2 members of the public. There were no declarations of interest. No-one has requested a bye-election for the vacancy and they have one applicant so far.

Events: VJ Commemoration

Due to Covid this can only now be attended by the Rector and some members of the council

Roads: Footpaths

Council to ask in next newsletter whether there should be a review of footpaths as soon no more claims relating to pre-1949 paths will be allowed.

Amenities: Cricket

NAG & Hartley CC plan to restart cricket on 25 July and want to use the pavilion. This led to lengthy discussion based on 5 documents - checklist for reopening, notice for reopening, risk assessment, special conditions of hire, hirer's risk assessment. Council to add hand sanitisers, Cricket Club told they must clean all surfaces used and explain how they will police use of toilets. Council to allow hire on a case by case basis.

Parish Council: Covid-19

So far they have spent an additional £1,743 mainly on new computer equipment and loss of Manor Field income. But expenditure is £2,867 less mainly youth services, cleaning, playground inspectors.

Finance: Payments

Payments of £16,256 for July were agreed

04 July 2020 - Hartley RC Church Reopens
Under government advice they can only seat 31 and people must bring track and trace form
Church website

09 July 2020 - Blaze at storage unit in Ash Road, Hartley, causes thousands of pounds' worth of damage
Fire occurred on 4 June. Police treating it as suspicious
Dartford Messenger

27 July 2020 - This is where you can use the Eat Out to Help Out scheme in Gravesham and   Dartford
Local restaurants registered   with the scheme where diners get 50% off meals up to £10 discount are:   Hartley Country Club, Costa Longfield, Spice Village and Royal Oak New Ash Green
Gravesend   Messenger

09 July 2020 - Blaze at storage unit in Ash Road, Hartley, causes thousands of pounds' worth of damage
Fire occurred on 4 June. Police treating it as suspicious
Dartford Messenger

04 July 2020 - Hartley RC Church Reopens
Under government advice they can only seat 31 and people must bring track and trace form
Church webiste

House Sales 2020

Sun, 23 Aug 2020 16:43:00 GMT

In the first 4 months of the year, the Land Registry has recorded 13 sales of residential properties in Hartley. Most are averaging about 4-6% increase per year since their previous sale; properties with a council tax review indicator may have higher increases because they have had significant improvements; these may result in a change in banding when the property is sold.

Property	Sale Date	Previous Sale	Price/Rent	Annual Change	Notes
22 Billings Hill Shaw DA3 8EU	27/02/2020	Before 1995	500000
17 Brambledown DA3 7ER	05/03/2020	16/02/1996	292000	8%
Rosebank Briars Way DA3 8AD	03/02/2020	01/06/1997	490000	6%
South Place Castle Hill DA3 7BH	07/01/2020	25/07/2012	900000	4%	Council tax improvement indicator
Chelsworth Church Road DA3 8DL	15/04/2020	10/04/2012	650000	10%	Council tax improvement indicator
Carill Church Road DA3 8DR	31/03/2020	06/02/2001	550000	5%
Greenholme Church Road DA3 8DY	31/01/2020	25/10/1999	605000	5%
8 Fairby Lane DA3 8DA	13/01/2020	02/04/2015	467500	4%
Carinya Larksfield DA3 7EH	24/02/2020	27/05/1998	490000	6%
27 Porchester Close DA3 7DQ	10/03/2020	28/04/2000	212000	6%
The Copse Quakers Close DA3 7EA	27/03/2020	Before 1995	440000
Timbers The Warrens DA3 8DB	24/01/2020	28/10/2005	435000	4%
4 Viewpoint Court DA3 7EY	28/04/2020	20/05/1996	155000	6%

Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2020. This data is licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

Covid update

Sun, 23 Aug 2020 16:27:00 GMT

The NHS has released figures for the number of positive tests by what are called "Middle Layer Super Output Areas" (MSOA), around here this equates to the local district council wards, but that is not the case everywhere .

They do not publish the figures if they are less than 3 per week, so the starred data means a number between 0 and 2.

week beginning	Longfield, New Barn & Southfleet	Hartley & Hodsoll Street	West Kingsdown & Fawkham	New Ash Green
2 March	*	*	*	*
9 March	*	*	*	*
16 March	*	*	*	*
23 March	4	4	*	*
30 March	10	6	*	3
6 April	14	*	7	*
13 April	14	*	*	*
20 April	*	5	*	*
27 April	*	3	*	3
4 May	*	*	*	*
11 May	*	*	*	*
18 May	*	*	*	*
25 May	*	*	*	*
1 June	*	*	*	*
8 June	*	*	*	*
15 June	*	*	*	*
22 June	*	*	*	*
29 June	*	*	*	*
6 July	*	*	*	*
13 July	*	*	*	*
20 July	*	*	*	*
27 July	*	*	*	*
3 August	*	*	*	*
10 August	*	*	*	*
17 Aug	*	*	*	*

Source: https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/cases

Sadly the disease has claimed the lives of several local people. The Office for National Statistics has published details for MSOA areas for March to July. During that time 1 person has died in New Ash Green and Ash, 10 in Hartley and Hodsoll Street, 12 in West Kingdown and Fawkham and 14 in Longfield, New Barn and Southfleet (see table below).

Month	Longfield, New Barn & Southfleet	Hartley & Hodsoll Street	West Kingsdown & Fawkham	New Ash Green
Covid
Mar	0	0	1	0
Apr	10	9	8	0
May	2	0	0	1
Jun	2	0	2	0
Jul	0	1	1	0
Total	14	10	12	1

Non Covid
Mar	7	11	8	6
Apr	11	9	5	2
May	15	2	7	1
Jun	5	5	9	4
Jul	6	5	7	1
Total	44	32	36	14

Source: Office for National Statistics

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

News May - June 2020

Mon, 22 Jun 2020 18:17:00 GMT

Man arrested after 'racist brawl' in Eynsford, Dartford

(News Shopper, 22.6.2020) 19 year old man from New Ash Green arrested following altercation at Riverside, Eynsford.

Parish Council Meeting 8.6.20

Parish Council: Councillors

All 12 councillors were present, having received the resignation of Mrs Ewing. Arrangements were made to advertise the vacancy. There were no declarations of interest. Also present were Cllr Brazier (KCC) and 1 member of the public.

Amenities: Cricket

NAG and Hartley CC say no matched likely until July. Council agreed to charge them £1,205 for the season pro rated if this is cut short due to Covid. Club told it will increase again in 2021.

Amenities: Allotments

Following complaints by a neighbour that council's fence is damaging their own, council agreed to pay Mr Munday £335 to replace it with 4ft chestnut paling face and £185 to cut back two large bushes encroaching. The committee will look at replacing the whole fence at the next meeting. They allowed one holder permission to grow a bay tree in a pot so long as it no more than 5 feet high. They had a lengthy discussion about another request to retain poly tunnels on their plot, told they can keep the frames to the end of the growing season but not the plastic cover. Tenancy agreement to be reviewed later.

Amenities: Manor Field Pavilion

(1) Redecoration is proceeding. (2) Legionella. They have suspended legionella testing but will do a full test before reopening, which is satisfactory for the insurers. (3) Calor Gas have told them the pipework needs replacing with modern polyethylene piping. They are seeking advice from Caches. (4) They accepted quote from L Vesey of £30 to carry out annual fire risk assessment and KCC Inspection Services's quote of £55 + £5 per appliance to maintain fire extinguishers. (5) Charges - they agreed not to change 2018 scale of charges

Amenities: Trees

Tree surgeon recommends removeal of Ash Trees with die back at Billings Hill Shaw. Disagreement between PC and KCC as to whose land it is on.

Amenities: Dog bins

Council rejected request for dog bins in Gorse Way, Gorsewood Road, Church Road, Ash Road, and St John's Lane because each bin would cost £500 plus emptying costs, and Sevenoaks Council will not empty dog waste only bins because they can't take them to KCC's tip.

Amenities: Playgrounds

Current inspector is no longer offering annual playground inspections, so they considered quotes for the service. Cheapest one rejected because they were not on Register of Play Inspectors website. They selected one of the others provided they confirm this includes a detailed report with each inspection.

Finance: Donations

Council rejected request from New Ash Green Horticultural Association for grant of £750 for improved fencing at their plot behind Black Lion. One of the reasons was how much the council is looking at spending at their own site.

Finance: Payments

Payments of £14,149 for June were agreed

Schools:

Cllr Brazier said 93% of pupils had received their first choice of school, and only 2% had not got one of their first three choices

Planning: District Plan

Sevenoaks Council to seek judicial review of planning inspectorate's rejection of the draft plan.

Crime: Antisocial Behaviour

Cllr Mrs Cole reported increase in anti-social behaviour in the district

MPs Laura Trott, Tom Tugendhat and Gareth Johnson urge Robert Jenrick to 'call in' Sevenoaks District Council's Local Plan

Local MPs want government to overrule planning inspector who rejected the draft local plan for Sevenoaks. The council had not met the government target and the inspector was concerned the council had not adequately demonstrated the missing houses would be built in neighbouring councils. One comment accused the council of "departing from reality" because they claimed the first draft did meet the target, so officers know it can be done. They also thought that the council had exaggerated the proposed housing densities, so even the low number would not get built.

Sevenoaks Messenger

Covid Update - Sharp rise in Unemployment in Hartley

Nomis

Numbers of claimants in the Hartley and Hodsoll Street Council ward has risen from 25 in February to 130 in May. The numbers for each area of Hartley for the last 12 months is contained in the table below. The increase in unemployment has been especially high in the Wellfield area.

Date	East Hartley	South Hartley & Hodsoll St/	West & North Hartley	Wellfield Estate	Total
June 2019	5	5	5	15	30
July 2019	5	10	5	15	35
August 2019	5	5	5	15	30
September 2019	5	10	5	15	35
October 2019	5	10	5	15	35
November 2019	5	5	0	15	25
December 2019	5	10	0	20	35
January 2020	10	10	0	25	45
February 2020	5	5	0	15	25
March 2020	5	5	0	20	30
April 2020	15	10	5	45	75
May 2020	25	20	10	75	130

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

Russell Court Nursing Home in Longfield celebrates two 101st birthdays

Gravesend Messenger 28.5.2020

Picture feature on two ladies who celebrated their 101st birthdays within days of each other. Because of Covid restrictions family had to celebrate with them by video link. Both were married during the war, one recalls having to spend her wedding night in a bomb shelter in the east end of London.

Photographers taking 'doorstep portraits' capture candid picture of life in lockdown from Kent's towns and villages

Kent Messenger 27.5.2020

Picture Feature on Estelle Thompson Photography who has been taking pictures of Covid Lockdown life in Fawkham to raise money for the NHS, so far £500. One picture shown is of the new rector of Fawkham and Hartley, Adele Barker.

Parish Council Meeting 11 May 2020

Parish Council: Councillors

11 councillors were present for the annual meeting. Apologies were received from Cllrs Alford and Mrs Ewing. Also present was Cllr Brazier (KCC) and 1 member of the public. There were no declarations of interest. Cllrs Mrs Oxtoby and Abraham were reelected as chairman and vice chairman accordingly. Committee membership remained unchanged.

Parish Council: Policies

The meeting reviewed and approved various policies without amendment.

Parish Council: Covid-19

Council agreed to spend £112 on a new computer screen and to donate £1,000 to Sevenoaks Council's fundraising effort for local charities (Age UK Sevenoaks & Tonbridge, Domestic Abuse Volunteer Support Services, Friends for Families (Sevenoaks) and West Kind Mind). Overall Sevenoaks Council volunteer scheme is helping 4,700 residents in tier 1 category, 35 Hartley volunteers helping 69 households requiring weekly assistance, local shops are willing helpers. Cllr Brazier said KCC had taken over procurement of Protective Equipment but due to substantial costs will now have to charge care homes for delivery. He also mentioned Pepper Hill recycling centre is due to reopen soon.

Finance: Internal audit

The internal auditor said they had more than £85,000 in the bank so were not completely covered by the financial compensation scheme. Council decided to open business account with Nationwide. He also noted website needs to be checked for accessibility compliance, but seemed OK.

Finance: Insurance

Council accepted quote of £1,772 from Pen Underwriting Limited.

Finance: Annual Report

The accounts for 2019/20 were completed. At the beginning of the year the council had £271,677 balance, added to this was £133,697 from council tax and £38,378 from other income (nearly £13,000 of which came from the Community Infrastructure levy). Expenditure exceeded income but they still ended the year with a balance of £243,972. Total cash and short term investments was £249,091.

Finance: Payments

Payments for May of £16,687 were agreed

Roads: Cherry Trees

Landlords have awarded contract to repair paving slabs but this has been delayed by Covid.

Two men charged with conspiring to burgle newsagents in Longfield, Chatham and Rochester

KM Medway Edition 6.5.2020

One of alleged cases relates to shop in Station Road, Longfield where a quantity of cigarettes was taken on 13 April.

1 June 2020 - MPs Laura Trott, Tom Tugendhat and Gareth Johnson urge Robert Jenrick to 'call in' Sevenoaks District Council's Local Plan

News April 2020

Fri, 10 Apr 2020 15:40:00 GMT

18 April 2020 - Arriva announce further bus reductions

As a result of the Covid-19 emergency, Arriva announce that Saturday services on the 489 to Gravesend will be reduced from every 80 minutes to just 4 journeys a day.Arriva Press Release

Parish Council Meeting 15 April 2020

15 April 2020 - Parish Council: Councillors
This was the council's first virtual online meeting as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. Present were Cllrs Oxtoby, Abraham, Bennett, Penny Cole, Driscoll, Graeme, Malham, Mohr, Ross, Sewell. Also Cllr Brazier (KCC) and 2 members of the public. Apologies from Cllrs Alford and Perry Cole. No declarations of interest were received.>

15 April 2020 - Burial Grounds: New Burial Ground
The big news was the announcement that the burial ground was ready and the council voted to open it with immediate effect. Other matters considered at the meeting of 9 March were: (1) Concerns about state of lavender and box border. (2) They will obtain quotes for post and chain fence to separate ashes burial site. (3) Path from car park to be cleared of vegetation and moss. (4) They plan to get new quotes for the brick plinths. (5) They have appointed the firm Gardens of England as the gravedigger. (6) Following a request to reserve a plot for interment of ashes, they had said in August that was allowed but now they have considered the matter further and reversed that decision. They were concerned about revenue loss if the burial was many years later, and also might be too hard to administer (approved by full council). (7) They recommended banning larger American style caskets for burials (approved by full council)>

15 April 2020 - Burial Grounds: Hartley Burial Ground
(1) Shed is full of rubbish and looked dangerous, they will tell Mr Munday they plan to remove it. (2) Wooden fence to left of entrance gate requires repair as it is leaning. (3) they have told an enquirer that it is OK to bury ashes in a reserved grave space, however a burial could no longer take place there.>

15 April 2020 - Burial Grounds: Old Garden of Remembrance
Extra layer of bark to be added to the newly planted area>

15 April 2020 - Burial Grounds: Charges
They amended the scale of fees agreed at the October meeting because they realised they wanted to increase fees for out of parish people by £15 not £5 (approved by full council)>

15 April 2020 - Amenities: Gorsewood
They accepted quote from Sevenoaks Council of £850 to clear up flytipping there>

15 April 2020 - Covid-19: Manor Field Pavilion
They closed Manor Field Pavilion on 23 March. Someone to visit once a week to check on condition and to make the building "occupied" so legionella insurance is not invalidated. Full legionella test to be done before reopening.>

15 April 2020 - Covid-19: Playgrounds
They closed them until at least 30 April. They resolved to set up arrangements to inspect them every 8 weeks as required by insurers (they have amended their requirements which would normally be 4 weeks because of the crisis)>

15 April 2020 - Covid-19: Parish Office
Office is closed. Assitant clerk will work there, clerk will work from home, refurbished laptop bought to achieve this (£577 to include required login software). If clerk needs to attend office, it must be when assistant clerk isn't there. Council agreed to delegate power to clerk to spend up to £2,000 on matters arising from the pandemic.>

15 April 2020 - Covid-19: Volunteers
Cllr Penny Cole reported the Sevenoaks Council scheme has 33 volunteers in Hartley>

15 April 2020 - Finance: Payments
Payments of £9,142 for April were agreed.>

Hartley farmer, Kent County Council and NFU Mutual call for care on countryside walks over Easter weekend

Sheep worrying at Hartley Bottom farm leaves two sheep injured, one of the dog assailants being a daschund. Farmer reports many more walkers on footpaths since the Covid-19 restrictions were imposed.

(Dartford Messenger, 10.4.20)

News Jan - March 2020

Sun, 23 Feb 2020 14:50:00 GMT

Hartley Players support West Kingsdown, New Ash Green and Longfield community charities with show profits

Donations by Hartley Players to Carers' Cafe at Wellfield and also other local charities.

(Kent Messenger, 30.3.20)

Darent Valley Hospital nurse says new Arriva bus timetable will not let her get to work

Following the new Covid-19 timetable for the 423/433 route from Hartley to Dartford introduced on 28 March, a Hartley nurse explains how difficult it is to get to work at Darent Valley Hospital for 7am when the first bus is not now until 10am. The timetable is basically a Sunday level of service.

(Dartford Messenger, 30.3.20)

Pensioner injured after being robbed in own home in Hartley

Woman in 80s atacked in house in Church Road on 3 March. Purse stolen.

(Dartford Messenger, 10.3.20)

Parish Council Meeting 9 March 2020

Parish Council: Councillors

12 councillors attended the meeting plus one member of the public. No councillors declared interests in agenda items

Finance: Reserves

The council added £13,365 unspent from other reserves back to the general reserve. They have so much money in reserve that they need to open another bank account because the Barclays account now exceeds the £85,000 compensation scheme maximum.

Parish Council: Website

The internal auditor said they needed to comply with Website Accessibility Guidelines by September 2020, clerk to investigate.

Finance: Policies

The Finance Committee also reviewed various financial policies.

Amenities: Manor Field

The contractor for the car park lighting said they had quoted for the lights outside the pavilion. The car park lights would be a lot more - £750. Council agreed to pay.

Youth Services:

Council agreed to increase youth budget from £4,000 to £12,000 to cover Hartley's annual contribution to new scheme mentioned at the January meeting. The Sevenoaks Youth Bus will be available so the outdoor provision at Hartley can run all year. The scheme will run from 1 April 2020 for 48 weeks with 2 week breaks in the summer and Christmas. Full council supported the recommendation 9 votes to 2. Councillors also agreed to pay £100 for portable toilet at Family Fun Day in August.

Roads: Ash Road

Gates to be installed in the next month. Parish council told by KCC request for diversionary route when Ash Road was blocked was not possible, all they would do is put up 'Road Closed' signs. They will put in a request to KCC Highways Improvement Plan for the whole of Ash Road between Church Road and St Johns Lane to be resurfaced. Cllr Brazier (KCC) was surprised they requested this as it was far too expensive.

VE Day Commemorations:

Additional costs of £525 for security for the marquee approved.

Roads: Gorsewood Road

Complaints received about the state of the road. Cllr Oxtoby thought it was a general problem in Hartley

Amenities: Allotments

Further to the previous meeting they accepted quotes from Mr Munday of £335 (fence) and £185 (bushes)

Finance: Payments

Payments of £9,011 for March were approved

Coronavirus: Brits stranded on cruise ship Grand Princess off California to be flown home

70 year old woman from Hartley on birthday cruise tells of conditions on board ship as it is held off the coast of America.

(Dartford Messenger, 9.3.20, and 11.3.20)

Crime Report - March

From e-watch website. Due to the current emergency they have no reports after 14 March. Theft of green wheelie bin 2 (Larksfield 1, PItfield 1); theft of vehicle or trailer (Woodland Avenue 1, Porchester Close 1); criminal damage 2 (Woodland Avenue 1, Caxton Close 1); burglary of outbuilding 1 (Larksfield).

Crime Report - February

From e-watch website. Criminal damage to vehicle 2 (Porchester Close 1, Caxton Close 1); theft from vehicle 1 (Springcroft 1); burglary of outbuilding 1 (Porchester Close).

Driver arrested after pursuit by off-duty Swanley officer

21 year old man from Farningham accused of failing to stop at road accident at Longfield on 15 February.

(News Shopper, 26.2.2020)

Storm Dennis: train damaged and services delayed after collision with fallen tree at Longfield

Falling tree caused damage to train outside Longfield Station at 10.16am (pictures)

(Kent Messenger, 16.2.2020)

Parish Council meeting 10 Feburary 2020

Parish   Council: Councillors
12 of the 13 councillors were in   attendance, plus county councillor Cllr Brazier and 1 member of the   public. Cllr Oxtoby declared an interest   in the redecoration of the pavilion as she is related to one of the   contractors.
Amenities:   Cricket
Cricket club reported the posts protecting   the square at Manor Field had been moved as had their equipment in the   storage container. Football club to be   informed in case it was them. Cricket   club running family fun day with licensed bar on 23 May.
Amenities:   Allotments
Quotations to be sought to remove fence   panels to assess damage to neighbours fence as agreed in November meeting,   also to cut back bushes encroaching on allotments.
Amenities: Manor   Field Pavilion
They had got 4 quotes for a schedule   of works but now wanted to change the specifications. They went back to the two preferred bidders   and full coucil accepted quote from The Sixpence Company for £2,550.   Faulty shower tap repaired for £195. Calor Gas have written to say pipework will   need replacing. They also accepted a   quote from Hartley Electrical Contractors for £65 to test the emergency   lights.
Amenities:   Trees
They have not heard further from the landowner   regarding the tree overhanging the burial ground, District Council agree it   is dangerous but said it is up to the Parish Council to do something about   it. PC will write threatening to take   legal advice if nothing done. Council   accept offer from Kent Downs AONB Team for 45 ash saplings at a subsidised   price of £101. Location of planting to   be confirmed.
Amenities:   Gorsewood
Fly tipping continues at Gorse Wood. Items dumped include mattresses, a   trampoline and enclosure and bags of clothes.    West Kent Housing Association say their staff may be able to use their   volunteering days to help in any clean up organised by the parish council.
Cherry Trees:   Shops
Following complaints about the state of the   paving there in November, they wrote to the landlord but have received no   reply. Kent Highways not interested   because it is private land. They have   written to the MP, and he has written to the landlords but got no reply   either.
Amenities:   Playgrounds
Mr Mundy to be asked to action the 24   points from the latest playgrounds inspection.
Amenities:   Woodland Avenue
Committee rejected request to hold a   3 day traditional family funfair there, and allowed the person who crashed   into the gate to pay the £360 cost at £10 per week.
Planning:
Council to ask Sevenoaks about green belt policy   after permission for building was granted (? Quay House)
Finance:   Payments
Payments for February of £12,435 were   agreed, including £1,680 for 7 days' work at Rectory Meadow.

Bad weather incidents

Kent Fire Brigade clear fallen trees at Hodsoll Street and Caling Croft, New Ash Green.

Police in Horton Kirby and New Ash Green find 700 cannabis plants as well as knives, a knuckle duster and an axe

Two rooms in a house at Coltstead, New Ash Green, used for growing the plants (about 2kg).

(Kent Messenger, 8.2.2020)

Crime Report - January

From e-watch website. Criminal damage to car 4 (Porchester Close 3, Northfield 1); Burglary 1 (Church Road); attempted burglary of outbuilding 1 (Ash Road)

Kent Catholic Schools' Partnership forced to think again about Kent Test policy

Group which runs Our Lady of Hartley RC Primary School among several others, have postponed their recent ban on pupils sitting the Eleven Plus Kent Test at the school, to allow current year 5s to sit the exam this year.

(Kent Messenger 22.1.2020)

Hartley Parish Council Meeting 13 January 2020

Parish Council: Councillors
12 members of the council were present along with Cllr Brazier (KCC) and 2 members of the public

Finance: Community Infrastructure Levy
The council has received £12,641 from this source. Cllr Abraham said Sevenoaks had confirmed they could use the money on the Manor Field Car Park, which the Finance Committee authorised at the same meeting, including £750 to Hargreaves Architects Ltd to prepare plans.

Finance: Precept
Council sets 2020/21 precept at £137,773 (2019/20 - £133,697) with a band D charge up 3% at £53.89.

Finance: Insurance
Additional charge of £11.33 to include the new burial ground Pergola.

Parish Council: Office Equipment
They decided laptops were a better buy and so authorised purchase of two for £972 plus over £500 set up costs with Wrotham Computer Care Limited. The contract for the photocopier has come to an end so they decided on a 5 year contract with existing supplier Kent County Supplies at £140.45 per quarter and 0.21p per b&w copy and 2.1p per colour copy (current contract is £190.90 per quarter with 0.37p b&w and 3.4p per colour, last year they made 72,529 b&w copies and 39,165 copies). They will need to remove the hard disk on the old copier for £500 because there may personal data about benefit claimants on it.

Youth Services:
Following West Kent Housing's withdrawal of provision of youth services, plans had been drawn up by the youth Hub delivery manager for 1 x 2 hour youth club in New Ash Green and West Kingsdown (all year) and 1 x 2 hour street provision at Hartley (summer months). Committee rejected current plans, partly on cost grounds. Family fun day in August at Woodland Avenue had been well attended

Health: Urgent Care Centre
Council happy that public consultation supported Gravesham Hospital as the site for this. They also plan to send letters of complaint about the local surgery, in particular the new prescription ordering system.

Roads: Ash Road
Finance Committeee OK with increased cost of £2,786 for village gates. Also they are unhappy KCC will not install a fixed speed camera here because the road doesn't have a record of serious accidents. Police apparently recently carried out recent speed checks, which the council have asked for details of. KCC Highways Improvement plan rejected HPC request for alternative route when Ash Road is blocked.

Roads: Castle Hill
Following complaints about lorries using the road, council to request signs at either end.

Hartley WI:
Council gives them permission to decorate Hartley Green with knitted sunflowers to celebrate their 100th anniversary in 1921

Roads: Merton Avenue
Complaint about the state of the unmade up par tof the road referred to Kent Highways.

Amenities: Manor Field
Council agreed to pay Kent County Services £1,750 to pave area around VE day beacon

Amenities: Manor Field Pavilion
They accepted quote of £642 from Hartley Electrical Contractors to install external socket and £188 to replace car park floodlights

Roads: Stack Lane
Sign at junction with Church Road needs replacing, district council are aware

Roads:   Manor Lane
Sign at junction with Church Road needs   replacing, district council are not aware
Planning:
Cllr Abraham says Sevenoaks have no intention of   withdrawing draft district plan, which was rejected by the inspector.
Finance:   Payments
Payments of £8,908 for January were   approved.

Southeastern delays as train hits bicycle on tracks at Longfield

Hour delay to services after accident which occurred at 8.15pm

(Kent Messenger, 4.1.2020)

New Urgent Treatment Centres

Sun, 23 Feb 2020 10:57:00 GMT

The NHS are currently rolling out Urgent Treatment Centres across the country. The reason for this is to reduce the pressure on A&E Departments. The UTCs will replace the current provision of a Minor Injuries Unit at Gravesend Hospital and the Walk In White Horse Surgery at Northfleet. Research has shown that many people are confused as to which is the appropriate place to visit.

In August 2019 the Dartford, Gravesham and Swanley Clinical Commissioning Group ran a consultation on the site of the local UTC. They had two options - Gravesend Hospital or Darent Valley Hospital. They appeared to favour the latter option, because it offered the greater scope to reduce the pressure on A&E. From a Hartley point of view, their transport modelling found that Darent Valley was preferable in terms of times taken to get there either by car or bus.

80% of the 16,374 replies favoured Gravesend Hospital though. Unfortunately the questionnaire only asked for the first 3 digits of the postcode, so a DA1 reply might have meant DA1 (Dartford) or DA11/12/13 (Gravesend) for example. People tended to vote for the site nearest them, but concerns about parking and public transport weighed against the Darent Valley option too.

Official responses from neighbouring health areas did highlight the potential effect on them, depending on which site was chosen. Darent Valley was the preferred site for the Bexley and West Kent CCGs because they felt a site a Gravesend would send patients in their direction. Similar concerns of patients crossing borders led Medway CCG to prefer Gravesend. Darent Valley Hospital had done some research on cases currently streamed to the minor injury section, and reckoned a UTC on site would reduce this number by 79%.

The outcome is that there will now be two UTCs, one at Gravesend Hospital and one co-located with the A&E Department at Darent Valley Hospital.

News October - December 2019

Sun, 23 Feb 2020 10:50:00 GMT

Parish Council Meeting 9 December 2019

Parish   Council: Councillors
10 councillors were present with   apologies from Cllrs Abraham and Ewing
Amenities:   Allotments
Further to the last meeting they have   repaired their fence and met with the resident who says their fence had been   damaged by the leaning of the parish council fence, they authorised the   repairs up to a limit of £100 but also enquired whether their insurers would   pay for it.
Amenities:   Football
Hartley De Sales said the lines need to be   marked every week as they are sometimes too faint. Council did not want to do it more than the   current 2 weekly. They will write to   the football club to ask them not to play If pitches are too waterlogged.
Amenities: Manor   Field Pavilion
Some actions authorised following   legionella inspection. They have   agreed specifications for internal decoration, and will go out to tender   now. They have been told the VE Day   Commemoration will need an external industrial mains socket to avoid tripping   the electrics in the pavilion. They   will go out to tender for this.   They   have renewed the boiler service contract with Caches at the same price of   £470 pa.
Amenities: Manor   Field
No quotes received for car park resurfacing   because they need plans and specifications, it now seems that costs will have   to come out of the council's general reserve and so they refer the matter to   the Finance Committee with a recommendation that they appoint an architect   for £750 to prepare details. They   agreed to pay £195 to cut hedge on northern boundary. Works approved for 2020 re fertiliser and   moss/weed control (£1,024)
Amenities:   Trees
Landowner's tree surgeon has not cut dangerous   tree overhanging burial ground, and council are beginning to get complaints   about the cordoned off area. They have   chased matters.
Amenities:   Gorsewood
Quote accepted from Sevenoaks Council of   £190 to remove flytipping there. In   the future they will consider hiring a skip to get volunteers to clear it up.
Amenities:   Rectory Meadow
There are plans to cut the meadow 7   times this year and they agreed that NW Kent Countryside Project can nominate   the site for the "Save our Magnificent Meadows" project.
Roads: Cherry   Trees
Council passed on complaints about the state of   the paving to the agents, only to be told they no longer act for the   landlords.
Amenities:   Woodland Avenue
Replacement gate to cost £300
Burial Grounds:   Charges
Council agreed with committee recommendation   to increase all fees by £5.
Burial Grounds:   New Burial Ground
New plinths not dressed, council   not sure what they had ordered, but were prepared to pay up to £500 to sort   this out. They accepted a gift of a   memorial bench, subject to them approving the design and siting. No quotes received yet to extend water   supply from pavilion to standpipe there.    They discussed whether they should allow people to buy plots, they   thought they would lose on this if the plot were not used for years, so they   were in favour of a reservation fee of £100 for 20 years, this would be   applied to the current cost of the plot but they needed to check the legal   points first.
Burial Grounds:   Old Garden of Remembrance
Planting had been finished   and area looks better in the committee's view, they will ask Botanical Design   if they would like now to quote for maintenance contract. Mr Mundy to be asked to reduce height of   holly tree there
Burial Grounds:   Closed churchyard
They are going to speak to the   Church about moss on the path, unclear whose responsibility that is. Resident had said the railings on the path   leading to the burial ground were loose and dangerous. So they were removed, and Mr Mundy to be   asked to replace them.
Burial Grounds:   Grass Cutting
They accepted quote from Mr Mundy of   £4,994 fpr grass cutting of all burial grounds for year 2020/21
Planning:
Council to apply with Fawkham PC to designate   Billings land near Downs Valley as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
Finance:   Payments
Payments of £17,690 for December were   approved

Parish Council Meeting 11 November 2019

Parish   Council: Councillors
8 members attended the   meeting
Finance:   Donations
Council agreed 8-0 with recommendation to   give £150 to Citizen's Advice in Swanley and Sevenoaks. In the last 12 months they had helped 50   residents of Hartley with 135 issues.    They also agreed unanimously to give £75 to West Kent Mediation, Cllr   Oxtoby said they do work in Hartley
Finance:   Precept
Council agreed 8-0 with recommendation to put   up prscent by £4,000 or a 3% increase in council tax. Mr Mayer asked why the council always quote   band D charge when the average band in Hartley is band F, Cllr Oxtoby said   that was down to Sevenoaks.
Parish Council:   Computers
They agreed 7-0 with 1 apparent absention   to buy 2 new PCs and 1 laptop for the parish office.   Cllr Driscoll suggested buying 2 laptops   instead.
Amenities:   Playgrounds
Council agreed to pay the additional   premium of £6.45 for the new equipment at Longfield Hill
Roads: Village   Gate
Following agreement at May meeting, the cost of   the gates will be £2,700 which all councillors attending supported. Cllr Abraham wondered if it could be paid   from the Community infrastructure money.    Cllr Bennett said they are due to get £10,000 from this source.
Northfield:
They agreed to accepted quote from Mr Westwood of   £510 to cut grass for 5m field boundary, 3m footpaths and horse riding path   for 2020/21, and quote from Mr Munday of £1,200 to cut strip of land by   Milestone Academy and play area. They   accepted Glover's quote of nil to cut the hay in 2020/21. Still complaints about ragwort treatment,   council to give detailed explanation - it is a legal requirement, dangerous   to animals that eat hay with ragwort in it.    The weedkiller dries within half an hour and is safe for animals   within 2 weeks, dogs unlikely to eat the grass. Skylarks more likely to be disturbed by   dogs that people let run free.    Payments of £3,400 were authorised, including £1,170 for ragwort   removal, £595 for tree survey, insurance £330, dog bin emptying £343, grass   cutting play area £318. For next   year's budget they still only need a £10 contribution from each parish   council.
Finance:   Payments
Payments of £13,097 were authorised,   including £3,443 on the submission for the new District Plan and £1,658 for 2   new plinths

Parish Council Meeting 14 October 2019

Parish Council: Councillors

Just 5 councillors attended this meeting, plus Cllr Brazier (KCC) and one member of the public. Councillors are to be given council email addresses so they don't get official data mixed up with personal email addresses.

Amenities: Cricket

Manor Field club said numbers had fallen and they may only play on Saturdays next season. Family fun day was successful but didn't get any new members.

Amenities: Gorsewood

Member of public at meeting reported broken fence panels, fly tipping, broken gate allowing motor bikes to get into wood and anti-social behaviour in the car park was noted. Mr Munday to be asked to deal with fence panels, gate and a tree shading light in car park. Council refused further request to prune tree near Porcheser Close. Reguarding flytipping, West Kent Housing have said they are unable to help other than providing anti-flytipping posters.

Amenities: Football

Problems with the goal post sockets were raised by the football club, and alternatives and grants were discussed.

Amenities: Manor Field Pavilion

Hartley Players had booked the Pavilion from September to November and asked for a discount because they said the profits from their shows are donated to charity, this time the Wellfield Carers Cafe. Committee said they were already getting the lower regular hirers fee of £9 per hour, and they only waive fees for one off events, so recommend the request be rejected. Full council ratified the recommendation. They also decided to change electricity supplier from British Gas to SSE.

Amenities: Playgrounds

Mr Munday to be asked to fix self closing gates at Woodland Avenue and Chantry Avenue, which are closing too quickly and several other items raised in the recent inpsection. He has also repaired the safety surface at Longfield Hill. They decided to get a metal bin for Woodland Avenue to replace the current sack bin. This had been installed some years ago because the old metal bin kept being set alight. The sacks have prevented this, but they regularly break and scatter litter across the field. Complaints have been received about dog mess on Woodland Avenue ground and even the playground.

Amenities: Hoselands Green

Council to spend £1,420 with Down to Earth Trees Limited removing ivy from Ash trees there

Burial Grounds: Hartley Burial Ground

Council to write again to adjoining landowner about overhanging tree, to say matter is urgent

Amenities: Grass Cutting

Quotations from Landscape Services of £8,648 to cut the amenity land and open spaces 2020-22, and £2,509 to cut Manor Field and Longfield Hill 2020-22.

Amenities: Allotments

Council refused request to cut elder tree near Larksfield entrance, and they decided to find out how much Sevenoaks will charge to remove some rubbish.

Amenities: Rectory Meadow

Only quote from North West Kent Countryside Project of £1,680 for spring and summer cuts of grass.

Food Bank:

Representative from prospective food bank addressed General Purposes Committee. They said there was a need for one in Hartley. They had been offered a site in New Ash Green but it was not ideal because of lack of disabled access. The committee said the parish council's buildings were unsuitable but they supported the idea.

Roads: Ash Road

Following an accident outside their property, a member of the public had requested more action on speeding on Ash Road. Council said they had sent their Speed Indicator statistics to the County Council, but had been told it was not bad enough for a fixed camera, but mobile cameras would be located here on occasion. They also mentioned Speed Watch, but it was felt people were nervous of doing this. Committee agreed to make another request for a fixed camera. Council also discussed the gates they want to put at either end, they decided they wanted the larger size and had got agreement of neighbours to site of southern gate.

Youth Services:

Report said attendees for youth provision had held up well, but West Kent Housing Association said they would no longer be able to provide it. They had lost 2 youth workers and were having trouble recruiting new staff. Council to look at joint provision with Ash and West Kingsdown, as Ash were experiencing similar problems.

Roads: Everglade Close

Request from resident for no parking sign referred to Sevenoaks Council

Roads: Old Downs

No through road sign shortly to be installed.

Roads: Church Road

KCC have agreed to install signs warning of no footpath and possibility of horses

Health: Urgent Care Centre

Council have written to say they prefer Gravesend Hospital to be the site over Darent Valley Hospital

Elections:

They have written to Sevenoaks to say they don't want any changes to location of polling stations

Remembrance Sunday:

Council agreed on arrangements and thanked the WI for providing refreshments

Parish Council: Emergency Plan

They are satisfied the emergency plan is up to date

Transport: Buses

Cllr Graeme reported on a new "Taxi Bus" service which runs from Fairseat to Sevenoaks, using existing bus stops and fares, Cllr Brazier said he was involved in it and it may be extended to Hartley and New Ash Green if there is a demand. It had 8 seats but company were contracted to put more buses on if full.

Finance: Payments

Payments for October of £13,470 were agreed.

Planning: District Plan

Council agree to pay planning consultant to attend 3 days of the examination of the plan. They will be representing the No Hartley Expansion group as well as the council

Red Arrow pilot involved in fatal crash which killed Dartford man was 'fatigued and distracted'

Report of inquest on engineer Corporal Jonathan Bayliss, who grew up in Hartley and went to Longfield School, who was a passenger on the plane that crashed.

(Dartford Messenger, 14.10.2019)

Sarah Wellgreen murder trial

Lengthy article about the accused's movements on the night of the murder, including CCTV footage from various properties in Hartley and Ash just after 2am of his Zafira Taxi, returning about 2 hours later. Defence claim it is not the same car.

(Gravesend Messenger, 3.10.2019. Also Jury visit key sites in New Ash Green GM 2.10.19)

Crime Details

From the e-watch website.

December: Theft of motorbike (2 - Manor Drive, Pitfield); theft of horsebox (1 - Manor Road); theft of wheelie bin (2 - Woodland Avenue, Caxton Close)

News July - September 2019

Sun, 23 Feb 2020 10:49:00 GMT

Parish Council Meeting 9 September 2019

Parish Council: Councillors

There were 10 councillors present, plus the clerk and 3 members of the public

Amenities: Cricket

The showers at Manor Field had been cold at 7pm, the council's electrician found a loose wire which has partially solved the problem, but the cricket club says it is still running cold. Meopham have lost a junior team so won't need Longfield Hill this year but they will continue to maintain it because they hope to have a team in 2020.

Amenities: Football

Council accepted quotation from KCC Landscape Services to mark out 3 pitches and another 9 a side pitch with respect lines, for £631. The club had complained one set of posts was leaning and asked for new sockets. Council agreed there is a problem, but think grass cutting would also damage any new sockets and they would be expensive, so they want to meet the club to discuss alternatives.

Amenities: Manor Field Pavilion

The Fire Risk Assessment found no new issues, and they accepted quote from BrodexTrident to do a legionella risk assessment for £350.

Amenities: Playgrounds

Quote from Playdale for a Timber Combo 10 to be installed at Longfield Hill has been accepted, cost £2,748. They are going to ask Mr Mundy if he can repair the surfacing. They also hope Mr Mundy can grease the Chantry Avenue roundabout which is stiff to turn, but it may be unaccessible, if so it will cost them £155.

Amenities: Trees

Tree risk assessment reported dangerous tree on land bordering burial ground which is overhanging parish council's land. They have put the shed out of bounds because of the risk and have written to the landowner.

Amenities: Fairby Lane

Parish council turned down request for dog bin at Fairby Lane because they don't own the land.

Amenities: Allotments

Rubbish has been dumped near the gate apparently this included a three piece suite, allotment owners to be told not to do that. One of the owners has replaced the leaking taps.

Amenities: Gorsewood

There have been instances of fly tipping near the Caxton Close car park. Council to keep log of incidences in Hartley because they blame KCC for introducing charges to dispose of certain items at Pepper Hill.

Amenities: Recycling

Council voted 9-0 to reject a suggestion by Sevenoaks Council that the bottle banks be restored to Woodland Avenue (they had been removed in 2011)

Burial Grounds: New Burial Ground

They discussed some landscaping issues. They also decided to charge the same as the existing burial ground, confirming to a question from Mr Mayer that the 3 times fee for non-residents would also apply. Reservations for burials would be allowed but not for specific plots. They accepted a £430 increase in the cost of the pergola because oak prices had risen folliowing the fire at Notre Dame.

Burial Grounds: Hartley Burial Ground

They accepted a request from a resident who had purchased a plot for £30 in 1994 to swap this for a plot to bury a pot of ashes

Burial Grounds: Old Garden of Remembrance

They accepted a quote from Bottanical to supply and install plants for flowerbed at cost of £484. They have received a donation of £300 from a resident towards this.

VE Day Commemorations:

The Committee discussed a number of suggetions including coconut shy, ice cream van, vintage fire engine, involvement of schools and rugby club, possible Hartley Players play, cine footage, bar, lighting of beacon.

Finance: Payments

Payments of £28,543 were agreed. Dr Roberts queried why the council is being billed £913 for a parish council election that didn't take place? They promised to query this with Sevenoaks.

Electoral Register Details

(31 July) Review of polling places by Sevenoaks Council has the following details about local polling:

Hodsoll Street and Ridley - 415 electors (56 of them with postal votes)

Hartley North - 2,267 electors (372 with postal votes)

Hartley South - 2,161 electors (358 with postal votes)

Parish Council Meeting 8 July 2019

Parish Council: Councillors

Only 8 councillors were present at the meeting

Food Bank:

County Councillor Brazier reported that a food bank is to open in New Ash Green. They are getting the unit in the shopping centre for free and both he via the member's scheme and Sevenoaks Council will be contributing towards it.

Amenities: Cricket

Cricket club at Manor Field having difficulty finding someone to remove the sight screens. They also report showers were cold at 7pm.

Amenities: Football

Hartley De Sales complained about large increase in fees last year and said they might not carry on if they go up again. Council agree on a £46 increase to £1,900 for the 4 teams and will provide details of their costs. Will provide new sockets for goal posts and paint them too.

Amenities: Manor Field Pavilion

New LED emergency light to be provided in kitchen hallway and Gents after annual test found them too dim, cost £110. Local resident with relevant qualifications has offered to do fire risk assessment for free, council agreed with thanks. Apparently there are no smoke alarms in the pavilion. Works to cold water tank following 2017 recommendations to prevent legionella to be undertaken by Caches Ltd for £283.

Amenities: Manor Field

Council to get quotes for gravel stabilisation grid for carpark, as the district council will not allow tarmac in green belt. Both floodlights in car park need replacing.

Amenities: Playgrounds

Minor repairs authorised to Woodland Avenue, Longfield Hill and Chantry Avenue playgrounds following inspections. Seat on cradle swing at Woodland Avenue will need replacing at cost of £174.

Amenities: Woodland Avenue

Gate damaged by car crashing into it. Quotations for new gate being obtained.

Amenities: Pond

Council decided not to do anything about the pond, although they were concerned about its state. Kent County Council said they would only act to maintain drainage from road, not anything aesthetic. A local group had put a notice to advocate improvements.

Amenities: Allotments

Council allowed request by allotment holder to grow 2 miniature apple trees. Two notices threatening termination of tenancy to be sent to tenants of uncultivated plots. Neighbouring landowner complains about council's fence leaning on theirs and tree shading out their garden. Council to do something about the fence but not the tree as they say it isn't a health and safety problem. Council also refused request to crown ash tree overhanging another plot as it was not on their land and they don't think it will make a difference. Fees for allotments to be unchanged for 2020/21.

Amenities: Trees

They are waiting for a report on Ash trees and die back. They are difficult to deal with as felling may cause them to explode; cost per tree about £1,000. Branch of tree at the Burial Ground and trees by a property at Porchester Close to be removed. Other trees near Porchester Close were said to be interfering with television picture, but council say they are not a health and safety hazard so won't take action. Another resident concerned about tree in Hartley Wood, tree surgeon said it wasn't a risk but recommended pruning hornbeams by the property, council to get quotation.

Burial Grounds: New Burial Ground

Council accept quote from Jade Construction Limited of £4,400 for 2m x 6m pergola.

Burial Grounds: Burial Ground

Some actions following visual inspection. They agree to accept reservation of double plot request but only if plot not needed before new burial ground opened. Old Garden of Remembrance to be planted with new plants and shrubs, following complaint from resident that area did not look well tended.

VE Day Commemorations:

Initial plans: Service at War Memorial (3pm), Event at Manor Field (4pm). Quotations to be obtained for marquee hire, fireworks, PA system. Budget of £7,000 agreed

Car badly damaged and wall demolished in crash in Ash Road, Hartley

Car crashed into wall of house near Hartley Green at 1.47am.

(Gravesend Messenger 7.7.2019)

News February - June 2019

Tue, 22 Oct 2019 18:46:00 GMT

Longfield community queen Sandra is Birthday Honours MBE

Lady who prevented Steep Hill School in Fawkham closing in 1989 by setting it up as a charitable trust, is awarded MBE.

(Gravesend Reporter 28.6.19)

A New Ash Green garage explodes

Pictures of fire and eyewitness accounts of garage fire at Caling Croft, New Ash Green.

(Gravesend Messenger 18.6.19)

Suspect will now stand trial no earlier than September 30

Trial of man accused of murdering missing mum Sarah Wellgreen of Bazes Shaw, New Ash Green, has been put off for at least 3 months say police.

(News Shopper 13.6.19)

Parish Council Meeting 10.6.2019

Roads:   Ash Road
Puffin crossing to be installed near   Parkfield at a cost of £32,500. Part   of Hoselands Green to be taken to widen the pavement. County council want to move the bus stop to   between Larksfield and Church Road, unacceptable to parish council as too far   from Wellfield. Recent traffic survey   suggests increase in traffic in last 2 years.
(Parish   Council Meeting 10 June 2019)

Youth   Services:
Sessions are being held at Woodland Avenue on   a Tuesday. Young people say they would   like indoor youth provision but not village hall as too far away, and outdoor   gym, council to consider latter. Local   resident raises concern about nitrous oxide cartridges. Family fun day to be held at Woodland   Avenue on 13 August.
(Parish Council Meeting 10 June   2019)

Roads:   Signage
Council to request KCC to install two new   signs (1) At narrowing of Church Road to warn of no pavement (2) No through   road at entrance to Old Downs.
(Parish Council Meeting 10   June 2019)

Roads:   Village Gate
Council looking at putting one in at   the northern and southern ends of Ash Road, can't have 30mph sign there too   as this is not the start of the limit and repeater signs on gates are not   allowed. This will cost £1,500 per   gate.
(Parish Council Meeting 10 June 2019)

Northfield:
Invoices of about £1,650 were paid, including dog bin emptying (£166), dormice boxes (£147), hand pull ragwort etc (£640). Some complaints from residents about the ragwort spraying which the committee put down to people not realising the hay crop is fed to animals. They decided not to make Northfield a village green because they will lose Defra grants if they did. Horse riding route has 15 members, dog walkers claim the route is not being adhered to. Skylarks have been seen on the field.
(Parish Council Meeting 10 June 2019)

Finance: Payments
Payments for June were £807
(Parish Council Meeting 10 June 2019)

90 appointments cancelled as BMI Fawkham Manor Hospital to shut in June

Fawkham Manor Hospital announces its closure from 7 June, saying the hospital is no longer commercially viable.

(News Shopper 17.5.19)

Police called to overturned car in Hartley Bottom Road, Longfield

Accident (pictured) where car turned over on its side, no-one required hospital treatment.

(Gravesend Messenger 9.5.19)

Police appealing for info after woman assaulted in Hartley robbery

Four burglars take mobile phone and jewelry from property in Merton Avenue.

(News Shopper 16.4.19)

Police appeal for witnesses to Longfield pharmacy robbery

Raid on Lloyds Pharmacy in Longfield on 4 April, perfume was taken. Thieves thought to have got away along Essex Road. Paper of 10.4.19 reported that a Greenhithe man had been arrested in connection.

(News Shopper 7 & 10.4.19)

Arrest in Harvel hit and run

Man from Longfield arrested following pedestrian being hit by a car at White Horse Road, Harvel. Teenage pedestrian was injured and taken to a hospital in London.

(Gravesend Reporter 16.2.19)

Parish Council Meeting 8.4.2019

  08 April 2019 - Parish   Council: Councillors
8 councillors ere   present, plus Cllr Brazier (KCC) and 2 members of the   public
Parish Council   Meeting

      08 April 2019 - Parish Council:   Staff
Clerk had said because assistant   clerk only works 3 days a week, she is getting a lot of tasks which stop her   doing her job. Council agreed   unanimously to close office from 1pm on Friday and to increase assistant   clerk's hours by up to 8 a month to deal with busy times or training, and   also to run a new job evaluation which had last been done in   2012
Parish Council   Meeting

      08 April 2019 - Finance:   Payments
Invoices of £12,861 for April   were agreed.
Parish Council   Meeting

Parish Council Meeting 11.3.2019

11 March 2019 - Parish Council: Councillors
7 councillors only attended, they appeared to be filling in their nomination forms for the election. Also present was Cllr Brazier (Kent County Council)
Parish Council Meeting

      11 March 2019 - Roads:   Springcroft
A resident of Springcroft   thanked the county council for filling in the   potholes
Parish Council   Meeting

      11 March 2019 - Burial Grounds: New Burial   Ground
They approved the layout plan   prepared by Pear Technology. It appears   to have 200 plots for burial of ashes.    Ashes will be buried in the same way as in the current ground, they   prefer for spoil to be removed from site, but need to check with the funeral   directors first.
Parish Council   Meeting

11 March 2019 - Burial Grounds: Burial Ground
Leaning fence by car park to be repaired
Parish Council Meeting

      11 March 2019 - Burial Grounds: Old Garden of   Remembrance
Slabs have been washed and   repointed. Heather and bark to be   bought for beds.
Parish Council   Meeting

      11 March 2019 - Village Hall:
Council have agreed to give £3,000 for   redecoration, but have now decided they and not the trust will commission the   works.
Parish Council   Meeting

      11 March 2019 - Finance: Bank   Accounts
Review of internal audit leads   to them deciding to require those with pin number to sign declaration not to   reveal it.
Parish Council   Meeting

11 March 2019 - Finance: Policies
Various policies were reviewed and approved. Storage container at Manor Field to be added to insurance policy.
Parish Council Meeting

      11 March 2019 - Finance: Internal   audit
David Buckett appointed as   internal auditor for next 3 years at £450 per visit plus   mileage
Parish Council   Meeting

11 March 2019 - Roads: Ash Road
New puffin crossing at Parkfield will cost £50,000. KCC will pay £12,500, Cllr Brazier member's grant will add £5,000, so PC left with £32,500 bill. They decided it was OK to award contract to KCC Highway Services. £16,000 of the PC's contribution will come from Community Infrastructure Levy money. It will probably be done in the summer. Complaints received about speeding traffic on Hoselands Hill. They are still looking at village gates, they have to be installed by KCC at a cost of £1,200 - £1,500 each. They see it as a way of reducing speeding as they will have speed limit on them (but see later meetings)
Parish Council Meeting

      11 March 2019 - Roads: Church   Road
A member of the public asked for   signs to beware of pedestrians on part with no pavement, as traffic had   increased
Parish Council   Meeting

11 March 2019 - Finance: Reserves
Reserves policy approved, as well as various transfers of funds.
Parish Council Meeting

      11 March 2019 - Youth Services:
West Kent Housing Association have   consulted with young people who tell them that rather than a family fun day   they would prefer regular programme would be better. Council agreed to pay West Ketn Communities   £3,525 for 35 weekly youth sessions at Woodland Avenue, two staff for three   hours each week. Also the chairman and   clerk can authorise any further expenses up to £4,000 youth   budget
Parish Council   Meeting

      11 March 2019 - Planning: District   Plan
Planning consultant has billed them   £1,932 for site visit, initial read of papers and advice. Council want to object to two new sites at   Chapelwood Road. Billings Group has   submitted comments to say why they think draft plan is   unsound.
Parish Council   Meeting

      11 March 2019 - Finance:   Payments
Payments of £13,013 for March   were approved
Parish Council   Meeting

Parish Council Meeting 12.2.2019

Parish Council Meeting

11 February 2019 - Parish Council: Councillors
9 councillors were present, with Cllr Brazier (KCC), Cllr Kelly (SDC), and 6 members of the public. At the meeting the only applicant Lesley Driscoll was coopted to the council, she joined the Amenities and General Purposes Committees
Parish Council Meeting

11 February 2019 - Roads: Cherry Trees
The potholes in the road have been repaired. Cllr Abraham said he had received notice of a 2 day closure but none of the shops had been told.
Parish Council Meeting

11 February 2019 - Roads: Chapelwood Road
Cllr Oxtoby said it had a lot of potholes, Cllr Brazier said he would investigate
Parish Council Meeting

11 February 2019 - Roads: Woodland Avenue
A resident said it had been cleared of snow for the first time they could remember. Cllr Brazier said that was down to a partnership between KCC and local farmers
Parish Council Meeting

11 February 2019 - Amenities: Cricket
No reply from scrap merchant about sight screens at Manor Field, so Cricket club to be asked to remove them.
Parish Council Meeting

11 February 2019 - Amenities: Manor Field Pavilion
Council reappointed Caches Limited for annual boiler maintenance for same as last year, £470. They also bought 5 soap dispensers from County Supplies for £80 because current ones are difficult to get soap for, cheaper alternative has more expensive soap.
Parish Council Meeting

11 February 2019 - Amenities: Manor Field
Cllr Malham to prepare specifications for car park either tarmac or grid mats. They also want to install lights at the gate, and repair one of the existing floodlights which hasn't worked for years.
Parish Council Meeting

11 February 2019 - Amenities: Playgrounds
Annual inspection contained a number of recommendations affecting all playgrounds, which they are acting upon. Repairs to the pod swing at Woodland Avenue to reduce risk of collapse will cost £1,729 from Playdale. They are looking at improvements at Longfield Hill and had asked Longfield PC if they would like to contribute but have received no reply.
Parish Council Meeting

11 February 2019 - Amenities: Allotments
Leylandii hedge to be lowered and ash trees reduced by Down to Earth Ltd for £442. One plot uncultivated but tenant says they want to continue, however still no rent paid, so council give them 40 days to pay.
Parish Council Meeting

11 February 2019 - Amenities: Gorsewood
Two ivy covered hornbeans to be removed at cost of £305 to reduce risk of falling onto neighbouring property, during felling works an ash tree with a crack was also noticed, and so was removed for a further £305. Two branches of another ash tree in Gorsewood to be removed following concerns raised by resident whose property they overhung.
Parish Council Meeting

11 February 2019 - Burial Grounds: New Burial Ground
They looked at designs and decided they wanted a 3m pergola, however not enough detailed quotes to make a decision
Parish Council Meeting

11 February 2019 - Burial Grounds: Hartley Burial Ground
They served notice to turf one grave and had heard nothing but apparently the family had told Mr Munday that under no circumstances should it be turfed, so it will be left.
Parish Council Meeting

11 February 2019 - Burial Grounds: Old Garden of Remembrance
Mr Munday to be asked to repoint and jet wash slabs. They are to seek advice on hedging plants where trees bordering the car park have been removed. They accepted a donation to replant flower bed.
Parish Council Meeting

11 February 2019 - Burial Grounds: Closed churchyard
Quote of £330 from Mr Munday accepted for works to various trees and shrubs.
Parish Council Meeting

11 February 2019 - Corinthian Development:
No Hartley Expansion had shared their planning consultant's response with the PC, who will add some to their own objection. New Ash Green has apparently been designated an "historic village" in the Green Belt assessment, because it is a planned development.
Parish Council Meeting

11 February 2019 - Finance: Payments
Invoices of £12,011 for February were agreed.
Parish Council Meeting

Council Elections May 2019

Tue, 22 Oct 2019 18:44:00 GMT

Sevenoaks Council have published the list of candidates for the parish and district council elections on 2 May, and similarly Dartford Borough Council for Longfield parish.

District Council (Hartley and Hodsoll Street Ward)

There are 5 candidates for the 3 council seats, 3 Conservative and 2 Green. There is some indication that Conservative and Labour are struggling to find candidates even (in the case of the Conservatives) in an area that usually votes for them. Labour has fielded someone who lives in Swanley as a candidate in New Ash Green, while the Conservatives are running their county councillor for Dartford East in Hartley. It seems that one of the current councillors for Hartley has been moved by the Conservatives to fight Hextable for them.

The election might as well not be happening though, as of the day before polling day, I have received no leaflet from either party standing. I understand some parts of Hartley may have received a leaflet from the parish council group.

Parish Council

There will be no parish council elections in Hartley, Longfield Ash or Fawkham. Hartley will be run by the usual "one party" of the "Putting Hartley First" slate of candidates who have controlled the council since 2003. All are existing councillors with the exception of Perry Cole, who is also standing for the district council as a Conservative.

One innovation introduced by the government in 2018 is that candidates do not have to publish their address, but just give the district they live in. If they do this, it means electors won't know if they live in the ward they are trying to represent. One candidate for the parish council chose to do this, so from the list of nominations it is unclear whether or not they live in Hartley. The list of candidates who will be automatically elected for Hartley are:

Larry Abraham

Christopher Alford

Sheila Bennett

Penny Cole

Perry Cole

Lesley Driscoll

Annette Ewing

David Graeme

Mally Malham

Matt Mohr

Anne Oxtoby

Ian Ross

Vince Sewell

News December 2018 - January 2019

Fri, 18 Jan 2019 22:25:00 GMT

Fall in Number of Passengers at Longfield Station

The latest 2017-18 figures from the Office of Rail Regulation show a fall in passenger numbers using Longfield from 629,000 to 605,000, a fall of 4% when passenger usage in Kent has slightly risen overall. The fall is entirely attributable to decline in season ticket sales. Perhaps this is a reflection of the ageing profile of the area, or perhaps more people are using Ebbsfleet. Meopham and Sole Street also saw falls in season ticket sales, but Meopham did see a 2% increase in usage.

Last chance for people to have say on proposals for homes on land in Fawkham and Hartley
Sevenoaks have amended the draft district plan to remove development at Corinthian Golf Club, but campaigners are still worried it might be approved later on. Another site for housing now proposed to the south of New Ash Green
(Gravesend Messenger 03 January 2019)

The best performing primary schools in Dartford
Paper lists top 20 for the latest Key Stage 2 tests: Langafel (5th), Our Lady of Hartley (10th), Hartley Primary (13th)
(News Shopper 13 January 2019)

Parish Council: Attendance
10 councillors (Oxtoby, Abraham, Bennett, Cole, Graeme, Malham, Mohr, Ross, Sewell, Tremain), along with Cllr Brazier (KCC), Cllr Kelly (Sevenoaks) and 3 members of the public. Apologies were received from Cllrs Alford and Ewing
(Parish Council Meeting 14 January 2019)

Parish Council: Councillors
Following Mrs Vesey's resignation, the council received an application for cooption from Ms Lesley Driscoll at the meeting.
(Parish Council Meeting 14 January 2019)

Parish Council: Finance
Council decided to keep precept same at £52.32 for band D property but because of more houses in Hartley this increases income from £132,803 to £133,697.
(Parish Council Meeting 14 January 2019)

Parish Council: Finance
Council has put out internal audit for tender, but has so far only received one bid.
(Parish Council Meeting 14 January 2019)

Parish Council: Finance
Council told there is no way they can get cash from Post Office without being charged by bank. So they decided to finance petty cash from cash sales of bin sacks.
(Parish Council Meeting 14 January 2019)

Corinthian Development:
Current developments on the new district plan were discussed. Council wanted to see if Ash parish council would contribute towards their planning consultant in view of large site proposed at New Ash Green. Hever Tropics etc, Orpins and Oast House Nursery Sites also mentioned.
(Parish Council Meeting 14 January 2019)

Parish Council: Payments
Payments of £11,456 were agreed for January including £1,682 for new monohinge gates, £350 to service Manor Field boiler, £416 to empty dog bins, £400 for internal audit.
(Parish Council Meeting 14 January 2019)

Sarah Wellgreen disappearance: Ben Lacomba denies murder of mum-of-five
38 year old man remanded in custody, charged wih her murder
(Gravesend Messenger 17 January 2019)

News September - November 2018

Sun, 25 Nov 2018 19:26:00 GMT

Ash Road:
Council told they could have a pelican crossing at Hoselands Green instead of a zebra crossing, which was rejected because there is too much traffic. The total cost will be £75,000, HPC have already offered £25K, Community Infrastructure Levy will add £4K and Kent Highways would pay £5-25K, but this leaves the council still at least £25K short.
(Parish Council Meeting 10 September 2018)

Business: Barclays
Barclays announce closure of Longfield branch on 14 December. Customers told to use branches in Dartford or Gravesend, or local cash machines / Post Office. The case for closure shows heavy use of the branch still. 3,180 personal customers used the branch at least 3 times in the last year, and 646 at least 12 times, among business users the numbers are 585 and 223 respecively. They say two-thirds have used another Barclays branch at least once. The numbers have fallen by around 20% since 2015, but for cash deposits the fall is much less.
(Press Release 19 September 2018)

Business: Longfield
Hazelwood Nursing Home in Brickfield sells for £9.25m. It has 50 bedrooms
(HM Land Registry 29 March 2018)

Nature: Squirrels
Article notes that albino squirrels have also been spotted at Hartley
(Kent Messenger 22 October 2018)

New Ash Green:
Hundreds help in search for missing mother, her family thanks everyone involved. Police search moves to Grange Lane area of Hartley. Police request CCTV footage from 5 mile radius. A 30 year old man was questioned and later released.
(Kent Messenger 24 October 2018)

New Ash Green:
Latest news on the search for the missing mother from Bazes Shaw, Sarah Wellgreen. Search includes Hartley Wood, Horton Kirby, New Barn, Dartford Heath and New Ash Green.
(Dartford Messenger 28 October 2018)

Hartley Bottom Road: Accidents
2 cars collide at Hartley Bottom Road, police say noone badly hurt
(Kent Messenger 02 November 2018)

New Ash Green:
Latest from the search. Police search Malthouse Road, Ridley and Idleigh Court Road, Ash.
(Kent Messenger 08 November 2018)

Corinthian Development:
Spokesman for No Hartley Expansion say they are "delighted" Corinthians and Downs Valley sites were two of the 9 green belt development sites rejected by Sevenoaks Council. The Government called for the council to provide for 14,000 houses in 20 years, but the paper says the draft plan only caters for 10,000.
(Sevenoaks Chronicle 20 November 2018)

Parish Council November 2018: Attendance
All councillors were present with the exception of Cllrs Malham and Cole. Also present were Mrs Boden (clerk), Cllr Brazier (KCC), Cllr Kelly (SDC) and 7 members of the public
(Parish Council Meeting 12 November 2018)

Parish Council: Finance
The committee recommended giving the Village Hall Trust (the council!) £3,000 for internal works. Cllr Vesey was disappointed that the £12,000 on external works was not included. Council hope to use Community Infrastructure Levy money (that is the money received from developers of new houses in Hartley), Sevenoaks have told them they can but it must be spent on the project and overseen by the Parish Council. Failure to do this could result in recovery proceedings. Council decided to seek more advice before proceeding.
(Parish Council Meeting 12 November 2018)

Parish Council: Finance
Council considered budget for 2019/20. They expect the cost of routine maintenance of open spaces to rise if the current contractor doesn't quote again, but think it can be paid out of reserves next year.
(Parish Council Meeting 12 November 2018)

Parish Council: Finance
Finance Committee thought resurfacing of the car park would be a good idea, especially when the burial ground is open, but it will cost a lot of money. Decision deferred.
(Parish Council Meeting 12 November 2018)

Parish Council: Finance
Council to receive £10,930 in Community Infrastructure Levy contributions from developers this year.
(Parish Council Meeting 12 November 2018)

Parish Council: Finance
The closure of Barclays Bank in Longfield in December will cause problems in getting petty cash. Council to investigate whether they can get it from the Post Office.
(Parish Council Meeting 12 November 2018)

Parish Council: Planning
Council to object to Sevenoaks, they also refused to meet Billings Group about the Corinthian Proposals at this stage.
(Parish Council Meeting 12 November 2018)

Parish Council: Payments
Payments of £14,631 for November were approved. This included £2,800 for tree felling and pruning (at Church car park ?), £435 for football pitch marking, £716 for cleaning and chlorination at the Manor Field Pavilion.
(Parish Council Meeting 12 November 2018)

Sevenoaks Local Plan - the Comments

Sun, 23 Sep 2018 11:04:00 GMT

Sevenoaks have apparently logged all the letters now and there are 1,716 letters listed but 105 were multiple comments from the same person, making 1,611 individuals or 1,807 if you count the total number of signatories (some letters were from more than on e person). Local SDC councillors say 10% of all replies were about Corinthian.

I have counted 77 supportive comments (for all or part of the development) and 1,530 against all or part. There are 4 neutral comments . Included in the figures are 20 doubtful ones (4 for, 16 against) where a full name has not been given, and therefore they might be rejected as anonymous.

A thousand plus objections sounds impressive, but in an area of nearly 20,000 people it is barely 10% of people objecting to something described as an existential threat to the whole area. I suspect the promoters may say that means 90% don't mind (politicians are fond of doing this when it their proposals that are controversial). Maybe it is early days or just not the way things are done locally, but in other areas with contentious plans you would expect every other house to display a poster objecting.

Needless to say I haven't got anywhere near reading them all (although many were very similar and based on the No Hartley Expansion template). Some consultees carry more weight, so I have outlined their comments below.

1. Kent County Council

Their reply is neutral but have set out the areas that need to be considered from their point of view. I suspect the developer can meet the education requirements either on site or by Section 106 contribution, however it is clear they will need a lot more work on highway capacity issues, to meet the requirements of the county council.

Secondary Schools: they will not support development in Swanley, Hextable and Hartley unless an 8 form entry school is built, preferably at Pedham Place (not currently proposed)
Primary Schools: they estimate it will result in 264 additional primary school pupils or 1.2 form entry if this and the other sites locally were built upon (942 houses). They appear to say that a combination of the additional form entry for Hartley Primary school at Corinthian and some additional capacity in the other local schools would be sufficient. They do say the developers can't count on getting any of the windfall funds from the disposal of the existing Hartley and Milestone school sites which are owned by the council.
Archaeology: most the site they don't think will be an issue but they require careful treatment of the land around Pennis House.
Highways: The council have 3 categories for assessments - A (met), B (potential to meet), C (difficult to meet). They say a full Transport Assessment will be required for a site this big. The main access they say should be from Ash Road, which is better suited to take the traffic. Overall they score access a "B", but capacity a "C".
Sustainability: they have three sustainability criteria (1) within ½ mile of bus or train with 2 services per hour, (2) within ½ mile walk of convenience store, GP surgery and primary school, (3) within ½ hour by pubic transport of GP Surgery, hospital, employment, schools and major shopping centre. An "A" ranking means all three are met, "B" is one or two, "C" is none. They class Corinthian as "B", and note that bus, cycling and foot connections to Longfield can be provided.

2. Thames Water

Thames Water handles this area's sewerage.

They are neutral on the issue of the proposals but say the Developer will have to discuss the drainage requirements with them before proceeding. They also stress the need for any development to minimise surface water run off and preferably to avoid this entering the public drainage system.

3. Other Utilities

No reply from South East Water or Gas/Electricity suppliers. However previously published documents by them suggest that they are unlikely to object but to spell out their requirements to the Developer in terms of providing the infrastructure required.

4. Hartley Parish Council

They paid Bryian Jezeph Consultancy Limited to write their reply.

A lot of what they say hinges on their interpretation of the terms "exceptional circumstances" and "infrastructure needs". They have chosen to believe that exceptional circumstances do not apply if the infrastructure offered is not essential. However Policy 1 of the draft District Plan would appear to say that the need to meet the housing target is the exceptional circumstances, and the infrastructure proposals are a means of deciding which are the best ones to adopt.

(a) They say development should be by extension to existing towns. If not they say a garden village should be built without saying where.

(b) They say the site should not be developed in case Dartford Council agree to take some of Sevenoaks's housing allocation. This seems unlikely given statements made by the Dartford Council portfolio holder last year.

(d) The parish council to say (para 2.3) they will support other sites in Hartley now instead - at Chapelwood Enterprise Park (15-20 houses), Grosvenor Church Road (18-25), Olinda Ash Road (27-37), Park House Church Road (7-10)

(e) Not much evidence of the "needs" that infrastructure improvements are supposed to meet. They claim the Developer of Corinthians has not said the infrastructure proposed is essential. I suppose this depends on what the local plan means by "addressing evidenced infrastructure needs", the parish council claim this means "existing" needs, but it is not clear from the draft district plan that this is what is meant. A lot of what Hartley PC says is based on this assumption:

(i) Retirement housing - the council skates around the need for this locally, simply claiming Corinthian is too isolated.
(ii) Health Centre - the council quote rather selectively from the Jubilee Practice press release, which says that, if done properly, this could meet a need for longer opening hours in the area.
(iii) Sports - the council points out that other facilities already exist locally, however I understand some of the offering is not provided for at present.
(iv) School - the council raise the question of who is going to build the site, the developer or someone else? As there is slight surplus of places at present, the council say that the developer cannot claim exceptional circumstances.
(v) Employment - Hartley PC has for many years had an aversion to commercial use of land, so it is perhaps not surprising they can percieve no need for it.

The parish council appear to have given little consideration to the issue of local need for affordable housing.

5. Council for the Protection of Rural England

They object on the grounds that the Green Belt in Sevenoaks is mostly "strongly performing" (although Sevenoaks claims the Corinthian area is not), and it would lead to the coalescence of settlements and is out of proportion to the existing Fawkham settlement. They add that they think the proposed infrastructure improvements are only required by new housing and it would cause traffic problems.

6. Ash Parish Council

The more southerly parish looks at things from a slightly different angle, as they raise the issue of possible extra traffic on the narrow South Ash Road to the A20. They are particularly concerned with the plans to move Milestone School which they say the county council has spent £10m improving. This would entail the loss of the school's shared facilities with the Parish Council, including tennis courts, sports hall and the parish office. If the school closes the site will become housing they say.

Selected Comments

Around 1 million words have been written about the proposals. I have not had the opportunity to read more than a fraction, but here are a selection of comments which I thought make their points (for or against) well.

"Over many years I have fought long and hard over literally a square metre of building on Green belt land .... often in ludicrous circumstances only to be confronted with the greatest objection from Sevenoaks planning department. It is with considerable incredulity that I find the same Council that appeared to be fighting to save green belt land is now even considering this proposal..... This area of Kent is fast becoming a suburb of London and a quick glance at the light pollution seen from vantage points such as the Queen Elizabeth bridge verify this ever increasing and meandering built environment polluting this once green and pleasant land....This application should be refused and the Planning department should not allow either Government or commercial pressure to persuade them to make a wrong decision to approve this application which the Parish Council is also against which will have an adverse effect on this area and future generations long into the future."

"The planning mistake that resulted in New Ash Green has already caused enough problems.... The proposed road to alleviate traffic problems was not constructed, except for the section past the Royal Oak public house, which is of little help to Hartley residents. "Muddle through" seems to have been the system. It appears that we could shortly be faced with another dose of the same problems. Whether or not on the same scale we cannot say, but when services are running at full capacity, any significant extra demand is too great. We can understand the major problem faced by our District Council; it is one of providing numerous homes, not necessarily homes which are compatible with those nearby.....We believe that Hartley has tolerated more than enough major development."

"This proposal is the largest and most egregious example of cunning gradualism that there is. This land has been, in the past, turned into amenity land and the purpose of the amenity land (a golf course) is to duplicate another nearby facility to which this facility has ties. Many local people believe that this has been done to game the green-belt rules. Although there is a significant housing need within the south of England, Green Belt rules exist for a reason and a significant housing need across half a country cannot be considered "exceptional circumstances" if the Green Belt is to mean anything at all.... These sites should be retained as green space, as they are part of the Green Belt. If not as a sports facility, then for agriculture."

"I support this proposal, please start listening to the next generation and not those who are currently happy as they were able to benefit the previous Hartley expansion- these people will probably not see all the benefits and don't care about the opportunities for the next generation. This provides the next generation the chance to have access to better GP provision, state of the art school facilities, excellent sports provision and access to a safe park. Most of all this will provide much needed affordable housing in an area that needs it most. Please support these plans! "

"Whilst there may be some case to be made for supply of a limited number of new affordable dwellings in the area, along with extra accommodation for the elderly, I am not convinced that the proposals MX52 and MX53 justify building on green belt land, given the Council's published criteria for release of such land. From the information so far supplied and the lack of promises of any enforceable covenants relating to aspects of the developers' proposals, it is not easy to understand how the hypothetical new dwellings would be integrated to the existing communities. For example: how will the Council ensure that the proportion of affordable homes will be delivered; will adequate infrastructure be provided; who will bear the cost of operating the proposed facilities; will there be adequate parking, etc.? A ca. 30% increase in the population will bring a far larger increase in the number of cars using the roads – and modern cars are larger than those accommodate in the past. The criteria used to provide for vehicles in past developments are now inadequate in the extreme. An evening stroll around the 50-year old development New Ash Green reveals access roads clogged by parked vehicles, blocking access by emergency services. This is due to the original inadequate number of garages and parking spaces and to the size of modern passenger cars. What assurance do we have that the plans consider such developments and the likely obsolescence of rules of thumb for planning for modern numbers and dimensions of cars. School car parks alone have trebled in size in recent decades at all local schools due to the number of ancillary staff employed, and yet fail to provide space for the occasional visitor. The footprint of any new educational development must be properly assessed – perhaps at the expense of numbers of dwellings. In the absence of new dwellings, the need for any expansion of schools is not demonstrated and, apart from Milestone School which has a wide catchment area, the suggested location is not convenient for existing residents, leading to a probability of deliveries of pupils by car. In the case of Milestone, the particular needs of pupils result in a considerable queue of taxis and minibuses at the start and end of the school day: has sufficient space for these been assured, or will access roads become blocked? The suggestion that there is an “opportunity” to provide such facilities does not indicate the adequacy of such potential provisions - and without binding assurance from developers their eventual emergence cannot be guaranteed. No proposal has been made for re-use of existing school sites, in the event of replacement. One may reasonably assume that these will be filled with additional housing, so adding to the stresses upon amenities that are already indicated in objections to the current proposals. The developers fail to comment upon the unimpeded country views that are seen from public footpaths alongside or traversing the proposed developments. The proposed provision of a “Country Park” (on ground that is already vacant) at the extreme edge of one sector does notreally compensate for blocking these views with dwellings! In this era of austerity, for the proposal to be taken seriously, either developers of the District Council must ensure that the running costs of such a development are covered from the start and into the future. It is not apparent that “New areas of woodland and open spaces, greens and planting” are really needed “to enhance biodiversity”, but rather that these may go some way towards mitigating the loss of greenery and biodiversity that will be created by the new suggested houses and other facilities. Current water supplies come from relatively local boreholes and sewage probably leaves the area towards the Thames near Dartford. Have the developers considered who, other than consumers, will pay for necessary upgrades to bring in extra water and treat effluent? Proposals for transport appear inadequate. A new development will bring more vehicles both driving through existing roads and seeking to park near shops and Longfield railway station, where provision is already stressed. Any developer should be obliged to provide significant enhancements at the outset, whatever the cost entailed. Only a slight increase in traffic on Fawkham Valley Road could have fatal consequences for pedestrians, especially at the restricted-width railway arch at Longfield. Properly costed and resourced plans are needed, and if all other inadequacies are catered for, one wonders if the development will still be classed as viable. And if the quota of affordable dwellings will be realised. Whilst vehicles are becoming less polluting, the spread of pollution from micro-particulates deposited on and near carriageways remains, and will increase with more road usage. The releases from wear and tear on items such as brake pads involve chemical compounds of particular concern. The suggestion that an “8 till 8” GP facility might be viable seems unfounded. It is not known to feature in any current NHS plan, and the current practitioners struggle to recruit and retain staff. The comment in the developer's brochure that “Numerous bus routes serve Hartley and Longfield” is totally misleading, and leads one to wonder about the level of care exercised in producing that brochure! On any day of the week only two bus routes serve Hartley, and timetable cuts and unreliability render these far from useful to workers. Incidentally, none of the routes serve Sevenoaks, but take passengers away from the District to earn and spend money in the territory of neighbouring local authorities. I am sure that there are superior options for the Council to consider, and note that comment is made in the Council's SHELAA about knowledge of housing plans in the areas of Tonbridge and Tunbridge Wells, no mention is made of the Gravesham and Dartford areas, which include Ebbsfleet Garden City and which are much more relevant to Hartley and Longfield."

Hartley Parish Council Meeting 10 September 2018

Wed, 19 Sep 2018 08:50:00 GMT

Parish Council: Attendance
10 councillors attended the meeting, along with Cllr Brazier (KCC) and Cllr Kelly (SDC). There were 17 members of the public in attendance. There were no declarations of interest
(Parish Council Meeting 10 September 2018)

Sevenoaks Council: Update
Cllr Kelly said they will get no government grant at all next year.
(Parish Council Meeting 10 September 2018)

Amenities: Allotments
Dr Roberts asked why allotment rents had gone up more than pitch hire. Cllr Oxtoby thought this was down to rounding.
(Parish Council Meeting 10 September 2018)

Beechlands Close:
A number of people had attended the meeting to express concerns about the sale of 3 acres of wood at the end of Beechlands Close. At this and the previous amenities committee meeting they had highlighted the fact it was ancient woodland, a rare moth and fungi were mentioned. The possibility of establishing a public right of way or village green status on the land was suggested. Someone claimed travellers were interested in the site but it has a covenant against caravans. The council voted narrowly 6-4 to get further advice on buying the land although they cannot pay more than the District Valuer allows.
(Parish Council Meeting 10 September 2018)

Amenities: Cricket
NAG & Hartley Cricket Club said they had had a good season. They said the outfield had not always been cut (council said it was down to the weather) and the water in the showers was sometimes cold (council to sort out).
(Parish Council Meeting 10 September 2018)

Amenities: Football
Hartley de Sales also raised the issue of the grass cutting. Council to look at an additional cut in Feb/March but said it will be expensive. Club to get 10 extra keys to field, as they said the gate had to be left open on Friday training sessions because of lack of key holders. The training sessions were news to the councillors, although they had apparently been going on for years, in future they will need to tell the council formally about this. Annual rent for club to rise by £54 to £1,854. A football academy also wants to use the pitches on Wednesdays, but council needs more information first.
(Parish Council Meeting 10 September 2018)

Amenities: Manor Field Pavilion
The emergency light in the disabled toilet failed inspection, replacement £71. Boiler passed inspection, council to act on recommendation to remove rubbish around the LPG tank. Also minor repairs to strip light.
(Parish Council Meeting 10 September 2018)

Amenities: Manor Field
Council to buy 3 tons of roadstone to repair car park but also to consider tarmacing the surface too.
(Parish Council Meeting 10 September 2018)

Amenities: Rectory Meadow
Grass cut by NW Kent Countryside Project in August at cost of £720. They also accepted quote of £1,680 from NWKCP for cutting in accordance with the management plan in 2019.
(Parish Council Meeting 10 September 2018)

Amenities: Longfield Hill
Councillors deferred decision on new play equipment and gate for recreation ground there, to consider further. Defects identified by playground inspector to be remedied.
(Parish Council Meeting 10 September 2018)

Amenities: Woodland Avenue
A number of defects identified by playground inspector to be remedied. They also noted dog faeces in play area and dog chew damage to straps on cradle swing. Metal gate that no longer closes properly to repaired by Metalworks for £325.
(Parish Council Meeting 10 September 2018)

Amenities: Pond
The council discussed this at length. After a recorded vote it accepted the committee's recommendation to drop any adverse possession claim to the pond. Some councillors claimed it was not a pond but a drainage ditch, KCC will do repairs to the road drainage but nothing aesthetic. While the council acknowledged it looks unsightly at present, they do not want to spend money on it.
(Parish Council Meeting 10 September 2018)

Amenities: Notice Boards
Council to repair their own noticeboard at the library, and have asked KCC to replace or remove the damaged rights of way board.
(Parish Council Meeting 10 September 2018)

Corinthian Development:
Planning committee accepted quote of up to £4,000 from a planning consultant to prepare an objection to the proposal. Council to complain to Sevenoaks Council about the process.
(Parish Council Meeting 10 September 2018)

WW1 Commemoration:
The sub-committee authorised a number of payments - erection of beacon £1,790; wood for burner £200; overnight security £500; plaque for beacon £70; Medical Cover £180
(Parish Council Meeting 10 September 2018)

Development for Hartley? An appraisal

Wed, 08 Aug 2018 10:05:00 GMT

Updated 18.8.2018 with information from Sevenoaks Local Housing Needs Study. Updated 19.8.2018 with statement from local surgery. Updated 1.9.2018 with latest information from both sides.

The hot topic at the moment is undoubtedly the Billings Group plans to build 700 houses at Corinthians and Downs Valley. An opposition group exists called "No Hartley Expansion" (NHE); they have published leaflets and posters, but it is unclear who they are. I was unable to attend the meeting held on the 7th August, so don't know what was said there.

What follows is my research on the proposals.

It is described as an extension of Hartley, although the majority of the land is actually in Fawkham parish.

700 houses would represent a significant increase over the existing number of houses which in 2011 was 2,259.

This is not an actual planning application at this stage, but rather a proposal to list the site in the district plan as one where the council would allow development. Once it is in the district plan, development would be extremely likely.

The Planning Background

The background for this is the country's urgent need for more houses, particularly affordable ones. Sevenoaks Council estimated they would need 12,400 new homes in the district in the period 2015-35, which the government has since upped to 13,960 because Sevenoaks is one of the most unaffordable housing areas in the country outside London. As part of the planning process, Sevenoaks Council are required to idenfity sites which could meet this need. They do this by asking landowners to nominate sites they want to develop, which they then consider for inclusion in the district plan.

They are allowed to make an allowance for what are called "windfall" sites - that is, those not named in the district plan, but do become available for development. Most of Hartley's recent development (with the exception of the old allotment site at Caxton Close which was a site listed in a former district plan) would be classed as windfall. However in making the allowance, authorities are not allowed to count windfalls arising from building on garden land, which would appear to rule out a lot.

Another problem facing Sevenoaks is the limited amount of land that is not green belt. 93% of the district is green belt land and 60% has the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty designation too. This may make it difficult for the council to meet their obligations without removing some land from the green belt.

The current state of play is set out in the Strategic Housing and Economic Land Availability Assessment (July 2018). They have split the sites that passed the suitability test and could be developed in the next 5 years into 4 categories in descending order of desirability:

(Category 1) Within identified settlements (24 sites, 331-408 units)

(Category 2) 100% brownfield land in green belt (23 sites, 447-603 units)

(Category 3) Partial brownfield land in green belt (47 sites, 622-847 units)

(Category 4) Green belt next to identified settlements (36 sites, 2,666-3,558 units)

The problem for Sevenoaks is that they appear to need 3,500 houses in the next 5 years but brownfield will only yield about half that number. Even with an addition for windfall sites, it does seem difficult to avoid the conclusion they will have to build on the Green Belt somewhere. It also means that the rate of building will need to more than double from the 296 per year averaged over the last 8 years.

The SHLAA rejected most of the Corinthians scheme, but does support an extension of the Parkfield estate to the crest of the hill. This would result in 141-188 houses being built. It also rejected proposals to build at Manor Lane, Hartley and Johnson's Farm, Ash. However it did support building 6-8 houses at Eureka Naturist Club, Fawkham. This assessent is not the end of the matter though, as the call for sites is still out and the draft district plan will need to be approved by the Planning Inspectorate.

Full details of the SHLAA site assessments are on the Sevenoaks Council website, Corinthians is a Category 3 site, Downs Valley is a Category 4 site. Probably over half of the category 4 sites will need to be developed to meet the housing target.

If Sevenoaks do not allocate enough sites to meet their housing targets, then potentially that can be used against them in determining planning appeals. If a council doesn't allocate enough land, then the minister can say the need for housing outweighs the district plan. We have an example locally of this happening - in the 1960s Kent County Council was dragging their heels in providing housing sites, so the minister Richard Crossman granted approval for the first application from Kent that came across his desk, and there we have New Ash Green!

If the council does allocate enough sites, then they are probably fireproof from developers trying to bounce them into allowing development on other green belt sites. This was the inference from a recent case in Cheshire. The minister has rejected a proposal for 900 homes on the Gorstyhill Golf Club. It is not exactly the same set of circumstances, in particular the development was bigger than the existing village, but a key point is that they might have got planning permission had Cheshire East council not been able to say there was sufficient land allocated for housing in the next 5 years. The locals and the council there spent 5 years opposing the development according to a blog.

The Corinthians Proposal

The Billings Group have issued a brochure setting out their plans called "A Community Vision for Hartley" which they have since updated following comments received. As well as the Corinthians Sports Club, the plans also affect the fields that lead from Downs Valley to the Fawkham Valley Road, and half of the meadow by St Mary's Church, Fawkham. In all the site is 74.6 ha (184 acres) of which 34.7 ha are allocated to build 700 houses, 27.9 ha to open space and the remainder to other community and business uses.

They suggest that Hartley and Longfield should be treated as one urban area (in fact the Office for National Statistics does treat Hartley, Longfield and New Ash Green as one urban area); and that Hartley has good links to rail stations, district hospital and regional shopping centres.

They argue that special circumstances apply to this land and that it should be removed from the green belt. They say their proposals are sustainable development and should be decided on planning grounds, not local politics. They think they have met national criteria to justify releasing green belt, but acknowledge it requires the council to have exhausted all non-green belt options first.

They also claim that as part of a national trend, membership of the golf club has fallen in recent years, and that the members could be accommodated by the other Billings Group Golf Course at Redlibbets.

Other key proposals are:

New primary school and special educational needs school (the proposals have the support of Hartley Primary School because they say the exsiting site is unsuitable and moving to Corinthians will allow them to become a 3 form entry school to meet demand).
Retirement village of bungalows
40% of housing to be "affordable"
Provision for self build housing
Parkfield road to be extended to Fawkham Valley road to act as a relief road for Castle Hill. Additional road from Hemmesley's Yard to Fawkham Valley Road
"Satellite" GP surgery to offer services 8am - 8pm 7 days a week.
Community Allotments
Some business units
£3.5m for local authority from new homes bonus

No development poster at entrance to (Billings!) Bramblefield Estate

Appraisal of the Proposals

(a) Green Belt Policy

The Corinthians proposal would appear to fail at this first stage. In the Government's Housing Policy Paper "Fixing the Broken Housing Market" it states that:

Maintaining existing strong protections for the Green Belt, and clarifying that Green Belt boundaries should be amended only in exceptional circumstances when local authorities can demonstrate that they have fully examined all other reasonable options for meeting their identified housing requirement

Since the Council's Strategic Land and Housing Availability Assessment document already identifies enough sites to build the 3,500 houses they are required to within the next 5 years, then Corinthians as a site is clearly not required, so it is difficult to argue that exceptional circumstances apply if all the council's approved sites go ahead.

It must be remembered though, that the limited extension of Downs Valley to the crest of the hill is one of the approved sites that they say can meet their housing target. So to avoid Corinthians being built people may have to accept green belt building elsewhere.

(1.9.18) For the whole of the district plan term of up to 2035, the council has only just been offered enough sites to make the 14,000 target, so unless other sites come forward or neighbouring councils offer to take up some of Sevenoaks's target, then it seems the council must approve the whole of the Corinthian site in the longer term (Source: Draft District Plan, chapter 1).

(b) Housing Need

Clearly the need for more houses, and in particular affordable housing, is a national priority recognised by the main political parties. The evidence is that demand will still be there, even if immigration were to fall. If you privately rent in Sevenoaks, a massive 52% of your salary will go on rent on average, which is way above anywhere else in Kent. Homebuyers in Sevenoaks need more than 13 times the average income to buy a median priced house (ONS - Housing Summary Measures)

While most people agree with the principle, many will say they should be built "somewhere else"! And to be fair, this is what the call for sites does, it asks local people to decide which of the offered sites are most appropriate. What will not be acceptable to the government is if the council doesn't allocate enough sites to meet their target.

What are local housing needs? Developers will always want to build larger houses as they are most profitable to them. Policy 8 of the draft District Plan expects houses to be built in the following proportions: 1 bed (15-20%), 2 bed (25-30%), 3 bed (35-40%), 4+ bed (15-20%). Also it is common for developers to get councils to reduce low levels of affordable homes even lower through "viability assessments", where they argue that the project isn't viable unless fewer affordable homes are built. These are kept secret from the public, and by implication anyone who could test the accuracy of the claims (New Statesman "Developers are using a trick to get out of building affordable homes", 10.7.2017). In this case it would be hard for the developer to argue land acquisition costs were too high because they bought both sites as agricultural land in 1949-1950. The Downs Valley land cost about £100 an acre where as building land it will be worth nearer £1 million an acre.

It is clear that the real need in Hartley is not for large houses but for small ones. This was the finding of the Hartley Parish Plan.

A lot of work locally on housing needs is contained in the Sevenoaks Local Housing Needs Study (2017). The aim of this document is "to equip the Council and their partners with robust, defensible and transparent information to help inform strategic decision-making and the formulation of appropriate housing and planning policies." (para 7.1)

The study found that the lower quartile price for Hartley ward was £365,000 (if there were a 100 sales arranged from cheapest to the most expensive, the lower quartile would be the 25th cheapest). This means that the household income required to buy is £94,000 or £61,000 with Help to Buy, this puts housing out of reach for many first time buyers.

The Housing Needs Study (paragraph 5.12 ff) also gauged local demand by asking people what sort of house they would like to live in and what sort they expected to live in (usually smaller than what their aspiration was). They then compared it with the current housing stock. What they found is that the North East part of the borough (including Hartley) had no need for additional 4 + bedroom houses but a shortfall of smaller ones. They estimate the North-East part require an additional 158 affordable houses each year over the next 4 years, 131 general needs and 27 for older people. This would be split 60% for rent and 40% for intermediate sale.

The age profile in the 2011 census shows a big lack of people aged 20-40 living here. It is clear there is not enough affordable housing for younger people.

More housing for older people downsizing is also a clear local need. The Sevenoaks Housing Needs Survey found that about two-thirds of older people would like to continue living in their own home but about 17% would like to downsize (paras 6.25-6.30). The size of the waiting list for Bramblefield shows there is a demand for smaller housing locally. However placing the retirement bungalows at Corinthians would be some distance away from the services they would need to use.

There is a counter argument that the problem with the housing market is property speculation, which building more homes will not solve (see e.g. "Why building more homes will not solve Britain’s housing crisis", Guardian 27.1.18), but the council cannot use that argument to not plan for more houses. However it does highlight the risk that even if low cost housing is built, it may not benefit the people it is meant to help, but be snapped up by foreign and British property buyers to become yet more buy to lets.

The plan includes a "satellite" GP surgery but is thin on what this actually entails. Without an attached chemist, its use would be limited, because people would still have to go to Longfield or New Ash Green to collect their medicines. There is no evidence that the local GP partnership would want to use the site.

Largely out of the public gaze, health services locally are going to be reorganised by what are called "Sustainability and Transformation Plans". The driver is partly to save money, but also to meet modern health needs.

STPs propose 3 levels of GP surgeries:

Small GP surgeries as now, some services offered by them now may in future be done by the hub surgeries.
Extended GP surgeries serving areas of 20-40,000 people. This appears to be clusters of GP surgeries joined to offer longer hours and more services and integration with social care services.
Hubs, larger surgeries serving 50,000 people. These would have out of hours servies, specialist GPs and offer minor injury care.

Where the proposed health facillity at Corinthians would fit into this is unclear. There would be a potential benefit to the area if it became one of the higher level surgeries with longer opening hours and more services, however Hartley's poor bus links would appear to rule it out being able to serve a wider area, which was a criteria when setting up similar clusters in West Kent.

However the local surgery thinks it at least does offer the opportunity to improve local health services, if the development is done properly (see press release):

This may represent an opportunity to improve the breadth and level of services we offer locally to our patient population. However at present, we are not aware of any planned extra provision for 8-8 seven day a week services. This is not something Jubilee Medical Group would ever provide directly. Recently the local Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) has opened 3 Hubs across the area which are beginning to offer 8am-8pm pre-bookable appointments from Monday to Saturday. Because of difficultly recruiting GPs this service is yet to reach full capacity but is improving week by week. In the future we would obviously welcome a local ‘rural’ hub shared by other local surgeries (ours currently being located in Gravesend), but again there are no current plans, funding or agreement on location for this from the CCG.

(d) Roads and Rail

Roads is probably one of the weaker points of the developer's case. Ash Road is a C class road but gets traffic levels comparable to many of the local A roads. A recent traffic survey at Hoselands Green found there were 15,000 traffic movements per day with up to 1,400 per hour at the busiest times (sum of traffic going north and south).

In the 2011 Census there were 2,672 workers in Hartley, of whom 2,028 have to commute outside Hartley. Of the commuters 304 take the train, 75 take the bus and 1,426 drive. For drivers the most popular employment destinations are Dartford/Bluewater (280), Bexley borough (150) and Gravesend/Northfleet (123).

If we assume about a third increase in this number it would suggest another 100 passengers at Longfield, and 500 extra peak hours car movements.

It is difficult to argue that this would cause significant problems at Longfield station as this would represent about 10 extra passengers per rush hour train (the developers say they are talking to rail industry about any effects). The overall effect of development in Kent is a concern for the railways though. Up until 2024 they say the increase in passengers can be accommodated (at a cost) by lengthening trains to 8 and 12 carriages long. There is clearly scope for this at Longfield as some rush hour trains are only 4 or 6 carriages long. Although not all trains can be 12 carriages because many stations cannot accommodate them, this in part includes Victoria, where some platforms are only 8 carriages long. In the longer term they think capacity issues will be "challenging", which will require trying to eke out more train paths from the existing infrastructure (Source: Kent Area Route Study, Network Rail 2018)

However the effect on the roads is likely to be much more serious. With its distance from services, it is unlikely anyone on the Corinthians estate will not use their car to go to the shops etc.

The proposals are for some traffic to be directed to the C Class Fawkham Valley Road, which has its own problems of no pavements and a width restriction at the railway arch at Longfield. (1.9.18) Billings Group have now offered to "improve" Fawkham Valley Road, but there are no further details on their website.

How much would the alternatives be used? You could imagine a scenario where people from New Ash Green and Hartley travelling to Dartford or Bluewater might find it quicker to cut through the Corinthians estate or Parkfield and bypass Longfield thus maybe reducing traffic on Ash Road, but not if traffic is slow because of the pinch point at the rail bridge. On the other hand, there would be additional traffic for those heading to Longfield Station, Longfield shops, Longfield School and Gravesend. The conclusion is that the amount of traffic on Ash Road will rise. However the developers do not appear to have done any traffic modelling work.

(1.9.18) NHE have raised concerns about increased vehicle pollution. I think there are a number of reasons why this is unlikely to be the case. The precipitous fall in sales of diesel vehicles, entailing the gradual withdrawal of existing diesels, will have great benefits in vehicle pollution levels, although not for CO2 emissions. But in the longer term it is clear the number of hybrid and electric vehicles will rise sharply, and with it a fall in emissions to cancel out the greater number of cars locally.

There is clearly a need for an alternative route to Ash Road to access Hartley which was strongly supported in the last Hartley Parish Plan, as Castle Hill gets jammed when there is a problem on Ash Road. However although the proposals appear to partly address this problem, they may have created another by creating a new access onto Castle Hill for a large number of houses. (1.9.18 - In the latest proposals the Castle Hill link has been withdrawn).

The developers have floated the idea of a cycle route, which would be a very good idea for cyclists if it can by-pass Hoselands Hill. Also welcome is the proposed pedestrian access to Longfield station, although the council will need to be very sure that the developer can deliver this, as the land in question is currently unregistered and therefore ownership is not clear.

Clearly the developers need to do a lot more research on this and come up with better proposals. Many developers provide improvements to local public transport to minimise the number of extra cars on the road.

(e) Utilities

The NHE leaflet says "there is currently a severe problem with providing water to this area". This is presumably a reference to South East water area being designated one of serious water stress, requiring compulsory metering (within the SE Water area, Hartley is an area where the water stress is serious).

However my suspicion is that this development would not be objected to by the water company. They have recently published a draft "Water Resources Management Plan 2020-2080". This plan takes account of local authority housing targets, and appears to imply they will just live with them and plan accordingly. They will shortly have a windfall of 9 million litres a day for domestic use from the former newspaper print works at Aylesford and in the much longer term believe they can get 30m litres per day from desalination works on the tidal River Medway (but acknowledge it is a very expensive process). They also forecast a fall in household average consumption.

I think Hartley's waste water goes to the Long Reach facility at Dartford. According to Kent County Council, this is already being expanded to support housing growth. Again it says development plans up to 2023 have been taken into account by South East Power Networks in their plans to meet increased gas and electricity demands.

(f) Effect on Grade 1 Listed building

The Billings Group own half of the meadow adjoining Fawkham Church, which is nearly 1,000 years old and is next to the Baldwins Green local conservation area. The original plans did not envisage building there, but have since been amended to be filled up with houses. Given the heritage value of the site, these plans in particular should be resisted.

(1.9.18) Since first suggested the applicants have withdrawn the proposals to build here and suggest some community use instead.

(g) New school

NSE says a move would be "upheaval" but it must be said the proposed new school site has the support of Hartley Primary School and its parent Leigh Academies Trust. This is understandable given the buildings are mostly 50 years old, and so at the age where they will need much more maintenance. The constrained nature of the site also causes difficulties with traffic. Similarly Milestone School has parking difficulties, especially given its wide catchment area, and Leigh AT claim the current site needs considerable investment to bring it up to date. It is suggested the new site will allow the school to expand, although whether it would need to without the extra houses is uncertain. The effects on the nearby primary schools at Longfield, New Ash Green and Fawkham is also unclear; they may be affected by competition from the larger academy school.

Currently the Round Ash Way site is owned freehold by Kent County Council under a lease to the Leigh Academies Trust. Presumably (this is not entirely clear) this would revert to Kent County Council if the school were to move. The chances are then that both existing school sites would be available for further housing development, although policy 14 of the Draft Local Plan does say that they will have to consider community use first.

A leaflet from NHE says the new site would be away from the community and "unsustainable". This is less likely to be the case with Milestone School, which has a very wide catchment area (an FOI request of the Department for Education revealed that only 6% of Milestone pupils live in the DA3 area). It will probably result in an increase in the numbers of pupils at Hartley being driven to school, but from the congestion around the school at the beginning and end of the day, it would appear this already occurs to a large extent. Leigh Academies Trust say:

"The relocation provides an opportunity for ample parking and dedicated pupil drop-off/collection access, thus minimising isruption to the academies and

surrounding residential areas." (July 2018 newsletter, page 13)

(h) Country Park

One of the NHE leaflets says there is enough open space already in Hartley, which may be true for the east side, is less so for the west, especially since the landowner stopped informal access to the fields at Downs Valley, following the Parish Council's village green application at Hartley Wood.

They also say it will cost money to run, which is true. The parish council spends about a quarter of its income on maintaining the current open spaces. However the cost could well be the subject of any section 106 agreement between the developer and Sevenoaks Council. How much it costs to run very much depends on how the land is used, especially if part is retained in agriculture. The 65 acres of Northfield have cost an average of £5,500 to run in the last 4 years.

Ownership could be a key issue here. It is not clear whether ownership will be retained by the developer or transferred to the public. The title deeds of some properties in Downs Valley contain a statement that Old Downs Wood would be transferred to the community on 99 year lease, but this has not happened.

(i) Village "atmosphere"

A perceptive councillor from outside Hartley once said Hartley is the sort of place people who live there call a village, but outsiders will see something more. Certainly Hartley is not a village in the mould of say, Stansted or Fawkham. I am told some people in Fawkham refer to Hartley as "the town on the hill". In the decades I have lived in Hartley, I have seen the place become more and more urban.

While a 30% increase in population is a shock for any community, a smaller number of additional people living here is not necessarily a bad thing. It would certainly help the sustainability of many local services, as well as local clubs and societies, which seem to be constantly under threat. But of course this needs to be balanced against other factors.

Sevenoaks's appraisal of the Corinthians site in the SLAA raised a fundamental question as to whether the site would be capable of being integrated into the wider Hartley community, because of its location. However they felt this objection does not apply to the limited extension of Downs Valley option.

(j) Section 106 agreement

In big developments, the council usually gets the developer to sign an agreement under section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990. This allows councils to require the developers to build so many affordable homes, or pay monies to meet the effects of the development on the wider community. This might be road improvements, contributions to bus and train services, car share schemes or improvements of local amenities such as repairs to Hartley Village Hall.

For example in the old Longfield School site, the developer promised to build a proportion of affordable houses; while in the Waitrose Supermarket site, they agreed to allow free parking for 1½ hours and public access to the toilets at the shop.

Developers naturally try to minimise the amount they have to pay on viability grounds, but as mentioned in paragraph (b) above, in this case the current site owners should be able to afford a large contribution because of the low land acquisition costs.

(1.9.18) A Section 106 agreement would hopefully meet the concerns of NHE as to whether the community facililties will ever be built. Often these agreements are worded so they can't built any houses until the community facilities are built.

(k) Golf Course

It is difficult to tell from the filed accounts whether Corinthian Sports Club Limited makes a profit or loss, due to the small amount of detail the government now requires and the fact it is part of group of companies which deal with each other.

They are right that nationally golf is declining in popularity. The numbers playing golf have fallen by 27% in the last 8 years. The applicant is not about to share membership statistics with the wider public though, so it is impossible to know whether Redlibbets could take over the existing Corinthian membership.

(l) Sports facilities

This tends to get lost in the arguments about housing, but perhaps a bigger issue than it seems. Part of the proposal is for a new sports club at Corinthian including a 3G sports pitch and indoor racquet and sports pitches - and a sports bar. The NHE expansion group in their 2nd leaflet have objected to this because of the perceived threat to the Hartley Country Club and other facilities locally. It is certainly noticeable that a lot of the opposition to the proposals have come from this direction.

From their latest accounts (2016) the Country Club made a profit of about £9,000 and has about 930 members. Its membership has declined modestly by about 100 over the last 10 years. Most of its income is in membership fees, and from bar and catering. Clearly if the Corinthian Sports Club took customers away from them then their profitability might be threatened. Normally it is not the purpose of the planning system to protect businesses from competition, but this is slightly different in that the facilities being offered are meant to benefit the community to compensate for the loss of green belt. The Sevenoaks Playing Pitch Strategy document found that local tennis facilities at Hartley Country Club and New Ash Green are very underutilised (table 7.3).

Of course the Country Club is a private members club with fees which may deter sections of the community, but there is no guarantee the Cornithian club will not be be same. In their favour though is the fact that they appear to be offering some facilities not available at the Country Club.

(m) Commercial land

Looking at the current map and the proposals, it appears one area containing 0.28 ha (0.63 a) at Chapelwood Enterprises would be lost. However the proposals do envisage a modest increase in employment land to 1.34 ha (3.31 a) which is to be welcomed as there are a lack of local employment opportunities. As an edge of settlement development it would meet one of the three criteria of paragraph 6.7 of the draft district plan. If the units include office space then the district council would definitely be interested (para 6.9 of the draft district plan).

Confusingly this is not one of the employment sites listed in draft plan policy 13.

Overall summary

My view is that the developers have not demonstrated that the full 800 house development option will work. Sevenoaks have already identified enough houses in the Strategic Housing and Land Assessment to meet their target for the next 5 years, so additional building on the green belt is not necessary. I think they have not sufficiently explained how the Corinthian developmernt could integrate with the rest of Hartley, and how the problems of new development can be removed or mitigated.

I do believe there is an arguable case for a much more limited number of new houses in Hartley, provided they are mainly affordable housing and not snapped up by buy to let landlords. Undoubtedly the country is in urgent need for more affordable housing for young people and the elderly, and Sevenoaks is an area more in need than most. Since the land acquisition costs were minimal we have a golden opportunity to maximise the number of affordable units.

News - April and May 2018

Thu, 07 Jun 2018 10:10:00 GMT

06 May 2018
Rising pop star releases new smash hit, Hasta Luego
Feature on 19 year old pop star originally from Hartley with 100m views for his previous video. Asked about the difference between Hartley and LA where he now lives he said "I think there's about four cars that go up and down my road [in Hartley] every week, there's hardly anything, no traffic."

Gravesend Messenger

24 May 2018
Longfield Hill Fire
Tumble drier fire at house on Main Road, occupants escaped unhurt

Gravesend Messenger

30 May 2018
Man arrested after suspicious van found in Longfield
22 year old man from Orpington arrested and released pending enquiries

Gravesend Messenger

31 May 2018
Women urged to get smear test after mum of New Ash Green dies of cancer
Tributes paid to 34 year old mother and former Our Lady of Hartley pupil

Gravesend Messenger

31 May 2018
Bye bye Bovis, bye bye
120 staff to be relocated from New Ash Green. Claimed it will be easier to visit other locations and benefit from modern office facilities. Newspaper has picture feature

Dartford Messenger

News - February and March 2018

Wed, 25 Apr 2018 11:11:00 GMT

Vandals attack buses and gritters in New Ash Green

(Kent Messenger, 2 Feb) Brick attack on gritting lorry by Oliver's Mill was followed by another attack on the 20.07 Gravesend to New Ash Green bus. Windscreen smashed, Arriva withdrew buses from Hartley and New Ash Green the following evening.

Police car rammed by burglary suspect after chase from Medway to Longfield

(Kent Messenger, 14 Feb) Policemen suffer whiplash when car they were pursuing backed into them at Longfield.

New Ash Green: Primary evacuated

(Kent Messenger, 20 Feb) School evacuated after hoax call.

Freezing weather closes local schools

(Kent Messenger, 2 March) Our Lady of Hartley School closed during the recent cold spell.

Man arrested after 'crashing car' during police chase

(Kent Messenger, 5 March) Car stolen in Hartley crashes into telegraph pole in Hextable following police chase.

Dartford man named as victim of Red Arrows crash

(Kent Messenger, 21 March) Tributes paid to Red Arrows engineer who died in crash at Anglesey. He was born in Dartford, lived as a child in Hartley and attended Longfield School.

Fire at Speedgate Farm, Fawkham

(Kent Messenger, 26 March) 100 hay bales catch fire.

Suspect burglar of Dartford, due in court

(Kent Messenger, 29 March) Man arrested after burglary in Gorsewood Road, Longfield and elsewhere.

Crime

(Kent e-Watch) Crimes reported in February and March were: Criminal Damage 3 (Brambledown, Woodland Avenue, Ash Road), Burglary 2 (Porchester Close, Cherry Trees)

Unemployment

Locally the latest March 2018 figures are set out below (change since March 2017 in italics):

Hartley 15 (0.5%) -10

New Ash Green 20 (0.6%) unchanged

Fawkham/W Kingsdown 25 (0.8%) unchanged

Longfield/Southfleet 25 (0.7%) unchanged

New Yellow lines appear

Wed, 21 Mar 2018 21:32:00 GMT

Today sees a new addition to the Wellfield / Ash Road junction - double yellow lines! Parking at this point has caused problems to other road users, in particular the buses. It is claimed many of the cars parked there were for rail commuters at Longfield Station. While many people will be happy that something has been done, some concerns have been voiced that it may move the problem elsewhere.

Crime Report

Sun, 04 Mar 2018 11:11:00 GMT

Latest crimes since 14 December reported by the e-watch website. The dates in some cases are only approximate and it appears from other statistics that not all crimes are listed on the site.

Burglary Of Dwelling: Wellfield (16-Feb-2018). Crime No: YY/005312/18

Criminal Damage: Conifer Avenue (14-Dec-2017). Crime No: YY/037670/17

Criminal Damage: Quakers Close (28-Dec-2017). Crime No: YY/039191/17

Criminal Damage: Brambledown (8-Jan-2018). Crime No: YY/000888/18

Criminal Damage: Brambledown (25-Jan-2018). Crime No: YY/002870/18

Criminal Damage: Dickens Close (2-Feb-2018). Crime No: YY/003701/18

Criminal Damage: Ash Road (3-Feb-2018). Crime No: YY/003769/18

Criminal Damage: Church Road (8-Feb-2018). Crime No: YY/004614/18

Theft: Ash Road (20-Dec-2017). Crime No: YY/038369/17

Theft: Cavendish Square (4-Jan-2018). Crime No: YY/000561/18

Theft From Motor Vehicle: Conifer Avenue (6-Feb-2018). Crime No: YY/004160/18

Theft From Motor Vehicle: Fairby Lane (6-Feb-2018). Crime No: YY/004168/18

Theft From Motor Vehicle: Dickens Close (9-Feb-2018). Crime No: YY/004496/18

Theft From Motor Vehicle: Ash Road (9-Feb-2018). Crime No: YY/004497/18

Theft From Motor Vehicle: Parkfield (9-Feb-2018). Crime No: YY/004503/18

Theft From Motor Vehicle: Church Road (9-Feb-2018). Crime No: YY/004506/18

Theft From Motor Vehicle: Ash Road (12-Feb-2018). Crime No: YY/005290/18

Theft From Motor Vehicle: Gorsewood Road (15-Feb-2018). Crime No: YY/005047/18

Theft From Motor Vehicle: Woodland Avenue (16-Feb-2018). Crime No: YY/005420/18

Vehicle Interference: Porchester Close (9-Feb-2018). Crime No: YY/005224/18

News January 2018

Sat, 10 Feb 2018 17:55:00 GMT

Woman spared jail after handling cash stolen from car parks by ex-partner
Crime: Longfield

35 year old woman given suspended sentence after handling £2,000 siphoned off by car park collector from Longfield, Meopham and elsewhere
(Kent Messenger 09 January 2018)

Burglary suspect alleged to have committed crime in Gravesham and Dartford arrested at Gatwick Airport
Crime: Longfield

Man released pending further enquiries relating to many burglaries including one in Longfield
(Dartford Messenger 10 January 2018)

Makers of Gravesend horror film hope 'worst film' awards will boost publicity
Arts: Film

Picture feature about "The Left Hand Path", a budget horror filmed in North Kent, including Hartley and Longfield.
(Dartford Messenger 12 January 2018)

31 year old man from Ash jailed for burglaries in New Ash Green
Crime: New Ash Green

For burglaries at Lambardes and Knights Croft last July
(Dartford Messenger 12 January 2018)

New Ash Green shopping centre manager ordered to pay £8,770 after cutting down trees
Shopping: New Ash Green

Manager fined after cutting down trees subject to Tree Preservation order in the shopping centre. He said he was worried about potential insurance claims because of the uneven pavement around the trees.
(Dartford Messenger 15 January 2018)

family must pay back £945,000 after burglaries in Longfield and Dartford led to their criminal empire crumbling
Crime: Longfield

Burglary at Main Road, Longfield, led police to them. The three were sentenced to 4-10 years, and ordered to pay £945,000
(Kent Messenger 23 January 2018)

Horses ran into car in Chapel Wood Road, New Ash Green
Roads: Chapelwood Road

37 year old man injured after horses ran into his car at Chapelwood Road. Air ambulance took him to hospital
(Kent Messenger 23 January 2018)

Funeral for former Gravesham mayoress Joan Marven
People:

Obituary of Joan Marven who moved to Hartley from Romford when she was 2, and attended St Josephs Convent School
(Kent Messenger 24 January 2018)

Longfield Rail Usage figures released

Sat, 10 Feb 2018 09:42:00 GMT

The Office of Road and Rail have recently published the annual rail usage statistics for 2016/17. After a big increase the previous year, the number of passengers using Longfield has fallen by a small amount. Within that figure were fewer off peak and season ticket sales but more occasional full fare passengers.

Parish Council Meeting 8 January 2018

Sun, 14 Jan 2018 16:41:00 GMT

Parish Council: Attendance

The meeting ran from 7.30 to 7.53 pm. All councillors were present with the exception of Cllrs Alford and Beaman. Also present was Cllr Brazier (Kent County Council) and 3 members of the public)

Parish Council: New Parish Councillor

They have now received an application for the vacancy from Matt Mohr which they accepted. He said he lived at the New Ash Green end of Ash Road who works in the medical device industry. He said he didn't know much about the council but was interested in politics and would like to give it a try. He was appointed to the Amenities committee.

Parish Council: Data Protection

The Finance Committee had discussed the new data protection law which is due to come into force soon. They decided to encrypt information and consider appointing Satswana Limited to act as their Data Protection Officer, claiming that the officer has to be independent of the council. Cllr Cole raised some concern that the company might be "jumping on the bandwagon", Cllr Abraham said they were an established company. They agreed to outsource the Data Protection Officer job but get more quotes.

Finance: Precept

They decided to freeze the council tax precept but this means their income will rise by £600, due to changes in the council tax base.

Finance: Community Infrastructure Levy

They have received £6,510 so far from Sevenoaks Council, but are still trying to claim they can use it on a lych gate for the new burial ground. Dr Roberts suggested that cycle paths were possible and desirable at Rectory Meadow and the wide pavement at the top end of Ash Road and that the council could spend the Community Infrastructure Money on them. Cllr Oxtoby said they would think about it, Cllr Abraham was not in favour

Northfield:

The meeting of 13 December discussed the following: (1) The Anti-Social Behaviour Officer reported problems of young people riding on the roads in Hartley and New Ash Green because there was nowehere else to go, she suggested a site be found on Northfield. The committee thought the entrance by Milestone School might be possible but thought the EMCO triangle better. (2) They authorised bills of £1,645 including tree risk assessment (£795), 3 tractor grass cuts (£480), visual inspection 2 months (£160). (3) Bumble Bees - they have been advised on which wild flowers to plant but was told spraying for ragwort would probably kill all wild flowers. (4) New pedestrian access in Ash Road - quote of £1,190 from NPC Tree Surgery accepted. (5) Tree works of £450 following tree risk assessment authorised by council and Sevenoaks Council. (6) Two new dog waste bins at Ash Road and Milestone School entrances approved. (7) Quotations will be obtained to identify different areas of the field.

Recent Planning Decisions

Sun, 14 Jan 2018 16:27:00 GMT

3119/2017 The Croft, Woodland Avenue

Granted - Erection of a two storey side extension

3269/2017 Joh-San, Ash Road

Granted - Demolition of existing chalet bungalow and erection of a new 5 bed dwelling

3351/2017 18, Old Downs

Granted - Details pursuant to condition 9 (visibility splay) of planning permission 17/02117/CONVAR.

3354/2017 3, Round Ash Way

Granted - Prior notification of a single storey rear extension which extends 3.6m beyond the rear wall of the original dwelling house with a maximum height of 2.8m and eaves height of 2.5m.

3358/2017 2, Downs Valley

Granted - Erection of a single storey rear extension

3460/2017 3, Banckside

Granted - Details pursuant to condition 3 (boundary treatments) of planning permission 17/01902/HOUSE.

3540/2017 13, Old Downs

Granted - Erection of detached outbuilding in rear of garden.

New bungalows in Merton Avenue

Thu, 11 Jan 2018 18:55:00 GMT

Two new bungalows are being built in the back garden of Amberley (the house behind the trees). The house Amberley itself has planning permission to be demolished and replaced with 4 flats.

Women of Hartley in World War 1

Mon, 08 Jan 2018 17:35:00 GMT

The Red Cross have now scanned all their enlistment cards for World War I. Unlike the published military records, this allows us to see better the role of women in the war. Four women from Hartley served in the Red Cross, generally they were more middle class. I imagine poorer women wouldn't be able to spare the time, especially if they had children or work on the farm / smallholding.

Two neighbours from Castle Hill worked at the Higham Hermitage VAD hospital. They were Augusta Welch of Dalesford and Fanny Beck from Culvy Down. Together they put in 783 hours of voluntary work as Linen Room Orderlies.

Different work was undertaken by Beatrice Bourdillon of June Hill (now Aldingham), Manor Drive. She took a paid job in the Red Cross Prisoners of War Department.

Gladys Greenwood, aged 23, of Copthorne, Ash Road, joined as a full time VAD nurse in October 1915. For 2½ years she worked at the 2nd Western General Hospital, Manchester, a massive hospital spread over many sites with 16,000 beds. It was there she was awarded a scarlet efficiency stripe in 1917. In 1918 she moved to a hospital in Chatham and later the military hospital in Colchester.

The Red Cross have published a leaflet on nursing in the First World War.