Swale Borough Council

A conservation area in Swale has been expanded to include more areas of local importance.

Swale Borough Council has reviewed Hartlip and Bredgar Conservation Areas as part of their commitment to deliver the adopted Heritage Strategy 2020, Action Plan 1. 

After undertaking a public consultation on the conservation area’s character appraisals and the proposed management plan, the Council has expanded the borders of Hartlip conservation area (CA) and have kept the existing boundaries of Bredgar Conservation Area. 

Swale Borough Council is set to plant over 15,000 trees thanks to a government grant of £273,400. 

The funding, which came from the Forestry Commission’s Local Authority Tree Fund, will enable the council to plant 15,000 whips and 350 standard trees over the next 2 years and forms an important part of the council's Climate and Ecological Emergency Action Plan. 

The whips, when planted, will be under a metre tall and consist of a thin stem and few branches, but will grow into fully matured trees. They will be protected with biodegradable tree shelters. 

Local residents are being invited to help name Swale Borough Councils’ new fleet of waste collection and street sweeper vehicles.

Swale Borough Council wants people to get creative and help name 24 new waste collection vehicles and four new street cleansing vehicles that will be working across the borough from March.

The vehicles are currently being built as part of the new waste and street cleansing contract with SUEZ Recycling and Recovery UK Ltd.

Councillor Ann Cavanagh, who was elected to Swale Borough Council in May this year, as a Swale Independent representing Borden and Grove Park ward, has joined the Labour Group and will sit with Labour when the Council convenes its next Full Council meeting next week.

The balance of the Council will thus change to; Labour-16 seats; Swale Independents 12; Conservatives 11; Liberal Democrats 5 and Green Party 3. It will make no difference to the balance between the Coalition administration and the opposition, as Cllr Cavanagh is exchanging one coalition group for another.

Swale Borough Council (SBC) have teamed up with Kent Police’s Rural Task Force to crack down on suspected fly-tipping on a day of action collecting evidence and taking enforcement action for waste related crimes.  
  
SBC have confirmed that 8 vehicles were stopped and searched and 4 Fixed Penalty Notices were issued.  
  

Swale Borough Council have raised concerns about Kent County Council (KCC) proposals to change youth services across the borough. 

The council has written to Kent’s Cabinet Member for Communities and Regulatory Services, Cllr Clair Bell, to set out its opposition to cut externally commissioned youth services, as part of proposals to create new family hubs to support children and families. 

Electric vehicle drivers will now be able to get a more reliable charge when visiting Sittingbourne, with Swale Borough Council (SBC) upgrading the EV charging points in the Bourne Place Multi-Storey Car Park. 

The previous chargers on the ground floor of the car park were unreliable and have now been replaced with two brand new Pod Point chargers.  

These offer a total of four charging outlets for electric vehicles to use, two 22KW fast chargers and two 7KW chargers.  

People visiting Swale’s award-winning beaches this summer are being reminded to stay safe on the coast.

The beaches on the Island remain popular every year, and Swale Borough Council is again partnering with the RNLI to make sure people stay safe at Sheerness and Leysdown beaches.

Lifeguard cover began operating on Leysdown-on-Sea and Sheerness beaches seven days a week, from Saturday 8th July and will be there until Sunday 3rd September, having covered weekends and Bank Holidays since 27th May earlier this year. 

Swale Borough Council is celebrating after receiving a Green Flag Award for Milton Creek Country Park and Oare Gunpowder Works Country Park.

The news that Milton Creek and Oare have achieved the accreditation - the international quality mark for parks and green spaces - "is testament to the hard work and dedication of the team that care for the green space so that everyone can enjoy it" says the council.

Swale Borough Council is making grants of up to £5,000 available to support activities to improve local town centres.

The council has set up the Town Centre Action Grant (TAG) scheme to help boost the borough’s principal towns of Faversham, Sittingbourne and Sheerness, as well as the smaller historic centres of Milton Regis and Queenborough.

The council wants interested groups to come together to develop co-ordinated action plans and projects for the towns, with grants of between £1,000 and £5,000 to schemes that focus on: