Well Hill: filling in the potholes

Since I provided a number of updates on the abortive efforts to fill in the potholes in Well Hill, I am probably a bit behind myself in not having recorded the latest position.

The especially deep potholes in the part of Well Hill between the junctions with Firmingers Road and Parkgate Road were filled in some weeks ago. Potholes in the remaining parts of the road have been marked up by Kent Highways and the works are due to take place in the latter part of next week. This will require nothing more drastic than a diversion via Firmingers Road and so hopefully should go smoothly.

Shoreham and the Gypsy and Traveller Site Consultation

The Sevenoaks District Council consultation on proposed new Gypsy and Traveller sites closed on Friday. One of the most contentious proposals is for a 15 pitch site south of Mesne Road in Shoreham, which has been a source of major concern for local residents on grounds of unsuitability and its impact on both the village and the AONB.

I submitted my comments last week, expressing my opposition to the proposal. In part, I set out concerns shared by many about the damage done to Green Belt and AONB. However, in my role as KCC Education Cabinet Member, I also set out the problems likely to be caused to the village school. In spite of being in Special Measures, the school has been relatively well-subscribed and so the effect of a significant influx of new children in the village could well be to squeeze out others who live further away within the village or parish. You can find my comments here.

Kent Highways submitted their comments the previous week. While the submission did not sustain an objection, it incorporates two features that are very helpful to residents' case. The first is the requirement for a wide entrance to allow vehicles, some of them large, to turn in. This makes screening of the site impossible and so raises further questions about its unacceptable visual impact. Secondly, it makes clear that works would be required to deal with the steep gradient from Filston Lane up to the site. This would have clear implications for the cost of establishing the site.

A bit more on potholes

Following on from my last post, it's worth reading this press release from KCC. This sets out the cost of fixing a pothole in Kent through 'Find and a Fix' at £37, compared with a national average of £53. The Department for Transport allocated its funds to local authorities based on this 'model' approach.

The press release also sets out the number of potholes fixed in each District of Kent since the winter - in Sevenoaks, it is  2,322. I don't have a precise figure for Darent Valley, but on this basis of these figures it must run into quite a few hundred.

Kent gains from government pothole fund

Kent County Council has been awarded £6.3m from the Department for Transport's pothole fund, which allocated £168m to local authorities across the country. Kent had the second highest allocation in the country and a higher share of the fund than its population would suggest. In a fund designed to reward good and innovative practice by local authorities, this is an encouraging sign. You can find the DfT's announcement here.

This follows on from KCC gaining a disproportionate share of the March 2014 Weather Repair Fund (£8.6m out of £173m). It also comes on top of the £3m that the County Council allocated for a 'find and fix' programme in its budget in April.

Progress in fixing the roads has been rapid in recent months, and this additonal funding should help us to improve further. You can report a pothole or other highways problems on the KCC website.

Pinks Hill: the next steps

This week I met on site in Pinks Hill with local residents, our Kent Highways drainage engineer for the area and representatives from Connect Plus (delivery agents for the Highways Agency).

The ditch near the A20, which I have written about before in several posts, remains a major cause for concern. Some weeks ago it filled up rapidly and at some points overtopped. Whereas it was possible to argue that earlier this year we were in the midst of the wettest January since the days of George III, this was heavy but not outlandish levels of rain. The Highways Agency/ Connect Plus undertook significant works on the ditch following our last site meeting in January, but it remains a major worry for local residents.

We took an extensive tour of the site, including the lagoon (pictured - currently at relatively low levels but clearly subject to quite rapid fluctuations). There is further work to be done to establish the direction of flows of water between the lagoon, the ditch and the other side of the A20. Once that is completed, there is likely to be a strong case for works including expanding the lagoon. The Highways Agency were examining such a project earlier in the year, but understandably the immediate crisis took priority.

The meeting was very constructive; at the same time, it is clear that these more structural solutions to the problem will take time. Meanwhile, we will need to establish more immediate ways to protect residents from a recurrence of serious flooding through an agreed contingency plan by the Highways Agency and Kent Highways and if possible additional protection for the properties most immediately affected.

Grammar school places for Darent Valley children

Many children from Darent Valley, especially to the north, have gone to the Dartford and Wilmington grammar schools for their secondary schooling. It has always therefore been a cause of concern that some or all of the schools might move to admission procedures that would be less favourable to local children, such as a focus on ‘super-selection’ (essentially, taking children simply on the basis of the highest test scores) or strengthening the focus on distance rather than named parishes, which would in some cases favour children from across the London border in Bexley over many Kent children.

The issue has been rumbling on for some years, with proposals brought forward, shelved and brought forward again. The County Council has a strong interest in this, given its responsibility to ensure access to education for Kent children, and our Admissions Team have worked hard on the issue, responding to proposals and arguing the case for local children. I have been involved both as local County Councillor for Darent Valley and, in the last year, as Cabinet Member for Education. All the schools have brought forward proposals for 2015. While the debate on these proposals remains live, there has on the whole been movement in a positive direction for Kent children and those from Darent Valley.  

Here is where things stand at present:

Dartford Grammar School (admission number: 180)

The school has hitherto operated a system of giving priority (after Looked After Children) to boys from a series of wards in Dartford (Zone A) who have passed the Kent Test. None of these wards is in Darent Valley. Once qualifying Zone A boys are admitted, all remaining places are allocated on the basis of test score, with distance from the school as a tie-breaker. The new proposals, which can be found here, modify this by putting a cap of 90 on the number of boys admitted from Zone A, thus strengthening somewhat the super-selective element.

Dartford Grammar School for Girls (admission number: 160) 

This currently operates the following system of priority for those who pass the Kent Test: Looked After Children; siblings of those attending the school; those living within a mile of the school; those living within the Borough of Dartford or one of a set of ‘named parishes’; all others on the basis of score, with distance as the tie-breaker. The ‘named parishes’ include Crockenhill, Eynsford, Farningham, Horton Kirby & South Darenth and Swanley from within Darent Valley. New proposals can be found here. As with Dartford Grammar, the new proposals would cap the number from 'named parishes' at 100. They would also remove preference for siblings and those within a mile of the school.

Wilmington Grammar School for Boys (admission number: 150)

This gave priority to: Looked After Children; those with a sibling at the school; those with a sibling at Wilmington Girls; those with combined scores in the top 10%; those nearest the school. The revised criteria for 2015 can be found here; they preserve the priority for Looked After Children and siblings at the two schools, but then add 15 governor places for those achieving the highest combined scores in the Kent Test, followed by priority for those within 1.5 miles of the school or in named parishes which cover the whole of the Darent Valley division (including Shoreham). Any remaining places are allocated on a distance criterion.

Wilmington Grammar School for Girls (admissions number: 120)

This was very similar to the boys, prioritising Looked After Children; those with a sibling at the school; those with a sibling at Wilmington Boys; the top 12 scoring girls in Mathematics; those living nearest the school. The 2015 proposals are very similar to the new proposals for Wilmington Boys. The 12 Governor Places will be the awarded to those with the highest Mathematics scores, while the named parishes will extend as far South as Sevenoaks, easily incorporating the whole of Darent Valley.

Thus the overall effect is that the 2015 criteria proposed for the two Wilmington grammar schools are much more favourable to Darent Valley children than those in operation up until now. The criteria for Dartford Grammar School represent a partial shift towards super-selection with some disadvantage to Kent children (in Dartford, though not in Darent Valley). The Dartford Grammar School for Girls are making a similar shift, in this case affecting Darent Valley children. However, this represents a significant modification of initial proposals that were much more purely super-selective. The number of places for named parishes was revised up in the course of consultation and is now quite generous.

I understand that the Dartford (but not Wilmington) schools' proposals have had challenges brought before the Schools Adjudicator. This may take some time to resolve, but the overall outcome for children in Darent Valley looks likely to be quite a good one.

Street lighting: the next phase

In a post late last year, I set out Kent County Council's "safe and sensible street lighting" policy, intended to deliver financial savings of £1 million per year and a reduction in carbon emissions. This started with the switching off of many streetlights between the hours of midnight and 5:30 AM, so-called "part-night lighting". This came into effect in the Sevenoaks area just before Christmas.

As I mentioned at that time, the second element of the policy was to embark on a trial full switch-off of some lights that are adjudged redundant and would not be newly installed under today's policies. During consultation, I asked for some of the proposals for the switch-off on roads in Darent Vally to be withdrawn and this was done. However, there will be some lights switched off in Darent Valley, notably on Main Road near Farningham and on Goldsel Road on the approach to Crockenhill. This will take place by the end of this month, though it will be on a trial basis.

"Part-night lighting" remains a cause for concern for some residents, notably in Swanley. I hope to meet a number of concerned residents in the near future. The policy will be reviewed in particular areas if there is evidence of a significant increase in crime or accidents that could plausibly be linked to the new policy. I understand from Kent Police that data will be available in a matter of weeks, and that it will be very detailed, going down to individual street level.