Eynsford and Crockenhill proposals out for consultation

A consultation has just started to install parking restrictions in Eynsford (on the A225 near the school) and Crockenhill (on Green Court Road). They are being carried out by Sevenoaks District Council on behalf of the County Council, and, if the schemes are approved and taken forward, they will be paid for from my Member Fund for schemes in the local area.

The Eynsford proposals have been in development for some time. The philosophy has always been to try to increase opportunities to park safely in some locations while increasing some restrictions. There have been delays to bringing forward the yellow lines and other proposals; for example, a scheme was ready to go to consultation over a year ago when it became clear that the presence of BT cables and other utilities would make some of its proposals prohibitively expensive.

Single yellow lines (operating between 8:30 and 9:30, and between 3 and 4) are proposed in front of Alton Cottages, with the aim of easing the parking bottlenecks in the area to the north east of the school. In addition, all day restrictions (double yellow lines) are proposed for the corners of Mill Lane and Priory Lane. Quite separately from this consultation, some further measures will be brought forward to create gaps in parking further to the south west in High Street.

The Crockenhill proposals are for double yellow lines running north east along Green Court Road from the junction with Stones Cross Road, aiming to tackle dangerous parking in the area, particularly at school times.

The consultation runs until 4 November. You can find details of both proposals and how you can respond on the District Council's website under the Public Notices section. The results of the consultation will then be reported to the Sevenoaks Joint Transportation Board (a meeting of County and District Councillors for the area) for a decision in December.

Crockenhill safety measures: the next steps

A lot of measures have been brought in over the last few years to enhance safety in the centre of the village, especially in the approaches to the junction of Cray Road, Broadway and Main Road. Signs, roundels, high friction surfacing and the speed activated sign in Cray Road have all been installed, along with the 20mph zone. I have supported this from my Combined Member Fund.

The Parish Council, Kent Highways and I have worked over many years to complete these measures by some sort of physical features in the road on the same approaches to the central junction. This has proved a long and difficult task, in particular because of the prospect of significant road closures needed to implement the works, and subsequently the presence of utilities under the highway that make implementing measures such as granite sets more difficult and more expensive.

We met recently to review the options and agreed that, while granite sets may well  be a good option for Crockenhill, it is worth trialling rumble strips, which can bep implemented more quickly, as an alternative. The proposed strips would come in three stages (one strip in the road, then two, then three). They would be in the three approaches to the centre, though the initial trial would cover just one area (Green Court Road).

Subject to a suitable design, this trial rumble strip should be installed in the coming weeks (November at the latest). Please let the Parish Council (crockenhillpc@btinternet.com) and me (roger.gough@kent.gov.uk) know what your early impressions are of how effective it is, and whether there are severe side effects such as increased noise. We will then review this with Kent Highways early in the New Year and decide whether it is best to install the remaining two rumble strips or go ahead with granite sets. In any case, Kent Highways will – weather permitting – move quickly to install the preferred option once it is decided.

This is, I hope, a positive development that should enable us to move forward with something that has long been wanted in the village and which complements the other measures that have been taken. At the same meeting, I am pleased to report, we made good progress on plans for gateway signs for the village and on replacements for the damaged railings at the Anchor & Hope site.

Latest on the pothole blitz

Kent Highways' annual pothole blitz, with a budget of £3 million, was launched in June. You can check progress, both across the County and by District, here.

The latest figures show:

- Across Kent, with 5,372 miles of road, £1.4m has been spent on completed works; the comparable figures for Sevenoaks District are 492 miles of road and £166,153 spent

- Across Kent, 1,079 single potholes have been fixed; for Sevenoaks, the figure is 292

- Across Kent, 39,115 square metres of multiple potholes and larger repairs have been undertaken; in Sevenoaks, 5,197 square metres (these latter figures are for potholes greater than a square metre in size and more than 200mm deep, or where there are multiple defects)

There has clearly been quite a lot of progress, though still scope for a lot more to be done, and Sevvenoaks seems to be somewhat ahead of its pro rata share, as was the case when I reported last. Kent Highways has written to Parish Councils to report on progress and to ask for feedback on where significant problems have not yet been tackled. In addition, any of us can report a pothole here.

Downsview keeps its Good rating

Downsview Primary School in Swanley has been rated Good by OFSTED since March 2012. The school had a short inspection (under OFSTED's new framework of inspections) in July. The resulting Inspector's letter to head teacher Duncan Edwards, confirming the school's continuing Good rating, has now been published.

The letter makes very encouraging reading. It speaks of a "continually improving school [which] does a great job for its pupils." It praises Duncan Edwards' leadership and that of his senior team, the school's teachers, and the role of governors and (I am glad to see) the local authority. It speaks of an environment that is nurturing but also develops its pupils academically (though this is, as the report notes, not yet fully reflected in Key Stage 2 results). Pupil Premium is spent effectively, ensuring that pupils who are supported by it do well. Those with Special Educational Needs do well.

As I noted a few months ago, all the schools in the Darent Valley Division are now rated Good. Downsview, notwithstanding drawing from some of the less affluent parts of the Division, has held that rating for longer than many.  It is nonetheless heatening to see this maintained, and in such decisive fashion. The head, governors, staff and pupils how to be  congratulated on this excellent result.

Under way for the Sevenoaks grammar annex

Lunchtime today saw the official start of works on the Sevenoaks grammar annex (though the contractors, Willmott Dixon, are already on site). I joined KCC Leader Paul Carter, Weald of Kent Grammar School Head Maureen Johnson, Governors, key staff members from both the school and the Council who had played important roles in bringing the project forward and Willmott Dixon staff for a tree planting that marked this key milestone in the project. As Paul Carter pointed out, the timing was striking, coming on the same day as Theresa May's speech on education.

Work is now moving ahead for the annex to open in September 2017. In a year's time, it is to be hoped, Sevenoaks will have three strong secondary education providers: the Knole Academy; Trinity Free School; and the Weald of Kent annex, which will share the former Wildernesse School site with Trinity. On this very heartening day, it was good also to see Trinity in their excellent new buildings, constructed by Willmott Dixon under the overall site project managed by KCC.

Launching the new 429 service

I was in Swanley earlier today to attend the launch of Go-Coach's new and improved 429 bus service.   Councillors and officers from the County, District and Town Councils joined Go-Coach staff and residents at the formal launch of the new service, which started running on Tuesday.

The new 429 supersedes both the earlier service under that number and the previous 478 service. Starting in West Kingsdown, the service runs through Farningham and Swanley in my Darent Valley Division before heading up through other parts of Swanley, Wilmington and Dartford. It will offer, among other things, very good access to a number of secondary schools in the area.

David Brazier, County Councillor for Sevenoaks North East, has provided support for the West Kingsdown part of the service, while the Sunday service (which runs from West Kingsdown to Darent Valley hospital and Bluewater, taking in Eynsford, Farningham and Swanley) has had support for some years from County Councillor Ann Allen (Wilmington), the late Councillor Robert Brookbank and me. For all of us, this has come from our Combined Member Funds.

The more southerly-facing Go-Coach services, such as the various 409 services and the 421 are currently unchanged, though Go-Coach continues to examine its services to schools and the town of Sevenoaks to see if there is scope for enhancement.

Wanted: a new Community Warden

When Steve Armstrong, the popular Community Warden for Crockenhill, Eynsford and Farningham, retired earlier this year, there was concern in the villages that he had served that there would not be an immediate replacement for him.

At the time, KCC's Community Warden Service made clear that, because recruitment, and in particular training is done in batches, there could not be an immediate replacement; however, they undertook to make clear as soon as possible when it would be possible to recruit.

The Service has now placed advertisements for posts in a number of areas in Kent, and in particular for two vacancies within the Sevenoaks District. This should, if there is a successful recruitment, enable posts to be filled in areas that previously had a Warden, of which Crockenhill, Eynsford and Farningham is one. 

Applications for the post should be in by 1 September, with interviews taking place in the middle of the month. Successful candidates will begin their four week training on 24 October, so hopefully a new Warden should be in place before the end of the year.