Hartlip Highways Plan
Highways Matters in the Parish of Hartlip: February 2023
Councillors were disappointed that there was no police attendance at the Parish Council Meeting on 08.02.23 in view of the discussion on this matter.
The Parish has seen a huge increase in the number of vehicles using the roads and lanes through Hartlip as “rat runs” between the M2, the A2 and the A249.
This usage is increasing dangers on these roads to residents accessing and exiting their properties and also to other drivers, pedestrians, cyclists, horse riders and animals.
Front edges of the gardens of Parish residents are not being respected and significant damage to this private property is being done. This is especially serious when speed limits are not respected and evasive action is taken by drivers who are driving too fast and, to avoid pedestrians or other vehicles, drive onto private land.
Roadside verges are being destroyed and serious damage to hedgerows is taking place. Wildlife is suffering. Some verges are now are large patches of mud adversely affecting the rurality of the area which is precious to so many.
A number of reports have been received of huge vehicles passing through Lower Hartlip by using the Lower Hartlip Road and Old House Lane.
This matter has been taken up with Borough Councillor Richard Palmer who, in turn, has raised it with the police and with KCC Highways Department.
A response is awaited.
This additional use of the roads through the Parish and the use by larger vehicles has worsened the large number of potholes appearing.
A member of the Parish Council undertakes regular inspections of the roads and lanes and reports potholes on line to Kent Highways Department.
Anyone can report potholes and the process is user friendly.
Please use www.kent.gov.uk.roads-and-travel/report-a-problem.
The first phase of the Parish Highways Plan achieved reduction in speed limits of 60mph down to 40mph and the removal of deregulation signs on the Lower Hartlip Road, Munns Lane and Hollow Lane. This level of reduction was achievable with the avoidance of traffic calming measures.
This first phase also saw the speed limit on The Street reduced down from 30mph to 20mph given the density of housing, the many ‘blind drives’ due to the geography of The Street, the narrowness and winding nature of the road, the Church, the Chapel, the Primary School, the Village Hall and allotments.
Whilst some people are respecting these speed limits and adjusting speeds below them when needed, other people are demonstrating no respect whatsoever for these speed limits and are certainly not adjusting their speed lower still where conditions require this as the Highway Code lays down.
This matter has been raised with the police on a number of occasions requesting that appropriate attention is given to this serious matter on a regular, consistent and robust basis.
The Parish Council was successful in getting those reductions in speed limits at no extra cost to the residents of Hartlip. Parishioners will recall that initially, regulations prevented Hollow Lane and Munns Lane from being included in the speed limit review but a great deal of close work and negotiation between the Parish Council and Kent Highways led to a reduction from 60mph to 40mph thus removing them from the ‘deregulation category’.
As made clear to Parishioners, the Parish Council intends to carry out more work on the Highways Plan to reduce speed limits further in the Parish if this can be achieved.
The Parish Council is committed to getting the maximum speed for the Lower Hartlip Road reduced to 30mph if and when possible.
When the work on the first phase of the Highways Plan was completed in late 2021, further discussion took place with the Highways Department about getting this limit reduced to 30mph.
The informal advice was that there were a huge number of more worthy schemes outstanding across the county and that such a request would be very low on the priority list. It was recommended that the 40mph limit should be allowed to “bed down” before submitting a further application.
Since then the financial situation at KCC has deteriorated.
Nonetheless, this matter will be considered further with appropriate action taken by the Parish Council in due course.
Already, in January 2022, a Speed Survey was commissioned for Mill Lane.
The outcome and decisions from this may be found in the document ‘Hartlip Highways Plan – Result of Speed Survey in Mill Lane’ published on the website May 2022.
The Parish Council has pursued doggedly the repair/replacement of the Children’s Playground sign at the east of Munns Lane and the hedge clearance on private land required to make visible the Children’s Playground sign at the west of Munns Lane. Both have now been dealt with.
Hartlip Parish Council
12 February 2023
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Result of Speed Survey in Mill Lane.
Following the receipt of data for the speed survey which was carried out in January 2022 the Parish Council sought guidance from Kent Highways on the way forward.
The Schemes Project Manager at Kent Highways Department has reported that Mill Lane has fairly good compliance levels with the existing 30mph speed limit as only 8% of all traffic was travelling above 30mph at the north end of the test site and just over 18% of all traffic was travelling above 30mph at the southern end of the test site.
At both sites almost all traffic was travelling under the police enforcement threshold of 35mph.
The safety record along this road shows only one recorded collision since 1980. This occurred in 2000.
The current speed limit of 30mph therefore fits with the Department for Transport guidance.
The Project Manager feels that there would be nothing to be gained by changing the current speed limit as the evidence from the speed survey does not support the claim that there is speeding in Mill Lane.
Therefore it is felt that the current speed limit is appropriate and a change would not be funded by KCC.
Members of the Parish Council discussed this matter fully and agreed not to take the matter further at the present time.
Hartlip Parish Highways Plan Update: 4th January 2022
As residents are aware the greatest part of the first phase of Hartlip Highways Plan, which residents have been kept informed about throughout, has now been implemented.
One item remains on the first phase and HPC is, as residents were promised, looking to address this as a matter of urgency.
This item is to give consideration to the speed limit in Mill Lane to establish if a reduction to 20mph can be achieved.
As always when a speed limit reduction is sought, the first step is the conduct of a speed survey by KCC. Analysis of the results is critical to moving the matter forward.
HPC have requested that KCC conduct a speed survey in Mill Lane to ascertain what is possible to achieve.
Work has also started on developing the second phase of the Highways Plan which will include a speed survey in Munns Lane (speed limit recently reduced from 60mph to 40 mph) and Place Lane.
Funding is being sought to cover the cost of these surveys.
As always residents will be kept abreast of progress.
++++++++++++++++++++STOP PRESS++++++++++++++++++++
Since the December 2021 meeting, HPC Chair has pursued the matter of KCC carrying out a speed survey in Mill Lane and is pleased to be able to report that KCC will be carrying that out soon.
More information will follow in due course.
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Hartlip Parish Highways Plan - December 2021
As residents are aware the greatest part of the first phase of Hartlip Highways Plan, which residents have been kept informed about throughout, has now been implemented.
One item remains on the first phase and HPC is, as residents were promised, looking to address this as a matter of urgency.
This item is to give consideration to the speed limit in Mill Lane to establish if a reduction to 20mph can be achieved.
As always when a speed limit reduction is sought, the first step is the conduct of a speed survey by KCC. Analysis of the results is critical to moving the matter forward.
HPC have requested that KCC conduct a speed survey in Mill Lane to ascertain what is possible to achieve.
Work has also started on developing the second phase of the Highways Plan which will include a speed survey in Munns Lane (speed limit recently reduced from 60mph to 40 mph) and Place Lane.
Funding is being sought to cover the cost of these surveys.
As always residents will be kept abreast of progress.
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HARTLIP PARISH COUNCIL (HPC)
Subject: Hartlip Highways Improvement Plan
Dear Hartlip Residents,
HPC is delivering this flyer to every household in Hartlip for reasons which relate to its work on Hartlip Highways Improvement Plan over a number of years.
Residents were recently communicated with via social media and then by flyer as a result of the update statement on this matter published by HPC on its website and in the March 2021 edition of the Forum. The flyer bore no author attribution.
Both encouraged residents to reject the proposals of KCC Highways which HPC had been negotiating for some considerable time and published in its March statement.
Instead, residents were encouraged to request a 20mph speed limit throughout the whole village.
A total of 12% of households responded requesting this scenario with some wishing it to be extended to the A2.
HPC must make it clear that that the flyer did not come from HPC.
Neither the flyer nor the views expressed on social media were those of HPC.
It is unfortunate that the flyer quite unrealistically raised the hopes of some residents for an outcome of 20mph throughout the village as this is not possible to achieve.
HPC’s early March update lays out KCC Highways response to HPC request to give consideration in the first instance to the two main arteries in Hartlip, namely The Street and the Lower Hartlip Road. KCC’s response indicates that they are prepared to include Hollow Lane and Munns Lane in the Lower Hartlip Road part of the scheme as these three roads currently share a speed limit of 60mph i.e. the National Speed Limit for rural roads not specifically designated otherwise. A speed limit of course is a limit and not a compulsory speed.
The whole scheme proposed by KCC in response to HPC’s determined requests would see a reduction in speed of one third on the four roads in question.
The Street would reduce from 30mph to 20mph and the other roads would reduce from 60mph to 40mph.
These speed reductions are based on the evidence of the compulsory Speed Surveys carried out. This evidence is a crucial factor in any speed limit change proposal. It is not permitted to reduce a road from 60mph to 30mph without traffic calming measures.
HPC repeats the recommendation of its informed announcement of early March 2021.
Given the national and county directives and guidance and the clear speed survey evidence, the package being offered by KCC Highways is a very good one and could be implemented quickly.
After years of in-depth work and negotiation to achieve some progress on speed limits in Hartlip, HPC would be loath to lose this opportunity.
As stated to residents before, HPC would, after implementation of this scheme, review and reset its Highways Plan in order to establish what may or may not be possible elsewhere in the village. Over time the new 40mph speed limit roads would be monitored and reviewed if further change seemed to be achievable.
Hartlip Parish Council 15.03.21
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HPC Late News: March 2021 Forum entry
Hartlip Highways Plan
As residents are aware, Hartlip Parish Council drew up a Highways Plan some time ago in order to accelerate action on speed limits in the village. This is a significant and long project which needs to be approached in a phased way.
Hartlip Parish Council has been working closely with Kent County Council Highways Department and Councillor Mike Whiting to obtain lower speed limits in The Street and the Lower Hartlip Road in the first instance.
Speed surveys must be carried out as a first step and these were done in February 2020.
The results support a 20mph limit for The Street (currently 30mph) and a reduced speed limit for the Lower Hartlip Road which currently carries the National Speed Limit of 60mph.
In-depth discussions have taken place between Hartlip Parish Council and KCC Highways and KCC engineer has examined the speed survey results and visited Hartlip to carry out assessments.
Proposals have now been received from the Highways Department who will shortly be carrying out formal consultations on them.
The Parish Council has considered these proposals and has indicated their approval of them.
The proposal for The Street is for a 20mph limit and for a 40mph limit for the Lower Hartlip Road.
It had initially been expected that Munns Lane and Hollow Lane would be excluded from KCC plans but KCC have agreed to extend the Lower Hartlip Road provision to Munns Lane and Hollow Lane as the minimum length of a speed limit should generally be not less than 600 metres to avoid too many changes of speed limit along the route. This will effectively reduce the speed limit by a third on these roads.
Consideration was given to a 30mph limit for the Lower Hartlip Road but physical traffic calming measures would be needed to go along with the introduction of such a change in the speed limit. This would include features such as gateway treatments, speed humps, chicanes, road narrowing and other measures to both physically and visually reinforce the reduced speed limit. It is worth noting that there are unfavourable side effects to most types of calming. Speed humps and cushions for example can cause unwanted vibration and noise for nearby residents, chicanes and narrowings can increase noise levels and can cause congestion. Not to mention that this would put the whole scheme back significantly.
KCC have proposed a very generous funding package with the cost of the proposals being met mainly by Kent County Council with Hartlip Parish Council meeting the costs of the Traffic Regulation Order.
While it is appreciated that some residents may be disappointed that a 30mph limit is not being recommended at the present time it is felt that the whole package is a good one and should be accepted. The reduction of the maximum speed for cars on the Lower Hartlip Road from 60mph to 40mph can only be a positive thing.
Once this work is completed, Hartlip Parish Council will review and reset the Highways Plan to consider future developments.
If anyone has any questions about the proposals they should record them on Hartlip Parish Council website by Monday 8th March 2021.
Hartlip Parish Council.
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HPC Minute 20/95 of Meeting held 11.11.20
HPC Forum entry December 2020
Highways Improvement Plan for Hartlip: update
Four members of the Parish Council met with County Councillor Mike Whiting and two officers from KCC Highways Department on 11 November in an endeavour to speed up progress on the Highways Plan which has been held up by the two lockdowns.
A wide ranging discussion took place to progress this and to ensure that it covers as much of the village as possible long term.
Speed checks took place on The Street and on the Lower Hartlip Road in March 2020.
The outcome of the speed check in The Street produced statistics which will support a 20mph speed limit. The presence of a school, two churches, a Village Hall and allotments strengthens the case. It was agreed that no traffic calming measures such as chicanes would be necessary. Officers of KCC will now produce a plan and costings for the Parish Council to consider.
The outcome of the speed check on the Lower Hartlip Road was less conclusive. KCC will look at what speed limit could be imposed on the Lower Hartlip Road and report back with their proposals together with costings.
Once progress has been made on the above, Mill Lane will be the next road to be considered.
In view of the increasing number of walkers, cyclists and horse riders throughout the whole of the village at a time when many of the roads are being use as “rat runs”, it is necessary to consider the needs of the whole village and that will be done in due course.