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00:28Transcription by CastingWords
00:36Hello and welcome to Kent Tonight, live on KMTV.
00:39I'm Naila Mahamud and here are your top stories on Tuesday the 28th of April.
00:44Jack didn't have to die.
00:46Family of teen killed in collision with a bin lorry calls for stricter safety guidance.
00:51It's on my mind when I wake up in the morning.
00:53It's on my mind during the day. It's on my mind when I go to bed.
00:56From Plastic to Plains, a company in Sandwich opens a new facility that turns waste plastic into jet fuel.
01:03We're not challenging the current recycling system, we're complementing it.
01:07And finally, Rolling On, plan to ramp up for long-awaited Margate skate park.
01:12Young people are going to get a chance to have something on the doorstep that they can do.
01:16Youth clubs are being cut back.
01:28First tonight, a family devastated by the loss of their son and brother in a road traffic collision in Swanley
01:35are calling for stronger safety regulations for bin lorries.
01:38Jack Bruce from Wilmington was just 19 years old when he was hit by a refuse lorry turning left
01:43as he cycled alongside a busy road.
01:46He had been just days away from starting university.
01:49Now, more than four years on, his family say his death was easily preventable
01:54and Chloe Bruce are headed to Jack's family home to learn more.
01:58Jack was amazing.
02:00From the moment he was born, he just gave us so much joy.
02:03He was so lovely.
02:05He was kind.
02:07He was gentle.
02:0719-year-old Jack Bruce was due to start university in just a few days
02:12and had been biking to pick up his new laptop
02:15when he was struck by a bin lorry in Swanley in 2021.
02:19In spite of wearing a crash helmet and the proper gear,
02:23Jack lost his life at the roadside.
02:25It's on my mind when I wake up in the morning.
02:28It's on my mind during the day.
02:30It's on my mind when I go to bed.
02:32And it is as awful as anyone could imagine losing a child.
02:36But being told that Jack's death was completely avoidable
02:43adds more to the torture that we're going through right now.
02:47The bin lorries are on our streets and down our local small roads every day,
02:56all throughout the day.
02:57Jack died at the hands of someone that was
03:04given the responsibility to position his vehicle
03:10or look around his vehicle to make sure it was safe.
03:14And it wasn't.
03:15The coroner branded the collision a tragic accident,
03:19with the family later reaching a no-liability settlement
03:22with Sevenoaks District Council.
03:24And now, four and a half years on,
03:26they're calling for stricter safety regulations around bin lorries,
03:30including how mirrors are positioned and driver training.
03:33It was incredibly important for them to not only understand
03:37how his death had come about and why it had come about,
03:41but to also feel that the authorities
03:46had taken a fair and balanced view of what had happened.
03:50A spokesperson for Sevenoaks District Council said,
03:53Everyone at the council is still saddened
03:56by the impact of this tragic accident.
03:58While the police investigation found that the council
04:00had not been at fault and the coroner concluded
04:03that this was an accident and made no recommendations,
04:05we continue to prioritise public safety
04:07and have installed safety cameras on every vehicle
04:10and are continuing to train our drivers.
04:12If there's more that we can do,
04:14we will welcome the opportunity to be at the forefront of safety on our roads.
04:19The family say they want to ensure councils
04:21follow stricter public safety guidance
04:23and hope to one day sit down with the council
04:26to stop this happening again.
04:28Chloe Brewster for KMTV in Wilmington.
04:32Now, did you know that the UK throws away
04:34around 2 million tonnes of plastic each year
04:37and 80% of that doesn't get recycled?
04:39Well, one company in Sandwich takes that waste of plastic
04:42and turns it into jet fuel, of all things,
04:44and have just celebrated the opening
04:46of the world's first plastic-to-fuel facility in Kent.
04:49So I went down to see the facility for myself.
04:52Do you know what happens to your plastic waste
04:54once you fit in the recycling bin?
04:55Well, only 17% actually gets recycled.
04:59The rest is unrecyclable and gets incinerated
05:02or sent to landfill or even exported out of the country.
05:06And I'm in the only room in the entire world
05:09that turns this into sustainable aviation fuel.
05:13In the UK, enough plastic waste is sent to landfill
05:16to fill up 450,000 double-decker buses each year.
05:21So Clean Planet Technologies has opened what they say
05:24is the world's first facility to turn non-recyclable plastics
05:29into sustainable aviation fuel, or SAF.
05:32The plastics which are problematic for the mechanical recycling today
05:36are the ones actually used in food packaging.
05:39Carrier bags, films, all those types of loose, light plastics,
05:44they just simply can't be processed
05:45in traditional mechanical recycling facilities
05:48like a plastic bottle can.
05:50So the UK mandate says that we have to use
05:54the plastics that can't otherwise be recycled.
05:57So what's really nice about that policy
05:59is that we're not challenging the current recycling system,
06:02we're complementing it by taking the 80% of plastics
06:05that we can't otherwise recycle.
06:07In a multi-step process, this facility heats those plastics
06:11in an anti-oxygen chamber to produce a fuel for aeroplanes.
06:15By using plastic that's already produced,
06:18Clean Planet Technologies say they cut
06:19most of the carbon-intensive steps involved in making fuel.
06:24But could waste-to-fuel schemes
06:26actually end up fueling plastic production instead?
06:29We're not against plastic as a material.
06:31This is a very valuable material.
06:33It helps transport food and medicine around the world.
06:37It runs our hospitals more efficiently.
06:39The problem with plastic is what we do
06:41when it comes to the end of its life,
06:43what we do as a waste.
06:45This effort is part of a wider government aim
06:48to decarbonise aviation fuel.
06:50So by 2030, 10% of all jet fuel used in flight to leave in the UK
06:56must come from SAF.
06:58But the company says, while it's feasible,
07:01it will be challenging.
07:02What we're aiming to do is to add our quota, you know, to meeting that target.
07:09But without exploring more non-conventional free stock like plastic waste,
07:14I don't see that happening.
07:16I don't see that target being met pretty easily.
07:18The opening ceremony celebrated the steps towards decarbonisation.
07:23And with fossil fuel reliance decreasing year on year,
07:26will the UK actually meet its 2030 decarbonisation targets?
07:32Nayla Mahamud for KMTV in Sandwich.
07:36And next up, according to a new report by the Health Foundation,
07:40healthy life expectancy in the UK has dropped over the past decade
07:44by around two years,
07:45to now just under the age of 61 for both men and women.
07:49And joining us now to chat about this more
07:51is GP and our resident health expert, Dr Julian Spinks.
08:02So Julian, for viewers at home who may not know the difference,
08:06what is the difference between the healthy life expectancy
08:08and the overall life expectancy?
08:10Overall life expectancy is how long you're expected to live on average
08:15and it ends with you dying.
08:18Healthy life expectancy is the period of your life
08:21where you are generally healthy.
08:23You won't be 100% fit, but nothing is really restricting you.
08:27Once you get beyond that,
08:29that's when you're starting to become less able to do normal things.
08:33You might have more arthritis, you might have heart disease,
08:36things that really interfere with your life.
08:38And we don't just want people to live a long time.
08:41We want them to stay healthy for as long as possible
08:43so they can actually enjoy life.
08:45And in your experiments as a GP,
08:47why do you think there's been a decline in healthy life expectancy?
08:51It's an interesting and it's a sad thing
08:53because both of those figures have been going up for many years.
08:57And it's been the effect of things like antibiotics,
09:00treating heart disease better,
09:02and stopping people smoking made a big difference.
09:04Unfortunately, some of the changes that are happening now,
09:07particularly to do with obesity,
09:09and in Kent about one in four people is obese,
09:13to do with diet being poor,
09:15to do with exercise not being enough of it.
09:18And also social factors such as poor housing is pushing those figures down.
09:23And, you know, that's low enough that in about 90% of places in the UK,
09:28your healthy life expectancy is below retirement age.
09:31So you're significantly having health effects whilst you're still working.
09:36So countrywide we've seen this drop,
09:39but also on a local level we've seen the report that we mentioned earlier,
09:43seeing that figures vary by 20 years.
09:46Why do you think this might be the case?
09:47Well, very sadly, the more deprivation there is in an area,
09:52the more ill health there tends to be,
09:54and the shorter both healthy and overall life expectancy goes down.
09:59And we see this, for example, in Medway where I work.
10:03If you're working in the inner city parts of Medway,
10:05you have a life expectancy 10 years shorter
10:09than those people living out in the suburbs and out in the countryside.
10:14And beyond that, obviously, their healthy life expectancy is poor.
10:17And that's why you can't just use the health service to fix this.
10:21You've got to look at all the other factors,
10:23such as housing, access to things like parks and so on.
10:28And is this decrease in healthy life expectancy
10:31something that people should be concerned about?
10:33I think we should be.
10:35Obviously, it's an average.
10:36But at the same time, if that's starting to go down again,
10:39we don't want to be heading to a situation
10:42where people actually are not expecting to be healthy,
10:45both for their own point and also for the country's point of view.
10:48We're pushing the retirement age up
10:50because people are living longer and were healthier longer.
10:53If that's reversing,
10:54are they going to bring that age back down again?
10:57And interestingly enough,
10:58the Health Foundation report found that the overall life expectancy
11:02isn't decreasing much like the healthy life expectancy.
11:05Why do you think that's the case?
11:07It dropped a few years ago, but it's been more static.
11:11I think that basically we're better at keeping people alive.
11:15And unfortunately, that means you can be quite ill,
11:18but be kept alive by medicine and things we do.
11:20So the overall life expectancy might not be affected,
11:23but you're spending a longer time when you're older in ill health.
11:28And we don't really have a lot of time left.
11:30But interestingly, the report also found that the UK was ranked
11:34as having the second lowest healthy life expectancy just after the US.
11:38Why do you think that might be the case?
11:40I think both of us are living unhealthy lifestyles.
11:44When we look at the states, we're normally a few years ahead of us.
11:47And yes, the UK is one of only five in 21 countries
11:50where the expectancy is going down.
11:53Vinin, thank you so much for joining me today, Julian.
11:57That's all for now and time's for a quick break
11:59and we'll see you soon.
15:24Hello and welcome back to Kent Tonight Live on KMTV.
15:27Now, a masked gang stole motorbikes worth £140,000 from a warehouse on the Isle of Grain
15:34after a loading bay shutter was left open.
15:37A group of 12 dressed in balaclavas and dark clothing entered Notem Logistics in the early
15:42hours in the morning of July last year.
15:44They managed to load 14 high-value bikes into waiting vehicles before making their getaway.
15:50Two men, AJ Sharp and Bobby Turner, were arrested after a chase.
15:53Both admitted conspiracy to burgle.
15:56Sharp received 13 months in prison while Turner was sentenced to eight.
16:00Both are expected to be released immediately, having already served time in custody.
16:06And now, new CCTV footage from the Crown Prosecution Service shows the aftermath of an incident in Maidstone
16:13where one bride had her wedding day ruined when a black liquid was thrown over her dress by her sister
16:18-in-law.
16:18The footage shows Gemma Monk pulling up to the venue in Maidstone before a black liquid is thrown and the
16:24assailant,
16:24the bride's sister-in-law, Antonia Eastwood, runs off.
16:27All the while, you can see the bride's dad accidentally reversing his car into the wedding venue's wall as he
16:33tried to get out to help.
16:34Her and her bridesmaids were left with black stains on their dresses and skin, but continued with the event saying,
16:40We had waited for that day for so long. Nothing was going to stop me.
16:45Now, a long-standing music shop in Folkestone is set to close after nearly two decades as its owner retires.
16:51Michael O'Donoghue, now 67, opened Plektrums, Pens & Paints in 2007 on the Old High Street,
16:58just as the town's creative quarter was beginning to grow.
17:01As a former touring guitarist, he went on to build a popular local hub for instruments and lessons.
17:07The shop was shut at the end of June, and Mr O'Donoghue steps away to enjoy his retirement, travel and
17:13his return to play music.
17:16Now, for skaters in Margate, the wait for a new skate park could soon be over, as the first consultation
17:22has got the ball bearing rolling.
17:25The town's skating community has been long campaigning for their own slopes.
17:29Mock-ups have been drawn, and our reporter Megan Shaw went down to see why.
17:33It's been years in the making, but Margate is finally getting its very own £1.1 million skate park.
17:42That is, provided the planning committee is on board.
17:46Than it is home to just four free community skate parks, with skaters in Margate having to journey to Westgate
17:54-on-Sea
17:54or the Indoor Revolution Skate Centre to be able to get their kickflips in.
18:00Now, with the first consultation launched and the government funding secured, things seem to be more half-pipe than pipe
18:07dream.
18:08We're here to talk to the council, the public, neighbours, basically anyone and everyone that wants to find out more
18:15about the project.
18:16We're going to show our concept design that we've been working on, which has been developed for the last, kind
18:21of, six months or so.
18:23And then we're going to take on board everyone's feedback and then do a kind of final redesign that we
18:28will be using for our planning application
18:30and eventually starting on site in the coming months, which is very, very exciting.
18:34Mock-ups on display at Cliftonville show everything from ramps to rails and even a designated beginner zone.
18:43But, crucially, coastal Thanet remains the most deprived area in Kent, making this project more than just staving off boredom.
18:52Young people are going to get a chance to have something on the doorstep that they can do.
18:56Youth clubs are being cut back.
18:59You know, I just think all of the different, you know, anybody can go here as well from all the
19:03different,
19:03we're in touch with all the different community groups and the people who are working with young people,
19:08in spite of the fact that most of the old fashioned youth clubs that you live at are closed down.
19:13So, I think it's just amazing.
19:16Now, it's not just the first consultation that residents and skaters alike can weigh in on,
19:22as they're also looking for a name for the park.
19:25You can throw your hat into the ring before Monday on the Your Voice Thanet website.
19:31Ideas that have already been submitted include Little Oasis, the name of the old Margate skate park,
19:36Seaside skate park, Drop Dawn and Margate Magic.
19:40But what do you think of my suggestion?
19:47The designs on display aren't the final ones that might be occupying Ethelberg Crescent as early as next spring.
19:55But for skaters in Margate, things definitely seem to be ramping up.
20:01Megan Shaw for Kame TV in Margate.
20:04Now, let's take a look at the weather for the coming days.
20:12It's a clear night across the county.
20:14Temperatures sitting at 12 degrees in many areas,
20:16with wind speeds reaching 15 miles an hour in the west and 16 in the east.
20:20Tomorrow morning, we'll also see sunshine throughout Kent.
20:22Temperatures peaking at 11 degrees and wind speeds reaching 13 and 17 miles an hour.
20:27Afternoon, we'll see much of the same.
20:28Temperatures climbing to 17 degrees in Royal Tunbridge Wells and Ashford.
20:32Wind speeds accelerating to 20 miles an hour.
20:34And your outlook?
20:35Thursday and Friday will see sun.
20:37Saturday will be cloudy as we get into the May bank holiday weekend.
20:50Now this year is the 100th anniversary of the Scottish polar explorer James Marr and his trip to the Arctic.
20:56So the Kent Scouts recreated his journey in celebration.
21:00One of the stops they ventured to was Svalbard, a Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic Ocean.
21:04And they took part in period-accurate activities like dog sledding and hiking.
21:09Now we originally spoke to them before they went on their trip.
21:11So today I caught up with two scouts on how the trip went and how it felt to retrace Mars'
21:16steps.
21:17So thanks for both of you for joining us today.
21:20David, I want to start with you. Can you tell me a little bit about how you got into this?
21:24Yes, so Kent Scouts back in 2021 did an expedition to Antarctica, which was a celebration of the first two
21:35scouts to go to Antarctica, Marr and Mooney, in 1921.
21:42James Marr, one of those scouts, then went on to sail up into the Arctic in 1926.
21:50So in 2026, it's appropriate to recreate, to celebrate his journey up into the Arctic.
21:59And for us, going to Svalbard in particular gave us the opportunity to look at how the coal mining industry
22:09is closing down, how tourism is developing.
22:13And also because it's an area where climate is having a real effect, also have a look at how that
22:20impacts on life in the Arctic.
22:22So both an ancient and modern view of the Arctic.
22:26Well, that sounds really exciting. And Sophie, how long have you been with the Kent Scouts?
22:31And did you ever anticipate doing a trip like this?
22:34So I've been a scout since 2018. I was goal guides before that.
22:40Definitely not when I started scouts, honestly.
22:44I actually went to South Korea in 2023 for Wild Scout Jamboree.
22:49And when I first joined scouts, I never thought I'd ever go abroad with scouting.
22:54And then when I heard about scouts going to Antarctica, because I know one of the people who went there,
22:59it was really interesting.
23:01And then they announced that they were doing a similar expedition to the Arctic.
23:05So I automatically signed up. I was like, yeah, I'm ready to go.
23:08So we did some activities that mimicked what they would have done back then.
23:12So we did dog sledding, did some hikes, proper scouting fashion.
23:17We also did some wildlife cruises because they would have sailed there.
23:21We managed to sail for about three days, three or four days.
23:24Perfect. And I have a question about the climate.
23:27You said it was there to talk about climate change and kind of the impact that it has.
23:30What kind of impact did you see and what kind of things did you do there to kind of to
23:36study this more?
23:36So you have a couple of studies that we're still looking at in terms of the formation of icebergs and
23:46the amount of snowpack cover.
23:50So I had a project looking at clouds linked to satellite images as well.
23:59Perfect. Well, thank you both for joining us today. It's really great to speak to you.
24:03Now, later tonight, our latest episode of Made in Kent will air the show that explores the world of businesses
24:09and creators throughout the county.
24:11And ahead of the show, I'm now joined in the studio by the show's presenter, Foray Adeo, Adeo, Adeo, Foray,
24:17Foray, to talk about what we can anticipate in tonight's new episode.
24:21So, Foray, thank you so much for joining me today. What can viewers expect from tonight's episode?
24:25So for tonight's episode, we'll be exploring the world of sustainable businesses.
24:29We visit the garden centre, a floristry and speak with the owners of a refillery van.
24:34We also speak to some customers to find out why being green is so important to them.
24:39And what's been your favourite episode to film so far?
24:41My favourite episode to film has been the multicultural business episode where we, this was specifically because of the boxes
24:48we did on Rochester High Street.
24:50And I really enjoyed hearing the thoughts of the general public surrounding the significance of supporting businesses from various cultures.
24:57It was also interesting to hear what people really think about the diversity of businesses in Kent.
25:03And what did people think about the diversity?
25:04It was a lot of mixed opinions, but for the most part, people did think that there were a lot
25:08of diversity in Kent.
25:10And there were many different businesses that cater to a lot of their cultures and from where they're from.
25:16And it was really surprising to even see that, like from a Google search, you could just find your local
25:21food business, for example, from the country you're from.
25:23So it was really interesting to hear that.
25:25And speaking of diverse businesses, what's been your favourite business to explore?
25:29My favourite business was the sunlight recording studio here in Gillingham, meeting the community members, especially the men's group that
25:36were having a recording session at the time.
25:39And seeing how important the space was with them was really touching.
25:41I've actually covered Men in Sheds as a story before. It's really interesting. I mean, you can see them on
25:46screen now.
25:47They're a really interesting group of people. What were some of the conversations you had with them? What were they
25:51like?
25:52So it was really interesting to hear about all the work they're doing with the community to support men's group
25:57here.
25:57And it's also for a lot of vulnerable members. So it's really inspiring to see that a lot of them
26:02lean on each other for help.
26:03And like, it's just a space where they can all come, create, do something different and just hang out and
26:08lean on them.
26:08It was really like inspiring to see that it was sort of a brotherhood for them. So I really did
26:13enjoy seeing that and having those types of conversations with them.
26:16And would you say community is a really big part of what you cover and made in Kent?
26:19Yes, it is. Like community is very important. It's like really interesting to see that we can go to all
26:24these different businesses and they all feel very personal to you.
26:28And they all like try to, you know, not just give you the regular things like they actually take their
26:34time to really speak to you and like really help you out.
26:36So, yeah, it's like community is really important to them.
26:39Really interesting. Well, I can't wait to see the next episode.
26:42No problem.
26:42Thanks so much for joining me today for having me.
26:45Well, you've been watching Kent tonight live on KMTV and there's more news made for Kent throughout the evening.
26:51But for today, that's all we have. And we'll see you again tomorrow evening. Goodbye.
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