SRTA responds to Sevenoaks Local Plan
The Sevenoaks Rail Travellers Association has responded to the consultation on the Sevenoaks District Local Plan:-
The Sevenoaks Rail Travellers Association (SRTA) represents rail users from stations around Sevenoaks town, up the Darenth Valley as far as Eynsford and east to Kemsing with a total annual footfall of almost 5 million. We are commenting on the draft local plan at https://www.sevenoaks.gov.uk/info/20069128/new_local_plan/389/draft_local_plan_consultation .
Current Situation
Sevenoaks is one of the busiest commuter stations in Kent with an annual footfall of almost 4million people. The existing mainline fast services to London, our main work destination, are full and often standing in the peak. Services via Bat & Ball and the Darenth Valley are slow, calling at all stations, and currently less than reliable with poor passenger information in times of disruption.
A fast, reliable train service is essential to maintain the vitality and prosperity of our community as well as providing vital links for employment, education and tourism. As we shall indicate the rail industry recognizes that our current local rail resources are under serious strain. Additional resources are scarce nationally and hence competition for new investment is fierce.
The SDC Local Plan provides for an increase in housing of about 14,000 units by the mid 2030’s, on a base today of 49,000. Allowing for an increase in the proportion of retired residents, this still means an increase in the working population of around 25%. Many of their jobs will require access to London, which the existing rail service cannot provide.
Only One Option to Increase Rail Capacity
The peak time capacity of the West Kent mainline through Sevenoaks is fully utilized every working day. Currently there are 24 mainline paths in the morning peak. The latest Network Rail study[i] forecasts a need for one additional AM peak period train path up to 2022 and a further 4 train paths between 2022 and 2044 based on data from national and local government.
Network Rail report that while it may be possible, following some infrastructure work in central London, to provide the first additional path, the 4 further additional paths needed CANNOT be delivered due to very severe infrastructure constraints. Hence they recommend seeking alternative solutions.
Their only solution is the proposed new service from Maidstone East via Otford and Swanley to London Bridge and the Thameslink core. This new service is the ONLY proposed increase in rail capacity to London from anywhere in West Kent. This service will provide relief to the existing services due to its very attractive journey times (33mins from Otford, 24 mins from Swanley to London Bridge running non-stop between Swanley and London Bridge) and will undoubtedly generate additional journey opportunities and hence additional passengers especially from the communities at Kings Hill and West Malling. Many people moved to those locations on the promise from developers of the new service. It is proposed to operate 2 trains per hour throughout the whole day 6 days a week with an option to provide a Sunday service if demand is sufficient.
This will not now be delivered until December 2019, one year after the original planned date. However, many industry observers believe it is seriously at risk from possible capacity limits through the Thameslink core in London and potentially from competition from other routes for its paths. It is essential that significant new housing in the first half of the local plan period is conditional on delivery of this service at an early stage. Unless this service is delivered, any significant increase in housing between Sevenoaks and Swanley would exacerbate the serious overcrowding on existing trains.
The published timetable for the proposed new service offers good connections with the Bat & Ball slow trains which will continue to serve the smaller stations along the Darenth Valley is also essential to increase capacity and connectivity to other destinations via Swanley and Maidstone. In summary this new service offers substantial benefits to Sevenoaks District Council residents and deserves its strong support.
Need for Digital Railway Technology
Any significant housing increases between Sevenoaks and Westerham will increase the load on Sevenoaks station. It is therefore essential that there is early investigation of digital railway technology to maximise capacity on mainline between Tonbridge and Orpington before the first half of the local plan period is reached. This is not included in the National Rail route study, which regards it as ‘too difficult’. However, its deployment is essential to deliver even a modest increase (perhaps 10%) increase in the capacity of the line. Without this, Sevenoaks links to its main employment source will come under severe strain.
Growing Demand from Student Travel
An increase in housing will further increase demands for travel to school. School journeys into Sevenoaks from north and south, and out of Sevenoaks to Tonbridge and Tunbridge Wells make up a large part of the traffic at both Sevenoaks and Bat & Ball. The new service specification issued by DfT in its Invitation to Tender for the next franchise halves the frequency of direct services to Tunbridge Wells from 2022, which would mean increased journey times and poorer connectivity. It will also impact travel to work in the local labour market. It is not compatible with any significant increase in housing, or the school population.
Environmental Impact
While rail travel is environmentally preferable to road transport, reaching our local stations is challenging. Both our stations in Sevenoaks are close to congestion bottlenecks and pollution hotspots at Riverhead, Bat & Ball and in Sevenoaks town centre. For some this makes reaching rail services slow and unhealthy. We see the lack of strategic proposals to relieve daily congestion and resulting pollution around our stations as a weakness in the plan which should be addressed.
Summary
The lack of any reference in Chapter 4 – ‘Well Connected Communities” of the Local Plan to the constraints and challenges outlined above is alarming. It suggests a lack of ambition for what needs to be achieved. There is no mechanism identified through which rail capacity increases of the size required can be delivered, or who needs to act to achieve and finance them. It will need central government funding, and should, in our view, involve Transport for London in developing shorter distance services
SRTA believes that fast, reliable trains services throughout the area are essential to Sevenoaks’ continued vitality as a community for living and working in. We urge the Council to recognize the importance of the railway in its Local Plan and to act vigorously to ensure that it meets the needs of our growing community.
[i] Network Rail: South East Route – Kent Area Route Study, May 2018.pp 90. https://cdn.networkrail.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/South-East-Kent-route-study-print-version.pdf
I’d be interested in knowing if the Network Rail study took account of the demands by central government for places like Tonbridge / Sevenoaks to increase their building rates, or if forecast demand was based on lower passenger numbers. In other words, was a 25% increase in working population in Sevenoaks alone factored in? It would seem sensible for Sevenoaks to be looking at allowing development either where local employment can be encouraged (rather than commuters) or, perhaps more realistically, where there “might” be some extra capacity on the lines into London. Other councils further down the West Kent line have their own targets to meet and the detrimental effect on capacity on this line will be cumulative.
@jock Network Rail obtained some housing growth figures from District Councils, including Sevenoaks. However the Government targets have subsequently been increased, and this and other influences may not have been taken into account. And, of course, the current baseline already has some passengers standing from Sevenoaks in the peak, so capacity needs to be increased more than population growth, to get back to the quality of service that we are supposed to get (and for which we are paying).
It’s also important to note that growth in Tonbridge and beyond would affect services from Sevenoaks even if there was no housing growth in Sevenoaks – new commuters from Tonbridge will get seats, and there will be fewer free seats when trains arrive at Sevenoaks.