Minute 124. Corner Protection (Yellow Lines) at the junction of Cob

Drive and Forge Lane - Requested by Cllr Bob Lane

An update was received from Cllr Bob Lane; the informal consultation carried out by Shorne Parish Council received 24 responses (23 in favour, one neutral, none opposed). On 30th May 2020 KCC wrote to confirm that they will now proceed with the TRO request and formal Consultation process.

The Parking Services Manager informed Members that the matter had been progressed and KCC were due to start the formal consultation  in the next 2-3 weeks..

With the agreement of the Chair, Cllr Leslie Hills asked that yellow lines be added to the junctions on Havisham Road, Chalk Road, Vicarage Lane and Lower Higham Road.

Cllr Leslie Hills advised that he had already spoken about funding with his KCC Councillor for Chalk, Cllr Alan Ridgers, but he was already in the process of funding a speed test in Lower Higham Road which would commence once Covid-19 was over.

The District Manager – Gravesham (KCC) noted the requests and agreed to provide an update at the next Committee meeting.

Cllr Bryan Sweetland advised that he was still waiting for the extension of the yellow lines at the junction of Northumberland Road and Brookside Road in Istead Rise.

The District Manager – Gravesham (KCC) advised that the action was with the contractors and he agreed to provide Cllr Bryan Sweetland with a date for when that would be completed.

Minute 127. The Hill, Northfleet - Speeding issues and Accidents -

Requested by Cllr Peter Scollard

The District Manager – Gravesham (KCC) advised that he had no update concerning the Hill as Emma Green, the Schemes and Planning Manager had recently left her position at Kent Highways. The team had been looking at increasing the lining and signage along the Hill though and the District Manager – Gravesham (KCC) explained to the Chair that the automatic traffic counts carried out monitoring of the level of traffic in the area and took speed surveys to see what times of the day were busiest which then informed the team of trends/patterns.

The District Manager – Gravesham (KCC) promised to come back to the Committee with an answer of when the traffic count surveys would be completed. 

Minute 147. Highways Works Programme 2019/20 onwards

(Information only)

The District Manager – Gravesham (KCC) agreed to inquire about the proposed cycle lane between Meopham and Istead Rise and provide an update to the Committee.

Minute 148. Any Other Business which by reason of special circumstances the Chair is of the opinion should be considered as a matter of urgency

Whitehill Traffic Issues – raised by Cllr Tony Rana

The District Manager – Gravesham (KCC) assured Cllr Tony Rana that a site visit would be arranged in line with Government guidance of a group less than six people; with regards to the statistics they went directly to Cllr Marsh but he would attain them for the Committee.

159.      Gravesham Highway Forward Works Programme - 2019/20         onwards

The Committee were provided with the Gravesham Highway Forward Works Programme – 2019/20 which provided Members with an update on the identified schemes approved for construction.

The District Manager – Gravesham (KCC) highlighted key points from various sections within the report.

Machine Resurfacing

Cllr Lauren Sullivan requested an update on the provision of the three roads that were highlighted by Members that needed urgent servicing especially St Marks Avenue and Haynes Road.

The District Manager – Gravesham (KCC) advised that the three roads were submitted to the unfunded list of works; authorisation to spend had not been given yet and the team were waiting on a Council meeting to find out what was happening to the budget for that list and where it would be allocated.

Externally Funded Schemes

Cllr Bryan Sweetland further added that three Councillors put their names towards the proposed cycle path down the A227 and improving access for cyclists at the roundabout which received full backing from Cyclo Park.

The District Manager – Gravesham (KCC) advised that it was Tim Reeds team who made the decision but he would find out if the proposed cycle path had been included.

Cllr John Burden advised that when the budget came forward, all Boroughs and Districts were asked by KCC to put forward roads that needed short term and long term work or they would lose any potential funding. GBC put forward the east/west and north/south cycle/foot path connections which would have linked the Town Centre to Cyclo Park and Meopham to Istead Rise.

The District Manager – Gravesham (KCC) agreed to look into the second tranche of funding for projects and report back to the Committee.

Old Road East

There was an unresolved issue brought by Mrs Pannell about speeding vehicles in old road east, the Chair had previously offered to pay for speed checks and requested an update.

Minute 124. Corner Protection (Yellow Lines) at the junction of Cob Drive and Forge Lane - Requested by Cllr Bob Lane

The Schemes Project Manager (KCC) advised that the consultation was due to be advertised on the 11 December 2020 and would be live for six weeks; following the consultation any objections would be reviewed.

Cllr Leslie Hills requested an update on the yellow lines that were to be added to the junctions on Havisham Road, Chalk Road, Vicarage Lane and Lower Higham Road, parking on junctions in Chalk as well as the results of the speed test that was carried out in Lower Higham Road.

The Schemes Project Manager (KCC) explained the following in response:

·         The results of the Automatic Traffic Counter Survey on Lower Higham Road were emailed to Cllr Marsh, Cllr Ridgers and Cllr Lane at their request; they can be emailed to Cllr Hills after the meeting

·         With regard to vehicles parking on junction in Chalk, officers had previously carried out site visits to the area to monitor parking and investigate all complaints. Another visit was due to be carried out before Christmas and the Schemes Project Manager (KCC) added that any evidence of illegal/nuisance parking would be very helpful to the team. Cllr Hills agreed to forward evidence of nuisance parking/parking obstructions to the Schemes Project Manager (KCC)

On a more positive note, Cllr Sweetland was happy to report that yellow lines had been placed on Northumberland Road in Istead Rise.

Minute 127. The Hill, Northfleet - Speeding issues and Accidents - Requested by Cllr Peter Scollard

The Schemes Project Manager had previously discussed the traffic counter surveys results with Cllr Sullivan at a previous meeting; the Schemes Project Manager (KCC) agreed to chase the results of the survey and report them to the next Board meeting.

Minute 148. Any Other Business which by reason of special circumstances the Chair is of the opinion should be considered as a matter of urgency

Whitehill Traffic Issues – raised by Cllr Tony Rana

Cllr Rana requested that the results of the recording device placed on Whitehill Road to monitor traffic levels be reported to the Board.

The District Manager – Gravesham (KCC) had not received any results.

The Board were dismayed that there were no results to report to the Board and expressed concern that things were not being progressed as previously assured.

In response to further questions, the District Manager – Gravesham (KCC) advised that:

• He sat on the KCC Board for the Lower Thames Crossing and they had created a project group; the team that completed the traffic recordings were slow in their responses to the team but the District Manager – Gravesham (KCC) would raise the issue with them during the next project group meeting
• The minutes of the site visit meeting with Cllr Rana were shared with KCC Members by the Schemes Project Manager (KCC)
• The team had received no additional funding for this financial year and the budget allocations for the next financial year were not currently known. However a small sum of money was being allocated to districts in February to fix potholes during February to April 2021

The Schemes Project Manager (KCC) added that the minutes of the Cllr Rana meeting could also be shared with Gravesham Members; it was further explained that meetings with Parish Councils had also been held to address issues raised previously. The Schemes Project Manager (KCC) advised that she was happy to have meetings with any Gravesham Councillor’s about any transport issues that they may have.

The Chair thanked the Schemes Project Manager (KCC) for her response and asked the Committee & Scrutiny Assistant to circulate details of the District Manager – Gravesham (KCC) and the Schemes Project Manager (KCC) to all Members.

Minute 150. Highways Works Programme 2019/20 onwards (Information only) Bus Hub at Garrick Street

The District Manager – Gravesham (KCC) informed the Board he was awaiting the last details of the final consolation for the Bus Hub but he had put it forward to include taxis. Further details and the outcome of the consultation would be brought to a future meeting of the Gravesham Joint Transportation Board.

The Parking Services Manager (GBC) requested a discussion on taxis with the District Manager – Gravesham (KCC) after the meeting. If taxis were allowed to drive through the bus gate then a white list of approved registered taxis would need to be created to ensure they could pass through the ANPR camera.

Minute 159. Gravesham Highway Forward Works Programme - 2019/20 onwards

Church Path/South Kent Avenue Lights

The Chair reported an issue with the street lights on Church Path in Northfleet and asked that the power box on South Kent Avenue have its repairs completed as it was still currently broken and lying on the ground.

The District Manager – Gravesham (KCC) advised that the Street Lighting Team replaced the fuses in the lights and Church Path was now fully lit; the District Manager – Gravesham (KCC) agreed to check on the power box repairs on South Kent Avenue.

No Entry Sign – Stone Street

Cllr Hills requested an update on the ‘No Entry’ sign where vehicles exited Stone Street.

The District Manager – Gravesham (KCC) explained that the team had looked at the site   and redid the road lining to make the wording more visible to drivers. The sign itself could not be made any bigger due to wind loading on the column however a new sign had been designed to be erected onto Stone Street which outlined the new road layout and showed the location of the dead end to drivers. The District Manager – Gravesham (KCC) hoped the new sign wold resolve the situation and agreed to share the design with Cllr Hills.