2012 Transport Update for Kent

Kent County Council will launch another ‘Find and Fix’ programme designed to repair a wide range of road surface defects on minor routes, such as rural and estate roads in the county.

This follows a government announcement that Kent will receive a special grant of around £2.5 million to help repair the county’s 5,000-mile road network in the wake of one of the coldest and most damaging Decembers on record.  Early in the New Year Kent Highway Services brought in extra gangs to tackle the increase in potholes.

Kent County Council Cabinet Member for Highways, Bryan Sweetland, said:

“At the moment we have around 70 repair crews fixing potholes across the county. However, I know potholes are still a very real issue in some areas and this latest initiative will help a great deal. This concentrated programme is aimed at fixing potholes and defects that might cause a hazard or safety issue for motorists and other road users. Additional specialist tarmac firms will be drafted in as part of this latest million pounds plus blitz to fix potholes.

“Over the last year we repaired more than 31,000 potholes and resurfaced 122,000 square-metres of road during our earlier ‘Find and Fix’ campaign which was extremely successful. I would ask residents that they continue to help us by reporting road defects either via the KCC website or by phone on 08458 247 800.”

Director of Kent Highway Services, John Burr, said:

“At the moment we aim to make a first time, permanent repair on all safety-related potholes. In the spring, we will run a larger programme of patching to further raise the standard of our roads.

“We will also begin more preventative treatments this year, such as surface dressing, where we put down a protective layer on the carriageway and resurfacing roads, to stop potholes forming in the first place.

“We are all aware that budgets are coming under increasing pressure and we are investing wisely in our roads now to reduce the costs of repairs in the future. We are making good progress improving the county’s roads and we will continue to do so.”

Anyone who wants to report a fault should either report it online on the Roads and Transport page at www.kent.gov.uk or call the 24-hour help line on 08458 247 800.

March 2011

Free Event in Folkestone

We shall be running our guided walk “ The Harbour”. This is a look at the past, present and future of Folkestone harbour. It lasts about one and a half hours. ( Walk is free to individuals but donations to our Pride of Place Project are always welcome)

Meet 2.00p.m at the Quarterhouse on Sunday 27th. We can do this walk at times to suit for schools and groups. Contact us for details. 01303227150

The harbour walk is part of our Pride of Place project . A four part celebration of Folkestone. Its past, present and future.

We are currently talking with several local organizations about running visual art workshops for Bizarre Crossings: A visual exploration of unusual channel crossings and strange human encounters with the sea, including Folkestone’s Boxing Day Dip, and creative writing workshops for Transitions: An invitation to writers to produce stories or essays that explore the psychology of transition, crossings and rites of passage. Linked closely to the triennial theme A Million Miles from Home. We invite enquiries from groups and individuals who would like to take part. Speak to David or Maryanne on 01303 227150. Bizarre Crossings and Transitions are both Pride of Place Projects. See our website: www.pavementpounders.org.uk

London

0ne Pavement Pounders at the Institute event this month;

John Constable and Hampstead An illustrated talk followed by a guided walk around Hampstead. Course No. 265 Sat.26th. March Contact us on 01303-227150 or the Institute 020-8829-4141. This is our last event for The Institute this academic year but we start aga

The Remembrance Line has completed the first stage of its proposals for re-opening the Folkestone Harbour branch with the completion of its initial business plan.

The branch forms part of the key Folkestone Harbour development site and the group has been developing its plans to interface with the wider development proposals.

The Folkestone Harbour branch is currently out-of-use and the group’s business plan shows how it might be re-opened to a variety of rail based traffic. Proposals also exist to re-instate a fast ferry to Boulogne and the Remembrance Line is clear that its proposals would support the new service.

Consultants researching the viability of a ferry service placed their berthing request with Folkestone Harbour Company last month. The Remembrance Line has now shared its business plan with Network Rail who are responsible for the railway and the harbour station.

Both projects have involved experts in rail and maritime services at a senior level. Projected passenger numbers have been developed using data from both the UK and France.

With the town’s rich history and heritage the Remembrance Line believes that the Harbour Station and its historical connections adds one more reason to visit Folkestone. The station is also ideally placed to provide good opportunities for walking and cycling in the local area.

The group believes that there is an opportunity to be part of reconnecting Folkestone with Boulogne which will expand the number of visitors to both destinations. They see transport integration as key to a sustainable tourist offer.

The Seafront development envisages water sports facilities to add to the increasing number of art, music and literary events currently held and the branch railway can deliver visitors to the centre of those events. The Remembrance Line plans to operate services in conjunction with the ferry operator via connecting boat trains. They also believe there is a market for co-operating with the Creative Foundation for providing event trains ranging from 650 seat standard class high capacity to 200 seat Pullman trains with silver service dining.

The weather situation and forecast is not favourable at present.  Snow is going to continue to fall over the next 48 hours with similar amounts as today 5-10cm possibly 20cm over higher ground heading South West – it will become colder with strong winds and drifting is expected.  Weather conditions will compound problems particularly in the North West of the County. It is predicted that rush hour will start early this afternoon with businesses and schools closing early. Additionally, high winds along the English Channel are also forecast and as a result, Operation Stack (Phase 1) is now in force between J11 and J12 of the M20.

Train services are severely disrupted across the county with info on this being posted on the South-eastern railways website. key details as follows:

State of the network at 1300

High Speed services between London St Pancras, Ashford, Canterbury and Ramsgate and also London St Pancras, Gravesend, the Medway Towns , Faversham and Ramsgate are operating normally and non high speed tickets are being passed on these services.

Suspended routes

· Orpington to Sevenoaks

· Tonbridge to Hastings via Tunbridge Wells

· Strood to Paddock Wood via Maidstone West

· Sheerness to Sittingbourne

· Elmers End to Hayes

· Swanley to Rochester

· Through north/south services via Thameslink

Network Rail and Southeastern engineers are working to re-open the main line between Sevenoaks and Tonbridge, between Tonbridge and Hastings and between Swanley and Rochester .  This is a priority.

A special service every 90 minutes from London Bridge via East Croydon and Redhill has been put in place in order to maintain a link with Tonbridge.

Half hour shuttle services are operating between:

· Tonbridge and Ashford

· London Victoria , Maidstone East and Ashford

· London to Dartford via Greenwich

· London to Dartford via Sidcup

· London to Dartford via Bexleyheath

· London to Orpington

Hourly shuttle service are operating between:

· Dover and Faversham via Canterbury East

· Dover to Ramsgate via Deal

Replacement buses have been deployed to cover suspended routes but their operation is erratic due to the local road conditions.

Our engineers are also having extreme difficulty getting to remote trackside locations and failed trains because of the road conditions.

“Ghost trains” will continue to operate during the night in order to keep routes open and de-icing train will operate throughout the network spraying the conductor rail in order to prevent ice forming.

In general, the other multi-agency partners report that things are difficult, but systems are coping if somewhat reduced in some areas. All hospitals are at capacity but coping. Gritting regimes are well in place with the Highways Agency, KHS and Medway, dealing with regular gritting patterns and “on demand” needs as required. It is difficult to manage customer expectation as response times can be adversely affected by congestion and the weather conditions. The Dartford Crossing is being monitored closely as a pinch-point, and checks are being made on both Sheppey crossings. As you can imagine, there are sporadic road closures and accidents that are compounding problems.

From a KCC emergency response viewpoint, we have been monitoring the situation and assisting with calls for 4×4 support. Additionally, our Warden service is monitoring the situation at the local level and providing support and information as necessary. Looking ahead, we plan to make similar rest centre/refuge centre contingency arrangements available in case of gridlock. We will continue to staff the CEC into the evening to ensure that the night time situation and demands are clear and secured.

Media messaging is being coordinated by the Police with KCC playing its part. We have voiced a view that specific messaging should be targeted at HGV drivers, as these vehicles compound problems when they are involved in a road traffic incident. Some excellent Knet and kent.gov.uk info is available, which signposts to the right sources of info.

Contact centre call loads are higher than normal (by 37%) but the centre is coping well. Most calls related to enquiries about gritting routes, school closures and checking if evening adult education classes are still running. KCC critical functions appear to to be operating well, and specific measures to support key social care activities are in place. 132 schools fully closed mainly in Dartford, Gravesham, Tunbridge Wells, Swanley, Sevenoaks Maidstone and Canterbury . Several schools had already decided to close early and further disruption will increase throughout the day. Kent Facilities are assisting with building continuity and the provision of identifying spare desks within the buildings they manage.

David Cloake

Head of Emergency Planning

Kent County Council

Related articles

• Snow strikes London rail services (bbc.co.uk)
• Snow frozen Britain grinds to a halt as 57% of workers arrive late for work (dailymail.co.uk)

There is widespread snow across the county concentrated more in some areas. The actions being taken by KHS this morning are as follows:

Sevenoaks – a snow emergency has been called and primary and secondary routes are being cleared. District labour will be used to clear town centre areas. In other parts of west Kent there is approximately 1-2 cm of snow on the ground but this is not at present causing too many difficulties and traffic is moving. The North Downs has been identified as being a little worse and KHS staff will monitor the situation and call a localised emergency if needed and thereby engage farmers, work with district colleagues and deliver jumbo bags to parishes.

The east of the county is experiencing some difficulties on roads and Ringway crews are dealing with these areas. No snow emergency has been called in the east.

Maidstone is clear with no reported problems.

KHS are continuing to work with farmers and district colleagues who will be on hand clearing some of our town centre pavements.

Salt bags are being delivered to parishes today and currently there is salting taking place on secondary routes. Primary routes are being patrolled and salted as necessary.

KHS continue to maintain plenty of salt supplies.

• Twin Cities: First Snowfall 2010 (biodork.wordpress.com)
• Residents deal with snowy streets despite plowing effort ()
• Big freeze is snowballing (thesun.co.uk)