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.

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. 

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. 

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.

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.

Swanley Village works: four way lights due in Highlands Hill

Thames Water recently distributed letters to Swanley Village residents concerning the works currently taking place in Highlands Hill. These set out the expectation that, because of the depth of works required in their programme of installation of new equipment on their water pipes, the full closure on Highlands Hill was set to continue until 31 August - with a big impact on the village, its residents and businesses.

There are in fact two sets of works which Thames Water are carrying out. The first was due to be completed on 31 August, and KCC Streetworks encouraged Thames Water to undertake the second set of works at the same time; the alternative would have been for Thames Water to return during the October half term. Given the wish to avoid yet further disruption to the village, KCC Streetworks proposed, and Thames Water agreed that this second set of works be carried out concurrently with the first.

KCC’s Streetworks Team visited the site late last week, and I understand that the first set of works are now ahead of schedule and should be completed within the next week (precise date to be confirmed). At this point it will be possible to carry out the second set of works by closing just one lane and use of four way traffic lights. The lights will be manually controlled from 0730 – 0930 & 1530 – 1900hrs to ease congestion.

Four way lights do, of course, involve longer waiting times but there will at least be access, easing to some degree the disruption to the village in the latter part of this month.

Road closure in Beechenlea Lane

Beechenlea Lane in Swanley Lane will once more be closed at the railway bridge because of Network Rail works between next Monday 7 February and Friday 11 February. The closure will be between 8am and 4pm daily. The signposted diversion route will be via Swanley Village Road, Highlands Hill, Swanley Lane and London Road in Swanley.

These works are intended to conclude the rail bridge replacement works undertaken last October. At the conclusion of the works, Kent Highways will send an inspector to confirm that there is no damage or defect arising from the works - and if there is, the defect will be raised with Network Rail.

Crockenhill and Swanley Village - road works and closures

Wested Lane Crockenhill is set for another closure, from 0600 on 1 November to 1600 on 5 November. As before (17 - 21 September), this is because of Network Rail works to stabilise a railway cutting. 

I have checked the situation regarding other works in the area. There are a number of closures during the previous (half term) week, or slightly earlier, but they are scheduled in with Kent Highways' Streetworks team to finish in advance of the Wested Lane works. 

The rail bridge replacement works on Beechenlea Lane in Swanley Village are due to be completed on 24 October. Nearby, Thames Water works in Swanley Village are resulting in a closure on Swanley Village Road from 25 - 31 October. These works have to be carried out in the school holidays, and are also timed not to coincide with the Network Rail works.

Also in Swanley Village, there are works at Harringtons Nursery on Highlands Hill (with two way lights) which are scheduled to finish on 22 October. 

Finally, in Swanley, Hilda May Avenue is also closed for drainage works on 25 - 29  October - also works that have to be completed in the school holidays. 

Road closures in Swanley Village and Crockenhill

Beechenlea Lane between Swanley and Swanley Village is set for an extended closure of 42 days, from 13 September to 24 October. This is for Network Rail to replace the current rail bridge with a new concrete structure. 

There have already been two shorter road closures related to these works. The first was on 2-3 August, while the second on 24 August was for installation of the required plant. 

The proposed diversion route is via Swanley Village Road, Swanley Lane and High Street/ London Road.

In Crockenhill, Wested Lane will be closed for five days (17 - 21 September inclusive) for Network Rail to undertake works stabilising the cutting near the railway bridge. The closure will be in working hours (0600 to 1800) only. The suggested diversion route is via Crockenhill village, Green Court Road/ Goldsel Road and through Swanley.

Swanley Village road works

Early August (next week) will see road closures affecting Swanley Village. However, the details of how these will operate have changed (and for the better).

Thames Water is undertaking works that require a closure in Highlands Hill (original proposed dates 2-5 August). 

 

At around the same time, Network Rail are closing Beechenlea Lane for the first stage of major works to replace the bridge over the railway line. Much of the work is scheduled for later in the year, but with the aim of getting as much done during the school holidays as possible, the first closure will be on 2-3 August. 

 

It is clearly undesirable to have simultaneous closures, but the need to make progress (and, in the case of Thames Water, to carry out the works in full) during the school holidays, coupled with a lack of other available time slots for Thames Water to get their works done, has resulted in this clash. This, coupled with the closure of Beechenlea Lane, has meant that, while the recommended diversion route for the Network Rail route has been Button Street, that for the Thames Water works on Highlands Hill starts with School Lane, also undesirable on account of its narrowness. Nonetheless, this gives one diversion route at each end of Swanley Village Road.

 

To mitigate this problem, Kent Highways have secured agreement from Thames Water that they postpone the start of their works by one day until 3 August, cutting the overlap of the two sets of works to just one day. In addition, Button Street (then London Road, High Street, Swanley Lane) will be used as the diversion route, ending any need to use School Lane.

Swanley Village: cleansing the culvert

The culvert in Swanley Village Road, between the junctions with Button Street and Park Lane, been a local problem, with a tendency to be blocked and floodthe surrounding area. It was cleansed in spring 2019, but residents brought to my attention some months ago that it was once more getting blocked. (I had discussed with Kent Highways the best approach to keeping the culvert clean, and it was agreed to do so as and when problems arose).

Tomorrow there will be a road closure while the culvert is cleansed. A civils team will dig out the entrance to the gulley and then the gullies in the area will be cleansed and jetted. The last such operation did give quite a lasting improvement, and hopefully this will do so too.

Wood Street works start today

Wood Street, Swanley Village, is clsoed today and tomorrow for mircoasphalting works being carried out by Kent Highways. The two-day closure is from 7am until 7pm each day, with diversions via Button Street and Ship Lane. The condition of the road has long been a concern, and I took this up with Kent Highways officers when we did joint tours of my Division to assess road problems. These surface dressing works (the next step down from a full resurfacing) were programmed in for this financial year some time ago. Hopefully it will make a welcome difference to this part of the village.

Drainage works in Button Street tomorrow

Tomorrow (4 May) will see Kent Highways carry out drainage works in Button. Street, affecting both the Farningham and Swanley Village sections of the road. The road will be closed for up to two days.

There have been significant flooding problems at the junction with the A20, and CCTV and root cutting works will be carried out there. In addition, around 18 nearby gullies (in the area running from the junction with Farningham Hill Road to Wadard Terrace) will be cleansed and jetted.

There will also be extensive cleansing and jetting of around 10 gullies and 9 chambers in the area near Canada Heights and the M25 bridge, which has already seen significant attention, including examination of the Kent Highways network and work with Connect Plus to clear debris around the bridge to improve the operation of the Highways England ditches. Flooding problems in this part of the road have, however proved intractable.

A condition report will be provided to Kent Highways after the works.

Swanley Village, the M25 and much else

In the search to address the problem of flooding in Button Street, attention has been focused increasingly on the M25 bridge and runoff from it.

I took this up with Kent Highways officers, who have subsequently been in discussions with Connect Plus (who operate this part of the M25 on behalf of Highways England). There was a recognition from Connect Plus that many of the HE drainage ditches have not been maintained and are blocked or overflowing. They undertook to clear them, and extensive works on this took place a couple of weeks ago. The pictures here show some of these works and the debris that has been cleared out.

There will now be monitoring of runoff from the bridge to see the effects of this welcome work by Connect Plus. If it does not prove effective in stopping the runoff, then the drainage teams from Connect Plus and Kent Highways will meet to examine the detailed drainage structures in the area to see what more radical works need to be undertaken.

These seem to be positive developments, and came at a time when I met representatives from the Residents Association with a Kent Highways officer to review other key road and traffic issues in the village, including speeds in the centre of the village, HGVs, signage and other concerns. More to report on that soon.

A20 Button Street barrier to be abandoned

Kent Highways have announced this morning that the experimental traffic order blocking the turn in and out of Button Street at its junction with the A20 will be abandoned. The barrier to block the turn, which was installed in early October, will be removed next week. This will involve overnight works (between the hours of 9PM and 5AM) during the nights of 8-9 and 9-10 November and will require a full road closure at that time.

This follows a series of problems with the scheme. Many local residents were concerned about possible diversion of traffic up Button Street into Swanley Village, as well as the safety of traffic going down the hill to turn at Kings roundabout at the foot of Farningham Hill. While I recognised that the scheme was a serious attempt to deal with a genuine problem (there has been a pattern of serious accidents at the Button Street junction), I shared many of these concerns. To make matters worse, contractors installed unsuitable barriers, which resulted in the need for lane closures and 40mph speed limits on the section of the A20 near the junction. These would have been lifted when new, more appropriate barriers were installed; this will now happen when the experimental traffic order is terminated next week.

None of this makes for a happy story, and it is now back to the drawing board - the problem remains, though effective and affordable solutions are not easily available. I will meet Kent Highways officers shortly to examine the options.

Swanley Village - The Sign, at last

The long-running saga of the Swanley Village sign has finally come to an end - well, almost.

Some time ago I arranged, through my Combined Member Find, to have the Swanley Village sign, which had become alarmingly unstable, given a new base. The sign was taken down, though the work to set up the new base proved time-consuming as there were a number of changes of Highways staff dealing with the issue.

Eventually, however, around Christmas, the new traffic island, base and pole were installed. This has been well-received, and local residents have created flower beds on the island. But - the sign itself was not there, since it needed repainting.

Throughout, I have followed up with Kent Highways officers and, through them, our contractors, to urge that the job be completed and the sign installed. Over the weekend, it at last arrived. The sign looks good back in its place as the symbol of the village. However, one problem still remains - the pole is bare steel, while its predecessor was a painted a more elegant black. So a coat of paint will still be needed - and then perhaps the job will be truly complete.

Swanley Village - everything except the sign

Just before Christmas, KCC contractors were at work in Swanley Village, installing a new island at the top of School Lane, with a base on which the village sign can be reinstated. This is part of a long-running project, paid for by my Combined Member Fund to restore what had become a dangerously insecure village sign. However, as the picture (taken during the Christmas/ New Year break) shows, the sign itself is not yet back in place.

Hopefully, it very soon will be. The frame containing the sign is rusty, so is currently in the hands of the contractors, who will have it cleaned and repainted. Then, finally, it should be back in its place as the symbol of the village.

St. Paul's Swanley Village goes to Good

St Paul's Church of England Primary School in Swanley Village was inspected by Ofsted in May. The report has just been released, and the school's rating has been upgraded from Requires Improvement to Good.

In their report, the inspectors considered the school to be Good in all categories. They considered the quality of teaching and learning to be "much improved since the last inspection." They also complimented the role of the new head of school, Mrs Grasby, who "has acted swiftly to continue the improvements that had already been started."

The school, previously rated as Good, slipped into Requires Improvement in February 2014. It is great news for the school itself, the Swanley Village community and local families that it has delivered significant improvements and that these have been recognised. It is also good to be able to say that now all of the seven primary schools in the Darent Valley Division are rated Good.

Street lining in Swanley Village

One issue that Swanley Village Residents' Association have raised with me has been the condition of much of the lining and road markings in the village. The centre line in Highlands Hill has been a particular concern. 

I secured with a payment from my Combined Member Grant the services of a lining team for a morning in the village. The team arrived promptly at 9 one day a couple of weeks ago, met the Residents' Association chairman (who had volunteered to oversee the work) and worked through until around noon. All the junctions on Swanley Village Road done - School Lane, Beechenlea Lane, Button Street and Wood Street - were painted, plus the centre line at the bottom of Highlands Hill and the two SLOW signs near Elizabethan Cottage. It looks a big improvement.