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Catch up with all the latest news from across the county with Finn Macdiarmid.
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00:28Transcription by CastingWords
00:31Hello and welcome to Kent Tonight, live here on KMTV.
00:34I'm Finn McDermid and here are your top stories on Thursday, 10th September.
00:40Absolutely disgraceful. Kent's councillors slammed government's decision to put local government reorganisation on hold.
00:46None of us are any the wiser, which I think is disgraceful because we have got a council to run.
00:51Back on track. The Lees Lift in Folkestone hits a milestone moment in its restoration journey.
00:57Having the carriages back on the track is great. It's really visible for the community who are sort of, you
01:02know, really keen for the lift to get going again.
01:05And child of Chartwell, daughter of Churchill's gardener, returns to her former historic Kent home.
01:11I used to stand by the wall and look over so I could see where my dad, my papa, was
01:18working in the gardens.
01:28For our top story tonight, it's been a huge focus for Kent's councils for months.
01:34But now local government reorganisation, where Kent's councils will change into just four large ones, has been paused by the
01:40government in light of legal advice.
01:43But Kent's politicians say they're disappointed with the leader of Kent County Council labelling the situation as absolutely disgraceful.
01:50Our local democracy reporter, Megan Shaw, was there.
01:53It's been months of maps, money and meetings, now all frozen by a new government announcement.
02:02I have also decided, Mr Speaker, to conduct a full review of the local government reorganisation programme, including the decisions
02:10that were announced in July of this year.
02:12It was in July when the government chose to redraw council boundaries in Kent to four large yintry councils, which
02:21would have seen the 14 councils currently in operation scrapped in 2028.
02:28Now, with these same plans going under further review, councillors are left all over the map.
02:35And what does that even mean? Pause? Does it mean ending?
02:38You know, I don't think these civil servants and government ministers realise just how much work has been put into
02:46it.
02:46A million pounds of taxpayers' money has been spent on a process that the government has now pressed pause on
02:52for Kent, leaving us in limbo.
02:54Again, other authorities have been cancelled completely.
02:57In Kent, we're still under review, whatever that means.
03:00You know, it's absolutely disgraceful for the government to treat the country's largest local authority, which is what Kent is,
03:08in such a shoddy, careless way.
03:10Time will tell how quickly we'll move to local government reorganisation, but there could be no doubt.
03:15It was a surprise announcement. I wasn't expecting to see that on Monday.
03:19And disappointing, because I think, rightfully, people have been planning and getting ready for those elections, which are scheduled for
03:25next May.
03:26Four counties who have previously submitted judicial reviews have had their LGR plans withdrawn, though Kent's plans are paused indefinitely,
03:36along with 13 other counties.
03:39Some councillors are more certain than others that Kent will ever see an end to its two-tier council system.
03:46You're confident local government reorganisation will eventually come to Kent?
03:51Absolutely. I think government have been very clear on their long-term ambitions to remove the two-tier system of
03:58local government.
03:59None of us are any the wiser, which I think is disgraceful, because we have got a council to run.
04:04Things seem to hang in the balance even more for parish councillors, as reviews into whether parish and town councils
04:11will need to change for a post-LGI Kent are already in process.
04:16Canterbury published its response for the first time and recommended a community council in Whitstable and a town council in
04:25Herne Bay.
04:26So my question is whether those things are going to be continued now.
04:30The government understands the amount of work the councillors have already put into these new boundary lines.
04:37But for all of Kent's councillors, it seems the work is far from over.
04:42Megan Shaw in Kent.
04:45The murder trial of three people from Gravesend begins today.
04:49The court heard how in August of 2025, Erika Korshaka, Shaheen Bulaka and Altyn Shehu were involved in a scuffle
04:57outside of Corsica's home,
04:58just hours after hosting a children's birthday party.
05:01In an argument allegedly about money, the two men reportedly attacked Jevgenjis Leonovs and Vladimir Permanovs,
05:08with Permanovs receiving six stab wounds.
05:10He later died at Darren Valley Hospital, having gone into cardiac arrest.
05:14One of the alleged attackers, Shehu, had initially fled the country to Albania, where he was extradited to return for
05:20his trial.
05:21All three are now on trial accused of murder, as well as the alternative offence of manslaughter.
05:26The Kent Police and Crime Commissioner has said police missed opportunities during Dover protests at the weekend.
05:33The response to the protest, which saw hundreds of masked men take to the streets around the port of Dover,
05:38calling for stronger action against immigration, drew criticism from residents and MPs at the weekend.
05:43Kent Police has acknowledged the force could have mobilised sooner, bringing the disruption to an end more quickly.
05:49Matthew Scott, Kent's Police and Crime Commissioner, said he welcomes an independent learning review by the College of Policing.
05:55He said it's essential that lessons are learnt.
05:59Kent residents have been caught up in thousands of flight cancellations following a technical issue at air traffic control.
06:05Many have had holidays cancelled, while others have been stranded abroad,
06:09needing to pay out for longer hotel stays and food.
06:11And passengers have now been told it's unlikely they'll get compensation because the disruption counts as extraordinary circumstances.
06:19I spoke to Claire Lake earlier.
06:21She runs Elite Travel Studio in Chatham.
06:23Well, thank you so much for joining us, Claire.
06:25First of all, what's it been like for you as a travel agent for the past few days?
06:28I can imagine your phone might be ringing quite a bit.
06:32Yeah, it's been busy.
06:35It's a difficult one because, obviously, I've had customers who are, you know, departing from London Gatwick that had holidays
06:45cancelled.
06:45So they actually didn't get on their holidays.
06:47And I've also had families, obviously, that have been stranded the other end and haven't got no flights to come
06:54back on.
06:54So it's looking at additional hotels and getting their flights to get them back up.
07:00So they've been the main priority, to be quite honest, because, obviously, they're the ones that we need to get
07:04homebound.
07:05But, yeah, it's been very stressful.
07:07Absolutely.
07:08I can imagine plenty of them have been quite frustrated, especially those who are stranded abroad.
07:12Tell us a bit about some of those frustrations.
07:14Yeah.
07:17It's a difficult one because I think they get that it's out of the airline's control.
07:24You know, this is not a, you know, a faulty airline.
07:26This is not a faulty plane.
07:28I mean, this is not just isolated to just one company.
07:32It's everybody.
07:33So I think there's been a level of tolerance.
07:36There's been a little bit of, you know, we get it.
07:38Right.
07:39And passengers have now been told that they might not get compensation.
07:43Has this impacted any of your customers?
07:47Not yet.
07:48So at the moment, with my customers, the ones that have been affected have all been packaged holidays.
07:56Now, I think it's going to be our case on case basis with those ones that are, you know, having
08:01to, you know, have extra accommodation, have a new flight rebooked.
08:07But they're being told, obviously, to keep all their receipts.
08:11And then, obviously, they'll be able to put through in compensation.
08:14Now, this has only just come out this morning, this update.
08:16This is why it's a little bit of a gray area.
08:18Because there is a level of truth to it.
08:21The fact that, you know, it's not the airline's fault that these, you know, this has occurred.
08:27So where does that compensation lay with?
08:30But it's definitely, we've got to watch it as it develops.
08:33Because at the moment, no one's put in, well, none of my customers have put in compensation yet.
08:39So it's going to be interesting to see how it develops.
08:41And for anyone who's out there watching who might be struggling with the compensation side or maybe they're stranded somewhere,
08:47what are the best things that they can do that you think they should, you know, do to sort this
08:50situation out?
08:52Right.
08:53If they're stranded, the first thing they need to be doing, if they are part of a package holiday,
08:58whether they're, you know, a package holiday or whether they've booked through an independent travel agent like myself,
09:03they need to be in communication.
09:04Don't just sit there and wait for things to happen, okay?
09:08Because normally, what would happen if a flight got cancelled, they'd be getting text messages from the airline to say,
09:14you know, ever so, it's been cancelled, we're getting you on this flight.
09:17But due to the sheer amount of people, passengers that have been affected on flights,
09:22a lot of those texts weren't coming through.
09:24And this is where, you know, as an independent agent, our superpower comes in because we've been bridging that gap.
09:31So we have been liaising with the airlines, liaising obviously with passengers.
09:35If somebody's out there and they're not quite sure, you know, that they need to be speaking to that airline,
09:42you know, if they've booked independently, they need to be going to the airline direct,
09:45even if it means sitting on hold for hours on end to find out what's being offered to them.
09:49And that airline has got a duty of care of getting them home.
09:52Well, thank you so much for joining us.
09:55Two drug smugglers who were found with £2 million worth of cocaine stashed in little bags in the back of
10:00their lorry have been put in prison.
10:02Driver of the HGV, Dimitri Danila, was stopped on the A20 in May this year by police,
10:08who found almost 50 kilograms of cocaine blocks inside.
10:12Claudian Marku was also arrested as he attempted to flee to the back of the lorry where he'd been hiding.
10:17Both were later charged with being concerned in the importation of cocaine and were sentenced at Canterbury Crown Court yesterday.
10:23The driver received nine years in prison, with Marku receiving eight.
10:28A series of rural crimes involving the alleged theft of high-value farming navigation systems has been swiftly tackled by
10:35Kent police.
10:36Two men suspected of conspiring to steal from nine victims across the county are currently remanded in custody ahead of
10:42their first appearance at Canterbury Crown Court on Monday.
10:44It's alleged they were involved in the thefts of GPS equipment from tractors and other agricultural machinery at an estimated
10:51cost of over £170,000.
10:54Inquiries into other possible link defences committed outside of Kent are ongoing.
11:00A new restaurant is set to open in Canterbury, but neighbours aren't particularly happy.
11:05The new Afro-Caribbean restaurant has been given a late-night licence to serve alcohol and play recorded and live
11:10music by Canterbury City Council, despite objections from neighbours.
11:15Ola Hola's co-owner says the restaurant will bring something new to the city.
11:19For those who live directly above the site, they say that the disruption in the area will increase due to
11:24its late closing time.
11:25But the new owners have stressed that they don't intend to be a particularly noisy drinking venue.
11:32Now it is time for us to take a short break, but don't go anywhere because we've got more news
11:36for you from throughout the county.
11:38This includes the return of the Lees Lifts in Folkestone after they've been out of commission for a decade.
11:43We'll also be talking about a Kemsley grandad who's used an AI to find a World War II bomb sitting
11:49on his shelf for 10 years.
11:51We'll have all that and more after this very short break.
11:55See you in just a few minutes.
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