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00:25 Hello and welcome to Kentonite live on KMTV with me Bartholomew Hall. It's Friday the
00:31 3rd of May and of course results day of two of our local elections. Residents of Tunbridge
00:36 Wells and Maidstone headed to polling stations yesterday to vote in their local elections.
00:41 Also votes from across the county will be counted for the next Police and Crime Commissioner
00:46 this Sunday. Well first we're heading to Tunbridge Wells where the count only actually started
00:51 a couple of hours ago. We'll have live updates on your screen as you can see now. But to
00:56 get the update Rob Bailey our political presenter joins me now. Rob what is the latest?
01:01 Hi Bartholomew, yes you're right. We got started a lot later here than we expected to. We came
01:08 here expecting the count to start around 12 o'clock but the turnout was slightly higher
01:13 than maybe they were expecting at 37% and it's the first time Tunbridge Wells has elected
01:18 its entire council all at one time. Normally it elects in thirds and the logistics of running
01:23 that as you can see behind me, I mean it's still a hive of activity here. We've had about
01:27 four results so far. The early running is being made by the Liberal Democrats. They've
01:32 won 12 of the seats that have so far been announced. That's put them well ahead of all
01:37 of the other parties. Conservatives have picked up some seats and we haven't yet got to a
01:42 point where any of the big Conservative seats have come up. So we don't know yet how successfully
01:47 they're going to have defended their seats on a day when of course nationally it's all
01:52 been all about whether or not the Conservatives can defend their territory and retain seats.
01:58 I'm joined now by Sophia Akin who's been here reporting with me. Sophia what do we know
02:04 about what's happening at the moment? Well I was just checking to see if there had been
02:06 any updates in the last few minutes while we've been live. We might hear some while
02:10 we're on air now but what we know so far, 12 Lib Dems, one Labour, two Conservatives
02:16 and one Tunbridge Wales Alliance. So far 16 out of 39 seats have been declared. We know
02:21 previously this council was in no overall control with the Lib Dem joint administration.
02:27 We saw the National Leader Ed Davey here the day before the election absolutely certain
02:32 that his party would take no overall control but he's not here today. As we've seen Lib
02:37 Dems so far have taken the most seats but they aren't wanting to talk to the press I
02:42 think until a bit later on. They're saying this count's going to finish at 7 o'clock.
02:46 I feel like we've still got a long way to go yet but we'll have to see and maybe they'll
02:50 speak to us later on. As you said Den it's a power sharing arrangement here between the
02:54 Liberal Democrats, Labour and the Alliance and although we haven't seen any of the big
02:58 Conservative seats come up yet we have seen one of the big Alliance seats come up. The
03:03 party leader Nicholas Pope has lost his seat. How significant do you think that is? Well
03:08 he was just speaking to me off camera before saying, I asked him why he thought that the
03:14 Liberal Democrats weren't willing to speak at this point. He said he thought they wouldn't
03:20 want to overestimate how they were feeling. I think it's very significant the leader of
03:25 the party, the leader of any party losing their seat. It can't be good and we know that
03:29 for, I believe we were just discussing with the local democracy reporter before Dan, that
03:34 for the Tamrid Wells Alliance to stay it was something like the Labour also had to stay
03:38 or something like that. They had to have a certain number of seats for them to stay so
03:41 it's not looking good overall for the Alliance is it? Yes it was very interesting, in fact
03:45 that was Hugo Pound, the Labour candidate saying to us that he felt that the Alliance
03:50 would only work if it was a three way alliance and if the Liberal Democrats came back with
03:54 a very strong result but not enough for overall control that could actually be a really interesting
03:58 discussion about the power, about the power sharing. Yes so I wonder what this means for
04:03 them and of course we've still got all these seats to declare, only 16 out of 39 so far
04:08 have been declared so we'll have to see what carries on throughout the evening. But we
04:13 know as well there are other elections happening across the country and the county in fact,
04:20 PCC elections which we won't know about until Sunday but what we do know is the turnout
04:24 was higher than expected. Here in Tamrid Wells the turnout was 37%, something like that wasn't
04:30 it, which is higher than it usually is. We believe that's why it took a while to get
04:34 the ball rolling here as they had a lot more votes to verify. So interesting as the predictions
04:39 were that the local election turnout would be pretty low as it usually is but more people
04:44 coming out to vote than usual, I wonder why that is? It is interesting, there was an assumption
04:48 that people are disengaged by politics at the moment but clearly not the case here and
04:52 there has been a lot of speculation on the floor here about whether that's a good sign
04:56 and for which party it's a good sign, whether that means that the Conservatives have managed
04:59 to mobilise their base or whether it's the Liberal Democrats, particularly with the high
05:03 profile visits who have brought out their membership. So far it looks like it's the
05:07 latter. Yes well some people have said they think it's those supporters that aren't voting
05:13 Conservative trying to get out there and basically vote anything but Conservative and make that
05:18 clear on their ballots but as you say it could actually be the other way, it could be those
05:22 Conservative voters who are perhaps concerned with how the polls are currently looking,
05:26 wanting to defend the Conservatives. So it's interesting and of course as I mentioned before
05:30 we can't forget those PCC elections, I think a lot of people worried about that as well
05:35 and kind of concerned about electing the right person. What is interesting here is the turnout
05:41 has already been declared in the Police and Crime Commissioner elections, 36%, that's
05:45 the highest it's ever been, which is an interesting thing, last year when it was held alongside
05:50 Kent County Council elections it was still less than 30%. So an interesting kind of pattern
05:55 from voters this year. I think it's people, a lot of people we've been speaking to on
05:59 the streets don't really know what the role of Police and Crime Commissioner does, it's
06:02 a role that I think has been in since 2012 we were saying before so it's quite a new
06:07 role, a lot of people not understanding kind of what that role is and it's of course holding
06:11 the police to account and scrutinising the police but maybe perhaps people are becoming
06:16 more aware, more politically aware, kind of fighting for those local elections and those
06:21 local candidates. A lot of race yet to be run here Bartholomew but that's all from us
06:26 for now. Well Rob thank you for those details and Sophia there, time now to move to Maidstone
06:32 where some results are coming in, joining us is our local democracy reporter Gabriel
06:37 Morris. Gabriel what can you tell us? Well Bartholomew, Maidstone Borough Council is
06:43 heading straight to no overall control again, it's where it's been since the previous administration
06:49 where their Conservative leader David Burton was in charge with no overall control and
06:54 it's definitely heading back that way again. I'll just run you through the seat count at
06:58 the moment, we've still got about 10 seats left to go, you can hear them just going over
07:03 now so I'm going to talk a little bit louder so you can still hear me. Conservatives are
07:08 on 9 seats, Labour on 6 seats, Lib Dems on 10 seats, Independents on 5, Greens on 6,
07:14 the majority needed is 25 and as I said there are only about 10 or 12 seats left to go so
07:19 no one's going to be able to make it. Now there have been boundary changes this time
07:23 with a reduction of the number of seats. I've been speaking to one of the Liberal Democrat
07:29 candidates who's also the Parliamentary candidate in the general election, he reckons this is
07:34 helping his party. You're one of the Lib Dems who have won seats today, you're making good
07:40 progress, it's still early days, can Lib Dems do it here in Maidstone? Yes, with the boundary
07:46 changes, Maidstone and Morling we have a very, very good chance and the way the government
07:51 is performing, or not performing at the moment, people are disenchanted and the Lib Dems have
07:56 a very good chance because we did very well in government before in my view so we could
08:01 do well again. So boundary changes have helped you then? Yes, 9 in the centre of Maidstone
08:06 and 5 in Morling where we're very strong and after this local election we'll be stronger.
08:13 When you're on the doorstep, what sort of issues were people talking to you about? Cost
08:17 of living, illegal immigrants, that's the main topic, especially in Kent, and Brexit.
08:26 How much can a lower tier council do on those issues? Well obviously we are the face to
08:32 the public, a lot of people don't see their MPs, that's that and higher, but they all
08:38 see their local councillors, especially Lib Dems because we all live where we represent
08:43 and we do get a lot of stuff but we can't affect because we're not in government, that's
08:48 why this government needs to change and the sooner the better. Well you are the parliamentary
08:52 candidate, when do you think the general election should be called? Local elections are now
08:56 pretty much out of the way, when should it be? As soon as possible, as soon as possible.
09:02 The last time he can go, he calls it before Christmas and it'll be in January, which is
09:06 not a good time to have a general election in December. So the sooner the better, let's
09:12 get this sorted, let's get on to a new government that governs. Do you think Lib Dems can gain
09:18 more seats in the South East come whenever that general election is? Polling doesn't
09:23 really suggest that many, some would suggest one, maybe in Kent or two, do you think you
09:27 could do better than that? Yes we can because it's Conservatives, the Conservatives have
09:33 virtually ruined this country and are hanging on and we can't have another Prime Minister
09:38 before the next election, it needs to have a general election where Lib Dems will do
09:42 very well. Well that was one of the Councillors who has been elected here, he's a Liberal
09:51 Democrat, he's also the parliamentary candidate and just to remind you if you're just joining
09:55 us, Maidstone Borough Council is heading to no overall control. Currently Liberal Democrats
09:59 are the biggest party at 10 seats, it's closely followed by the Conservatives at 9 but a majority
10:04 of 25 is needed so it is heading to no overall control once more. Now we were touching earlier
10:12 in that interview on the general election and that is going to be the next big poll
10:17 for people across Kent. The turnout there should be a little bit bigger, we don't know
10:22 the exact turnout figure yet here in Maidstone but it's looking to be around about 27-28%
10:28 so it's quite low. Now as you can hear there are votes still coming through, we should
10:34 know the final results in about 30 minutes time. Now there is going to be a recount so
10:39 the numbers I've given you could change around slightly. Liberal Democrats are hoping to
10:43 get around 12 seats, whether or not they will still be the largest party without a majority
10:49 is yet to be known. We should know fairly shortly. It has also been a fairly good night
10:55 for the Green Party, they are currently on the same number of seats as they had before,
10:58 hoping to get a couple more as the final seats come through. Labour have made some gains
11:05 as well but some unhappy faces from the Conservatives. However, the candidate for Conservatives,
11:13 Matthew Scott, who is the Police and Crime Commissioner, he was here earlier and there
11:16 were some of his seats being counted here as well before Sunday's vote. He is pretty
11:23 confident going into Sunday that he might win again.
11:28 Gabriel thank you very much, our local democracy reporter there live from Maidstone. Well we'll
11:33 be back after this very short break with more news making the headlines from across the
11:39 county, don't go anywhere.
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15:12 Hello and welcome back to Kent Tonight live on KMTV. Now, Kent Online have been investigating
15:19 cases of animal abuse on social media. Ellie Hodgson has been looking into countless videos
15:24 highlighting a seemingly new trend where people boast about animals they've killed using catapults.
15:31 The government says they have legislation to curb the issue. I spoke to Ellie earlier
15:36 to find out more. Ellie, you've been looking to this story and gathering these shocking
15:40 images. Can you just explain some of the things that you've come across on social media?
15:45 What I've been looking at is truly senseless. I'm seeing really young children, teenagers
15:50 of secondary school age, maybe younger, you know, using catapults, taking photos of the
15:56 animals that they're killing and posting it on social media for everybody to see.
16:02 And why are people doing this?
16:04 Well, that's the question that we're trying to work out. But one of the suggestions is
16:09 that it's a TikTok trend. We don't know if it is completely TikTok. I have seen it across
16:13 other platforms as well. But it seems to be that young people are sort of enjoying sort
16:18 of hunting style behaviours. And they're just looking at their peers and they're getting
16:23 involved with something that is utterly senseless and really unfair on the animals.
16:29 And I understand as well, you've spoken to a therapist as to potentially why people are
16:34 doing this.
16:35 Yes, that's correct. I've spoken to a psychologist and also a therapist. And one sort of theory
16:42 put forward is that regular exposure to this sort of violence and also how accessible social
16:47 media is and how many users are on there, these sort of trends and behaviours sort of
16:52 spread extremely quickly. And this regular exposure, I guess, leads to desensitisation.
16:58 And that's one of the theories put forward from one of the psychologists and also therapists
17:02 I've spoken to.
17:03 These are really shocking images, as you said there. What's been the response from the police
17:07 on this?
17:08 So at the moment, the police are taking it very seriously. Recently in Pallet Wood, there
17:14 was a seizure of 62 ball bearings and two catapults. And I know that one of the peacocks
17:20 that was attacked by kids with catapults, there have been some arrests there. So I do
17:24 understand that they're taking it extremely seriously.
17:27 And I suppose you'll be continuing to look into this to see, I suppose, what the outcome
17:31 may be, what a response may be from TikTok as well.
17:34 Definitely. Understandably, everyone is outraged. People in their communities that have seen
17:39 these young people out with catapults understandably want it to be stopped. And so obviously, I'll
17:45 be following it very closely. And hopefully we have some updates from the police to deal
17:49 with the incident, to deal with the peacock and other catapult offences in our area.
17:57 As said in response, existing legislation provides the correct balance between protecting
18:01 wildlife from the small number of individuals who misuse catapults, whilst also allowing
18:07 the public to enjoy legitimate pastimes. The Home Office statement went on to say there
18:12 are no plans to legislate to prevent the possession in public of catapults at this time, or to
18:17 ban the sale of catapults and catapult ammunition. That was the government statement there.
18:25 Next night, an attempted murder investigation is underway after reports of a stabbing in
18:29 Edenbridge. Police were called to a violent disturbance near Pine Grove and Crouch House
18:36 Road at around midnight on Thursday. Two men were taken to a London hospital where one
18:41 is in a serious but stable condition. It's reported that three men arrived in a black
18:46 BMW and assaulted two men who they appeared to know. The suspects then left in the same
18:52 vehicle which has now been seized. Police want anyone with information or CCTV to come
18:57 forward.
19:01 Next a developer has been told to make changes to a set of new homes in Sittingbourne which
19:05 were built too tall and in the wrong place. Local councillors say they were appalled to
19:10 discover that Swaleborough Council had been given inaccurate designs. Moat Housing, the
19:16 developer in question, says it will be submitting plans to improve privacy for neighbouring
19:20 properties. 78-year-old Anne Smith says she's getting impatient with the whole situation.
19:26 By now some things should have been sorted. It's supposed to have been refused. There
19:32 was an 11-3 for a refusal but it's still on the website saying that it's awaiting a decision.
19:39 Why? Why isn't it on there that it's been refused? They're still carrying on with the
19:44 work out on the site, even on these houses behind us, the ones that we're complaining
19:49 about that shouldn't be where they are. And they're still working on them even now. So
19:53 we haven't got a clue what is going on between council and Moat and we wish we knew. We didn't
19:58 expect the houses to be positioned where they are. According to Moat they haven't been changed
20:04 from the plan from 2001 that they are building to. But according to the planning department
20:10 they gave them permission to move them. Who's telling the truth here?
20:15 Next frustrated residents in Walderslade say an ongoing water leak on their street has
20:19 only gotten worse since engineers from South East Water have attempted to fix it. Iris
20:25 Moore who lives in Tavistock Close says she and her neighbours first reported the issue
20:29 nine months ago, back when it was just a trickle. Now she says it's like having a river outside
20:35 their homes. Jack Darkin has the story.
20:38 Frustrated residents claim an ongoing water leak has only worsened despite engineers'
20:41 attempts to fix it. Those living in Tavistock Close near Walderslade Woods said that they
20:46 first reported the issue when it was only a trickle, but nine months later they say
20:50 it's like having a river outside their homes. Iris Moore and her neighbour Anne contacted
20:54 South East Water in September after they noticed the water had been seeping from a crack in
20:58 the road for a few weeks. The pair then reported it again in January as it had frozen and became
21:03 a sheet of ice which Iris slipped on. This was tarmacked over. However the leak has continued
21:07 to grow and that gallons of water are now running into the nearby drain every day.
21:12 They're saying we should save water and the water bills go up because water's expensive
21:17 and then they're wasting all of this all the time. And they're on about building new reservoirs
21:22 to save water and not to do so much washing to save water and yet they're not saving water
21:28 and they're not telling us what's happening and where this water is coming from. You can't
21:33 walk down the path without walking through it and it's all dirty and muddy. And when
21:38 it rains the little drain, the soak away drain, can't cope with all the water. It runs past
21:43 our local river. South East Water's regional network manager
21:48 Andy Beston said the firm is making attempts to fix the burst water pipe and is now waiting
21:53 for permission to recommence works. He said in a statement, "These series of leaks have
21:57 proved to be particularly difficult to locate and challenging to repair due to the number
22:00 of reasons which have hampered progress. We are working with the local highways team to
22:04 schedule a date to complete the final repair to the section of the water main that has
22:08 suffered from these bursts over the last few months." He went on to say, "We understand
22:12 that seeing water lost to leaks can be frustrating and we want to ensure you that fixing leaks
22:16 is a top priority for us. Our network of pipe work spans 9,000 miles with 6 million joints
22:22 and sometimes things can split or burst." This has been Jack Darkin for KMTV.
22:27 Now let's take a look at the weather. We'll have clear skies tonight, temperatures
22:36 between 8 and 9 across the county. Tomorrow morning sun and cloud arriving, warming up
22:43 to highs of 14 and staying dry. But your weekend won't stay dry for too long, rain in the afternoon
22:50 but staying fairly warm. Here's the outlook, wet weather right into next week but highs
22:57 of 19 on Monday, some sun on Tuesday.
23:10 And finally, if you're familiar with Whitstable, you won't be a stranger to the harbour, beach
23:14 huts and the well-known pub, The Neptune. Well, they're about to be taken to the big
23:19 screen. The third season for the crime series, The Whitstable Pearl, is underway with the
23:24 author behind the murder mystery novels being a member of the film crew. Our reporter, Sophia
23:29 Aikin, has been down to meet Julie Wassmer to find out more about her Whitstable tales.
23:34 It all started in Whitstable. Taking a wrong turn en route to Broadstairs, they ended up
23:42 on Borstill Hill and from there Julie fell in love with the seaside town and the rest
23:48 is history. She put her days of writing for EastEnders behind her and swapped it for a
23:53 murder mystery series in Whitstable. From this, Whitstable Pearl came to life.
23:59 Ten years on, Julie's written her tenth novel in the series and filming for the third season
24:04 of the show is underway.
24:06 I walked down the high street one day, past St Alfred's Church and the Playhouse and,
24:11 you know, the local butcher and I thought, my God, this is the perfect setting really
24:17 for the crime book. Suddenly I was writing a book that was set in Whitstable and it gave
24:25 me permission to go and discover and research all the wonderful areas of Whitstable. And
24:33 Whitstable is a great place for a writer because it's so varied in its settings really.
24:41 From the pebbly beaches of Whitstable to Tankerton beach huts, some famous spots are mentioned
24:46 throughout the books and they won't be unfamiliar to residents of the seaside town. But now
24:52 it's all been taken to the screens as it's been transformed into a series, with the new
24:57 season currently being filmed.
25:00 And today Julie gave me a tour of some of the locations mentioned in the books and some
25:05 of the spots which inspired Whitstable Pearl.
25:08 This fantastic setting with its wonderful gardens and everything became the location
25:15 for May Day Murder, which was my third book in the Whitstable Pearl series and which featured
25:21 the May Day festivities which are always set here.
25:25 And what we have here is the bowling green at Whitstable Castle and this recently was
25:31 used by the TV production to film a section for the third season. In Whitstable Pearl
25:39 Mystery the first book a body is found in one of these huts but there are no bodies
25:46 in my beach hut which is much further along and where I spend a lot of time in the summer
25:51 dreaming up these stories.
25:53 For those who have been to Whitstable you will be very familiar with the old Neptune
25:56 pub or you might also recognise it from watching the Whitstable Pearl TV series as this is
26:02 another one of those locations where they did filming and filming will be resuming here
26:06 in the next few weeks.
26:09 Many tales have been told along the beaches of Whitstable but Julie says she won't stop
26:14 there. She has ideas in mind and stories to tell on the Kent seaside for years to come.
26:20 Sophia Akin for KMTV in Whitstable.
26:24 Sophia Akin there. Whitstable can be so beautiful can't it? Well you've been watching Kentonite
26:28 live on KMTV. There's more news made for Kent just throughout the evening. Don't forget
26:33 you can keep up to date with all the latest across your county by logging on to KMTV.co.uk.
26:39 You can also keep us on your social timeline search KMTV Kent. We'll see you next time.
26:44 Bye bye.
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