RAAC: Kent’s story

A week ago, very few people were aware of Reticulated Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC) - now after days of headlines about ‘crumbly concrete’ and its impact on schools and other public buildings, and the impact of school closures on families, it has dominated the news. But in Kent we have a very distinct experience.

RAAC started to develop as a national level issue after a ceiling collapse at Singlewell Primary School in Kent in July 2018 (very fortunately, it happened over a weekend). As a result, Kent County Council and schools within the county have been alive to the issue since then, and there have been both repair works and extensive surveys of schools with buildings constructed in the period when RAAC was most widely used (1930s to 1990s, and especially between 1950 and 1980). 

The issue surged in importance again earlier this summer, when - following a change in guidance from the Institute of Structural Engineers, action had to be taken at seven schools in Kent (Palmarsh Primary; St James CofE Primary, Tunbridge Wells; Sunnybank Primary, Sittingbourne; Godinton Primary, Ashford; St Bartholomew’s Catholic Primary, Swanley; Birchington CofE Primary; and King Ethelbert Secondary School in Thanet). In all but one case - where the academy trust worked directly with the Department for Education (DfE) - KCC officers worked closely with the schools to ensure that teaching and learning could continue (use of mobiles, marquees, other rooms within the school or a nearby school) and works were brought forward over the summer. 

And so, when another collapse (which now appears to have been in a school building last week somewhere else in the country) led the DfE to advise schools with RAAC to close the affected areas, the Kent schools were not on the list of partial or full closures.

The last 24 hours have seen some further uncertainty. It was not clear from letters received from the DfE whether the works undertaken in the summer (prior to the most recent incident and guidance) constituted adequate mitigation of risk. As a result, we took the difficult decision to prioritise safety (even if the risks were likely to be very low) and so to keep two schools where the works had been completed closed today (Palmarsh as a full closure, and St James’ as a partial closure). However, we today received full confirmation from the DfE that the mitigation was adequate and both schools will reopen tomorrow. We’re deeply sorry at the disruption that this has caused schools, children and families, but felt that under the circumstances we had to take a safety first approach.

This will remain a significant national issue for some time. For anyone interested in the background, there is a useful discussion in the National Audit Office’s report on school condition, published in June. You can find KCC’s media release on the issue here.

Over the weekend, reflecting Kent’s experience in this area, I was interviewed on the Today Programme , Times Radio and LBC.

SEND schools for Swanley and Whitstable

Some excellent news for the delivery of SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disability) education in Kent. The Education Secretary has approved two special Free Schools, in Swanley and Whitstable. 

Both will serve children with Profound, Severe and Complex Needs. They formed part of our Safety Valve agreement with the DfE late last year, which aims to put SEND education in the County on a financially sustainable basis. They will also make an important contribution to meeting need and improving SEND services in the County.

You can find the KCC media release here.

Opening the Boys Grammar Annex in Sevenoaks

During the week I attended the formal opening of the Tunbridge Wells Grammar School for Boys (TWGSB) annex in Sevenoaks. The annex had its first year of entry in September. 

I was asked to speak, along with the Chair of Governors, Dr Philip Drew (pictured with me along with the plaque recording the opening of the annex) and Sevenoaks MP Laura Trott. Among those who attended were Sir Michael Fallon and Sir Paul Carter, who as the then MP for Sevenoaks and then Leader of KCC respectively, did an enormous amount to promote and bring forward both the Weald of Kent and TWGSB annexes. So did Andrew and Sarah Shilling, and Ed Walker, who kick started the initial campaign for grammar provision in Sevenoaks. The event ended with a ‘thank you’ from a group of Year 7 students and a tour of the annex.

In my remarks, I commented on the long journey that had got us to this, and emphasised the courage of both Weald of Kent and of TWGSB - and in particular head teacher Amanda Simpson - in making the big commitment to their respective annexes in Sevenoaks. With three schools on this site - Trinity, Weald and TWGSB - along with expansion at Knole, secondary education in Sevenoaks has been transformed over the last decade.

Renewing the footpath from Copse Bank

Tomorrow sees the start of the closure of Public Right of Way SU4/ SR165 in Seal, running from just off Childsbridge Lane (the closure starts by Ragstones) to the A25 opposite Trinity School and the Weald of Kent annex. This is for very welcome works to improve the footpath.

The improvement was agreed as a planning condition (condition 14) of the approval of the expansion of Trinity School. The Parish Council advocated strongly for this as a means of encouraging local students to take a safe route to walk or cycle to the schools on the former Wildernesse site, and I took this up at the time with KCC officers. It was proposed as part of the application in early 2019 that a £10,000 contribution be made for the improvement of SR165 - see paragraphs 46 and 52 of the report to the KCC Planning Applications Committee in January 2019). The steady addition of years of entry for Weald of Kent, and the subsequent confirmation of the establishment of an annex for Tunbridge Wells Grammar School for Boys, have added to the case for it.

Delivery of this has taken some time - a key Memorandum of Understanding relating to this project is dated December 2018 - and I have, on behalf of the Parish Council, taken this up a number of times. It is now set to take place. The footpath is closed from tomorrow for up to 21 days.

2021 begins: Schools, testing sites and lockdown again

Happy 2021.

It’s over a fortnight - embracing Christmas and the New Year - since I last posted. There’s been a lot since then that I’ve just not had time to write up; on Sunday, 20 December, the French authorities blocked any HGVs and other vehicles crossing the Channel. This lasted for 48 hours, at the end of which vehicles were only able to make the journey if they had secured a negative Covid test. The resulting challenges of traffic management, driver welfare and impact on local communities (especially Dover) were intense and only started to ease around Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. I’ll be writing more about transition, so may revert in more detail to those extraordinary days at that point.

The NewYear started with further controversy over whether primary schools should open to the majority of children, or should delay their start for a fortnight. The Department for Education ruled that eight of Kent’s twelve Districts should be considered under the ‘contingency framework’, meaning that general primary opening would be delayed for a fortnight, but that four Districts - Canterbury, Thanet, Dover and Folkestone and Hythe - should not. Neither I nor our public health team could see the rationale for this, and so Richard Long (Cabinet Member for Education and Skills) and I wrote to the Education Secretary, urging that the contingency framework should also be applied to these four Districts. This generated a lot of media interest (including Radio 4’s World at One - interview starts 28 minutes and 30 seconds in) but within a few hours was overtaken entirely by events.

As of last night, Kent - with the rest of the country - found itself in a third national lockdown. The acceleration of infections that we saw in Kent in November and early December, strongly linked to the new strand of the virus, has taken hold nationally. Much of our response reflects the approaches developed in the first and second lockdowns, and I will be returning to this in future posts. You can find our on the day response here.

The Prime Minister’s announcement came at the end of a day in which we had announced the establishment of twelve new asymptomatic testing centres, adding to the two (in Swale and Thanet) that we opened a week before Christmas. This gives testing centres in all of the twelve Districts, and more will be added in the coming weeks, resulting in two in each District. In Sevenoaks, the first centre will be in the Swanley youth club in St Mary’s road, and a further site in the District will be announced shortly. In these new circumstances, we continue to press forward our approach of contact tracing, testing, communication and enforcement, while supporting the NHS in its roll out of vaccination.

Food vouchers for the Christmas holidays

Following KCC’s response to offer vouchers to families of children entitled to Free School Meals over the October half term, the Council will be using part of its £4.5m allocation under the government’s £170m Covid Winter Fund to provide vouchers over the Christmas holidays.

Whereas the October scheme, of necessity, required an application, the greater time for preparation means that families should be able to receive the vouchers (one £15 per week voucher for each eligible child) without the need for an application process. This scheme for both the Christmas holidays and the February half term should cost some £2.5m, leaving a further £2m for schemes that support low-income families with pre-school children and other similar households, including those without children. 

I am signing off the formal Council Decisions required to bring this into effect and to enable the Council and schools to exchange the information needed for the voucher scheme. 

It is good that we were able to support families during half term, and better news still that we will be able to do so over the Christmas period. 

You can find KCC‘s press release here.

Changes and additions to Go Coach routes

Following the first few days of return to school, Go Coach (in discussion with KCC public transport team) is making a number of changes to its services: 

• Service T3 is split into two services.  The T3A, operated by Go Coach will operate Knockholt, Halstead, Knockholt Pound, Dunton Green, Riverhead Tesco, then express to Tonbridge Schools.  T3B, operated  by Access Travel will operate   Riverhead Tesco, Sevenoaks, River Hill, Hildenborough / Loop, Tonbridge, Tonbridge Schools.  Timings from each location will be as per the service T3
• Service S32 will operate  St Pauls Cray, Cray Avenue, Spur Road, Sevenoaks Road, Warren Road, The Highway, then express to Knole Academy (as per current timings)
• Service S33, a new service, will operate  Chelsfield Station, Windsor Drive, Green Street Green, Pratts Bottom, Badgers Mount, Halstead, Knockholt Pound, Dunton Green and Knole Academy.  Times will be the same as the S32
• Service S14, a new service, will operate Swanley, Farningham, Eynsford, Otford, Telston Lane, Trinity/ Weald of Kent and Knole Academy. The S14 will leave Swanley garage at 07:50 and then follow the S10, 12 and 13 down the valley, diverting off to Telston Lane to cover part of the S2 route before arriving at Trinity/ Weald of Kent at 08:30 and Knole Academy at 08:30
• The current TW10 will operate  Wrotham Heath, Platt, then express to  to Cross Keys, Tunbridge Wells (St Johns Road). Times will be the same as now
• The current TW11 will operate  Wrotham, Borough Green, then express  to Cross Keys, Tunbridge Wells (St Johns Road). Times will be the same as now
• New route, TW12 will operate Ightham, Plaxtol, Shipbourne, then express to Cross Keys, Tunbridge Wells (St Johns Road).  Times will be the same as now

These changes are to improve capacity on a number of services, improve journey times and convert some duplicates to services, making it easier to understand. They respond to the strong demand seen on these routes and are a clear sign of the willingness of the operator, working with KCC, to make speedy changes. KCC Public Transport will continue to monitor similar pressures across the county in the coming week.

More on return to school

I have set out in previous posts the steps that KCC, and in particular our public transport team, have been taking to support the coming week's return to school. This is now incorporated in a 'back to school' page on the KCC website, which includes a video to advise school students what to expect when travelling on buses under current conditions. You can also find an updated statement from the Cabinet Members for Transport (Michael Payne) and Education (Richard Long) here.

As I've described before, the Public Transport team has worked closely with operators to plan for the return to school. The latest figures that I have seen suggest that applications for the Kent Travel Saver are running at about 55% of previous years' levels. Buses will, of course, be operating at less than full capacity, though where they are designated (as an increased number are) as 'school only' buses it will be possible to make use of all the forward facing seats and so run at about two-thirds capacity rather than half. Nonetheless, the reduced numbers using the services will to a significant degree offset this. In addition, over a hundred additional vehicles will be running this week. 

Clearly this will be a difficult and stressful time for parents and students, and the coming week is likely to see a fast-changing situation. Even in a 'normal' year, transport in the early weeks of the autumn term can be difficult (which is a natural concern of parents of Year 7 students, just starting their secondary education, in particular) and there can be no guarantees as to what the experience will be in each and every part of the county. But a great deal of preparation has been undertaken in a short time. As a parent as well as a politician, I am hoping for the very best possible experience for students returning to school.

 

 

Exams: KCC supporting Kent schools, students and families

In Kent and elsewhere, Thursday's announcement of A-Level and other post-16 results has been met with deep and growing concern from students, their families and their schools. Even where the aggregate outcomes have broadly matched schools' expectations (and that has not always been the case), there are reports of huge individual variation and unfairness. As Richard Long, KCC's Cabinet Member for Education and Skills has put it: "in many cases the grades appear to bear little resemblance to student ability or to the Centre Assessed Grades (CAG) awarded by schools."

As Leader of the Council (and having previously had responsibility for the County Council's role in Education), I have been contacted by head teachers and chairs of governors to express their alarm and incredulity at what has happened. They have also expressed their apprehension over what this means for this week's GCSEs.

KCC stands ready to support schools, students and families and, in an announcement on Friday, made clear our course of action. The County Council will collate information from Kent schools to be able to present a coherent picture to government of the issues and concerns in the County, and to urge the Education Secretary to investigate and redress the problem with rapid effect. The future prospects of many of our young people depend on it.

You can find the KCC statement here.

 

School transport for September

In my previous post, I tried to address the concerns of many parents over the decisions they face regarding their child's transport to school in September. The application 'window' for the Kent Travel Saver (KTS) expires tomorrow, though this is only to guarantee the pass being available before the start of term; KCC will seek to process applications received subsequent to that date as quickly as possible.

With that in mind, Kent County Council has issued a further statement to make the current position as clear as possible. This has been delayed somewhat by the wait for further government guidance, which has yet to be issued. In this, Michael Payne (Cabinet Member for Highways and Transportation) and Richard Long (Cabinet Member for Education and Skills) set out the current position on capacity and the extensive work that has taken place between KCC and bus operators to prepare for the return to school and to ensure the maximum safety of children while travelling.

You can find the KCC statement here.

Return to school: latest

The 'window' for applying for the Kent Travel Saver (KTS) closes on 9 August, and many parents remain concerned that they could commit to the cost of the KTS and yet find that there may not be sufficient buses running because of the pressures that social distancing requirements place on capacity. I have posted on this before but the situation continues to change and I have now been able to update with our Public Transport team. There are a number of key points:

From September, operators serving the Darent Valley and surrounding areas (including Go Coach,Hams and Arriva) will be operating their full timetable of normal local bus services, including all school specific services. Timetables should be published in the very near future.

Buses which carry both school students and ordinary members of the public will operate according to government guidance for buses on social distancing. (This includes passengers sitting a minimum of a metre apart; other mitigations such as no use of side seats, those where people can sit opposite each other, no standing passengers and no seat used behind the driver; use of face coverings; measures to protect the driver; and an enhanced hygiene regime). These buses will operate at 50% of normal capacity

Buses which in practice carry only school students will be converted to school only where possible and KCC Public Transport are working with operators to assess how this can best be done. These buses would run under the (different) government guidance for dedicated school transport, which has many of the same mitigations in place as the general public bus, but allows students to sit less than a metre apart. The bus will on this guidance be able to carry 70% of its normal capacity. KCC Public Transport and the operators will advise which services or journeys have been made school only

KCC Public Transport are developing a video presentation, which should be ready in the coming week, to explain what using a bus under these conditions will be like for students. This will go on the KCC and operator websites

KCC Public Transport are monitoring take up of all passes for September and fully understand capacity limits on services and journeys. They will ensure that where they believe there are to be any capacity issue, that additional capacity is provided via another bus. Operators have vehicles available to provide additional capacity

KCC will be issuing further communications on this. It had been intended to issue a formal communication this week, but there conitnue to be delays in receiving government guidance and this led to its being held back. KCC nonetheless continues to monitor and review government guidance, and will respond to further changes. In the meantime, this hopefully provides a clearer picture of developments.

School transport: the autumn planning challenge

There are many questions – above all from parents – about transport to school in the light of the recent government announcement about return in September. For KCC there is still a lot of uncertainty because the announcement came only in the course of last week,  followed by a letter from Transport Minister Baroness Vere to local authorities on Friday and there is quite a bit more government guidance but hasn't come out yet. KCC officers are working on the issue flat out but there are quite a few uncertainties and challenges. Here are a few:

- 'Entitled scholars' -  the children who get free transport because they are attending their 'nearest appropriate school' – are expected to travel in their 'bubbles' (year groups for secondary schools)

-  It appears that some of the social distancing requirements on buses are likely to be relaxed, but they will still only operate at 50 - 60% (at best) of capacity. Together these are likely to increase the need for buses

-  Government is discouraging other students from taking the bus, but it's not prohibited and for many of course driving children in isn't an option (quite apart from other bad effects). The 'window' for applications for the bus pass (Kent Travel Saver) opens on 13 July, and the level of take-up of that will clearly influence what capacity is needed

- There is an expectation from government that local authorities will fund extra bus capacity where needed -  how this is to be financed and the (physical) number of buses available is less clear

 So a lot of detailed work is needed and is being undertaken. We are likely to plan on the basis of major towns and the journeys in to them. KCC will get communications out as soon as possible and recognises the huge importance of this for parents.

Refunds on Kent Travel Saver

Kent County Council has had enquiries from a number of parents about possible refunds for their payments to the Travel Saver (formerly known as the Freedom Pass or the Young Person's travel Pass) once it became clear that schools would close for some considerable time. We've been approached in relation to both the Travel Saver and the 16+ Travel Saver. I have been approached on this by constituents and other parents and we sought to come to a quick decision.

Although application fees have now been surpassed by the cost of the scheme to the Council and KCC's normal policy has always been not to provide refunds, it is clear that these are not normal circumstances. Many families are feeling financial pressures during the current lockdown, and for the present they have no reason to use the service. And while the Travel Saver is heavily subsidised by the County Council (to the tune of almost two-thirds of the cost of the bus journeys that it entitles young people to), that effect is spread over the entire school year. KCC is therefore currently reviewing the level of any refund that can be provided and how it can be delivered.  Once this is determined, it will be communicated to parents.  For anyone paying by instalments, KCC arranged for the cancellation of the final payment, which was due on 28 March.  

KCC will be in touch with parents about the arrangements for any refund due once it has been possible to establish how this will work.

This is the right thing to do, and it's essential that KCC supports parents at this time. At the same time, it is a relatively small example of the much greater financial pressures that face local government during this crisis, with income being foregone (as in this case) and expenditure in areas such as social care under upward pressure - something that I, and my counterparts elsewhere in the sector, continue to emphasise to ministers. 

More progress on Crockenhill water problems

There has been further progress in tackling the problems of water leaks and inundation of properties around Crockenhill Primary School.

The source of the water leak has now been traced, and a new water main has been supplied and connected to the existing service. In the process, a gas main was found which will need to be lowered when a new surface is laid.

These latter remedial works will be carried out in the New Year, when the contractors return to the site to commence the fencing works.

There are still a number of issues to be addressed, but it looks as though progress is now being made after a period of major disruption to both local residents and the school.

Crockenhill Primary School: fences and water

I have been working recently on a number of issues in and around Crockenhill Primary School which have been causing difficulty and distress both to the school and to nearby residents.

The first problem is the gradual collapse of a wall separating the school from a neighbouring property and the need to replace it in some way. The school first contacted me about this earlier in the year; I raised the issue with officers at KCC's property arm Gen2, and some progress appeared to be being made. However, this then stalled and the issue was raised with me again some weeks ago.

Meanwhile, a separate issue arose with leaks from the Thames Water system on the school site. KCC facilities management contractors tried to address the problem but had little success and left holes in the playground. More water ran off, affecting neighbouring gardens. I asked Gen2 to get involved, and KCC offered to fund the works, but at this point Thames Water themselves had sent staff to attempt to fix the problem. However, these efforts were also unsuccessful and by this stage I was being contacted by a number of neighbours whose gardens were being inundated.

I visited the school and neighbouring residents some weeks ago and have sought the involvement of senior staff from Gen2. There appears to be some progress, with works on a new fence (to replace the collapsing wall in its entirety) to start this coming Monday (18 November), to be completed by January. Gen2 have also been in contact with the school on the water issues, and I understand that a further Thames Water team will be in the school over this weekend.

Consultation on boys' grammar satellite in Sevenoaks

KCC is consulting on an expansion of Tunbridge Wells Grammar School for Boys, to be achieved via  a satellite provision on the former Wildernesse School site in Sevenoaks. The new provision would join Trinity School and the Weald of Kent Sevenoaks satellite on that site.

The proposal is for Tunbridge Wells Grammar School for Boys to expand its Published Admissions Number (PAN - the number of students it would expect to take each year) from the current 210 to 300, an expansion of 90 students or 3 Forms of Entry. The consultation is being brought forward by the County Council because the school is a maintained school; this is different from the satellite expansion by Weald of Kent, which is an academy (even though the establishment of the Weald satellite did require close and effective collaboration between the school and KCC).

As the consultation document makes clear, the demand for selective places in this area of West Kent has been growing. This draws on the evidence of the Kent Commissioning Plan for Education, last year's version of which highlighted that this need could and should be met through satellite provision in Sevenoaks. In my previous role as Cabinet Member for Education, I always argued that the satellite option enables us to resolve two problems in one initiative: meeting the need for places, and ending the anomaly of Sevenoaks being without grammar provision. The Weald of Kent satellite does this for girls in and around Sevenoaks, and the new proposal (also from a school that attracts many Sevenoaks pupils) aims to achieve the same outcome for boys. Many local parents will feel that this is long overdue.

The consultation runs until 6 December.

More on Anthony Roper funding issue

Following the concerns raised over the funding position at Anthony Roper Primary School, Sevenoaks MP Sir Michael Fallon and I met local parents and governors in Eynsford at the end of last week.

The discussion was a very useful one - with governors, as well as the MP and County Councillor, addressing questions raised by parents. My argument was that there is a strong case both for schools in general within the Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR), and for areas such as Kent to gain a greater share of the national allocation.

Much of this is captured in the 'activity-based' funding model proposed by the f40 group, of which I am an active member, and Michael Fallon has expressed his strong interest in this approach too. It is only by bringing a larger overall funding level to Kent that the lot of schools such as Anthony Roper can be improved.

Through my role as Cabinet Member at KCC, as well as my involvement in f40 and the Local Government Association (LGA - I serve on its Children and Young People Board), I will continue to argue for this approach.

Anthony Roper Primary School and the funding issue

The recent letter from the Chair of Governors of Anthony Roper Primary School in Eynsford highlighting the school's difficult funding position and asking parents to contribute to support the school has drawn a lot of local and media attention. The BBC Sunday Politics carried a report on it, talking to parents and also interviewing both Sir Michael Fallon MP and me (and in this I wear two hats - as local Member and with my KCC Education portfolio. Perhaps I should add a third, since both my children attended the school).

There are three major factors at work in the pressures faced by the school:

•  ARPS is one of the lower-funded primary schools in Sevenoaks (by one measure of per pupil funding, 37th out of 42). This reflects chiefly the way in which funding (which Kent receives from government in the form of Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG)) is allocated, much of it driven by factors related to deprivation. ARPS has relatively few pupils who meet these criteria. In addition, all schools get a 'lump sum' (in Kent, of £120,000) regardless of their size. As a relatively large primary school, ARPS has to spread this sum over more pupils

• Kent is one of the poorer-funded local authorities in the country; in the current financial year, we ranked 143rd out of 152. We have long campaigned as part of the f40 group of lower-funded local authorities for a change in the system; this has had some effect with the introduction of what is (rather misleadingly) called a 'National Funding Formula', currently being phased in. This has offered some help and improvement to Kent, but more to secondary schools than primaries, and is in any case only a very partial step in the right direction

• Nationally, schools funding has been tight since 2010 (and especially since 2015). More money has gone into the DSG, but the number of pupils has also increased, so money per pupil has been flat in cash terms, leaving schools under pressure as costs rise. In addition, like many local authorities, Kent has had to transfer DSG funds from the Schools Block (which meets most day to day needs of schools) to the High Needs Block, which supports children with more extensive Special Educational Needs and has been growing rapidly since the enactment of the Children and Families Act 2014

With government set to review its priorities with a new Comprehensive Spending Review (the last year of the current CSR is 2019-20) there is clearly a strong case to be made for schools - but also for areas like Kent to get a greater share of the resources available. I sit on the Member Board of f40, and we will continue to press government to move beyond the current National Funding Formula.

You can findmy more detailed analysis of these funding issues via this link. 

Buses for Wilmington schools

In the last fortnight or so, constituents have been raising concerns with me over the prospects for children travelling to school in Wilmington (to the Boys' and Girls' Grammar Schools, and to the Academy) from September.

The immediate cause for concern has been the cessation of the Number 2 bus service run by West Kent buses. This is not related to any decision by KCC regarding subsidy; the 2 was always a purely commercial service.

I understand that there are a very small number of children in Otford who are affected, and for whom a rail and bus journey will regrettably be needed. For children travelling in from Eysnford and Farningham, Go Coach has rerouted its 429 service, which should provide cover. There are some quite significant changes in timing from the 2 service, and some specific concerns about those at the end of the school day. I am investigating whether any changes are possible.

There is a bigger problem for children travelling in from Horton Kirby and South Darenth (as well as Sutton at Hone, just outside my Division). Here the alternative option is the Arriva 414 bus, which has been a cause of significant concern and complaint because of lateness, sme lack of driver knowledge and overcrowding. The school journey from north of Farningham to Wilmington will add another twenty or so children to the service.

I have also taken this matter up with Kent Highways officers (and had discussed the 414 with Arriva previously). Arriva have been making some efforts to invest in the route, but the outlook for September remains uncertain. We will be watching very closely and will seek to respond to concerns if and when they arise.

The 531 bus

Throughout the autumn and into winter, there have been persistent problems with the 531 Arriva bus serving many school children travelling between Tonbridge and parts of the Sevenoaks North and Darent Valley Division such as Seal and Kemsing. There have been a variety of difficulties, but the most common has been afternoon buses filling up at the very early stages of the journey, with many children and young people then left stranded and having to make much more difficult journeys home - or ultimately be picked up by a parent at considerable inconvenience.

I have raised these concerns with Kent Highways officers, who have in turn taken them up with Arriva. The service is a commercial bus, not one commissioned by KCC (though of\ course many of the users have the KCC-supported Young Person's Travel Pass), so this has been a process of representation and discussion rather than contracting. However, Arriva has agreed to run the afternoon 531 service some ten minutes later, with the aim of encouraging those taking short journeys to take another bus and so relieve pressure on the 531. This change was registered quickly with the Traffic Commissioner and so came into effect today. I will watch carefully to see if this proves effective in easing the problems experienced by children and parents.