News

The Parish Council is carrying out a survey inviting parishioners to let us know your opinions about Shorne Parish (good or bad!) and any other issues or priorities you may have.  The survey form can be downloaded below. We would be very grateful if parishioners would take the time to fill this in and send it back to us, so that the Parish Council can take your views into account when determining our plans and priorities.  Please be aware that the Parish Council’s powers and resources are limited, however. If you would like more information about the survey, please contact Susan Lindley on 01474 823179 or e-mail to susan.bragman@btinternet.com.

Representatives of Shorne, Higham, and Chalk met with senior members and officers of Kent County Council at County Hall on 5th July, to discuss mitigation measures for the proposed Lower Thames Crossing east of Gravesend. The meeting, arranged by Gravesham Rural County Councillor Bryan Sweetland, was attended by Matthew Balfour, KCC Cabinet Member for Planning, Highways, Transport and Waste, and his deputy Michael Payne, together with Transport Strategy Manager Joe Ratcliffe and Katie Pettitt, Principal Transport Planner. At the meeting, KCC listened to our concerns, and shared their views on mitigation requirements not just for the immediate area, but also with regards to the impact on traffic on the A226, A227, A228, and surrounding roads and villages. It was particularly encouraging to hear KCC’s strong opposition to any junction on the A226, and their demand for additional tunnelling of the link road. KCC also shared their proposed design drawings for the link road which they have recommended to Highways England and which, if adopted, would go a long way towards mitigating many of the worst impacts in the immediate vicinity of the crossing and link road, including Thong and Shorne West. Clearly there is a still a lot of detail to address as the design is developed, and it was agreed that the parties would continue to liaise so that KCC can keep us updated on developments, and we can ensure that local concerns are taken into account. Shorne Parish Council was represented by Susan Lindley and Bob Lane, with Higham councillor Peter Allinson and Rev. Nigel Bourne from Chalk.

CONSULTATION MANIPULATION The consultation was extended to 1.2 million people and organisations, including 950,000 Dart Charge customers. A total of 47,034 responses were received: Respondent Designation Totals Members of the public 33,224 “Campaigns”[1] 13,284 Petitions[2] 3 Organisations and groups 523 Total 47,034 Campaigns Highways England define a campaign response as “an identically worded response that has been received from a group of people”.  They have determined that a total of 13,284 of the responses they responses received constituted ‘organised campaigns’. (Note that this included 946 responses from individuals who included some or all of the examples suggested for consideration by Shorne Parish Council, either with or without their own comments.) Of the 13,284 responses, a total of 13,240 came from individuals opposed to Option C. Only 44 came from organisations in favour of Option C.  39 of these were from small companies, and 5 came from a motorcycle action group. Highways England states that these 13,284 responses are included in the overall number of responses received (47,034), but are NOT INCLUDED in the responses received from members of the public or organisations.  In fact they were totally ignored in their post-consultation analysis. Petitions Highways England identifies 3 petitions received, all of which opposed Option C, which they say had a total of 188 signatures.  This included the Kent County Council petition, for which they have recorded 11 signatures.  This petition actually received 3,678 signatures.  In any event, Highways England states that all these petitions only counted as 3 responses in the overall number of responses received (47,034), and are NOT INCLUDED in the responses received from members of the public or organisations. In section 5.7.1 of volume 3 of their post-consultation analysis report, Highways England states that a total of 32,872 members of the public answered their key question 5a … Read more

Lower Thames Crossing Background In January 2009, the Department for Transport proposed 3 major options to increase capacity east of London over the Thames to be built downstream of the existing Dartford Crossing.  On 21 May 2013, the Secretary of State announced a consultation document inviting views on the relative merits of the 3 options for locating a new road based river crossing in the Lower Thames area and a variant of one of these 3 options. The original 3 options were: Option A: at the site of the existing A282 Dartford-Thurrock river crossing; Option B: connecting the A2 at Swanscombe with the A1089 at Thurrock; Option C: connecting the M2 with the A13 and the M25 between junctions 29 and 30; *There was also a variant for option C, which would additionally widen the A229 between the M2 and M20. As part of the 2013 consultation, Kent County Council (KCC) supported Option C variant, connecting the M2 with the A13 and the M25 between junctions 29 and 30, and additionally widening the A229 between the M2 and the M20.  KCC’s support for Option C variant was on the condition that the connection to the M2 was moved westwards, thus connecting into the A2. This western alignment would connect in to the A2 between the East of Gravesend and Cobham junctions.  KCC acknowledged that there will be some impact for local access options where insufficient merge/weave lengths on the A2 may require the closure of the Shorne/Cobham slip road. A total of 5,776 responses were received to the consultation.  Of these, 3,224 or 59% either did not enter an explicit response or expressed a preference for a new crossing at a location other than those consulted on.  Of those who expressed a preference for one of the options consulted on, … Read more

A public meeting, attended by around 140 residents, was held at Shorne Village Hall on Thursday 11th May. Bob Lane gave a presentation about the flawed nature of the consultation process, which included directly conflicting information from Highways England and the Transport Ministers, and which discounted the responses from 13,240 people opposed to Option C.  The presentation can be viewed here:   Susan Lindley gave a presentation which described the Western Southern Link in detail, the impact this would have on traffic in the area, and the measures we shall be seeking to mitigate the adverse impacts of the crossing.  This presentation can be viewed here:   Questions were taken from a number of residents who live close to the chosen route.  Speakers from the audience included Kent County Councillor Bryan Sweetland, and Reverend Nigel Bourne, Vicar of Chalk.

On 12th April 2017, the Secretary of State for Transport Chris Grayling MP announced the Government’s decision to locate the Lower Thames Crossing east of Gravesend. The Parish Council is very disappointed, although not entirely surprised by this decision, since variations of Option C were the only choices option offered during the consultation.  Perhaps the only surprise is Highways England’s change in recommendation from the Eastern Southern Link (ESL) to the Western Southern Link (WSL), which has been accepted by the Government. Highways England say that they have listened to concerns raised about impacts on communities and protected environmental areas, and have conducted further assessment of both routes south of the river.  Their assessment showed there is very limited opportunity to reduce the community and environmental impacts of the eastern link, particularly on the Kent Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, Sites of Special Scientific Interest and ancient woodlands. Additional assessment was also conducted for the junction between the western link and the A2 to understand the extent to which the traffic performance could be improved. Their assessment identified that by re-working the design for the junction, it could offer a 70mph route without significantly increasing environmental or community impacts. As a result of their further assessments, they amended their recommendation to the Western Southern Link, connecting to the A2 between Thong Lane and Marling Cross. Whilst this may come as some relief to parishioners who would have been severely and directly impacted by the eastern link, it is no comfort to our parishioners in Thong and Shorne West.  It also makes little difference to our neighbours in Chalk. No-one should underestimate the potential impact on traffic through all parts of the parish, especially if the proposed junction with the A226 Gravesend Road goes ahead.  This would entail the re-routing … Read more

Another great job by Shorne’s Litter Patrol Volunteers! 33 volunteers took part in our litter patrol on Saturday 4th March 2017, collecting approximately 90 sacks of discarded cans, bottles, and sundry litter, plus a huge amount of fly tipped rubbish! Pictured below are just some of the local volunteers who took part, together with photos of just some of the rubbish collected. What a great effort – thank you to everyone who took part. If you would like to join us on one of our 6-monthly litter patrols, please contact shorne.volunteers@gmx.co.uk, or give Bob a call on 01474 822680.