Brompton Bicycle investment: good news for Ashford and for Kent

Brompton Bicycle, the UK’s largest bicycle manufacturer, announced this morning its commitment to a new factory and HQ in Ashford, with investment of £100 million and 4,000 jobs. Ashford overcame strong competition from other parts of the country and demonstrated its appeal - and that of Kent - as a place to invest and do business. 

Brampton’s plans - subject to planning approval by Ashford Borough Council - should take effect in 2027. In addition to its economic impact, the scheme promises major innovation and environmental benefit. Sited on a 100 acre floodplain near the International Station and the Designer Outlet, the factory will enable restoration of wetland and development of a public nature reserve and cycle way.

You can find KCC’s response, including my statement, on Facebook here. We are delighted at this investment, and this reflects the commitment and vision of Brompton and close work between Ashford Borough Council, Kent County Council and inward investment body Locate in Kent. More detail can be found on Ashford For Investment.

SEND transport changes: an apology, and information for families

Kent County Council is introducing changes to the transport arrangements for children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) from the start of next week (Monday 21 February). These changes, which will affect routes, transport and travel with other children, reflect the rapid growth in SEND children requiring transport and a severe shortage of drivers.

However, the process of allocating transport to SEND children has taken longer than had originally been anticipated and a significant number of parents were not informed of their child’s new transport arrangements by the promised date of the end of term (last Friday, 11 February). This has, naturally, caused huge anxiety to these families. 

We recognise that this is an utterly unacceptable position for these families to be put in. Councillors and officers have sought this week to secure transport for many of the affected families, and communication has been through email and a dedicated phone line to seek to keep all parents as informed as possible as to the latest position and the arrangements for their child. KCC has also worked with Kent PACT (Parents and Carers Together, the forum for SEND families), who have sought to help and communicate with rightly distressed parents.

This KCC statement sets out the details of how parents can get more information and, quite rightly, apologises fully for the distress and anxiety that families have experienced. We will review in full how this happened, but the immediate priority is to resolve the uncertainty over transport for many SEND families. 

Road closure in Beechenlea Lane

Beechenlea Lane in Swanley Lane will once more be closed at the railway bridge because of Network Rail works between next Monday 7 February and Friday 11 February. The closure will be between 8am and 4pm daily. The signposted diversion route will be via Swanley Village Road, Highlands Hill, Swanley Lane and London Road in Swanley.

These works are intended to conclude the rail bridge replacement works undertaken last October. At the conclusion of the works, Kent Highways will send an inspector to confirm that there is no damage or defect arising from the works - and if there is, the defect will be raised with Network Rail.

Opening the Boys Grammar Annex in Sevenoaks

During the week I attended the formal opening of the Tunbridge Wells Grammar School for Boys (TWGSB) annex in Sevenoaks. The annex had its first year of entry in September. 

I was asked to speak, along with the Chair of Governors, Dr Philip Drew (pictured with me along with the plaque recording the opening of the annex) and Sevenoaks MP Laura Trott. Among those who attended were Sir Michael Fallon and Sir Paul Carter, who as the then MP for Sevenoaks and then Leader of KCC respectively, did an enormous amount to promote and bring forward both the Weald of Kent and TWGSB annexes. So did Andrew and Sarah Shilling, and Ed Walker, who kick started the initial campaign for grammar provision in Sevenoaks. The event ended with a ‘thank you’ from a group of Year 7 students and a tour of the annex.

In my remarks, I commented on the long journey that had got us to this, and emphasised the courage of both Weald of Kent and of TWGSB - and in particular head teacher Amanda Simpson - in making the big commitment to their respective annexes in Sevenoaks. With three schools on this site - Trinity, Weald and TWGSB - along with expansion at Knole, secondary education in Sevenoaks has been transformed over the last decade.

Park Lane Kemsing closure

Some residents of Park Lane Kemsing recently received notification of emergency works by South East Water starting this coming Monday (24 January) requiring a road closure and which could last until 27 January. The notification indicated that residents would not be able to access their properties while the works were taking place.

Under an emergency closure (unlike a planned closure), utility providers do not have to secure a permit from KCC as the highways authority. The utility is required to notify KCC, though only within two hours of starting work.

However, when a Parish Councillor raised the closure with me, I took it up with our Streetworks team, who contacted South East Water. There is some uncertainty over whether the works will go ahead on Monday or not, apparently because of difficulties securing digger drivers. If the works do go ahead, there will be a road closure but access for residents will be maintained, and KCC will send an inspector to ensure that this happens.

It seems that we will not know for certain until Monday morning itself whether or not the works are going ahead; I will post again if and when I know more.

Booking system to stay at HWRCs

Following our biggest public consultation for many years, KCC has decided to continue with use of the booking system at our Household Waste Recycling Centres (HWRCs).

In the consultation, which ran from 19 August until 30 September, some 10,705 people responded, far in excess of those who have taken part in other consultations such as those on our budget. Opinion was fairly evenly divided, with 5,152 (51.9% of those who expressed a preference) in favour of the system and 4,778 (48.1%) unfavourable. Furthermore, the most favoured option for improving the existing system (including among those who were opposed to it) was to have the scope for same day booking. This has been trialed in two sites and will now be made available across all 18 HWRCs.

Any decision in this area will always be controversial, given the fairly even split in opinion. However, the booking system has evolved significantly since its introduction as an emergency measure to reopen the HWRCs in May 2020, and has (as we saw from resident comments in the consultation) won quite a number of converts once used; the ability to secure a slot, and not be stuck in long and unpredictable queues has proved very popular. The system has proved to be efficient and cost effective.

Following the conclusion of the consultation, its findings were debated in both KCC's Cabinet and elsewhere, followed by a formal report yesterday (18 January) to the Environment and Transport Cabinet Committee, which voted decisively to recommend maintaining the booking system. The formal decision to do so was then taken by Susan Carey, Cabinet Member for Environment. KCC’s press release can be found here.

Councils and residents - catching fly-tippers

A recent fly-tipping conviction has provided a good example of councils - and residents -  coming together to combat this anti-social behaviour.

Shane Walker of Swanley pleaded guilty to fly-tipping crimes at Sevenoaks Magistrates Court last week (5 January) and was fined £2,530. He had been investigated by Sevenoaks District Council's Environmental Enforcement Team, and was charged with four fly-tipping offences in:

- South Ash Road, near West Kingsdown (3 November 2020)

- Crockenhill Lane, Eynsford (on or before 9 November 2020)

- Chelsfield Lane, Shoreham (27 March 2021)

- Rabbits Road/ Canada Farm Road, South Darenth (also 27 March 2021)

As SDC's press release makes clear, their investigation work (which included tracing paperwork in the fly tipping to businesses who had paid for their waste to be disposed of) was assisted by a KCC employee observing and recording the registration of the (hired) vehicle used in the first incident and by observations of local residents in the final incident. 

In the case of Chelsfield Lane, this was recorded on a KCC-installed CCTV camera following a number of fly tipping incidents.

District Councils lead on the response to fly tipping, but KCC works with them in a number of ways (ranging from camera deployment to county-wide campaigns to increase householders' and businesses' awareness of their responsibility for disposal of their waste), and this case is a good example. 

Given the severe incidence of fly tipping in rural areas such as Sevenoaks North and Darent Valley, I have on a number of occasions sought to work with SDC and KCC officers, and there is a strong and effective working relationship between them. I hope to be able to report on other examples of successful cooperation in future.