Food vouchers for the Christmas holidays

Following KCC’s response to offer vouchers to families of children entitled to Free School Meals over the October half term, the Council will be using part of its £4.5m allocation under the government’s £170m Covid Winter Fund to provide vouchers over the Christmas holidays.

Whereas the October scheme, of necessity, required an application, the greater time for preparation means that families should be able to receive the vouchers (one £15 per week voucher for each eligible child) without the need for an application process. This scheme for both the Christmas holidays and the February half term should cost some £2.5m, leaving a further £2m for schemes that support low-income families with pre-school children and other similar households, including those without children. 

I am signing off the formal Council Decisions required to bring this into effect and to enable the Council and schools to exchange the information needed for the voucher scheme. 

It is good that we were able to support families during half term, and better news still that we will be able to do so over the Christmas period. 

You can find KCC‘s press release here.

Kent in Tier 3

Today’s government announcement that Kent as a whole is being placed in Tier 3, the highest level of Covid-19 restrictions, comes as a severe blow to residents and businesses across the County. 

Covid cases have risen sharply in Kent in recent weeks. Up until around the middle of October, Kent’s incidence (cases per 100,000 over 7 days) was far below the national average, and even below the South East average. As of 21 November, however, Kent’s figure was 274.3, compared with national average of 207.1 and a South East average of 157.3. (Neighbouring Medway, however, stood at 423.9). The acceleration began in Swale and has taken in much of northern and coastal Kent. Swale’s rates (528.4) and Thanet’s (492.3) are among the highest in the country. Rates across other parts of the county - in particular, in Districts and Boroughs such as Tunbridge Wells, Ashford and Sevenoaks – are much lower. The county-wide nature of the restrictions has generated anger and bewilderment in those areas with lower rates. 

Our focus – as made clear in a statement issued today – is on getting the county out of Tier 3 as fast as possible. That is a task for us in local government (and our localised delivery of test and trace, in support of the national system, starts tomorrow) but also for all our residents. The quicker we get infection rates down, especially in the most affected parts of the county, the sooner these damaging restrictions can be lifted. I will be taking part in a press conference tomorrow afternoon with our Director of Public Health, Andrew Scott-Clark, and colleagues from Medway and from the NHS, tomorrow afternoon. 

More on half term help

Late yesterday, and following our previous announcement at the weekend, Kent County Council set out more detail about our half term support offer for families with children eligible for Free School Meals.

Families seeking help can complete a form that can be accessed via specific pages on the kent.gov website, or by calling a dedicated helpline 03000 412424. Families of children eligible for Free School Meals will be able to access a £15 supermarket voucher per child. 

The County Council is seeking to publicise this offer as widely as possible and there has already been a strong response from families.

You can find KCC’s additional statement here.

Holmesdale Hill

Resurfacing works are taking place yesterday and today at the corner of Holmesdale Road and Holmesdale Hill, going up the hill as far as the SLOW sign. The new surface will have higher skid resistance than the previous one

There there are also white line edge markings going in (or refreshed when already in place) on either side of the road and approaching and going round the bend. The cats eyes on the outside of the bend are also being replaced. These latter works may take a day or two longer to complete. 

Kent Highways officers will also examine, at my request, what other actions may be possible to address continuing concerns about traffic speed and safety on this stretch of road.

Help for families over half term

Kent County Council has announced a programme of help and support for families eligible for Free School Meals over the half term. 

Anyone whose child is eligible for Free School Meals and who is in need of assistance should contact the Kent Together service, launched at the start of the Covid-19 crisis. Kent Together can be reached either via its webpage:

https://www.kent.gov.uk/social-care-and-health/health/coronavirus/kent-together

Or you can call on 03000 41 92 92.

This initiative builds on KCC’s use of the Emergency Assistance Grant, for which the County Council received £1.65m from national government to support those struggling to afford food and essential items. This scheme has already helped many families, but the aim of this initiative is to target rapid support to families over this half term.

You can find KCC’s media release on this here.

Pilgrims Way East update

Following on from yesterday’s post, I can update on Pilgrims Way East. The road remains closed at present, but KCC’s Streetworks team have had confirmation from Clancy/ South East Water that the road will be reinstated tomorrow. It will then take some hours for the tarmac to set before the road is reopened, most likely later tomorrow. So the road is still best avoided until then, but should be open on Sunday and, critically, Monday morning. Once again, if I get any further updates I will post again.

Road closures latest

Yesterday and today have seen a lot of disruption in and around Pilgrims Way, Kemsing, and Pilgrims Way East, Otford - though the significance of this road as a link to the A225 has big effects on other communities such as Seal and Knatts Valley. There have been three different incidents in the last 24 hours + affecting the roads.

(1) Kent Highways (KCC) carried out works in Pilgrims Way between Cotmans Ash Lane and Heaverham Road to deal with a damaged verge. These works took place yesterday and were completed by the end of the day

(2) South East Water carried out an emergency closure of Cotmans Ash Lane because of a burst pipe. At one point it appeared that this could be closed until Monday. However, I have just been informed by KCC’s Streetworks team that the works have been completed and the road has now been reopened 

(3) The biggest effect however has come from an emergency closure by South East Water in Pilgrims Way East, also because of a burst pipe. South East Water are currently requiring an emergency closure until Monday. KCC Streetworks team have challenged this, pushing for patching works to be done and then the road to be reopened, with works then completed over the weekend. However, South East Water argue that the damage (and resulting hole in the road - see pictures) is too great for this, and in these circumstances it is the utility’s assessment which prevails

However, the Streetworks team will push for earlier completion of the works if at all possible, and I will provide an update tomorrow as to when the closure, and resulting disruption, is likely to end.