Schools in Maidstone shut due to power shortages again

Thousands of children have been at home after three Maidstone schools were suddenly shut.  Finn Mcdiarmid reports.

Transcript

00:00Due to power issues at several schools in the Future Schools Trust in Maidstone, schools

00:05like Tiger Primary, Newline Academy and Five Acre Wood were forced to close this morning

00:10out of health and safety concerns. The power outage interrupted the water supply, meaning

00:16that the site had no running water.

00:18Well it was about quarter past eight this morning when parents got the news. One parent

00:23told us that his child's taxi driver called them saying the school had been closed only

00:28a few minutes before they were due to leave. Well across the county, but especially here

00:33in Maidstone, plenty of children would have turned up to the school only to be told of

00:37the closure. Well earlier we received this statement from Southeastern Water.

00:42We're sorry to customers in the loose area who experienced no water or low pressure this

00:47morning. A technical issue at our water treatment works resulted in a loss of supply to around

00:521,000 homes for just under three hours this morning. This issue has now been resolved

00:57and all customers should have their water supply returned. It's likely that parents

01:01had to change plans and delay going into work because of the issue. We tried to contact

01:05them but they were busy, likely working or sorting out childcare.

01:10One of the schools, Five Acre Wood, is a SEND provision school which provides education

01:15to disabled students and is maintained by the local authority. We tried to reach out

01:20for an interview or comment from Kent County Council but they declined, saying they were

01:24aware of the closure but it was the individual school's choice to close and that we should

01:29instead contact Southeast Water. While Kent County Council declined to comment, Helen

01:34Grant, MP for Maidstone and Molling, said this in a statement.

01:38I am aware that there has been an issue with the supply of water to schools in Loose and

01:41Maidstone. In particular it has impacted a number of schools in the Future Schools Trust

01:46as well as Five Acre Wood, which provides specialist education for children with profound,

01:51severe and complex learning needs. Closures like this at very short notice create immense

01:56disruption for pupils and families alike. Due to the lack of water supply, some of these

02:01schools have been forced to close and this is not the first time this situation has occurred.

02:07According to parents, the issue with the water is a recurring one and in a letter sent to

02:11them, Five Acre Wood schools said that they were exploring a water contingency plan that

02:15would allow them to operate independently if the issue occurred again.

02:19They added, however, this would not be a quick process and will require substantial

02:23capital investment. The interruption has now been fixed and Five Acre Woods was reopened

02:29earlier today.

02:30Finn McDermid for KMTV in Maidstone.