Crockenhill: signs in, other works start 1 May

The long-awaited safety scheme at the junction of Main Road, Cray Road and Broadway in the centre of Crockenhill, paid for from my Member Highway Fund, is now partially completed.

Work to install high-friction surfacing is now scheduled to begin this coming Wednesday, 1 May, with granite setts to follow shortly afterwards: a couple of weeks later than the last estimate that I was given (post of 4 April).

However, the signage element of the project has been carried out, including the interactive sign that should encourage motorists to slow down on their approach to the junction from the Orpington direction. As can be seen from the photo taken on Friday, the Vehicle Activated Sign does just that, lighting up at the approach of a car - not mine, of course - approaching the junction fast.

Badgers Mount: road safety plans

Last autumn, following long-standing speeding problems on the Orpington by-pass and the Old London Road and a fatal accident in which a long-standing local resident was killed, the Badgers Mount Residents Association (BMRA) brought forward a set of well-researched proposals for enhancing road safety (post of 29 September).

Taking this forward has involved speed checks, discussions with BMRA and a Kent Highways officer as well as consultations with the police, who will have to enforce any changes to speed limits. The picture as to what can be taken forward is now quite a lot clearer, and we should be able to implement a lot of the proposals:




Orpington by-pass

• Speed limits. The BMRA proposed a reduction in the speed limit on the Orpington by-pass from the current 60mph to 40mph. Following speed checks, Kent Police made clear that they could not support this proposal, but that they were prepared to support a reduction to 50mph on part of the road. The exact scope of this has still to be clarified, but the introduction of a lower speed limit makes possible a number of other measures.
• Supporting signage for speed limit reduction. This will comprise signs and roundels in the road highlighting the 50mph limit. It will be funded from a Kent Highways 'pot' of crash remedial measures of £22,500 set aside for Badgers Mount.
• Extra traffic island(s). This will be installed a little to the north of the junction with Highland Road to link up with public footpath SR8 and will be funded from crash remedial measures. Once the speed limit reduction is brought in, there will be scope to look at moving one of the traffic islands in the more northerly section of the Orpington by-pass by the Badgers Road junction or adding a new island.
• Junction signs and pedestrian crossing signs in the Badgers Road/ Fox's garage area. These will also be funded from crash remedial measures. 
• Footpath alongside the Orpington by-pass. This would run along the eastern side of the road, which is currently poorly served, all the way from Badgers Road to the Polhill roundabout. A bid has been put in for funding from another Highways pot, the Local Transport Plan (LTP), for the financial year 2014-15. We will know in early 2014 if the bid has been successful. 
• Other traffic calming measures. The Kent Safety Camera Partnership has been approached concerning a mobile camera site, though this is still being followed up. A flashing speed indicator is also a possibility; this would require financing from my Member Highway Fund.
• Timber gateway signs. This was a proposal by KCC. These signs, to highlight to motorists that they are coming into a residential area, could also be paid for from my Member Highway Fund.
• Mini-roundabout near Badgers Road junction.  This would be much more expensive than the other options and so harder to deliver. We will, however, bid for funding for a study into the feasibility and cost of the scheme.

Old London Road

• Speed roundels. On the Old London Road, the speed limit is already 40mph, although the speed checks demonstrated that there is a significant problem of ensuring that this limit is respected. Speed roundels to remind motorists of the limit can be implemented quickly and paid for from the crash remedial measures.
• Extra traffic islands. BMRA proposed an extra island to complete the links with SR8, plus two each by the junctions with Badgers Rise and Crest Close. The first (SR8) will certainly be installed; for the others, at least one island can be installed at each location, and perhaps two, depending on cost and an assessment of whether two islands rather than one are needed in each location.
• Timber gateways. As on the Orpington by-pass, this could be paid for from my Member Highway Fund.
• Other traffic calming measures. As on the Orpington by-pass, an approach has been made to the Kent Safety Camera Partnership about a mobile camera site, while a flashing speed indicator looks desirable and would be a call on my Member Highway Fund.

Overall, therefore, while not everything in the BMRA report can be delivered, a great deal can and this should make a major difference to safety and the quality of life of local residents. Some measures may take longer to implement than the current financial year because of the variety of calls on, for example, my Member Highway Fund; however, many measures can be brought in quickly, in particular those related to signage. In particular, once we have full clarity from Kent Police regarding the area of the Orpington by-pass covered by the reduction in speed limit to 50 mph, it should be possible to make rapid progress.

Out and about

The County Council election campaign is now in full swing, so it was good for Kent to get support over the weekend from colleagues from Bromley and Chislehurst. The team included Greater London Assembly Member James Cleverly and local MP, former Local Government Minister and now party vice-chairman Bob Neill (pictured with me in Eynsford). I have known Bob for many years and he is a good friend to local democracy - his experience of local government is matched by few in Westminster. Many thanks to the team for coming down to campaign.

Further resurfacing update: Farningham completed, Crockenhill delayed

An amendment is needed for my previous post (10 April); resurfacing crews were not on the ground in Crockenhill in the latter part of last week, as became clear to me when I visited the site. It appears that the weather had produced further delays and so the works scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday did not take place.

More positively, the two resurfacing schemes in Farningham - White Post Hill and Beesfield Lane - have taken place (picture of Beesfield Lane attached). 

The two Farningham sites were scheduled for completion earlier in the week. However, because of the weather, they were not completed until Wednesday. The crews were then expected to move on to Stones Cross Road on Thursday (as per my previous post), but the weather deteriorated once more and so this work was put on hold, which is frustrating and disappointing. 

Clearly it is imperative that the Stones Cross Road project is completed as soon as possible, and the weather outlook is at least somewhat more encouraging. I will post again as soon as I have a new date for the works.

Stones Cross Road: update on resurfacing

Resurfacing work was due to start on Stones Cross Road today (see posts of 20 March and 4 April). The flooding problems that I wrote about last week have recurred and Kent Highways drainage engineers have been looking into the problem further.

It appears that the drain around which much of the flood water is concentrated runs off through pipes and chambers to a ditch beyond the lane that runs to the south west of Stones Cross Road. The pipes are relatively narrow and suffer from silting, which has been cleared and the water is reported to be flowing. In the longer term, there may be blockages at the ditch itself which may need to be addressed, but the works already undertaken should allow the resurfacing work to go ahead (which does not require the road to be absolutely dry, though it clearly could not have gone ahead with some of the flooding levels that we have seen recently).

The resurfacing work itself has been delayed slightly by the knock on effect of weather-related delays to other works, but I understand that a crew will be on site, perhaps this afternoon or more likely tomorrow morning.

Dates for Highways projects in Crockenhill

I have written before that the major safety project, paid for from my Member Highway Fund, at the junction of Main Road, Cray Road and Broadway in Crockenhill would go ahead in April. I now have some dates for different parts of the works.

The post for the Vehicle Activated Sign (on the Cray Road approach to the junction) should be installed in the next day or so. The sign itself will follow on 24 April. Installation of the high friction surfacing and granite setts should begin next week (on 8 April) and be complete by the following Monday, the 15th.

On a separate issue, the resurfacing of Stones Cross Road will go ahead as previously indicated on Wednesday and Thursday of next week (10 and 11 April). There has been some concern from local residents that flooding on parts of the road (pictured) would prevent the works or damage the new surface. I was out on site yesterday with a Kent Highways drainage specialist. Although the site of the flooding can easily be identified and records of where the various drains run off have been checked, a full investigation of the causes and best ways to resolved the flooding will take a little longer. In the meantime, however, a tanker will be on site tomorrow to clear away the water, enabling next week's works to go ahead while the search for a longer-term solution continues.

Flooding at the Mill

Local residents and the Parish Council raised with me concerns about water runoff at Millstone Mews in South Darenth. This has been going on since November.

I took the issue up with Kent Highways officers, who were already investigating the problem. They have identified the runoff as coming from a surface water pumping system which is the responsibility of Dartford Borough Council.

Kent Highways wrote to DBC on 8 March to ask that action be taken within 28 days. As of yesterday at least, the problem persisted. I will continue to monitor the issue to see that it is resolved quickly.