Cllr Al Arnold, Ashford Green Party

We were shocked to hear about the fire at St Francis church last night and went along to support the community cafe in the wake of that this morning. The cafe runs every Wednesday between 2 and 4 with tea, coffee and homemade cake at a very reasonable price! It’s definitely worth checking out if you live in the local area, all are welcome!

Promoted by Steve Campkin on behalf of Al Arnold Aahford Green Party c/o PO Box 78066 London SE16 9GQ

Support Ashford Greens, organized by Mandy Rossi I’m Mandy Rossi, Parliamentary Candidate for the Green Party for Ashford, and I have a special … Mandy Rossi needs your support for Support Ashford Greens

SWAN Community Council is supporting the Great British Spring Clean 2024 with a Community litter pick on Saturday 16th March 2024 at 10am. Meeting at the Salvation Army Hall for the litter pick followed by tea and cake at the Hall. All residents and community groups are invited to join us. Do bring your litter pickers and come and join in the Litter Hero’s Campaign.

Christmas can be a very difficult time of year for many reasons, these helplines will be available as normal throughout the festive period. If you are struggling, don’t suffer in silence.

Could you share an extra portion of your home-cooked food with someone living nearby who would benefit from the delicious meal and a friendly chat?

Food Friends are looking for more volunteers to COOK, SHARE, and CARE for someone in their community

It's a super flexible volunteering opportunity for people with busy lives... it's pretty awesome!

To get involved, find out more at www.food-friends.co.uk

I was recently made aware of issues including the hedges opposite East Stour school and leaves blocking the drains outside the school itself, as well as a build up of leaves on the Millstream Bridge. I reported these issues and while they were dealt with very promptly, please be aware that Aspire have had to delay some of the bigger scheduled works due to tree clearances from the recent storm Ciaran and an extended growing season.

South Willesborough and Newtown Community Council | SWANCC Official website for SWANCC - South Willesborough and Newtown Community Council. The Council is a new organisation based in Ashford, Kent. We aim to provide ...

Another big thanks to Steve Sitton for helping me to get my newsletters out to residents of Newtown.

Steve has let me know about some issues with communal waste not being collected, fly tipping and litter. All of which is currently being fed back to the relevant teams at ABC and will be sorted shortly along with the resident queries that were passed on to Steve which I will look into.

When you elect a Green Councillor - you get the whole team working on your behalf. Cheers Steve!

Thank you so much for the help! 💚

Absolute privilege to be out and about today keeping the People of Aylesford & East Stour informed with the brilliant Cllr Al Arnold and his team of supporters have been achieving in the area.

Parking charges across Ashford and Tenterden are set to increase by less than the Consumer Price Index, Blue Badge holders remain entitled to three hours free parking within our car parks and the Free-after-Three scheme is to remain.

Members of the Stour Centre gym who pay for their membership via direct debit are still entitled to three hours free parking while they use the fitness facilities. Gym members simply need to purchase a ticket as normal at the parking terminal then take it to the Stour Centre front desk where they will receive a refund for up to three hours parking.

The council continues providing free parking at certain times in select council-run car parks across the borough. Visit www.ashford.gov.uk/free-parking for more details. This initiative has proven popular with customers and provides support to our local town centre businesses. All council-run car parks and the town centre high streets are free to park in after 6pm.

Over the last few years, car parking costs have risen. Electricity bills have gone up by £173,000, and all car parks require maintenance, and income generated from parking fees alone covers all this. At last night’s Cabinet meeting members reluctantly agreed to a proposal of a modest increase to all tariffs by approximately 10% (rounded to the nearest 10p), half of the CPI, which has increased by 20.18% since the last increase in charges.

The increase in parking tariffs will come into effect from 1 October 2023 and only applies to council-run car parks and on-street parking in Ashford and Tenterden. Those with season tickets or parking permits will not be affected by the increase.

Charges for short stay parking will rise by 10p per hour, bringing the majority of fares up to £1.30 per hour which is payable in 5p increments. The proposed charges will still be lower than those of our competitors.

Cllr Steve Campkin, Deputy Leader of the Council and Portfolio Holder for Climate, Environment and Transport, said: “This is the first time parking charges have increased since April 2020, and inflation alone outstrips the rises proposed so a 10% increase is reasonable in consideration of this.

“This should have been done earlier in the year but was delayed until after the election for some reason, but that works in everyone’s favour because we’ve made it a little less draconian than what was proposed under the previous Conservative administration.

“We don’t want to use car parking charges as a green tax as this disproportionately targets the less affluent among us, we’re far more interested in providing infrastructure to encourage walking, cycling and public transport, but some people will still need to use private cars and we need to accommodate everyone.”

Just a heads up that Newtown Road will be disrupted again from 14-18th August. The road won't be completely closed but there will be a traffic light system in place at this time.

Thank you Cllr Heather Hayward! Amazing job done with find a voice to find a way for this community event to continue!

Ashford Festival in the Park set to go ahead!

This year’s Festival in the Park is set to go ahead on 25, 26 and 27 August following Find a Voice Ashford charity stepping in to team up with the event’s organisers.

The event was in doubt as organisers were unable to meet the necessary fees to hire the land owned by Ashford Borough Council or prove charitable or not for profit status. The council’s Safety Advisory Group had been liaising with organisers to look at ways they might be able to adapt the event in order to save costs.

Upon hearing the situation Cllr Heather Hayward, portfolio holder for Performance and Direction, got in touch with Sam Griffin, Operations Manager at Find a Voice. The charity subsequently agreed to take on the administration of the event and are now liaising with organisers and the Council to finalise the necessary details.

Now that the charity has stepped in they can apply under this status and pay minimal costs for the application and water and electricity supply costs. The Council has also advised them on potential grant funding which might be available to support the event.

Ashford’s Festival in the Park has been running since 2005, relying on donations from businesses and the public and with performers and volunteers giving their time for free.

Ashford charity Find a Voice has been supporting children and adults with communication difficulties for 27 years. They offer support including loaning communication aids free of charge, supporting schools, providing lessons at their centre and helping people with a range of communication methods.

Cllr Heather Hayward said: “I am so pleased we were able to find a way for this event to continue. I have supported Find a Voice’s work in the past and thought it might be an opportunistic pairing so got in touch with them. In teaming up with Find a Voice both parties can benefit each other and our residents and visitors can look forward to a fantastic weekend of free, local music.”

Sam Griffin said in her previous job she had assisted and supported Ashford Festival in the Park so it made complete sense for the charity to step in as event organiser.

“Find a Voice and I are thrilled to be able to join forces with the current festival organisers and Ashford Borough Council to enable this wonderful Ashford-centred music festival to continue, hopefully for another 18 years! We want to ensure that the festival is still community focused and inclusive for all.”

Collections for Find a Voice will be taking place over the weekend of the festival.

For more information on Find a Voice visit https://orlo.uk/97iSa

Great work team!

Just so everyone is aware, Newtown Road is closed by the outlet, which is causing severe traffic delays in the area. we are not sure on when these delays will end but will try to find out if possible.

First full council for our awesome eight this evening. Good luck councillors - you’ll be great! 💚

It was great to meet everyone tonight! A class act from Swan Community Council as always, I look forward to working with you all.