Tag Archives: Kent County Council

Kent County Councillor’s Report January 2024

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Rich Lehmann

In late November I had the chance to visit a place I’d been wanting to see for years. Nothing as exciting as the Taj Mahal or the Sydney Opera House though, this was a visit to the Material Recycling Facility in Crayford where all of our dry recycling is sorted to be sent on for recycling and re-use.

Way back in 2017 when I was involved with the Plastic Free Faversham campaign group, I visited the incinerator at Allington where our rubbish is burned to generate electricity, and on another occasion we visited the site where our food and garden waste is turned into compost. I never managed to make it to the place which arguably held the answer to the most frequently asked questions around our household waste. Questions like ‘how clean does food packaging need to be before it’s put in the recycling?’ (quite clean, but it doesn’t need to be spotless), ‘can black plastic actually be recycled now?’ (sometimes), and ‘can I put tetrapak cartons in the recycling?’ (sadly, not at the current time, but soon!).

The visit was prompted in part by the fact that Swale Borough Council is about to start a new contract for household waste collection. From late March, our bins will all be collected by Suez instead of Biffa, and our collection days may change – a letter will be going out to all households in the coming weeks to confirm whether your collection day will be the same or not, and I will aim to provide this information in the piece I write next month if I can.

The new contract gives us a chance to try and redouble our efforts to improve the rates of dry recycling we collect across Swale which, over the last few years, have remained fairly flat and well below where they could potentially be.

There are two issues which cause our recycling rates to be lower than they could. The first is the more obvious one, that people are putting perfectly recyclable items in their household waste. The second, less obvious but more harmful one, is that residents are putting non-recyclable items into their blue recycling bins. This is far more problematic as it can cause entire lorry loads full of recyclable waste to be rejected when they reach the transfer station in Sittingbourne, which means (literally) tons of paper, plastic and glass is sent for incineration rather than recycling.

On the same day as the visit to Crayford, we visited the transfer station at Sittingbourne and saw two lorry loads of recycling unloaded. Unfortunately both loads were rejected as the levels of contamination within them were too high. Most of the items responsible for the loads being rejected were clearly not appropriate to go into the recycling. There were used disposable nappies, an old pillow, and a large amount of the material was shiny and stuck together with something that may have been used cooking oil.

A large part of our work in the coming years will be trying to get the message out about the harm putting non-recyclable items in your blue bin, and our comms team have already put together a video with footage filmed at the transfer station – http://tinyurl.com/sbc1223

Officers within the council often use the term ‘dry recycling’ when referring to the materials that are suitable to go into blue bins, and I think if we could use this term publicly more often it may help to shift perceptions a little and start to reduce this problem.

Rich Lehmann
rich.lehmann@kent.gov.uk

Promoted by T. Valentine on behalf  of R.Lehmann, A.Gould & T.Thomson (Swale Green Party) c/o PO Box 78066, London, SE16 9GQ

KCC Councillor’s Report March 2023

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I’ve decided to write something a little more philosophical this month as I’ve been reflecting recently on the role of councillors in local government with regard to what they should do when their personal or political opinions differ from those of the residents they represent.

At council level there is rarely an issue. If a resident reports a pothole or needs help with an issue relating to schools, highways or any of the other things KCC is responsible for, I will do my best to get that issue resolved as quickly as possible. Similarly, with the seemingly never ending line of planning applications that come through for massive housing estates and ‘garden villages’, my views align with residents.

There is little conflict for me in most cases relating to housing. The Greens are the only major party to have avoided setting nationwide annual building targets, instead stating that “Housing provision targets should be based upon housing needs surveys produced or commissioned by local authorities”.  In 2020 a housing needs survey in Faversham concluded that the town almost exclusively needed one and two bedroomed houses, but more than half of the houses included in the latest version of the Duchy Estate proposals would have three, four and five bedrooms.

One slightly more ‘grey’ issue that has come up for me recently is something that I was initially firmly on one side of. In Teynham, a popular foot crossing over the railway is currently subject to an emergency closure, with Network Rail hoping to close the crossing permanently and divert the public right of way. To me, this seemed like an unecessary move as the number of recorded ‘near misses’ over the past few years was shown to be relatively few for such a well used crossing. I have now been shown some images which show that some local youths have been behaving very carelessly around the crossing, which has drawn me more to the middle of the debate.

My personal belief is that the enjoyment and convenience of the majority should not be spoiled by a tiny minority; and I still believe that Network Rail could, and should, do more to improve the safety of the crossing rather than simply close it. However I can also see that their desire to close it is not simply a box ticking exercise and that there is a genuine risk to safety if it remains open without any new safety precautions. In this case I will be encouraging local residents to respond to the public consultation, which will be opening soon, and will support the majority view.

Rich Lehmann
rich.lehmann@kent.gov.uk
https://kentgreencouncillors.news/

KCC Councillor’s Report September 2022

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I usually stick to writing about local matters in my updates, but it would be wrong not to acknowledge the national events of the past month.

In the space of just a few days we saw a new Prime Minister and new government, and then on the 8th September came the sad news of the passing of Queen Elizabeth II.

Queen Elizabeth was an incredible public servant, and the news of her passing has left many of us disoriented. Not only because the first week of September was already a time of great change, but mainly because Queen Elizabeth was the only monarch many of us had ever known. She was a constant in our lives (for many, most notably at family Christmases) from childhood right through to the present day and we not only feel her loss, but the loss of our connection to a fading generation. We mourn the past and feel a collective anxiety about what comes next. She will be greatly missed as a stable presence in our lives.

Coming back to local matters, the ongoing issue of the proposed cuts to bus services across many parts of Swale East still looms over us. KCC’s cabinet member made the decision in mid July to push ahead with the cuts, but I successfully appealed for the decision to be reviewed by KCC’s Scrutiny Committee. This meeting took place in mid August and the decision was referred back to full council for further debate. The full council meeting was scheduled for 15th September, but has been postponed in respect of the national period of mourning and has not yet been rescheduled.

Over the coming month I plan to start talking with parish councils to see what plans can be made to help vulnerable residents during the coming winter. Even with the newly announced price cap, energy prices will be soaring and some residents may find it difficult to keep their homes heated throughout the winter. I will provide an update on this in next month’s column.

In the meantime, if you are concerned about energy bills, this Which magazine calculator provides a useful estimate of what you can expect to pay for energy over the next couple of years.

www.tinyurl.com/energycosts22  

Swale residents needing extra support can also contact The Fuel and Water Home Adviser Service; contact Steve Pettit on spettitt@children-families.org or telephone 01795 889233.

Rich Lehmann

rich.lehmann@kent.gov.uk

KCC Councillor’s Report June 2022

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Well, one year into the role and what a rollercoaster of a year it has been. So much so that the below was originally due to be my councillor update last month, but I couldn’t find the time to write it.

A year ago when I was fresh faced and two weeks into my tenure, the first piece I wrote for our local parish magazines shared a few of the ambitions I had in mind for my four years in this role. Among them were 20mph limits and roadside verges. Two areas which, at the time, I thought might be possible to make good progress on in my first year. Sadly these tasks both turned out to be more complicated than I had realised.

To get a change in speed limit there are a number of hoops to jump through, each of which can take several weeks. Progress has been slow, but I’m pleased to have assisted a number of parish councils to varying degrees in moving their requests forward. Sheldwich will hopefully have a long overdue 20mph limit on Lees Court Road by the end of this year, and, if all goes well, other parishes won’t be far behind.

Letting roadside verges grow long is another area more complex than I’d originally realised. Despite KCC’s vocal support of No Mow May via their ‘Kent’s Plan Bee’ campaign, many verges across our area were unnecessarily cut back during May 2021 and May 2022. In some cases there was a necessity to maintain sightlines for road safety, but in many more this wasn’t an issue. KCC are in a tough position on this topic as public opinion is still greatly divided. Recent studies suggested that Kent has seen a 70% reduction in insect life over the past two decades, so we really should be doing all we can to try and reverse that worrying trend. I will continue to push for KCC to reduce their use of glyphosates and leave verges that don’t impact on highway sightlines.

I would be lying if I said that my first year as a councillor hasn’t been tough. My hair is now greyer and I’ve gained a few lines on my forehead and inches around my waistline. That being said, the second half of the year was far more enjoyable than the first. The incredibly steep learning curve I started out with is beginning to level off and I’m able to respond to many more enquiries without having to go round the houses to get an answer. More importantly, this knowledge has bolstered my confidence in dealing with KCC related matters.

Regardless of political leaning, our local authorities work best for everyone when opposition parties can provide strong and effective scrutiny of the administration. In February I submitted a motion at KCC’s budget meeting which prevented the cost of school bus passes being increased for families with children in receipt of free school meals. This was voted through by the council and the cost of a pass for those families should remain frozen for the next three years.

All things considered, my first year has been a case of finding out just how much I didn’t know about local government, and then filling the gaps. I still have a lot to learn, but am looking forward to being more proactive as time moves on and I really get to grips with the role.

Rich Lehmann

rich.lehmann@kent.gov.uk

Kent County Councillor for Swale East

KCC Councillor’s Report May 2022

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Rich Lehmann Swale East

Following on from the piece I wrote last month about the Kent County Council Bus Consultation, I have spent a great deal of time over the past few weeks working hard to raise awareness of the threat to rural bus services.

With the help of local volunteers and parish councillors, I posted leaflets to the villages most directly affected by the proposed cuts to let residents know which routes would be affected and how they could have their say. I then held five ‘drop-in’ sessions in Rodmersham, Conyer, Bredgar, Newnham and Doddington to meet with concerned residents and answer their questions, and also to assist anyone requiring help in completing a consultation response.

It can be very easy to feel daunted when responding to consultation documents. They use official sounding language and questions can sometimes be written or framed in a leading way, leaving it hard to work out how to share what you want to say.

Across the five drop-in sessions I helped a total of 36 residents fill in paper consultation responses.In many cases the respondents were people who for various reasons would not have been able to complete the consultation online. Whilst I’m glad that the views of these residents will be represented, I fear that they are just the tip of the iceberg and that there are likely to be hundreds more across the county who rely on these services but for one reason or another will have missed out on responding.

In addition to ensuring that residents’ views on buses are heard, the drop-in sessions were hugely valuable for me in my growth as a councillor. I have been on a steep learning curve since last May’s election, and various demanding elements of council work have meant I’ve not had as much time to spend in our community as I had hoped. Meeting people face to face and listening to their thoughts and concerns helps me to better understand the needs of the dozens of parishes, communities and hamlets that make up Swale East and I will be looking to hold more general drop-in sessions over the coming months.

One resident whose views particularly stuck with me was a woman in her 80s who had been getting the same bus for 40 years. She explained to me how she saw the same people on the bus week in, week out, and that the bus passengers were effectively a community too.
Kent County Council have a long list of responsibilities, the first of which is to “seek to improve the lives of all residents in Kent”. If they go ahead with cutting these bus services it will be a serious failure of that responsibility.

Rich Lehmann

rich.lehmann@kent.gov.uk

Kent County Councillor for Swale East

Swale Borough Councillors’ Report April 2022

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Update on the Local Plan

The Local Plan Panel meeting on the 24th March received two reports on progress of the local plan. The council made the decision not to proceed with the version of the local plan published in early 2021 under regulation 19. Instead, a further “Issues and Preferred Options” consultation was undertaken under regulation 18 in November last year. This allowed further consultation on changes that may be necessary due to revisions to the National Planning Policy Framework and representations made during the previous consultation.

The first report is on the main issues raised during the regulation 18 consultation. A number of representations from residents supported not providing the number of new homes required under the method imposed by Government to calculate the local housing need. The constraints of the natural environment, flood risk, and infrastructure limitations were cited as evidence to support this view. Unsurprisingly, developers argued that such constraints are not unique to Swale and that this approach would slow economic growth, make affordability worse and hinder delivery of infrastructure improvements. If the Council were to argue that the full local housing need cannot be met, the local plan inspector would be forensic in their examination of the evidence put forward to justify this position.

There was no clear agreement on the preferred distribution of development across the borough. Issues raised included the capacity of highways, wastewater treatment, health, and education, and the effect on air quality, landscape character and the loss of agricultural land. Kent County Council, the highways authority, highlighted significant detrimental impact on traffic, air quality, and the ability to achieve an increased use of walking, cycling and public transport for local journeys.

The second report sets out the next steps in the local plan review. The inspector’s report on the (current) adopted local plan identified capacity deficiencies in the local and strategic road network that would need to be mitigated. As a result, the council undertook high-level traffic modelling in collaboration with Kent County Council and National Highways prior to the regulation 19 and 18 consultations. At the time it was concluded that there were no “show-stoppers”. The results of more recent finer grained modelling produced surprising results, which showed significant impacts at some key junctions. There are no obvious development strategies that could deliver the local housing need number without adversely affecting these transport corridors. This challenge will require further traffic modelling as the council must leave no stone unturned in its attempt to deliver the local housing need.

It is anticipated that a further Regulation 19 consultation can take place in the early autumn. This will be confirmed in the late spring.

Tim Valentine

TimValentine@swale.gov.uk

Alastair Gould

AlastairGould@swale.gov.uk

Swale Borough Councillors for Boughton & Courtenay