Shoreham: fixing the leak and the pothole

Residents of Shoreham will be aware of the closure in High Street that started today. The closure, which is at number 74, is to enable Thames Water to carry out water pipe repairs. The closure is scheduled for up to seven days, but it is to be hoped that the work will be completed much more quickly than that and the resulting water leak stopped. 

Residents have raised the issue of the nearby pothole with me. Kent Highways carried out a short-term repair on 28 March but this did not last because of the water leak. Highways officers plan to go back in and carry out a lasting fix to the pothole once the Thames Water works are completed. 

Bus changes and consultation

Commercial bus operators - in Kent, as across the country - are carrying out reductions in services, reflecting the severe pressures faced by the sector: higher costs (notably fuel prices), labour shortages and a decline in use since the pandemic (customer journeys are still running at only about 70% of pre-pandemic levels). Many of these changes are taking place this month, others taking effect in June.

These are entirely separate from Kent County Council’s consultation on reducing support for subsidised bus routes by £2m this year (though understandably the two developments are sometimes confused). This was a proposal that we came to exceptionally reluctantly as part of a very difficult budget agreed by County Council in February. 

These are currently very much proposals, on which a full consultation has been undertaken pending any decision. There are a couple of days left in the consultation; you can find the consultation here

The main impacts of these changes in Sevenoaks North and Darent Valley are to the Arriva 477 Orpington to Bluewater service (commercial change): the service will terminate in Dartford, no longer serving Bluewater or Darent Valley hospital, while the Sunday service between Swanley and Bluewater will be withdrawn. In the case of the KCC proposals regarding subsidised bus routes, the main effect will relate to the Kent Karrier services across Sevenoaks (as elsewhere in Kent), while the S11 Wilmington to Sevenoaks Go Coach service will be withdrawn, though much of this school focused service will be taken up by related routes such as the S10, S12 and S13.

It is confusing to hear that, at the same time, Kent County Council has been awarded £35 million (over the theee years 2022-23 to 2024-25) in support of our Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP), drawn up as required in response to the government’s National Bus Strategy. We submitted our BSIP on time in October, and have only just had the response from the Department for Transport; we had to make other decisions in the absence of this information.

The good news is that - unlike many authorities across the country - we did receive funding. The more complicated news is that about two-thirds of the funding - £24 million - has to be committed to capital schemes, such as bus priority schemes and, in more forward-looking fashion, support for the development of initiatives such as transport integration through Mobility as a Service (MaaS). The revenue element cannot be used to sustain existing services, though it may support development of additional services after October. So, while the BSIP funding is undoubtedly good news, it does not resolve the more immediate dilemmas. We are on a tight deadline to respond to the BSIP funding package, and will announce the outcome of this as soon as possible.

Seal speed limit reductions: consultation begins

Consultation begins today on speed limit changes in Seal. Both address long-running issues on which I have worked with the Parish Council and Kent Highways over several years.

The first proposes to reduce the anomalous 40mph on the A25 Seal Road to 30mph in accordance with the rest of that section of the A25 (this also affects Ash Platt Road and Highlands Park). Secondly, it is proposed to reduce the speed limit on the area of Childsbridge Lane between Seal and Kemsing from National Speed Limit (60 mph) to 40 mph. 

The consultation on this Traffic Regulation Order (with documents on public deposit) starts today and will conclude on Monday 2 May at 12 noon. Representations can be made via the website or by writing to The TRO Co-ordinator, Schemes Planning & Delivery Team, Highways, Transportation & Waste, Kent County Council, Ashford Highway Depot, Henwood Industrial Estate, Javelin Way, Ashford, TN24 8AD.

Hosting Lord Deben: Kent and Climate Change

Earlier in the week - and it has been a long and busy one - we at KCC hosted Lord Deben (formerly the Cabinet Minister John Gummer), chairman of the government’s Climate Change Committee, on a visit to Kent. 

The Climate Change Committee performs an advisory and monitoring role in relation to the government’s environmental mitigation and adaptation policies. Lord Deben, members of the Committee and their advisers wanted to see how different parts of the country are developing climate change policies (both to achieve net zero and to mitigate the effects of climate change) and Kent was high on their list. 

Lord Deben and his team spent a very long day in the county, starting with flood prevention and other adaptation initiatives in Margate (including the ‘Cool Towns’ project, which uses tree pits and tree planting to both manage flood risk and cool high temperatures), a discussion with students at Herne Bay High school, meeting local leaders in Kings Hill - and then, I’m pleased to say, a visit to Darent Valley itself. This was at Preston Farm in Shoreham, where with the support of the Kent Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, flood and drought management schemes on the Darent are also supporting better biodiversity. We ended the day with a discussion with many of the businesses, voluntary groups and others working to address environmental issues at Chatham Dockyard. 

The day was not simply a chance - important as it was - to showcase Kent’s environmental initiatives; a major focus of the day (and a key reason for the Climate Change Committee to get out of London and see work in localities across the country) was to highlight the obstacles to delivery. These included major gaps in the planning system (an important consideration in a county that has seen some of the fastest housing growth in the country), uncertainty over how future initiatives will be funded (an especially important consideration for the AONB, which has historically benefited from EU funding streams) and the challenges, highlighted in an important report for KCC and its partners by the expert consultants Anthesis, of delivering net zero in the household sector. 

The day seems to have been of great value to Lord Deben and his team, and gives us in Kent the chance to build a long-term and valuable working relationship with the Climate Change Committee.

KCC response to the Ukraine crisis

The last few days have seen strong interest in how councils respond to the horrendous events in Ukraine, and to President Putin’s aggression against that country. Over the last weekend, I asked our most senior officers to review all our operations and supply chain, both at the level of KCC and of our companies, to ensure that there was no exposure to Russian entities linked to the current regime. 

There is very little such linkage, but in the case of our energy buying company Laser (which acts on behalf of many public sector organisations) one framework does include the Russian energy giant Gazprom. This has now been suspended from the framework and will not be taking part in future  transactions. 

This review goes alongside a number of measures that we are taking to express our solidarity with Ukraine (the country’s flag now flies over County Hall) and to ensure that the County Council and its services are as protected as possible from the spillover effects of the conflict, ranging from potential cyber attacks to the financial impact of yet higher energy costs. You can find our press release about this here. 

Brompton Bicycle investment: good news for Ashford and for Kent

Brompton Bicycle, the UK’s largest bicycle manufacturer, announced this morning its commitment to a new factory and HQ in Ashford, with investment of £100 million and 4,000 jobs. Ashford overcame strong competition from other parts of the country and demonstrated its appeal - and that of Kent - as a place to invest and do business. 

Brampton’s plans - subject to planning approval by Ashford Borough Council - should take effect in 2027. In addition to its economic impact, the scheme promises major innovation and environmental benefit. Sited on a 100 acre floodplain near the International Station and the Designer Outlet, the factory will enable restoration of wetland and development of a public nature reserve and cycle way.

You can find KCC’s response, including my statement, on Facebook here. We are delighted at this investment, and this reflects the commitment and vision of Brompton and close work between Ashford Borough Council, Kent County Council and inward investment body Locate in Kent. More detail can be found on Ashford For Investment.

SEND transport changes: an apology, and information for families

Kent County Council is introducing changes to the transport arrangements for children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) from the start of next week (Monday 21 February). These changes, which will affect routes, transport and travel with other children, reflect the rapid growth in SEND children requiring transport and a severe shortage of drivers.

However, the process of allocating transport to SEND children has taken longer than had originally been anticipated and a significant number of parents were not informed of their child’s new transport arrangements by the promised date of the end of term (last Friday, 11 February). This has, naturally, caused huge anxiety to these families. 

We recognise that this is an utterly unacceptable position for these families to be put in. Councillors and officers have sought this week to secure transport for many of the affected families, and communication has been through email and a dedicated phone line to seek to keep all parents as informed as possible as to the latest position and the arrangements for their child. KCC has also worked with Kent PACT (Parents and Carers Together, the forum for SEND families), who have sought to help and communicate with rightly distressed parents.

This KCC statement sets out the details of how parents can get more information and, quite rightly, apologises fully for the distress and anxiety that families have experienced. We will review in full how this happened, but the immediate priority is to resolve the uncertainty over transport for many SEND families.