Out and about 2021

In previous election years - such as 2013 and 2017 - I have recorded something of the campaign. As in the past, one of the really positive features of this is to get around the Division in all its beauty amid spring weather. Perhaps best is the views that you get from high points such as Well Hill, the top of South Darenth or (not quite so high up) roads such as Sparepenny Lane between Farningham and Eynsford. I have put a couple of pictures of this attached to this post.

The big difference this time is that as Leader of the Council and of its Conservative Group, I have a much bigger responsibility to support other candidates, and so Out and About has also meant different parts of the county (this morning, for example, I was in Dover). You can find videos with local candidates bin various parts of the County on my Facebook page. 

You can also find there a video about the Conservative administration’s plans for economic, social and environmental recovery in Kent, and my video on why I am standing in Darent Valley. 

Goldsel Road works to go ahead in May: details

The signs are up for works and road closures on Goldsel Road in Crockenhill in May. Because this involves works by both Kent County Council and Highways England, there are a number of different elements to the programme.

From Wednesday 12 May, KCC will carry out night time works to resurface Goldsel Road from Station Road in Swanley to the A20 bridge. This will require night time closures of the road, with works taking place from 8pm to 6am for seven nights, excluding the Saturday and Sunday nights (15 - 16 May). These works should be complete by 6am on Friday 21 May.

On the same day (21 May), at 9PM Highways England will begin work on the bridge structures, removing expansion and mechanical bridge joints and replacing the water proofing on the bridge. All this is necessary to support the milling and resurfacing work(followed by replacement road markings) that KCC’s contractors will be carrying out on the bridge, also over the weekend.

As a result, there will be a full road closure on Goldsel Road over that entire weekend (from the evening of 21 May to 6am on Monday 24 May).

For the rest of that week, Highways England will be working to replace the bridge joints; this will again be overnight working from 8pm to 6am, to be completed by 6am on Saturday 29 May. I have seen notifications of a possible second complete weekend road closure (29-31 May) but I understand that this is purely a contingency arrangement and the HE works should be done by first thing on the Saturday morning.

At the end of all this, we should see a much better and restored surface on the Goldsel Road bridge - something that has been wanted by residents, and has been in preparation by KCC and HE for some time.

Road closure in Park Lane

Park Lane, Seal, will be closed tomorrow for up to a day at the junctions of Blackhall Lane and St Julians Road. This is to enable Kent Highways to carry out drainage works; in particular, cleansing in the area around the school. Park Lane was closed last week for ditching works but these works are being carried out separately.

Franks Lane: finishing the job

Following the closure of Franks Lane, Horton Kirby, for resurfacing and carriageway markings (now carried out) on 9 and 10 April, there will be a further closure (for up to three days) from this Wednesday, 14 April. 

Once more, this will be a closure of the entire road and is to enable replacement and enhancement of signage for the bridge, as described in my post of last week.

Pilgrims Way East: closure should end tomorrow

The urgent closure of Pilgrim’s Way East today is the result of emergency works carried out by South East Water to deal with a dangerous lid in the road. The road is closed from outside number 34, with Row Dow identified as the diversion route.

The closure was originally projected to be for four days, but KCC Streetworks team have now confirmed that it will be completed tomorrow (Saturday 10 April). There is not a precise time for when the road will be reinstated, cleared and reopened but it will be by close of play tomorrow and may be earlier.

Franks Lane works to start on Friday

Kent Highways will start resurfacing work in Franks Lane, Horton Kirby, on Friday (9 April); this is expected to take two days, requiring a road closure. Works will take place between 7am and 7pm. The entire road, from the junction with the A225 to Eglantine Lane, will be treated with micro asphalt, a quick setting method suitable for roads which are structurally solid but have quite a lot of surface wear.

These works will provide the opportunity to undertake road marking improvements, part of measures to improve clarity and visibility for drivers approaching the bridge, with consequent benefits for pedestrians too. These will comprise additional and some refreshed SLOW markings, along with edge of carriageway markings. 

At a later date - probably in the second half of April - road signage will be added, indicating road narrowing and pedestrians in the road. The existing chevrons - which have frequently been removed, and which the Parish Council has long raised as a concern with me - will be taken down and signs indicating a bridge parapet will be placed on new posts in the verge in front of the bridge. They should be much more durable.

It had originally been hoped that all the works could be done in one go and with one road closure; in practice, it wasn’t possible to dovetail them all, but hopefully we should see significant improvements to Franks Lane, in terms both of the road surface and of the approach to the bridge, by the end of the month.

Kent Highways is also, at the request of the Parish Council, carrying out some repairs to the footway at the entrance to Heathside Park in Horton Road, South Darenth. These should be carried out on Thursday 8 April.

Details of new Go coach services and Demand Responsive Go2 service

From Monday 12 April, Go Coach will be introducing a range of new or reinstated services. Some of this builds on the company’s demand responsive Go2 service, which was introduced last year. All the proposals have been developed through close work with KCC. 

In terms of traditional, fixed line services, the following routes will be reinstated at the frequency levels seen prior to the third lockdown in January:

 Route 1 – Westerham - Sevenoaks

Route 2 –Swanley- Sevenoaks

Route 5 – Tonbridge - Sevenoaks

Route 6 – Kemsing – Sevenoaks

For residents of Farningham, Eynsford, Otford and Shoreham, Route 2 will be of most interest, and Route 6 for residents of Kemsing and Seal. 

The intra-Sevenoaks Route 8 will be restored to pre-Covid frequencies. You can find the Go Coach timetables here.

The Go2 service will be expanded to cover some of the areas served by the Sevenoaks taxi bus (one of the schemes that came out of KCC’s ‘Big Conversation’ on rural bus services). This service had limited patronage and ceased to operate during the pandemic. Now residents of Stanstead, Fairseat, West Kingsdown and East Hill will be able to access the Go2 service 6 days a week (Monday – Saturday) between the hours of 0800-1800.

Go2 will also replace part of the 429 Sunday service. The 429 (West Kingsdown to Dartford, including a stop at White Post Corner in Farningham) will reduce from an hourly to two hourly service Monday-Friday (and continue as such on Saturday). The Sunday service, which has been subsidised over a number of years by grants from KCC Members (I am one of them), will cease. However, Go2 will be expanded to  cover an area including West Kingsdown, Swanley, down the Darent Valley and central Sevenoaks. (The route beyond Swanley is covered by alternative commercial services).

In Sevenoaks, there will be a new set of flat fares for non-school journeys of £2.50, £5.00 for all day travel and £1.50 for 5-19 year olds. On Go2, ENCTS or disabled pass holders will not have free travel as on fixed line buses, but will be reduced to 50% of the standard adult fares with companion travellers paying a fare of only £1.00 per journey. 

These changes represent a significant step back towards service resumption by Go, while building on the very successful development of Go2. It’s worth noting that demand responsive bus services had a significant part in the government’s National Bus Strategy, to which KCC will soon be responding.