County Councillor David Brazier, Carol Valentine Highways Manager – West Kent and Julian Cook District Manager for Sevenoaks

County Councillor Brazier, Kent County Council (KCC) Cabinet Member for Transport & Environment, and Julian Cook, KCC Highways District Manager for Sevenoaks gave an overview of the general state of the roads within the District and the relevant maintenance programme as well as how KCC Highways were meeting the challenge of budget pressures against increased demands and expectations.

The KCC Cabinet Member stated the service had been underfunded over a number of years. It had since been brought back in-house and gone through a couple of unsuccessful reorganisations before getting it right. The Service was also benefiting from the Find and Fix programme. Up to the beginning of December 2013 the highways were in as good a condition as they had been in living memory. The average response time for pothole fixes had improved greatly and if there were a safety issue the response could be within a couple of hours. An additional £2.5million was allocated for pothole repairs and it was expected the Find and Fix programme would end in May 2014 when it was also expected the network would be back in good order. Between 2010 and 2017 KCC had to make savings of £500million and the Service had to find new ways of working and transforming but the pressures meant the Highways Service would have to focus on matters of safety.

The District Manager (KCC) emphasised those matters of particular concern in the Sevenoaks District. Fly-tipping was a significant problem, particularly in the rural northeast close to the London Boroughs, with a recent rise in fly-tipping of specialist materials such as asbestos and tyres. The continued wind and rain since 22 December 2013 were damaging the highway and standing water made it more difficult to fix potholes; the average response time was 14.2 days. Wind had uprooted a dozen trees, damaging footways. Metal theft continued as a problem, particularly gullies although replacement gullies now had locks on. Stewards were now regularly sent to road traffic accident sites to gather driver details and try to reclaim from insurance the costs of any network repairs needed.

The Committee asked questions of the speakers. £2.5million had been set aside for Find and Fix but in past years winter damage had been up to £10million. The cost of fixing a pothole was usually about fifty pounds but most costs came from closing roads and setting up lights to control traffic.

A Member asked whether there was a policy on which potholes would be fixed, for example patching small ones before they became large. The District Manager for Sevenoaks confirmed that potholes of 50mm on carriageways and 20mm on footways would be fixed. The extra £2.5million allowed the Service to take a more logical approach, not just working to safety critical levels, and to benefit from economies of scale.

Another Member asked whether, given the amount of standing water, there was a policy to empty gullies. The Officer confirmed a team cleared them every other year with another team to carry out one-off clearances. He agreed some areas needed more frequent emptying. There was a problem with water running off from private land where the landowner had not cleared their own ditches, silt from agricultural land and leaves being broken down by the wind and rain.

A Member asked whether there was scope for KCC to work with tertiary authorities to kill weeds. The Officer confirmed there had been reductions in this service from KCC. There would be difficulties with insurance, public liability and safety for the travelling public in allowing other bodies to carry out this work. However he would welcome suggestion of particular councils who may be interested and these would be looked at.

Some Members sought more information on the matter of fly-tipping and asked whether the problem was exacerbated since access had been limited to household waste sites. The Officer advised that the fly-tipping appeared organised and possibly professional. Surveillance was set up where there were persistent problems but the offenders often moved on before KCC could make surveillance arrangements. There had been prosecutions but he felt the fines inadequate. KCC was working with the Clean Kent Team on the issue. The KCC Cabinet Member added that the Council had previously been spending £500,000 per year on disposing of trade waste which should not have been taken to such household sites. This was unfair on taxpayers and so it was important to limit access.

A Member, not on the Committee, asked about the remnants of a fallen tree on Swanley Lane. The Officer reminded the Committee that KCC Highways would clear the tree if on the highway but if on private land would only clear it at the expense of the landowner.

The Vice Chairman asked firstly what the policy was to replace the surface of a road when there were many patched areas already on it. He also asked what Highways Officers would do to support the local planning process as there were concerns Highways Officers’ reports lacked rigour. The District Manager (KCC) explained that Annual Condition Surveys assessed the deeper structure of the roads and whether resurfacing was appropriate. This was combined with information about accumulated costs recorded from Find and Fix. The Officer was advocating for the A25 west of Bat & Ball junction to be resurfaced, while the works would take account of the cycling strategy. The KCC Cabinet Member said that the level of Officer involvement in planning matters depended on the scale and nature of the application.

The Chairman thanked County Councillor Brazier for attending and suggested that it become a more regular item for the Committee.