Graffiti

While I was out with the camera I caught this young lady cleaning off the graffiti in Coverdale. I know they are regularly in the area but I have never seen them working. When she finished this work with the brush she was out with the high pressure hose to clean the rest off. I did ask her if she enjoyed the working . She told me she used to work in an office but she found this work more rewarding. She could see the results of her labours and was making a real difference to the neighbourhood.
All I can say is thank you and keep up the good work.
Posted by Pat

Working in Princes Park

Matt and I met up with council officers this morning to discuss Princes Park issues. Afterwards we met up with Dave Saunders ,our neighbourhood policeman, and Brian Mooney, our Community Safety officer. I was there but no photo, I have more sense and stay behind the camera. Both meetings were very productive and we did get chance to talk to quite a few residents. Not all talks are negative people do seem on the whole to like living in Princes Park.
The biggest problem is there are no quick fix solutions and everything seems to take such a long time. I know Matt and I get annoyed that things take so long. We both just want the best for all our residents. But we will keep plodding away.
Posted by Pat

Maudene School

Boring Tarmac
This may look like three pictures of boring tarmac, but to the parents and teachers of Maundene school it means a lot more. Councillor Bright and myself used part of last years ward funds to cover the cost of this work. We were approached by parents saying children were getting filthy walking on the bank to get into school. The teachers complained the school was getting filthy because the children were walking through mud. The main problem was there was little access for a number of children all trying to get into school at the same time. So naturally the children went down the muddy bank. Also there were large flints which the children tripped over which ended up with a few sore knees and cracked heads.
I think the next project there, with the help of parents and pupils,is to tidy the rest of the bank.
A few of us did do a litter pick there last year and we have put a litter bin by the bus stop, but I think quite a bit more needs to be done. Any ideas?
Posted by Pat

Rochester Cathrdral

Rochester Cathedral

I just wanted to share this beautiful sight with you. The sun was just setting and it just illuminated the cathedral. As my grandson would say it looked awesome.

Posted by Pat

Castle Proms

Castle Proms
I hope you took my advice and went along to the proms. It was a fantastic night, enjoyed by everyone. Sorry no pictures of the fireworks but the old camera failed me.
Posted by Pat

Castle Concerts

Castle Concerts

Last evening I joined thousands of people to enjoy a party in the castle grounds. Jools Holland always seem to turn a concert into a fun packed party. Can you imagine a better setting. We were lucky there was only a sprinkling of rain.

I am now looking forward to the Castle Prom on Saturday. I believe there are a few tickets left. So pack up a picnic and join us there and have the time of your life.

Posted by Pat

New Applications for Planning

Here are the latest planning applications for Princes Park that were released this week.

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Aldington Close

Burmarsh Close

Lordswood Lane

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posted by matt bright.

July Surgery

This months surgery will be held on Saturday 5th July at the Christ the King church in Dove Close.

No appointment is necessary and I will be available to deal with any local issues between 10-11am.

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posted by matt bright.

Glass Recycling

It was recently announced that glass collections from Medway Council will commence from the 1st July.

All you need to do is place your glass bottles and jars in the blue bags or blue boxes with all your other recyclables.

This is a positive step by the Council and shows that they are serious in trying to improve the recycling rate in Medway.

Please click here to find out in depth what happens to the glass when it is collected.

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posted by matt bright.

New Planning Applications

Here are the latest planning applications for the Princes Park ward.

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Barleymow Close

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Chaffinch Close

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posted by matt bright.

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday

Matt and I were very pleased to be guest at Kingfisher school to help them celebrate their 20th birthday.
It was such a lovely day. The Mayor Cllr David Carr and his lovely wife were also there.

The Mayor came to officially open the new Children Centre which will be of great value to the very young members of Princes Park and their family .

We wish Mrs Priestly and all the staff all the best and keep up the good work for another twenty years.

After school the children will be having their own fun to celebrate with bouncy castles and lots of other games. The police are also there and the fire brigade which I am sure the children will love. So can Matt and I wish all the children a happy birthday as well. We loved meeting so many of you and you all sang beautifully and are a real credit to the school.

Posted by Pat

June Surgery

It is surgery time again and this months surgery will be held on Saturday 7th June hosted by me (Cllr Matt Bright).

It is between 10-11am and is in the normal venue of Christ the King Church in Dove Close.

If you have any issues locally and you feel we (myself and Cllr Gulvin) need to know about them then please pay me a visit, no appointment is neccesary.

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posted by matt bright.

CCTV Car

Here is the new CCTV car that has been patrolling Medway for the last few weeks. Despite its controversy in the newspapers regarding its own alleged illegal parking I am in favour of it.

The one and main reason I am in favour of this car is it will be patrolling outside the schools during opening and closing time.

Here in Princes Park we only have the two schools which are both Primary schools and during school finishing times the parking and waiting situations created by some parents outside of these schools are horrendous. My main problem is parents who consistently park their car on yellow zig zag lines, it happens many times especially outside Maundene school.

The signs are clearly displayed letting parents know it is no parking so I am quite happy this car is patrolling around Princes Park and hopefully it will catch the persistent offenders who cause a danger and nuisance to everybody else.

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posted by matt bright.

Planning Applications

Here are the latest planning applications that have been submitted to the council that are in Princes Park.

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Merrivale Grove

Clover Bank View

Scotby Avenue

Dove Close

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These applications date back to the last 3 weeks.

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posted by matt bright.

May Surgery

The last surgery held was a very successful one in getting problems resolved.
We had 3 residents turn up with 2 different issues and on hand to try and help them was myself, Cllr Gulvin, local special constable, local PCSO and the Princes Park safety community officer.
It really was encouraging to see all the different sides of the Police and Council working together to help local residents.
One of the complaints was dealt with immediately after the surgery as the PC and PCSO drove directly to the troubled spot.
This is proof that the surgery does work and is a good link to the residents of Princes Park.
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posted by matt bright.

FOOTPATH

At long last the patience of many residents is paying of. The footpath between Lordswood Lane and Emily is being done up. It is going to take a while before it is as we would all like it, but they are getting well on with it. We all know it will not solve all the problems but it should make life better for those living near by. Matt and I have a few phone calls from residents saying how pleased they are. All we need is for once it is completed for people to respect the property and keep it tidy.
Posted by Pat

PRINCES PARK WALK ABOUT

I was going to show you some pictures of the walk about, but I thought it might depress people. The weather is too nice to feel depressed.

The walk about was with Angela (from MHS), Jess(our PCSO), Brian (our Community Safety Officer) and myself. We did find some things that did depress us but we also worked together to try and find a solution. We did talk to some very pleasant residents who gave us there views. As we explained we are working on the solutions but they cannot be done over night.

Some areas will just need tiding up, the grass cut and litter picked up. Others will need a lot more time to work on. But believe us we are working on it. We like you want to live in a very pleasant safe area. Both Matt and I live in Princes Park so we do understand some of the problems. As I think I have said before I want people to be proud of saying they live in Princes Park, our little Garden Suburb.
posted by Pat

PARTNERSHIPS

You may remember that I had a walk about with a representative of MHS and we found this 'dump'. Well the good news is that our Community Safety Officer (Brian) and Phil from MHS got together to sort this one problem out. As you can see from the pictures above they did a good job. So what we need to do now is for us to work together, by us I mean us the residents of Princes Park to stop the vandals who cause these problems. After all it us who have to pay for it in our taxes. I do not know about you but I would rather see new parks etc. being built with my money.
Posted by Pat

Action Taken

These may look like 3 normal hooped barriers but to the resident who lives there it has improved their lives locally.

It all started when a local resident of Princes Park visited me at one of our Saturday surgeries a couple of months ago. Amongst a few problems they had, one of them was people parking outside their house, partially blocking their driveway and ruining the grass verge with deep tyre marks.

The result of this situation was Pat and I used the ward funds to pay for these 3 hooped barriers to instantly stop the problems. As a result of this, I received a very complementary phone call from the resident 2 days after the barriers were installed.

Another success story for Pat and myself.

Firstly the monthly surgeries and secondly turning words into action and getting things done!

Ignore the date on the camera, this photo was not taken in 2004 but was taken on the 21st April 2008. I have now finally adjusted the date on my camera!

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posted by matt bright.

Maudene School

A couple of weeks ago there was an Ofsted Inspection of Maundene School in Princes Park.

It was designated a 'Good' school in the report to the delight of the headmaster Mr Cutting which was down to good leadership and good management.
The school is held in high regard to residents locally with a good reputation which is also showing in the results which include good behaviour and enthusiasm within the pupils.
Click here to read the full story from the Medway Council website.
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posted by matt bright.

Latest Planning Applications

Here are the latest planning applications to have been presented to Medway Council for the last 2 weeks involving the Princes Park ward.

Ryegrass Close

Romney Road

Princes Avenue

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posted by matt bright.

Walk in Princes Park

I met up with our PCSO Jess and Angela from MHS this morning to have a look round part of Princes Park. We are hoping to do this on a regular bases round different parts of Princes Park to see if we can help keep it a nice place to live. Of course we did find the odd bollard that needed replacing and the odd bit of graffiti(of course). But what upset us most that one piece of ground that someone had landscaped is now being used as a dumping ground. Can anyone tell me WHY?

Posted by Pat

Surgery

This Saturday (5th April) is the latest edition of the Princes Park surgery.
It will be held in the same place (Christ the King Church) in Dove Close between 10-11am.
I will be your host along with a member of the local Police Force (as advertised by Kent Police).
If you have any local problems please feel free to pop in, no appointment is necessary.

Posted by Pat

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Kissing Gate

Here is the latest addition in our drive to rid the motorbikes from the paths and alleyways of Princes Park. This kissing gate is situated in the alleyway that runs along the rear of Highgrove Road. The frame was already there but it was missing the swing gate. However, the gate has been replaced and hopefully it will stop any motorbikes going down there. If it doesn't stop them then it will definitely slow them down from speeding through this pathway which is used by a lot of pedestrians throughout the day.

Hopefully, this will prevent an injury!

Ignore the date in the corner of the photo, it is incorrect; this photo was taken today.

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posted by matt bright.

Graffiti

Graffiti

The photos attached are not of different areas but are located in just one alleyway.

It covers more than a hundred yards.

It is going to cost a lot of time and money to clear!

The annoying thing is the mindless people who did this will be complaining that there are not enough facilities for the young. If we did not have to waste hard earned money to clear this and to pick up their litter we could spend the money elsewhere. If anyone can come up with a good way to prevent this I would love to here from you. That excludes them being transported to Mars.

Posted by Pat

Spring At Last In Princes Park

I said before that I had planned to show a picture of spring but was put off by all the litter, well I changed my mind! The weather has been so bad lately I thought we needed a reminder that summer is just around the corner.
As Matt said in a previous article work in the ward is still going on as usual. The Police, PCSO's and Community Safety team are out there looking after us. You may not see them but they are working hard to keep us safe. Remember, if you want to talk to a PC come along to the Church (by Morrisons) on the first Saturday of every month, there you will find the Police and either Matt or myself. On the last surgery we had one visitor who wished to speak to the Police. However, this visit by them was not a waste of time as the resident had a serious concern which the police are now dealing with.
The Church also run a coffee morning Saturdays so while you are waiting, if you need to, they will make you very welcome.

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posted by Pat

PC Dave Saunders

A lot of thanks go to PC Dave Saunders who is the Community Police Officer for Princes Park.

Over the last week he has been involved in two different arrests involving cannabis in the area.

One arrest came in Highgrove Road whilst the other was in Somerset Close where he managed to smash a cannabis factory in the property.

PC Dave Saunders, along with the PCSO's and the Community Warden are carrying out fantastic jobs in making Princes Park a safer and cleaner place to live.

However, there are many more things that need to be done and we on the Council along with our Police colleagues are currently working on the known trouble spots, hopefully with positive results in the near future.

PC Dave Saunders gave me full permission to write this article.

Please get in touch with us or visit us at one of our surgeries if you need to report something.

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posted by matt bright.

New Planning Application

Here is the latest application that involves Princes Park this week.

There is only the one and it sits on the other side of the ward.

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Hopewell Drive

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posted by matt bright.

Safer Communities

Here are the latest figures I have received from the safer communities team which involve Princes Park.

The period is from October 2007 - December 2007.

Fly Tipping

Coverdale Cl, Shanklin Cl, - 4 reported incidents.

Defiant Cl, Glenwood Cl, Hardy Cl, Romney Rd, Somerset Cl, Swallow Rise,Ventnor Cl, - 2 reported incidents.

Anson Cl, Brenzett Cl, Fisher Rd, Flamingo Cl, Goose Cl, Henley Cl, Highgrove Rd, Mermaid Cl, Penfold Cl, Ramilles Cl, Shakleton Cl, Solent Gds, Wiltshire Cl,- 1 reported incident.

Adandoned Vehicles

Chrisite Cl, - 4 reported incidents.

Heron Way, Illustrious Cl, Setford Rd, - 2 reported incidents.

Glamis Cl, - 1 reported incident.

As you can see the Council work hard to remove any fly tipping and abandoned vehicles as soon as they are reported.
If you do come across any of these unsightly problems then call Customer First on 333333 to have the problems removed.
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posted by matt bright.

New Planning Applications

There are two new planning applications this week in Princes Park, they are in the following roads;

Highgrove Road

Henley Close

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posted by matt bright.

Litter

I have just come back from a couple of weeks holiday ( this was last years summer holiday that had to be cancelled). So I thought I would have a stroll around Princes Park and take some nice spring photos to cheer the blog up. What did I find LITTER.
Matt and I are trying to organise a clean up in the area but we do need help. It seems as fast as we manage to clear an area it gets messed up again. It is unsightly unhealthy and costly. So please PLEASE pick up your litter and teach the children to have pride in their community.
Posted by Pat