Eynsford potholes: temporary works now set for next week

It was a bit of a shock to come back from a week's holiday and discover that the temporary patching of the potholes in High Street in Eynsford had not been carried out - contrary to my firm belief at the time of my previous post on the subject.

The reason for this, it transpires, is that Southern Gas Networks secured a permit for emergency works in the same area, and the two projects could not go on at the same time. Kent Highways have been pushing to get on site, but have not been able to do so this week. However, I now understand that they should now be able to carry out the works next Tuesday.

The plan for resurfacing the road between Mill Lane and the Baptist Church in July remains unchanged.

Broadband rollout reaches Sevenoaks District

It is just over a year since Kent’s £40 million agreement with government agency BDUK and BT to bring superfast broadband to much of the county was announced (post of 18 March last year). The terms of our agreement were to bring superfast broadband (download speeds of more than 24 MBpS) to at least 91% of properties in Kent; to ensure that at least 95% of properties had access to higher-speed fibre-based broadband; and to ensure that remaining properties had access to a broadband service with at least 2MBpS download speed (and in most cases much more). All this was to be delivered by the end of 2015.

So far, the scheme has been running ahead of schedule, with the first services going live in December. From the start of April, we are in Phase 2 of the project, when the work starts in Sevenoaks – and the first services are planned to be live from September.

In addition, the government recently announced indicative allocations of its Superfast Extension Programme Fund, which totals some £250 million. This Fund aims to meet concerns that more remote rural areas will be left behind in the move to superfast broadband, by providing support for achieving at least 95% superfast coverage by 2017. Kent’s initial allocation is £5.6 million. This comes on top of Kent’s having secured £1.87 million from the (separately run) Rural Community Broadband Fund, overseen by DEFRA. This will benefit areas in four Districts, including Sevenoaks (though in the case of this particular fund it will be allocated in the south of the District to meet the scheme's eligibility criteria).

Kent has successfully been in the forefront of counties participating in the BDUK scheme for the benefit of its residents, and the latest announcements offer the prospect of still wider broadband coverage. Meanwhile, we are now at the point where the scheme becomes real for residents of Sevenoaks and of Darent Valley. You can find more information about the coverage in your local area here .

Eynsford: resurfacing the High Street

The High Street in Eynsford, especially the section outside the school, has been left in a poor state, with many large potholes, since the severe winter weather.

I have for some time been discussing with Kent Highways their proposals for tackling the problem. There have been suggestions for jet patching work pending more thoroughgoing repairs, and more recently a proposal that resurfacing work would be done in May.

Kent Highways are now proposing carrying out the works, which will require a road closure, in late July. This would take advantage of the school holidays as well as higher road temperatures at night, which will be more suitable for the material that will be used. In addition, carrying out the works in July will yield a significant financial saving by comparison with May -  a material consideration when the resurfacing budget for Sevenoaks is stretched pretty thin.

The section to be resurfaced will run southwest from the junction with Mill Lane to the Baptist Church. Temporary repairs will be carried out in the meantime to improve the surface for road users prior to the full resurfacing. While there may be concerns that temporary patching is inefficient, my understanding is that the cost invoked is much smaller than the saving yielded by carrying out the main resurfacing work in July.

As of this evening, the holes that need temporary patching have been marked out with white lines. These short-term works should be carried out within seven working days.

Weald of Kent consultation: a setback, but options remain

Towards the end of last week, the Governors of the Weald of Kent Grammar School reported back to parents and staff, while also writing to Kent County Council, about the results of their consultation on the school moving to becoming co-educational (post of 11 March).

Following a response from parents that showed limited support for the move to co-educational status, the Governors decided to step back from this proposal. This has clear implications for the Sevenoaks grammar annexe, since back in December the Education Secretary's sticking point had been that WoK's (and Invicta's) earlier proposals had been for a co-educational annexe in Sevenoaks, with the original schools remaining single sex - which, in the eyes of the DfE, meant that what was proposed was a new grammar school, prohibited under current legislation.

Nonetheless, the Governors also stated that they remained strongly interested in provision in Sevenoaks, and wished to work with KCC and others to find alternative ways forward.

There are two main possibilities. The first is to address the concern, felt by many Weald parents, that the creation of a 6FE (Forms of Entry) coeducational annexe in Sevenoaks, while moving the existing 6FE of girls provision in Tonbridge on to a coeducational basis, would create large-scale extra provision (an additional 6FE) for boys in West Kent, but none for girls. KCC's view was that this would not necessarily be the case - coeducational schools do not always split 50-50 on gender lines - but this concern must nonetheless be addressed more fully and systematically than hitherto.

Secondly, it might be possible for WoK to expand its girls provision on the Sevenoaks site, and look for another school as a partner in providing boys' places. Many of these options were examined when - before I took on the Education portfolio - KCC discussed the Sevenoaks issue with grammar schools across West Kent. Nonetheless, it is well worth pursuing again.

Thus, as I emphasised in the media interviews I gave on Friday, the news from WoK undoubtedly represents a setback for the proposals for a Sevenoaks grammar annexe, but it is most certainly not the end of the road.

Sevenoaks grammar annexe: Weald of Kent co-ed consultation

Weald of Kent Grammar School is consulting on becoming co-educational. The consultation closes on 21 March.

Just before Christmas, Education Secretary Michael Gove turned down the proposals from Weald of Kent and Invicta Grammar Schools for establishing a Sevenoaks grammar annexe (post of 13 December). A key factor in his thinking was that both were single sex schools, and that it was therefore impossible to see the proposed coeducational facility in Sevenoaks as anything other than establishment of a new school.

Clearly the Weald's consultation, if it leads to the school becoming co-educational, offers a way of answering the Secretary of State's concerns. There is still a long way to go in terms of the Sevenoaks grammar annexe, not least the planning process for the Wildernesse site, but this is nonetheless a very welcome development in the efforts to tackle the shortage of selective places in West Kent and the anomaly of the lack of Sevenoaks provision.

Swanley Sitrep

With further heavy rainfall and flooding taking place, I went to look at the situation in Pinks Hill, Waylands and adjoining roads both last night and again this morning.

Last night, water was once more flowing from the ditch by the A20 across the common land into Pinks Hill and down to Waylands. Once more, the cul de sac in Waylands was heavily inundated, though the water had not quite reached the houses. I asked Kent Highways for both extra flood sacks for the most immediately affected houses in Pinks Hill and for tankers for taking action on the ditch and for Waylands. The flood sacks certainly arrived; I am a lot less sure about the tankers.

This morning, the situation had eased considerably in terms of water runoff, but the ditch itself was very full. I spoke to some local residents and some Highways Agency contractors who were carrying out some cleansing of the (Kent Highways) road drains.

What is a lot less clear is what will happen with the works in the ditch. There is little doubt that the ditch is filling up from another source, whether the A20 itself, the lagoon or sources to the other side of the A20. What is much less clear is what the precise root of that inflow is, and whether and how the current works - which appear in any case to have been suspended - will ease this. I am asking for answers to these questions from the HA.

Pinks Hill flooding: the misery continues

Water running onto Pinks Hill at about 3PM

Yet again, heavy rainfall in the latter part of the week has caused severe flooding in Pinks Hill and neighbouring roads. I visited again this afternoon and toured the site with some local residents.

The flow of water on to Pinks Hill was very rapid, though I understand somewhat less so than was the case this morning. In that case it must have been an absolute torrent earlier in the day. The water continues to run from the ditch next to the A20 across the common land to Pinks Hill. Nearby homes are currently protected by flood sacks. The water then runs down the road, diverting into Waylands. However, the water there has been contained and I understand that both Kent Highways and the Highways Agency have been on site with suckers and tankers.

The Highways Agency was due to start work on the ditch and pipes that run from it on Thursday (post of 27 January). This work did commence, though so far it appears to have been limited to tree clearing. The ditch is now very full of water indeed, across a wider area and at a much higher level than I have seen before. With this depth of water, it is not clear how and when the works can be taken forward.

High water levels in the ditch

We also examined the A20 lagoon and found it to be at a worryingly high level. The Highways Agency installed a pump there yesterday, though thus did not appear to be running when we visited.

Residents have asked that the ditch be pumped out to stop the flow of water at its source. I have asked Kent Highways to do this, although it is not clear when the optimal time would be to carry out pumping.

This is now turning into a matter of enormous concern and frustration for residents. It appeared after our site visit that we had a way forward; we now need to establish whether we have simply seen our course of action delayed by the very severe downpours of the last couple of days, or whether that way forward is no longer valid. If the latter is the case, we urgently need another.