The Big Conversation: coming to the Darent Valley

Yesterday evening I attended KCC's Bus Summit at County Hall, which represented the next stage in the 'Big Conversation' on the future of rural public transport.

During the initial consultation, three main options were discussed: feeder services from more remote areas to the main bus network; a 'bookable bus' service; and a taxi-bus service, using smaller vehicles to run services. The first and third options would be timetabled; the bookable bus (which turned out to be the least popular) offered flexibility but potentially long and somewhat unpredictable journeys.

The 'Big Conversation' consultation ran through the summer, including opportunities to respond both on paper and online; a series of public and parish meetings; and deliberative meetings involving some 110 people at three venues across the County. The Sevenoaks public meeting in July, in which I took part, appears to have been one of the best-attended and effective meetings.

The next stage was the development of a series of pilot projects, and these - along with the feedback from the consultation - were reported at last nigth's meeting. Drawing on feedback received in the consultation, along with statistical information, assessments of operator capacity and the like, Kent Highways officers have come forward with five projects, three using the feeder service model and two the taxi-bus model. They are:

• Dover villages feeder bus service
• Villages South and East of Maidstone: feeder bus 
• Sevenaoks villages taxi-bus service
• Tenterden taxi-bus service
• West Malling and other villages: feeder bus service

The Sevenoaks pilot has direct implications for Sevenoaks North and Darent Valley. Starting in Fairseat and Stansted - very much outside the Division, and indeed the District - it is then proposed to run through West Kingsdown (bordering the Division), East Hill in the outer parts of Shoreham Parish, then through Otford to Sevenoaks.

The pilots should be formally approved in January 2019, to be followed by a period of mobilisation. It might have been possible to launch them in April, but with the possibility of pressures on Kent roads in the aftermath of Brexit, the launch will instead take place in June. The pilots will run for a year, after which conclusions can be drawn, and - if they prove successful - the models applied more widely.   

Tudor Drive and secondary routes

During last winter's severe weather, concerns were raised by residents over the designation of some local roads and the consequent level of gritting that they would (or would not) receive.

In one case (Row Dow) we managed to secure a change of designation to being considered a primary route; it is most unusual for this to be agreed when winter has already started, so this was a significant achievement. There were nonetheless some major problems on Row Dow at points when the weather was at its most severe, but this did not reflect the road's designation.

Concerns were also expressed about Tudor Drive in Otford, on the reasonable grounds that there are a significant number of homes in the Drive and surrounding area, and that the road out onto Pilgrims Way East is very steep. In spite of this, the road was categorised neither as a primary route nor (more surprisingly) as a secondary route. In this case, I was not able to secure a change in designation mid-season but local Highways teams did seek to help residents through deployment of hand salting crews.

As winter approaches, the question of the designation arises again. Kent Highways has already indicated that it will not be changing any designations of roads for this coming winter. This is less troubling than it sounds; the fact is that, during the severe winter weather earlier this year, secondary routes were not treated, since the pressure was on Kent Highways to keep the primary routes open. And further steps will be taken to support Tudor Drive, through deployment of hand salting crews and the installation of a second salt bin.

Meanwhile, the scope and purpose of secondary routes are subject to a wide-ranging review. This was reported to a recent meeting of KCC's Environment and Highways Cabinet Committee, and is under way.

KCC budget consultation

Kent County Council launched recently its annual budget consultation.

We are currently putting together our budget for 2019-20. The pressures on the council - seen in still more dramatic form at many other County Councils and other parts of local government - remain intense, as government grant reduces and demand for services remains strong.

The Council is consulting on a further 5% increase in council tax, made up of the 3% 'referendum cap' (the level of increase above which a referendum would have to be called) and 2% for a 'precept' for adult social care. This remains something that the Council is very reluctant to do, but has little room for manoeuvre (it is striking that, at national level, government projections that local government will have a 'flat cash' budgetary position over the period of the Comprehensive Spending Review is predicated on local government raising the maximum amounts of council tax that it can).

With growing pressures in areas such as social care, KCC has had to realise savings of some £640 million over the last eight years. For 2019-20, the Council needs to realise a further £57 million in savings (all this on a net budget projected to be £967 million). So far some £41 million has been confirmed, leaving a gap to be filled of £16 million. There are a number of major uncertainties still to be resolved, such as the full take from council tax, the treatment of business rates and various government grants. But if other things remain equal, the Council (and those of us who serve in the Cabinet) will face some very difficult decisions.

The consultation runs until 21 November and can be found here.

Anthony Roper Primary School and the funding issue

The recent letter from the Chair of Governors of Anthony Roper Primary School in Eynsford highlighting the school's difficult funding position and asking parents to contribute to support the school has drawn a lot of local and media attention. The BBC Sunday Politics carried a report on it, talking to parents and also interviewing both Sir Michael Fallon MP and me (and in this I wear two hats - as local Member and with my KCC Education portfolio. Perhaps I should add a third, since both my children attended the school).

There are three major factors at work in the pressures faced by the school:

•  ARPS is one of the lower-funded primary schools in Sevenoaks (by one measure of per pupil funding, 37th out of 42). This reflects chiefly the way in which funding (which Kent receives from government in the form of Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG)) is allocated, much of it driven by factors related to deprivation. ARPS has relatively few pupils who meet these criteria. In addition, all schools get a 'lump sum' (in Kent, of £120,000) regardless of their size. As a relatively large primary school, ARPS has to spread this sum over more pupils

• Kent is one of the poorer-funded local authorities in the country; in the current financial year, we ranked 143rd out of 152. We have long campaigned as part of the f40 group of lower-funded local authorities for a change in the system; this has had some effect with the introduction of what is (rather misleadingly) called a 'National Funding Formula', currently being phased in. This has offered some help and improvement to Kent, but more to secondary schools than primaries, and is in any case only a very partial step in the right direction

• Nationally, schools funding has been tight since 2010 (and especially since 2015). More money has gone into the DSG, but the number of pupils has also increased, so money per pupil has been flat in cash terms, leaving schools under pressure as costs rise. In addition, like many local authorities, Kent has had to transfer DSG funds from the Schools Block (which meets most day to day needs of schools) to the High Needs Block, which supports children with more extensive Special Educational Needs and has been growing rapidly since the enactment of the Children and Families Act 2014

With government set to review its priorities with a new Comprehensive Spending Review (the last year of the current CSR is 2019-20) there is clearly a strong case to be made for schools - but also for areas like Kent to get a greater share of the resources available. I sit on the Member Board of f40, and we will continue to press government to move beyond the current National Funding Formula.

You can findmy more detailed analysis of these funding issues via this link.