Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Chittenden, Hotson, Robertson and Sherreard.

There were no Substitute Members.

There were no Visiting Members.

There were no disclosures by Members or Officers.

Councillor Hinder stated that he had been lobbied with regard to Item 11, numbers 9, road safety measures along Walderslade Woods Road, and 17, Sutton Road Service Road.

RESOLVED: That the items on the Agenda be taken in public as proposed.

RESOLVED: That the Minutes of the Meeting held on 17 February 2010 be approved as a correct record and signed, subject to the inclusion of the following at the end of the last bullet point in Minute 47:-

“.....and the feasibility of crossing the railway.”

Minute 46 – Update on HGVs

Item 46 – Speed Limit Review

The Board were informed that a formal O&D survey where drivers are questioned could not be undertaken in Yalding as the roads were not wide enough.  However, an alternative proposal to do a study at 4 other locations with cameras and handheld devices had been received and the quote for this work was £4,428, subject to no problems with the survey.  The Board were informed that if funding was available, the company could undertake the survey in June.

It was suggested that the Members of the Board, who previously met with KHS officers regarding the details of the above quotation, meet with those officers again to discuss the alternative proposal and to look at ways to fund the cost if the proposal was acceptable.

Councillor Geraldine Brown, Chairman of Yalding Parish Council, thanked KHS officers for obtaining the quote for the O&D surveys.  Councillor Brown mentioned that she had requested Councillor Mrs Stockell to put forward a grant to pay for the surveys.

A Member suggested that KHS officers also look into non-verbal HGV signs that are being used in parts of South Wales.

The Chairman informed the Board that he is meeting with officers from KCC and MBC on 11 May to discuss the way forward with regard to the Freight Strategy.

There were no questions or statements from members of the public.

The Board considered the report of the KCC Head of Transport & Development regarding petitions submitted to Kent Highway Services.

A member of the Board spoke on behalf of the members of the public in attendance at the meeting regarding the petition for Sutton Road Service Road.  He said that it was a serious situation and that the road was constantly being used as a “rat run”.  There had been a serious accident directly because of this involving the lady who had jointly conducted the petition.  There is now a new Estate being built which will involve a further possible 300 vehicles entering the Sutton Road and he had been informed that vehicles leaving the estate will only be able to turn left.  He felt this would mean more vehicles turning from the traffic lights at Morrison’s into Nottingham Road and using either Sutton Road Service Road or Nottingham Road as “rat runs” as they will be unable to turn right out of the estate.

KHS officers informed the Board and the members of public in attendance that having received the petition they would now investigate the issues raised and report back to the Board at a future meeting.

RESOLVED:  That the report be noted.

The Board considered the report of KCC’s Head of Countywide Improvements regarding Highway Improvement Schemes for 2010-11.

Members raised a few questions with regard to specific schemes, to which responses were given by KHS officers.

RESOLVED:

1.  That the progress of the highway improvement programme be noted.

2.  That the construction of a zebra crossing in Maidstone Road, Nettlestead, as illustrated in Appendix B of the report of KCC’s Head of Countywide Improvements, be endorsed.

3.  That the proposal that of the remaining highway schems scheduled to be built in 2010-11 as listed in Appendix A of the report of KCC’s Head of Countywide Improvements, only that for the A274 Maidstone Road, Langley/Sutton Valence, be brought back to this Board for formal endorsement of the proposed works, be endorsed.

Mr Corcoran, on behalf of Mr Moreton, read out the following statement:-

Following on from the worst winter in thirty years the intention is to start a round of consultation with our key stakeholders that include the JTB’s, Chief Executives of Districts, Parishes, County Members. This consultation will lead to a review of our winter policy and plan and the lessons learnt from the past severe winter.

The JTB’s are to be informed of the following:

·  The consultation will be starting at the beginning of April (this document should now have been received). It will seeking the views via a questtionaire

• All members of JTB's will receive electronically a copy of the WS policy by the first week in April. It is also intended that they will receive a copy of their local plan that identifies specific roads
• If they have any comments or recommendations they need to emailed  before the end of June and they will be incorporated in the report that will go to the EH&W POSC report in July

Members were requested to inform Mr Corcoran if they had not received the consultation document.

The Chairman read out a letter he had received from Alison Broom, the Director of Prosperity and Regeneration, copy attached at Appendix A.

The Board was also informed that following a further grant received from central Government, KCC had embarked on an intensive programme to repair the many pot holes that had arisen following the very harsh winter.  The Board were informed that the backlog should be cleared within the next 3-4 months, but the programme was very reliant on pot holes being reported.

Officers were requested to ensure that the very large pothole on the Sutton Road was repaired as a matter of urgency.

This report was for information only.

5.00 p.m. to 5.47 p.m.