WP FOrms, Author at Goudhurst Parish Council

10/03/202610/03/2026

WCAG Compliance and Activity

Goudhurst ParishCouncil

Compliance with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).

Version 1.0

21^st October 2025

Summary

We are reviewing our website –Goudhurst-pc.gov.uk– against the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) because its overall compliance will form part of our Annual Governance and Accountability Return (AGAR) in 2026.

Our website in its current form does not fully meet the requirements of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). The areas of non-compliance relate to the use of assistive technology – where a browser reads the website aloud for users who may have a visual impairment.

There are some small technical issues with the site which will be easily resolved however the PDF content we load may not meet the required standard.

This document describes the issues and management strategies to ensure our site meets the standard and will pass our AGAR in 2026.

This document recommends:

1.Development of a process for managing existing and new content on our website.

2.The setting a retention policy for website content

3.Removal of content outside of the new policy

4.Resolution of accessibility issues with our website structure

5.Develop and implement a plan to ensure future content is compliant

6.Develop and implement a plan for content remediation

7.Consider the need for a compliance tool.

8.Determine the level of AGAR audit activity

The purpose of our website

The website allows the parish council website to fulfil  its legal obligations around communication and transparency while also serving as a vital resource for engaging with the local community. The site ensures residents can easily access important information about our governance, decisions, and services.

Legal and administrative requirements

Parish council websites must publish key information to comply with regulations, including the Transparency Code and accessibility standards. This includes:

·Meeting records: Agendas, minutes, and supporting papers for all formal council meetings must be published. Agendas are required three days in advance, while minutes and reports must be posted within a month of the meeting.

·Financial documents: Councils must make end-of-year accounts, annual governance statements, and internal audit reports available online.

·Councillor information: The site must provide a list of all council members, their contact details, and declarations of interest.

·Statutory policies: Key documents like the code of conduct, financial regulations, and data protection policies must be available for public viewing.

·Accessibility: Websites must be designed to comply with WCAG 2.2 AA accessibility standards. This ensures the site is usable by people with disabilities, and an accessibility statement must be published.

·Asset register: A list of public land and buildings owned by the council must be accessible.

Community engagement and communication: Beyond statutory duties, a website helps a parish council connect with and serve its residents as a source of information.

Our Website Structure

The site has a core structure which changes infrequently. This structure supports the addition new information via email which means, in general, there is no need for day-to-day management or intervention by our office team.

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)

The purpose of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) is to make web content accessible to all people, including those with disabilities, by providing a set of internationally recognized recommendations. These guidelines ensure digital content is perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust, and they are used worldwide to measure compliance with accessibility legislation.

There are three levels of compliance – A, AA and AAA. We are required to be compliant with the AA requirements. See the Quick Reference section W3.org.

Compliance is required on all delivery channels – desktop, tablet and mobile. The key purpose of WCAG is to ensure:

·Inclusivity: WCAG provides the technical and design requirements needed to make digital services accessible to a wider range of users, regardless of their impairments.

·Legal compliance: Following WCAG, specifically Level AA, means we comply with the Public Sector Bodies Accessibilities Regulations 2018.

·Universal standard: The guidelines serve as the international standard for web accessibility, creating a consistent set of criteria for developers and designers to follow.

·User assistance: By following WCAG, developers can create websites and apps that are easier to navigate for people with a variety of disabilities, including vision, hearing, mobility, and cognitive impairments.

·Improved user experience: Conforming to WCAG can lead to a better user experience for everyone by improving things like navigation, clarity of information, and compatibility across different technologies and devices.

Managing Compliance

There are two areas of compliance that we need to manage:

1.WCAG Compliance of the website core structure with all requirements

2.WCAG Compliance of information/data components (agenda, minutes etc.) with the site

This report identifies strategies to manage both of these elements. In terms of a quantum the core site has a number of small issues (listed) which can be easily remediated however, the content we load onto the site (agenda, minutes etc.) represents a larger piece of work.

Managing the Core Structure

The core structure of the site changes infrequently and in day-to-day operation requires no maintenance. The site uses an accessibility compliance product – Userway  – which allows visitors to manage how the site is presented to meet their personal needs.  This is seen on the site as a blue circle with a white stickman image. Userway is a free tool and addresses a the larger percentage of WCAG compliance.

Ensuring the compliance of content

In our day-to-day management  we load images and PDF documents to the site via email for broader distribution.

Images should all be tagged with a description of the image and its purpose. These are the attributes read aloud by assistive technologies. The images used on the core site have these descriptions but many others do not. These are limited in number and can easily remediated. A process can be put in place to manage future uploads.

The major compliance issue centres around the loading of PDF documents we use to notify meeting dates, meeting minutes etc. These are in general non-compliant. The impact here is that documents, when read-aloud, are delivered in a random order. A common issue is that a list of numbered bullet points are read as a column (i.e. 1, 2 3, 4, 4.1, 4.2)  rather than relating the numbers with their detail i.e. 1. To receive apologies…….

The options to manage these documents are discussed below.

Managing Future Compliance

Future compliance can be managed in three ways:

1.Compliance checking of all content before being loaded onto the site

2.Quality Assurance check of changes to the core structure of the website when they are made

3.Consider the extended use of Userway (or another tool all of which will cost around £400 per annum) to provide a regular compliance reports.

Managing historical Compliance

Before we begin any remediation we need to set the scope of our remediation exercise. We can reduce our scope by:

Removing unwanted pages for example advertising historic parish activities

Removing pages containing historical information documents: For example those related to the neighbourhood plan other than the approved plan itself.

Set timelines to remove pages older than a defined time frame based on our statutory needs and aligned with our GDPR requirements

For complex pages containing PDF consider creating pages on the site rather than simply adding a PDF

·Where there are pages that we want to retain but either cannot update, or they are too complex, to update we can employ a user warning:  This file may not be suitable for users of assistive technology on relevant pages. If these pages are limited in their scope this is a valid approach to historical data. An example would be the Village Study

·Delete all pages that are no longer referenced

·Delete media that is no longer directly referenced on the site

In terms of scale we have 448 posts of which 255 are from 2024 and 80 are from 2025.

Managing Existing Pages

Remediating these is a large task. The strategies above will reduce the overall workload but remediation will involve either:

1.Editing the page and adding the PDF content as text

2.Adding a disclaimer around the accessibility of specific individual documents

3.Replacing the content with an accessible version of the document

Managing Future Content

Creating pages outside of WordPress

These pages will be created in a tool for example Word where the compliance can be checked before any publication. Documents and document templates used regularly should be checked for compliance. These will typically be meeting minutes or policy documents.

PDF documents created elsewhere (Business Intelligence is the biggest source here) are not compliant and will need to be checked using the tools in Adobe to manage non-compliance of PDF documents before loading. This will need to be tested to understand the scale or complexity of this activity.

For all our documents we should consider creating text versions in email when  uploading to the site.

Use of a tool

There are a number of WCAG compliance checkers available. As described above we use Userway on our site today.  We will need to determine if we want to spend around £400 per annum as a limited insurance against an AGAR review.

The Audit company will likely use another tool which, given the nature of the standard,    might easily throw up different issues. It will depend on whether the AGAR review is about determining overall compliance or whether failure on what might be relatively trivial issues constitutes an audit fail. The example of social media buttons (described below) would be an example.

It also depends upon whether issues raised during the audit and resolved before the report is issued count as an audit fail. If issues can be resolved within the audit timescale then we can use the auditors tool to flag new issues and remediate them as part of the annual process.

Structural Compliance issues

The following issues have been identified with our current site.

Area

Issue

Mitigation

Use of social media buttons

The buttons do not indicate that the link opens in another tab

Update buttons to include descriptions or remove social media buttons

Office Map

There is no description field i.e. This is a the location of the Parish Council

Update map to include the description remove the map

Menu

‘Open’ and ‘Close’ menu options do not have a description of their functions

Review the menu positioning and discuss with supplier

Menu

Keyboard only accessibility

Review the menu positioning and discuss with supplier or replace

Cookies

We do not have a cookie challenge on our site. This is because we do not track or target users and the only elements we hold in cookies relate to the active session and statistics.

Do not include a cookie challenge to ensure a simpler user experience.

Next Steps

Given WCAG compliance will form a part of the 2025/26 audit process we have some time to resolve the issues we face at the moment. An outline of the recommended steps are set out below.

1.Develop a process for managing existing and new content on our website.

2.Set a retention policy for website content

3.Remove content outside of policy

4.Resolve issues with website structure

5.Develop and implement a plan for future content

6.Develop and implement a plan for content remediation

7.Consider the need for a compliance tool.

8.Determine the level of AGAR audit activity

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01/12/202401/12/2024

November 2023

As the afternoon turned to evening, a cold foggy mist gave a magical feel around the pond and leading to the church for our Goudhurst Christmas Fair. After a somewhat slow start, as more and more residents arrived, by early evening St Mary’s was nearly full for the children’s Carols, followed by the Kilndown Choir. Thank you to Alan Foster, Chairman of the Village Hall and all the others from The Club and The Friends of St Mary’s who put in such a lot of work preparing for the day. Apart from being a lovely community event, let us hope that lots of money was raised for their various projects. Also, thanks to our Clerk, Claire who organised the road closure and safety support and especially to Ed Bates, Edward Hodgskin, Caroline Richards, Andrea Kirkby, Chris Reed, Phil Kirkby and Craig Broom, who stood for much of a very cold day, in yellow jackets, to provide advice and take care of the traffic.
Last month we reflected on Who most affects our lives and how do we influence them? Parish, Borough, County Councils and Government all play a role; with Parish Council seemingly the minor player looking after what’s left. By a strange coincidence Chairmen attended the Kent Local Government Conference earlier in November, addressed by the leader of KCC and the Kent Director of Public Health. What was interesting was the apparent realisation, at County level, that everything good cannot be controlled, managed, and delivered by the centre and that the parishes are “key communities for improving health and wellbeing” with a unique role to play. Dial that forwards a bit (no money at the centre) and it is clear where that will be going – parishes may have an increasingly important role in future and a wider one. We will follow this with interest.
2023 has been a busy year. We had Borough and Parish elections in May. Alison Webster joined David Knight as our Borough Councillors. Bary Noakes, David Boniface, Guy Sutton and Oliver Tinkler stood down from our Parish Council, and we were sorry to lose Jill Andrew. We were joined by Paul Wareham and Ed Read-Cutting for Kilndown and Edward Hodgskin, Suzi Kember and Julia Kiggell for Goudhurst Ward. In the Parish Office we welcome Katrina Hoyle who joined us as Assistant Clerk in November. I would like to express my appreciation to all our parish and borough councillors. For their commitment to our parish over the last year, for the enormous amount of time, thought and effort they give, on committees and elsewhere, all unpaid and in their own time, working to make our parish a better place.
We celebrated the Coronation of King Charles III in some style in May, plus many other events during the year including our summer Fete, for which we should give huge THANK YOU to all those who gave a considerable amount of their personal time to make things happen. We are fortunate to have so many in our community willing to step forward to help make our parish a better place for us, and we continue to welcome more helpers for the future.
For 2024 GPC are preparing a Consultation with the Community for the new year to help us decide on priorities. There are a number of important initiatives under discussion and while all issues may not find consensus or the necessary resources, it is a discussion that we hope to have in the future. The new Borough warding will result in elections for all Borough councillors in May next year.
A number of residents of the parish have been asking what has happened to Goudhurst in Bloom? “The best show in town”. We would welcome help to get this up and running in 2024, and need volunteers to help organise this and of course gardens to show: large ones, small ones and special ones; there are several categories and some lovely cups to be awarded. If you are interested in helping, even in a small way, do contact the Clerk by phone or e-mail. Several hundred from our community joined the family at St Mary’s Church to celebrate the life of Anthony Farnfield, our Parish Clerk for 25 years.
Happy Christmas and Best Wishes for 2024. Let us hope and pray for health and happiness in our parish and peace returning to the world
*Don’t forget that you can have your say by joining your Parish Councillors for tea and chat before our monthly Council Meetings, every second Tuesday of the month at 7pm.
Your Parish Councillors: Craig Broom, Antony Harris, Edward Hodgskin, Suzie Kember, Julia Kiggell, Phil Kirkby, David Knight, Geoff Mason, Ed Read-Cutting, Caroline Richards, Paul Wareham, and Alison Webster. Clerk to the Council and e-newsletter Editor: Claire Reed clerk@goudhurst-pc.gov.uk<mailto:clerk@goudhurst-pc.gov.uk> 01580 212552 or 07494 117313

Parish Council Meetings in December
Tuesday 12th in the Church Rooms 6.30pm Planning Committee <goudhurst-pc.gov.uk/planningcommittee/> View the Agenda<goudhurst-pc.gov.uk/planningcommittee/> (published 6th)
7.30pm Parish Council Meeting View the Agenda<goudhurst-pc.gov.uk/parish-council-meetings/> (published 6th) Public Session prior to the meeting at 7pm with tea and biscuits!
Tuesday 19th in the Church Rooms 7.30pm Highways Committee View the Agenda<goudhurst-pc.gov.uk/highwayscommittee/> <goudhurst-pc.gov.uk/highwayscommittee/> (published 13th)
Goudhurst Parish Council matters because many of the issues it deals with affect us personally, even when they are little things. Don’t forget that you can have your say by joining your Parish Councillors for a tea and chat before our monthly Council Meetings, every second Tuesday of the month at 7pm.
Please note the Parish Council Office will be shut from 3pm, Friday 22nd December and re-opening 9am on Tuesday 2nd January. ________________________________ Goudhurst’s Plan Bee

Geoff is a Goudhurst Parish Councillor and is passionate about helping the wildlife around our villages. He has set up a community working party ‘Wild About Goudhurst & Kilndown’ to work closely with the council to guide policy to see how we can best preserve our beautiful countryside for wildlife. Insect numbers in Kent have declined by 72% in 17 years and pollinators such as bees are vital for producing the food we eat and the very existence of the Kent countryside, our gardens and green spaces we love. Here’s his latest blog:
I was born and brought up in suburban Southwest London, our house was on the A3 Kingston By-Pass near Tolworth Tower and the night sky everywhere glowed orange from all the streetlights. After I left home I always lived in urban areas – Leicester, Croydon, Brighton, Hampton – until Cheryl and I moved to Goudhurst in 1997. On our first evening I was struck by just how dark and peaceful it was and how many stars I could see. No more towns and cities for me!
Dark Skies Dark skies however are more than just a beautiful sight for stargazers, they are also essential for the health and well-being of many wildlife species. It’s so important that we preserve them as artificial light at night can disrupt the natural rhythms of plants and animals, affecting their behaviour, reproduction and survival.
Light Pollution One of the most obvious effects of light pollution is on nocturnal animals, such as moths, bats, hedgehogs and owls. These creatures rely on darkness to hunt, feed, navigate and communicate. Bright lights can confuse, dazzle or attract them, making them vulnerable to predators, collisions or starvation. For example, moths are drawn to artificial lights, which can interfere with their mating and pollination. Bats, which feed on moths, may also suffer from reduced prey availability and increased competition. Hedgehogs, which are already endangered in the UK, may avoid well-lit areas and have less habitat to roam. Owls, which have excellent night vision, may be outcompeted by other birds that can see better under artificial light.
Light pollution can also affect diurnal animals, such as birds, insects and plants. Many birds use the sun, moon and stars to migrate and orient themselves. Artificial light can disrupt their navigation and cause them to fly off course, waste energy or collide with buildings. Some birds may also sing earlier or later than usual, which can affect their breeding success and interactions with other species. Insects, such as bees and butterflies, may also alter their activity patterns and pollination behaviour under artificial light. Plants, which depend on sunlight for photosynthesis and flowering, may also change their growth and development in response to light pollution.
The effects of light pollution can cascade through the food web and the ecosystem, with potentially serious consequences for biodiversity and human well-being. Therefore, it is important to reduce light pollution and protect dark skies for wildlife and people. Some of the ways to do this include:
* Using only the necessary amount of light for safety and security and turning off lights when not in use * Choosing warm white or amber lights, which are less attractive to insects and less disruptive to wildlife * Shielding or directing lights downwards, to avoid glare and skyglow * Enjoying and appreciating the beauty and benefits of dark skies, and inspiring others to do the sam

Winter Wonderland I’ve just been watching goldfinches feed on the teasels in our garden and yesterday I was treated to a flock of long-tailed tits with their distinctive calls on our fat ball feeders. Our resident hedgehogs have long-since hibernated and hopefully we won’t see them until the spring. Winter is a challenging season for many wildlife species, but also a fascinating time to observe and appreciate their diversity and resilience. From migration to hibernation, from adaptation to torpor, animals have different ways of coping with the cold and ice and the scarcity of food. But there’s plenty of things we can do to help.
Provide natural food Natural food sources, such as seeds, nuts, berries and fruits are rich in energy and nutrients and can help animals maintain their body temperature and fat reserves, good examples include hawthorn, rowan, holly, and crab apple<northamericannature.com/how-to-help-wildlife-in-winter/>. We’ve loved seeing migratory birds such as fieldfares and redwings feeding in our hedges, it’s like the bird equivalent of Sainsbury’s. Ivy and holly berries are so important which is why we should leave the cutting of hedges for as long as possible. Seeds on herbaceous plants and shrubs like sunflowers, teasels and thistles<northamericannature.com/how-to-help-wildlife-in-winter/> are great for sparrows, finches, and nuthatches<northamericannature.com/how-to-help-wildlife-in-winter/>.
Put out fresh drinking water Animals and birds need water to drink, bathe, and preen their feathers, however, water sources can freeze over in winter. Fill a shallow dish or bird bath with clean water and change it regularly, a small ball or twig in the water will also help prevent it from freezing over<northamericannature.com/how-to-help-wildlife-in-winter/>.
Let your garden grow By leaving some areas of your garden undisturbed, you can create a natural habitat for wildlife. Leave leaf litter, twigs, and branches on the ground which can provide shelter and food for insects, worms, and small mammals, also leave dead or dying plants standing which can offer seeds, nectar, and hiding places. Think about piling up some logs, stones or bricks to create a refuge for frogs, toads and hedgehogs<northamericannature.com/how-to-help-wildlife-in-winter/>.
Break the ice on ponds Ponds are important habitats for many aquatic animals, such as fish, frogs, and dragonflies. However they can freeze over in winter preventing oxygen from entering the water. Melt a hole in the ice on your pond using a saucepan of hot water and place the saucepan on the ice until a hole is formed. Do not hit or crack the ice, as this can send shockwaves through the water that can harm the animals<northamericannature.com/how-to-help-wildlife-in-winter/>.
Provide shelter Many animals need a warm and dry place to rest, sleep, and hibernate in winter and a great way to help is by installing shelters in your garden, for example bird boxes, a hedgehog house, bat box, or a bug hotel. You can use an old flower-pot, shoe box, or plastic bottle filled with straw, hay, or leaves. Place the shelters in a quiet and sheltered spot, away from predators and direct sunlight<northamericannature.com/how-to-help-wildlife-in-winter/>.
Create a nest Some birds, such as robins, wrens, and blackbirds like to nest in winter. Help by providing them with nesting materials, such as wool, cotton, feathers, or moss. Place these in a mesh feeder, a basket, or a hanging basket, and hang them from a tree or a fence. Or leave some mud or clay in a shallow dish, which can help birds to build their nests<northamericannature.com/how-to-help-wildlife-in-winter/>.

Don’t forget hedgehogs should be hibernating so if you come across one wandering around, contact our friends at Folly Wildlife for advice.
If you’d like to get involved with our various wildlife projects around the village and join our Wild About Goudhurst & Kilndown Working Party, do drop me a line I’d love to hear from you.
For the bees and hedgehogs Geoff Mason geoff.mason@goudhurst-pc.gov.uk<mailto:geoff.mason@goudhurst-pc.gov.uk> Sources: Kent & Surrey Wildlife Trusts ________________________________

Special Residents’ Christmas Event at Scotney Castle – Friday 15 December, 5-8pm (last entry 7.30pm)
Visit Scotney after hours and get the full Christmas experience with a special late night opening just for residents of Goudhurst, Kilndown and Lamberhurst. See the house illuminated, enjoy glittering trees, sparkling decorations and beautiful lights, explore the Victorian mansion decorated for a 1960s’ Christmas, browse the shop for gorgeous gifts and Christmas homeware, and enjoy some tasty treats in the cosy tea-room. Admission is free and there’s no need to book parking, but please bring evidence of residency to show your eligibility. ________________________________

Old Parsonage Surgery
Patient Participation Group (PPG) Staff Changes at the Surgery: we say goodbye to Sue Monk who is retiring from her Receptionist role and thank her for all her input. Lois-lily Geal joins us as the new Receptionist and we trust she will enjoy her time as part of the team.
Vaccination Protocols: Shingles: any patient who is eligible (or thinks they may be eligible) for this vaccination should contact the Surgery for advice. MMR: the Surgery is running a catch-up campaign for this vaccination protocol and thus will be calling patients as follows: 1-5 years in November 2023 : 6-25 years in January 2024
Gardening Group: this group of PPG members and volunteers have had their last session for 2023. Their continued efforts across the year are obvious from the tidy and safe appearance of the grounds. Further planting of spring bulbs has taken place and should result in a colourful and cheerful display (not compromised by building works!) for 2024.
Old Parsonage Surgery Newsletter: in accordance with NHS guidelines the Surgery team will now be producing a regular Newsletter with the first edition (November 2023) already available. This will be distributed to all patients for whom the Surgery holds a current e-mail address. Patients are thus asked to ensure that their e-mail details are up-to-date. The Newsletter will also be available on the Surgery website. The frequency of production and how it fits alongside the regular PPG Updates (which you are now reading!) has yet to be decided.
Xmas Holiday Closures: just a reminder that the Surgery will be closed on Monday Dec 25th, Tuesday Dec 26th and Monday Jan 1st. The PPG would like to wish all patients and their families a healthy and peaceful 2024
Colin Samuell ________________________________

The Kent and Medway Business Fund (KMBF) is now accepting pre-applications for the KMBF Standard Loan and KMBF Small Business Boost.
About the KMBF Standard Loan The KMBF Standard Loan offers 0% loans between £100,000 and £600,000.
Applications are welcomed from established small and medium-sized businesses in Kent and Medway, who are looking to grow their business. Businesses looking for start-up funding can apply for a Small Business Boost.
It can help to develop new or expand existing products, services or processes. In turn it can create new jobs, deliver business growth and improve productivity.
About KMBF Small Business Boost
The KMBF Small Business Boost offers 0% interest loans between £26,000 and £99,000. Applications are welcomed from small and medium-sized businesses (SME) in Kent and Medway, who are start-ups or in the early stages of growth. Established businesses or those looking for a larger loan can apply for a KMBF Standard Loan.
A loan can help to develop new or expand existing products, services or processes. In turn, this can create jobs, drive growth, and improve productivity.
Find out more about KMBF Standard Loan <www.kent.gov.uk/business/business-loans-and-funding/kent-and-medway-business-fund/kent-and-medway-business-fund-loans>
Find out more about Small Business Boost <www.kent.gov.uk/business/business-loans-and-funding/small-business-boost-loan> ________________________________

Use the The Priority Services Register (PSR) is a free UK wide service which provides extra advice and support, including when there’s an interruption to your electricity, gas or water supply.e block’s Settings tab to change the caption position and set other styles. Please click here for more<www.thepsr.co.uk/#join-psr> information<www.thepsr.co.uk/#join-psr> ________________________________ Kilndown Village Hall
The hall is looking fresh and new once more having had the wooden floor completely sanded and re-finished over the summer. A light and airy space, perfect for all kinds of activities and gatherings large and small.
If you are looking for somewhere to hold an event please contact Evie Banfield on 07872 348155 bookings.kilndown@gmail.com<mailto:bookings.kilndown@gmail.com> or for more information go to www.kilndownvillagehall.org<www.kilndownvillagehall.org>

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Be Winter Ready: make a plan for when there is a power cut
* Keep a mobile phone fully charged so you can still communicate and access the internet if you have a power cut. This will become especially important once telephone lines change to digital over the next two years because landlines will cease to work without power.
* Save these numbers to your phone: * 105, the free national power cut emergency number, * 0800 111 999, the free national gas emergency number * Keep emergency items easily accessible in the dark: * a working torch with spare batteries * warm clothes and blankets * food which doesn’t need heating * If you have a smart phone, follow your network operator, UK Power Networks, on social media so you can find local updates with ease or save their web page to your favourites on a smartphone. * If you need medical equipment that requires electricity, you should check back up equipment is in working order. * If you have extra needs, for example you are over state pension age, have physical or mental health disabilities, or young children, call UK Power Networks now on 0800 169 9970 to be added to the Priority Services Register. You will receive advance notice of scheduled power cuts and priority support in an emergency.
If the lights do go out… remember to check on neighbours who might need extra help.
PWCAC is OPEN for face-to-face advice (appointments and drop-ins) Monday to Friday, 9:30 – 1:30. If you need advice about the above or about housing and homelessness, debt, relationship breakdown, welfare benefits or anything else, get in touch with us: info@pwadvice.org<mailto:info@pwadvice.org> | 01892 838619 94 Commercial Road, Paddock Wood, TN12 6DP Company Limited by Guarantee: 8006468 Charity Registration No: 1147816
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Report a problem on a road or pavement
You can report non-urgent issues including:
* street light faults * potholes * drainage * traffic signal faults * overgrown vegetation (including hedges and grass)
quickly and easily to Kent Highways via their online reporting tool<www.kent.gov.uk/roads-and-travel/report-a-problem>. ________________________________

Planned Road Closures Details of all road closures, including emergency closures, can be found at: one.network/uk/kent <one.network/uk/kent> ________________________________ Kent Active Travel Consultation

Over the past month we have been meeting with parish and borough councillors across the whole of the Tunbridge Wells district. This is a new initiative to further engage with the councils embedded within their communities, to help raise any concerns to our staff and officers in our Community Safety Unit.
One particular concern we are seeing raised, is a perceived lack of reporting to Kent Police regarding incidents happening in some of these areas. We have used these meetings to highlight the importance of reporting all incidents to the police, no matter how big or small and our officers pride themselves on gathering information which can really help build a picture of an issue or ongoing complaint.
There is also sometimes a perception from these meetings that ‘nothing will be done’, and I want to offer assurances that this is most certainly not the case. For example, over the past year, there has been an increased focus on tackling anti-social behaviour in and around Tunbridge Wells, which has included enhanced patrols aimed at deterring and reducing offences and which include shop thefts, assaults, and criminal damage.
Our enforcement action has seen charge rates rise for several offences linked to anti-social behaviour. Between October 2022 and September 2023, there were 49 charges made for criminal damage, compared to 27 in the previous corresponding period – a rise of more than 80 per cent. Charges relating to offences involving the use of violence have also increased, to 230 from 204; whilst at the same time, the number of reported incidents involving the use of violence in the borough has fallen.
It is important to again highlight that information we receive regarding incidents within our communities, is often crucial to resolving residents’ concerns, deterring and solving crime, and improving people’s lives. Your support or information can help provide the missing puzzle piece which helps your local officers solve a crime. ________________________________

National Highways and Transport Survey 2023-24
This year, for the sixth year running, Kent County Council is taking part in the NHT Public Satisfaction Survey on highways and transport services. Whilst the main survey is being carried out by Ipsos, who will be sending forms to a representative sample of households, we have also opted to take part in six web-based surveys on specific issues:
* Highway maintenance * Accessibility * Walking and cycling * Public transport * Road safety * Tackling congestion
These surveys are publicly available online, and will remain open until the end of February 2024. They may be accessed via our website using this link:
National Highways and Transport Survey 2023-24 | Let’s talk Kent<letstalk.kent.gov.uk/national-highways-and-transport-2023-24>
The greater the take-up of the surveys, the more useful they will be in helping us to understand the priorities and concerns of people who live or work in Kent, so please feel welcome to complete any of the surveys which interest you, and to use your work and personal contacts to publicise them and to encourage other people to take part.

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Welcome Booklet – Have you got a new neighbour?
The Parish Council is delighted to support an initiative by some local residents who thought that it would be a good idea to put together a Welcome Booklet to give to people who move into Goudhurst, so that they feel part of the local community. It has details of health services, education, local shops, local societies etc. Also in the bag will be a leaflet with details of refuse collections, the church booklet and a gift of chocolate. This has kindly been provided by Goupie. (Goupie hand-make uniquely textured vegan friendly chocolate confectionery to an old family recipe in Goudhurst, Kent.)
If you have a new neighbour please contact one of the team below who will provide you with a bag to take round or they can deliver direct to your new neighbour if you prefer.
Chris 07952 545472; Linda 07485 727656; Sue 07905 791627 ________________________________