Looking ahead to 2024

Well, that’s almost it for 2023. 

It was another tough year. Tougher than the year before. Which is awkward, because that is what I said at the end of 2022. 

So, in issuing a New Year message, it’s hard to avoid a sense of Groundhog Day. My wonderful colleague, the late John Simmonds (KCC Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance) used to like to quote Enver Hoxha, the Communist dictator of Albania: ‘This year will be harder than last year. However it will be easier than next year.’ Perhaps an unusual source for a Conservative county councillor, but John wasn’t wrong - and it has felt especially apposite in the last couple of years. 

This reflects, above all, the financial pressures that we have experienced, as have councils up and down the country. Not that this is the only issue we face; since the summer, a series of court judgments (including our successful Judicial Review of the Home Secretary) have highlighted the impact of asylum, and in particular our responsibilities for Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children. But the financial issue is the most pressing. 

In the last couple of years, this has not reflected cuts in government support; settlements have been quite generous by historic standards (whether they have been adequate is another matter). Nor do they reflect, in the short run at least, the familiar pressures of demography. Instead, they reflect massive increases in costs as a result both of general inflation and of broken markets in adult social care, children’s services placements and transport (though home to school transport, in particular for children with special educational needs, is also seeing big increases in numbers in step with the rise in Education, Health and Care Plans).

I am pleased that, faced from the summer with evidence of severe financial pressures, we have developed a comprehensive and coherent response, seen in our Cabinet papers of 17 August and especially 5 October, which launched our programme Securing Kent’s Future. We will see a further stage of that work as we present our budget in the New Year, but that is not the end of the process; our financial position will not change fundamentally and so we will need to develop further our multi-year approach to ensuring our financial viability. 

However, as I have emphasised in my New Year message, we have to be concerned with more than just survival. Last year, I suggested two areas through which we could look beyond the immediate financial challenge. The first was our work with the NHS. Here we can report progress. A revised and enhanced Integrated Care Strategy is due for approval by our Cabinet on Friday (4 January). It reflects much wider engagement than was possible with the first iteration of the strategy (which under national requirements had to be put together to a rapid deadline of 31 December 2022). From here we can develop detailed action plans that can deliver the strategy’s aims. This is the best, most systematic approach to collaboration between the NHS and local government so far, and offers a real prospect of much shared better management of our resources and services.

The second area was that of devolution, and this has been much harder to deliver. The approach of the end of this Parliament has made councils less willing to commit to new arrangements than might otherwise have been the case; as a result, while we submitted an Expression of Interest to government in the summer, it was clear that there was not support for the more radical options of a Combined County Authority (including a mayor). This added to the challenges of the summer. 

Nonetheless, it is important that we continue to develop a vision of what devolution can mean for Kent and Medway; it is only by this that we can address the key issues for the county in skills, infrastructure, economic development and transport. The exact form this will take remains unclear but both major parties remain committed to the concept of devolution and we must pursue this. 

Finally, amid the challenges, we still carry out vital roles in shaping and supporting life in the County and the interests of our residents: whether in environmental protection and enhancement, support for our vulnerable residents through the economic crisis of recent years, delivery of vital (and high quality) services to vulnerable children and adults,  work with our voluntary and community sector and much more. All this we will continue and redouble in 2024.

I wish all Kent residents a very happy New Year.

Pilgrims Way East closure

A reminder - since the signs have been out for a while - that Pilgrims Way East will be closed tomorrow between 0700 and 1500. The closure will be between the Shoreham Road junction and Row Dow. 

This is to enable lining work to be undertaken to improve visibility/ awareness of the speed humps, along with high friction surfacing and resetting of some kerbs. The lining works were intended to be carried out when the hump near Row Dow was repaired in November; however, as a result of wet weather this was not possible. Clearly, these works are also weather dependent, although the forecast suggests that they should be able to go ahead.

Improving Rights of Way

 One more positive development of the last few weeks …On 29 November Sevenoaks District Council’s CIL (Community Infrastructure Levy) Spending Board approved an application from KCC’s Public Rights of Way and Access Service for £209,000 in funding to improve nine key PROW routes in Otford, Kemsing, Swanley, West Kingsdown, Knockholt, Sevenoaks and Edenbridge.

The aim of the application was to deliver surface and signage improvements to ensure all year and all weather access. The routes supported include:

- SR49a, running from Kemsing (Dynes Road) to Otford Station; it’s long been a priority for residents and its importance, not least in serving the station, has been recognised by the PROW service (it was previously short listed, though ultimately unsuccessfully for a bid to national government for active travel funding)

- SR44 (between Shorehill Lane and Birchin Cross Road) and SR80 (running off Cotmans Ash Lane) in Kemsing both serve the North Downs Way

- SR54 in Otford serves the West of the Parish, providing a route from Rye Lane to the High Street, and hence to the primary school

CIL is a form of developer contribution, with the funds held by the District Council as local planning authority; the Board adjudicates bids for part of this funding. I discussed this bid with KCC officers and submitted an expression of support for the bid to get through the first round of assessment before it got to the Committee. At the Board meeting, KCC officers presented the case for the bid, along with Cllr Irene Roy (Otford and Shoreham District Councillor).

This is a very positive development, and I will update on progress of the schemes. You can find SDC’s media release about the outcomes of the CIL Spending Board here.

Speed limit lowered on the A25

A somewhat belated good news story. Last week (12 December) the Traffic Regulation Order (TRO) for the reduction of speed limit on the A25 Seal Road from 40mph to 30mph was implemented. 

The section of the road where the limit was 40mph stretched from within Sevenoaks Town (and the County Division of my neighbouring County Councillor, Richard Streatfeild) into Seal Parish (and my Division). This created an anomaly in the middle of an area that is otherwise 30mph all,the way through and added to the sense of insecurity among pedestrians, including children going to school (or walking with their parents). 

It has taken quite some time to get here; the issue has been raised with me by residents over a number of years. Initially it was thought that Kent Police and Kent Highways would not agree to support it, though we later secured a change of view on this. Part of the argument for caution was that, with the change of limit, there are no longer repeater signs on this stretch of road (because under the Highway Code the presence of streetlights is taken as the indication of a 30mph limit). Nonetheless, the TRO was agreed at last December’s Joint Transportation Board. The scheme was taken on by Kent Highways’ Design and Delivery team in the summer, and handed over to contractors on 1 November. 

This is, I hope, a welcome step forward for residents of both Sevenoaks and Seal.

Weekend closure at Pilgrims Way East

The signs for this weekend’s closure of Pilgrims Way East have been up for some days. The closure is for works both to reset the loose and damaged kerbs on the raised table near the Row Dow junction and to reset its height. 

The closure will be from 8am on Saturday morning (25 November) until 6pm on Sunday. The later stages of the closure will be to allow time for the materials to cure before the road reopens.

The rising costs of school transport

Today at the County Councils Network annual conference, I chaired the launch session for a new report, commissioned by CCN from the ISOS partnership, on the rising costs of home to school transport, in particular for children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND). The increase in costs - SEND transport costs at CCN member authorities are set to treble over the decade to 2027-28 - is one of the biggest factors threatening the financial stability of county and unitary councils.

The increase reflects the much larger number of children with Education, Health and Care Plans following reforms introduced in 2014-15, and the shift to more special school places, in many cases at greater distance from the family home. All this has taken place within the framework of a school transport system unaltered in its fundamentals from the provisions of the 1944 Education Act.

I have taken on the role of CCN’s spokesperson on children’s services, and so have been part of the report’s launch. It is a rigorous, high quality and important piece of work. Today was the official launch, but the media release was some days ago and the underlying arguments have been presented to government still earlier. Which is important, because while the report sets out proposals for longer-term reform, it also urges a short-term cash injection from government to meet the immediate pressures. We will see from tomorrow’s Autumn Statement how the government responds.  

You can find more about the report and its release here.

Further closure on Pilgrims Way East

As is quite widely known, there will be a further road closure in Pilgrims Way East over the weekend of 25 and 26 November.

The initial reason for this was for further works on the speed table near the Row Dow junction to address the drainage kerb that has come loose along with resetting some other kerbs. In addition, the issue of the height of this speed table remain to be addressed and this is being taken up by Kent Highways officers with the main contractor and sub-contractor. 

These works do not affect the speed table near the Tudor Drive junction, and the closure will take effect between the Tudor Drive and Row Dow junctions. The Road Closed signs (indicating Access Only) will go up at the PWE/ Shoreham Road junction; however, residents of Tudor Drive and Tudor Crescent, as well as of properties in the affected section of PWE will have access from the Shoreham Road junction with Pilgrims Way East. 

Given the amount of disruption residents in and around Pilgrims Way East have had over recent months, it is important that these works are concluded effectively. Having spoken with Kent Highways officers, I know that they are very much aware of this and are meeting with contractors to ensure this is delivered.

I will update again as soon as I have further details.