Minutes:
1. Miss Carey, Cabinet Member for Environment told the Committee that she sent a regular newsletter to Members on her work and that she had no further updates to add.
2. Mr Brazier, Cabinet Member for Highways and Transport provided an update on the following:
a) Mr Brazier had visited Chestfield tunnel on the A299 where LED lighting units were being installed which were more efficient and would contribute towards net-zero targets. In addition, the closure required for installation provided an opportunity to carry out remedial work on the highway. He told Members all works would be completed on the 5 July and road reopened by the 9 July.
b) He updated Members on the partial collapse of the highway at Galley Hill. Exploration of the site by engineers was still underway and legal teams had been heavily involved. A diversion had been put in place and Mr Brazier told Members that whilst it had caused some inconvenience it was working well.
c) There was a closure at Leeds near Maidstone as South East Water had to excavate B2163 to lay a new water supply. A diversion had been put in place and KCC was working with South East Water to ensure that unsuitable Heavy Good vehicles were not entering narrow rural roads.
d) He had been working with officers and London borough representatives on their opposition to the Mayor of London’s ULEZ scheme. He told Members that although KCC was not party to it, a judicial review into the scheme was being pursued.
e) A Public Consultation on the forthcoming Local Transport Plan was underway and a briefing session had been provided to all Members of the Council.
f) The second Tranche of KCC’s BSIP allocation funding had been received and plans for its use were being developed.
g) Mr Brazier had attended the launch of Kent Electric Vehicle Charge Point Network in Folkestone. He told Members that KCC had been working with provider Connected Kerb and a number of the district and borough councils. Over 300 charge points had been installed across Kent. KCC had received £12 million from central government to fund LEVI – Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure and work was still underway on how this funding would be used.
h) The Kent Travel Saver application window had opened. A new app had been put in place for applications. Customers needed to apply by the 13August to ensure they received their passes by first week of term.
3. Members asked Mr Brazier the following questions:
a) On the road at Galley Hill, a Member asked whether the Cabinet Member could confirm whether the road would be restored in the future and raised concerns over the financial situation of Thames Water, as a party responsible for the road. Mr Brazier responded that no decision had been made as to whether to close or restore the road. Mr Jones added that his team were exploring options for the site. He said that once the scale of the problem had been assessed, they could then propose solutions. Mr Jones told Members that the financial situation of Thames Water was a concern and whilst Thames Water and their insurers would remain the primary point of contact, KCC would also be liaising with Government in case Thames Water was brought into public ownership.
b) A Member praised Mr Brazier and the Highways team on their work at the Chestfield Tunnel and for taking local concerns into consideration when arranging the diversions. They asked whether residents could be engaged at the soonest possibility on the planned A299 Thanet Way work in order to accommodate for their concerns and make reasonable adjustments.
c) A Member asked if the Electric Vehicle pilot would extend to streets made up predominantly of terrace housing. Mr Brazier said that the funding was provided for installation in residential areas. He said installation of charging points on streets made up of terrace houses was difficult and an alternative solution may need to be found.
d) The Chairman asked whether contractors had power to divert vehicles, specifically whether they could send heavy goods vehicles along alternative diversions to prevent damage or congestion on narrow rural roads. Mr Brazier responded that the Highways team were working on a scheme to try and deter heavy vehicles from using certain diversions via signage. He told Members that there was difficulty enforcing this under existing legislation.
4. Mr Jones, Corporate Director for Growth, Environment and Transport provided an update on the below:
a) Mr Jones told Members that KCC had a number of consultations underway. The Local Transport Plan was launched 27 June 2023 and would run until the 18 September 2023, following which further plans would be drawn up and Members consulted. He confirmed that the Kent Street and Malling Road junction improvements, the Sevenoaks town centre walking, wheeling and cycling route, the Cheriton to Folkstone walking, wheeling and cycling route and the Lincoln crossroads on the A229 were all being consulted on. Lastly, there was also a Kent-wide cycling and walking infrastructure plan, which Mr Jones invited Members to comment on.
b) Members were told that National Highways and the Department for Transport were carrying out consultations. These were for the next road investment period the 2025-2030 period. Mr Jones explained that the Directorate would contact Members and had prepared a draft response which reiterated the existing priorities of the county.
c) He updated Members on Lower Thames Crossing, telling them that an investigation into the development consent order had commenced. All Members had been asked their views on this and were told that the examination would last 6 months. If approved, construction would start in 2026, with the new road and tunnel opened by 2032. His team had been preparing a local impact report as part of this process.
d) Other projects included the Longport-Canterbury active travel scheme which was in construction and had progressed well. The Directorate were also preparing for the Mount Field Park development which would provide a new junction arrangement for the A2 bridge alongside other road improvements. The Thanet Parkway station scheme was concluding and the station would open on the 31st of July to Southeastern services.
e) Mr Jones updated Members on routine maintenance, between April and June, confirming that 150,000 sq metres of road renewal had been delivered at a cost of £10.5 million. 450,000 sq metres of road preservation had also been carried out at a cost of £4.5 million. 6 new contractors had been appointed to fill potholes and since April and 17,600 potholes had been repaired for £2.2 million. In May a semi-automatic machine had been introduced to repair potholes and this had proved successful and a second machine had been acquired.
f) The Public Transport team had provided one of KCC’s redundant minibuses to Royal British Legion. Staff from the Fast-track team won an award for best paper demonstrating sustainable transport access at the 2023 Transport Practitioners meeting.
g) The Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) had been used to support the Big Weekend of free bus transport. It was too early to report the final uptick in journeys taken but it was estimated to be around 30% more than previous weekends.
h) Mr Jones reported that the waste management team had seen high volumes of waste collected in last few months. He told Members this may be due to the high number of public holidays. Contracts had been exchanged for the development of the Sevenoaks waste transfer station and construction had commenced. He told Members the site would provide sustainable waste disposal operations which accommodated future legislative changes.
i) Mr Jones praised the Highways First Football Team who got to the final of the Kent Community Cup.
Members asked the following questions to Mr Jones:
a) A Member raised concerns that during the Thanet Parkway scheme funding was spent developing a bus stop, but this would now only be used by replacement buses. He claimed this was a lack of strategic oversight by KCC. Mr Jones responded that 95% of operators across Kent were commercial operators and it is up to the individual companies to decide where they will run busses to and from.
b) A Member asked whether there would be an opportunity for a meeting between them and Corporate Director and what community engagement there would be on the Mount Fields site. Mr Jones responded that Section 106 agreement had been signed with the developer and it had identified what infrastructure was required. He told Members that much of this was pre-determined, but that the team would be happy to discuss what this means with the Member.
c) Mr Watkins commented that he’d recently attended the Transport for South East board meeting as KCC’s representative. He informed Members that the Department for Transport and National Highways confirmed at this meeting that they struggled with constrained budgets and that inflation over the last 3 years had made road building more expensive. Mr Jones added that they needed to engage with Government on road building and the role of the County Council in maintaining existing assets in lieu of new key infrastructure projects.
d) A Member asked how much had been spent on the free bus weekend and what the rationale behind it was. Mr Jones told Members it was part of a £19 million deal from Government to demonstrate the bus network in Kent and get people to interact with busses and make them consider travelling by bus in the future. The Member responded that they were concerned by this use of funding when bus services were being reduced. Mr Jones responded that aimed to restimulate ridership and to prevent further service deductions in the future they had to focus on ensuring that routes were commercially attractive.
RESOLVED to note the updates.