To agree the Minutes of the meeting of the Board held on 8 December 2015, as a correct record

Resolved: That subject to Minute 25 (c) being amended to read ‘7.30 a.m.’ and ‘8.30 a.m.’ rather than 7am and 8am, the minutes of the meeting held on 8 December 2015, be approved and signed by the Chairman as a correct record.

Councillor Esler declared in relation to Agenda Item 4 ‘To receive any petitions’, that she was a resident of a neighbouring street to Springshaw Close, Bessels Green.

The actions were noted.  Action 2 was to remain on the agenda as the local County Councillor was still awaiting some further information.

Members referred back to the minutes of the previous meeting, and Minute 25 (c).  The local member, believed that the minute had not been interpreted correctly and as a result the TRO that had been issued was not correct and left part of the road without parking restrictions.  The Chairman asked Officers whether it could be amended or required a new separate TRO in order to rectify the situation.  The Board was advised that a new TRO and therefore further consultation would be required in order to put single yellow lines in the remaining area not covered by parking restrictions on the north side Bubblestone Road, east of Sevenoaks Road.

Resolved:  That Officers progress a formal (statutory) consultation on the remaining part of the north side Bubblestone Road, east of Sevenoaks Road not covered by parking restrictions, exact area to be identified with the local member, for single yellow lines prohibiting parking between 7.30 a.m. and 8.30 a.m.

·         Presentation of a petition by residents of Springshaw Close, Bessels Green concerning parking restrictions.

·         Presentation of a petition by White Hart Residents Association concerning parking restrictions.

a)           Presentation of petition by residents of Springshaw Close, Bessels Green concerning parking restrictions

A resident and representative of other residents of Springshaw Close, presented a petition with 17 signatories, requesting the introduction of parking restrictions to address problems caused by weekday parking.  Vehicles were parking close to the top of the junction with the A25 making it potentially dangerous to turn into the road and reducing visibility on leaving.  There were also issues caused by vehicles parking on both sides of the road causing access problems for delivery vans and refuse freighters and therefore potentially emergency vehicles.  Cars were also parking on pavements.  It was a cul de sac with many young children living there and the parked cars were causing safety concerns with regards to crossing the road.  At the moment there were some builder’s vans from works being carried out, but that was temporary and the main issue was commuter parking some of which was only temporarily displaced by the vans at the moment.  In response to a question, he suggested to the Board having double yellow lines at the top of the junction and some weekday parking restrictions. 

Resolved:  That

a)     a meeting be arranged with the residents, local Members (to include Parish Council and County Councillor) and Officers to look at the road and discuss solutions; and

b)     subject to the outcome of the meeting, if proposals were not complex, Officers to be authorised to proceed to informal consultation and a report brought back to the next meeting.

b)           Presentation of a petition by White Hart Residents Association concerning parking restrictions

A resident and representative of residents of The Rise, Sevenoaks, presented a petition requesting restrictive parking measure similar to Turner’s Gardens at the Tonbridge Road end of The Rise covering the lower half of The Rise.  A paper detailing the issues and a suggested solution was tabled.

Chief Officer Environmental & Operational Services, commented that there were complaints that there was not enough commuter parking and restrictions may just displace parking.  He alerted the Board to the additional long stay car parking proposals at Bradbourne.

It was confirmed that Sevenoaks Town Council had not been approached. 

Resolved:  That

a)     the petition be brought to the attention of Sevenoaks Town Council to see if they would support the residents proposals; and

b)     the local county member liaise with STC , KCC and SDC Officers

The Parking Manager presented a report which gave consideration to the results of the informal consultations on parking proposals for Cedar Terrace Road, Hollybush Recreation Ground and Hollybush Close in Sevenoaks and for Chevening Road and Church Road in Sundridge requested by local representatives.

A local members, Cllr. Purves, addressed the Board and requested that the whole area surrounding Cedar Road needed to be looked at collectively

Resolved:  That

a)     Cllr. Purves, a Sevenoaks Town Council representative, County Councillor Crabtree and Officers look collectively at Cedar Terrace Road and all the roads in that surrounding area;

b)     i) the results of the informal consultation on the proposals for       Hollybush Recreation Ground car parks and access roads          detailed in Appendices 2A and 2B be noted;

ii)it be noted that, since the car parks and access roads fall under the jurisdiction of Sevenoaks District Council, the      decision on whether to progress the proposals to a formal    (statutory) consultation would be taken by Sevenoaks District     Council;

iii)a formal (statutory) consultation be progressed concurrently with (i) above, for the introduction of a Restricted Zone (no parking at any time) in the block paved area in Hollybush Close (fronting nos. 1-6), as detailed in Appendices 2A and 2B of the report, and only taken forward if (i) above is.

c)     the proposed “dual use” parking bays for Chevening Road and Church Road not be progressed to a formal (statutory) consultation; and

d)     Kent County Council officers be asked to investigate whether there is a requirement for them to introduce the proposed double yellow lines on the east side of Church Road at the junction with the A25, and if so a formal (statutory) consultation be progressed for this proposal following consultation with the local County Councillor on the extent.

The Sevenoaks District Manager (KCC) reported the following to the Board:

Streetlighting project update

Kent County Council had recently awarded the Contract, (to Bouygues E & S Infrastructure UK Ltd), to convert all of its street lights to Light Emitting Diode (LED) technology. The work would involve changing the lantern on the existing column to LED technology and would start in March 2016. When combined with a Central Management System (CMS) it would be possible to monitor energy use, detect faults, dim lights and control the time that the lights turned on and off.

At the Extraordinary meeting of Kent County Council’s Environment & Transport Cabinet Committee on the 12 February 2016, a decision to return to optimised all night lighting was endorsed. The KCC Cabinet Member for Environment and Transport would be signing off a new street light policy based on the endorsement in preparation of the first lantern being installed. (As required under contract, Bouygues will be designing each individual street with LED’s, and will have to work within the restrictions of current column locations, heights and conflict zones that may exist (e.g. trees, roundabouts and junctions).  Part of the design would include an evaluation of an appropriate optimal illumination level within the individual street).

The new policy would come into force once the individual street light had been converted to LED and was commissioned on to the CMS.

The Authority had agreed with Bouygues a proposed programme for delivery of the LED conversion project. It would take 14 months to complete the residential areas, so dependent on where the individual district was within the programme; would depend on when a new policy would be implemented. The programme for the residential areas had been split into four phases and the approximate timeline was as follows:

·         Phase 1 (Ashford, Shepway & Dover) = March 2016 to July 2016

·         Phase 2 (Sevenoaks Dartford & Gravesham) = July 2016 to September 2016

·         Phase 3 (Tonbridge and Malling, Tunbridge Wells * Maidstone) = September 2016 to November 2016

·         Phase 4 (Swale, Canterbury & Thanet) = November 2016 to May 2017

In response to a question, he advised that because of the control this system gave, it was easier to adhere to local wishes for lights off or dimmed.

Combined Members Grants – Verbal Update

A review of the delivery of highway projects using County Members’ discretionary Combined Members Grant had been undertaken. As a result of the review the scheme would be revised from 1 May 2016.

The key changes were intended to create key contacts for County Members through the District Managers who would support County Members in identifying highway projects.  District Managers would also be responsible for reporting through Joint Transportation Boards on Combined Member Grant scheme, and County Members would be fully briefed on the changes in April 2016.

Members considered the report before them.  The following corrections were noted:

Appendix C – Street Lighting

should read  ‘Footpath Green Court Road..’

Orpington Bypass was in Badgers Mount Parish not Shoreham

Appendix E –  ...  view the full minutes text for item 37.

To receive the notes of the Cycling Strategy Working Group held on 2 February 2016.

Members noted the action notes from the Sevenoaks Cycling Strategy Working Group. 

The Chairman of the Working Group raised the concerns voiced by the Sevenoaks Cycle Forum at the meeting, that nothing in the cycle strategy had been implemented since its adoption.  The strategy was due for review in March. 

In response to a question he advised that work on the Otford to Sevenoaks route would not be too difficult, however east to west was more problematical.  For example there was not a lot of space in Seal to place a cycle route.

It was noted that the next meeting was to be held on 26 April 2016.