Community

The Christmas Tree has arrived and has been installed ready for Friday’s Carols around the Green and lights switch on, starting at 5pm!

Please join us and get in the mood for Christmas!!

Thank you once again for everyone’s generosity in contribution towards the costs.

Crowd funding target has been reached!  Well done to everyone for such a wonderful achievement!  THANK YOU!!

Pembury Parish Council has been overwhelmed by the strength of feeling from residents following notice from KCC that our lamp posts could not support the 8kg decorations. And you have raised over £700 towards the cost of a Christmas Tree!  It is wonderful that we are part of such a great community!

We have been working hard, here at the Parish Council, to get a Christmas Tree organised for the village green as soon as possible.  Unfortunately, we have neither the necessary infrastructure in place nor the time to arrange to safely have a huge tree on the Green.  The biggest tree we can safely install on the Green at such short notice is 14ft.  We hope you won’t be too disappointed.

In the New Year we will plant a Christmas Tree for future years.  We have been advised that the maximum height this could be is 6ft, so it has a chance of establishing itself.

We are pushing to meet KCC with our County Councillor, Paul Barrington-King to resolve the issue with the street columns and find a long-term solution for the Christmas Lights and Hanging baskets display.

In the meantime, everyone is being encouraged to light up the outside of their homes and businesses to show that Pembury can’t be beaten!!

We will continue to keep you updated with progress.  THANK YOU, PEMBURY!!

The Parish Council is working with County Cllr Paul Barrington-King to find a solution to the Christmas Light display in Pembury .   Further discussions with KCC about possible future solutions are being arranged.   As the safety of the public is paramount, KCC have decided that the lights cannot be installed due to the potential risk to public safety.

Pembury Parish Council is saddened to report that Kent County Council (KCC) have refused the permit for their Christmas light display in 2019 for health and safety reasons.  Council Chairman, Cllr Katy Brooks, said she was “very saddened that we are not able to have our usual festive display of lights and we know how disappointed the residents will be.  This will be a priority for us to work out a remedy for next year.”

KCC finally told the Parish Council that it could not install its normal Christmas lights last week after the street columns were tested earlier in the year.  Many of the columns were found to be unsafe and unable to support the weight of the Christmas light motifs of up to 8kg.

Unfortunately, KCC will only allow us to install lights around the village green that weigh under 4kg.   They will not allow the other columns to be used at all.  The Parish Council has worked with its lighting contractor to come up with an alternative display this year that will comply with KCC’s rules.  Due to the weight restriction, in reality this will mean that we can only have garland lights.  This will also affect our hanging basket display next summer.

The Chair of the Communications & Events Committee, Cllr Louise Mills said “This is hugely disappointing – especially as the notice from KCC was received so late in the day giving us no time to rectify the situation.  Christmas is such a special time of year and I know Pembury residents appreciate the village lights – unfortunately, this year our High Street is going to look a little dimmer.”

Pembury Parish Council will continue to liaise with KCC on the future of the Christmas light and floral display in Pembury.