The Active Travel Coordinator introduced the report which provided a summary of the rural road network in Borden & Grove Park Ward as part of the Swale Local Cycling & Walking Infrastructure Plan (LCWIP).

The Chair invited Members to make comments which included:

·           This was a good start but other nearby rural areas needed to be looked at;

·           encouraged officers to look at Lower Halstow, Hartlip and Newington next as these were the areas that would also be impacted on the nearby roadworks in Swale;

·           any damage to the rural lanes cost KCC money that they do not have;

·           there were regular issues with diversion routes which cause gridlocks throughout the Borough;

·           better co-ordination was needed before road works commenced to stop gridlocks;

·           concerned that the report did not consider the impact on residents’ mental health caused by traffic problems;

·           the bus companies were struggling to organise a proper bus timetable and it could eventually lead to no bus services at all;

·           how often would the multi-agency group meet?;

·           had all the agencies agreed to this approach?;

·           what resources were being used to set this multi-agency group up?;

·           it was important that utility companies were brought on board to avoid unnecessary emergency road works;

·           the traffic problems were unlikely to improve after the road works were completed so was it suitable for the multi-agency group to carry on meeting after the initial works were completed?;

·           the multi-agency group approach was necessary to respond to ‘live’ traffic events that occurred so people could give local knowledge about the correct diversion routes;

·           communication to the public needed to be improved;

·           could an app be developed so residents were notified of all possible diversion routes available to them;

·           thought that temporary traffic lights needed to have someone ‘manned’ on the lights to keep the traffic flowing smoothly; and

·           thought that one group to oversee and plan for all types of future road works was better than creating several different groups to communicate between each other.

The Active Travel Coordinator clarified that the funding for the road works and the multi-agency approach to the mitigations for the road works had already been agreed in the works schedule and explained that it was the responsibility of the Highways authority to cover the costs where necessary. He added that the focus of the report was to react to the problems that occurred during the road work schemes and reduce the impact that they had on the rural networks in Swale. He said that other areas would be considered throughout the whole of the Borough whilst the number of different road schemes commenced.

The Kent County District Manager (Swale) added that the street works team at KCC were working extremely hard with the different agencies to answer any queries and ensure the road networks ran smoothly. He referred to the Highways Utility Committee that met quarterly and mentioned that there was a mechanism for Members’ concerns about utilities to be raised and discussed at the Committee.

The KCC Assistant Project Manager said that there were ongoing discussions with Highways authorities on the different schemes at Swale. They had recently met to review the way they communicated with different stakeholders and asked Members that had any ideas on improving the communication with residents to bring them forward to the KCC projects team.

Kent County Councillor Mike Baldock proposed the recommendations and this was seconded by Kent County Councillor Mike Dendor.

Recommended:

(1)   That a Multi-Agency task force be formed to monitor the wider road network to ensure that the current programme of works and any future planned works, delivers the mitigations to allow for the regeneration of the shared space rural lanes and implement the interventions where and when appropriate.

(2)   That the Task Force encompasses Hartlip, Newington & Upchurch Ward and Bobbing Iwade & Lower Halstow Ward.

(3)   That the group designs, implements and monitors traffic management during the Key Street and Grovehurst roundabout works to ensure a continual flow of traffic on the A2 through Sittingbourne.

(4)   That the group liaised with large employers, logistics companies, public transport providers, Medway Council, Utilities, and other organisations, including schools to reduce the impact of congestion during the works.

(5)   That the group was managed publicly to help drivers avoid and reduce congestion.