Chairman’s Letter August 2022


Hello!

Last month, I mentioned that we had plans for a new kitchen at Copt Hall. This is now almost finished. I had a sneak preview at our planning meeting last week, and it looked amazing even though it was only partially installed!

We are incredibly grateful to Cllr Seán Holden for the grant that has enabled us to update the kitchen. The new kitchen, together with the other work undertaken this year, has made a dramatic difference to the Copt Hall. This work has been overseen by our FAS Committee. However, I am especially grateful to Cllrs Paul Green and Simon Paish who had the vision to drive this forward.

I would like to thank Anita and Ailsa in the Parish Office who have dusted off the Hawkhurst Parish Council Facebook page. Of course, we will continue to publish information on our website (which is also being revamped) and our noticeboards.

Looking ahead to September, the NDP Steering Group is holding the first consultation event on the revised Neighbourhood Development Plan (NDP) for Hawkhurst. This will take place at the Copt Hall on Saturday 17th September from 10am to 2:30pm. The aim of this consultation is to get residents’ views on what you would like to see included in the updated NDP.

As part of the update, we will be reviewing our current policies to update/strengthen them where necessary. However, there is scope for us to do so much more with our NDP in terms of setting out a vision for the future of our village and identifying the policies and projects that will help us realise this.

The consultation on the 17th September is the first step in this process, with feedback from this event being used to create a vision for Hawkhurst. In order to ensure the NDP truly reflects residents’ views, we are keen to hear from as many of you as possible. So please do drop into the Copt Hall on 17th September. We look forward to seeing you there.

All the best,
Clare Escombe
Chairman, Hawkhurst Parish Council