Tudor Drive and secondary routes

During last winter's severe weather, concerns were raised by residents over the designation of some local roads and the consequent level of gritting that they would (or would not) receive.

In one case (Row Dow) we managed to secure a change of designation to being considered a primary route; it is most unusual for this to be agreed when winter has already started, so this was a significant achievement. There were nonetheless some major problems on Row Dow at points when the weather was at its most severe, but this did not reflect the road's designation.

Concerns were also expressed about Tudor Drive in Otford, on the reasonable grounds that there are a significant number of homes in the Drive and surrounding area, and that the road out onto Pilgrims Way East is very steep. In spite of this, the road was categorised neither as a primary route nor (more surprisingly) as a secondary route. In this case, I was not able to secure a change in designation mid-season but local Highways teams did seek to help residents through deployment of hand salting crews.

As winter approaches, the question of the designation arises again. Kent Highways has already indicated that it will not be changing any designations of roads for this coming winter. This is less troubling than it sounds; the fact is that, during the severe winter weather earlier this year, secondary routes were not treated, since the pressure was on Kent Highways to keep the primary routes open. And further steps will be taken to support Tudor Drive, through deployment of hand salting crews and the installation of a second salt bin.

Meanwhile, the scope and purpose of secondary routes are subject to a wide-ranging review. This was reported to a recent meeting of KCC's Environment and Highways Cabinet Committee, and is under way.

Kent Highways and the lessons from Monday

Like so many others, I was caught up in the severe disruption to the roads amid Monday evening's snowfall. A journey home from Maidstone that normally takes a little over half an hour took five and three quarter hours. At one point, as I was helping push the car in front of me up an incline, a man turned to me and said, "The council's going to get a lot of complaints tomorrow." I have to admit that I didn't rush to tell him that I was a County Councillor.

This evening, at the Sevenoaks Joint Transportation Board, Kent's Head of Highways, John Burr, reported and reflected on what happened on Monday. He did not say - though he could have done - that neighbouring counties such as Surrey and Sussex were just as badly affected, if not more so, and that the same could be said for the major routes operated by the Highways Agency. He was quite clear that what had happened wasn't acceptable. He emphasised that there was - and remains - no shortage of salt. The lorries had been out several times in the course of the day, and the approach which had been so successful a few weeks ago was repeated. So what happened?

High winds were part of the answer - quite a lot of salt was simply blown away.  The salt was also unable to take full effect on the relatively dry ice (once things started to thaw, it accelerated the dispersal of the ice and snow, but that was of no use to anyone on Monday night). The most intense snowfall came at and just before rush hour. Major routes such as the M2 were closed and traffic diverted onto other roads, and accidents also diverted traffic. (This was my experience: an accident led me to take the A25, not my usual route, and it was there that I spent most of the evening). In turn this made it harder for lorries to get through.

John Burr indicated that he will be leading a full review next week of what happened to see what improvements might be possible for the future. One possibility he raised relates to the point about the salt not really taking effect on the dry ice. It's not a case of complaining about "the wrong sort of snow", but rather of asking whether it would have been better - and might be better in future - to switch under these circumstances to use of sand and grit; not so focused on dissolving the snow, but rather on improving tyre grip.

Looking at the winter as a whole, Kent Highways delivered very well in responding to snowy conditions. On Monday night, despite the hard work of Highways officers, the service was less able to cope with what the weather threw at it, and residents and motorists had a difficult time as a result. There is clearly a strong will to see what can be learned from the experience with the aim of a better outcome next time.

Coping with snow - secondary routes to be treated tomorrow morning

With today's heavy snowfall, I have been contacted by constituents as to what is happening in terms of gritting.

Kent Highways divides up the network into primary routes (the main arteries that are a priority to keep open - the A225 through the centre of Darent Valley is a good example), secondary routes which get attention after that, and the rest. You can find a map of the gritting routes, and whether you live on a primary, secondary or other route, here

With the heavy and continuing snowfall through today, Kent Highways has been focused on keeping the primary routes open - though in places even this has been a struggle. (It is apparently a similar story on the motorways, which are the responsibility of the Highways Agency). As a result, secondary routes, which have had treatment in recent days, have not been touched today. This can be seen in my road, as the picture shows.

In the next few hours, this is likely to remain the case - the snow that has been falling through the day will not clear Kent until around midnight. However, Kent Highways tell me that they plan to work on the secondary routes before 6:30 tomorrow morning, hopefully improving them in time for the morning rush hour.