The Way We Care

Across the country, we are seeing more children in care (and spending more time in care) and much greater reliance on residential care as foster care numbers plateau. The end result is that many care placements are costly, not tailored to children’s needs and all too often a long distance from home.

These were some of the findings of ‘The Way We Care’, a report by specialist consultants IMPOWER and commissioned by the County Councils Network (CCN). It was launched yesterday morning at the CCN Annual Conference. I chaired the launch as CCN spokesperson on children’s services; in that role, I was involved in the development of the report, including chairing an advisory group that helped shape it. 

The report identifies the need to reduce the number of children, interim care, lead to increase those safely, leaving it. This builds on the work of Josh McAlister’s Independent Review of Children’s Social Care, which has been official government policy for sometime, but which needs to be funded adequately to be delivered. 

However, the report also highlights the need to address the severe challenges of commissioning and provisioning of placements, including the impact of registration and regulation, the pricing regime, and the need for a more long-term, strategic approach to commissioning. 

This is an important piece of work; the government has indicated its openness to reform in its statements attached to the recent budget, and this now needs to be given substance. I found it particularly valuable to cheer the advisory group, whose members had enormous experience and expertise, and two of its members – Nick Barnett of the Caldicot foundation, and Brenda Farrell of Barnardos - took part in the launch yesterday morning. 

Children’s placements are one of the areas that threaten the financial stability of local government; the issue needs to be addressed for that reason, but above all to ensure much better service and better outcomes for the children who come into our care. 

You can find CCN’s media release, and a link to the report here.

 

Friendship with Chernihiv

I returned a week ago from a visit to the Chernihiv region of Ukraine. The starting point for this was the County Council’s decision in July to establish a programme of co-operation between Kent and Chernihiv. Following the Council resolution, I was invited by the Regional Administration in Chernihiv to visit to sign the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the regions and to investigate a number of areas of cooperation.

I traveled with Jordan Meade, County Councillor for Gravesend East and Deputy Cabinet Member for Communities, who has worked closely with his local community to build links and supply humanitarian assistance to Ukraine, and in particular to Chernihiv. 

The County Council resolution was clear that KCC’s role in this is a coordinating one, and that as something that is not core County Council activity this cannot be a call on Council resources in any material way. In that spirit, Jordan and I traveled at our own expense. 

Chernihiv region is to the north-east of Kyiv, and borders both Russia and Belarus. (The city itself is about 60 miles from the Russian border and somewhat closer to the Belarusian border). In the early weeks of the war, the region was invaded and the city encircled, though Russian forces were then repelled. The region remains subject to attacks and air alerts. 

We spent an intensive three days with the Regional Administration, led by the Governor Vyacheslav Chaus. Our visit covered areas such as health (the city’s cardiology unit was bombed during the attacks), school and university education, cultural institutions, the business community and emergency services. We also visited the village of Yahidne, which was the site of horrific abuses when occupied by Russian soldiers, with many villagers held in cramped conditions in a school basement for weeks, as well as a children’s library that was devastated by a missile attack.

The County Council resolution identified a number of priority areas in which the Council could facilitate (but not deliver directly) links between the regions: humanitarian support; economic development and business; heritage, tourism, sport, health and the natural environment; education, skills and language. Through our visit, we established connections to take these areas forward.

And some overall impressions? It was, as I reported to Council last week, an intense and unforgettable experience. One striking feature was the apparent normality of much day to day life - and what it takes to sustain this under war conditions (schools can deliver in person learning, but have bomb shelters to sustain that; people learn to live with an assess the risks of an attack). That normality, and some hope for the future are vital to sustaining the morale of a population that has now had to live with two and a half years of devastating war. Anything our co-operation agreement can do to help that seems to me to be very worthwhile.

You can find a KCC media release on the visit here.

Remembrance in Horton Kirby

 

With a large number of parishes in my Division, it makes sense to attend a different one for Remembrance Sunday service each year. Last year it was Kemsing, Crockenhill before that, Otford in 2021 (and going back further, Eynsford). This morning it was a fine service at St Mary’s Horton Kirby this morning. 100 names read out who fell serving this country. I was proud to join this and lay a wreath on behalf of KCC

Swanley Village Road: cleansing the culvert

I wrote in the recent Swanley Village newsletter than the long-awaited works on the culvert in Swanley Village Road were due to take place on Wednesday (6 November).

When it appeared that this had not been completed, I followed up with KCC officers. It appears that the screen was cleared, and the gullies cleansed and jetted. However, the contractors did not jet the culvert itself, apparently because they did not have what they believed to be the correct vehicle to carry out the work safely. KCC required that they return with the appropriate vehicle, and it appears that there was a revisit yesterday and the works were completed.

Vital safety works to start on the A20

As many residents have seen from the Start of Works Notice (SOWN) issued a couple of weeks ago, KCC/ Kent Highways will be carrying out significant works to enhance safety on the A20 near Farningham, starting on 4 November.

 The central feature of the works is to install a system of average speed cameras in the area of the 40mph zone to the east (West Kingsdown facing side) of Kings roundabout. This follows extensive work and analysis of the factors behind the serious and fatal accidents that have taken place on this stretch of road. Driver error (often not on the part of those who were the victims of the crashes) was a common feature, but speed made the effects much more severe. This is the logic of the average speed camera installation, and is in accordance with the thinking behind KCC’s Vision Zero Strategy – that you can never fully eliminate driver error, but you can take measures to reduce and mitigate its effects.

In addition, KCC will be installing 40 mph roundels on that stretch of road, countdown markers on the approach to the 40mph gateway, just north of Charton Manor, and will enhance the current high friction surfacing at the A20 main Road junction with the A225 Eynsford Road with a higher skid resistant asphalt surface. The countdown markers, which originated in discussions that I held between Kent Highways and the Parish Council, are an unusual step, and required some discussion with the Department for Transport.

I have been asked why these measures have not been applied on the Swanley-facing side of the roundabout where there is a lot of concern about speeds as vehicles head towards Swanley. However, this would not be possible under the criteria for cameras of the Kent & Medway Safety Camera Partnership (which themselves reflect national guidance). We are, however, looking to signage options that will help to address this.

In recognition of continuing concern over illegal right turns at the Eynsford Road/ A20 junction, Kent Highways will also be enhancing the signs and lines at the Eynsford Road junction to emphasise the existing No Right Turn restriction in place. It is important that these measures are demonstrated to have been tried before any other measures to enforce the restriction are attempted; but the situation will be monitored and if justified those further measures could be introduced.

The work will take around two weeks to complete, commencing on 4 November 2024 (next Monday), with the signing and vegetation cut back taking place between the hours of 09:30 and 15:00.

Installation of the average speed cameras will take around four days to complete, commencing on 5 November 2024, between the hours of 20:00 and 05:00.

Lining and high friction surfacing replacement will take place between the hours of 20:00 and 05:00 during the week commencing 11 November.

All this is subject to potential change depending on weather conditions, and the works will be carried out under multi-way traffic lights.

This should represent an important step forward in terms of road safety in an area with a long and tragic record of accidents; and many of the other issues in the area will remain under Kent Highways’ attention, and mine as the local Member. The work does not stop here. 

The Space Wagon Takes Off

Congratulations to The Space at the Riverside Club for a wonderful launch of its Community Transport service this morning. This comprises a growing network of volunteer drivers, using their own cars, but also a bookable wheelchair accessible vehicle: the Space Wagon, the inspired winner of a competition to name it.

This builds on the remarkable work of Adrian Elms, Steve Boddington and everyone at The Space in combating isolation. Access to transport plays a vital role in this, yet in Kent (and across the country, especially outside the big cities) the bus industry is under severe pressure. This is why at Kent County Council we have stepped up our support for Community Transport. Last year we allocated over £500,000 to a dozen such schemes across the County. The Space was one of these, being awarded £44,000 in capital and £3,000 in start up costs. I was delighted to be able to support the successful bid.

Steve and Adrian both spoke at this morning’s launch, along with Cllr Lawrence Ball (Chairman of Sevenoaks District Council), Sally Coston of Eynsford Village Society and me. And the ribbon was cut by Mrs Diana Grant.

I was struck this morning by Steve Boddington’s remark that the focus on transport came out of the work that The Space was already doing, picking up another important need. I was also reminded that, while public sector bodies (including KCC) are financially very constrained, grants that are quite small in relation to our total budgets can help community initiatives like The Space Wagon to thrive.

To begin with at least, The Space’s community transport initiative will focus on Eynsford, Farningham and Lullingstone but will hopefully be able to extend to a wider area, the more so given the importance of access to medical appointments and the coming together of the Farningham and South Darenth practices.

EES: a welcome delay

It has been the week of two delays. The first - that of a decision on Lower Thames Crossing until next May - which came on Monday, was deeply disappointing. The second - that of the introduction of the EU’s new external frontier checks, the Entry Exit System (EES) - is likely to be positive for Kent residents. 

EES was scheduled to be introduced - after many delays and falls starts - at 2 am on Sunday 10 November. However, late on Thursday afternoon, a month before the planned commencement of EES, EU Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson announced a further delay, stating that 10 November would not go ahead and that there would be “a phased approach” to introduction. This reflected major Member States, including France, Germany and the Netherlands reporting that they were not ready to go ahead, citing technological problems and in particular the interface with EU-wide systems.

In Kent, we were not banking on this delay, even as it came to look more and more likely. We have been raising the issue for years, and in January I gave evidence to a parliamentary committee about the risks that EES introduction posed to Kent, in particular spillover of delays in the highly constrained Eastern Docks at the Port of Dover onto the county’s roads. In July, Leaders of councils in Kent came together to highlight the issue to the new government. Ministers have provided additional funding to the points of departure, works have begun to develop sites at the Western Docks and partners in the Kent and Medway Resilience Forum have developed extensive contingency plans. 

Nonetheless, the delay is helpful, giving more time for some of these projects to develop and for discussions with the French authorities over a pragmatic approach to the introduction of the new system. While the approach to introduction of EES is now unclear, it may give scope for a gradual approach (enabling, for example, first registrations to be undertaken at quieter times only, easing the whole process of introduction of the new system) or perhaps even a move to operate remote registration from the start (which neither systems nor regulations are currently set up for). 

The announcement generated a lot of media interest, and I gave interviews to BBC South East, ITV Meridian and Heart/ LBC (I had already spoken to BBC Radio Kent on Thursday morning before the Commission’s announcement). You can also find our media release about the delay here. We will now await more details but, for the present at least, this is good news. 

A new waste facility for Sevenoaks

Yesterday I was delighted to attend the formal opening of KCC’s new Waste Transfer Station (WTS) at Dunbrik in Sevenoaks. The KCC Chairman Bryan Sweetland declared it open.

Unlike a Household Waste Recycling Centre (HWRC - ‘the tip’), a WTS is not open to the public. It is where a waste collection authority, such as Sevenoaks District Council, will take the rubbish collected from the kerbside.

Here different forms of waste can be allocated for disposal, chiefly recycling. There are both HWRC and WTS facilities at Dunbrik. 

The existing WTS is both too small and not suitable for the increasing need to segregate materials for recycling. Work began on the new facility in July 2023 and it has been completed ahead of schedule.

The very impressive new WTS can process up to 75,000 tons of waste per year, which is double the amount put through the existing Dunbrik facility. It is another addition to our waste network, coming two years after we opened a modern and environmentally advanced HWRC at Allington near Maidstone. Our waste disposal record remains strong, with less than 1% going to landfill.

You can find the KCC media release about this here.

Safety enhancements in Kemsing

Some minor works to enhance safety at the Dynes Road/ Childsbridge Lane crossing should be installed today. After a collision at the crossing late last year, I asked Kent Highways officers to investigate STOP signage at the junction. 

The junction does not meet the Department for Transport criteria for these signs, but officers are introducing additional Give Way signs (in the West End and Dynes Road approaches to the junction) and the junction markings are being refreshed to reinforce and clarify the need to give way at these points.

Pressure on the South East

 The government’s proposals on housing, announced last week, have major implications for the South East - reflected in a letter from five Home Counties Leaders, including me, in this morning’s Daily Telegraph. (The link is to the complete Telegraph letters page, but you can also find the text on my Facebook page).

Among our concerns is that, as in the case of ULEZ, London decisions (or non-decisions, in this case the failure to build anywhere near its housing needs) spill over into our counties and communities. The relationship with London needs to be one of mutual benefit, not of Kent (and other Home Counties) being on the receiving end of London overspill.

Focusing more locally, the requirement of Sevenoaks under the new plans is for a 58% uplift in housing numbers - and that is on the Local Plan currently being developed, which was itself a huge uplift on past plans and housing delivery. The implications, including in relation to Pedham Place, are clear and worrying.

Kent Leaders warn on EES

The European Entry Exit System (EES), the new external frontier of the European Union, comes into force in the autumn. The expected date of implementation had for some time been 6 October, although there are now widespread expectations that it will be delayed a little, until 10 November or another Sunday later in the month. 

The consequences of this for Kent are potentially significant, reflecting the pressures which these new checks will put on the points of exit, especially the Port of Dover, which could then spill over onto the road network, creating major disruption. At Kent County Council, we have been raising the issue for a number of years and earlier this year I gave evidence on the issue to a parliamentary committee. 

Last week, Leaders of all 14 councils in the historic county (KCC, Medway and the 12 Districts and Boroughs) signed a letter to government setting out our concerns and urging action to share information, coordinate communication both with Kent residents and nationally, accelerate measures that can ease pressure on the highly constrained Eastern Docks in particular and to work with France and the EU to manage the implementation in a flexible way. The letter also reminded ministers that this is an occasion not only to address the immediate issues of the EES but also the long-running pressures that the border issue puts on the county, reflected in the use of Operation Brock.

There are some encouraging signs. The previous week saw a visit from the new roads minister, Lilian Greenwood, and the last two weekends have proved relatively manageable if occasionally difficult, reflecting the start of the summer getaway and (for the first weekend) the impact of the worldwide IT outage. This positive performance reflected, among other things, the deployment of a permit system for freight vehicles and the active role played by the French border authorities, the PAF. 

Nonetheless, the risks remain severe and there is a lot to be done. The joint letter is part of that effort. 

Road improvements on the A20

There will be two closures on the A20 in the next couple of weeks to allow for highway improvements.

Next Tuesday (30 July) the road will be closed between 0430 and 0700 for surface dressing works. The closure will be between the junction with the A225 Dartford Road and the speed de-restriction signs outside Charton Manor Farm.

There will then be a 20mph speed limit in that part of the road until the concluding works (on Monday 5 August) to seal the surface dressing. This will use a technique called lockchip - which pretty much does what it says, with a bitumen coating binding in the chippings and reducing loose material on the road. 

The closure on the 5th will be for a relatively short period of time- approximately an hour - at some point between 0930 and 1530. It will, however, require a complete closure of that part of the road for that time. 

There will be similar works (surface dressing on the 30th, sealing on the 5th) elsewhere on the A20, at London Road Wrotham, but the timing will be different from those near Farningham. 

All these works are, of course, subject to weather but hopefully can be carried out in a way that minimises inconvenience to drivers and delivers road surface improvements.

Pilgrims Way closure: South East water works

 For anyone who hasn’t seen it, Pilgrims Way has from this morning been closed by South East Water. This is under emergency provisions to address a burst water main and the closure is until 1700 on Wednesday. It runs from the Childsbridge Lane junction to the Cotmans Ash Lane junction, so diversion routes will use those two roads (which will send more traffic through the village (West End/ High Street).

The physical closure point is either side of Brushwood Cottage, and access for residents will be maintained up to that point.

Defects on PWE speed ramp

I’ve taken up reports of vehicles being damaged and a defect on the speed ramp near the Row Dow junction in Pilgrims Way East with Kent Highways. They have sent someone from the contractor to investigate it this afternoon/ evening. I’ll post any further information when I get it.

UPDATE: A further update on PWE … The contractors have attended and located two curbs that are coming loose and will need resetting. They have been made safe for now pending a more lasting fix. 

Completing 20mph in Swanley Village

Following up on the incomplete installation of the 20mph area in the village last week - contractors will be returning to install the unfinished roundels on 27 June. Apparently there was a medical emergency on site, which was the reason for their not being completed as scheduled.

I have also asked about the sign that was left in the hedge row opposite Jasmine Cottage. This has been taken up with the contractors and they are being asked to come back and collect it – hopefully early next week and certainly well in advance of their return on 27 June. 

Upcoming works in Kemsing

West End, Kemsing has a closure (for works by SGN) starting on 25 May. Initial signage seemed to indicate that the closure would be for 4 weeks. This, however, was misleading. The works are scheduled to take 4 weeks, but not the closure. The closure is due to start on Saturday 25th May and finishes at the latest on 3rd June (the road must re-open for the school before 0600hrs).  The remainder of the works are under traffic lights rather than a closure. Our Streetworks team requested that the contractors amend the notice so that it shows the correct dates for the closure period.

The closure is required at the start of the works because this will take place in the relatively narrow stretch of road outside the school. Once the works have reached the point where the road widens out, 2-way lights can be used the closure will be lifted.  The road has to reopen for Monday 3rd June, when the schools resume; if the works requiring closure are not complete, those works will be cancelled and resumed at a future date.

Separately to all this, West End will be closed overnight (from 7PM to 7AM) on the night of 22-23 May for road repairs by Kent Highways. This closure will be between the junctions with Childsbridge Lane and St Edith’s Road.

22 May will also see a daytime closure on Pilgrims Way between the junctions with The Landway and Cotmans Ash Lane, also for Kent Highways works. This will be between 9:30 and 2:30 (again, to avoid an impact on schools traffic) and should take less time than this (hopefully about 4 hours); the works are to fix some large potholes, hence the closure. As I reported previously, Kent Highways carried out a number of works in Pilgrims Way during the recent SGN closure, but this is in a different section of the road.

Pilgrims Way to reopen

I now have an update and Pilgrims Way will be reopened, most likely late tomorrow (Wednesday) evening. In any case, it will be open before 0600 Thursday.

There are currently three sets of excavations by SGN and these will be filled in and left to cure in the course of tomorrow. The reinstatement needs to cure (harden); if traffic goes through the road before this, there could be damage to the road and the need for a yet further closure.

While these works have been going on, KCC has used the closure to carry out three sets of works in Pilgrims Way, addressing kerbing, drain cleansing and potholes at the edge of the carriageway. As a result, the closures that I highlighted originally for the end of this week are now thankfully not needed.

A big day in Dover

I posted in early February about our concerns over the potential impact of the EU’s introduction of its Entry Exit System (EES) on traffic and other disruption in Kent. Since then, I’ve had the opportunity to visit both Eurotunnel and the Port of Dover to see their preparations, and government has emphasised its recognition of the importance of the issue and the actions it is taking to address it. (A good example of this was the session of the European Scrutiny Committee, to which I had previously given evidence, on 1 May with Home Office Minister Tom Pursglove and Transport Minister Guy Opperman). 

Today Radio 4’s PM Programme was broadcast from Dover; the intended focus was on the EES issue, and I was interviewed towards the end of the programme. All of which was somewhat upended by the announcement at lunchtime that Dover’s Conservative MP, Natalie Elphicke, had crossed the floor to Labour. 

Nonetheless, EES did get some coverage; my interview is towards the end, at about 53 minutes in. After some unsurprising questions about the MP, I was able to put across both the work that is being done and the continuing risks and challenges. What we need is early sharing of national data so that we are clear as to what must be done; as much as possible to secure pre-registration to ease the pressure on the highly constrained Port site; funding to address some of the local needs, such as road maintenance on heavily used diversion routes and driver welfare sites and facilities; and recognition that, while this is an issue playing out in Kent, it is also of national significance and impact. 

… and works delayed

An amendment to the post below … The start of the Rye Lane works has been delayed as contractors have been diverted by emergency works elsewhere. These works will now start on Monday 13th and so there will be no closures until then. They will either make up the time or the programme overall will be rescheduled - to be confirmed. I will update this when we know more about timing.

Road closures for gas works in Otford

A reminder of the series of road closures in Otford in the coming weeks and months. These are planned closures for gas mains replacement works by SGN in the roads to the south of Pilgrims Way West. Here are the closures and diversion routes: 

Rye Lane, Otford - Phase 1, Pilgrims Way West to Willow Park

06.05.2024 – 24.05.2024

Diversion is via Willow Park, Telston Lane, Pilgrims Way West, London Road, Dunton Green, Station Road, Dunton Green, Rye Lane, Dunton Green and vice versa.

Phase 2,   Rye Lane between Willow Park and Ryecroft.

13.05.2024 – 14.06.2024

Diversion is via Pilgrims Way West, London Road, Dunton Green, Station Road, Dunton Green, Rye Lane, Dunton Green and vice versa.                    

 Phase 3,  Rye Lane between Ryecroft Road and 14 Rye Lane

13.05.2024 – 14.06.2024

Diversion is via Pilgrims Way West, London Road, Dunton Green, Station Road, Dunton Green, Rye Lane, Dunton Green and vice versa.

Broughton Road, Otford (Private Road) Full Length of the Road

06.05.2024 – 31.05.2024

Access Maintained

The Charne, Otford   Junction with Rye Lane

20.05.2024 – 14.06.2024

Access Maintained

Ryecroft Road, Otford (Private Road)  Full Length of the Road 

13.05.2024 – 18.06.2024

Access Maintained

 WILLOW PARK, OTFORD   BETWEEN Rye Lane and O/S 11

06.05.2024 – 24.05.2024

Diversion is via Telston Lane, Pilgrims Way West, Rye Lane and vice versa

Willow Park, Otford         Full Length of the Road

03.06.2024 – 12.07.2024

Diversion is via Telston Lane, Pilgrims Way West, Rye Lane and vice versa.

Flowerfield, Otford     Junction with Willow Park

24.06.2024 – 22.07.2024

Access Maintained

Telston Lane, Otford     Pilgrims Way West to Willow Park

01.07.2024 – 02.08.2024

Access Maintained         

Hale Lane, Otford      Junction with Telston Lane

01.07.2024 – 02.08.2024

Access Maintained

Unacceptable closure in Sevenoaks

Many residents will have been badly affected by today’s closure of St John’s Hill in Sevenoaks.

South East Water have been carrying out works on the road on a permit from Kent Highways for an overnight (2000 – 0500) closure for three nights starting last night. The terms of the permit were that the road would be open during the day, without any traffic management measures. However, this morning the condition of the road was affected by the works and the road closure was left in place (without the local Streetworks team being informed). It is this that has caused today’s severe traffic problems.

This is completely unacceptable; the matter is being escalated by our officers and I will separately be writing and taking the matter up with South East Water. Work is now underway with the aim of being able to open the road for tomorrow morning, although at present I cannot confirm whether this will happen.

Streetworks and road closures

Severe traffic problems after an accident on the M25 - but coming at a time of a lot of road closures, in particular for planned SGN works on the A25 at Sundridge - sparked a lot of debate on local Facebook pages. Given this, a few comments from me on Streetworks and their implications are in order. 

The general position on Streetworks is that the utilities are ‘statutory undertakers’ - they have a right to use the highway when needed for their works and there is little scope to refuse them. Planned works are discussed with KCC/ Kent Highways and they make a major effort to coordinate them … BUT the sheer volume of works (up sharply in recent years across the country), along with efforts to limit disruption in relation to (for example) school travel makes this challenging … AND this is often made much worse by emergency works, which can play havoc with planning. In that case, the utility acts first and informs the highway authority within two hours of starting. About a third of works in Kent are emergencies, and to the best of my knowledge this is similar elsewhere; I hear the same concerns from my counterparts in other counties.

Emergencies explain a lot of the situations when wider areas experience severe disruption, though this wasn’t the case in the incident that sparked the debatereflecting instead a horrible crash on the M25. 

The problem for local authorities, including Kent, is that our legal position and powers are relatively weak. We have, along with other councils, argued for change and we continue to review what we can do within the existing setup; we will be reporting back on that work in the coming months. We are only too aware of how disruptive this is.

Children’s Services under pressure

On Tuesday I had the opportunity to give evidence to the House of Commons Education Select Committee on the pressures facing local authorities’ children’s services. I did so in my role as Children’s Services spokesperson for the County Councils Network (CCN), though there was quite a bit of reference in the discussion to our experience in Kent. I gave evidence along with John Pearce, President of the Association of Directors of Children’s Services (and Director of Children’s Services at Durham County Council) and Stuart Ashley, Director of Children’s Services at Hampshire County Council, who gave evidence remotely. 

In the hearing, I set out the pressures experienced by councils which have seen expenditure at CCN members almost double over the last decade. There has been an increase in the number of children in care (though in Kent our numbers, excluding asylum seeking children, have been fairly steady) but the bigger effect has been from rising costs. There has been a shift from councils’ own fostering arrangements to independent fostering agencies, from fostering to residential provision, and a big rise in very expensive placements of young people with very severe needs that are not being met elsewhere.

The well-received Independent Review of Children’s Social Care, chaired by Josh MacAlister, reported in May 2022 proposing major reforms to address these challenges. The White Paper issued by government in response, ‘Stable Homes, Built on Love’ sets a good overall policy direction, but does not commit the funding  needed to deliver these changes as a rapid pace. Addressing these challenges will remain a matter of vital importance for Kent County Council and other local authorities, and I was glad to be able to have the chance to make the case. 

You can find the meeting on the parliamentary channel here.

Road closures in Swanley Village

 Some updates on road closures in the village. 

Tomorrow (Friday 8 March) there will be the long-delayed closure of Gildenhill Road for Kent Highways to carry out carriageway repairs. The closure will be between 9:30 and 2:30 and will be between Church Road and Clement Street.

There are still some works due to be carried out on Highlands Hill too but they have again been put back because of other works going on. 

A little further out, Highlands Hill will be closed (10-11 April) for Thames Water works on a fire hydrant. This will be a full road closure (apparently the works will be in the middle of the road) and will be continuous (in other words, including overnight). It is, however, during the half term period and is scheduled for that purpose to avoid disruption to the school. 

There will be a separate closure by KCC on Highlands Hill (to replace a street lighting column) on 30 April, but that will only be between 9:30 and 2:30so once more, this will avoid having an impact on school drop-off and pick up. 

More immediately, the works at the bottom of Highlands Hill (a company called Triconnex providing electricity and gas connections to the development on the old nursery site) are going from two way to four way lights as the works have reached the junction with Swanley Lane. (This took place either yesterday or today). The four way lights, which are manually controlled from 7am to 7pm to ease congestion, will be on for a relatively short time as they become two-way again as they move up the road towards Hextable. All the works should be completed by 22 March. 

Farningham 20mph scheme installed

As some residents will already be aware, the 20mph scheme in Farningham, long championed by the Parish Council, should be installed next week. Kent County Council will carry out the necessary works overnight between 8pm on Thursday 29 February and 5am the following morning. 

The 20mph scheme will be installed in High Street, London Road, Dartford Road, Hillside and Sparepenny Lane from the High Street/ London Road junction to outside Hampton Court Cottage. 

The Parish Council has strongly advocated for this scheme, incorporating it in the Highways Improvement Plan (HIP) that each Parish or Town Council develops with Kent Highways. I was pleased to support it from my Combined Member Grant; there was also funding from KCC’s Local Transport Plan, and the Parish Council contributed CIL funding to the earlier stages of the project. It’s taken some time, and quite a lot of work to get to this point but in just over a week the scheme should be in place.

Pilgrims Way reopened

Pilgrims Way is now open, and the South East Water works are complete. 

The Traffic Management signs are still up, but the company which supplies them will be retrieving them shortly. Our Streetworks team has sought to get the utility to get these works completed ahead of the scheduled three days, and they are now done.

Swanley Village highways works next week

Kent Highways works on potholes on Highlands Hill and on Gildenhall Road, scheduled for last week, were delayed following sickness among the gang who were due to carry them out. They have now been rescheduled for next Monday, 12 February, and so by taking place in half term should avoid causing difficulties for school drop off and pick up.   

The potential problem is that this is also bin collection day. However, SDC have been informed of the closure (they are on the Streetworks mailing list for closures) and the two councils have been in contact. The collections will take place quite early on Monday (please note!), any time from 7 am but certainly out of the area by 9:30, which is when the highways works get under way. Road closures in each of the two roads should not last more than two hours per road, though the formal closure allowed for on Highlands Hill (which will affect the whole road) is between 9:30 and 2:30.

Pilgrims Way closure for South East Water works

Residents have raised the further closure on Pilgrims Way next week, coming shortly after last weekend’s works.

Pilgrims Way will be closed for three days commencing 14 February between the Row Dow junction and Beechy Leas Road. This is for works by South East Water to replace a leaking stop cock at a nearby property. The stop cock is at the edge of the carriageway in a narrow part of the road, so a closure is required for the works.   

 This is therefore a closure undertaken by the utility, for which they have statutory powers. It is not a KCC closure for highways works, though a planned closure of this kind is coordinated with KCC (as opposed to emergency closures, on which KCC is not required to be consulted in advance).

Our Streetworks team are working to reduce the disruption that this will cause by requiring that the road is closed only when work is taking place (this is possible for works of this kind because they do not require, for example, a period to set). At other times, the signage will be pulled in and the road opened, though at present there are no set times for this.

It is very disruptive for residents that this comes so soon after the closure in Pilgrims Way East, and that this comes after a number of other closures. In addition to the approach described above to try to reduce this impact on residents, the works are scheduled for the half term week for the same purpose.

It’s been asked why the two sets of works could not have been carried out at the same time. The reason is that, because they were at, in effect, opposite ends of Pilgrims Way East, residents living between them (including all those in Tudor Drive and Tudor Crescent) would have been unable to get out, except perhaps via Row Dow and routes beyond that, which would in most cases have been a vastly greater diversion than is required by either set of works on their own.

Counting down to EES

In the course of the last week, I had the opportunity to highlight to a parliamentary committee the challenges to Kent from the anticipated introduction of the European Union’s Entry Exit System (EES). You can find Kent County Council’s media release on this here.

Deirdre Wells, chief executive of Visit Kent, Andrew Osborne, head of economic development at Ashford Borough Council and I gave evidence to the House of Commons European Scrutiny Committee on Wednesday. EES, which brings with it requirements for biometric checks on entry to the EU external frontier, is now expected (after a number of delays) to be introduced in October. This raises the prospect of long delays because of the very constrained space within the Port of Dover, resulting in further large scale disruption to Kent’s roads, businesses and visitor economy, in addition to its impact on the quality of residents’ lives.

We had a good hearing from the Committee, and I set out the need to ensure that, at the very minimum, there is extensive communication and preparation; but we must make every effort to present the case for some form of pre-registration. While Kent County Council and our partners in the county will more than play our part, this is above all a matter for government. We are seeing government respond to this approaching crisis, and raised this successfully in a recent visit by the Roads Minister, Guy Opperman. But as I pointed out, we are not yet seeing the scale of government focus and preparation that we had in the run up to the end of Brexit transition in 2020. Yet the effects could be at least as great.

Pilgrims Way East: works at the weekend

Many residents will have seen from the signage up in Pilgrims Way East that there will be a further closure this weekend. The closure will be between the Tudor Drive junction and the A225 Shoreham Road, and will be from 7:30 am on Saturday 3 February until 11:59 pm on Sunday evening. 

The works are to address the deficiencies on the tabletop by the Tudor Drive junction, and the outcome should be something more like the tabletop at the Row Dow junction. This design also requires less time for the curing of the kerbs. 

The recommended diversion route is, as before, via Childsbridge Lane, the A25 and the A225 Sevenoaks Road and Station Road.

Government funding: welcome but not a game changer

It’s not often that we get some unexpectedly good news on funding, but that did come through in the middle of last week. After a strong campaign led by the County Councils Network, in which Kent County Council played its part and worked closely with our Members of Parliament, the government made an unusually late amendment to the Local Government Finance Settlement. This gave an additional £600 million to the sector, of which £500 million goes to councils (like KCC) with responsibility for children’s services and adult social care.

We do not yet know our precise allocation, but estimate it (on the basis of past methods of distributing the social care grant, which is the approach that will be used) to be somewhat over £10 million, probably between £11.5 and £12.8 million. 

This is, as I have said, welcome but not a game changer. It has to be seen in the context of our £1.3 billion budget and the £118 million savings gap with which we started our budget process. It does not address the underlying pressures that are driving up local authority spend, and the outlook for the next few years (whoever forms a government after the election) suggests that funding settlements or remain tight.The cavalry is not coming over the hill. 

Nonetheless, after a disappointing outcome to the Autumn Statement and the provisional Local Government Finance Settlement, it is a welcome recognition of at least some of the pressures local government is experiencing. And it all helps. 

You can find our statement here.

Swanley Village road works (continued)

For anyone confused as to what happened on Highlands Hill today, it was not what was originally expected. 

Kent Highways were due to undertake works on potholes in Highlands Hill and go on to work on Gildenhill Road). However, members of the gang due to carry it out were sick, and so neither set of highways works took place. At present I don’t have a new date for these works.

At the same time, UKPN came in to carry out emergency works on some cable repairs (a fault on low voltage cables). These works will continue tomorrow. I understand that Councillor Chris Prestedge has ensured that these take account of school drop off and pick up times.

Swanley Village road works on Monday

For anyone who hasn’t seen it, some details of Monday’s (29 January) road closure in Highlands Hill (for some pothole works by KCC). The road will be closed outside Tudor House.

The permit sets out that the works will start at 9:30 am and finish no later than 2:30 pm, avoiding creating problems for school drop off or pick up. Hopefully the finish should be some time before that; the works in Highlands Hill relate to two potholes and the gang is carrying out several jobs in the local area and so will need to move on to those as quickly as possible. 

In particular, the Highlands Hill works will not be at the same time as Gildenhill Road, which will be closed in full to enable KCC to carry out carriageway repairs. I presume that that closure will be later in the day, but it is probably best avoided throughout Monday if possible.

A225 Shoreham Road: latest on the works

An update on the works on the A225 Shoreham Road. All still going ahead, but a change of timing.

As anyone using that stretch of road may have noticed, the temporary 30mph speed limit has not yet been introduced (I had previously posted that this would start on Monday 15th. Work has started, but the contractor is so far focusing on vegetation clearance. There’s a lot to do - some 950 metres to be cleared. Most of this is mobile works, though I believe that there were some temporary traffic lights in place on Monday.

The temporary speed limit to accommodate the signing work will now begin next Monday, 22 January. It will be scheduled for two weeks, though hopefully the works should take less time than that. Lining and red surface patching should also be installed at that time, though this is subject to weather conditions (in other words, not as cold as it is now).

A225 Shoreham Road speed limit: works to start tomorrow

Work is due to start tomorrow to implement the long-awaited 40mph speed limit and improve safety on the A225 Shoreham Road, in particular in the section near the junction with Station Road Shoreham. Starting to the north of that junction, and running south beyond the Fackenden Lane junction, it should also support observance of the 30mph zone on the approach into Otford.

The measures introduced will comprise warning signs (pedestrian crossing signs) approaching the crossing points of public footpaths SR18 and SR22 along with white Glasdon Gates, village signs, red surfacing and both 40mph signs and roundels. 

The works are expected to take around two weeks (the precise outcome being dependent on weather conditions) and will require from tomorrow a temporary 30mph speed limit, running from 160 metres south of the junction with Fackenden Lane to 400 metres to its north. 

The scheme has been a long time in preparation and Shoreham Parish Council have rightly been determined in pursuing it. I have worked with the Parish Council and with Kent Highways to get this delivered. It will be good to see it in place.

Pedham Place and the Sevenoaks Local Plan

Yesterday I submitted my response to Sevenoaks District Council’s Regulation 18 consultation on the Local Plan (Plan 2040). This is copied below; it sets out my concerns about Options 2 and 3 put forward by the Council, both of which incorporate development proposals for 2,500 houses at Pedham Place. The implications of this for Sevenoaks North and Darent Valley, and for the northern parishes of Crockenhill, Eynsford, Farningham and Horton Kirby and South Darenth in particular are very concerning. The proposals for the Wasps stadium in the same area create a still more serious cumulative impact.