Swanley Sitrep

With further heavy rainfall and flooding taking place, I went to look at the situation in Pinks Hill, Waylands and adjoining roads both last night and again this morning.

Last night, water was once more flowing from the ditch by the A20 across the common land into Pinks Hill and down to Waylands. Once more, the cul de sac in Waylands was heavily inundated, though the water had not quite reached the houses. I asked Kent Highways for both extra flood sacks for the most immediately affected houses in Pinks Hill and for tankers for taking action on the ditch and for Waylands. The flood sacks certainly arrived; I am a lot less sure about the tankers.

This morning, the situation had eased considerably in terms of water runoff, but the ditch itself was very full. I spoke to some local residents and some Highways Agency contractors who were carrying out some cleansing of the (Kent Highways) road drains.

What is a lot less clear is what will happen with the works in the ditch. There is little doubt that the ditch is filling up from another source, whether the A20 itself, the lagoon or sources to the other side of the A20. What is much less clear is what the precise root of that inflow is, and whether and how the current works - which appear in any case to have been suspended - will ease this. I am asking for answers to these questions from the HA.

Pinks Hill flooding: the misery continues

Water running onto Pinks Hill at about 3PM

Yet again, heavy rainfall in the latter part of the week has caused severe flooding in Pinks Hill and neighbouring roads. I visited again this afternoon and toured the site with some local residents.

The flow of water on to Pinks Hill was very rapid, though I understand somewhat less so than was the case this morning. In that case it must have been an absolute torrent earlier in the day. The water continues to run from the ditch next to the A20 across the common land to Pinks Hill. Nearby homes are currently protected by flood sacks. The water then runs down the road, diverting into Waylands. However, the water there has been contained and I understand that both Kent Highways and the Highways Agency have been on site with suckers and tankers.

The Highways Agency was due to start work on the ditch and pipes that run from it on Thursday (post of 27 January). This work did commence, though so far it appears to have been limited to tree clearing. The ditch is now very full of water indeed, across a wider area and at a much higher level than I have seen before. With this depth of water, it is not clear how and when the works can be taken forward.

High water levels in the ditch

We also examined the A20 lagoon and found it to be at a worryingly high level. The Highways Agency installed a pump there yesterday, though thus did not appear to be running when we visited.

Residents have asked that the ditch be pumped out to stop the flow of water at its source. I have asked Kent Highways to do this, although it is not clear when the optimal time would be to carry out pumping.

This is now turning into a matter of enormous concern and frustration for residents. It appeared after our site visit that we had a way forward; we now need to establish whether we have simply seen our course of action delayed by the very severe downpours of the last couple of days, or whether that way forward is no longer valid. If the latter is the case, we urgently need another.

£2.5 million extra for potholes

Kent's roads have inevitably taken serious damage during the recent floods and heavy rainfall. In recent years, the County Council has launched 'find and fix' initiatives to tackle potholes as we emerge from winter. Now KCC has allocated an extra £2.5 million from reserves for an immediate programme of pothole repairs.

Kent Highways will aim to fix potholes rapidly once they are reported. The best thing to do is to report a pothole online. Details of how to do it, and of the detail of KCC's initiative, can be found in this press release.

Update on Swanley flooding

Residents in Pinks Hill and other neighbouring roads such as Waylands were once more affected by flooding overnight and into today. I visited the area again during the late morning to see the state of the problem.

On Friday afternoon, the Highways Agency told me that they had a gulley sucker on standby for the area, and I know that both HA and Kent Highways staff were in attendance during the night. Nonetheless, the impact on residents has still been severe.

More encouragingly, the HA also told me that everything was lined up for the planned works on the ditch and pipes that should drain the runoff from the A20 (see post of 27 January) to start next Thursday, 6 February.

Broom Hill: Inspector's decision goes against residents

Last year saw an appeal by the developers ProVision against Sevenoaks District Council's refusal of permission for four applications for between 20 and 61 houses on the Broom Hill site. Residents of. Beechenlea Lane were deeply concerned about the proposals, fearing a major impact in terms of traffic, noise and a change in the character of the area in which they live, often for many years. I worked with residents in support of their stance and spoke at the second leg of the Inquiry in October (posts of 24 February and 8 October).

Late last week, the Inspector handed down his verdict, which was solidly in favour of the developer's appeals on all four applications. This is a bitter disappointment to local people, who feel that they have lost out on everything. Reading the Inspector's Decisions, it is clear that the new National Planning Policy. Framework (NPPF) weighed heavily in the Inspector's thinking. So did the lack of formal protections on the land; it was taken out of Green Belt 20 years ago, though never with the intention on the part of Sevenoaks District Council of its being subject to residential development.

The full Decisions report can be found here.

Site meeting to tackle Pinks Hill flooding

In the latter part of last week, I had a phone call from a senior manager at the Highways Agency to discuss the problems on the High Firs estate, especially Pinks Hill (post of 19 January). He told me that the Highways Agency and contractors would be on site shortly to examine issues with the ditch that takes water runoff from the A20 to the lagoon nearby. We subsequently agreed that this could provide the basis for a site meeting involving the Highways Agency, KCC/ Kent Highways and local residents. That meeting, which I attended, took place this morning.

Contrary to my earlier belief, the lagoon appears to be working satisfactorily. Significant works were undertaken in 2009, adding a large borehole to enhance the runoff and soaking away of water; it is equipped for everything up to a 1 in 100 years storm. However, there are clearly significant problems with the ditch. Fencing surrounding the ditch is in poor condition and a great deal of debris has been dumped near the entrance to the pipe that takes the water to the lagoon. Result: the pipe has become blocked, water builds up near the pipe and entrance and then runs down the ditch to exit at its lowest point, near the common land where heavy flows of water have been observed.

The Highways Agency's contractor was on site as well this morning and will undertake extensive works on the pipe (as well as the course of the ditch itself, to prevent water overflowing at the point where it currently does). This should be within the next two weeks; I will update with another post. Over the longer term, there is need to confirm ownership of the fence (Kent Highways undertook to check this) and ensure that it is reinforced. This might not stop debris being dumped there, but it would surely help.

There are a number of other issues to be taken forward, including the buildup of water that has taken place rather higher up on the common ground; this appears to have contributed to the flooding then days ago, and there is still a lot of stagnant water there. Kent Highways undertook to examine its drainage network in the area to see if there is any linkage to this problem, and to examine a number of drainage issues related to individual properties.

Altogether, a very positive site meeting with clear actions coming out of it. I will post updates as and when we have further news, but hopefully this will offer some relief for residents. The most immediate concern is that the works cannot take place immediately, so that problems could recur with further heavy rain in the coming days. Kent Highways has undertaken to provide further flood sacks later today.

Salt bins in Swanley and South Darenth

I continue to fund a number of salt bins across the Darent Valley Division from my Member Highway Fund. Late last week, accompanied by a Kent Highways officer, I set out to resolve some details as to how best this should be done on sites in Swanley and South Darenth.

In Pinks Hill, I had agreed to fund a salt bin towards the lower end of the road, which is not as well served as the higher reaches and which includes a small turning area used by many families as a cut through on their way to High Firs School. The difficulty was that Highways officers could not locate a satisfactory site (not blocking the pavement, not killing grass, etc.) that was close to where residents wanted it to go. However, a brief site meeting with some local residents yielded a satisfactory compromise: the bin will move from its current location (close to the site of the recent and ongoing flooding) somewhat further down the road.

On to South Darenth, where a bin sited in Towers Wood (pictured) was positioned satisfactorily as far as some residents were concerned (and serves rather well residents in neighbouring Coopers Close). However, there was also a strong wish for the bin to be of more use at the top end of the road, near the approach to the garages. Another site meeting (by which time the rain was setting in), and we agreed that the existing bin will stay in place while a new one will be installed at the top of the road.

While in South Darenth, my Highways colleague and I took a look at the situation in New Road, which often suffers badly in snowy and icy conditions. The road is steep, but unlike East Hill, which runs in parallel to it, it is not classified as a secondary route. I have already funded one new bin, which has gone in near The Queen pub, but there remains a strong case for another bin closer to the junction with Horton Road - the difficulty being finding a space where it does not block the pavement. My Highways colleague and I found a possible space by a footpath, though that will require one of the older style, narrower bins. Hopefully this can be taken forward and this will be of help to residents of East Hill.