Agenda and draft minutes

Introduction and welcome by Mr Mike Snelling, Chair of the Forum who introduced Officers and Members of the Forum present, and outlined the purpose of the Forum and discussion topics on each of the table.

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David went through the priorities for KHS in maintaining the roads that are outlined in the local transportation plan and targets set by Government and the Local Area Agreement e.g. to reduce road casualties these being safety, reducing congestion, improving accessibility, air quality. Also mentioned were KHS communication improvements that are planned. The main port of call for highways problems is the KHS contact centre and website. 08458 247800

www.kent.gov.uk/highways. Queries will be given a reference number and KHS will endeavour to respond to these.

There is a £10M budget for the whole of Kent for safety and improvement schemes.  Schemes are currently guided by the local transport plan priorities adopted by Kent. Proposals also need to satisfy Government that the money is being spent to fulfil these objectives. There is also a local prioritisation process used by Highways, known as PIPKIN. 

Stuart Alford of Gravesham Borough Council,

Briefly outlined what the section did in terms of road side verge maintenance that is contracted to GBC by KHS

Summary of table discussions

Discussion 1) Ray Dines - Highways schemes – what should the priorities be for deciding which works are carried out by KHS?

The tables felt that these should be the priorities for schemes

1) Safety

2) Accessability

3) Congestion

4) Air quality

Other points raised

Consultation and communication– KHS consult with Parish councils, police and community.

• Would like more with the Parish Council including local discussion formal and informal
• No single point of contact

Funding and decision making

• Would there be funding through the EU? Eg because of operation stack and lorries passing though Kent?

• Feel the rural area gets less for their money.
• Local budgets to pay for local needs and more local decision making
• Notice is taken of Petitions but more needs to be taken of PC’s

Discussion 2) Highways maintenance

General points were raised about Highways maintenance

• KHS should fulfil Promises
• Contractors need to be more closely supervised
• Potholes and drains – some repairs do not last
• Some take a long time before they are done – target of 1 month, but currently a back-log. Teams should use initiative and fill others in road at same time and use photos to identify rather than markings
• Marking of potholes does not work very well as lines get erased over the time it takes for work to be completed

Road re-surfacing

• Bluebell hill cited as good example of re-surfacing done over 48hours of closure. Needed a lot of parish consultation

Reporting faults

• Better reporting back needed when internet and used to report. There was generally a feeling that nothing happened when reporting to the internet etc.
• Works left for a long time undone

Utilities

• Permit system and penalties being introduced to reduce delay in completion
• Re-digging up of roads

Other specific issues raised

• Some roads in Fairseat are very poor
• Decisions on speed limits – who makes these?

There is a national review of speed limits on all roads. KHS has been tasked by government to review speed limits on roads over the next few years.

• Sole St/Cobham is a rat run/short cut – with speeding cars
• Use of Parish Plans – parish plans (e.g. Cobham) to help inform of priorities – these are not fed into KHS priorities at the moment
• Flooding in Sole Street – nothing has happened
• Southfield Shaw – Vigo/Culverstone – a crossing problem – needs a pavement on other side of road
• Heron Hill Lane – valley lane – quality of road
• Many people wanted to talk more about the A227 and discuss this more – many did not know of JTB decisions -  a lack of awareness of the JTB meeting. Problems with A227 including lorries and speeding traffic

Discussion 3) Grass verge maintenance

·      Flailing on Wrotham Road – Frequency not high enough

·      Sole Street – Debris left at edge of the road after land owners have cut the hedges and also detritus in road along paved sections – KHS dealing with debris from hedge cutting under  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

Q.Will next years budgets (for KCC and GBC) be adversely affected by credit crunch?

A.     yes, less interest from reserves etc, less fees from planning applications,

less money coming in from Council tax, less parking income are some of the impacts.

·         Public transport

·         Who does what in local government – a family tree

·         Green belt and conservation areas –the planning rules

31st March 2009 –Meopham secondary school