Dear Supporters,
For those of you who sometimes think Annual General Meetings can be a little dull, you will not want to miss this one!
TWBC have confirmed at this week’s full council meeting that they are continuing to gather evidence to support Tudeley Village, despite the Inspector’s clear concerns and at significant cost to the ratepayer. The future for East Capel is also far from clear. As explained in our last newsletter, the challenges ahead are rather similar to those two years ago – where the Council now effectively has a second chance at the Regulation 19 process. We have a deja vu feeling.
Martin Webber, who worked at the BBC for around 30 years, has created a short video about our campaign for West Kent Radio. This includes the recent interviews with Greg Clark MP, Councillor Hugo Pound, and our Chairman. Click the image below to watch.
Our AGM is a great opportunity for you to find out the latest developments and discuss our approach to this crucial, and hopefully final, stage of the examination. You will also elect your Executive to lead the campaign.
The AGM is open to all Members of Save Capel and will be held at Capel Village Hall, Five Oak Green, on 20th March 2023, commencing at 7.30pm.
The Agenda will include:
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An update on Save Capel since the last AGM and the important next steps
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Election of the Executive (see section below for more details)
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Update from Capel Greenbelt Protection Society (CGPS) – charity holding our funds
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Update from Hugh Patterson, our TWBC Borough Councillor and Parish Chair
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We are hoping to have one or two Guest Speakers
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Q&As – an opportunity for Members to ask questions of the Executive and other speakers.
We will be providing Cheese & Wine towards the end of the meeting and hope that you will be able to stay and chat more informally about the challenges we face.
We really hope to see as many of you as possible at the AGM so that we can plan and, with your ongoing support, continue our fight in the most effective way against TWBC’s proposals for Capel in the Local Plan. We have been campaigning for nearly four years and now face the crucial battle. Please join us on the 20th March.
Electing your Executive
Members of the existing Executive have all agreed to stand again and we believe continuity is very important to these final stages of the process.
Under our Constitution, any member of Save Capel can put themselves forward for election to the Executive. Candidates shall be nominated by two members, at least one of whom must be a resident of Capel Parish. The Executive shall have the power to co-opt additional members if necessary.
Candidates should have a good knowledge of our campaign, but the work will not be too demanding (meetings every 2-4 weeks) although there will be periods of activity to meet strict deadlines set by the Inspector. The key priorities are reviewing the new evidence from the Council, preparing our responses together with instructing barristers/planning consultants, as appropriate, and fundraising for the professional fees required for the next stages of the public examination.
If you would be interested in putting yourself forward for election to the Executive, please notify us by next Friday 10th March 2023 at savecapel@gmail.com. If you have any questions about becoming an Executive Member, please speak to one of us or send an email to the gmail account as well.
AND FINALLY……
We’d like to say a big THANK YOU to those members who have agreed to extend their pledges for uncollected donations to the end of this year; we cannot tell you how important your generosity is to the Campaign.
Given the Council’s ongoing position, it is clear that we will need to continue to take the fight to them. In order to do so we will undoubtedly need more funds, and therefore any donations, or pledges, you feel you can make could be very important in allowing us to SAVE CAPEL.
As ever, the Save Capel Executive would like to thank you all for your continuing support. If anyone is interested in contributing more to the campaign please contact us via email to savecapel@gmail.com
HOPE TO SEE YOU ON 20th MARCH!!!
Stewart, Ian, Dave, Maggie, Charlie, Jan and Mark
