Crockenhill safety measures: the next steps

A lot of measures have been brought in over the last few years to enhance safety in the centre of the village, especially in the approaches to the junction of Cray Road, Broadway and Main Road. Signs, roundels, high friction surfacing and the speed activated sign in Cray Road have all been installed, along with the 20mph zone. I have supported this from my Combined Member Fund.

The Parish Council, Kent Highways and I have worked over many years to complete these measures by some sort of physical features in the road on the same approaches to the central junction. This has proved a long and difficult task, in particular because of the prospect of significant road closures needed to implement the works, and subsequently the presence of utilities under the highway that make implementing measures such as granite sets more difficult and more expensive.

We met recently to review the options and agreed that, while granite sets may well  be a good option for Crockenhill, it is worth trialling rumble strips, which can bep implemented more quickly, as an alternative. The proposed strips would come in three stages (one strip in the road, then two, then three). They would be in the three approaches to the centre, though the initial trial would cover just one area (Green Court Road).

Subject to a suitable design, this trial rumble strip should be installed in the coming weeks (November at the latest). Please let the Parish Council (crockenhillpc@btinternet.com) and me (roger.gough@kent.gov.uk) know what your early impressions are of how effective it is, and whether there are severe side effects such as increased noise. We will then review this with Kent Highways early in the New Year and decide whether it is best to install the remaining two rumble strips or go ahead with granite sets. In any case, Kent Highways will – weather permitting – move quickly to install the preferred option once it is decided.

This is, I hope, a positive development that should enable us to move forward with something that has long been wanted in the village and which complements the other measures that have been taken. At the same meeting, I am pleased to report, we made good progress on plans for gateway signs for the village and on replacements for the damaged railings at the Anchor & Hope site.