Consultation on Preston Hill and Country Parks Strategy in 2017

As I reported earlier this year, Kent County Council had considered a number of smaller Country Park sites, among them Preston Hill, for disposal. However, this was quickly - and rightly - reconsidered. In addition, the sites, which had been transferred to KCC's Property Division, came back to the Country Parks team.

The County Council will be consulting in the New Year on its renewed strategy for country parks. As part of this, it has written to anyone who expressed a view on the future of these smaller sites, asking them to contribute to the consultation. This will include any suggestions about the future of specific sites. Letters have also been sent to Parish Councils.

The letter states that groups such as wildlife charities have expressed an interest in becoming more involved in the running of the sites, which is very welcome. They will, however, remain under the overall stewardship of the County Council.

JTB approves schemes for Crockenhill and Eynsford

The Sevenoaks Joint Transportation Board, of which I am a member, met on Tuesday evening. Among the items on the agenda were two schemes that I am supporting through my Combined Member Fund. They are:

• In Crockenhill, double yellow lines on Green Court Road, running north east from the junction with Stones Cross Road
• In Eynsford, on the A225 High Street near the Anthony Roper Primary School, restrictions during school run times outside Alton Cottages, and ashort extension of the double yellow line is near the Priory Lane  junction

You can find the meeting papers here; the two schemes are reported under agenda item 8. The report summarised the outcome of consultations on the two schemes. There were only two objections to the Eynsford proposal, and none to the Crockenhill proposal. Both schemes were therefore approved, and should proceed in the near future -  which should be very good news for both villages. 

Trial rumble strips in Crockenhill

As I mentioned in an earlier post, Kent Highways, Crockenhill Parish Council and I agreed at a site meeting in October to carry out a trial installation of rumble strips approaching the Cray Road/ Main Road/ Broadway junction. These will be tested out to see whether or not they provide a suitable alternative to granite sets as part of the safety measures in the centre of the village.

The trial strips have now been installed; residents are asked to send comments to the Parish Council or to me. A decision on how to proceed will be taken early in the New Year.

There should be more news on road safety measures soon, since yellow line schemes in Eynsford and Crockenhill are going to the Sevenoaks Joint Transportation Board tomorrow evening. I will report back.

Still time to respond to KCC budget consultation

With the Chancellor giving his Autumn statement next week, there is still time for residents to respond to Kent County Council's consultation on its budget for 2017-18. The consultation, launched five weeks ago, closes on 27 November.

Like many other councils, KCC has been under severe financial pressure for quite a number of years, chiefly because of sharp reductions in government grant at a time when areas such as social care for the elderly have increasing need. It is quite a thought that KCC has delivered savings of £514 million – more than half a billion pounds – since 2010.

For 2017-18, the Council faces a financial gap of £108 million. It is - reluctantly - proposing an increase in council tax of 3.99% (including a 2% ‘precept’ for social care), but even after this has to deliver savings of £80.4 million. Our consultation focuses on how to deliver this; so far around £75 million has been identified and proposed.

You can respond to the consultation here.

Community Wardens for the villages

When Steve Armstrong, the highly-regarded Community Warden for Crockenhill, Eynsford and Farningham retired earlier this year, the County Council committed to finding a replacement as soon as possible. At the same time, it was recognised that the recruitment needed to be undertaken along with a number of other appointments to the Warden service. Until this took place, other Wardens covering the Sevenoaks area would serve the three villages on a rotational basis.

This recruitment round has now taken place. All the advertised posts were filled; however, the person appointed to Crockenhill, Eynsford and Farningham had to withdraw at a late stage. It has therefore, regrettably, not been possible to fill the post at present. However, Paul Sharrad, the new Warden for Swanley, will now also cover Crockenhill (as well as Swanley Village and Hextable) as and when required. Similarly, Paul Robertson – who is very well-known in Darent Valley as the Warden for Shoreham, as well as covering Otford - will cover Eynsford and Farningham when required. Thus all the villages should get more frequent and more personal coverage than has been the case since Steve’s retirement.

KCC hopes to fill the vacancy in the next recruitment round. However, the interim solution proposed by the Service should provide a valuable enhancement to the Warden presence in the three villages.

Eynsford and Crockenhill proposals out for consultation

A consultation has just started to install parking restrictions in Eynsford (on the A225 near the school) and Crockenhill (on Green Court Road). They are being carried out by Sevenoaks District Council on behalf of the County Council, and, if the schemes are approved and taken forward, they will be paid for from my Member Fund for schemes in the local area.

The Eynsford proposals have been in development for some time. The philosophy has always been to try to increase opportunities to park safely in some locations while increasing some restrictions. There have been delays to bringing forward the yellow lines and other proposals; for example, a scheme was ready to go to consultation over a year ago when it became clear that the presence of BT cables and other utilities would make some of its proposals prohibitively expensive.

Single yellow lines (operating between 8:30 and 9:30, and between 3 and 4) are proposed in front of Alton Cottages, with the aim of easing the parking bottlenecks in the area to the north east of the school. In addition, all day restrictions (double yellow lines) are proposed for the corners of Mill Lane and Priory Lane. Quite separately from this consultation, some further measures will be brought forward to create gaps in parking further to the south west in High Street.

The Crockenhill proposals are for double yellow lines running north east along Green Court Road from the junction with Stones Cross Road, aiming to tackle dangerous parking in the area, particularly at school times.

The consultation runs until 4 November. You can find details of both proposals and how you can respond on the District Council's website under the Public Notices section. The results of the consultation will then be reported to the Sevenoaks Joint Transportation Board (a meeting of County and District Councillors for the area) for a decision in December.

Crockenhill safety measures: the next steps

A lot of measures have been brought in over the last few years to enhance safety in the centre of the village, especially in the approaches to the junction of Cray Road, Broadway and Main Road. Signs, roundels, high friction surfacing and the speed activated sign in Cray Road have all been installed, along with the 20mph zone. I have supported this from my Combined Member Fund.

The Parish Council, Kent Highways and I have worked over many years to complete these measures by some sort of physical features in the road on the same approaches to the central junction. This has proved a long and difficult task, in particular because of the prospect of significant road closures needed to implement the works, and subsequently the presence of utilities under the highway that make implementing measures such as granite sets more difficult and more expensive.

We met recently to review the options and agreed that, while granite sets may well  be a good option for Crockenhill, it is worth trialling rumble strips, which can bep implemented more quickly, as an alternative. The proposed strips would come in three stages (one strip in the road, then two, then three). They would be in the three approaches to the centre, though the initial trial would cover just one area (Green Court Road).

Subject to a suitable design, this trial rumble strip should be installed in the coming weeks (November at the latest). Please let the Parish Council (crockenhillpc@btinternet.com) and me (roger.gough@kent.gov.uk) know what your early impressions are of how effective it is, and whether there are severe side effects such as increased noise. We will then review this with Kent Highways early in the New Year and decide whether it is best to install the remaining two rumble strips or go ahead with granite sets. In any case, Kent Highways will – weather permitting – move quickly to install the preferred option once it is decided.

This is, I hope, a positive development that should enable us to move forward with something that has long been wanted in the village and which complements the other measures that have been taken. At the same meeting, I am pleased to report, we made good progress on plans for gateway signs for the village and on replacements for the damaged railings at the Anchor & Hope site.