Shoreham traffic issues: looking for ways forward

Last week I chaired a meeting, organised by the Shoreham Society and with strong involvement from the Parish Council, on traffic issues in the village. There are long-running concerns about on-street parking and consequent blockage of roads at the heart of the village - especially High Street and parts of Church Street - and a number of key issues and actions were identified during a walk of the village in 2012. These also included a lack of clear identification to drivers at the edge of the village that they are coming into a residential environment.

It has been possible to take action in response to some of these issues. We have run speed and traffic checks at various points in the village, yielding valuable information (broadly speaking - and unsurprisingly - traffic speeds at the edges of the village are at higher levels than would enable a 20 mph zone to be implemented, but they are much lower in the High Street). While full village gateways were eventually rejected, red high friction surfacing and road markings were introduced at the approaches to the village.

Not all the traffic issues come within the County Council's remit; some will, for example, require action by the Parish Council. However, a number of potential ways forward were identified at the meeting:

• I will pursue actively the possibilities for a footpath to the station. This was in any case on my list of projects for consideration, though awaiting adequate money becoming available within my Combined Member Fund

• I will pursue the possibilities of a limited 20 mph zone within the heart of the village

• The Parish Council to continue to examine sites for extra parking, including controversial possibilities such as land near the allotments

• There was strong interest in strategic use of yellow lines to create passing places in Church Street and High Street. There was also renewed support for looking at yellow lines around the George bend. (Any yellow lines that are implemented will have to be of a design compatible with a conservation area; on which subject, Kent Highways have promised me to tackle the long-running 'wrong sort of yellow lines' at Crown Road).

It was a very productive meeting. Doubtless, as proposals are brought forward, there will be less consensus and harmony than was then apparent. But it gives us quite a lot to work with.

Bower Lane potholes

I have to declare an interest on this one, since I am a fairly frequent user of Bower Lane, but the potholes in the road are a significant problem for local residents, and have been for a while. There are a number of concentrations of problems, especially towards the East Hill end of the road.

Speaking to Kent Highways officers today, I understand that works will be carried out to tackle the problem as part of the spring assault on potholes. It is likely to be a quite costly and demanding job, with some need for a road closure. This work will have to wait for better weather and the best timing for a closure, so in the interim we are likely to see some patching as a very short-term fix. Good news nonetheless.

More encouraging news from local schools

In the latter part of last year, I visited six of the seven schools (all primary schools) in Darent Valley. At that time, High Firs had recently improved its Ofsted rating from 'Requires Improvement' to 'Good', while just before Christmas Shoreham Village School (which fell into Special Measures in late 2013) had a remarkably encouraging Ofsted monitoring report.

I also expressed the hope that Horton Kirby was on its way to achieving a 'Good' rating in its next Ofsted inspection. That inspection took place last month, and the school was indeed rated 'Good', with a strongly favourable Ofsted report. Congratulations are due to head teacher Glenn Pollard, governors, staff and pupils for a great result.

I recently visited the one local school that I had missed out in the autumn, St. Paul's Church of England Primary School in Swanley Village. The school, previously rated 'Good', fell to 'Requires Improvement' early last year and was under interim leadership last autumn. The new head, Anne Costidell, arrived at the start of the New Year; we met briefly at a KCC event to welcome new head teachers when she was days into the role, but it clearly made sense to leave a full visit until a little later. That took place at the end of last week, and both my conversation with the head and a tour of lively and bustling classrooms left me with a very favourable impression. There is good reason to believe that, in this local school too, we are seeing real progress. 

Report to Crockenhill Annual Parish Meeting

Thursday evening saw the Crockenhill Annual Parish meeting - a little earlier than its usual April date. As usual, I gave my report on the year's work.

One of the main topics I addressed was the ongoing effort to tackle speeding and safety issues in the heart of the village, in particular at the Broadway/Cray Road/Main Road junction. I have been working on a set of measures to be paid for from my Combined Member Fund.

High friction surfacing and an interactive sign were introduced back in spring 2013, and we have been seeking to put in additional measures since then. However, the difficulty has been that many of the possible measures would require road closures that would cause unacceptable disruption to the village. In particular, this would apply to the sort of measures needed to support a 20mph zone, which villagers and parish councillors would very much like to see.

So, despite a lot of work involving the parish council, Kent Highways and me, it has been a somewhat frustrating year. However, having undertaken speed surveys in the area, we are now looking at a range of measures that would include changes to parking and use of so-called 'virtual humps', as well as village signs. There are still some details to be agreed, but we are now close to being able to take these forward. In particular, it should be possibke to go straight out to consultation on the proposed yellow lines.

In addition, there were messures to tackle speeding as traffic comes down to Broadway from Green Court Road that do not require a road closure, including safety fencing by the village green to highlight that pedestrians are approaching a road crossing. This was – after a number of contractor delays – installed around the turn of the year, with a wobbly post set to be fixed during the last few days.

Additional works for which orders have been raised and which should be carried out in the near future include a SLOW sign in the road, improvements to signage and a refreshing of lines in the road around the junction.

Salt bin for New Road

A long-running saga has finally come to a satisfactory end. I reported over a year ago that I hoped to install a second salt bin, paid for from my Combined Member Fund, in New Road, South Darenth. I had already had one installed near The Queen pub, which is certainly useful for the middle to higher sections of the road. However, the lower sections approaching the Horton Road junction were not covered by this, and residents had quite rightly raised the issue.

The difficulty was finding a site where the bin would not block a pavement, and last year a Highways engineer and I visited and agreed that we would try to install an older, smaller bin in a passageway leading off the northern side of the road. However, the installation did not take place and it emerged that we no longer have the smaller bins that could fit on the site without creating an obstruction. Since some of our Highways staff had changed in the meantime, there was a certain amount of revisiting the issue needed to that New Road needed two salt bins rather than just the one.

One of our Highways officers came up with the creative suggestion of approaching H&V Building Services to ask their agreement to install the bin at the front of their premises. I am very grateful to H&V for agreeing to this.

So, as the picture shows, the bin is now installed - at the tail end of this winter, but now there for future cold spells.