Members of the public have been given extra time to have their say about Gatwick’s expansion plans, which could double the airport’s size.

Gatwick wants to spend £ 2.2 billion to upgrade an existing backup runway, which would allow many more daytime flights. The Airport says night flights would not increase.

Campaigners against the Gatwick’s new runway say it would worsen noise for residents in West Kent and is incompatible with efforts to combat climate change.

Although the planning process has yet to hear evidence, the planning inspectorate has set a new deadline of 11.59pm on Sunday 19th November 2023 for the public to register in order to be allowed to make comments. More time was given after a fault caused the submissions website to close a day earlier than the original deadline of 29th October.

Two links for registration are below:
https://infrastructure.planninginspectorate.gov.uk/projects/south-east/gatwick-airport-northern-runway/?ipcsection=docs

https://national-infrastructure-consenting.planninginspectorate.gov.uk/projects/TR020005/register/register-have-your-say

Gatwick’s Northern Runway is currently limited to acting as a taxiway, only available when the main runway is out of use. The planning application proposes repositioning the centre line of the Northern Runway 12 metres north to allow dual runway operations, boosting flight capacity.

Campaigner Charles Lloyd (below) who lives in Penshurst says aircraft noise impacts many people in the area: “Lots of people are very deeply affected by it in terms of their quality of life. They’re affected in terms of their health”.

Charles Lloyd continues: “If you are woken up at night there is very strong medical evidence that it has an effect on your physical health, coronary issues and on your productivity the next day at work.”

Charles Lloyd says new green technology for planes is still unproven: “There’s a flight of fantasy approach being put forward by both the government and Gatwick that says we think we can decarbonise, we don’t know how, but we are going to assume that we can, and we will allow potentially airport expansion on that basis.”

Charles Lloyd concludes: “35 per cent more aircraft in the sky, means 35 per cent more noise. Aircraft are getting less noisy, but very very very slowly. So there would be a significant impact on anyone who lives underneath the Gatwick flight path for many many years into the future.”

By contrast Gatwick’s Head of Noise and Airspace Strategy, Andy Sinclair (below) says the airport’s plans will have major economic benefits, creating around 14,000 new jobs and injecting £1 billion into the region’s economy every year.

Andy Sinclair says: “There are no new flight paths required as a result of this project. There would initially, of course, be an increase in noise but we have made a commitment…that 9 years after opening (the new runway), the airport would be quieter than it was in 2019.”

Andy Sinclair continues: “During the night period there are current government restrictions that cap the number of night flights. We have never asked for more flights in the night period and don’t intend to ask for more night flights, so the increase in flights would be during the 16 hours of the rest of the day.”

Andy Sinclair says planes are getting quieter: “In the 5 years pre-covid, the traffic grew by 6.3 % but at the same time noise was reduced by 9.6%. Traffic can grow and noise can reduce.”

Air travel is currently one of the lightest taxed sectors in the economy (there is no duty on airline fuel, while UK drivers pay significant duties on petrol and diesel), but Andy Sinclair doesn’t see a risk that future air travel demand will be constrained by governments imposing higher taxes on air travel.

Andy Sinclair points out that the UK government’s climate plan for net zero emissions by 2050 did include airport expansion. He also says Gatwick Airport will spend £250 million in capital investment to achieve net zero at the airport by 2030.

You can hear much more from campaigner Charles Lloyd and Gatwick’s Andy Sinclair in the latest episode of the podcast “West Kent Talking” which is available on all podcast platforms…or click below:

Gatwick airport carried nearly 47 million passengers in its peak pre-covid year of 2019.  That fell to 33 million passengers last year, but Gatwick wants to carry around 75 million passengers a year by the late 2030s.

There is more information from Gatwick Airport and campaigners on the links below.

https://www.gatwickairport.com/company/northern-runway.html

http://www.gatwickobviouslynot.org

Members of the public have just a few hours left to have their say about Gatwick’s expansion plans, which could double the airport’s size.

Gatwick wants to spend £ 2.2 billion to upgrade an existing backup runway, which would allow many more daytime flights. The Airport says night flights would not increase. 

Although the planning process has yet to hear evidence, the planning inspectorate has set the deadline of 11.59pm tonight (Sunday 29th October 2023) for the public to register in order to make comments.

Campaigners against the new runway say Gatwick’s plans would worsen noise for residents in West Kent and are incompatible with efforts to combat climate change.

Two links for registration are below:
https://infrastructure.planninginspectorate.gov.uk/projects/south-east/gatwick-airport-northern-runway/?ipcsection=docs

https://national-infrastructure-consenting.planninginspectorate.gov.uk/projects/TR020005/register/register-have-your-say

Gatwick’s Northern Runway is currently limited to acting as a taxiway, only available when the main runway is out of use. The planning application proposes repositioning the centre line of the Northern Runway 12 metres north to allow dual runway operations, boosting flight capacity.

Campaigner Charles Lloyd (below) who lives in Penshurst says aircraft noise impacts many people in the area: “Lots of people are very deeply affected by it in terms of their quality of life. They’re affected in terms of their health”.

Charles Lloyd continues: “If you are woken up at night there is very strong medical evidence that it has an effect on your physical health, coronary issues and on your productivity the next day at work.”

Charles Lloyd says new green technology for planes is still unproven: “There’s a flight of fantasy approach being put forward by both the government and Gatwick that says we think we can decarbonise, we don’t know how, but we are going to assume that we can, and we will allow potentially airport expansion on that basis.”

Charles Lloyd concludes: “35 per cent more aircraft in the sky, means 35 per cent more noise. Aircraft are getting less noisy, but very very very slowly. So there would be a significant impact on anyone who lives underneath the Gatwick flight path for many many years into the future.”

By contrast Gatwick’s Head of Noise and Airspace Strategy, Andy Sinclair (below) says the airport’s plans will have major economic benefits, creating around 14,000 new jobs and injecting £1 billion into the region’s economy every year.

Andy Sinclair says: “There are no new flight paths required as a result of this project. There would initially, of course, be an increase in noise but we have made a commitment…that 9 years after opening (the new runway), the airport would be quieter than it was in 2019.”

Andy Sinclair continues: “During the night period there are current government restrictions that cap the number of night flights. We have never asked for more flights in the night period and don’t intend to ask for more night flights, so the increase in flights would be during the 16 hours of the rest of the day.”

Andy Sinclair says planes are getting quieter: “In the 5 years pre-covid, the traffic grew by 6.3 % but at the same time noise was reduced by 9.6%. Traffic can grow and noise can reduce.”

Air travel is currently one of the lightest taxed sectors in the economy (there is no duty on airline fuel, while UK drivers pay significant duties on petrol and diesel), but Andy Sinclair doesn’t see a risk that future air travel demand will be constrained by governments imposing higher taxes on air travel.

Andy Sinclair points out that the UK government’s climate plan for net zero emissions by 2050 did include airport expansion.

Andy Sinclair also says Gatwick Airport will spend £250 million in capital investment to achieve net zero at the airport by 2030.

You can hear much more from campaigner Charles Lloyd and Gatwick’s Andy Sinclair on the latest episode of the podcast “West Kent Talking” which is available on all podcast platforms…or click below:

Gatwick airport carried nearly 47 million passengers in its peak pre-covid year of 2019.  That fell to 33 million passengers last year, but Gatwick wants to carry around 75 million passengers a year by the late 2030s.

There is more information from Gatwick Airport and campaigners on the links below.

https://www.gatwickairport.com/company/northern-runway.html

http://www.gatwickobviouslynot.org

BBC journalists in Tunbridge Wells are on strike in protest at management plans to axe around half the locally made programming at BBC Radio Kent.

A 48-hour strike began yesterday (Wed 7 June) and ends on Thursday night. Staff are also still “working to rule”.

Speaking from the picket line outside BBC South East studios this morning, the National Union of Journalist’s local representative, Bob Dale, told Southborough News that the strike was having a major impact on the news output.

Bob Dale said the TV bulletins for Kent and East Sussex were being made in London, while Radio Kent’s local news was being replaced by national bulletins from BBC Radio 2.

He said that at a lobby of MPs at Westminster yesterday, politicians ranging from Conservative Jacob Rees-Mogg to Labour’s John McDonnell spoke in opposition to the BBC cuts to local radio.

Bob Dale (pictured below) said there was now universal opposition to the BBC plans from political parties at Westminster. He said: “The BBC should stop, pause this process, have some sort of local consultation and really think again about the impact this will have on communities.”

The NUJ’s Bob Dale continued: “We don’t take this strike action lightly.  This is the third day’s pay that people – who don’t get paid a great deal – have given up. This is not about a pay deal for us.  This is about us caring about what we do. A lot of staff could find some sort of role in the new set up, but they care so much about local radio and the service it provides that they are prepared to make these sacrifices and fight for what they believe in.”

Some BBC concessions were made in talks brokered by the conciliation service ACAS, but a new ballot of NUJ members still rejected the plans.

Bob Dale explained: “The good news for Kent, Sussex and Surrey is that they have got rid of the ridiculous idea of us sharing output with BBC Radio London over the weekend. As we stand at the moment, we will not be sharing at all with Radio London, which is good news for London and good news for us.”

He said this meant that there was more hope that Radio Kent’s most popular show, the Sunday Gardening 10am-2pm programme presented by Andy Garland (pictured below) could survive in some form, but there were no guarantees.

Bob Dale said of the BBC concession: “But it doesn’t go far enough, as far as our members are concerned. We want our local afternoon drivetime show back – one for Radio Kent and one for BBC Sussex & Surrey – at the very least. We would also like one weekend Breakfast show just for Kent and one for Sussex and Surrey.”

Bob Dale continued: “If those concessions are made, that would get it over the line, but they just don’t seem to want to offer those.”

Bob Dale concluded: “The MPs are universally opposed to these changes.  They were surprised to hear about them as the BBC didn’t see fit to tell the culture secretary or OFCOM about the plans before they were announced last October. They are getting lots of letters from constituents asking why are we losing a real local service? Why are we losing some of our local presenters?”

The newly re-elected leader of Tunbridge Wells Borough Council has said that air quality is improving in the town thanks to the controversial new traffic rules that have led to thousands of fines for local motorists.

Ben Chapelard from the Liberal Democrats said that the number of cars per day wrongly driving past the War Memorial outside the Town Hall had been cut significantly from 1,200 to 200 per day.

He said 80% of people who had previously used that part of Mount Pleasant Road from 9am to 6pm had stopped doing so and it was “the last 20% of people that were ignoring the warning signs”.

Thousands of people have been fined for using the route – many because they found the signs unclear. But Mr Chapelard (pictured below) argued that the scheme was working as part of the council’s policy to make towns more vibrant and safer for pedestrians.

Several local newspapers have quoted a figure of £200,000 of fines being collected in just one month, but the council says this figure is wrong and does not necessarily mean the council is generating net revenue, as the costs of setting up the scheme still need to be covered.

In an interview for West Kent Radio, Mr Chapelard was asked if the distant blue circle sign with a white bus and white cycle was clear enough for residents heading south having approached from Dudley Road to react to in time – they need to turn left. (Junction shown below)

Mr Chapelard said: “We’ve asked Kent County Council, who are the highway authority to go back and double check the signage, but we think it is clear.” He said David Brazier, who is in charge of transport for Kent County Council, had just visited the scheme.

Mr Chapelard continued: “If people feel they have not been treated fairly by the system and they get a fine, there is in the process a right of appeal which the council staff will examine and determine. We are finding that there are still people going through there – despite having warning letters – and they are just trying their luck, and that is quite a big number of the people who are still going through, as I understand it.”

Another issue is that Google maps and other satnavs are still indicating that – even during the daytime – people should take the route that they will be fined for (see below).

Mr Chapelard said Google had been informed that the fines would be enforced in February.

Mr Chapelard concluded that: “Post-pandemic that bus lane is now being enforced for the good of residents.  We are trying to reduce the amount of cars that go through there every day. People are getting the message now.” 

In a statement, the council said: “From 20 Feb until 1 April, we issued over 18,000 warnings to motorists seen contravening the bus gate restriction.  After going to live PCNs on 1 April the number of drivers seen in the restriction has dropped considerably, so it is having the desired effect of making the town centre more pedestrian friendly. Whilst there is an income from the PCNs, we have to cover the implementation costs of the scheme, but if there is an eventual surplus generated, by law it can only be used to finance highway, transport and environmental investment.”

You can listen to Ben Chapelard’s interview on the Bus Lane Fines and the recent successes for the Liberal Democrats in the local elections on this YouTube link:

Meanwhile, just five years after the creation of the Tunbridge Wells Alliance Party, one of its councillors, Nick Pope, was elected Deputy Mayor last week (Wed 24th May 2023).

By tradition, next year Nick Pope will be the Mayor, giving him a potentially powerful casting vote after the May 2024 elections which will be an unpredictable “all-out” vote with all councillors up for re-election under new ward boundaries.

The Tunbridge Wells Alliance Party (TWA) was formed to oppose the then Conservative council’s plan to borrow £100 million to build a new theatre and Town Hall on Calverley Grounds. That plan was eventually defeated after £10 million had already been spent on it, when the Conservatives lost seats and several other Conservative councillors voted against the scheme.

This is my YouTube film of the speech proposing Mr Pope by the current Tunbridge Wells Alliance Party leader, Matthew Sankey, at the full council meeting last week.

Mr Sankey referered to Nick Pope’s role is setting up the Tunbridge Wells Alliance Party: “Nick opened the door to this chamber for those who do not have a political home in a traditional national sense…Nick is the perfect person to lead us by example in what is sure to be a very exciting time as we move from 48 to 39 councillors.”

A campaign to prevent people in High Brooms having their votes subsumed into a proposed new Borough council ward area dominated by voters in Tunbridge Wells has been successful.

The initial proposals from the Local Government Boundary Commission had ignored the fact that the district of “Southborough and High Brooms” has historically been a separate town from Tunbridge Wells.

But after representations from many local groups, there will now be a one member Tunbridge Wells Borough Council ward for High Brooms only (area E below).  The area was originally going to be part of a Tunbridge Wells North ward, but now St John’s residents will have their own two member ward.

The boundaries for voting in the parish council elections every four years will also change.  The new names for the areas shown in the map above are:
D = Southborough East, E = Southborough High Brooms, F = Southborough North, G = Southborough West

The area of the town of Southborough and High Brooms not defined as “High Brooms” will be merged into the new Borough Council ward of “Southborough and Bidborough”. This ward is large enough to have 3 councillors, with voting for them taking place three years out of every 4 years.

The mayor of Southborough, Dianne Hill (below), welcomed the establishment of the High Brooms ward and the Local Government Electoral Commission’s change of heart.

Dianne Hill said: “Brilliant news for High Brooms.  It keeps its identity and St Matt’s school and church are moved back into the same ward.”

The single exception to the overall 3 member plan for each ward was made for High Brooms because the commission said: “While we start our reviews with a presumption in favour of a uniform pattern of three-councillor wards when determining our warding pattern in authorities that elect by thirds, we were persuaded that there was overwhelming community identity evidence from a broad range of residents, community groups, councillors and stakeholders that justified separating the High Brooms area from the town of Tunbridge Wells. Accordingly, we are content to depart from a uniform pattern of three-councillor wards and create a single-councillor High Brooms ward.”

But other areas weren’t as successful in their representations to the Local Government Electoral Commission.  The area of Capel, which currently has its own councillor, is still to be merged into a large ward that includes Pembury.

The current councillor for Capel, Hugh Patterson, told Southborough News: “I was disappointed but not surprised. I think there’s a risk Capel residents will be much less effectively represented than they have been.”

There’s also concern that the rural areas to the east of the Borough now cover large geographical areas (see below), covering several different parish councils, which will take a lot of work for councillors to represent effectively.

There will be 3 wards to the rural east of the Borough described as:
– Goudhurst, Lamberhurst and Horsmonden
– Cranbrook, Sissinghurst and Frittenden
– Hawkhurst, Sandhurst and Benenden

Many smaller wards would have been possible had the council decided in a recent vote to abandon “voting by thirds” and elect all the members of the council in a single vote (once every four years) as happens elsewhere in Kent.  But the Liberal Democrat leadership of the council and some Labour members rejected any such change.

Under the final proposals the Borough of Tunbridge Wells will be divided into 14 wards instead of the 20 that exist at the moment.  There will be 39 councillors, that’s 9 fewer than currently.

Projections are that the Borough’s total population will be 91,034 by the year 2028 (up from 85,271 now). This would mean each councillor representing an average of 2,334 people.

The reason for the shake up in the ward boundaries is to make each ward more equal in population to be fair to all voters and also to reduce the overall size and cost of the council.

The two Borough Council seats up for grabs in the Southborough area have been won by John Francis of Labour and Joe Opara of the Liberal Democrats.

Sixteen seats were being contested in the Tunbridge Wells Borough Council of 48 seats. The results are unlikely to alter the leadership of the council overall, which is currently run by a coalition of Liberal Democrats, Labour and the Tunbridge Wells Alliance Party.

The new state of parties is:

Lib Dem go up from 15 to 17
Labour go up from 7 to 8
Tun Wells Alliance go up from 9 to 11
Cons drop from 13 to 11
and there’s one independent in Paddock Wood left (there were 4 independents before the vote).

In Southborough North, Joe Opara joins the council for the Lib Dems – the Lib Dem there who won 4 years ago, Trevor Poile is stepping down.

In Southborough and High Brooms, it was a Labour hold, with John Francis stepping into the seat previously won 4 years ago by Luke Everitt for Labour.

The local results were:
SOUTHBOROUGH AND HIGH BROOMS
John Francis (Lab) 933
Misha Mitchem (Con) 305
Paul Johnson (TW Alliance) 169
Yvonne Raptis (Lib Dem) 165
David Holton (Green) 162

SOUTHBOROUGH NORTH
Joe Opara (Lib Dem) 619
Sarah Bridges (Con) 478
Jon Farina (TW Alliance) 163
Martin Betts (Lab) 143
Sue Lovell (Green) 73

On the Southborough and High Brooms Town Council, there will be 10 Labour, 5 Conservative and 2 Lib Dem councillors. One seat is vacant but another Labour or independent member is likely to be co-opted to bring the council to full strength.

Meanwhile in neighbouring Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council, the Conservatives lost overall control.  The results were Conservatives 20, Lib Dem 11, Green 8, Labour 3, Independent Alliance Kent 2. However, the Conservatives are believed to be talking to the two Independent Alliance councillors to make an agreement which would see the current Conservative leader of the council, Matt Boughton, remain as leader. (Update 13th May)

The Conservatives retained control of Sevenoaks. The result there was Conservatives 33, Lib Dems 14, Green 4, Independent 3.

Looking at a few Tunbridge Wells Borough Council seats in more detail:
In Speldhurst and Bidborough, Paul Curry triumphed for the Tunbridge Wells Alliance, holding onto a seat previously held by Lucy Willis for the Alliance in 2019.

In Sherwood, the cabinet member for housing and planning, Hugo Pound was victorious for Labour. And it was a clearer margin of 98 votes this time – Hugo Pound won by just 11 votes in 2019.

Marguerita Morton of the Lib Dems held onto her seat in St Johns.

In Culverden, David Osborne produced a Lib Dem gain from Independent.

In Park ward, Siobhan O’Connell returned the seat to the TWA – defeating Christian Atwood by 252 votes – he had previously defected from the Alliance to the Conservatives.

The Alliance councillors David Hayward in Pembury and Nancy Warne in Benenden and Cranbrook were re-elected to the same seats they won in 2019.

Paddock Wood West was a Lib Dem gain, with Mark Munday the new councillor – that seat was Conservative four years ago, though the Conservative Matt Bailey had become Independent. Meanwhile, Paddock Wood East saw the Independent, Rodney Atkins, returned.

Pantiles and St Marks was another win for the Lib Dem candidate, Pamela Wilkinson, who replaced the independent councillor Andrew Hickey who did not run again. Long standing former Conservative councillor David Scott did compete for that seat but he was defeated by 492 votes.

In Rusthall, Jayne Sharratt of Labour defeated the sitting Lib Dem councillor, Dave Funnell by 94 votes.

In Goudhurst and Lamberhurst, Alison Webster from TW Alliance was victorious – the seat was previously held by Linda Hall of the Conservatives.

But the Conservatives did hold onto 2 seats they were contesting. Andy Fairweather held onto his seat of Frittenden and Sissinghurst for the Conservatives. He won an impressive 67 per cent of the vote. And Godfrey Bland held onto his seat of Hawkhurst and Sandhurst for the Conservatives. He had a big majority of 509, taking 48% of the votes.

Voters in Southborough and High Brooms go to the Polls on Thursday with some Tunbridge Wells Borough Council seats and all the seats on Southborough Town Council up for grabs.

In the Southborough North Borough Council ward, the sitting Borough councillor Trevor Poile is standing down from one of the two seats in the ward. Last year the Liberal Democrat, Brendon Le Page was elected to the other seat with a majority of 26 votes over the Conservative.

This time there is a choice of 5 candidates to vote for on Thursday 4th May:

Labour: Martin Betts
Conservative: Sarah Bridges
Tunbridge Wells Alliance: Jon Farina
Green Party: Sue Lovell
Liberal Democrats: Joe Opara

If you want to hear what the five parties are proposing in the Borough, you can watch extended interviews with their representatives on the following YouTube links.  Part 1 has the views of the Conservative opposition leader, Tom Dawlings and the Liberal Democrat leader of the council, Ben Chapelard:

Part 2 has interviews with Hugo Pound from Labour, Lucy Willis from the Tunbridge Wells Alliance and Geoff Mason from the Green Party. The Green Party is standing in all Borough seats for the first time.

Meanwhile in the Southborough and High Brooms Borough Council ward, there are another 5 candidates for the vacant seat. Luke Everitt won for Labour with 50% of the vote four years ago but he is standing down. The other two councillors in the ward who don’t face a vote this time are Dianne Hill and Alain Lewis – both from Labour.

The choice of 5 candidates to vote for on Thursday 4th May in Southborough and High Brooms is:
Labour: John Francis
Green Party: David Holton
Tunbridge Wells Alliance: Paul Johnson
Conservative: Misha Mitchem
Liberal Democrat: Yvonne Raptis

Votes are taking place at the same time for the Southborough Town Council which owns Southborough Common and the Civic Centre (above). There are 18 Town Councillors. The Town Council wards are divided into 3 areas:

Southborough Town – West Ward has 5 seats but only 4 candidates were nominated.  So John Francis, Jason Reeves, Rick Stewart and Mandy Wharton have already been elected for Labour.

Southborough Town – North Ward has 8 candidates for 7 seats.  There are 6 Conservatives (Harry Allen, James Allen, Sarah Bridges, David Elliott, Ian Kinghorn and Olwyn Kinghorn). There are 2 Liberal Democrats (Joe Opara and Trevor Poile)

Southborough Town – East and High Brooms Ward has 9 candidates for 6 seats. There are 6 from Labour (Alan Bullion, Brian Dury, Spike Figgett, Dariel Francis, Dianne Hill and Alain Lewis).  There are 3 Conservative candidates (Nkem Ituludiegwu, Nasir Jamil and Saloni Shukla).

Meanwhile, in Tonbridge and Malling Borough, the Conservatives are fighting to keep control.  You can hear the arguments of the five parties there on this YouTube link:

Hundreds of people joined in the Mayday Festival on the Southborough Cricket ground on Bank Holiday Monday, with the welcome return of children dancing around the Maypole.

It was the second Mayday Festival organised by Nell Price and the Southborough Street Community. Last year they revived the Maypole tradition in Southborough for the first time since the 1800s.

This year saw the event expand in size with 50 stalls, a bouncy castle and many more people. The rain held off and there were even brief glimpses of sun.

Nell Price (pictured below) said: “We are the first people to put a Maypole here since the early 1800s when it was banned by the church that’s in front of me, but they are very relaxed now and they have allowed us to have a Maypole back on Southborough Common”.

The event saw the May Queen, Ladies in Waiting and a May King all recognised for their fine costumes and enthusiastic dancing.

You can hear more about the event, Southborough in Bloom and the history of the Maypole by clicking on this link to the Southborough News YouTube site.

You can see interviews with Nell Price, Rachel Gale of the Maypole Hire Company and Mandy Wharton of Southborough in Bloom. Plus local artists Kat Vezmar and Michelle Parfitt explain their work. Finally on the 9 minute film you can hear a song from The Chartham String Band.

The government has extended the trial bus fare subsidy scheme to the end of June.

Thanks to government support, the £ 2 maximum single fares apply on Arriva’s routes 7 and 402 connecting Southborough with Tonbridge and Tunbridge Wells.  (A list of route exceptions is at the end of the blog.)

Meanwhile, there is still no prospect of an improved route for cyclists trying to travel between Tonbridge and Tonbridge Wells.

The latest episode of the podcast, West Kent Talking, has just been published. It outlines the obstacles to efforts to get people out of cars and so alleviate the continuing road congestion that costs so many local people time and money.

There is apparently not enough funding available to build the segregated cycle routes that would encourage a big switch to cycling. Meanwhile the scheme to impose 20 mph limits on traffic speeds in Tonbridge in an effort to make streets safer got a mixed response from the public.

In this podcast, Martin Webber discusses the big local transport issues with the man responsible for the area’s roads, David Brazier of the Conservatives who’s Kent County Council’s cabinet member for Highways and Transport. David Brazier tells us why he thinks a cycle route within the existing A26 road width would be unsafe, while the idea of a new cycle route parallel to the A26 (on the fringes of farmland between Southborough and Tonbridge) would be unaffordable.

Plus you will hear from the Liberal Democrat’s Peter Lidstone, who is the cycling and walking champion in Tunbridge Wells. And finally listen to the ideas of Adrian Berendt, who works for the national group Campaign for Better Transport and who’s also vice-Chair of the Tunbridge Wells Town Forum. Adrian Berendt believes a new A26 segregated cycle lane is possible and would benefit the 7,000 children who attend schools along the A26 in the St. John’s area.

You can listen on Apple Podcasts or use this link to Spotify podcasts:

The following Arriva routes are excluded from the £2 single fares:

286 Coleman’s Hatch – Tunbridge Wells

531 Noah’s Ark – Weald of Kent School

582 Tunbridge Wells – Hugh Christie Technology College

771 Weald of Kent School – West Malling

772 Weald of Kent School – Hadlow

773 Hayesbrook School – West Malling

774 Bennett Memorial School – West Malling

775 Bennett Memorial School – Kings Hill

776 Tunbridge Wells – Hadlow

77X Weald of Kent School – West Malling

A 24-hour strike by BBC staff in Tunbridge Wells began today as journalists protested about cuts to local radio which will see BBC Radio Kent’s most popular show face the axe.

The dispute is over changes proposed by BBC bosses in November which will see Radio Kent share much of its output with neighbouring BBC local stations serving Sussex, Surrey and Greater London.

Due to the strike, the widely watched BBC half-hour evening regional TV news programme, South East Today, was replaced on Wednesday with an edition of Garden Rescue.

Under the cuts, BBC Radio Kent will be left with only two unique programmes on weekdays, while all its weekend output (apart from sport) will merge with nearby stations. 

That is likely to mean the end of Radio Kent’s most listened to programme, Sunday Gardening, which runs from 10am to 2pm and is presented in Tunbridge Wells by long term staff member, Andy Garland.  Almost all existing staff including Andy Garland (pictured below) have been placed “at risk of redundancy”.

Southborough News spoke to staff on the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) picket line outside the BBC Tunbridge Wells studios this afternoon who all feel the planned changes will mean that BBC local radio will be less effective at covering local news and issues.

The NUJ representative for Radio Kent and Online at BBC South East Bob Dale told us: “We think the audience of Kent deserves a proper local service.  That’s what they pay their licence fee for.  Something like Netflix is good for drama but its not going to tell you how much your council tax is going up by.”

Bob Dale continued: “We’ve had protracted negotiations with management on this.  There’s been no movement. The programme sharing ideas are still on the table, so that’s why we’ve had to take this unfortunately drastic step of coming out on strike for 24 hours.” 

Bob Dale said there was no sign of compromise with management.  He told us: “There were talks on Monday but there was no movement on the plans to share local programming. That’s the red line. That is what’s caused this dispute. “

Local radio is still going out on Wednesday evening but without many of the usual presenters.  The 6.30pm local television local news programmes came off air across England. The strike ends at 11am on Thursday. 

Under the management plans, many radio roles will be repurposed as jobs writing online stories.