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00:00Hello and welcome to Kent Tonight, live here on KMTV.
00:25I'm Finn McDermott and here are your top stories on Monday, 24th November.
00:30Budget one year later, Gillingham small business owners call for reform of national insurance employer contributions.
00:37Not even the NID pension, everything went up, so yeah, honestly, if governments can look at it and see what they can do for us.
00:44Fine frustration. Shoppers say parking payment problems at Pentagon Shopping Centre in Chatham could hurt the town's tourism.
00:51Really, there isn't any excuses. The machine should work. End of story.
00:55And we stand together. Canterbury Church hosts Hollidamore Remembrance Service.
01:00I think it's important for us to remember because it brings, it helps us to acknowledge the lives, the millions of lives that were lost.
01:08But first, our top story this evening.
01:20Small business owners in Gillingham are calling on the government to make significant changes to national insurance employer contributions.
01:27This is all ahead of Wednesday's budget.
01:29Now, rumours have been swirling around the contents of the government's financial plans for the coming year.
01:35As our reporter Megan Shaw has been finding out, there are plenty of questions those in Kent have for the Chancellor.
01:41Last year, the Labour government unveiled their first budget of this parliament, met with mixed opinions and controversy.
01:48One of the Chancellor's measures that caused a stir was raising employers' national insurance contributions.
01:55From April this year, the rate for these contributions increased from 13.8% to 15%,
02:02as well as the threshold to start paying these, decreasing from 9,100 to 5,000 each year.
02:10It's approximated that employers will be paying an extra £900 for each employee.
02:15At the time, Rachel Reeves explained she needed to make difficult decisions to balance the books.
02:20But we're not in Parliament now, and I'm here in Gillingham to find out what Kent residents really feel.
02:26Baruch Kapur has owned Oasis Cafe in Gillingham for 25 years, with his business experiencing problems since 2020.
02:34Raising NI contributions came at a terrible time.
02:37Last year, the government changed national insurance, so employers like you had to pay much more?
02:43Yes, yes, of course. Everything is going more difficult now. Everything is going up.
02:49I don't know. I am struggling now. I decided I don't know what can I do.
02:54All the taxes, something like that, but I don't know where the money is going. Look at our promises.
03:00Likewise, Amir Kuti, who owns Pateri Restaurant in Gillingham,
03:03is already struggling against a tide of rising costs and flagging footfall.
03:07Yes, yes. Expensively, more expensive. Last year or two years ago, and the wages.
03:15Unistar Health Consultant is owned by Eunice, who is calling on the government to sympathise with owners like her this Wednesday.
03:22It has been going up. Well, it went up last year, and we're not sure the budget is on the way now,
03:27so we're not sure if it's going to go up again. But definitely, it really, really affected the business last year.
03:32So everything went up, not even the NID pension, everything went up.
03:36So, yeah, honestly, if governments can look at it and see what they can do for us.
03:40Yeah, honestly, because the small businesses, we are really struggling.
03:44I don't think anybody expected an increase in employers' national insurance contributions,
03:50and that has massively affected the appetite of businesses to grow.
03:56So it would be interesting to see if they do make a change on that.
03:58I certainly think that it has been a break on what they call growth.
04:06I think growth, for growth's sake, is pretty meaningless, but we need a healthy economy.
04:14But with the budget round the corner, all councillors, small business owners and residents alike can do is wait.
04:22Megan Shaw for Cain TV in Gillingham.
04:25To tell us more about this budget, I'm joined by our reporter, Nayla Mohamed.
04:29So, first of all, for anyone who isn't too familiar with the budget, can you summarise what we might expect?
04:34So the autumn budget is the annual statement from the UK government that outlines their planned spending for the foreseeable future.
04:40And it's one of two major financial announcements in the financial year, the other being the spring statement.
04:47And the autumn budget is to be said on Wednesday by Chancellor Rachel Reeves, as you can see on the screen there.
04:53And there's a lot of speculation about what's going to be discussed during the budget,
04:56particularly around increasing taxes aimed at stabilising the nation's economy and finances.
05:03I see. And ahead of the actual announcement, we won't know for certain what's going to be said.
05:06But have our political experts or anyone on the inside told us or hinted at anything that we could expect?
05:12So Rachel Reeves is expected to unveil measures designed to reduce the need for future demands for taxpayers.
05:19One of this being reportedly she is favouring extending the existing freeze on income,
05:26on the income tax threshold, as opposed to increasing the income tax.
05:30Another thing is she will be freezing rail fares as a way to ease the cost of living.
05:35And also she'll be freezing the cost of NHS prescriptions to £9.90.
05:39And also she will be expected to scrap the two-child policy.
05:46I see. Yes. So we'll know for certain come Wednesday.
05:50Tell me, what does this mean for people in Kent?
05:53What's going to be the local impact on workers and families?
05:55So what I'm not mentioned yet is this so-called mansion tax, which is where properties' values are over £2 million.
06:02We'll pay an extra tax on that certain property.
06:05And residents across the county have called it the southeast tax, which is just another tax,
06:10another bit of finance that they will have to pay for being a resident of the southeast.
06:14Because, you know, a lot of properties across the county are some of the higher value properties.
06:18And so there are fears that many of these cash-poor homeowners across Kent are going to be left-facing bills
06:24that they just cannot afford.
06:26I mean, like I said, in theory, it will be for properties valued at over £2 million.
06:31However, there are concerns that thousands of people are unaware of or wouldn't consider themselves to be wealthy
06:38or consider their property to be valuable to that extent.
06:42And, you know, across the southeast, house value has dramatically increased due to a surge in the market.
06:49I see. Thank you so much for bringing us all this news.
06:51And we'll hear more about this, obviously, when the budget does come out.
06:55Next, shoppers at Chatham's Pentagon Shopping Centre have found out they've been charged for parking
07:00when using the ANPR system due to a technical error.
07:04The centre say they are trying to reduce the amount of these errors by upgrading their system
07:07and that any issues are irregular.
07:09Well, I went down to Chatham to investigate more.
07:12Shoppers in the Pentagon in Chatham have been seeing issues with the parking machines
07:18with some even being issued incorrect fines.
07:21This all comes from a connection issue with the cameras and payment machines
07:24where some registration details weren't being collected properly
07:27meaning drivers would have to have put their details in manually
07:30without them actually knowing they had to.
07:33We came in here about a month ago.
07:36In fact, I can tell you the exact date.
07:37It was the 25th of October.
07:41And on that particular day, the machines didn't know what time you came in.
07:45So they were down.
07:46Apparently, they were offline.
07:48So everyone was queuing and not knowing what to do.
07:50But we paid our ticket anyway.
07:52And I said to my wife, I bet we get a ticket through.
07:55And sure enough, we got this ticket through.
07:58Really, there isn't any excuses.
08:00The machine should work.
08:01End of story.
08:01He added that he doesn't want the issue to keep happening
08:05as it's happened for long enough
08:06and that for those who are vulnerable or maybe elderly,
08:09they might struggle to pay the fine.
08:11Now, this issue of the registration details not being automatically registered
08:15won't necessarily lead to a fine.
08:17But around 7% of drivers have been affected by this issue.
08:21And this has gone down to 3% this month.
08:23And the operator, Hoser, hopes this will be reduced to a further 1% by the end of November.
08:28And the Pentagon management team have added that they're committed
08:32to upgrading their service so that this happens less and less.
08:35Pentagon's shopping centre manager, Charlene Malone, said
08:38Occasionally, with ANPR technology, these types of errors can occur.
08:42Fortunately, through our partnership with Hoser,
08:44we can cancel any fines our customers receive because of these occasional issues.
08:48To date, the problem has been limited to a small number of users
08:51and every visitor who has notified us of difficulties using the machines
08:55has had their fine promptly cancelled.
08:56We take this matter seriously and are committed to ensuring visitors
09:00can use the car park with complete confidence once the final upgrades are complete.
09:04Richard added that he hopes the Pentagon will sort the issue
09:07before it begins to hurt the reputation of the high street
09:09or drives people away from making the trip to the town in the first place.
09:14Finn McDermid for KMTV in Chatham.
09:19Next, a new Romney mum who stabbed another parent in front of her children
09:23has been spared prison.
09:24Carrie-Anne Killshaw attacked Makala O'Brien outside her home in the East Kent town
09:30nearly two years ago.
09:32The 40-year-old had been hosting a birthday party for one of her children,
09:35of which Miss O'Brien's daughter had been invited.
09:38But after a misperceived accusation over a missing tablet,
09:42Killshaw confronted her victim before punching her several times while holding a knife.
09:47At Canterbury Crown Court, she was handed an 18-month suspended sentence,
09:50but O'Brien says she has been left with scars both to body and to mind.
09:55Next, the RSPCA are calling for support after a rise in animals have been seen abandoned and dumped in Kent.
10:04The figures show in the first 10 months of 2025, incidents have risen by almost 6%.
10:11The charity has launched their new campaign, The Big Give Back to Animals,
10:15in hopes that they can raise funds for frontline officers.
10:21Well, we spoke with Chris O'Brien, who's from the organisation earlier,
10:24more about this appeal and what exactly it'll mean for our animals here in Kent.
10:29Let's have a quick look at that now.
10:31We are under a lot of pressure at the moment.
10:33A lot of our centres are full to bursting.
10:38Branches across Kent are working incredibly hard for animals out there on the front line.
10:44And it's a tough time for our inspectorate and our officers.
10:46We're seeing a lot of calls coming in, rising number of abandonment calls.
10:50And they're there to specialise in those calls of the most serious types of cruelty and neglect.
10:55It's what they do.
10:56And unfortunately, we are seeing really, really big numbers.
10:59It's why this appeal is really, really important, because we need to fund and get resources out to the front line.
11:06We also need to spread awareness in terms of the correct way to look after animals.
11:11We know most people in Kent will be as shocked with these figures as we are and know how to look after the animals.
11:16And we're relying on those people to help us spread the message and say abandoning an animal is never acceptable.
11:24Coming up, we're speaking to the Kent schoolgirl,
11:26who's featured in a rather popular new film musical.
11:30And we'll also have the latest sport, weather and more stories from across the county.
11:35Like I say, some sports news there.
11:37From Gillingham to Ebb's Fleet, we're covering it all.
11:40But yeah, we'll see you after this very short break.
11:56We'll see you next time.
11:57We'll see you after this very short break.
17:05and did you get to meet any of do you meet ariana did you meet yeah i did cynthia tell us about what
17:10that was like oh it was so cool we were coming back from lunch the day before or the same day
17:16i can't really remember john we had said to john chu can you tell arina grande that we want to see
17:24her tomorrow and he was just like i'm not sure so then we sent her a video and she said and then
17:32we didn't hear what she said but the next day we were about to walk up to set we'd just had lunch
17:37and out of nowhere she was just there and it was so insane and it was really cool brilliant now i
17:44haven't seen the film i'll hold my hands up but and no spoilers for any any of you out there spoiler
17:48warning ahead what was the scene like i'm aware it's a birthday party scene it's it's really cool
17:53so basically young galinda opens her birthday present and it's a magic wand and we're all just
18:00like oh my gosh that's so cool and then she's just like i'm gonna try and do some magic with it
18:07and we're just like yeah okay she tries to do some magic but she can't do it because she has no real
18:13power and we're just like and basically coincidentally a rainbow appears out of nowhere and two of the
18:23children from filming say did you make that and everyone and she's just like suttering then her
18:31parents come in and they're just like yeah she did so we will like have to like celebrate and we run
18:36up to the rainbow and it's just really cool that sounds brilliant sounds like a great experience to
18:42be part of and tell us a bit about your costume obviously you've got your sparkly top on now is
18:45that is that a reference to what you were wearing during the filming not really no what would talk us
18:50what were you wearing it was basically like a creamy white dress and i had little flower here
18:57and my hair was all crazy and really really curly like the dress was really wavy and it was really
19:04really pretty brilliant brilliant tell us a bit about that movie making experience so what was it what
19:10was a typical day like would you go in straight away or did it take a long time talk to us about it
19:14it took a really long time it was 10 hours 10 hours yeah so basically we went up to set and we
19:21went but we didn't go to set first we went into the green room we just we had to stay there for like
19:27an hour and then they brought us up to put on our costumes and then like we went up to set did a few
19:36takes but the cameras weren't there and then we did more and more more takes for like two hours then we
19:42had lunch and then we went back up that's when we met arna grande and then we just did more filming
19:49brilliant and i think we haven't got much time left but what was it like seeing yourself on the big
19:54screen i almost started crying it was so cool that's amazing well i think that is about all the time we
20:02have but thank you so much and yeah all the best i hope it was as great an experience as it sounds it was
20:09now from football to failure at the cricket ground and in the ring let's have a look at the weekend
20:15sporting action
20:26well draw for the jills this weekend as they hosted a barnet that was at home obviously with the main
20:34bright spot being a marvelous goal from dak now some fans might have thought they were back in the
20:402016 to 17 season seeing dak hit a free kick right into the top corner to level the score before the
20:45death of the first half and while it was a great moment unfortunately the score the squad simply
20:50couldn't find the net in the second half ending one all dak said it's nice to show my experience on
20:54the pitch trying to fix problems find solutions during the game and i've enjoyed it now it's a rugby and
21:00it was a kent derby with gravesend securing back-to-back wins in the regional two southeast
21:05with a 15 to 11 victory against dartfordians the darts drew first blood within 15 minutes with their
21:12winger taking a quick ball from a line out and dashing in for a try but gravesend didn't take
21:17long to respond with stan dadson taking a collected ball and bringing it closer both sides did miss their
21:23conversions but scored penalties giving the score of eight all at the break after an infringement dartfordians
21:29took three points for an 11 8 lead but gravesend managed to score a try and the conversion to
21:34secure the comeback victory next made soans sam noakes was beaten on points after taking abdullah
21:41mason through a 12 round war for the world boxing lightweight championship in saudi arabia this weekend
21:48now this does mean that noakes lost his unbeaten record after 17 straight victories but to challenge for
21:54the title and fight a full 12 rounds is commendable while mason extended his perfect record to 20 and
21:59oh mason won by unanimous decision one judge scoring 117 to 111 while the other two pegged it as being a
22:06bit closer with only a two point difference and finally to cricket where kent batsman ben compton
22:13has commented on his strong season overseas cricket and supporting his county teammate zach crawley at the ashes
22:19compton was the second highest run scorer in the county championship division two despite the team
22:24coming bottom of the table he's still got more than 1300 runs he says he credits a lot of his success
22:30to the off-field work he's done in south africa saying he's constantly pushing himself and challenging
22:35himself in the country it's division one cricket out there i'm playing against half the south african
22:39players every other week meanwhile he says he's behind crawley and the england squad who suffered a defeat
22:44against australia in the first test that's all for your sports bulletin now remember you can keep up
22:59to date with all the latest news across the county by going onto our website where you can watch all
23:03our stories including this one about a report on the new renters rights bill a new law has been passed
23:09to make it easier for tenants in private rental properties to keep pets by preventing landlords
23:14from denying responsible renters without a valid reason d bonnet whose campaign led maidstone council
23:21to allow pets in temporary accommodation knows firsthand the difference this kind of change can make
23:28some people don't want to be pet owners they don't want that responsibility
23:31but they love pets so the the guy or rocky's dad obviously um owns rocky and the other two guys here
23:40they may not want that responsibility but they love having rocky around so you know if one of them's
23:48left in the house and they're with rocky that that's the company the love and you know rocky doesn't
23:54want anything apart from being fed being warmed and being loved you know and he gives so much love back
24:00as you you've seen this afternoon he's been really good for my um recovery um yeah if i didn't have him
24:10i'd feel worthless you know because i've lost everything and it's basically my family but is this new law
24:18something that everyone agrees with yeah i think uh renters should definitely have the right to have an
24:23animal or a pet it's good for well-being it's good for the children and i think um i think it's part of
24:29your your your rights as a tenant to be able to have a pet definitely it's the case for a conversation
24:35really i know now things are so impersonal because you go through the agents and so on and the agents
24:40do most of the vetting before you actually even have a chance to to to talk to the to the to the
24:46prospective tenant i agree with that i was going to say my mother my mother lived in a warden assisted
24:53place and and they weren't allowed to have pets and i thought that was a bit terrible as she it was
25:00she owned the the property as well although people say that this is a positive change those at the
25:05kenwood trust say that while it is a step in the right direction that there's still a long way to go
25:10for us we would be keen to explore other ways of increasing the amount of supported accommodation
25:15social housing where pets are able to access um that sort of accommodation i think that's really
25:21important um that people can access the accommodation all types of accommodation um whether that be
25:28private rented social housing supported accommodation and have access to their their animals still you
25:33know it's really important um to for us all to consider ways that that can be improved moving forward
25:39while the new law has been welcomed by campaigners and animal charities questions remain over how it will
25:44work in practice but for those like wayne having a pet is already making a world of a difference
25:50kristin hawthorne for kmtv maidstone now it's time to take a quick look at the weather
26:03well tonight it looks like it's going to be a bit of a partly cloudy night quite fast winds there at 22
26:08miles per hour going into tomorrow morning quite cold four degrees in most areas highs of six in dover
26:16then into tomorrow afternoon keeping those high wind speeds temperatures raising slightly to six and
26:21seven then into your outlook starting off colder on wednesday seven degrees but by the time we get
26:28to friday it's going to be heating up to 12 with some rain we'll be back in a few moments time with a look
26:41back at our top story we'll also be talking to ollie leader with more political news all that and more after this short break
26:55more time with our town or other folks watching how to MARTINs going into the future for 2021
27:00see you all in the meantime.
27:02Well then you know, check out our watchers in the next video.
27:04Sign up to me.
27:08Thanks for the season.
27:08See you next week.
27:10I'll see you next week.
27:11See you.
27:12Your day like this week.
27:13Hi.
27:14Hi.
27:15Hi.
27:17Hi.
27:18Wellness.
27:19So if you can see you in the next week,
27:20I'll see you next week.
27:22You can see you next week.
27:23Bye.
32:47is on the way now so we're not sure if it's gonna all go up again but definitely it really really
32:51affected the business last year so everything went up not even the nid pension everything went
32:56up so yeah honestly if governments can look at it and see what they can do for us yeah honestly
33:02because the small businesses we are really struggling i think i don't think anybody expected
33:07an increase in employers national insurance contributions and that has massively affected
33:12the um the appetite of of businesses to to grow so it'd be interesting to see if they do make a
33:19change on that i certainly think that it has been a break on um what they call what they what they
33:25call growth um i think growth for growth growth's sake is pretty meaningless but we need a healthy
33:34economy but with the budget around the corner all councillors small business owners and residents
33:40alike can do is wait megan shaw for cane tv in gillingham next there's more drama at county hall
33:49as a senior reform cabinet member has faced calls to resign over a threat about punching he made on
33:55whatsapp transport portfolio holder peter osborne says while the message was produced in frustration
34:00rather than anger there's never an excuse for violence but the leader of the opposition has
34:05slammed the exchange as shocking our local democracy reporter ollie leader joined us on the sofa with
34:11the details earlier so ollie break down exactly what's happened here well finn it's more drama at kent
34:18county council it's all off the back of the infamous video we've all seen it of linden cam
34:24karen the leader of kent county council berating members on a zoom call this was leaked by the guardian
34:32she's seen swearing and obviously it caused a bit of a media whirlwind which brings us to this message
34:40that was on the big screen right here it's peter osborne um in a big group chat of dozens of reform
34:48members saying that if the mole was a bloke he'd punch him right in the jaw pretty shocking stuff
34:58according to the opposition leader anthony hook he's a liberal democrat he's called for peter osborne
35:05who is currently the cabinet member for transport to step down this broke over the weekend and it's a
35:13pretty sizable story in an ongoing series of scandals at kcc absolutely and what has peter osborne
35:20himself said on the on the matter well peter osborne says that the comments were made out of frustration
35:27rather than malice it's never an excuse for violence that was never his intention that's
35:33what he says it was made out of frustration at the circumstances obviously lots of reform people
35:39they believe that the last couple weeks have been a distraction from their mission of running kent county
35:45council ensuring adult social care and sd needs are met and of course fixing potholes across the
35:54county that's a big priority for peter osborne so everyone thinks it's a bit of a distraction what's
36:00been happening in the media and obviously there was that series of suspensions from the party and the whip
36:07being removed and obviously members have been kicked out of the party as a result of all of these leaks
36:14obviously um when i spoke to the leader she says this matter's kind of closed now that she's dealt with it
36:20effectively that they're leaner and stronger for it as a party but it shows there's still some drama
36:27behind the scenes and some unhappy voices within reform uk at the leadership unhappy voices there
36:35in reform but what's being said on the other side of the council what are opposition councillors saying
36:40well i said anthony hook he called for um peter osborne to resign to step down from his role there's
36:49an understanding that kent police were contacted over a separate violent message from an elected
36:56member but decided not to proceed with an investigation so there are other things happening
37:01at play here but the general feeling is is that this sort of behavior isn't acceptable within the council
37:09from the opposition but the people like people at osborne they'll say this was this wasn't never a
37:14serious threat this is just a sign of the frustration at the infight that's kind of torn apart the group
37:20and then they're hoping they can put behind when that's going forward as the party in charge at kent's
37:26largest authority i see thank you so much for bringing us this story ollie next organizers of a canterbury
37:33remembrance service held in memory of millions of ukrainians who were starved to death by the soviet regime
37:38say it's important to also recognize those struggling in the current country presently the man made famine
37:44known as the holodomor caused the deaths of approximately three and a half million people
37:49in 1932 and 33 but for decades it wasn't widely known but ukrainians mark a remembrance day every
37:56year on the fourth saturday of november on the 92nd anniversary of the atrocity our community reporter
38:02henry luck has been to canterbury to learn more about this dark chapter holodomor meaning death by
38:10hunger was a famine that remains with many ukrainian people almost a century since it happened the people
38:20of canterbury and ukrainians have gathered at saint peter's methodist church to pay their respects
38:30to those who died during the holodomor in the 1930s i think it's important for us to remember because
38:40it brings it helps us to acknowledge the lives the millions of lives that were lost and also it reminds
38:47us the importance of us not to allow such things to happen again and canterbury has a thriving ukrainian
38:56community they're part of our community and i want us to be able to recognize and support them in this
39:04time this holodomor experience is also made up of the canterbury for ukraine ladies choir who have come
39:15to unite in strength for the power of music despite the terrible times of war since getting to know
39:25ukrainians i understand how important this history of the famine is i myself an irish woman and i grew up
39:35with stories of the irish famine so i can identify and empathize with those stories of the famine in
39:42ukraine and it is very much about having empathy with people as well as music candles were also used
39:52to remember those who died many years ago so we keep this it's a new tradition
39:59we didn't have it before it was brought to ukraine by an american person to whom we are eternally thankful
40:08he said actually once your dad chose me and those are the words which are put on his grave in kiev when
40:19he died in 2004 i think the people of ukraine and canterbury hope the flames of the victims
40:27will always be in the hearts and minds of those who have come to remember holodomor
40:37henry luck for kmtv in canterbury now we've been hearing the news that another protest is set to
40:45take place at napier barracks even though all the cycle all asylum seekers living there are being moved
40:51out later this year police say they will have sufficient resources in place for the stop the
40:56boats march in folkestone on saturday the rally which ukip leader nick tenconi is set to attend is
41:02expected to be met by a counter demonstration next month the site used to house asylum seekers since
41:072020 is set to close down for good ahead of being turned into housing the home office confirmed on
41:12october 22nd it will be empty by december 31st next grammy nominated band bastille have announced a huge
41:20outdoor concert next summer the indie pop band will perform a one-off headliner show on mark on
41:25dreamland scenic stage on august 22nd the announcement comes off the back of their recent sold out arena
41:30tour from all sides marking the group's first live performances after a two-year break since performing
41:36in 2020 the brit award winners have sold more than 13 million records tickets go on sale friday november 28th
41:43at 10 a.m now it's time for a very quick break see you in just a few minutes
42:13yeah
45:13Well, residents and volunteers are celebrating after Faversham gains gold after being voted Best Large Town in South and Southeast in the Bloom Award, with judges noting the town's strong environmental ethos and bee-friendly planting.
45:27Kent Online reporter Davina joined me earlier to tell us more on what it takes to be award-winning.
45:33First of all, what's been the reaction from the judges at Bloom?
45:37They were full of praise. They noted the town's charm, community engagement and innovative approaches to gardening in challenging conditions.
45:45They said their visit left them with a strong impression of a delightful historic town with well-maintained buildings and a community that strives to support each other, ensure that the local environment is as pleasant as possible.
45:55As well as the main award, other local groups received outstanding awards too.
46:00Amazing. And did the judges say there was anything that particularly stood out to them, any particular gardens or flowers in Faversham?
46:06Yeah. So, the Abbey Visit Community Garden was described as a real gem for the town and the Stonebridge allotments, with their unique island layout, were described as one of the most attractive allotment sites the judges had ever seen.
46:18The judges were also particularly impressed by the community's resilience after a summer full of heatwaves and water shortages.
46:23They encouraged further creativity in sustainable gardening practices.
46:27Well, that's great. And I suppose, what does this all mean for Faversham as a whole?
46:31So, Faversham and Bloom chairman Ted Wilcox said it's a major honour for the town.
46:36He said it was a reflection of the teamwork and dedication of everyone involved, and that it shows what can be achieved when people come together and care for their town.
46:44Tell us a bit about your favourite flower. Do you have one?
46:46Oh, I would have to say peonies. Not sure why. I just think they look really nice in photos and I like how full they are.
46:54Nice. I like daffodils.
46:56Very good one.
46:57Yeah, thank you. A bit basic, but I think they do the job. Cool. All right. Thank you so much for your time, Davina.
47:03Now, I'm not going to expand on what I meant by daffodils do the job, but since we're talking about flowers from flora to fauna, Kent's winter wonderland is full of wildlife at this time of year, despite the freezing temperatures.
47:14So, who better to examine our glorious Garden of England than our resident environmental expert, that is, of course, Daisy Page.
47:22So, Daisy, you're a keen wildlife photographer. Tell us, even during the winter months, and as we can see here, actually, during this photo, you're a, I think the term is twitcher, a keen twitcher.
47:33What kind of birds can we expect to see in our back gardens this year?
47:36Yeah. So, from back gardens, and if you don't have a garden out the window or your local parks, some of the smaller birds that we can be seeing is house sparrows.
47:45Now, these are commonly found near estates because that's where they get their name from, house sparrows.
47:49They like to nest nearby or in the roofs as well.
47:52One of my personal favourites is the robin. You should be seeing lots of those.
47:56Obviously, they come out in the cold months.
47:57That's why we start to see them on our Christmas cards and any Christmas decoration, even bedding nowadays.
48:02It's getting quite popular to have a robin out, and another one that you can start to see as well is the blackbird.
48:08Now, it's actually a blackbird that we've got on the screen here.
48:12Juvenile. This was actually taken during springtime.
48:14That's why we can see the green leaves, but if you want to encourage these birds into your area, what I would say is put some food out for them.
48:22You can always research what different birds like.
48:24I know robins near me love millworms. It's a nice fatty food for them, so I tend to put lots of those out for them
48:30because during the colder months, especially robins, they can lose weight during the cold evenings.
48:35But the important thing to note is when you are feeding these birds, don't stop feeding when we get to summer
48:39because food shortages can happen at any time.
48:42So if you're going to feed these birds, make sure that you're feeding them regularly and just not to stop feeding them at all.
48:48And another thing to remember is fresh water.
48:51Providing fresh water. If you're putting out fresh water, clean the bowls just to make sure that we're not spreading anything between them.
48:57Amazing. We haven't got too much time, but tell us, is it migratory season? Are the birds coming? Are they going?
49:02It's a bit of both. So along our kink coast, we'll start to see some fabulous birds like curlews.
49:07One of my favourite is a goose. Now, you don't expect to see a goose waddling along the beach, but we get something called a labyrinth goose here.
49:13They travel miles to come here during winter to feed and gain that nutrients from our mudflaps on the beaches.
49:19Right, I see. Well, I've just learned a new word there. Curlew. Is that right? Curlew.
49:22Curlew, that's a bird. Brilliant. I'll start using that. Thank you so much, Daisy, for telling us all about some birds.
49:28Very interesting facts there. Now, don't forget you can keep up to date with all your latest stories across Kent by logging on to our website.
49:35That is, of course, cametv.co.uk. There you'll find all our reports, including this one, about lorries causing traffic concerns around Maidstone.
49:42Let's have a look.
49:42Locals living on Heath Road in Boughton, Monchelsea, near Maidstone, usually expect it to be a quiet area, with only a farm shop and a goat sanctuary nearby.
49:52But locals say that lorries going down the 30-mile-an-hour road faster than they should is creating a nightmare, disrupting their sleep and their peace and quiet.
50:00Certainly down the end of the road, where there's crossroads, five ways, two articulated lorries can't get past each other.
50:10So everybody has to back up, which is ridiculous for, well, it's supposed to be a B road, but it's treated as an A road.
50:19There's traffic along here, particularly now that there's roadworks along the Loos Road and the Linton Hill.
50:27It's just ridiculous. As you can see, to be honest, we don't normally get this amount of traffic, but it is just ridiculous.
50:36Now they say they're being treated to a Grand Prix of lorries.
50:40Constant noise, which is keeping them awake and even shaking their houses.
50:45And you can't quite see it from here, but just behind me, there's a long queue of traffic.
50:50This is probably the first time I've ever heard people saying they actually like the traffic, because it slows these lorries down.
50:56So how bad must the noise be for them to actually like having traffic in their area?
51:02One local has even taken matters into his own hands to understand just how fast the vehicles are going.
51:07The first thing I did was to obtain a calibrated camera from the parish council, which was provided by the police,
51:14just to get a bit of an objective measure as to actually, you know, what does this speeding constitute?
51:20What are the actual numbers? That filming was done about 10, 15, from about 11 onwards, you know, it may as well be a drag strip,
51:29because sometimes lorries, I've clocked going past at 60 miles an hour, which is double the speed limit and dangerous driving.
51:36In terms of a solution, local councillors aren't giving up, coming up with ideas they're trying to get passed by officials.
51:41We're trying to put either a speed bump or even paint, showing people that they really need to slow down.
51:50And we would like a SID, a speed indicator device, to actually show people what speed they are doing,
51:56and with a smiley face and a dance face, so they're actually aware of what they're doing,
52:00because often they're just following the traffic and not realising at what speed they're going at.
52:05Police Sergeant Paul Cook said in response to concerns raised by residents of Boughton, Monchelsea,
52:11local beat officers have been carrying out high-visibility patrols to act as a deterrent for speeding and other traffic offences.
52:17We will continue to proactively target those who put other road users at risk
52:20and urge motorists to drive responsibly to protect themselves and others.
52:24Speed limits are limits, not targets.
52:26Until a permanent solution is found, local residents will have to hope that the lorries will keep to their speed
52:31and that it won't be a long road until the problem is fixed.
52:35Finn McDermid in Boughton, Monchelsea, for KMTV.
52:39Now it's time to take a quick look at the weather.
52:47And we can see temperatures of around 5, 6 and 7 this evening.
52:52High wind speeds there as well.
52:53Tomorrow morning, a bit more sunny, 4, 5 and 6, high there in Margate and Dover.
53:00Then into tomorrow afternoon, some cloud will come,
53:02particularly covering areas of Canterbury, Ashford and Maidstone, staying 6 and 7 there.
53:09Then throughout your week, starting off with 7 degrees and some sun behind the clouds,
53:14some rain on Friday, temperatures of 12.
53:16Now, coming up after the break is another episode of Invicta Sport.
53:27But before we go, let's take a look back at this weekend's football results.
53:31Welcome to this week's football round-up.
53:34First off, we're heading to North Kent to see Ebb's fleet meet Chesham.
53:37Now, the fleet have been reasonably on form, winning four of their last six matches,
53:41while Chesham have only won two of their last six.
53:45It's a strong start for the home side, who challenge the keeper early with some shots.
53:49And only 13 minutes in, and they've put themselves 1-0 up.
53:52Kwesi Appiah's chipped into the box, finding Peek, who just lays it to Barnes.
53:56And what a strike.
53:57Controlled, but powerful to open the scoring.
54:00And Alfie Williams' slip-up there might have him red in the face,
54:03but the jeering of the crowd has soon turned to stunned silence,
54:06as Adebayi puts a header in past Matt Hall, making his debut between the posts.
54:15Then into the next half, and the fleet manage to see off a chance that could have lost them the game there.
54:19But they work the ball to the right side, Charlie Seaman pulling a cross in,
54:23skips past Barnes, and is hit in by Cosgrove to put them up 2-1, lacking from the Chesham defence.
54:29Next, Cosgrove breaks away from the defence, heading towards goal,
54:31and he's brought down by a Chesham defender.
54:33A risky challenge there, and yep, the ref blows for a free kick on the edge of the box.
54:39Which, oh, goes over the bar.
54:40Well, with the final whistle going, it looks like Eversleet managed to pull off a mid-table victory,
54:45climbing higher to a potential playoff place.
54:48Well, elsewhere in the National League South, Tunbridge Angels fell to earth
54:52with a 1-0 defeat to Chippendam Town,
54:54made stern travel to Dorking Wanderers, suffering a 3-1 loss,
54:58and West and Supermere were defeated there by Dover Athletic,
55:01two goals to one.
55:02The next games will all be home fixtures for the league's Kent sides,
55:06the Angels hosting Hemel Hempstead,
55:08the Stones all-play Salisbury, Dover see Slough Town,
55:11and Eversleet will hope for another strong performance,
55:14this time against Horsham.
55:15Then back up to League 2,
55:17and Gillingham drew 1-1 with Barnet after conceding inside the first 20 minutes.
55:21They managed to keep themselves to a draw after a classic Dak free kick.
55:25The Gills will hope to break their recent draw streak
55:27after a 2-all game against Crawley when they head to challenge Shrewsbury,
55:30who are currently in the lower end of the table.
55:33Down to the Isthmian Premier,
55:35and some strong results here for the Garden of England's team
55:37as Chatham keep a clean sheet away from home against Lewis.
55:40Folkestone come off as the winners of a six-gall thriller away at Chess Hunt.
55:45Ramsgate win the Cross-Thames fixture against Canvey Island,
55:48a long ferry ride home for them,
55:50and Dartford are kept to a draw against Cray Valley Paper Mills.
55:53Coming up, Chatham hosts St Albans.
55:56In Victor, Chichester City,
55:57Ramsgate are on the road against Whitehawk,
55:59and the Dart's duel Dulwich-Hamlet at home.
56:02And that's all for this week's Football Roundup.
56:06Well, you've been watching Kent Tonight live here on KMTV.
56:10And as always, there's more news made just for Kent throughout the evening.
56:14And don't forget, you can always keep up to date
56:16with the latest news across your county by logging on to kmtv.co.uk.
56:20You can also keep us on your social timelines
56:23by liking us on Facebook and following us on our TikTok.
56:27And as always, if you think you have a story that we should be covering,
56:30then please don't hesitate to get in touch.
56:33We also have a series of special programmes,
56:35including Invictus Sport, which you can watch right after this.
56:38Thank you so much for watching, and we'll see you very soon.
56:41Goodbye.
56:41This is Hestia University.
56:44Bye.
56:45Bye.
56:49This is Hestia University.
56:51I'm the director of Vitor,
56:53I am the director of Vitor,
56:59and I'm the director of Vitor Central University.
57:02And we'll see you in the next one for next week's episode.
57:03Bye.
57:03Bye.
57:05Bye.
57:07Bye.
57:08Bye.
57:08Bye.
57:08Bye.
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