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Catch up on the latest news from across the county with Bartholomew Hall.
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00:00 Hello and welcome to Kentonite live on KMTV.
00:28 I'm Bartholomew Hall and here are your top stories on Wednesday the 10th of January.
00:33 Justice served.
00:34 Ramsgate sub-postmaster who says he was wrongly accused hopes he will be included in exoneration.
00:40 I hope they will stand by what they're saying if they can do that as soon as possible.
00:46 Tough times.
00:47 Maidstone businessman fears rise in online shopping could be detrimental to his market.
00:52 People coming out for a day out a lot of the time.
00:55 Don't get me wrong, obviously still people shopping but not like it used to be.
00:59 And refilling for the planet.
01:01 Canterbury grocery store encourages people across the county to start going plastic free.
01:07 People think putting plastic into the recycling bin is a good job and job done and really
01:11 that isn't going to tackle what is a plastic pandemic.
01:16 Good evening.
01:27 Today justice was at last brought to victims of the post office scandal.
01:31 However a former sub-postmaster from Ramsgate says that it's already destroyed his life.
01:36 Synapathy Narenthiran was given a three year prison sentence after the company accused
01:41 him of stealing thousands from the tills.
01:44 Today the government has announced swift exoneration and compensation for those involved.
01:49 But is it enough?
01:50 Gabriel Morris has this report.
01:52 It's been described as one of the biggest miscarriages of justice in British history.
01:57 Synapathy Narenthiran was one of the 700 people to receive a criminal conviction after the
02:03 post office introduced faulty software.
02:06 You're responsible for the loss.
02:09 I haven't got that money and I don't know where it's gone.
02:13 But this is one of the real life victims.
02:15 He's now starting a new business in Ramsgate.
02:19 He was accused of stealing £275,000 and was sentenced to three years in prison.
02:27 Pain and sorrow and all sorts of, what do you call it, disrespect from the communities
02:37 and the families, friends.
02:39 But today in Prime Minister's questions the government announced a mass exoneration.
02:45 But today I can announce that we will introduce new primary legislation to make sure that
02:50 those convicted as a result of the Horizon scandal are swiftly exonerated and compensated.
02:59 Ministers last year said that every post office worker who had a wrongful conviction would
03:04 be offered £600,000 in compensation if their case is quashed.
03:12 I hope they will stand by what they're saying if they can do that as soon as possible.
03:20 So until now, until they exonerate all the people, then only the name will be clear.
03:28 But what we went through is not going to disappear in anyone's life.
03:33 It will stay with us forever.
03:35 We're fighting a war against an enemy owned by the British government while we're just
03:41 skint little people.
03:43 It's an ITV drama that's led to the public support and for the government to introduce
03:48 these measures.
03:49 It should have happened a long, long time ago.
03:53 And if it had happened in 2010, there wouldn't have been this much of a large crowd being
04:00 convicted unnecessarily due to their computer glitch.
04:05 In a statement, the post office told us, "We are doing all we can to right the wrongs of
04:09 the past as far as that is possible."
04:12 Both post office and government are committed to providing full, fair and final compensation
04:18 for the people affected.
04:20 Payments are expected to come out later this year, but more victims are thought to be out
04:25 there.
04:26 More than 130 nationally have come forward since the drama aired.
04:31 Solicitors are encouraging more to come forward.
04:34 Gabriel Morris for KMTV.
04:37 A fruit seller in Maidstone fears his business of almost 30 years could be on its last legs.
04:43 Despite hundreds visiting the high street every day, traditional business owners are
04:47 saying that shoppers are now turning to online retail, which is leading to some stores shutting
04:52 their doors.
04:53 Sophia Aikian has been in Maidstone today finding out more.
04:56 Lunchtime in Maidstone.
04:58 The high street is full of hundreds, out to meet their friends, to get some food or perhaps
05:04 just do a bit of window shopping.
05:07 But one business says although it looks busy, most residents out and about are actually
05:10 just looking to do some window shopping and will actually end up buying what they want
05:15 online instead of from the high street.
05:18 Chris has earned a living on the high street for close to 30 years, selling fresh fruit
05:22 and veg.
05:23 But a change in consumer shopping habits has left him concerned for the future of his business.
05:29 You get a lot of people in Maidstone now but not a lot of shoppers.
05:33 A lot of them are using the shops as window shopping to then go home and order online.
05:39 People coming out for a day out a lot of the time.
05:40 Don't get me wrong, there's obviously still people shopping but not like it used to be.
05:45 The internet has taken a lot of that shopping away from town centres.
05:49 Obviously very detrimental for me as well because less and less people coming into town.
05:53 All these things are having a knock on and it's how many knock ons everything can take.
05:58 Another local man who helped design Fremlyn Walk says it's the creation of Eclipse Park,
06:03 a nearby retail park, that led big names like M&S and Next to move out of the town.
06:10 It also lost its Zara last month.
06:12 It's set to be replaced soon.
06:15 He fears other household names will follow suit and soon leave the town.
06:19 If a retailer can move out of town, and they are anchor stores because that's why they're
06:25 attracting them out of town, into a cheaper box, their costs go down, why wouldn't you
06:30 do that as a retailer?
06:31 But the council should never have allowed this to happen.
06:35 They should never have.
06:36 They've destroyed their own town centre by giving planning permission.
06:38 Maidstone Borough Council has been approached for comment.
06:42 In other parts of the high street, stores are left with shutters down and empty shelves
06:47 and little talk of what it's to be replaced with.
06:50 It is horrible when you walk past like Dorothy Perkins right next to us and it's all shut
06:55 up and I say that it seems to be more vape shops than anything now in Maidstone which
07:01 is not very good really for the younger generation.
07:05 It's lovely and very active.
07:08 I won't use the word active because compared to other places I've seen, some high streets
07:13 like in Chatham, it's a little bit going down but this, they've maintained their pace since
07:17 I came here and improving even.
07:20 I don't even come to town anymore to shop if I want anything, I buy it online now.
07:24 As the habits of shoppers change, local businesses are calling for consumers to think closely
07:29 about where they're putting their money and they're hoping they won't be one of many who've
07:34 had to close their doors.
07:36 Sophia Akin for KMTV in Maidstone.
07:40 And just again we did reach out to Maidstone Borough Council for a comment.
07:44 Now it's time to take a look at the health headlines across Kent with KMTV's health expert,
07:49 Dr Julian Spinks.
07:54 Julian, thank you very much for joining us.
07:59 Welcome back onto the show.
08:00 Now an amber weather alert is still in force until Friday.
08:05 How much of a concern is this to a medical professional like yourself?
08:08 Well we've had for some time a system of actually alerting the NHS to periods of cold weather
08:14 and we know that because that's when people start to have more ill health, particularly
08:18 respiratory diseases, people who are asthmatic or have chronic lung disease, suffer from
08:23 problems.
08:24 On top of that we've got people who get hypothermia and the last couple of years have been a concern
08:29 because of the fact that energy prices have gone up, people are desperately trying to
08:32 save money and so they're running their houses colder.
08:36 And if you do that ultimately you can get to a point where you're more likely to suffer
08:39 from ill health and end up in hospital.
08:42 So we need to prepare for that.
08:43 And of course keep warm would be the sort of common sense approach to that but of course
08:47 you're saying there that some people are struggling to do so with increased energy prices and
08:52 what not.
08:53 Is there any other sort of advice that you could give to people?
08:55 Well number one is aim actually to have your house at about 18 degrees, particularly the
08:59 room that you're in.
09:01 And it may be that you have to actually heat one room and avoid the others.
09:05 The other thing really is it's about looking after each other.
09:08 So looking after relatives, friends or maybe a neighbour, making sure they're okay, they've
09:13 got the food they need because if you don't have enough food you can't actually maintain
09:17 your body temperature as well.
09:19 Making sure you've got your medication in stock and all those sort of things.
09:22 But ultimately it comes down to trying to stay as warm as you can during the very cold
09:27 weather.
09:28 Absolutely and of course another story that's reaching the headlines is that in Spain they've
09:33 made wearing face masks mandatory in hospitals after a spike in flu and Covid cases.
09:39 Is that something that we should be thinking about over here, a return to face masks?
09:45 It's certainly something that's debatable for going into hospital.
09:48 In Spain it's very much to protect the hospital staff because just like we had, if you lose
09:53 a lot of staff to Covid and they can't work, then you can't actually be providing the care
09:58 for people who actually need it.
10:00 So that's why Spain have gone down that direction.
10:04 In the UK it's much more difficult to tell where we are because we're not doing routine
10:08 testing.
10:10 But what we can do is look at hospital admissions and they are going up for Covid and flu and
10:16 RSV, which is another respiratory disease, and that is going to put a pressure on the
10:19 NHS.
10:21 And is this linked at all to the cold weather?
10:23 Of course we know that this is a time of increased pressure for the NHS when it does get cold
10:27 in the winter months.
10:29 In general, the winter months are when we have respiratory diseases.
10:34 And so absolutely it happens.
10:36 It's partly because people's immune system is slightly depressed.
10:40 The other thing is that actually when it's cold, you tend to be indoors more.
10:43 So social events tend to be more packed in, whereas during the summer months it may be
10:46 a barbecue out in the garden.
10:48 Now it's going to be a party inside the house.
10:50 So there's much more opportunity to spread Covid or any other disease from person to
10:55 person.
10:56 And, I mean, we know that in a few weeks' time, people are sort of counting down until
11:01 when the sun will be setting later, we'll be out sort of enjoying the warmer weather
11:05 and the warmer months.
11:06 Is it really going to get better from here?
11:10 What is the current situation?
11:11 One of the things we never really know is if an outbreak is going to get worse and worse
11:14 and worse or it's going to peak and go down again.
11:16 A lot of them have lasted about three to four weeks, which suggests a couple of weeks' time
11:20 it may be improving.
11:21 However, the cold weather doesn't really go until you're getting into March.
11:25 And I was always taught, don't give up on snow until Easter comes along.
11:28 So we have to stay ready to deal with these problems right through into the spring.
11:33 And just quickly before we go, what about jabs?
11:35 Should we be thinking about that as we go into the spring?
11:38 Well, the current Covid campaign has come to an end, but there are still possibilities
11:44 of catch up and so talk to your practice about it.
11:46 And likewise, there are flu vaccines still available and I'd recommend people get them
11:50 if they haven't had theirs.
11:51 Julian, thank you very much.
11:52 We'll be back after this break.
11:52 Thank you.
11:53 Thanks, Mike.
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15:12 Hello and welcome back to Kent Tonight live on KMTV.
15:16 Now, this time next week, your favourite suppliers and tastiest treats could be up for an award.
15:22 The nominations to the very first Kent and Medway Food and Drink Awards have all now closed.
15:27 So all eyes are towards the finalists.
15:30 Those lucky enough to reach the final will be announced in KM Group newspapers and Kent Online
15:34 from next Wednesday, the 17th of January.
15:37 The winners will be selected by a panel of independent industry experts,
15:41 all with the aim of the awards being to give credit to the rising culinary stars of Kent,
15:46 industry trendsetters and the unsung food heroes.
15:50 The awards will be held at the home of Kent County Cricket Club, the Spitfire Ground, on Tuesday, the 27th of February.
15:57 Now, anger from Kent residents this week as the Eurostar has announced that the service won't return to the county this year
16:06 and has made no commitment to resuming next year either.
16:10 Services to the continent have been pulled from Ashford and Ebbsfleet International stations since 2020.
16:16 A lecturer based near Ebbsfleet who travels regularly to the continent for work and to see family,
16:21 says that the disruption is costing him financially as well as damaging the environment.
16:26 I try and come by train when I can because it's much better for the environment.
16:31 And I come all the way from Prague and it's a long journey.
16:34 You can do it in one day, but you're very tired at the end.
16:38 And it adds at least another hour and a half, if not two hours, onto the journey.
16:42 The fact that you have to go up all the way up to London, you have to get another train at King's Cross and Pancras and then come back.
16:51 It's totally unnecessary as well. And it's just a waste of energy.
16:55 You're going literally up and then back down again.
16:58 I mean, there's nothing environmentally sound about that.
17:02 The train company has justified the decision, saying,
17:05 even though we are close to getting back on track with 11 million passengers travelling with us on our cross channel routes in 2023,
17:13 we will continue to face the financial consequences of the pandemic for a number of years.
17:18 Borders have also become more complex and the expected launch of the EU's entry exit system invites us to be cautious.
17:26 Sportnow and Faversham Town has announced its new manager.
17:30 Former Tunbridge and Ashford boss Tommy Warrello has replaced Sammy Moore at Salters Lane,
17:36 with the new boss having been out of football since leaving Ashford United last April.
17:41 It comes as the Southern County's East Premier Division side are second in the table currently,
17:46 and just a point off the top spot.
17:48 The Lily Whites are due to visit Rustall on Saturday before their Challenge Cup quarterfinal at promotion rivals Corinthian on Tuesday.
17:56 Now, don't forget, you can keep up to date with all the latest stories across Kent by logging on to our website, kmtv.co.uk.
18:05 There you'll find all of our reports, including this one about fears that a Faversham woodland,
18:09 which has been described as a wildlife haven, could be turned into housing after it's auctioned.
18:15 A sanctuary for wildlife in Faversham under threat.
18:21 This one and a half acres of land is up for auction.
18:25 It has the label of excellent development potentials.
18:29 But this woodland has been identified as designated local green space on the town's proposed neighbourhood plan.
18:38 This Faversham town councillor is hopeful the land will remain woodland because of this.
18:44 But the Labour Party say if they're in government, they'll be changing planning laws in order to build more homes.
18:51 Labour as a party has respect for local democracy and local planning regulation.
18:59 And I think a key thing that the position here shows is the importance of local plans and of planning,
19:09 rather than just leaving things open to developers to do whatever they want.
19:16 Local environmentalists say the Noel Woodland is the green lung of Faversham.
19:20 A tree preservation order is in place, but can that be overturned?
19:26 It would be quite a, I don't like to use the word battle, but it would be for whoever wanted to develop it,
19:34 because there would be a huge uproar locally.
19:38 It's a loved place, even though people dump rubbish on it, you can see how beautiful it is.
19:42 And so therefore there would be quite a campaign to try and stop that happening.
19:49 Apart from that fly-tipping, the woodland is largely left to nature.
19:54 You can hear the birdsong in the background.
19:57 There are no official routes through the woodland, but if it is sold to developers,
20:03 some locals would like to see set pathways being built to allow them to benefit more from their local green space.
20:11 There are protections in place to stop houses being built here.
20:15 However, there are calls locally for more affordable homes.
20:19 There is a desperate need for affordable housing, and that's the real problem.
20:24 There are over 1,000 people that are waiting for housing on Swalborough Council's housing list.
20:29 There is the neighbourhood plan, which we've been working with the community to put together,
20:33 which looks at prioritising building on brownfield sites, as an example.
20:38 This woodland goes to auction next week.
20:40 The starting bid, a quarter of a million pounds.
20:45 But any sale will come with the challenge of convincing locals that houses here would benefit the community.
20:51 Gabriel Morris for KMTV in Fabersham.
20:55 And as we mentioned earlier, an amber weather alert is still in place across Kent,
20:59 with experts warning of the risk to elderly and vulnerable people.
21:02 It comes after the first snowfall of the year hit the county this week.
21:06 The Met Office says that the warning will remain in place until midday on Friday.
21:11 So let's see what the forecast is looking like across the county.
21:14 Tonight it's looking cold and dry across the county, with lows of -1 in Tambridge Wells.
21:25 Tomorrow morning we'll have a few sunny spells with a light breeze,
21:29 temperatures reaching 4 degrees in the north-east.
21:32 Highs of 6 in Ashford and Maidstone in the afternoon on Thursday.
21:37 And here's the outlook. It's a cloudy start to the weekend,
21:41 but some sunshine is expected on Saturday and Sunday, temperatures staying around 7.
21:46 And finally, a business in Canterbury is calling on people in Kent
21:57 to consider giving up unnecessary plastics one step at a time.
22:01 Catherine Parker has set up the Refillery in the last year,
22:04 in the hopes of filling a gap in the market for a refillable household goods store.
22:08 It follows her being recognised as a winner at the 2023 Canterbury Climate Action Awards.
22:14 Oliver Leeder-De Sacks went down to the store to find out more.
22:17 And the winner of the Business of Canterbury of the 2023 Canterbury Climate Action Awards is the Refillery.
22:26 This was the moment a year of hard work paid off for Catherine Parker.
22:31 It was only at the end of April last year that Catherine had set up the Refillery right in the heart of Canterbury
22:37 to encourage people to shop more sustainably and cut out plastics as much as possible.
22:42 Now an award-winning business, she hopes to spread awareness of the dangers
22:46 environmentally unfriendly packaging poses here in Kent.
22:50 I think it's this idea that I touched on before that people think putting plastic into the recycling bin
22:55 is a good job and the job done. And really that isn't going to tackle what is a plastic pandemic, right?
23:03 So such a small proportion, it's less than 12% actually ever gets recycled
23:08 and the rest is still going into landfill, being incinerated or shipped overseas.
23:12 And that's just unsustainable. So for other materials, recycling works, for plastic it simply doesn't.
23:18 And the only answer can be just to stop using as much plastic as we do as a society.
23:23 From washing up liquid to shampoo by way of honey and pasta,
23:28 customers can bring in their own jars, bottles and bags to restock on everything they need
23:34 without the plastic packaging that ends up in landfill.
23:37 But during the economic downturn, there have also been additional benefits to refilling groceries
23:43 rather than buying them at the supermarket.
23:46 So products that we sell are good quality, very often organic, and you will be paying a premium for that quality.
23:54 The other flip side is that you only need to buy as much as you want by weight.
23:59 So in terms of managing your cash, I think, and that's partly why students find us very helpful,
24:05 they only need to buy as much pasta or lentils or rice, for example, as they want week by week.
24:11 With plans underway for an online store and greater community outreach,
24:16 Catherine hopes that plastic-free Canterbury could be possible.
24:20 And while I'm here, I thought I'd get myself a nice pot of crunchy peanut butter.
24:26 Would you look at that, entirely organic.
24:35 Oliver leads us out stocking up for KMTV.
24:40 And Catherine joins me in the studio now. Catherine, welcome to Kent tonight, really lovely to have you.
24:45 Now this looks like such a fantastic idea. How did it all come about?
24:50 Well, I lived in Canterbury, I've lived for many years, and was frustrated at the lack of opportunity
24:56 and access to anywhere that I could regularly fill up plastic bottles.
25:01 I've got teenage kids and they were beginning to shame us as a family how much plastic we were throwing away.
25:07 And the next generations are really onto this concept.
25:10 And I felt that we were needing to address the amount of plastic waste we were generating.
25:14 So I thought I'd have a go and set up a shop which would help people to rethink their plastic usage.
25:20 We saw in Oliver's piece just there, and we can see on the screen now some of the products that you sell.
25:26 For somebody that's unaware of a business like this, how does it work?
25:30 Do you need to have your own containers coming in?
25:32 Usually you'll use your own containers because the whole purpose is to not generate more containers and use what's available.
25:38 But if you haven't got containers or you find yourself in town and you want to purchase something,
25:42 you can buy any of our dry goods in paper bags and then pour them into your containers at home.
25:47 Or we sell jars or containers in the shop, especially things like washing up liquid bottles.
25:52 You might want to buy a nice glass one that you can then use continually and keep refilling.
25:57 As a businesswoman and setting up a shop like this, do you find it tricky when you're dealing with suppliers
26:03 and the people that you need to work with in order to set the business up about their plastic use and your role in all of this?
26:10 We've deliberately only reached out and want to partner with suppliers who are as passionate as I am about reducing waste
26:18 and the closed loop of using containers continually.
26:22 And also the ethical credentials of the quality of the products and the environmental focus that they have.
26:28 And it's great fun discovering them and then supporting them in the shop.
26:32 That's fantastic. Well, thank you for joining us.
26:34 We're going to be hearing a lot more from you after the break in our Kent on Climate programme.
26:38 So we'll hear from you in just a minute.
26:40 Thank you very much.
26:41 You've been watching Kent Tonight Live on KMTV.
26:44 There's plenty more news made just for Kent throughout the evening.
26:46 But from me and the news team, goodnight.
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