Shoreham School: encouraging Ofsted report

Ofsted inspectors have issued a very encouraging report on Shoreham School. This was the latest of a series of so-called Section 8 reports, which track developments at the school since it went into Special Measures late last year. Reports in December 2013 and March 2014 were relatively encouraging, but the July report - issued just before the summer holidays - was much more negative.

The latest report, based on a visit on 25-26 November, praises progress under the new head teacher, Mrs Gillian Lovatt-Young, and highlights improvements in teaching and children's progress. Having visited the school and met Mrs Lovatt-Young and the chair of governors a couple of weeks before the inspection, I picked up a sense of strong momentum under her leadership. Mrs Lovatt-Young, the governors, staff and pupils at Shoreham are all to be congratulated.

Since the summer I have visited six of the seven primary schools in Darent Valley. It is not very long since we were in a position where one (Shoreham) was in Special Measures and three (High Firs, Horton Kirby and St. Paul's) were rated as Requires Improvement (the former 'Satisfactory' rating by Ofsted, or 3 on the 1-4 scale). In July, High Firs under Colin Turtle's leadership has regained its Good rating. A visit to Horton Kirby left me hopeful that we could see a better rating there soon, and now we have this encouraging report on Shoreham. I will be visiting St. Paul's and meeting its new head in the New Year.

Overall, Kent's primary schools have demonstrated a sharp improvement in Ofsted ratings in the last few years. It is good that Darent Valley seems to be sharing in this progress.

Gateway signs go into Swanley Village

As promised earlier in the year, some key projects in Swanley Village are being paid for from my Member Fund. I told a meeting of the Swanley Village Residents Association a few weeks ago that village gateway signs should be installed before Christmas; this has happened today. Some other promised works, such as installation of high friction surfacing, should take place during the February half term. Action to remove and replace the village sign should also take place shortly.

Also in Swanley Village (though not paid for from my Fund), I understand that the gullies in Button Street from just south of the motorway bridge to the junction with Wood Street should be cleansed before the end of tomorrow.

Crockenhill: works go ahead at Green Court Road

I have worked with Crockenhill Parish Council and Kent Highways to improve safety at the junction of Cray Road, Main Road and Broadway for some years. Last year, high friction surfacing and an interactive sign were among the measures introduced, but more needs to be done. Although it seemed that we had some potential ways forward over a year ago, we have come up against the stumbling block that many of them would involve road closures that would be unacceptable to the Parish Council and to local opinion. Attempts to establish a safe crossing in the area have proved similarly difficult to take forward.

Having undertaken speed surveys in the area, we are now looking at a range of measures that would include  hanged to parking and to the interactive sign, as well as village signs. These can be paid for from money set aside from my Member a highway Fund for earlier versions of the scheme.  Meanwhile, there were a number of agreed enhancements to tackle speeding as traffic comes down to Broadway from Green Court Road that do not require a road closure, including safety fencing by the village green to highlight that pedestrians are approaching a road crossing.

Frustratingly, there have been a variety of delays and contractor problems. However, work started today to install the fencing. Additional works for which orders have been raised and which should be carried out in the near future include a SLOW sign in the road, improvements to signage and a refreshing of lines in the road around the junction. Hopefully this will be the start of further progress on tackling problems at the heart of Crockenhill.

Community wardens: responding to the consultation

Following the consultation on proposals to reshape the community warden service, reducing the number of wardens to 45, KCC announced last week that warden numbers would be kept at the present level of 70.

The County Council will still take half of the proposed saving of £1.3 million by reductions in management and supervisory structures, but the remaining funds will be found elsewhere within the Growth, Environment and Transport (GET) directorate.

This follows a powerful public response to the consultation, making clear how much the warden service is valued by communities across Kent. The response was particularly strong from Parish Councils; almost all of those within Darent Valley responded to the consultation.

At the start of the process, I said to Parish Councils that the consultation was for real rather than a sham process. Last week's announcement confirms that, and is good news for the wardens and for the communities they serve across the County.

Over to Nicky Morgan

A year ago, we were waiting for then Education Secretary Michael Gove to rule on the two applications for a grammar annexe in Sevenoaks. Now it is down to his successor, Nicky Morgan, to rule on a new application from the Weald of Kent Grammar School Academy Trust.

As was widely reported last week – in the Sevenoaks Chronicle, but also in the national press – Weald of Kent has submitted an application for a 3 Forms of Entry girls grammar school annexe on the former Wildernesse School site. At KCC we have worked closely with Weald of Kent regarding their application, notably through our projections of the growing need for West Kent grammar school places.

There are many positive indications for this application. It is true that Weald of Kent was - along with Valley Invicta Academies Trust - one of the unsuccessful applicants last year. Both applications were, however, for a coeducational annexe, and this issue - that a single sex school setting up a coeducational annexe was seen to be in effect creating a new grammar school - was at the heart of Michael Gove's decision to turn the applications down. At the same time, the Department for Education made clear that the high proportion of students that Weald of Kent draws from Sevenoaks was a powerful argument for viewing their proposed grammar provision as an annexe.

In the meantime, the grammar annexe secured planning permission (from KCC's Planning Applications Committee) in the summer, and work is getting under way to demolish the existing buildings on the Wildernesse site and then start work on the buildings for the Trinity Free School, which will share use of the site with the proposed grammar annexe.

In the longer term, our aim remains to secure boys' provision in the site as well, but Weald of Kent's application is a very welcome step - a strong proposal from an outstanding Kent grammar school. What remains now is the Secretary of State's decision. KCC and Sevenoaks MP Michael Fallon have urged that the decision should be a speedy one.

Shoreham: part of the way on village gateways

When I organised a walk round Shoreham with Kent Highways officers two years ago, one of the key proposals to emerge was for a clearer indication to drivers that they were entering a village.

Officers brought forward schemes to be paid for from my Member Highway Fund, including both village gateway signs and red high friction surfacing (usually with 'SLOW' or '30 MPH' painted into it) at various points in the village.

When these proposals were brought back to the Parish Council and others, there was limited enthusiasm for the village signs. Some were in favour of rumble strips as a further way of demarcating entry to the village and influencing driver behaviour, but views on this were mixed. I therefore proposed that we go ahead with the element of the proposal on which there was very widespread agreement (the high friction surfacing). This was completed a couple of weeks ago. It has all taken rather longer than I would have liked, but it is a step forward nonetheless.

There is likely to be a village meeting early in the New Year (under the auspices of the Shoreham Society) to discuss highways issues. This will give an opportunity to examine whether some of the other proposals should be taken forward.

KCC Budget Consultation until 28 November

KCC is consulting on its annual budget. As was the case last year, the key feature is the need to find savings as a result of declining goverment grants and increasing demand for some of our services.

Over the last three years, Kent County Council has achieved £269m in savings (this compares with a net budget of a little under £1bn). It will need to achieve a similar annual rate - some £81m - in the next financial year (2014-15). Proposals have been set out that bridge most, though not quite all, of this gap. It is clear that, with the public sector remaining under the austerity cosh for years to come as central government seeks to eliminate the budget deficit, and with local government taking its fair share and quite a lot more of the savings pain, more will need to be found (some £209m over the next three years).

The County Council aims to meet its financial pressures partly through the Facing the Challenge programme, which sees the authority as above all a commissioner of services, looking for the most efficient way for those services to be provided (whether by the council itself, by the private sector, the voluntary sector or others). In addition, it is carrying through major programmes of change ('transformation') in social services, both for adults and (more recently) children; this also links to our increasingly close relationship with the health service, in which I am deeply involved. We are proposing a small council tax increase of 1.99%. Finally, while we have successfully minimised the impact of the savings programmes on front line services, some difficult changes are being proposed, as with the consultation on community wardens.

You can find the budget consultation here; it is open until 28 November. You can answer three short questions on how you would like KCC to meet the budget challenge, or can go into more detail in setting priorities though an online budget tool. You can also find a short summary of the budget situation by KCC Leader Paul Carter and a webchat with Cabinet Member for Finance John Simmonds, which took place last Friday. Last year saw a big increase in public response to our budget consultation, and I hope that many Darent Valley residents will take part this year.