Badgers Mount: latest on road safety measures

Following earlier posts on the details of the Badgers Mount road safety measures (post of 25 April), some of the proposals are now being brought forward.

• The speed limit reduction to 50 mph on a large part of the Orpington by-pass has now been agreed with the police. The very first part of the by-pass coming from Hewitts roundabout will remain at national speed limit. However, from near the telephone mast some 230 metres north west of Badgers Road, the limit will come down to 50 mph. It will remain the same all the way to Polhill; in other words, the speed limit will not increase again after the Shacklands Road roundabout
• There is a small chance that this can be put forward and approved at the September Joint Transportation Board. However, if there are a material number of objections, then it will have to go in December, which at present looks the more likely option
• The only slightly negative news concerns the island proposed for Orpington by-pass; it is now apparent that this will require some road widening. This is now the subject of a bid within next year's Local Transport Plan, along with the footpath proposals along the eastern side of the by-pass towards the Shacklands Road roundabout
• Designs are being drawn up for an island to link with path SR8 on Old London Road. One consequence of this will be to lose a small section of cycle lane. Officers are also out examining that this will not block access to any houses facing on to the road
• Also in Old London Road, speed limit roundels will be painted in shortly in 12 or 13 places along the road aligned with repeater signs. There will also be a red patch in the road to indicate the start of the speed limit at the Shacklands Road roundabout end. It is hoped that there will be a similar patch painted in at the other end of the road - beyond the boundaries of Badgers Mount and of my Division - but since this is where the road meets the A21, it would have to be dovetailed with any works carried out there by the Highways Agency

Other measures (particularly those paid for from my Member Highway Fund) are being brought forward. I will provide an update on these in a further post as soon as possible.

Jobs done

Drainage works on Rock Hill (see post of 5 July) are now complete, and I have had compliments from residents for the efforts of Kent Highways to minimise disruption while the quite lengthy task was being undertaken. Hopefully we will see the full benefits in the next and subsequent winters.

Meanwhile, I am also informed that Crabtree Property Management have now fixed the prolonged leakage near Millstone Mews (post of 17 June). Thanks are due in this case too to Kent Highways staff for their great determination in following this up and pushing for a resolution. It took a very long time, but it appears that we are finally there.

Rock Hill works under way

The works to tackle drainage problems on Rock Hill in Well Hill (see posts of 23 February and 13 June) began on Monday.

In one respect, my earlier post was over-optimistic in suggesting that the works would take only a day or two rather than the allotted two weeks. However, I understand from Highways staff that so far all is going smoothly and that completion should be within the scheduled time. I had been in contact with some local residents in the days before work started to try to ensure as good a start as possible.

Hopefully, the combination of the French drain and cleansing of the system will make a significant difference for winters to come.

Councillor Jenny Dibsdall

It is with great sadness that I add a post to record the death of Jenny Dibsdall, Sevenoaks District Councillor for Crockenhill and Well Hill.

Jenny's husband, Colin, was for many years both District and Parish Councillor in Crockenhill, and the community leader for the village. Although he had quietly coped with lymphoma for some years, Colin's death in November 2011 was sudden. Like many others, I will not quickly forget Jenny's speech, both funny and affecting, about her life with Colin at the reception in the village hall after the funeral.

In the subsequent by-election, Jenny stood as the Labour candidate and won. She too proved to be an effective and hard-working councillor, committed to both communities that she represented. As with Colin (who was a Liberal Democrat and subsequently independent Councillor), I found that the difference in our party labels made no difference to our ability to work together. One of our last conversations was when we were both delivering leaflets for our respective 'sides' in the recent County Council elections.

In recent months, Jenny was gravely ill but she maintained her work and her service to the communities she represented. The communities of Crockenhill and Well Hill have suffered a severe loss. Above all, our thoughts must now be with the Dibsdall family, who have suffered two major bereavements in little over eighteen months.

Public meeting on Sevenoaks grammar satellite

On Thursday evening I attended a public meeting at Amherst School as part of the consultation on Invicta Grammar School's proposal for a Sevenoaks annex, and chaired the question and answer part of the meeting. Dr Phil Limbert, chief executive of the Valley Invicta Academies Trust (which includes both Invicta and the non-selective Valley Park School, both rated Outstanding by Ofsted) and Julie Derrick, head teacher of Invicta, set out their thinking and their motivation for pursuing the annex application.

They set out some of the detail of their plans: the satellite would come under the overall Invicta governors and head teacher, though wth a head of school in place in Sevenoaks; the satellite would develop its own staff, so that there would be little need for staff to travel between the Maidstone and Sevenoaks sites; and the aim is to open on the former Wildernesse site with six forms of entry in autumn 2015.  They also set out some of their thinking and values: a belief that being Outstanding under Ofsted's criteria was a starting point but not an end point, the aim being to provide world class education, with schools in Finland, Germany, the United States and elsewhere seen as benchmarks and a peer group.

The meeting was very well-attended, and there were a lot of questions. The overall mood was enthusiastic. The consultation on the Invicta proposal closes on 19 July (for details of how to submit a response, see post of 20 May), and soon after that a formal application to expand Invicta will go to Education Secretary Michael Gove (since Invicta is an academy, the decision will rest with Mr Gove rather than with KCC).

The other major development of the last ten days has been the expression of interest from Weald of Kent grammar school  As I made clear in interviews that I gave at the time, KCC was not informed in advance of this application; our earlier discussions with the school had ended in January with a clear statement from Weald of Kent that it did not wish to pursue a Sevenoaks satellite. Clearly, any application of this kind from a Kent school must be examined seriously by the local authority; at the same time, we have made clear that the Invicta proposal represents a strong partnership between the school (and the Academies Trust) and KCC, and is one that is now a very long way down the track towards the point of decision by the Secretary of State.

The Sevenoaks Chronicle has covered developments extensively; here is their latest account, while Invicta's page on its Sevenoaks proposal can be found here.

Millstone Mews - Further Update

Since my post yesterday, there has been a meeting between Kent Highways, Dartford Borough Council and Crabtree Property Management. I understand that, following the meeting, Crabtree Management will be dealing with the leak and hope to have contractors on site later this week.

Action on Millstone Mews flooding

The water outflow at Millstone Mews has now continued for many months (post of 2 April - the problem goes back well before that). Kent Highways identified the problem as originating in a pumping station under the stewardship of Dartford Borough Council. the defect is under the private footway that was part of the Fairview development and is managed  by Crabtree Property Management. Initial attempts to get a resolution were unsuccessful.

After reviewing its legal options, Kent Highways has therefore now written to DBC and Crabtree, setting out their obligations under Section 163 of the Highways Act 1980, which deals with flooding of public highways, and requiring action to resolve the problem within 14 days of the latter (dated last Friday, 14 June). If action is not taken, Kent Highways will act to tackle the problem and to bill DBC.

This should mean that, in one way or another, the problem should at last be addressed by early next month. I will continue to monitor it and keep in contact with Kent Highways officers.