Boundary change proposals: the effect on Darent Valley

The Local Government Boundary Commission for England has over the last year or so been conducting a review of Kent County Council's electoral divisions. Today it issued revised proposals for the Sevenoaks District area.

The Boundary Commission proposes a modest reduction in the number of KCC Members, from the current 84 across Kent to 81. Sevenoaks, which has seen much smaller population growth than many other parts of the County, is set to reduce from 7 Members to 6.

Some of the implications of this for Darent Valley are fairly clear. To its north, the Swanley Division is relatively small and will need to expand. Since a Division cannot cross District or Borough lines, Swanley can only expand to the south, into the contiguous sections of Darent Valley.

Under the Boundary Commission's original proposals, published in May with a consultation that ran through until July, the whole of the Swanley Town Council area, as well as Hextable, would be taken into the Swanley Division. Darent Valley would therefore lose Swanley Christ Church, the High Firs area and Swanley Village. It would, however, expand to the south, taking in Otford and Dunton Green, while adding Knockholt and Halstead to Badgers Mount (the latter three together currently make up a District ward). The remainder of the Division - Shoreham (including Well Hill and East Hill), Eynsford, Farningham, Horton Kirby and South Darenth - would remain within it.

However, following initial consultation and a number of representations (including an alternative proposal from Sevenoaks District Council), the Boundary Commission has brought forward significantly revised proposals. Under these, while Swanley Christ Church and High Firs would still leave Darent Valley, Swanley Village would remain. Badgers Mount would leave the Division, joining Halstead and Knockholt in Sevenoaks West. To the south, Otford would still come into the Division but Dunton Green would not; however, Kemsing and Seal would come in. The new Division - rather cumbersomely named Sevenoaks East and Darent Valley - would be very large, running from the north of the District and the London boundary to the south-east of Sevenoaks town (which, in contrast to the Boundary Commission's earlier proposals, is the centre of one Division rather than being split between two - almost certainly a key factor in the adoption of new proposals). You can see a map of the proposed new Divisions here.

Sevenoaks was the only District in the County for which the Boundary Commission's original proposals were amended; these are now subject to a stand alone consultation. This closes on 26 October and the final recommendations will be published on 19 January 2016.

Further A225 works from 21 October

Last year we saw resurfacing work on the A225 in Eynsford,  running north from the Baptist church to the junction with Mill Lane.  The works were very welcome, though their timing - on the eve of the Kent Test - was much less so.

Kent Highways has committed to carrying out further works running north towards Farningham, from Mill Lane up to the Bessfield Lane junction. A notice has been issued and the works will start on 21 October. They will be carried out overnight (between 22:00 and 05:00), and will last for three days.  During that time there will be a road closure in the area affected, though only for the overnight period when the works are taking place; the road will remain open during the day. There may also be some disruption from the "milling" (an operation  to remove the existing road surface), and from the noise of vehicles beeping as they reverse. However, Kent Highways have pledged to seek to keep keep disruption to a minimum.

This will be a very welcome improvement to the road. Some particularly severe damage to the surface has already been dealt with through temporary patching.

Street lighting consultation: give your views

KCC continues to make progress in its procurement of LED lighting for the 118,000 street lights that it is responsible for across the County. This should deliver annual savings of £5.2 million. Coupled with lower costs, the new LED lighting will bring with it a Central Management System, which will allow for greater flexibility in dimming lights and in varying times when lights are turned on and off.

This represents an opportunity to gather residents' opinions on the system of part-night lighting that was introduced in Sevenoaks District at the start of a County-wide roll-out in late 2013. The County Council therefore launched yesterday a 10-week consultation on whether residents want to continue with part-night lighting or go back to having lights on all night. The results of the consultation should allow for a varied approach across different areas. This makes sense; in many urban areas (such as Swanley within Darent Valley), residents were very concerned about street lights being turned off at night, whereas in many rural areas there may be a very different view.

The consultation runs until 29 November. You can find KCC's press release here, and the consultation itself here. I hope as many Darent Valley residents as possible take part.