Shoreham: Crown Road yellow lines and other issues

I was unable to attend Shoreham Parish Council on Thursday evening since I was speaking at a KCC event elsewhere in the County that evening. However, I submitted a written report. Here are some of the key issues from it.

Regarding the yellow lines that were wrongly painted in standard Highways style on Crown Road (see post of 9 October last year), a Kent Highways officer has now visited the site to see how much impact the winter weather had on them. An order is now being raised for their removal and replacement by lines suitable for a conservation area, as had originally been agreed between the Parish Council, Kent Highways and me. This will be carried out in the near future; it should be done within 4 to 8 weeks.

Secondly, after some close cooperation between KCC and Bromley Borough Council, a fly-tipping case will be brought to court shortly; a date is due to be set next week. This relates to fly-tipping incidents in Redmans Lane and Chelsfield Lane, which have both been hot spots for this sort of illegal activity.   

Concerns have been raised about a large pothole in High Street, which reopened shortly after apparently being fixed. I took this up with Kent Highways, who told me that the previous work had always been intended to be a temporary solution, albeit that it had not been expected to reopen quite so quickly. The pothole has now had more lasting work carried out to fix it. As mentioned in my previous post (3 March), the County Council is now undertaking a 'Find and Fix' drive to tackle potholes. If you're concerned about particular potholes, please contact me; I will raise the issue with Kent Highways to ensure it is dealt with through this programme.

I have also taken up the issue of water leakage in the village (from High Street, leading into Church Street) with Kent Highways, who have identified it as a Thames Water matter and raised it with the company.

Finally, I have in recent weeks been dealing with the issue of potential seismic exploration work in the Darent Valley by Tesla Exploration on behalf of Northdown Energy. This is being treated as permitted development rather than something that requires planning permission; however, Kent County Council is ensuring that local Members have the opportunity to meet the company to discuss the details of the project, and I will be doing this. I have also asked that the Parish Council be contacted by the company and should have the opportunity to meet them to address local concerns.