(This is a brief outline of events, a more detailed account will be published soon.)
Kendra held its AGM on Tuesday evening on 26th April at Kenley Memorial Hall. The meeting was attended by about fifty residents and committee members. Christine Heal chaired the meeting.
Unfortunately MP Chris Philp was unable to attend, he was needed in the House of Commons. Local councillor Jan Buttinger was also absent, due to illness. Jan has been a councillor for Kenley ward for 25 years but is standing down at the elections on 5th May, so this would have been her last official meeting with Kendra. Absent too were the Metropolitan Police representatives due to commitments. All sent their apologies.
A proposal to increase the annual membership fee to £5 per household was approved. The increase will take affect from 2023. This increase was approved, even though Kendra’s accounts show an overall surplus of over £23,000, up by around £2000 on 2020’s figure. This increase is partly explained by the lack of expenditure during the pandemic.
Broadly it was agreed that Kendra should use its funds to invest in projects and initiatives that would benefit our community. To this end the committee would welcome ideas from members, so thinking-caps on please.
Ola Kolade, one of our two local councillors, did a sterling job filling in for Chris Philp and Jan Buttinger, as well as presenting his own topics for discussion. He expressed his frustration with Croydon Council and its failures, and how the councils financial position was hampering its ability help its residents. Ola will of course be seeking re-election on 5th May.
Geoff James, our planning guru, shed light on Croydon Council’s Intensification Zones, and revealed that Kenley is years ahead of its planning target in terms of development, thanks to the Council’s everything-gets-approved vetting process. The ‘sweetener’ for all this intensification was the Kenley Good Growth Plan. Residents may remember the razzmatazz around the consultation presentations, with large sums of money promised for improvements to local amenities. The funding, like the consultants, has for the most part melted away. Plans to make our roads safer look like a dead parrot too. However Geoff has received a small glimmer of hope that not all has been abandoned…sign up to his planning newsletter for more information.
The ‘any other business’ open floor was well used. Questions from “what happened to our one and a half billion quid?” to “could we resurrect the Kenley fete?” Transport was a topic of concern, prompted by rumours of further cuts to rail services on the Caterham line. Speeding motorists vexes residents still and needs some new initiatives. But what can be done if the council has empty pockets? We could have asked a policeman…..