The National Highways Project Manager for M2 Junction 5 Improvement works gave a verbal update on the progress of the works.

The Chair thanked the officer for the update and raised a concern that the A2 and rural lanes that accessed onto the A2 between Rainham and Faversham were in a poor state due to the volume of traffic going through them to avoid the road works on the M2, Junction 5. He asked if it was National Highways (NH) intention to help assist communities with the repairs to rural roads especially aiding local communities in the repair of pot-holes with any surplus materials they had from the project.

The NH Project Manager explained that it was not their responsibility to repair roads that were outside their jurisdiction. He added that the project was planned to include the amount of materials they needed so it was unlikely that any materials would be leftover. He said that although this was something that they would not be able to help with they were supporting Kent County Council (KCC) in any way that they could and discussions were on-going on how they could decrease the amount of traffic that was travelling through the rural lanes, rather than the designated diversion routes.

The Chair invited Members to make comments which included:

·      The rat running was excessive, and some rural roads were becoming unusable;

·      there was a lot of rubbish around the site and suggested there be regular litter picks to remove the rubbish from the site;

·      why were the works taking such a long time, could the contractors not work 24/7 to complete the project quicker?;

·      thanked the contractor for improving the signage for the new road layout;

·      wanted NH to keep the Local Authorities informed of works so that other temporary works on the road could be planned to avoid further delays for road users;

·      was there anything NH could do to enforce the 30 mph speed limit along Chestnut Street, Borden?; and

·      repairs needed to be carried out on the pot-holes along the rural lanes sooner rather than later as the roads were becoming extremely dangerous for all road users.

In response, the NH Project Manager said that planned litter picks were scheduled as party of the project, but could only take place when the roads were closed for safety reasons. They would see if more could be done to keep on top of the rubbish on the site and the surrounding area. With regard to the time the project was taking he said that NH had to work in the most efficient and cost effective way as they were spending tax payers money, which meant that a 24/7 contract was not feasible. He added that NH were working with Kent Police on the speeding in Chestnut Street and enforcement was a matter for Kent Police. He assured Members that NH would support Kent Police however they could and that they had installed a temporary speed monitor to check the speed of traffic and they reported the findings back to the Police.

Resolved:

(1)   That the verbal update report from National Highways be noted.