Catch up on the latest environmental news from across the county with Sofia Akin.
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00:02 - Hello and welcome to Kent on Climate live on KMTV.
00:21 I'm Sophia Akin and in this show,
00:23 we discuss all things related to environmental issues
00:26 in the county.
00:27 How's climate change impacting Kent?
00:29 What are communities in the county doing to tackle it?
00:32 And how can you help at home?
00:34 Each week, we'll be taking a deep dive
00:35 into a new environmental issue in the county
00:37 and I'll be joined by expert guests.
00:40 First tonight, volunteers at Canterbury Golf Club
00:42 say wildlife conservation is a vital responsibility
00:46 of looking after their course.
00:48 It comes as the club has won
00:49 the ecological project of the year
00:51 with the support of Natural England
00:53 at the Gulf Environment Awards.
00:55 The club's biodiversity champion and member, Anthony Dance,
00:58 gave our reporter, Barsolome Hall, a tour around the course.
01:02 - Built almost 100 years ago,
01:06 Canterbury Golf Club's greens, fairways and roughs
01:09 are uniquely surrounded by acres of green space
01:11 inhabited by a rich variety of wildlife.
01:15 From trees and sprouting greenery,
01:17 to bats, moles and rabbits.
01:19 After winning ecological project of the year,
01:22 the club took me on a tour of the course,
01:24 but rather than playing 18 rounds,
01:26 it was the elements in the rough
01:28 that were of the most interest.
01:29 - You can see that there's regeneration happening already.
01:33 We've got early pioneer species of gorse and broom.
01:36 All that seed and holly was in the woodland floor.
01:40 The wood, the sycamore that we cut, we've stacked
01:45 and we've created habitat basically
01:47 for insects and small mammals.
01:50 - Anthony Dance is a volunteer
01:51 and member of Canterbury Golf Club.
01:53 He's behind their biodiversity plan,
01:55 which won them the award.
01:57 - It's very satisfying.
01:59 One, because I'm very interested in wildlife
02:02 and nature and conservation.
02:04 So that's my angle really.
02:07 I'm not too bothered about awards,
02:09 but they bring recognition and validation
02:11 of all that we're doing and can raise the profile as well.
02:14 - Oh, well, it's fantastic.
02:16 I was blown away actually winning this award
02:21 and it's testament to the volunteers
02:25 and the creation of the biodiversity plan by Anthony.
02:29 - Canterbury's course is classed
02:31 as a site of special scientific interest,
02:34 which means its land can help make
02:35 a significant contribution to nature conservation.
02:38 Alongside winning the award,
02:40 the club has been granted a five-year funding grant
02:42 from the government.
02:44 - If it was left to its own devices,
02:47 invasive species like bramble, sycamore,
02:50 and hazel would take over.
02:52 So what we do is in certain areas,
02:54 we take it back to low level.
02:57 We coppice it, we scrub it, or we cut it
03:01 so that we get a variety of habitats.
03:05 - I'm here now with some of the volunteers.
03:06 They come here weekly to help work
03:08 on some of the biodiverse elements of the land here.
03:12 Today, they're taking some of the wood
03:13 that's been chopped down from these trees
03:15 to create a wood pile.
03:16 Now that's gonna eventually become a brand new habitat
03:20 for the wildlife within the woods.
03:23 Golf clubs in the UK make up a whopping 33%
03:26 of open green space in Great Britain,
03:29 and that's why it's hoped more clubs will join in
03:31 and swing towards a greener future.
03:34 Bartholomew Hall for KMTB in Canterbury.
03:37 - Joining me now on the line is Anthony Dance,
03:42 the biodiversity champion at Canterbury Golf Club,
03:47 quite the title, biodiversity champion.
03:49 So firstly, tell us for those who don't actually know,
03:52 what a biodiversity plan actually is.
03:55 - Well, it's a plan that seeks to understand the landscape
04:02 or the site, and it looks in detail at things like geology,
04:07 topography, the different levels of the land,
04:12 and also the vegetation cover.
04:14 And yeah, first of all, it's an understanding
04:18 of really what you've got in the way
04:20 of vegetation and also plants and wildlife.
04:25 - And it won you an award, so how did that feel?
04:29 - Yeah, everybody at the club is really thrilled.
04:34 We were very surprised,
04:37 but we're all incredibly happy and proud, really.
04:43 - Yeah, and there was that statistic
04:44 that more than 30% of Greenland is golf clubs,
04:49 and more than 30% of Greenland is golf clubs owned.
04:54 So why is it so important that golf clubs
04:57 do take up this biodiversity plan?
04:58 What would your message be to others alike?
05:02 - I think it's clear now that there's a crisis
05:08 with the climate, climate change,
05:10 but also a twin crisis with biodiversity.
05:15 The abundance of insects and wildlife is changing.
05:20 There's a steep decline, basically, in the number of species.
05:27 And golf clubs, there's an awful lot of land
05:32 involved in a golf course.
05:36 And Canterbury, for example, it's 84 hectares,
05:40 and 40 hectares of that is woodland.
05:44 We've also got some very important grassland areas as well.
05:49 So large tracts of land, the game of golf,
05:55 people are walking around the same fairways every day.
06:00 Wildlife gets used to people walking in the same places.
06:06 So it's wonderful from the point of view
06:09 that lots of people can get great enjoyment
06:12 out of the course, and at the same time,
06:17 wildlife can thrive.
06:19 - Yeah, and you mentioned some of those, the species.
06:22 We know that Canterbury Golf Club
06:23 is actually sponsoring the reintroduction
06:25 of the Red Bill Chuff to the White Cliffs of Dover.
06:29 Must be something really important
06:31 to the club to be sponsoring it.
06:32 Why was it you wanted to be involved in that?
06:34 - Yeah, it came about, actually,
06:37 the general manager, Roger Hyder,
06:39 at Canterbury Golf Club back in last summer,
06:43 thought he saw a chuff on the course.
06:46 He saw a blackbird with a red bill and red legs,
06:48 and contacted Wildwood 'cause he knew
06:51 that the reintroduction project was underway.
06:56 And the marketing director came and saw us,
07:00 and we agreed, Roger agreed to find the money
07:05 to sponsor a radio tag for one of the birds down at Dover.
07:10 Which is very important for them.
07:12 And it turns out that we were the first business
07:17 to sponsor the project.
07:21 We're hoping that other businesses will come forward
07:24 and follow our example.
07:26 - Yeah, and it's not the only wildlife and birds
07:28 that you can see.
07:29 What kind of other birds are there
07:31 in the golf club as well?
07:33 - Yeah, we've got a very important assemblage
07:38 of woodland birds, because we've got so much woodland,
07:41 and a lot of our woodland is ancient.
07:44 And a lot of the woodland is undisturbed,
07:46 which is wonderful.
07:47 We've got two species of woodpecker,
07:53 green woodpecker and great spotted woodpecker,
07:55 nuthatch, we've got tawny owls,
07:59 barn owls have been recorded, little owls,
08:02 buzzards, sparrowhawks, et cetera.
08:05 - It sounds like so many different types of birds.
08:07 Unfortunately, it's all we've got time for.
08:08 I guess people will just have to come along
08:10 and see what else there is.
08:11 But thank you so much for joining us, Anthony.
08:13 Really fascinating stuff.
08:15 Thank you.
08:16 And on the topic of reintroducing wildlife in Kent,
08:20 it's time to take a look back to September last year,
08:23 when we heard from the Wildlife Trust
08:24 about their reintroduction of bison into Kent.
08:27 - The idea was always to form this new breeding herd
08:33 of bison within the Bleene woodland.
08:35 And so we brought in two young females,
08:38 an older female and a bull to do that.
08:40 But we had a lucky surprise
08:42 that one of the young females that came in
08:44 was actually pregnant with this absolutely beautiful calf.
08:48 - Sort of beaten to the mark already.
08:50 You had your sort of breeding and population of them
08:53 as it began.
08:54 Now remind us why the bison are so special in particular.
08:57 I mentioned they're nature's engineers.
08:59 What does that mean?
09:00 - Yeah, absolutely.
09:01 I mean, if you look at the size of them and their horns
09:04 and that really thick fur that they've got,
09:06 just by moving through the woodlands
09:09 and browsing and eating as they do naturally,
09:13 they change the environment around them.
09:15 So they create gaps within thick woodland
09:19 that allows the light to reach the ground.
09:22 They eat things like bracken and brambles.
09:25 They trash rhododendrons.
09:27 They ring bark some trees,
09:29 which creates standing deadwood,
09:31 which is perfect for insects and bats and woodpeckers.
09:34 So they create these dust beds,
09:37 dust sort of bowls where they roll around in the dust.
09:40 And everything that they do in that way
09:43 creates little niches and little spaces,
09:45 little tiny micro habitats.
09:47 That's what other species need.
09:49 And so just by living in the woods,
09:51 they create complexity and space
09:53 for thousands of other species to thrive
09:55 and to really expand and become abundant
09:58 within the bleen woodland.
10:00 - And what's it been like watching this baby?
10:02 You have to tell me its name as well.
10:03 I don't know what it's called,
10:04 but what's it been like watching it over the past year
10:07 grow up in this environment?
10:09 It knows no other environment, I suppose.
10:13 - Yeah, it's actually been really wonderful
10:16 to watch her sort of grow and develop.
10:18 You know, I've got loads of photographs of her
10:21 also all through the year,
10:23 as she sort of slightly changed colour
10:25 and her little horns have grown.
10:27 She's got quite a good little set of horns on her now
10:29 for when it started out with just little nubs
10:31 that you could see growing.
10:32 And it's just been, yeah,
10:34 wonderful to watch her grow and develop.
10:37 But what's amazing is, as you said,
10:39 she's the first bison born in a wild situation
10:42 in this country for literally thousands of years.
10:45 So she's not had any, you know, any treatments.
10:49 She's not been fed anything artificial.
10:51 Everything she's eating is what her mum
10:54 and the other females are showing her
10:56 what to eat out in the woods.
10:57 So she's got the most natural organic diet in the universe.
11:01 It's exactly as it should be.
11:03 And so the fact that she's thriving
11:05 and a year on is so strong and healthy,
11:08 it's just wonderful to see.
11:09 It really is amazing.
11:11 But in terms of names,
11:12 we took a decision not to name any of the bison
11:15 out in the project.
11:15 They're supposed to be as wild as they can possibly be.
11:18 So we didn't name them.
11:20 Some local people have nicknamed the calf Liz
11:23 because of when she was born
11:25 just after the passing away of the queen,
11:28 but she officially has no name.
11:30 Amazing.
11:31 And very, very quickly, we don't have long left.
11:33 Are there any more baby bison coming our way?
11:36 Oh, we hope so.
11:39 They're very good at hiding the fact that they're pregnant,
11:41 hence us not knowing that one of the females
11:44 was pregnant when she arrived.
11:45 So we could be having the arrival of baby bison anytime now,
11:48 or we might be waiting till next year.
11:50 It's very exciting waiting to see,
11:53 but they will absolutely be breeding out there
11:55 and creating a bigger family herd.
11:57 Time for a break.
11:59 I'll see you in a few minutes.
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15:08 Hello, and welcome back to Kent on Climate, live on KMTV.
15:13 Now, a yellow weather warning's in place for Kent,
15:16 with heavy rainfall expected.
15:18 In some parts of the southeast,
15:20 as much as 45 millimetres of rain is expected,
15:23 prompting the Met Office alert.
15:25 It's in place from 2am tomorrow until 6am on Friday.
15:29 Warnings are in place for more traffic
15:31 and public transport delays,
15:33 while homes and businesses could be damaged
15:35 because of the flooding.
15:37 The Met Office have insisted that people living in homes
15:39 at risk of flooding should have a plan
15:41 and an emergency flood kit.
15:43 Do be careful out and about.
15:45 Well, now, a random vape shop has said they support a ban
15:48 on disposable vapes for environmental reasons,
15:51 but that a lack of clarity surrounding the ban
15:53 could see them make losses on unsellable stock.
15:56 Last week, the government announced the ban,
15:58 alongside restrictions on colourful packaging
16:01 and certain fruity flavours
16:03 to help with public health and littering.
16:05 But the Mad Cow Vape Shop says that while they support the ban,
16:09 the uncertainty on the legislation's timeline
16:11 could see them make losses of up to £10,000.
16:15 Oliver Leader de Sacks has more.
16:18 A new ban on disposable vapes,
16:19 but here at the Mad Cow Vape Shop in Raynham,
16:22 they're not worried about everything going up in smoke.
16:25 Last week, the government announced legislation
16:28 to ban disposable vapes and introduce plain packaging.
16:31 Operations Manager Alec Woodham says the benefits to the ban
16:34 significantly outweigh the costs.
16:36 We've supported the removal of disposable vapes in the market
16:40 for a long, long time, even before it became legislation.
16:44 I see the disposables currently like the fag bat butts
16:49 of the '80s littered everywhere.
16:51 We've obviously managed to move away
16:54 from one issue onto another.
16:56 So why has the government decided to introduce this ban
16:59 on disposable vapes like this one?
17:01 Well, it's to do with a number of young children
17:04 that have started vaping.
17:05 It has tripled in recent years,
17:08 with 9% of 11- to 15-year-olds currently vaping.
17:12 But do Raynham residents share the government's concerns?
17:15 Well, I think it's a good idea
17:17 because then it'll get a lot of the young children off them.
17:20 Well, I think it's a good idea, really.
17:22 I mean, not just from health thing,
17:27 but also the rubbish that it creates.
17:32 I quit vaping about a year ago purely for that basis
17:38 that I didn't want my kids to see me doing it.
17:40 While support for this ban here in Medway
17:42 seems to be widespread, Alex still has concerns
17:45 surrounding the timeline for the ban.
17:47 No, currently we've received no information
17:49 from the government, other than what we've seen on media
17:53 and information that our suppliers have shared with us.
17:56 We've been through a period like this before
17:58 when vaping was introduced into the TPD,
18:02 Tobacco Products Directive,
18:05 and we had to lose a lot of stock
18:09 to fall in line with legislation.
18:11 So lots of stores ended up taking a big loss.
18:14 A Department for Health and Social Care spokesperson said,
18:18 "The health advice on vaping is clear.
18:20 Vaping can play a role in helping adult smokers to quit.
18:24 But if you don't smoke, don't vape,
18:26 and children should never vape."
18:29 A ban on these throwaway items
18:30 will help to protect our environment,
18:32 as well as future generations,
18:34 from the harmful effects of disposable vapes.
18:37 While there is no set date on the ban on vapes,
18:40 any legislation will have a buffer period
18:42 of at least six months.
18:43 What is apparent, however, is that any plan
18:46 for a smoke-free generation won't be entirely cost-free.
18:50 Oliver, Leader of the Saks, reporting for KMTV.
18:55 Thanks, Nick.
18:57 As we've seen in the weather connects tonight,
18:59 we've seen plenty of storms hitting the county in January
19:02 and plenty of disruption to roads and railways
19:04 in recent years.
19:05 But is it getting worse?
19:07 And what can be done about it?
19:09 To talk more about the impact of climate change on the county
19:11 and how we can all be a little more resilient,
19:14 we're now joined by Ian Nunn from the Environment Agency.
19:17 Ian, thanks for joining us today.
19:20 So, yeah, as I said, it's been a pretty wet and drizzly January,
19:24 is this a concern?
19:26 Are we going to be seeing more extreme weather on the rise?
19:31 Yeah, I think it's always really difficult, isn't it,
19:33 in terms of looking backwards at weather.
19:37 I think when we're younger, we always
19:38 tend to think the weather was so much better.
19:40 But in truth, historically, we've
19:43 seen some very wet winters in the last 20 years
19:46 that have made a significant impact on Kent.
19:49 So just before Christmas, the period before Christmas,
19:53 in November, we had 308% of the long-term average rainfall
19:58 in November.
20:00 So you don't need me to tell you it was a very wet November.
20:03 And we saw lots of flooding and lots of impacts of flooding.
20:06 And fortunately, since the new year,
20:10 we've had a slightly drier, calmer January,
20:13 and things have settled down a bit.
20:14 But our groundwater flood risk level
20:18 was about a month ahead back in November of its high-risk place.
20:25 And it's still there.
20:27 So there's still-- the groundwater flooding risk
20:29 still exists.
20:30 We've got rainfall coming in the next few days, which
20:33 is obviously a concern.
20:35 But the thing to do is keep your eye on the weather.
20:39 It's very difficult to predict.
20:41 The intense rainfall that we get seems
20:44 to have got worse over the last 50, 60 years.
20:49 And this flooding, this groundwater flooding
20:51 you're talking about, that poses a risk
20:52 to properties, homeowners, businesses too, doesn't it?
20:56 So do we have the infrastructure to cope with this?
20:59 Yeah, so Kent has got several types of flooding
21:03 that it can suffer from.
21:05 It's got coastal flooding on three sides, which
21:08 we see on a regular basis.
21:10 We've got fluvial flooding from rivers.
21:13 That's water falling on the ground, getting
21:14 into the rivers.
21:15 And we see flooding in places like Tunbridge and Maidstone
21:18 and many other communities in Kent
21:20 suffer from river flooding.
21:22 And then there's the groundwater flooding,
21:24 which is basically the chalk hills that
21:26 make up the downs absorb water effectively like a sponge.
21:30 We're reliant on it for our drinking water.
21:32 So the water companies need that to extract,
21:35 to pump to our houses for drinking water.
21:38 But when we get heavy rainfall spells,
21:40 the recharge period of that chalk extends.
21:45 The groundwater levels within the chalk get higher.
21:47 And then we see lots of springs springing.
21:49 And a lot of rivers that would normally be dry
21:53 will start to run.
21:54 And then we start to see groundwater flooding.
21:56 So certainly in East Kent and certainly parts of North Kent
22:01 where we've got the downs, we're seeing very high groundwater
22:03 levels.
22:04 And people who live in those communities
22:06 will see that in terms of what's happening around their house
22:10 and out in the fields.
22:11 And we're seeing more potholes, sinkholes forming, aren't we?
22:15 So it's putting a strain on councils.
22:17 It's putting a strain on homeowners.
22:18 What can we do?
22:19 And what's the Environment Agency's plan
22:22 to tackle this as it does seem to be getting worse?
22:25 So very fortunately for me, I don't have to deal with potholes.
22:29 But that is a part of the whole problem
22:32 is the amount of rainfall we get.
22:33 The Environment Agency has a long-term flood risk management
22:37 strategy for the whole country.
22:40 And we're looking to invest billions of pounds
22:42 from the government in not only new flood defences,
22:45 but more importantly, in fact, maintaining
22:48 existing flood defences.
22:50 Many of our existing flood defences
22:52 were built in the '50s and '60s when agriculture
22:55 was really important.
22:57 Communities have built up around those defences.
23:02 And now we need to maintain them.
23:03 And because of climate change, we
23:05 need to raise them and enhance them.
23:08 Coastal flooding is a huge problem in Kent, as we've said.
23:13 We've invested hundreds of millions
23:17 of pounds in defences around the Kent coast.
23:20 And certainly on the south coast,
23:21 we're just finishing off a couple of projects
23:24 there in Rye, which are joining up the Folkestone
23:27 to Cliff End strategy schemes.
23:30 And just also, Ian, great to hear what
23:32 the Environment Agency is doing.
23:33 What can people do at home as well to kind of, I guess,
23:36 prepare for this as well, just before we go?
23:39 Absolutely.
23:39 Alongside our investment in defences
23:42 is our warning and informing system,
23:45 which is really important because that's something
23:47 that you can actually do.
23:48 We can build as many defences as government can afford,
23:52 but that risk will always exist.
23:54 So it's really important people get themselves signed up
23:57 to the flood warning system.
23:59 The technology advances in that in the last 10 years
24:02 has been enormous.
24:04 Thank you so much, Ian.
24:05 It's a good, reliable system, so sign up to it.
24:08 Great.
24:09 Thank you, Ian.
24:09 That's all we've got time for, I'm afraid,
24:10 but so great to hear from you.
24:12 Thanks, Ian.
24:14 Now, don't forget you can keep up to date with all
24:16 your latest environmental stories across Kent
24:18 by logging on to our website, kmtv.co.uk.
24:22 There you'll find all of our latest reports,
24:24 including this one about the Plough Sunday
24:26 service in Rochester.
24:29 Farmers from across Kent have assembled at Rochester
24:32 Cathedral to celebrate the start of the agricultural season.
24:36 Like many businesses across the country,
24:39 farmers say they've been hit hard
24:41 by the cost of living crisis, Ukraine war,
24:44 and rising inflation, not helped by the problems caused
24:48 by extremely hot summers and freezing winters.
24:51 It's been like every other business,
24:54 like every other profession.
24:55 It's been a tough four or five years.
24:58 We've had Brexit.
25:00 We've had COVID-19.
25:02 We've had a Ukraine crisis.
25:04 And now we've got fairly raging inflation, which has impacted--
25:08 all of them have impacted on farming,
25:11 reduced farm incomes, and left many farm balance sheets
25:17 in a much worse place than it was in 2016-17.
25:21 This is the cathedral's annual Plough Sunday,
25:24 a tradition dating back to Victorian times
25:27 that celebrates the hard work of those
25:29 in farming and agricultural communities.
25:33 Dean Phillips stressed the importance
25:34 of buying Kent produce to support local businesses,
25:38 hoping this will help Kent farmers to keep
25:41 sowing seeds throughout 2024.
25:44 It's a tradition, really, that grew up, particularly
25:46 the beginning of the Victorian period.
25:48 It was a time when the farming community would come together
25:51 to mark the beginning of the new agricultural year.
25:55 So it's a time when they've been off for Christmas and Plough
25:58 Monday would be when they got back to work.
26:01 So on the Sunday before, there was an opportunity
26:03 to come together and give thanks for the food
26:05 and the blessing of the forthcoming harvest.
26:09 Part of the ceremony involves bringing a communal plough
26:12 to the center of the cathedral to be blessed with seed
26:15 by the dean, whilst the public can get involved
26:18 through singing carols.
26:20 The plough behind me is the centerpiece
26:23 for Rochester Cathedral's Plough Sunday service.
26:26 It's a classic farming tool used for farming grain.
26:31 Many Kent farmers hope this year they'll
26:33 be able to sprout and grow towards a bright future.
26:37 Henry Luck for KMTV in Rochester.
26:42 Well, that's it for this week's episode of Kent on Climate.
26:45 We'll be back next week with another episode discussing
26:47 more matters relevant to environmental issues in Kent.
26:50 See you then.
26:51 Good night.
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