- 23 hours ago
Catch up with all the latest news from across the county with Finn Macdiarmid.
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00Hello and welcome to Kent Tonight, live here on KMTV. I'm Finn McDermott and here are
00:26your top stories on Monday the 12th of January.
00:30War to woes, Kent reacts to further supply issues across the county as it causes school
00:34closures and strains on households.
00:37We get by and it's all very inconvenient and I have to say very third world.
00:43A dangerous eyesore, Acnor residents say their estate management company Firstport are ignoring
00:49maintenance problems.
00:50Yeah it's just complete neglect, they're all admin though actually and we pay a lot
00:53of money and our maintenance charges and all we actually see is grass being cut.
00:58And putting culture in the driver's seat, an artist opens his exhibition at the Royal Engineers
01:03Museum in Gillingham using race helmets to discuss migration.
01:07While you are assimilating the new culture from where you are coming into, the helmet is taking
01:13its form of protection for you from the fast lane, from the new journey you're taking the
01:18place of unknown where you're going to.
01:23Hello and welcome to Kent tonight.
01:33First, it's been called a dangerous eyesore with a collapsed fence and a landslide on Moat
01:40Lane in up north but the residents say that these aren't the only issues they're experiencing
01:45while they're being charged £21,000 a year.
01:48They claim their estate management company Firstport are ignoring their claims to maintain
01:52the property well, while the company say that the first priority is maintenance of the area.
01:58To find out more, our local democracy reporter Olly Leader went down to meet some of those residents.
02:02It's a dangerous eyesore that's been left unrepaired on this up north estate since 2023.
02:10But this collapsed fence and landslip is far from the only problem people living along Moat
02:18Lane have been having with their estate management company Firstport.
02:22claiming maintenance problems are being ignored while they're collectively charged more than £21,000 a year.
02:31Yeah, it's just complete neglect. They're all admin, no action. We pay a lot of money in our maintenance charges
02:37and all we actually see is grass being cut. There's, you know, you can see the neglect here.
02:41The actual first fence started leaning. I think it was January 22. And then we had the landslide in January 23. So three years later, the, all the landslide came down.
02:51They've done absolutely nothing apart from put up a Harris fence in which they've never tended to since. And of course, the cost of fixing the damage will only go upwards.
03:01Looking around the estate actually does look quite nice. No complaints about grass cutting or hedge trimming. The big concern, though, is around estate management fees.
03:12People here say they're paying more and more each year and getting less and less in return.
03:18Obviously, when we first moved in, we did have massive delays on the house due to the fact that Firstport wanted £3,000 from the previous tenant that she hadn't paid because she'd have problems with them.
03:30And then we moved in in 2018. Obviously, we were paying them. But gradually, the price increase has really, really, really gone up.
03:41A spokesperson for Firstport said their priority is to ensure that the areas they manage remain safe and well maintained.
03:50They say that while there have been delays as they determined who's responsible for the fence repair, this is now progressing.
03:59And they will meet with residents next week to discuss further steps.
04:04But whatever challenges there are around fixing the embankment, repairing trust with those living here will be even more difficult.
04:14Olly Leader in Upnor.
04:15Next, a driver has been spared a prison sentence almost two years after he caused a car accident in Rochester that left a mum of two in a medically induced coma.
04:28Charanjeet Singh Shukhar crashed his car into Vanessa Wilkins in February 2024.
04:33She was badly injured and had a month-long stay in hospital, as well as a week of that that was spent in a medically induced coma.
04:41She's been left with 30% lung capacity and heart damage.
04:44As well as a four-year driving ban, Singh Shukhar has also been ordered to complete 25 rehabilitation activity requirements and 180 hours of unpaid work.
04:54Vanessa has said she believes he deserves prison and doesn't think he got what he deserved for the damage he caused.
05:03Now, after water supply issues in Tunbridge Wells had ceased back in December of last year, many residents thought it would be left in 2025.
05:13But in pockets of the county, residents have yet again been seeing their taps run dry.
05:18Thousands of households in Kent and Sussex have been experiencing problems, with some schools shutting and Kent County Council declaring it as a major incident,
05:27as leaks, bursts and cold weather have been putting pressure not only on our pipes, but on our homes as well.
05:34Chloe Brewster has been across the county to find out more about this issue.
05:37We began today with 11 interruptions across the South East Water Network.
05:43At last check, there were 13.
05:45The series of outages across Tunbridge Wells, Maidstone and other localised areas has hit national headlines.
05:51I'm back, back in Tunbridge Wells, barely a month since the last bout of issues of South East Water.
05:57This time, however, the issues are much more widespread.
06:00It's 30,000 households across Kent and Sussex which have been without water.
06:04I'm here at Tunbridge Wells Rugby Club, which is turning up bottled water to those affected.
06:09Something residents here are all too used to.
06:13While they're in Tunbridge Wells, I learnt the South East Water team had actually run out of bottled water,
06:17with the only other station being all the way over in Ashford.
06:20Luckily enough, we've got some little bit of water stored up, so we were able to use that to, you know, make tea and stuff like that.
06:29But the biggest problem when you haven't got water is how do you wash.
06:34You can't clean your hands.
06:36Fortunately, we have a reasonable supply of bottled water, so we get by.
06:43But it's all very inconvenient and, I have to say, very third world.
06:48Customers pay a standing charge.
06:51That standing charge isn't for the water.
06:53It's for the infrastructure to provide the water.
06:57So where is the money going?
06:59Why is it being left?
07:01Why are woefully inadequate local MPs not dealing with it?
07:06Because if it was a one-off occurrence, you can accept it.
07:11But this has been coming down the track for so long now,
07:14the previous government and the current government aren't demanding or being tenacious enough
07:21to ensure that we get what we're paying for.
07:25The first news of a new wave of issues arose shortly after South East Water CEO David Hinton
07:29was questioned in the Commons by the EFRA committee.
07:32It was an ironic twist in a series of growing frustrations with the water company.
07:36It comes as Rosie Duffield, the MP for Canterbury,
07:39is the latest to join the list of South East MPs calling for the resignation of the South East Water boss.
07:44They joined Tunbridge Wells MP Mike Martin,
07:47who called for the boss to step down back when issues first arose in his constituency in December.
07:52Once we've got water restored, then we're going to deal with South East Water.
07:55We're going to move into accountability mode.
07:57And there are a number of things that we're going to be looking at around resilience,
08:01crisis planning, communications.
08:03Really, there's been a leadership failure.
08:05South East Water's incident manager, Matthew Dean, said,
08:08We're sorry to our customers across Kent and Sussex who are experiencing issues with their drinking water supply,
08:13including no water, intermittent supply interruptions or low pressure.
08:18Following the recent cold weather and a subsequent breakout of leaks and bursts across Kent and Sussex,
08:22our drinking water storage tanks are running very low.
08:26We're incredibly sorry to all customers and businesses who've been impacted by this,
08:29and we're doing all we can to restore supplies as soon as possible.
08:32And as the pressure goes up from the Commons, people impacted here in Kent are hoping they see it from their taps too.
08:39Chloe Brewster for KMTV in Tunbridge Wells.
08:42Well, I am joined now by Councillor Mark Hood.
08:50Mark should be joining me.
08:52There you are, Mark.
08:53Sorry, lost you for a second there.
08:55Thank you for joining us.
08:56And first of all, you've been very vocal on this issue.
08:58And I'd first of all like to give you the opportunity to sum up what you've been hearing from residents about this.
09:03Well, it's just hugely frustrating, isn't it?
09:07It affects all walks of life.
09:09It affects things like daycare centres.
09:11It affects schools.
09:13They can't open up.
09:14It's a fundamental requirement.
09:17And I just think that South East Water don't seem to be able to learn from their mistakes.
09:22We're just seeing this occurring right across the county.
09:26So it's just massively frustrating.
09:29The communication has been abysmal.
09:31We thought they got a little bit better in that respect.
09:35But it seems that they're not learning any of their lessons.
09:39And we need a fundamental change.
09:41And that change has to start with the resignation of Dave Hinton.
09:45I see.
09:45And we can see some images now on our screens of some of these affected families that are going down and having to pick up this bottled water.
09:54You mentioned the resignation of CEO David Hinton,
09:57and something that's been widely discussed in, I'm sure, not just council halls, but the House of Commons as well.
10:03In your opinion, would the resignation of CEO David Hinton make any significant change towards getting our water services back to where people want them to be?
10:15Well, I think somebody who's on the salary that he is has to bear some responsibility.
10:23When he appeared in Parliament to account for the performance of his company, he didn't seem to take any responsibility at all for their underperformance.
10:34So if he doesn't bear responsibility, if it doesn't fall on his shoulders, who does it?
10:40Whose shoulders should it fall on?
10:41And to be fair, it's a systemic problem within the water industry, it seems.
10:47And we're calling for the water industry to be brought back into public ownership because we want to see every single penny of profit that is made by these companies ploughed back into the infrastructure to make sure we can sort out the leaks.
11:01We can sort out the multitude of burst pipes because the whole system seems to be so fragile.
11:11When you're running out of supplies of bottled water and you're unable to man those bottled water stations, I think there's some excuse to be missed.
11:23Sorry, really sorry to cut in here, Mark. We haven't got much time.
11:25And I do just really quickly want to raise the point that some might defend the water companies here by saying that this is an unforeseen weather event that's caused some of these.
11:33Very quickly, what do you have to say to that?
11:37Well, was it an unforeseen event in the summer?
11:39Was it an unforeseen...
11:40We had this in Tunbridge, then we had it in Whitstable earlier in the summer, earlier in the year, and then we had it in...
11:47This isn't just about weather.
11:48Sorry, I do have to cut you off. I'm afraid we are out of time. Thank you for joining me, though.
11:52Yeah, that's fair enough.
11:52Fair enough.
12:10Fair enough.
12:22Fair enough.
12:23Fair enough.
12:24Fair enough.
12:27.
12:57.
13:27.
13:57.
13:59.
14:01.
14:03.
14:05.
14:07.
14:09.
14:11.
14:13.
14:15.
14:17.
14:19.
14:21.
14:23.
14:25.
14:27.
14:29.
14:31.
14:33.
14:35.
14:37.
14:39.
14:41.
14:43.
14:45.
14:47.
14:49.
14:51.
14:53.
14:55.
14:57.
14:59.
15:01.
15:03.
15:05.
15:07.
15:09.
15:11.
15:13.
15:15.
15:17.
15:19.
15:21.
15:31.
15:33.
15:35.
15:37.
15:39.
15:41.
15:43.
15:45.
15:47.
15:49.
15:51.
15:53.
15:55.
15:57.
15:59.
16:01.
16:03.
16:05.
16:07.
16:09.
16:11.
16:13.
16:15.
16:17.
16:19.
16:23.
16:25.
16:27.
16:29.
16:31.
16:33.
16:35.
16:37.
16:39.
16:41.
16:43.
16:45.
16:47.
16:51.
16:55.
16:57.
16:59.
17:01.
17:03.
17:05.
17:07.
17:09.
17:11.
17:13.
17:14.
17:16.
17:18.
17:20.
17:22.
17:24.
17:26.
17:28.
17:30.
17:32.
17:34.
17:36.
17:38.
17:40.
17:42.
17:44.
17:46.
17:48.
17:50.
17:52.
17:54.
17:56.
17:58.
18:00.
18:02.
18:04.
18:06.
18:08.
18:10.
18:12.
18:14.
18:16.
18:18.
18:20.
18:22.
18:24.
18:26.
18:28.
18:30.
18:32.
18:34.
18:36.
18:38.
18:40.
18:42.
18:44.
18:46.
18:48.
18:50.
18:52.
18:54.
18:56.
18:58.
19:00.
19:02.
19:04.
19:06.
19:08.
19:16.
19:18.
19:19.
19:20.
19:22.
19:24.
19:26.
19:28.
19:29.
19:30.
19:31.
19:32.
19:34to give people a good day out and be entertaining but mostly we are here to look after the animals
19:40and you know that that's our number one priority when it really comes down to it and having these
19:44birds out and about obviously once they're out we are in control of them in terms of their training
19:50but we're not in control of exactly where they go they're in the trees they're going off on
19:54the roofs and wherever they really feel like landing and that gets them in contact with all
20:00sorts of wild bird influence mostly you know what other wild birds poop to put it bluntly and that
20:06is the number one transmitter of avian influenza but tomorrow the foundation will reopen following
20:12confirmation there have been no recent local outbreaks and after a negative avian flu result
20:17of a deceased wild bird found on site without proper precautions it's getting more and more real to be
20:24honest you know bird flu has always been a thing it's always been around it comes and goes every
20:27winter but we've never had serious cases this far south at least not for a very long time so it's
20:34become scarier and scarier really as it goes on and with proper precautions and you know some hard
20:41decisions you can be pretty safe but with without that you we could have been in trouble while the
20:49centre will be reopening for visitors from tomorrow some of the bird related attractions will remain
20:53closed to protect the safety of the wildlife here we are still going to be keeping the birds locked down
21:00a little bit for now until we can have the housing also lifted which is going to allow us to then be
21:05able to do offline displays again and bring the birds out for more regular exercise and you know all
21:10the all back to normality so we are reopening but with still some restrictions in place to keep them safe
21:17as the foundation preps the animals for socializing they say they're looking forward to seeing the birds
21:23take flight once again chloe brewster for came tv in ainsford now canterbury city council have launched
21:30a free winter parking scheme for its residents in herne bay and whitstable drivers with a residence
21:36rate permit will be able to park free of charge in certain car parks in herne bay on wednesdays in
21:40whitstable and sorry on thursdays in herne bay and wednesdays in whitstable the council says this should
21:46support shops and businesses during the off season steve keeler from the whitstable community museum
21:51joined us earlier to share his thoughts about the plans thank you so much for joining me steve um
21:57first of all before we get into the specifics of the parking tell us a bit about what you do at the
22:02museum uh i'm one of the trustees of the museum um we're a small charitable concern that case um
22:10just small number of trustees quite a few um about 60 to 60 to 80 volunteers so pretty good from the
22:18support side of it um we took over 10 years ago from canada city council and we effectively run it
22:25um although with a bit of their help as well at the moment we're in half a museum because we've got
22:31half of it being rebuilt we restructured etc so uh our plans for that is uh all all good come come back
22:40march april i see and i'm not i'm not sure exactly uh what to call it but there seems to be uh some
22:46sort of mannequin or statue behind you tell us a bit about the exhibits the museum show one of the
22:52exhibits is the invictor railway engine which is what you can see behind us and the guy on on the top is
22:59that that would have been his job driving that train in 1830 uh that that remains here for
23:06in which to work in the wishful end of the which will canterbury line um for about seven or eight
23:12years and then got um sort of laid off um it spent a lot of time in canterbury outside on display for
23:22for decades um it came here about seven years ago i suppose now um it's been on display ever since also
23:30we've got a um because we're a diving industry here diving helmet was first invented in in whitstable
23:39so we've got a nice story to tell about that we've got the first railway uh sorry fire engine that um
23:46was built in wickstable um all good good stuff there we've got archaeology uh of wickstable we've got
23:55a lot uh a lot of married time at the moment not so much because we've got it all closed off we certainly
24:01have a good display a bit of pushing uh again at the moment that's just a small display just to show
24:09a sample until we uh actually get the uh the museum up and running again uh we've also sorry to cut you
24:18off um i am just uh i'm just curious so uh tell me about how things are how things tend to be in terms
24:25of footfall with uh visitors especially over these winter months what do you think that some free
24:30parking in whitstable um might help with that certainly the the number of visitors that we've got
24:37since we've been closed half closed uh because we're advertising it as free we actually the
24:43football has actually gone up uh but generally winter time is a lot quieter there's less visitors
24:49uh we still get the regulars coming in on a regular basis uh certainly having free parking on one day
24:55would certainly make it busy i suspect on the thursday it may shift it from the friday to the
25:01thursday who knows i see and yeah like you mentioned there it is only on the thursdays between a selected
25:08period um reading through uh the scheme that canterbury council put forward uh it does seem that the
25:14scheme only applies to residents in canterbury do you foresee that sort of limiting the uh the ability
25:19of it there would you prefer to see it more generally that people could come from different
25:23parts of the country or different parts of the county even uh do you think that would be better
25:27for businesses that sort of shows certainly for the businesses the uh locals will come drive down
25:34park up and use use the shopping facilities whether they're coming to the museum not quite sure
25:40businesses coming from afar um if it's not applicable to them will be coming down anyway
25:46so they may park on the road somewhere else if this was free for them they just park closer
25:54i see and uh you've mentioned before that you get more business it tends to be as you mentioned on on
25:59the weekend there so do you think it's going to really kind of drag those numbers up to earlier in
26:03the week maybe maybe families especially you know as we're in these winter months less people in
26:08the holidays tell me about what you estimate if the scheme you know goes forward in this way how
26:12it might help it it can't not help um it can only be a positive thing uh even if it does bring down
26:20a few other people thinking it's a it's a wet rainy day what should we do today actually we can drive
26:26down park up it's not going to cost us anything we can go into the museum so hopefully yeah that will work
26:31that will certainly assist brilliant thank you so much for your time
26:35well it is now time for a short break we'll be looking more at the water issues currently
26:43all around kent we'll have that and more after a few minutes time see you see you soon
27:05um
27:11you
27:13you
27:15you
27:17you
27:19you
27:21you
27:23.
27:53.
28:23.
28:53.
28:55.
28:57.
28:59.
29:01.
29:03.
29:05.
29:07.
29:09.
29:11.
29:13.
29:15.
29:17.
29:19.
29:21.
29:23.
29:25.
29:27.
29:29.
29:31.
29:33.
29:35.
29:37.
29:39.
29:41.
29:43.
29:45.
29:47.
29:49.
29:51.
29:53.
29:55.
29:57.
29:59.
30:01.
30:03.
30:05.
30:07.
30:09.
30:11.
30:13.
30:15.
30:17.
30:19.
30:21.
30:23.
30:25.
30:27.
30:29.
30:31.
30:33.
30:35.
30:37.
30:39.
30:41.
30:43.
30:45.
30:47.
30:49.
30:51.
30:53.
30:55.
30:57.
30:59.
31:01.
31:03.
31:05.
31:07.
31:09.
31:11.
31:13.
31:29.
31:31.
31:33.
31:34.
31:39.
31:41run dry. Thousands of households in Kent and Sussex have been experiencing problems, with
31:46some schools shutting and Kent County Council even declaring it as a major incident, as
31:51leaks, bursts and cold weather have been putting pressure not just on our pipes, but on our
31:56county as well. Chloe Brewster's been finding out more.
31:59We began today with 11 interruptions across the South East Water Network. At last check,
32:05there were 13. The series of outages across Tunbridge Wells, Maidstone and other localised
32:10areas has hit national headlines. I'm back, back in Tunbridge Wells, barely a month since
32:15the last bout of issues with South East Water. This time, however, the issues are much more
32:20widespread. There's 30,000 households across Kent and Sussex which have been without water.
32:25I'm here at Tunbridge Wells Rugby Club, which is handing out bottled water to those affected,
32:30something residents here are all too used to. While there in Tunbridge Wells, I learnt the
32:35South East Water team had actually run out of bottled water, with the only other station
32:40being all the way over in Ashford.
32:41Luckily enough, we've got some little bit of water stored up, so we were able to use that
32:46to, you know, make tea and stuff like that. But the biggest problem when you haven't got
32:52water is how do you wash? You can't clean your hands.
32:56Fortunately, we have a reasonable supply of bottled water, so we get by. But it's all very inconvenient
33:06and, I have to say, very third world.
33:09Customers pay a standing charge. That standing charge isn't for the water, it's for the infrastructure
33:16to provide the water. So where is the money going? Why is it being left? Why are woefully
33:23inadequate local MPs not dealing with it? Because if it was a one-off occurrence, you can accept
33:31it. But this has been coming down the track for so long now, the previous government and
33:37the current government aren't demanding or being tenacious enough to ensure that we get
33:44what we're paying for.
33:46The first news of a new wave of issues arose shortly after South East Water CEO David Hinton
33:50was questioned in the Commons by the EFRA committee. It was an ironic twist in a series
33:54of growing frustrations with the water company. It comes as Rosie Duffield, the MP for Canterbury,
34:00is the latest to join the list of South East MPs calling for the resignation of the South East
34:04Water boss. They joined Tunbridge Wells MP Mike Martin, who called for the boss to step
34:09down back when issues first arose in his constituency in December.
34:12Once we've got water restored, then we're going to deal with South East Water. We're going
34:16to move into accountability mode and there are a number of things that we're going to be
34:20looking at around resilience, crisis planning, communications. Really, there's been a leadership
34:25failure.
34:26South East Water's incident manager Matthew Dean said,
34:29We're sorry to our customers across Kent and Sussex who are experiencing issues with
34:33their drinking water supply, including no water, intermittent supply interruptions or
34:37low pressure. Following the recent cold weather and a subsequent breakout of leaks and bursts
34:42across Kent and Sussex, our drinking water storage tanks are running very low. We're incredibly
34:47sorry to all customers and businesses who have been impacted by this and we're doing all
34:51we can to restore supplies as soon as possible. And as the pressure goes up from the Commons,
34:57people impacted here in Kent are hoping they see it from their taps too. Chloe Brewster
35:01for KMTV in Tunbridge Wells.
35:04Next, Kent County Council are proposing to increase their council tax by 3.99% in their draft budget.
35:13This figure sits at 1% below the cap set by the government, but this has led to warnings that
35:18this might cause cuts to services. We spoke to Rob Bailey, our politics presenter, about
35:24how the budget was covered on the show and what Kent's politicians have been saying about
35:27the budget.
35:29We had Councillor Mark Hood, who's the leader of the Greens at Kent County Council on the
35:33show. He's called the council short-termist and performative in the way that they've set
35:40this budget about. His concern is that they've done something that's designed to look good
35:45ahead of the May elections, which are happening all over the country, and where an awful lot
35:49of people will be looking at what reform have achieved in Kent before they put an X in their
35:54reform ballot box in other parts of the country. He thinks that this is a kind of electioneering
35:59kind of decision. The Conservatives at Kent County Council have called it irresponsible.
36:06They think that it would have been the right thing to do to ask Kent residents to pay more.
36:11As you say, this is all about a political calculation. Reform told residents in Kent that they could
36:17deliver the same level of service for less tax. The question now is whether they can do
36:23it now that they've set themselves that task.
36:25I see. We can hear a bit from Councillor Bill Barrett. He's with the Independent Reformers
36:29Group about the budget. Now, bear in mind, this does come before the draft was released.
36:34This is a pre-emptive statement, but let's have a listen now.
36:37My message to the reform leadership is quite simply this. Whatever cuts are going to be made
36:43over the next eight weeks, whatever cuts are going to be decided upon, those cuts will impact
36:47the people out there, the residents. And those cuts have to be minimised as much as possible
36:52so that those cuts aren't felt as deeply as otherwise would be felt. The budget is not in
36:58a good situation at the moment. I don't see, even if it is a balanced budget, that it gets
37:02much better in the coming months. There's already a big overspend this year. There's
37:07a budget gap that has to be found within this draft budget, which obviously we'll all debate
37:11in February. So just minimise the pain to the people of Kent as much as humanly possible.
37:17He mentions minimising the pain to the people of Kent. Lyndon Kim Keren, the leader of Kent
37:23County Council, says that the council was saddled with more than £700 million of debt and they're
37:28now on track to deliver £100 million in savings and they've re-profiled spending and reduced
37:33debt by £67 million. On that pain, do you think that the council has found this savings
37:39gap and what do you think about foreseeing that kind of pain for locals?
37:42Well, I think the interesting thing here is the timing issue as much as anything else.
37:46Bill Barrett's saying that there's going to be a meeting in February there and that councils
37:50are poring over the details of this, worrying about cuts. Normally a budget of this complexity
37:55is published in November in a draft form and councillors start looking at it and going
38:00through the detail of it and they have about three months to do that before the final decision
38:04is made. This has been delayed this year. We've got it in January. There's about six weeks
38:09for councillors to go through the fine detail of this budget and work out whether the bottom
38:13line actually works and where the cuts are going to come. And that's an incredibly short
38:18timescale and it worries quite a few people about the level of scrutiny that there might be
38:23on that. Inevitably there are going to be cuts with a budget gap to fill and the interesting
38:29thing is that the cuts can't come in certain areas. There are certain things that councils
38:33have to do, statutory functions that they cannot reduce, which leaves a certain number of places
38:38like libraries, parks, household waste recycling centres, those kinds of things which are optional
38:46services that are run by a council where cuts can be made. And there's going to be a lot
38:50of scrutiny to see on those areas which have been threatened in the past, which were often
38:54threatened when the Conservatives were in charge of KCC, about whether some of those things
38:58will be reduced.
38:59I see. Thank you so much for your time, Rob.
39:02Next, the development company Skylar Kent has won a long-running battle to build 27 homes
39:09in the village of Graveney near Fabersham. This is despite fierce opposition and the plan
39:14previously being rejected by Swale Borough Council. Well, our reporter Nayla Mohamed is here to tell
39:19us more about this battle. So what has it really all been about?
39:23Well, you're correct in saying that it is a long, long battle. It's been going on since 2023 when Swale
39:29Borough Council rejected the initial two plans. And what happens is, is the developer wants to,
39:34there are two sites in Graveney, which is near Fabersham, that the developers want to build these
39:41houses on. One's a larger one, one's a smaller site. Both sites have been rejected by Swale Borough Council.
39:48However, there has been an appeal about this. And the planning inspectorate has overturned the
39:54council's decision on the larger site. And they've agreed to 27 houses being built on
39:58Sea Salter Road, which you can see on the screen here next to me. So that's what's been going on
40:03at the moment.
40:04I see. And we saw some images there, some of these maps showing where exactly these
40:09homes would be built. And we also saw some of the people who might be affected. Tell us
40:13what are residents saying about this development?
40:15They're not happy. They don't really want it. I mean, right next to where they are at the moment,
40:20there's already a huge solar panel farm. You know, it's 900 acres of land, over 800,000 solar panels.
40:26And they said there's a battery the size of 20 football pitches. So it's a lot of land already
40:32taken up for solar panels. They don't want more housing. And in their own words, they said it's
40:37a waste of time, it's a waste of space, and it's a waste of money. And the council also said that
40:41having these developments put on the land isn't going to do anything to an area that's already
40:46under so much pressure in terms of its services.
40:48I see. Very quickly, what have the planning inspectorate said on this?
40:53Well, they've had the complete opposing view. They think, well, there's no evidence
40:57to say that the new housing developments will put a strain on what's already there.
41:01And the developers who, they have said they will give a set amount of money, £320,000 to Kent
41:08County Council and to the NHS to help support the healthcare, to help support libraries and schooling.
41:14So they're very much trying to encourage the residents and be like, you know, this is not a bad
41:17opportunity, that's all.
41:18I see. It's a story we're seeing a lot across Kent at the moment.
41:21Thank you so much for your time, Nayla.
41:24It's now time for a quick break, but stay tuned for more, including a chat with Joanne Taylor.
41:30She started a petition on stroke services that's being taken from Kent and Canterbury Hospital
41:35to the William Harvey Hospital in Ashford. We will also take a quick look at an exhibition in the
41:41Royal Engineers Museum, all about using art to represent the feeling of migration. All that after
41:47this short break.
44:59Welcome back to Kent Tonight live here on KMTV.
45:12Now, over 800 people have signed a petition opposing plans to move stroke services out of
45:17Kent and Canterbury Hospital.
45:18This comes as proposals for a new 54 bed stroke unit in Ashford's William Harvey Hospital have
45:24revealed as part of a plan to centralize their stroke services.
45:27However, this has sparked concerns about increased travel times to specialist care services for
45:32residents in East Kent.
45:33We spoke with Joanne Taylor, who started the petition earlier today.
45:37Thank you so much for joining me, Joanne.
45:39First of all, when did you first realize that the stroke services were moving from Canterbury to
45:45the William Harvey in Ashford and what was your initial reaction?
45:49Well, I saw a piece in Kent Online on Thursday and when I read it, it just really shocked me.
46:02And I looked at it and I read it and I thought, no, this can't happen.
46:09We need to fight it to stay at Kent and Canterbury.
46:14We need it central.
46:16Now, tell me, why did you have that specific reaction?
46:19What was it that worried you about these plans?
46:23Well, it's not good news for anyone that lives in Canterbury.
46:29All the surrounding villages, Wigstable, Home Base, and it's over Folkestone.
46:36And taking this service away from Canterbury means much longer travel times.
46:44Joanna, I'm aware that you have a story, an incident where someone very close to you,
46:49their life was saved at KMT Hospital.
46:52So tell me a bit about that experience and how that's really shaped the petition and your passion for this.
46:56Well, in 2015, someone very close to me had what we thought was a heart attack and made a heart attack again.
47:11I had three ambulances and five paramedics working on him.
47:17They got him in the ambulance.
47:20I could hear him on the radio, William Harvey, then I could hear K&C.
47:26Anyway, they took him to K&C.
47:29But since he got there, they gave him a clock-busting injection.
47:35And when he was, the next day he was sent up to St Thomas' by ambulance.
47:42And they said it had been a blood clot in one of his main arteries.
47:49And that clock-busting injection dispersed it.
47:53So for me, on a personal note, K&C say he's alive.
48:00Canterbury is just, it's so easy to get to.
48:07There have been times when travelling to Margate that there's been an accident and roads have been shut.
48:15You can't get there.
48:17And the population in Canterbury has grown a lot.
48:22And all these villages, all these new housing sites are popping up everywhere.
48:32I don't think this has been put into consideration.
48:37As I know there was a consultation in 2019, but they ignored campaigners and chose William Harvey.
48:48Campaigners said that it was wrong.
48:52And as I said, during Covid, it was brought back.
48:56And without any doubt, they saved more lives, especially from Sanex.
49:02And that was then.
49:04This is now 2026.
49:07And we can't lose it.
49:10A spokesperson for East Kent Hospital's University NHS Foundation said,
49:14we're fully committed to providing outstanding care and outcomes of stroke services for patients
49:19across East Kent.
49:20This includes delivering the hyper-acute stroke unit at the William Harvey Hospital.
49:25And we are working closely with the ICB to finalise these plans for a 54-bed purpose-built unit.
49:31In the meantime, the stroke unit at the Kent and Canterbury Hospital continues to provide services
49:35and stroke outcomes for patients are consistently among the best nationally.
49:39And now a new exhibition titled Reflection is on display at the Royal Engineers Museum until the 22nd of March.
49:47Nigerian visual artist Abelor Sobayo uses helmets as a metaphor for the complex realities of migration
49:53and takes inspiration from his home country, Nigeria, and his own personal experiences.
49:59Our reporter Naila Mohamed went to the exhibition to find out more.
50:02What does self-protection look like when you're new to an environment that's unfamiliar?
50:09Well, for Nigerian visual artist Abelor Sobayo, self-protection comes in the form of a helmet.
50:16In his latest art series, Reflection, Abelor explores how the helmet, or a koto in Yoruba,
50:23can be used as a metaphor for the complex realities of migration.
50:26This exhibition is in the Royal Engineering Museum in the heart of Medway.
50:31Now, the artist has taken inspiration from Formula One helmets, which are known for being bash,
50:36and colourful, and full of messages from the drivers and their sponsors.
50:40In this instance, the artist uses the helmet as a way to convey his message
50:45about his perspective on migration to the Kent community.
50:48Most of the people, when you talk about migration, focuses only on people seeking asylum,
50:53which migration for me is far beyond that.
50:56For migrants, the helmet is to protect your cultural identity,
51:01while you are assimilating the new culture from where you are coming into.
51:05The helmet is taking its form of protection for you from the fast lane,
51:10from the new journey you're taking, the place of unknown where you're going to.
51:14Abelor uses Nigeria, his home country, and his own personal experiences as a migrant,
51:20as inspiration for some of his artwork, and in the visor of the helmet,
51:25he paints a reflection of a memory or a reality a migrant may face while living away from home.
51:31Members of the museum thought the exhibition is important to the many communities in Kent.
51:37It's opening up this community to other people, so a lot of the idea of this space is to get people
51:44who don't have a place to display their work or to display their ideas, to give them this space
51:52within the heart of Medway, and it really opens up an audience, a new audience.
51:59Abeloré hopes that his exhibition can encourage communities to reflect on the emotional
52:04and cultural layers of migration, and to also consider what we would choose to protect
52:09when we enter the unknown. Naila Mohamed for KMTV.
52:15And finally, we were joined earlier by Whitstable-based author David F. Reed,
52:19who shared the significance behind his new book, Running with the Devil, earlier with me today.
52:24The novel centres on a grieving mother reopening the investigation of her son's abduction in Oxford
52:28Street on Christmas Eve upon meeting with a mystery figure that's tied to the missing person's
52:33case. David is based in Whitstable and even drew on his own knowledge of missing persons cases to
52:40write the book. Let's find out more. It's about how after that her life completely freezes until
52:47she has a kind of an interaction with a mysterious stranger who is linked to her son's disappearance,
52:55and they team up to then try and help find the truth behind what happened to her son.
53:00I see. And you're based in Whitstable, and the book, sorry, is loosely inspired by your time
53:06working on documentaries about these missing persons cases. What aspects of that line of work have you
53:12tried to portray in the book that you feel people don't realise or that you feel is worth kind of
53:19bringing up and talking about? Sure. I think, well, there's two aspects really. I've tried to be as
53:25accurate as I could to a kind of how a missing person's case is run by the police. But also,
53:31I wanted to focus more on a longer term case, because I think in film and, you know, TV and books,
53:39you see a lot of stories about missing persons cases in the immediate term. So someone has literally
53:44just gone missing, whereas it's never really focused on the longer term cases, which I think
53:50is an interesting aspect to explore because, you know, these are sons and, you know, daughters,
54:00fathers, mothers that are going missing. And the effect it has on the rest of the families,
54:04it basically puts their life on pause. And, you know, I've met a lot of these people who are going
54:10through this tragedy. And the one thing to them that they would always say is the not knowing.
54:17So they're constantly, every doorbell ring, every phone call could be this news that they're waiting
54:23for. And this can go on for months, you know, years. And you don't see a lot of that. And I think it's a
54:28really interesting thing to look at. And hopefully, the book kind of conveys that and uses it as a kind
54:35of a jumping off point for a larger narrative. I see. And in your work, these must have been
54:42difficult interviews to conduct. Did you find while you were writing the book, there was any kind of
54:47difficulty? And obviously, it's such an emotionally difficult topic to talk about. Tell me about the
54:52experience of writing the book. I think I tried. I obviously didn't want to take any anything from
54:57any cases that I dealt with, you know, in real life. But I think it was, it was the feeling of how
55:03devastating this can be and trying to make sure that was got across, but in a kind of, not in a
55:12sensationalised way, to make it feel as real as possible, to try and put the reader in that position
55:17rather than, as I say, sensationalise or kind of just turn it into a kind of a plot device.
55:24From my knowledge, you worked with documentary crews about these cases. Tell us a bit about the kind
55:28of scope of that. So it was quite a long time ago and I did it now, but it was working with the
55:37charity Missing People who try and publicise missing people cases all over the country. So I was based
55:44in Hackney on a kind of day-to-day basis, working with the police, riding around in their car, trying
55:49to work on quite immediate cases. But also we would then travel the country, you know, it's all out to
55:57Scotland, all the way down to kind of Cornwall and Devon, meeting families who have been affected by
56:03family members or, you know, friends who have disappeared and just, you know, they've gone to
56:08get the bus one day and they've just not come home. And doing that, I think you really, it is
56:15absolutely devastating for these people and it is such an interesting but also terrifying concept because,
56:22you know, someone just walks out the door and they just, they just don't return. And I don't think
56:28many people realise how, you know, common it is. I think it's about 170,000 people a year in the UK
56:34alone go missing. And it's, it is quite, quite scary. But also, yeah, it's a very interesting topic.
56:41That's all the time we have. Thank you so much for watching.
Be the first to comment