The public enquiry into the application for a Village Green on 16½ acres of farmland - the Water Meadows and Brickfield - will be held from Monday 6th September, in the Guildhall, Canterbury, starting at 10am. It is scheduled to run all week, with an evening session on Tuesday.

The Parish Council is firmly opposed to this application, as it would result in the farmer, Brian Mummery, not being able to use those fields any more - despite the insistence by the Campaign for the Protection of Rural Bridge, that nothing would change.

The unintended consequences of this application are already being felt... Farmers, not just Brian Mummery, are being told to fence in other areas of farmland and to restrict access previously enjoyed by many villagers. The Parish Council's request for land for a community orchard is already in jeopardy, because the landowner also owns the Water Meadows.

The original intention of the application was an attempt to prevent the building of the Affordable Housing scheme in the Brickfield site. That part of the village green application has now been withdrawn, so the remaining part of the application serves no purpose, except to cause problems for the village for decades to come.

If Village Green status is granted, no-one (i.e villagers, landowner nor Parish Council) would have any control over what activities took place on it.

Everyone is invited to attend the enquiry and make their feelings known.

Congratulations to the winners of the 2010 Bridge in Bloom competition. Thank you to all those who took part and to the judges who went around the whole village in July.

Large Business: Bridgeway Stores
Small Business: Colbrook and Sturrock
Residential: Kathy & Tony Walder (17 Union Road)

2nd place in the residential section went to Ann & Clive Medhurst and joint 3rd place to Penny & David Spencer (1 Dering Close) and Julie & Malcolm Bennett, (33 High Street)

Previous winners

We have been contacted by Lucy Mans who is a researcher on 'May The Best House Win', ITV 1's new daytime show. She says:

Many thanks from the Fish Scheme to the White Horse who kindly hosted the August Coffee Pop-In and made us feel most welcome.

There has been a small, but noticable, increase in petty crime and anti-social behaviour in our village. If you are suffering this, or witness it, please report it to the Canterbury Police Community Unit on 01227 868 523 - no matter how small you consider it (e.g. it could be a planter being overturned at night, or loud party music going on too late).

Don't rely on others to report it - it is better that ten people make a report than no-one does.

Thank you to everyone who sponsored me for Race for Life remembering Pat Dunderdale.

It was an amazing as well as really moving event. I have been totally overwhelmed by people's generosity and kind messages of support. It is a real testament to Pat's memory that she is still held is such high esteem by the community as a whole.

My total sponsorship was £1600 not including Gift Aid. Let's hope this can help the continuing research into finding a cure for an illness which touches all our lives to a greater or lesser degree.

Gail Rowlands

Now parents can get fit while watching their children on the playground - with 4 pieces of adult fitness equipment.

Thank you to Canterbury City Council for a generous grant towards the cost of the equipment.

Canterbury City Council are changing the way they issue our recycling sacks. Every property in the district will now receive one roll of sacks, three times a year. Each roll contains 17 sacks.

If you need additional recycling sacks (three additional rolls per year), please register here