Bidding has now closed

As expected, the bids are oversubscribed and all the properies will go to people with Bridge connections.

Successful applicants will be contacted within approximately 2 weeks of the closing date (i.e. by 8th Feb)

Plans are still available here

On January 5th, the City Council executive resolved to sell the Mill Centre site for development and have given the Scouts and Guides 9 months to vacate. More details to follow

On the 30th November, a car went over the top of the sliproad off the A2 and took out the right-hand roadsign. This was reported to Kent Highways.

Within a week, another car had gone over the top, taking out the left-hand sign post. This too was been reported to Kent Highways as a matter for urgent repair.

What will it take for the slip-road problems to be treated seriously?

and again...

Despite assurances by the Highways Agency that the signage was fine (as reported in the Gazette last week) it's happened again (1st January).

2012 seems to be continuing in the spirit of 2011.

...and yet again...

Unbelievably, Kent Highways Services has still failed to replace the signs and on Jan 7th, the fourth car in less than 6 weeks crashed over the end.

Starting on Monday January 9th, men's keep fit classes will be held in our Village Hall, from 5.45pm to 6.45pm. This is a great opportunity for men of all ages to regain a bit of fitness after the excesses of Christmas. Work at your own pace and level. Classes are £6 each or £25 for 5 sessions.

Ladies' keep fit sessions will continue as before at Kingston Barn, Tuesdays, 7pm to 8pm.

Television in Kent and Medway is going digital!

The digital TV switchover is starting in Kent from May 30th 2012. Analogue TV signals will be turned off and Freeview services boosted to reach all areas. After switchover, virtually all homes will be able to receive digital TV free via an aerial, including those served by local relay transmitters. When you switch depends on which transmitter your TV gets its signal from.

To find out when you switch and what your digital options are, visit www.digitaluk.co.uk or call Digital UK on 08456 50 50 50.

What do you need to do?

• If you have Freeview, Top Up TV or BT Vision, you will need to retune your digital TV or box at switchover or you will lose channels. Switchover is a two-stage process and you need to retune at both stages.
• If you have a satellite or cable service on all your sets, you will not need to retune as these are not affected by switchover.
• If you have 5 channels or fewer (i.e. analogue TV) on any of your sets, you will need to convert them to digital.
• If you're 75 and over, or eligible disabled, call the Switchover Help Scheme - they can provide everything you need to keep watching your TV.

How Action with Communities in Rural Kent can help

Rural Kent can provide speakers for your meetings to explain the steps and when to take them. For more information contact Kim Fletcher at digital@ruralkent.org.uk or 01303 813 790.

The Switchover Help Scheme is run by the BBC under an agreement with the Government. If you are eligible for the Help Scheme, they will write to you to offer you practical help to convert one of your TV sets to digital.

For more information ring 0800 40 85 900 for free or e-mail info@helpscheme.co.uk

You can also get more information at www.helpscheme.co.uk

Want to help others with the switchover? Click Here

The Police have announced a new number for our use to report Non Urgent Crime and to contact your local Police Officers.

The number is 101, this replaces the old Non Emergency number ending with (690 690).

This new number 101 will put you in contact with the Local Police Control Room, in our case Maidstone. You can speak to a Police Officer in the same way as before, you can also be put in touch with your local Police Officer. Wherever you are in the UK, dialling 101 will put you in touch with that region's control room.

The number 101 is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Each call will never cost more than 15p, even from mobiles.

In an emergency, where life is in danger or a crime is in progress, still dial 999.

County Councillor Michael Northey was on the receiving end of more feedback about the proposed changes than he's seen in a long time. "A model of local democracy", he called it. He has signed for the following important safety updates, at a cost of £7,500 from his Member's Highway Fund:

• Improved signage
• Clearance of vegetation to improve sight-lines at Town Hill/Station Road/High Street
• Widening of the carriageway at the western junction of Bekesbourne Road and the A2050
• The existing signs near the entrance to Bekesbourne Road forbidding any vehicle over 7.5 tonnes, will be brought forward to the very edge of the entrance to improve the early warning and visibility for such vehicles not to enter.
• Near the entrance of Bekesbourne Road clearly visible will be a new sign, saying A2/Canterbury which will point vehicles down Town Hill.

There will be no road closures. i.e. The East end of Bekesbourne Road (pictured above) will not become "No Entry"

October has been a busy month...

A class of year three children from Bridge and Patrixbourne Primary School spent the afternoon of Tuesday, 18th October planting Narcissi bulbs along part of the bank of the Nailbourne. They were thanked for all their work and invited to come back in the spring and view the results.

Over 20 volunteers spent the morning of Saturday, 29th October rubbish clearing, weeding, pruning, re-planting and generally tidying the area round the pavilion on the Recreation Ground. Many volunteers donated plants. A group photograph was taken and everyone was thanked for their contribution to a successful morning.
Sue Hodges

Katie Zurakovsky received the highest number of votes for her picture 'Clash at the Salmon Run', to become the favourite artist for the third year running.
Runners up You can also see the top favourite pictures on the Art in Bridge web site.

The building work on the new Affordable Housing is coming along well. The current forceast is that the homes will become available around March. The way the system works is that when they become available, people interested in having one must "bid" (i.e. express their interest) - using the web site www.kenthomechoice.org.uk. It is expected our homes will be advertised in the New Year.The bidding period is only 6 days.. Only those who meet the local connection criterion and who have registered with Canterbury City Council by then can bid.

Southern Housing wrote to everyone on their list in May. If you are interested in a home and you did not hear from Southern Housing, it means you are not on the list, so you need to get in contact with Canterbury City Council and register now. Do not wait until the bidding opens, as it is unlikely your application would be processed in time.

We will post information here as soon as we hear bidding is open. For those unable to get on line (please help your friends if you know anyone unable to use the interenet), the advert will be posted on the noticeboard by the White Horse. Apart from the web site, bidding can also be done by text, digital television, by coupon or by phoning Canterbury City Council directly.

The poor old moon and motorbike springies on the recreation ground finally had their day. The paint was flaking, the wood delaminating, so it was time for them to be replaced. So, now we have brand new springies - a chicken and a welcome return for a cat. Much of the funding for these new items of playground equipment came through Canterbury City Council's "CIFT" scheme.

A new timetable for buses on routes 16 and 17 through Bridge came into effect on 31st July. These new times are available in the column on the left

The great news is that Stagecoach have altered the timing of the old 9.28 bus, so it now comes through Bridge at 9.33, making it eligible for those holding KCC bus passes.

Canterbury City Council is alerting local residents to bogus telephone callers who pretend to be from the authority and ask for personal information.

The warning follows reports of people in the district receiving telephone calls at home and being told that they are due for a cash rebate for being 'loyal council tax payers' for so many years.

The scammer asks for their bank details to process their 'rebate' and then tries to extract other personal information from them, in the guise of 'checking they have the correct person'. This type of fraud is particularly unpleasant because the vulnerable and elderly are most at risk.

The scam has recently escalated, and the caller has said that an officer of the council will visit the house as they need to re-evaluate the property for council tax.

The council has advises that people should never give their personal details or bank details to unsolicited callers over the telephone. And if any resident wishes to check to see if they are due a refund, they should call the council.

The village column in the Kentish Gazette each week is an important means of disseminating information to villagers and the wider readership. Joan Stingemore has been doing a great job of writing this column for many years (mostly under John Anderson's name) and has now passed the baton on to Alex Roswell-Ellis.

Items for entry should be emailed, as before to Gazette@BridgeVillage.org.uk by the Sunday before publication.

The mobile library is operated by Kent County Council and visits Green Court every Thursday from 4.30pm to 5.15pm.

The new bench on the bank of the Nailbourne, overlooking the recreation ground was presented by the Pratt family in memory of their parents George and Alice Pratt who lived in Bridge for many years

George was the village sergeant in the 1950's, when villages had their own policeman, and Alice was a regular church goer, both were in the Horticultural Society and the League of Friends. Alice played tennis and badminton. At age 70 she said she thought she might "be a bit old" for badminton and would give up. Her daughter settled the matter by giving her a new racquet for her birthday and she continued playing until over 80.

A lovely couple and we are grateful to the family for providing the seat. The dates on each end - 1911 and 1914 - are, respectively, George and Alice's dates of birth.

New smart card readers which scan customers' bus passes have just been installed on the buses in our area, to help tackle fraud.

Unfortunately, a number of customers are having problems with the machines not reading their passes. There are two reasons for this - either the pass is faulty or it is damaged. Either way the customer will need a replacement pass. If your pass doesn't work, please select which applies:

• Pass is damaged
  If the pass has been damaged by the customer, for example, having been hole punched to go on a key ring, or bent, or some of the plastic around the edge is missing, it will not work properly and we will have to charge £10 to cover the cost for replacement. (It is worth also knowing that if the pass is kept in a plastic wallet while trying to scan this may effect the scanning ability, so we therefore recommend scanning the pass without the plastic wallet.) This payment can be taken over the phone by bus pass staff by credit or debit card (ring 01227 862 521) or send a cheque for £10 payable to Canterbury City Council with the customer's name and address details to the Military Road, Canterbury office. In the meantime Stagecoach have agreed until the new card arrives that customers may use their pass as before as a flash card to the driver.
• Pass appears in good condition
  If the card appears in good condition, the customer will get a new pass free of charge. However the card production company need to receive the card back to run tests and issue a free replacement. The process takes 2-5 days while a new pass is issued and posted out. Therefore we are suggesting that affected customers should ring us and we will request them a duplicate card - and have it delivered to the Canterbury city council offices - and they come in and collect it / swap their cards - that way they are not inconvenienced with a period of no pass. Alternatively if travel to the Canterbury office is difficult they can opt to post their pass back to us first at CCC, Military Road Canterbury CT1 1 YW or drop it into the Herne Bay office but they will be without a replacement for 2-5 days.

Canterbury City Council apologises for any inconvenience.
Any problems, please contact the bus pass administration team on 01227 862343, or email buspass@canterbury.gov.uk

Additional buses

As from 10th January, there will be two extra 16's running between Bridge and Canterbury. The timetable on the left reflects these changes.

This is Gavin Dodwell, our Police Community Support Officer (PCSO)

Gavin's patch covers Bridge, Bekesbourne, Bishopsbourne, Patrixbourne and some of the other surrounding villages.

To contact him, please call 07772 226190 or 01227 868253 or email him @kent.pnn.police.uk (put his number "57923" before the @ symbol)