News

An invitation to community organisations operating in Folkestone & Hythe District to join the 8th in a series of Community Networking Forum events in partnership with Red Zebra:

F&HDC Community Networking Forum ‘All About Volunteers and Volunteering‘

• Thursday 16^th March February 2022. Start 1.30 pm.

• Folkestone Nepalese Community Centre, CT19 4NN

If you are interested in this topic and/or looking to make links with other organisations and to find out what is going on locally, then please join this Community Networking event.

On the agenda are presentations from Kerry Smith CEO of Kent Coast Volunteering, and from Young Lives Foundation who have been awarded the Queens Award for Voluntary Service for their volunteer programme.  You will have an opportunity to ask questions, update the rest of the group on your projects and network.

Please RSVP by e-mail to Sarah Thomas at  sarah.thomas@redzebra.org.uk to book your place by midday on Thursday 10^th March.

Sandgate Parish Council currently holds a long lease for the public library and parish office premises in Sandgate High Street. We are issuing this invitation to tender for internal building works to the library.

Improvement of access to the building for all is important to the Parish Council. This is not just making it easier to get into and use the library in opening hours, but also to extend the use of the premises for more community activities and events.

We have a number of issues currently we wish to resolve:

Library Entrance

Currently the building’s entrance doorway is unwelcoming and difficult to use for those in and with buggies, prams, wheelchairs and mobility issues. We want to improve that by repositioning and replacing the front door, lighting and door opening mechanism.

Toilet

The only toilet in the building is currently not for public use and is inaccessible for those with mobility issues. We want the toilet, and its access, remodelled to make it accessible to all.

Storage

We have limited storage in the library. To fix this, we’re proposing a large built in secure storage area is built at the rear of the library. This would extend along the back wall with shelving and sliding doors.

Invitation to Tender

Sandgate Parish Council would be pleased to receive quotations for these works from local suppliers. We’d prefer quotations for all 3 of the works above, but are happy to consider options with a variety of local contractors working together.

We recommend making an appointment to see the library and discuss the proposed works before tending a quotation. Also, contractors will have to have relevant insurances and references for similar works.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Gaye Thomas

Parish Clerk and Librarian

clerk@sandgatepc.org.uk

01303 248563

Mon-Tues 9am-1pm

Thurs-Fri 9am-1pm

Folkestone & Hythe District Council has teamed up with Kent County Council for Solar Together Kent, a group-buying initiative for solar panels and battery storage.

Residents looking to save on energy bills and reduce their carbon emissions are being invited to take part in the innovative new scheme.

It is being rolled out in Kent following its success across the country in the past few years. This has seen 3,700 installations of high-quality solar photovoltaic (PV) panels and 61,000 tonnes of avoided lifetime carbon emissions.

It is free to register with Solar Together Kent, and there is no obligation to proceed to installation. Working with iChoosr, independent experts in group buying, homeowners will be helped through the process and kept informed.

How to take part

Anyone interested in the scheme should register before 15 March, providing details about their roof. The more people registered, the better the deal should be for each household.

On 15 March, Solar Together Kent’s approved installers will bid for the work in a reverse ‘auction’. The most competitive offer from these pre-vetted installers will win the auction.

From 4 April, applicants will be emailed a personal recommendation for their home, based on their registration details. This will include costs and specifications of their solar panels and battery storage system.

They can then decide whether to accept the recommendation. There is no obligation to continue and applicants have until 13 May to decide. Telephone and email support will be available throughout the process, which, together with information sessions, will allow households to make an informed decision.

If an applicant decides to go ahead, the winning installer will carry out a roof survey and set an installation date. All installations are planned to be completed by the end of October 2022.

Anyone who already has solar panels installed can register to have battery storage added.

Reducing carbon emissions

Cllr Lesley Whybrow, Cabinet Member for the Environment, said:

“Reducing carbon emissions is a priority for Folkestone & Hythe District Council: as well as being committed to reduce our own carbon emission to net zero by 2030, we want to help the local community do the same.

“Solar Together Kent will go some way in trying to achieve this. It should make the switch to clean energy as cost effective and hassle-free as possible. I hope that many homeowners will take part in this community-led initiative.”

For detailed information about likely costs and the amount of energy that is expected to be generated and to register, go to https://solartogether.co.uk/folkestone-and-hythe/home

iChoosr was founded in 2008 and is privately owned by two co-founders. Before it entered the UK energy market in 2012, it focused on group-buying schemes in the Netherlands and Belgium. They now work with community leaders helping households select energy and solar power suppliers.

Press release 8/2/2022 from Folkestone and Hythe District Council, republished by Sandgate Parish Council.

Fancy trying something new for 2022? How about a Fire Walk in the grounds of Sandgate’s Enbrook Park in support of South Kent MIND?

South Kent Mind are hosting a fire walk at Saga’s Enbrook Park site on Saturday 5 March 2022 to raise essential funds for mental health.

UK Firewalk‘s specialist team will show you how to safely undertake a bare foot walk over red-hot embers measuring around 800 degrees. No special effects and no tricks.

The fire is very real. The embers will be glowing red-hot, with temperatures up to 650 degrees celsius. You will have bare feet, and they will not have been treated in any way.

To take part in this once in a lifetime experience, South Kent Mind require a registration fee of £30, and a target sponsorship of £100 to be raised.

It’s that simple to take part, try something new AND give back locally to support mental health.

• You can book online your place by following this link. You will then receive an email confirmation.

• Follow the instructions in the email to start raising sponsorship via our Just Giving page;

• Confirm that you are raising money for South Kent Mind to confirm your place;

• If you would like to fundraise by traditional methods, please follow the instructions in your confirmation email to receive further information.

• Know that you are amazing for undertaking this challenge to help improve lives.

More information & FAQ can be found on the South Kent Mind site here.

There is an inherent risk in any activity involving fire. It is important that all participants pay attention to all the training and heed the advice and instruction of the trainer, firewatchers and spotters. Whilst UK Firewalk cannot guarantee absolute safety, proper procedure reduces the risk to the achievable minimum.

The Government has launched a planning consultation for the extension of the use of Napier Barracks to house asylum seekers until 2026 (!)

https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/napier-barracks-planning-application

The consultation closes on 30th January 2022.

The decision to use the site for up to a further 5 years was made by the Home Office in August last year without carrying out a consultation.

Parish Council Chairman, Tim Prater, commented:

“The use of Special Development Order to grant themselves planning permission for Napier Barracks for the next five years, without consultation with the community, was outrageous.

“Local people said the barracks were unsuitable from day one. we were right. Yet still the government has run roughshod over local opinion – and even planning law – to grant themselves an extension to use the site DESPITE saying it was just for a few months at the start. The Home Office have consistently ignored local and expert opinion. They should do the right thing and promise to close the camp, not plan to use it until 2026.

“Normal planning permission laws have been bypassed and therefore the vital opinions of the local community and statutory bodies have also not been taken into consideration.”

A number of times, but seemingly randomly, we have had reported pollution incidents in the Enbrook Stream, where the stream as it runs into Enbrook Park is discoloured and clearly has had some sort of discharge into it. The incidents are irregular, seemingly random, and have cleared quite quickly: often an hour later, there is no sign of it.

On each of those occasions we have reported the incident, with photos where we have them, to the Environment Agency. In conjunction with Southern Water they have investigated and some time ago throught they had found a source (a misconnectioned drainage pipe) and ensured a fix. However, over the Christmas period, there was another incidenct, with a resident sending us the picture above.

We of course also reported that onto the Environment Agency, who have responded (4/1/2022):

“I have forwarded the photo onto Southern Water to keep them updated with these discharge occurrences. Although random and with no obvious source, I will attempt to keep Southern Water investigating and narrowing down a source by installing cages in the surface water network and tracing the appropriate line.

“Unfortunately the Environment Agency are no longer funded to attend these incidents and investigate ourselves, so we have no choice but to keep referring these incidents to Southern Water and await their response.

“I offer apologies for the inevitable length of time it may take to come to a conclusion. But please keep sending me through evidence of these spills when they occur as I am logging them for any future enforcement options.”

If you see evidence of pollution in Enbrook Stream (its generally really easy to spot: it goes cloudy!) then please do take any pictures you can of it, and send them with the date and time the photo was taken to clerk@sandgatepc.org.uk We are working to resolve the issue, but the more evidence we have to pass to the Environment Agency / Southern Water, the better the chance they can find and fix the currently unknown cause.