Swanley Village, the M25 and much else

In the search to address the problem of flooding in Button Street, attention has been focused increasingly on the M25 bridge and runoff from it.

I took this up with Kent Highways officers, who have subsequently been in discussions with Connect Plus (who operate this part of the M25 on behalf of Highways England). There was a recognition from Connect Plus that many of the HE drainage ditches have not been maintained and are blocked or overflowing. They undertook to clear them, and extensive works on this took place a couple of weeks ago. The pictures here show some of these works and the debris that has been cleared out.

There will now be monitoring of runoff from the bridge to see the effects of this welcome work by Connect Plus. If it does not prove effective in stopping the runoff, then the drainage teams from Connect Plus and Kent Highways will meet to examine the detailed drainage structures in the area to see what more radical works need to be undertaken.

These seem to be positive developments, and came at a time when I met representatives from the Residents Association with a Kent Highways officer to review other key road and traffic issues in the village, including speeds in the centre of the village, HGVs, signage and other concerns. More to report on that soon.

A small step regarding the 421

The Go Coach 421 service to Sevenoaks was withdrawn from coming in to Shoreham late last year, following difficulties in access for buses and concerns on the part of the company about limited use of the service from the village. The nearest bus pickup was now on the A225, a cause of difficulty and concern to older village residents in particular.

Various attempts have been made to resolve the problem, and this week Go introduced a once a week shopping service, leaving the village just after 10am and returning shortly after 1230. Kent Highways officers have also sought to make residents aware of the Kent Karrier service, which can provide a cost effective alternative. In the longer term, the aim is to develop an on demand service, rather on the model of some of the Big Conversation options. These were explored as an alternative at the time of the service withdrawal, but it was not feasible at that point. The work for a longer term solution, hopefully to be in place by the early summer, continues.

More progress on Crockenhill water problems

There has been further progress in tackling the problems of water leaks and inundation of properties around Crockenhill Primary School.

The source of the water leak has now been traced, and a new water main has been supplied and connected to the existing service. In the process, a gas main was found which will need to be lowered when a new surface is laid.

These latter remedial works will be carried out in the New Year, when the contractors return to the site to commence the fencing works.

There are still a number of issues to be addressed, but it looks as though progress is now being made after a period of major disruption to both local residents and the school.

Responding to flooding

The heavy rainfall of the last couple of days, coming on top of a long period of wet weather, has triggered some 11 flood alerts across Kent. Kent County Council and its partners activated the County Emergency Centre (emergency planning is an area on which I was briefed extensively after becoming Leader of the Council) and has sought to respond to problems wherever they have arisen.

Some of the most severe pressures have been seen in and around Yalding, Culverstone, Boughton Monchelsea, the River Eden near Edenbridge, Marden and . In the Darent Valley, perhaps the most visible impact has been the overflowing of the Darent and the consequent closure of Riverside in Eynsford. That said, a number of rural roads have also been affected, as have long-standing problem areas such as the lowest-lying houses in Eynsford Road, Farningham, where work continues to find a solution.

For the present, the rainfall and consequent problems appear to be easing. However, with the prospect of wetter winters and a lot of this winter still to go, these issues are not going away. KCC and its partners have honed their responses since the severe impacts over the winter of 2013-14, and we are committing both funds and intense political attention to drainage and flood management, but there is a lot more to be done.

Well Hill broadband: progress at last

Well Hill's broadband (and telephone) problems have been continuing for a number of years, and I have written about them on this blog before.

On Tuesday evening, KCC officer George Chandler and I attended a meeting in Well Hill. We were able to present the good news that Well Hill is at the front of projects for spending gainshare (the funds released from BT following higher than expected take-up of superfast broadband, and ploughed back into the BT/BDUK/KCC broadband contract). Government policy is now to promote Fibre to the Premises broadband (as opposed to the previous focus on Fibre to the Cabinet) and the Well Hill project fits well with that.

 Progress should now be rapid over the coming weeks and months.

Crockenhill Primary School: fences and water

I have been working recently on a number of issues in and around Crockenhill Primary School which have been causing difficulty and distress both to the school and to nearby residents.

The first problem is the gradual collapse of a wall separating the school from a neighbouring property and the need to replace it in some way. The school first contacted me about this earlier in the year; I raised the issue with officers at KCC's property arm Gen2, and some progress appeared to be being made. However, this then stalled and the issue was raised with me again some weeks ago.

Meanwhile, a separate issue arose with leaks from the Thames Water system on the school site. KCC facilities management contractors tried to address the problem but had little success and left holes in the playground. More water ran off, affecting neighbouring gardens. I asked Gen2 to get involved, and KCC offered to fund the works, but at this point Thames Water themselves had sent staff to attempt to fix the problem. However, these efforts were also unsuccessful and by this stage I was being contacted by a number of neighbours whose gardens were being inundated.

I visited the school and neighbouring residents some weeks ago and have sought the involvement of senior staff from Gen2. There appears to be some progress, with works on a new fence (to replace the collapsing wall in its entirety) to start this coming Monday (18 November), to be completed by January. Gen2 have also been in contact with the school on the water issues, and I understand that a further Thames Water team will be in the school over this weekend.

Consultation on boys' grammar satellite in Sevenoaks

KCC is consulting on an expansion of Tunbridge Wells Grammar School for Boys, to be achieved via  a satellite provision on the former Wildernesse School site in Sevenoaks. The new provision would join Trinity School and the Weald of Kent Sevenoaks satellite on that site.

The proposal is for Tunbridge Wells Grammar School for Boys to expand its Published Admissions Number (PAN - the number of students it would expect to take each year) from the current 210 to 300, an expansion of 90 students or 3 Forms of Entry. The consultation is being brought forward by the County Council because the school is a maintained school; this is different from the satellite expansion by Weald of Kent, which is an academy (even though the establishment of the Weald satellite did require close and effective collaboration between the school and KCC).

As the consultation document makes clear, the demand for selective places in this area of West Kent has been growing. This draws on the evidence of the Kent Commissioning Plan for Education, last year's version of which highlighted that this need could and should be met through satellite provision in Sevenoaks. In my previous role as Cabinet Member for Education, I always argued that the satellite option enables us to resolve two problems in one initiative: meeting the need for places, and ending the anomaly of Sevenoaks being without grammar provision. The Weald of Kent satellite does this for girls in and around Sevenoaks, and the new proposal (also from a school that attracts many Sevenoaks pupils) aims to achieve the same outcome for boys. Many local parents will feel that this is long overdue.

The consultation runs until 6 December.