Questions or input on any item of the agenda should be sent to the Parish Clerk (by email to clerk@sandgatepc.org.uk) in advance of the meeting and will be read out by the clerk at the meeting and responded to appropriately. Questions should include the questioners full name and address.
The meeting will take place on Zoom with the meeting broadcast live as video at the time of the meeting itself on our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/pg/sandgatepc/
Planning Agenda 05 05 20 doc-1
Questions or input on any item of the agenda should be sent to the Parish Clerk (by email to clerk@sandgatepc.org.uk) in advance of the meeting and will be read out by the clerk at the meeting and responded to appropriately. Questions should include the questioners full name and address.
The meeting will take place on Zoom with the meeting broadcast live as video at the time of the meeting itself on our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/pg/sandgatepc/
Env Agenda (05) 05 05 20-1Considering our current situation it has been a busy week. Many thanks to those of you that came along to the garden to get some tomato plants and apologies for those that made the trip in vain, as the plants got snapped up as if they were hot cakes. We were donated an astonishing £72.20 which will go towards our immediate wish list of extra fine mesh to keep insects at bay, more compost or soil improver, and of course seeds. The next spare plants will be cucumbers, courgettes and autumn/winter squashes, but not for at least two weeks.
We have been busy weeding, and planting more lettuces, a tray of Florence fennel and oca (the South American tuber, or New Zealand yam). We also had a packet of butterfly, bee and bird attracting flower seeds to throw about, so we did just that!
Our pond is currently looking a little sad, the plan was to get plenty of oxygenating pond weed and pond plants from a garden centre to help encourage the wildlife into moving to their des res. Well, we have various pigeons and magpies dropping in for a bath, and a big fat water beetle has been seen in the murky depths, but that is about it. If you have a thriving pond and can spare us some water weed or non-invasive pond plants, please get in touch as we would love to be able to get the pond to a healthy state.
Bee news
Ray and Chris have been checking on the bees and it has been really interesting to get updates and information about hive life. Below is a pollen colour chart for the month of April, and a photo of one of the bees with some pollen in its ‘pollen basket’ on one of its legs. There is also a picture showing the components of a bee hive. We are learning something new about bees all the time!
What’s next?
We’ve been asked by a number of local residents recently if it is allowed to walk or cycle down “The Riviera” which leads from Castle Road to the seafront and a portion of which is private.
We have asked the Highways Authority Kent County Council for a definitive statement, and they say:
“The road itself is private and has a gate installed both ends of the road. The road is not prohibited for pass and repass of pedestrians: there is a TRO (traffic regulation order) that allows pedestrians to walk through. This also allows BICYCLES.
“It is governed so as only the residents of this road can use any motor propelled vehicles along this road.”
From the Sandgate Sea and Food Festival Committee:We have taken the tough decision to cancel the Sandgate Sea Festival 2020, owing to uncertainty around the Coronavirus Pandemic. We tried to hold out for as long as possible, but it does not look likely that we will be able to make any commitments this summer and do not want to let anyone down.
This includes both the fireworks display traditionally held on the Saturday evening and the market and other entertainment on the Sunday.
We feel so sad for our wonderful traders, entertainers, our community, our sponsors, the local authorities and of course the RNLI. We promise that we will be back in 2021 as part of the Year of the English Coast and that our event will be better than ever.
Stay Safe.
The Sandgate Sea Festival Team
It will be necessary to close Sandgate High Street, Sandgate from 20th April 2020 for up to 12 days.
The road will be closed outside 142 Sandgate High Street.
The alternative route is via Military Road, North Road, West Road and Hospital Hill.
*UPDATE* Due to the nature of the works taking place the road will be closed all day and NOT reopen at night.
This is to enable sewer repairs in the carriageway to be carried out by Southern Water.
We have over fifty tomato plants needing homes, so if you have not got yours yet, come up to the garden on Wednesday 22nd or Saturday 25th from 10 am until noon to collect some. A small donation would be most appreciated, and help towards our running costs.
Thank goodness for some rain, it will make a world of difference; Sandgate often seems to miss any promised rain compared to other parts of Kent, so it was most welcome. Temperatures have not dropped too far and some fleece covers have stayed off, and because of lack of greenhouse space, many plants now have to cope outside to make space for the courgettes, squashes and cucumbers!
This week, there were more sowings of carrots and parsnips between other established plants so that they will be ready to take pride of place once the first crop has gone. Some cauliflower plants got planted, but weeds got a good tackling too in the fight to keep space and soil goodness just for the fruit and veg being grown. The posts did get wired, until we ran out of parts and the drill broke!
The first strawberry flowers have appeared, and so the strawberry bed has been mulched with straw to keep the anticipated fruit clean. They will have to be netted to keep pests at bay. Talking of flowers, the wild/flower area around the banana tree is looking particularly good, and a picture has been included below. Last autumn a lovely lady came up to the garden armed with a few anemones which she planted. This lady works in Nepal for much of the year, and comes back to Sandgate every now and then, so we hope she sees the picture of how her flowers are now looking – absolutely beautiful.
Bee news
Bee keepers Ray and Chris are pleased with bee progress at the garden so far and the site has been registered officially on the government database for notifications of any diseases identified locally. Astonishingly there are 115 registered apiaries within a 10km radius of our site! Wow!
What’s next?
Due to the Coronavirus, and lockdown and social distancing rules, the Government have passed emergency legislation and guidance to allow Councils to meet online instead of in person through until May 2021.
In common with many other councils, Sandgate Parish Council will be meeting online for the immediate future and until the Government advice is that is is prudent to again meet “in person” and for the public to be present.
We will be publishing agendas (5 working days in advance of meetings) and minutes within 10 working days after a meeting on the Parish Council website at http://sandgatepc.org.uk/ (as we have done for some years).
Questions on any item of the agenda, or public questions for Full Council Meetings should be sent to the Parish Clerk (by email to clerk@sandgatepc.org.uk) in advance of the meeting and will be read out by the clerk at the meeting and responded to appropriately. Questions should include the questioners full name and address.
The meetings themselves will take place on Zoom (using recommended security such as meeting passwords, use of waiting rooms etc) with the meeting broadcast live as video at the time of the meeting itself on our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/pg/sandgatepc/ Comments made on the Facebook video during the meeting will not be monitored and are not a way of feeding back to the Council.
Please do bear with us while we learn this new way of working – it’s new for all of us!
Our first online meeting will be our Full Council Meeting on Tuesday 21st April at 5pm.
Kent Trading Standards Warning: as it’s the end of the tax year, please be aware that scammers are busy.
If you receive any messages like below impersonating HMRC promising a refund and that you need to click on a link, it is a scam. HMRC would never ask you to respond in this way and ask for personal details via a link.
Remember the ABC of scam protection and do not ASSUME or BELIEVE anything you receive via email, text, telephone is genuine, always CONFIRM by contacting a trusted source, Bank, Police, family or friend.
Never click on links or divulge personal data or account details when receiving an out of the blue message like the one above.
If it is “Too good to be true, then it probably is.”
There has been an alert from Action Fraud in relation to a phishing scam, where fraudsters are impersonating Tesco.
The fake Tesco emails are offering ‘free vouchers’ during the coronavirus outbreak and you are asked to click on a link, which takes you to a convincing looking phishing website that is designed to steal your login, personal and financial information.
If you receive one of these, please do not click on the link and delete it and report to Action Fraud.
For more info and extra help on how to keep yourself safe on line visit https://www.actionfraud.police.uk/
Use the A, B, C of scam awareness: