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.