Reconnect bus pass for a second summer

Children and young people across Kent, along with their families, will have access to free bus travel across the county this summer - thanks to the county’s bus companies as part of the Reconnect programme developed by Kent County Council.

The passes will be available - for most students, via their school or college - to all students in Years 6 to 13. Family passes, for up to four family members, will be available for at least one child and one adult travelling together. For both, the period of free travel will be from 23 July to 31 August, and will cover Arriva and Stagecoach services, along with other services that KCC subsidises.

The Reconnect programme, launched last year and continuing through the 2022 summer holidays, was developed by KCC, guided by the ideas and views of the county’s young people, to enable them to take up social and educational opportunities after the disruptions of the pandemic.

You can find more details of the scheme in this KCC media release.

Asylum seeking children: a better situation

In May, Kent County Council took 158 Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children (UASC) into our care, the highest monthly figure since 2015. Since last autumn, monthly figures have been regularly high - little surprise given the overall high levels of asylum arrivals via small boats across the Channel. Yet this does not represent the crisis that it did in previous years.

As I was able to explain in interviews on both Radio Kent and BBC South East News today, the position has been transformed by the effective operation of the National Transfer System (NTS) for unaccompanied young asylum seekers. Last September, Kent County Council agreed a protocol with government for us to operate a Safe Care and Reception Service, providing initial support and care for some 120 UASC before their transfer to other local authorities, on top of our having 242 UASC (the 0.07% of our young people population that represents the recommended cap set out in the provisions of the 2016 Immigration Act). Beyond this limit, any young people are transferred to other local authorities under the NTS. And late last year, government agreed to our long-urged argument that the operation of the NTS should be made mandatory. 

Since September 2021, some 679 UASC have been transferred to other local authorities. The result is that, unlike the circumstances of 2020 and 2021, Kent’s services are not being overwhelmed. This represents real progress, and reflects our effective work with government and the willingness of many of our local government colleagues to step up to the plate and address what is a national hand international) issue.

We will be bringing a paper to our public Cabinet meeting on Thursday which makes clear that there are many serious challenges concerning migration and asylum, including the operation of the Afghan schemes and the government’s proposals for adult asylum dispersal. But in the area of UASC at least, some genuine progress has been made, to the benefit of Kent’s residents and services, as well as the young people claiming asylum.

Wested Lane closure in June

Wested Lane in Crockenhill will, once more, be closed - for some 8 days starting on 15 June - to accommodate Network Rail works to stabilise the cutting on either side of the railway bridge. The closure will be 24/7; our Streetworks team did raise questions over the need for this, but I understand that plant and materials are to be stored securely on the road overnight and that this is the basis for the closure.

The diversion route is to be along Eynsford Road, Main Road and into Swanley via Green Court Road/ Goldsel Road.

Lullingstone and the Ancient Canopy

Lullingstone Country Park has been chosen as one of the 70 ancient woodlands and 70 ancient trees that will make up the Ancient Canopy, part of The Queen’s Green Canopy, the network of tree planting to commemorate the Platinum Jubilee. 

Lullingstone’s veteran and ancient trees are well known locally, and the park itself is widely recognised as one of the jewels among Kent County Council’s country parks, but this is wonderful national recognition. You can find KCC’s media release here. We will be releasing more about our support for Kent’s celebration of the Platinum Jubilee in the coming days.

New Waste & Recycling Centre opens at Allington

KCC’s new Household Waste Recycling Centre (HWRC) at Allington near Maidstone opens to the public today. This is the nineteenth HWRC in KCC’s network and is highly energy efficient and environmentally advanced. It is next to our existing Energy from Waste plant, which along with high recycling rates, ensures that only an irreducibly tiny amount of Kent’s waste goes to landfill. 

Susan Carey, Cabinet Member for Environment and I, along with KCC Chairman Lesley Game, a number of councillors and council officers, joined representatives of FCC Environment, our partners in developing and operating the Centre (as well as the neighbouring Energy from Waste centre) to visit and formally open the Allington HWRC. 

Allington is a valuable addition to waste disposal and recycling in Kent. You can find details of the Centre, and how to book an appointment, here.

Plan Bee and No Mow May

KCC is promoting No Mow May, inviting residents to enter a pledge on our website to let flowers bloom and habitats that support pollinators develop. You can find our media release about No Mow May here.

We are applying this approach to parts of our own land, in particular to highway verges, where our programme of cuts (varied according to rural, urban and swathe cutting) is calibrated to assist biodiversity. All this is part of our pollinator action plan, also known as Plan Bee - and yes, that does mean that we have Bee Roads … 

You can find more about Plan Bee, and our approach to highway verges, here 

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.