Please visit our NEW WEBSITE http://www.wrotham-pc.gov.uk
The Next Parish Council Meeting will held on Wednesday 5th March 2025 at 7.30pm in the Wrotham Pavilion
To report any of the following faults on roads or pavements type https://www.kent.gov.uk/roads-and-travel/report-a-problem into your browser.
Street light faults – with the exception of parish owned lights, these are numbered between 1 and 56 and need to be reported to the parish clerk
Potholes
Drainage
Traffic signal faults
Damage to bus stops (poles/timetables)
Overgrown vegetation (including hedges and grass)
Climate Change
The council is working on a policy and strategy plan to address the climate crisis and actions that must be taken to reach the Net Zero target. Further information to follow.
WPC is installing PV Panels on the Wrotham Pavilion following grant approval under the West Kent Rural Grant Scheme to facilitate this initiative.
A dedicated climate change page on our website will be created to offer residents information and advice.
In 2023 the council subcommittee to came up with ideas that WPC could implement to help with combating climate change. One of the ideas was more trees to absorb CO2, which started with a number of trees being planted around the village. The obvious ones are four multi stem silver birch on the Whitehill roundabout and two mallus fruit trees along Bull Lane. The hedgerow alongside the cricket field has been cleared of bramble and ivy and planted with seventy five native hedging plants.
WINTER MAINTENANCE
KCC Highways is the primary responder as they have depots filled with salt and fleets of vehicles at their disposal with employees on standby for cold weather. They get government funding to provide this service. They have set criteria in place for gritting operations covering
- all A and B class roads
- busy commuter routes
- other roads that can become hazardous in frosty or icy conditions.
Wrotham Parish Council does not get government funding and has a small gritter that needs to be towed by a robust 4-wheel drive vehicle that is suitably insured. WPC do not have access to such a vehicle and or the financial resources to purchase, run and maintain a 4×4. Therefore as it stands currently the council owned gritter cannot be used.
To overcome this problem WPC has looked at a more proactive approach to dealing with snow and icy conditions in the village as an alternative measure to the village gritter.
We have purchased several large grit bins and conducted a survey of the residential roads around the village that present high risk and/or without easy access to grit. The bins have been deployed and placed at the nominated locations and filled for use. The council will also be evaluating the effectiveness of the Icemaster 50 Manual Gritter for use by volunteers.
WPC is collecting all salt bin locations to data point on our website map.
Speeding Cars
WPC is very aware of the problem of speeding throughout the village. KCC Highways set the speed limits across the County and have the ultimate say. In an effort to persuade them of the need to reduce speeds, we arranged for traffic monitoring on The Old London Road following complaints about speeding past the school and Children’s Play Area. WPC has now installed a speed monitoring device. The unit has also provided statics to be used as part of our attempt to get the road speed limit reduced to 20 mph within our Highway Improvement Plan. Our vision is to have a 20 mph speed limit throughout the village, but this ultimately remains in the hands of KCC Highways.
Street Lighting
All the new LED lights and poles have been installed and painted by our contractor. UK Power Networks completed the works in 2024 to upgrade the non-compliant connections and transfer power to the new lanterns at these locations and the removal of the 3 redundant poles. L & K Ltd our contractor has removed the lamp post at the Lychgate, installed the a new lantern in Kemsing Road and completed painting works.
At the start of this project UK Power Networks were looking to charge WPC £700 per non-compliant connection which for 26 units would have been an additional cost of £18,200. This money has been saved thanks to negotiations by our contractor Mike Mills.
Public Toilets
The toilets are now fully operational. However, due to the cost of running, maintaining and the cost of repair from vandalism, these toilets are only available for use by during public village events and for sporting organisations.
WPC was able to secure a second village defibrillator, which has been installed on the exterior of the public toilets to enable easier access from the recreation and cricket grounds.
WPC defibrillator locations are on our the dedicated page map.
CHILDREN’S PLAY AREA
In July 2024 the gate to the Children’s Playground was vandalised by younger youths who live in the village. The incident was captured on CCTV, the footage shared with the police and a police crime report was filled out.
A new gate was purchased and installation undertaken by a specialist company to enable to play area to be secured.
The equipment within the playground is not meant to be used by adults!!
The parish council reserve the right to seek financial remuneration from any individual who causes damage to any equipment or property owned by or trusted to the care of the council.
Village Square
The square is owned by KCC, who repaved the centre square a few years ago. KCC turned down our suggestion of an actual bus shelter as it is not considered safe for buses to stop in the centre square.
WPC proposal for adding trees with ornamental iron tree guards and attractive seating with matching litter bins was agreed with and managed by KCC, and completed by KCC approved contractors.
WPC is collecting all waste bin locations to data point on our website map.
Dog Walking Area
WPC has signed an agreement with St Clere for parishioners to use the Battlefield area for dog walking as a permissive path. We are getting signs made to show where the agreed areas are. We thank Eliza Ecclestone and the Trustees of the St Clere Estate for their work and support in creating the Permissive Path.
PLEASE USE THE DOG BINS LOCATED AT THE ENTRANCE OF PILGRIMS WAY MR226 & AT THE KEMSING ROAD END OF THE FIELD.
WPC is collecting all dog bin locations to data point on our website map.
Public Venue Hire & St Georges Hall and The Pavilion
Following a few recent incidents the council has updated the booking terms for venue hire and is implementing interior signage.
Nepicar Layby
The layby on the A20 has been the scene of anti-social behavior for many years culminating in a near death motorcycle accident between two speeding bikes doing wheelies, that resulted in the temporary closure of the layby with bollards. WPC has worked tirelessly to get the layby permanently removed and landscaped and went so far as to offer to purchase the layby in order to remove the hard standing and return it to soft landscape with a grass bund. However KCC decided not to sell the land but have found the funds to do the works themselves and you will see that the layby is in the process of becoming a green area with a grass bund and shrubbery planting. This combined with the development of the Oakdene Cafe has effectively replaced the areas where motorcycles congregated thereby preventing the motorbike stunt riding that was so dangerous previously.