Salt bin for New Road

A long-running saga has finally come to a satisfactory end. I reported over a year ago that I hoped to install a second salt bin, paid for from my Combined Member Fund, in New Road, South Darenth. I had already had one installed near The Queen pub, which is certainly useful for the middle to higher sections of the road. However, the lower sections approaching the Horton Road junction were not covered by this, and residents had quite rightly raised the issue.

The difficulty was finding a site where the bin would not block a pavement, and last year a Highways engineer and I visited and agreed that we would try to install an older, smaller bin in a passageway leading off the northern side of the road. However, the installation did not take place and it emerged that we no longer have the smaller bins that could fit on the site without creating an obstruction. Since some of our Highways staff had changed in the meantime, there was a certain amount of revisiting the issue needed to that New Road needed two salt bins rather than just the one.

One of our Highways officers came up with the creative suggestion of approaching H&V Building Services to ask their agreement to install the bin at the front of their premises. I am very grateful to H&V for agreeing to this.

So, as the picture shows, the bin is now installed - at the tail end of this winter, but now there for future cold spells.

Salt bins in Swanley and South Darenth

I continue to fund a number of salt bins across the Darent Valley Division from my Member Highway Fund. Late last week, accompanied by a Kent Highways officer, I set out to resolve some details as to how best this should be done on sites in Swanley and South Darenth.

In Pinks Hill, I had agreed to fund a salt bin towards the lower end of the road, which is not as well served as the higher reaches and which includes a small turning area used by many families as a cut through on their way to High Firs School. The difficulty was that Highways officers could not locate a satisfactory site (not blocking the pavement, not killing grass, etc.) that was close to where residents wanted it to go. However, a brief site meeting with some local residents yielded a satisfactory compromise: the bin will move from its current location (close to the site of the recent and ongoing flooding) somewhat further down the road.

On to South Darenth, where a bin sited in Towers Wood (pictured) was positioned satisfactorily as far as some residents were concerned (and serves rather well residents in neighbouring Coopers Close). However, there was also a strong wish for the bin to be of more use at the top end of the road, near the approach to the garages. Another site meeting (by which time the rain was setting in), and we agreed that the existing bin will stay in place while a new one will be installed at the top of the road.

While in South Darenth, my Highways colleague and I took a look at the situation in New Road, which often suffers badly in snowy and icy conditions. The road is steep, but unlike East Hill, which runs in parallel to it, it is not classified as a secondary route. I have already funded one new bin, which has gone in near The Queen pub, but there remains a strong case for another bin closer to the junction with Horton Road - the difficulty being finding a space where it does not block the pavement. My Highways colleague and I found a possible space by a footpath, though that will require one of the older style, narrower bins. Hopefully this can be taken forward and this will be of help to residents of East Hill.

Ice on Bower Lane

The cold morning on Wednesday saw serious problems on Bower Lane, Eynsford, near the junction with the High Street. Conditions on much of the road (for most of the way down from the East Hill end) were reasonable, but on the more northerly sections approaching Eynsford there was a buildup of ice. Several vehicles skidded into ditches, and a van overturned and blocked the road. There were no serious injuries, but the blockage of the road - starting at the time for travel to work and the school run - lasted for several hours.

Bower Lane is currently a secondary route, and these were not treated on Wednesday morning; to use Kent Highways' formulation, secondary routes are "only treated during prolonged periods of ice and snow." It has been argued that Bower Lane should be treated as a primary route, but this is most unlikely to be agreed; this designation is reserved for major strategic routes such as the A225. Nonetheless, there is a clear need to avoid a repetition of what happened on Wednesday. I will therefore be looking at installing at least one salt bin, paid for from my Member Highway Fund. Highways officers will also be looking at other issues, such as water runoff from the nearby fields. This latter situation has improved greatly since the severe flooding of a little over a year ago, but it may be possible to do more.