Take part in the Darent River survey

As its name implies, my Darent Valley Division includes much of the course of the River Darent and many of the villages that sit on it: Shoreham, Eynsford, Farningham, Horton Kirby and South Darenth. The river's future is important to us all. Many people remember how the river was severely diminished around the turn of the millennium, and at a meeting of the Lullingstone Liaison Group (which I chair) in early 2012 many of us were concerned about a possible repetition after two dry winters - but then the heavens opened.

The North West Kent Countryside Partnership are undertaking a survey (link below) to help shape the Catchment Improvement Plan and develop projects and priorities for improving the river. It is important to get a wide cross section of responses to ensure that the Catchment Improvement Plan reflects the views of everyone who cares about the river and the valley.

The survey can be found at:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/YM5JLJZ

Seismic exploration: update

In February this year, I liaised between parish councils and KCC concerning the seismic exploration work being carried out in Darent Valley by Tesla Exploration on behalf of Northdown Energy (post of 9 March). Initial contact had been made with KCC (as well as Bromley Borough Council) in January.

This project was treated as permitted development rather than something that required planning permission, since Northdown already has a Petroleum Exploration and Development License (PEDL) from the Department of Energy and Climate Change that covers a large part of the Sevenoaks area (you can see a map here. To challenge this and force an application for planning permission, Kent County Council would have had to issue a so-called Article 7 Direction, which there were no good grounds to do.

The survey work, which essentially involved lorries travelling around the area and undertaking a two-dimensional (2D) seismic survey (through emission of vibrations) took place in May. The areas of Darent Valley covered were Badgers Mount and the Lullingstone part of Eynsford; Shoreham was on the original route but this was not carried out because of the narrowness of the roads and the possible impact on utilities.

I recently made some enquiries as to the outcomes of the survey. I understand that specialists at Northdown are still looking at the data, and that this is likely to be a lengthy process, matching the findings with geological and other information from the area. At present, there are no plans to undertake further exploration and, if this did take place, KCC would be notified. Were the eventual findings to indicate that there were exploitable hydrocarbons, then the next stage – probably drilling an exploratory borehole – would require planning permission, including extensive assessments of environmental and other impacts.

I will continue to monitor the situation and provide further updates if and when there is new information.

Dartford Road improvements due in weeks

Just before Christmas, I organised a site meeting on the A225 Dartford Road - right on the Horton Kirby-Farningham border - with local residents and Kent Highways officers concerning speeding problems (post of 21 December). These are particularly acute around the junction with Calfstock Lane and to the north of the junction with Franks Lane. Visibility is poor and traffic approaches at high speeds as cars try to pull out from houses or junctions onto the main road.  

On the day, it was agreed that there would be new signs on posts - in particular, to draw drivers' attention to junctions - as well as adding to and improving the SLOW signs in the road. There has been something of a delay in getting these works carried out, but I have followed the matter up and I am told that the works have been ordered and should be carried out within four to six weeks. I also understand that a Highways steward has been to clean a number of the signs.

This has taken longer than it should, but hopefully we should now see improvements to this worrying stretch of road.

Crockenhill: further measures to improve junction

Earlier this year a series of measures, paid for from my Member Highway Fund, were installed to improve safety at the junction of Cray Road, Main Road and Broadway. These included Slow signs, an interactive sign for traffic coming from the Orpington direction and high friction surfacing.

The final stage of the scheme was to add granite sets that would further encourage drivers to slow down. However, at a late stage it emerged that these would require road closures of ten days each to be set up - which, with sets proposed for all three directions approaching the junction, would clearly have a major impact on the village.

Some alternative options have been canvassed, both by Highways officers and the Parish Council, and late last week we all met on site to examine the issue. Kent Highways have brought forward a widely-used German technology, which takes only three days to bed in and promises to be highly durable. This looks to be the best way forward, and we are now examining ways in which any road closures can be achieved with minimum disruption.

We also looked at the need to introduce Slow signs and improved signage further back on Green Court Road (near the brow of the hill), coupled with staggered railings at the edge of the village green; these measures can be paid for from my Member Highway Fund. Back at the junction, we examined options for a crossing. A full zebra crossing is problematic in terms of both cost and the practicalities of how it can be implemented; we agreed that Kent Highways would look into the possibilities of a more informal crossing, as well as some temporary or experimental buildouts at the junction that could encourage traffic calming and help us examine further the best options for any crossing.   

Broom Hill Inquiry

The proposed development - or rather, four planning applications for between 20 and 61 houses - on Broom Hill in Swanley has caused a great deal of concern to residents of Beechenlea Lane and other local people. At the time of the original applications, I wrote to Sevenoaks District Council setting out my reasons for opposing them (post of 24 February).

When Sevenoaks District Council rejected the four applications, the developers ProVision appealed. I was on holiday at the time of the initial Inquiry before a Planning Inspector in August, and so unable to attend, but the final part of the Inquiry took place today. I joined local residents, along with Swanley Town Council Leader and Sevenoaks District Councillor Tony Searles in speaking against the applications.

Local residents - at least one of whom had never spoken in public before - set out powerfully their concerns about noise, air quality and ecology. I spoke about the limited amount of green space in Swanley, especially in the southern and eastern part of the town. Losing a significant part of the Broom Hill site to development would reduce this still further. Sevenoaks District Council has made clear in a succession of documents over the years that it does not see housing development as appropriate for Broom Hill. The most recent statement of this came in the Allocations and Development Management Plan, published in September 2012 and currently going through the approval process (expected to be completed in February). I argued that the Inspector should give weight to the intentions set out in this document, even if it is not yet policy, since it is in an advanced stage of development.

 The Inquiry is now over and we must await the Inspector's ruling.