A25 Brasted and Sundridge with Ide Hill Temporary Average Speed Camera trial

Published: 02 December 2021

A temporary average speed camera trial by Kent County Council will shortly be going ahead in Brasted and Sundridge with Ide Hill following many reports of speeding and aggressive driving on the A25 for many years. The A25 is also used by all types of traffic when incidents or maintenance occurs on the M25 which causes a significant increase in congestion, noise and damage to the road infrastructure.

This trial has been encouraged and is supported by Brasted Parish Council. It is proposed to take place for a period of 4 months and accompanies the automatic speedwatch camera trial that is currently taking place in Brasted on the A25. The trial will also compliment the traffic calming measures implemented in Brasted.

The trial extents have been chosen to cover Brasted Village and as much of Sundridge Village as possible without including the traffic signals at the junction of the A25 with Church Road/Chevening Road and east towards the A21 as this junction would affect the average speeds. It is recognised that the east part of Main Road, Sundridge will not be covered by the trial and that in this location speed limit compliance is poor, however this would require an additional 2 cameras. Unfortunately the available funding does not allow for the inclusion of additional cameras, electrical supplies and advance signing. In order to understand the effects of the trial on this location, before and after trial period speed surveys will be undertaken.

The trial extents will include 2 cameras, one located at the start of the residential area west of Brasted and one west of the The White Horse Public House car park in Sundridge. Signing of the cameras will also be necessary on the lead up to their locations. Each camera will detect speeds in both directions and will operate 24 hours a day , 7 days a week. There will be infrared lights to allow night time operation. The infrared is not visible to the eye so there will be no additional light pollution.

In order for the success of the trial to be determined, Kent County Council will be conducting an extensive evaluation programme including residents’ surveys.

Residents and businesses are encouraged to access and complete the questionnaire which is hosted by Kent County Council on this link: www.kent.gov.uk/A25. Any resident unable to access the internet and requiring a hard copy survey should contact the Clerk.

The questionnaire survey will be open until 16 January 2022 with the cameras intending to be operational from February 2022.

It should be noted that this will be a trial and the success or not of the average speed cameras will not necessarily mean that they will become permanent.