Resolved:      That the minutes of the meeting of the Sevenoaks Joint Transportation Board held on 15 June 2011 be approved and signed by the Chairman as a correct record subject to the following amendments:

(i)         Minute 2 - Declarations of Interest, being amended to reflect that it is Cllr. Gough’s wife who is the governor of the school;

(ii)        Minute 3 - Matters Arising/Updates, the deletion of the second sentence of the first paragraph; and

(iii)       Minute 7 – Proposed Traffic Regulation Order 2009, the insertion of a comma after the word ‘suggestions’ and the addition of the words ‘which would be funded by County Member Parry’s County Highways Fund.’

Cllr. Brazier declared a personal interest in minute item 4 as it was in his division and that he was called on occasion to advise the Cabinet Member for Environment, Highways and Waste in his capacity as his Deputy.

Cllr Edwards-Winser declared a personal interest in minute item 5 as a member of the affected Ward.

Cllr. Chard advised that he had not yet had the opportunity to speak with Ms. Squires regarding the petition for a pedestrian footway in Windmill Road, but that he thought it had been agreed that he would make a contribution from his Highway Allocations Budget.  However he had also understood that initially there needed to be an agreement with the landowner, followed by a draft scheme and assessment of costs, before funding was looked at.  Officers advised that talks with landowners could often take a couple of years to reach a conclusion and would speak to the County Member about funding.

Action:            Kent Highway Services (KHS) to investigate whether the proposal could be funded by the County Member’s Highway Allocations Budget.

Cllr. Mrs. Parkin thanked the Chairman for placing the presentation of the petition on the agenda and expressed her support for it. 

A representative of the parents and children of the school spoke on behalf of the petitioners.  He informed the Board that there was a great deal of concern regarding road safety around the school which was located on a busy country road which pedestrians had to cross to gain access to the school.  The school itself was in a 40mph zone only 350 yards from the 30mph zone within Fawkham Green itself.  There had been several accidents in the area and outside the school itself.  Campaigning for more road safety improvement features had been ongoing. The petitioners were aware that road traffic surveys had been carried out following an agreement in spring 2011 to look at reducing the speed to 30mph but no conclusions had been shared and nothing further had been heard.

He advised that another school in the area had stopped parking within the school playground, had a new crossing, road markings and a school crossing patroller.  In comparison their children were crossing an unmarked road with sweeping bends and a small straight where traffic often increased their speed.  The road also narrowed leaving drivers concentrating more on their passing space rather than their environment.  Just beyond the school entrance/exit there was an overgrown hedgerow obstructing sightlines, causing exiting traffic to pull out onto the wrong side of the junction to gain a better view, causing further problems.  The school’s lighting was frequently out of order or on the wrong timings and was often covered by tree growth.  Existing road markings and signage had faded.  Parking inside the school was limited which meant many parents parked on the road, adding to the congestion problems.  Many parents lived in Fawkham and walked their children to school with younger children and buggies which made it harder to cross the road.

In conclusion he requested that the speed limit be reduced to 20mph, at least during school-run hours, a pedestrian crossing be built, traffic calming be installed, that the existing signage be maintained and lighting left in good working order, that there be more significant road signage with no-stopping signs and zigzag road markings, and that the car parking issue be addressed.  The petition was presented to the Chairman.

Members advised that issues such as parking within the school premises and the funding for a school crossing patroller fell outside the scope of the Board and were issues for the school to address itself.

Action:            KHS to inspect the area and carry out any remedial works necessary to existing signage, road markings, lighting and hedgerows, and also fully investigate and report back to the next meeting on the issues raised.

The Senior Parking and Traffic Engineer (SDC) presented the report which requested Members to approve a traffic regulation order to introduce new parking restrictions in the Bubblestone Road, The Old Walk and The Butts areas of Otford.  He advised Members that requests for such measures had been received from local residents during the consultation exercise on the new parking restrictions implemented to control commuter parking in the Tudor Drive and Well Road areas.  He brought Members’ attention to the objections received and officers’ responses as detailed within the report. Some Members of the Board agreed that traffic had already been displaced to these sites since the introduction of the earlier measures.

A Member expressed his support for the scheme as a whole but queried whether a 10m all day no waiting restriction was enough on junction corners as he understood it should be 15m.  In response he was advised that the minimum requirement was 10m and that best practice was 15m and Members’ attention was drawn to the comments received from Kent Police (Appendix C to the report).  Members discussed the possible need to extend the length of the corner protection in certain areas, but concurred that as the emergency services were happy with the 10m restriction it would be better to review the situation once implemented.

Following a query as to where displacement parking would now occur, the Officer advised that it would lessen and spread over a wider area , hopefully encouraging more use of the station car park.  Displacement parking may occur around The Pond, station and possibly Leonard Road, and current restrictions in these areas may need to be reviewed as a result.  He confirmed that a review of the new restrictions, if agreed, would be carried out within a 6-12 month time period.

Resolved:      That the comments and objections to the changes in the on-street parking Traffic Regulation Order 2009 Amendment 22 be noted, and the officer      recommendations set out within the report be approved for implementation.

The size of Appendix C to the report was commented on and a suggestion made that further appendices of this length would be better kept electronically accessible rather than printed on paper.  County Members expressed concern on ease of access to the documents, but it was agreed in principle that for future reports large appendices should be made available on the website rather than printed in full.

The Kent Highway Schemes Manager introduced the report which sought Members approval to carry out a public consultation exercise on the draft Cycling Strategy.  He reminded Members that it was an objective of Kent’s Third Local Transport Plan (LTP3) for all districts to have a cycling strategy place by 2012. He advised that Sevenoaks had little existing cycling infrastructure and that most was for leisure rather than commuting purposes.

County Cllr. Brazier applauded the enthusiasm, knowledge and ingenuity of the Sevenoaks Cycling Forum which had helped get the Strategy to this stage.  The Working Group, made up of County Cllrs., District Cllrs. and the Forum had resulted in a spirited and thoughtful attempt to devise a strategy in a challenging environment.  He felt that on offer were the safest alternative routes available and he was excited to see what the public made of it.  Cllr. Chard thought it was exciting, pragmatic and practical, with a forewarning of the amount of work to be done after the consultation exercise.

Members welcomed the strategy making some general comments which included:

•           to note that Shoreham is a Parish not Town Council

•           keen not to create conflict with pedestrians

•           Halfords to be added to the list of cycle shops to be consulted.

•           the Parish Clerk at Shoreham was disappointed their comments were not included and were concerned with regards to footpath SL32 being turned into a cycle path

•           further clarification was needed, such as a map reference, to the areas identified within the questionnaire

Mr. J. Morrison from Sevenoaks Cycling Forum addressed the Board speaking in support of the strategy.  He was happy with the progress that had been made since the formation of the Working Group.  He advised that on the inspection visits, routes had been carefully and thoughtfully assessed and any that were too narrow did not go into the plan.  He was excited that the district would be benefitting from having been chosen as the  Paralympic Road Cycling venue and hoped to capitalise on that with regards to the promotion of cycling.  He thanked all Councillors and Officers involved with special thanks to Ms. R. Thomas (KHS).  Looking to the future there were areas still not covered, but he believed that most of the proposed schemes would be achievable with minimal cost.  There was no uniform definition of a cyclist as they ranged in skill, age and purpose so it was difficult to find a solution that suited everyone.  He was eager to engage the District Council further, particularly on matters of provision by development control within large planning developments, and the Community Development Team in wider scale issues such as health and obesity.

Resolved:      That the plan to carry out a full public consultation exercise on the Draft Sevenoaks Cycle Strategy and intended method of distribution, be approved.

Information items listed on the agenda and made available on the Committee

Management Information System were noted (CMIS). A further information item on ‘Winter Damage Repairs – Find & Fix and Surfacing Schemes’ was also received and noted.

In answer to a question from a member of the public, the KHS District Manager (Sevenoaks) replied that he hoped to bring a further report on pedestrian guard railings to the next meeting of the Board.

The KHS District Manager (Sevenoaks) advised that the new KHS staffing structure had just been made available. It was agreed that this should be circulated and considered at the next meeting.

Action: The new KHS staffing structure be circulated to all Members and considered at the next meeting of the Board.