Highways Update - August 2024

Kent Highways are currently considering proposals to enable Alkham Highways Improvement Plan to move on. Many safety initiatives have been rejected, so we are looking for achievable ideas.

We also met with both Temple Ewell Parish Council and Hawkinge Town Council representatives to coordinate a joint voice to Kent Highways, DDC and F&HDC to ensure an end to end solution is planned.

In our latest call on 6/5/24 with Kent Highways, we restated our objectives and the need for a proactive approach, directly to the manager of the design team (who had previously been presented the full TAG report when it was initially prepared). They will now look at an initial design, funded by our design "credit" as their previous proposals were invalid and not able to be implemented. We are now in their hands and are waiting on Kent Highways response.

In summary our request was for (all previously detailed in the HIP/ TAG report):

1) One way “road narrowing” build-outs with priority flow to the east and west of village.

This would be "self-enforcing" so that the traffic naturally keeps to the speed limit entering village centre.

2) An end to end view of valley speed limits (use of 40mph instead of the 50/60 sections)

This change would add sufficient time to the journey to avoid satellite navigation systems routing people through the valley rather than the A2/A20 as originally envisaged.

3) A 7.5 ton limit to stop tippers and HGVs entering except for access (They did say DCC should have insisted on HGV routing plans for Whitfield developers in their planning conditions which could have prevented them from using the valley)

Further information and plans can be seen in the original TAG report available on the Parish Council website via this link: