Catch up with all the latest news across your county with Abby Hook.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Hello, good evening and welcome to Kentonite live on KMTV.
00:29I'm Abbey Hook, here are your top stories on Wednesday the 14th of August.
00:35An eyesore, broadstairs locals furious after increased litter at UK's most photographed
00:41beach.
00:42In fact yesterday we spent £110 on wages just cleaning the beach.
00:47Slowing sclerosis, Canterbury student becomes first in Europe to take part in groundbreaking
00:53medical trial.
00:54But I think because I'm taking the trial I can do some contribution to others health
01:00like my family members, yeah I can say I'm proud of myself.
01:05Tons of tins delivered to your door, KMFM smash target and send out £7,000 worth of
01:12food to Kent charities.
01:14Without you there is absolutely no way we would have been able to do this, so from me,
01:19Nooms, Gary, Chelsea, Annie and everybody on KMFM, Ben and the team, thank you.
01:24Good evening, first tonight, locals in Broadstairs say the council needs to act now as rubbish
01:38continues to pile up on some of Thanet's most popular beaches, including Beauty Spot
01:44and the UK's most photographed beach, Botany Bay.
01:48Many say the council's efforts to keep the beaches cleaner are ineffective and don't
01:52cover enough of the bay, especially with the increase in visitors during the summer
01:56holidays.
01:57But they say more provisions are in place.
02:00Firmint Dermott has been down at the coast today.
02:03Broadstairs beaches are a popular spot for visitors from London and while locals take
02:08pride in their coastline, they worry that not enough is being done to keep it clean.
02:13Now Thanet District Council do supply litter pickers but residents say it's not enough.
02:18One group, Friends of Botany Bay, even fundraise so that volunteers can be paid a wage to litter
02:23pick.
02:24This, combined with the poor parking and state of the toilets, mean that residents and tourists
02:30aren't best pleased.
02:32In the summer it's a daily occurrence.
02:33In fact yesterday we spent £110 on wages just cleaning the beach because Thanet Council
02:38wasn't here cleaning the beach.
02:40There were soiled nappies, human faeces littered all the way across here.
02:45We can't and it's not tolerable to leave it looking like that because we've got local
02:49residents who use the beach as well.
02:50I mean we want visitors to come here and have a great time but the beach also is used by
02:55local residents.
02:56Their children are on school holidays as well.
02:58Their children want to go down to the beach and we want to make sure it's safe for them
03:01to do so.
03:02Botany Bay isn't the only beach suffering from this issue, with others including Margate
03:06Sands, Viking Bay, Palm Bay and Westgate.
03:09The council do fund litter pickers and enforcement officers to remind people of the public spaces
03:14protection orders in place, such as a ban on barbecues and littering.
03:18But locals claim they don't cover all the beaches, including Kingsgate and Whiteness.
03:23Some believe that the increase in litter is worsened by the lack of a proper car park,
03:28making it harder for waste collection services to access the bins.
03:31But local councillors believe it to be a lack of forward planning.
03:34We know when the good weather is going to arrive.
03:37It's forecast way in advance, that's why people plan to come down here.
03:42If we resolve to do it accordingly, we could then account for the additional litter and
03:47disturbance on the beach and manage that.
03:50And it's not just the residents.
03:52Tourists coming to visit the beach have also noticed the problem, though not all are aware
03:56of the extent of the issue.
03:57The beach isn't too bad.
03:59There's not loads of litter, but the toilets are astronomical, they're just awful.
04:04People have been having a barbecue I think maybe a couple of nights ago, beer cans and
04:08whatnot, so not great.
04:10But the point is that someone should be cleaning it up because obviously it is going to be busy.
04:14A town litter pick has been organised for this weekend, but as the good weather continues,
04:19many locals fear the litter will become a repeating issue.
04:22Finn McDermott for KMTV in Broadstairs.
04:26Well Finn joins me in the studio now.
04:29Finn, what have the council had to say?
04:31Well in a statement they said during the peak summer season we put extra resources into
04:36beach management.
04:38Now this includes placing more rubbish and recycling bins along the coastline and deploying
04:43additional cleaning teams to cope with this increased demand.
04:47They also reiterated that education is a key part of their attempts to remind people of
04:53beach etiquette and responsibility for your own waste.
04:57They also chose to mention their public spaces protection order, which has enforcement officers
05:04to remind people of what the offences are, what the bans are and how to avoid them.
05:10Lots of residents and other people are quick to blame the large amounts of people coming
05:15down from London while we're having this nice summer weather.
05:19And while most of them are perfectly fine to keep their litter on them until they find
05:23a bin, there's just a select few antisocial people who believe to litter and have late
05:30night barbecues and leave it all to be cleaned up in the morning by volunteers like we saw
05:34in the video there and paid people from the council.
05:40And this large amount of litter isn't helped by the facilities at Botany Bay, mainly the
05:45parking situation where people are parking in front of the bins making it just that much
05:51harder for waste collection workers to collect the bins.
05:56And I myself went to the toilets and I saw the state of it.
05:59It was not very good, overflowing bins, litter in the cubicles.
06:03So residents are finding that even though the beach has this accolade of being the most
06:08photographed in the UK, it's not really living up to it.
06:12These poor facilities came up earlier in a chat I had with Councillor Alan Munns.
06:17This area, Kingsgate Ward, my ward, has got three beautiful beaches and it's a heavily
06:22residential area and there's no parking facilities in the resident area whatsoever.
06:28There is a parking consultation, Fannock Council have created a cabinet member post for parking
06:35which I liaise closely with, but there's no immediate solution for this summer.
06:40We're hoping perhaps with better enforcement, better planning, hopefully something will
06:46improve, but it really needs Fannock Council to take the impetus on this.
06:52Finn, this issue isn't exclusive to Botany Bay though?
06:56No, throughout the summer we've been seeing reports of litter in large quantities in beaches
07:02in Folkestone, in Minster and even in other places in Broadstairs like Palm Bay, Viking
07:08Bay and Kingsgate, like the Councillor mentioned.
07:12And it's likely presenting the council with a lot of problems all at once.
07:16And it also presents a unique environmental issue where the tides coming in and receding
07:21out mean that the litter could get in the sea and just add that bit more of a concern
07:27there.
07:28And I also mentioned the public space protection orders which the council are using to try
07:35and educate people about what they can do on the beach to really reduce their environmental
07:41impact.
07:42Finn, thank you very much for those details.
07:45Now three people have been taken to hospital with injuries following a house fire in Swanscombe.
07:51Officers say they could hear screams from a woman and were awoken by emergency services
07:55in the early hours this morning.
07:57Kent Police say they were called to a disturbance at a property on Church Road.
08:01You can see the police presence there.
08:03Cordon was up for much of this morning but was later lifted as enquiries into what exactly
08:07happened continue.
08:09Kent Fire and Rescue Service say the cause of the incident is still unknown.
08:15Now a pilot has been taken to hospital after a crash landing near Rochester Airport.
08:20Kent Police were called to report a light aircraft had crashed on Rochester Road near
08:24Walderslade around half twelve today.
08:27The four-seater Piper PA-28 aircraft took off from Lydd Airport down in the south of
08:32the county.
08:33But here is where it crash landed in Rochester.
08:36No injuries have been reported but the pilot, who was the only one on board, was taken to
08:41hospital just as a precaution.
08:45Next tonight, a PhD student from Canterbury says he's delighted to be the first multiple
08:49sclerosis, or MS, patient in Europe to undergo a groundbreaking new drug trial.
08:55MS affects more than two million people worldwide and it's hoped that if successful, the new
09:00drug will slow the progress of the disease and some of its debilitating symptoms, such
09:05as problems with mobility, sight and fatigue.
09:08Bartholomew Hall has been to meet him.
09:10I woke up and I saw everything in double vision.
09:15Zhangwei Liao had been studying towards his PhD here in Canterbury for just over three
09:20years when he woke up one day with double vision.
09:23After being recommended to see a doctor by his painting instructor, he was quickly diagnosed
09:28with multiple sclerosis, or MS.
09:31But at first I'm not really thought they're really serious because I just thought if I
09:36cover just one of my eyes everything keeps the same and there's no pain, no itches, everything,
09:41except the double vision keeps normal.
09:44It's a condition that affects the brain and spinal cord and can affect patients in a variety
09:48of different ways, including problems with vision, such as in Zhangwei's case, difficulty
09:53walking, issues with balance and coordination, and give them challenges with thinking, learning
09:59and planning.
10:00After learning that his lifelong condition meant his symptoms would only get worse, Zhangwei
10:04decided to take part in a trial for an experimental new drug that aims to slow down the progression
10:10of the disease.
10:11However, the trial means that Zhangwei may never see the benefits of the new drug.
10:16He may be taking a placebo or it might just not work for him.
10:20But Zhangwei told me that taking part means more than just his own MS journey.
10:24Well I'm proud of that because finally I can do some contribution because I'm not like
10:28my other family members, they're doctors so they can cure people, care for other people's
10:33health, so do something which I think is meaningful.
10:37But I think because I'm taking the trial, I can do some contribution to others' health
10:42like my family members, yeah, I can say I'm proud of myself.
10:47So all of the patients on this trial will be receiving an active treatment.
10:51It's either the standard treatment that they would have outside of the trial or the new
10:55drug.
10:56Without patients taking part in trials, we just wouldn't have an evidence base to say
10:59actually the treatment that we're offering is the best treatment we can offer for you.
11:03They're basically pushing medicine forward and progressing the treatments that we can
11:07offer our patients.
11:08Zhangwei is the first patient in Europe to be taking part in the experimental new drug
11:13and already that has doubled.
11:14There's now two patients here in Canterbury involved.
11:18It's understood more than two million people worldwide live with multiple sclerosis which
11:22is why the work being done here at Kent and Canterbury Hospital with Zhangwei is so important.
11:27It's hoped that if the trial is successful, hundreds of thousands if not millions of people
11:32in the future will be able to live without fear of the rapid progression of the disease.
11:37Bartholomew Hall for KMTV in Canterbury.
11:42Well it's time now for a very short break but when we come back we'll have more news
11:45from right across the county.
11:47Stay with us.
15:02Hello and welcome back to Kent Tonight live on KMTV.
15:16Now Crime Stoppers are offering a £10,000 reward for a suspected burglar dubbed the
15:21Night Watcher.
15:23It's believed he was the man behind a £1.8 million jewellery heist at a property in Seven
15:28Oaks in June.
15:29The 63-year-old woman was the victim of the aggravated burglary and at least 50 items
15:33were stolen.
15:35Police believe that the heist could be linked to the Night Watcher who is said to stake
15:38out high-end homes in previous incidents.
15:42CEO of Crime Stoppers Mark Hallis spoke to us more on the infamous thief.
15:47I think the fact that he's carried it out over a protracted period of time and has struck
15:52again just recently indicates that it could easily happen again and I think that indicates
15:58why it's more important than ever to be able to catch this individual.
16:03I think one of the big advantages this time around is the police issued some very reasonable
16:09high-quality stills with the individual regarding his potential movements after he had committed
16:17the offence and albeit he was wearing a small face mask like we always used to wear in Covid.
16:23He was quite distinctive and obviously those are up online and on the police website and
16:29just hopefully that should spark somebody to be able to identify that individual and
16:35pass that information on.
16:38Next tonight, from the end of locally loved restaurants to refurbished pubs, many businesses
16:42in Kent are building up their budgets and perfecting their profits.
16:46Here's Elise Opari with your Business Roundup.
16:54A long-running Kent restaurant that once boasted a Michelin star for 20 years straight is set
17:01to shut at the end of the month after almost half a century.
17:04The owners of Rees and Faversham, David and Rona Pitchford, say they have taken the decision
17:09to close with a hint of trepidation as further time has caught up with them.
17:13David and Rona launched the restaurant in 1977 before moving it to Macknay Manor in
17:182000.
17:19The restaurant lost its star in 2012 but has retained its position in the Michelin Guide
17:23to this day.
17:24David admits that they had never set out to achieve the star but has offered an insight
17:28into the perils of chasing one.
17:30The Waltonbury and Tombridge Row near Maidstone has been shut for a month during the renovations
17:34but has finally reopened after undergoing a six-figure refurbishment to give the 90-year-old
17:38pub a modern look.
17:40There has been a complete overhaul of the inside with new decor, furnishings and artwork.
17:45The outside dining area has expanded with the addition of heaters, comfy seating and
17:49extra covered areas.
17:50As well as its physical transformation, the pub will now be serving a new Chef Embroidery's
17:55menu.
17:56General Manager Carrie Manfield said that refurbishments have enhanced the cozy and
17:59country pub feeling while bringing it into the modern times.
18:06Cherry grower Sarah Nees from Little Sharsted Farm in Doddington near Sittimborne is starring
18:10alongside TV chef Michelin star Tom Kerridge in the latest M&S campaign.
18:15Sarah is part of Driscoll's Cooperative Growers and is the third generation of her family
18:19to produce cherries, apples and pears.
18:22The farm was bought by her granddad Archie in 1952 although he had been grown since 1944.
18:28In the Farm to Food Hall campaign, Sarah shows Tom how they deliver the best possible harvest
18:32and the vital role honeybees play through pollination.
18:39Plans to create an expanded modern cafe for a new house and development on the site of
18:43a vacant sandwich shop has been rejected over lack of parking.
18:46The proposal to demolish and redevelop the site in Pound Road, East Peckham was submitted
18:50earlier this year.
18:51In the past, the unit operated as a takeaway sandwich shop called Pam's Pantry serving
18:55sandwiches, coffees and cakes.
18:58It is predominantly in a residential area adjoined to a house with five garages at the
19:01rear.
19:02But a decision was taken to refuse the application at a Tom Bridge and Moorland Planning Committee
19:07held on August 7th.
19:09This has been your Business Roundup with Elise Opare.
19:17Now, don't forget you can keep up to date with all your latest stories across Kent by
19:22logging on to our website, kmtv.co.uk.
19:24There you'll find all our reports, including this one about barbecues being left behind
19:30on our beaches.
19:32School's out and the sun with it here on Kent's south coast.
19:36But seagulls and sandcastles aren't the only thing to keep an eye out for on Folkestone's
19:42beaches.
19:43And the Harbour Ward Council are increasingly concerned about the risks posed by disposable
19:49barbecues.
19:50These barbecues that we're seeing more and more on our beaches, especially the disposable
19:56ones are causing issues.
20:00You know, when you go home, if you take your barbecue with you, that's great.
20:05But when you leave them on the sand, even buried in the sand, they gather heat.
20:10And children and dogs and adults have burnt their feet badly on these contraptions.
20:17With children at the seaside all August, the local Labour representative wants to see a
20:22ban to ensure barbecue-free beaches.
20:26Barbecue bans are nothing new for people living here in Folkestone.
20:31Just up the road from Sunny Sands, right here at the Lower Leeds Coastal Park, barbecues
20:36have been banned since 2020.
20:39The visitors we're leaving behind lit barbecues, posing a fire risk.
20:45But our beachgoers here convinced a ban is the way to go.
20:49I think if you're sensible enough, I think it's a good idea to do.
20:55If you dispose of them correctly, obviously, if you're putting them in the correct bins,
20:59making sure they're all out, you know, and not on fire.
21:02Yeah, I'm not in favour of having them on the beach.
21:07I think they're a nuisance to smoke.
21:09You know, don't have a barbecue at home, that's my opinion on it, really.
21:13I think if they're left, it can be quite dangerous for young children because of the coals remaining
21:19hot and things like that.
21:20But I think we want people to come to these areas and we want people to have staycations
21:25in this country.
21:26So I think people are having a nice time and a barbecue is a nice thing to have.
21:30The potential of a barbecue ban has been raised with Folkestone High District Council, which
21:36noted that enacting a general ban on barbecues would need an amendment to the existing Public
21:43Space Protection Order, or more likely, a new stand-alone PSPO requiring public consultation.
21:52As Councillor Polly Blakemore, the Green Cabinet Member for Transport, Regulatory Services
21:58and Building stated, enforcing a ban effectively along our coastline at the height of summer
22:04would need a significant increase in staffing and budget, and I think we're still in practice
22:10struggle to implement.
22:12A ban then seems unlikely in the short term, but when you're next on the coast, keep an
22:18eye out for embers, coals and disused barbecues.
22:23The marks they leave behind won't disappear with the tide.
22:27Oliver Leeds of the Saks for KMTV in Folkestone.
22:31Well, with the summer upon us now, it means a lot of coastal stories from us here at KMTV.
22:37Let's take a look at the forecast, see if it's worth a trip down the coast.
22:46This evening, looking fairly warm across the county highs of 18 in Margate and Dover, lows
22:52of 16 over in Tunbridge Wells.
22:54Clear again into Thursday morning, highs of 21 in Margate, 20 in other parts and lows
23:00of 19 by the afternoon.
23:02Clouds coming in but warming up to 24 over in Dartford, some wind picking up too.
23:07And here's your outlook for Kent too, that rain on Friday, Saturday and Sunday looking fairly sunny.
23:22And finally this evening, the KMFM team have done it.
23:26They've delivered more than £7,000 worth of tins to food banks and charities across Kent.
23:32Last year they raised £5,000 but this year, even with everyone's budgets tightened, the radio team
23:38certainly secured tonnes of tins.
23:41And one of those charities who had their shelves stocked today is Gillingham Street Angels.
23:46I joined the team at their penultimate stop earlier but got away with none of the heavy lifting.
23:51Let's see what our sister station has been up to.
23:55KMFM have done it. £7,318 raised.
24:01Delivered in the form of tins by the tonne to food banks across Kent.
24:06From Folkestone to Hythe to Ashford to Gravesend to Thanet, Canterbury, Maidstone and the final stop, Medway.
24:13The radio team certainly had their work cut out.
24:16Their mission, to help curb the cost of living crisis in the county.
24:20We went into this knowing that this was going to be probably one of the hardest things we've ever had to do.
24:25One, because the price of the food has gone up.
24:28So depending on what we were buying, it was somewhere between 15 and 20 per cent, there or about.
24:34We were on 6.77 tonnes last year and we had £5,018 on our Just Giving page.
24:41And we really thought it would be amazing to match that this year.
24:46And then last week we got to £7,318.
24:53So just absolutely amazing and it's a difficult time for everybody.
24:58But it has been so incredible to just, you know, it is a really easy visualisation of how amazing the community is.
25:09Gillingham Street Angels are just one of the charities taking in donations from the campaign.
25:14And today they're preparing 200 meals for those who would go hungry tonight otherwise.
25:19So a van load of stock was a welcome sight.
25:22I mean it's amazing, the amount of people we're feeding and the level of kind of people we're feeding.
25:27To get this amount of stuff in one go is fantastic for us.
25:29We can do a lot of good with this food.
25:31The food is our main thing we do.
25:33School uniform at the moment, school holidays, puts extra pressure on us.
25:36The kids needing food during the school holidays, there's a lot on.
25:40Obviously winter's coming up again, that will be a big one for us people.
25:43We need warm clothing, blankets, bedding.
25:45It's harsh, it never seems to stop sadly.
25:48Despite financial pressures tightening everyone's purse strings,
25:52KMFM were able to smash their target and had a message to share on just how much that matters.
25:59Without you there is absolutely no way we would have been able to do this.
26:03So from me, Nooms, Gary, Chelsea, Annie and everybody on KMFM, Ben and the team, thank you.
26:08Thank you, thank you, thank you.
26:10Thank you so much, this wouldn't be possible without your incredible generosity.
26:13We might see you next year, the backs will be better by then.
26:16Yeah, I'm so strong now, I'm ready to go.
26:22Well there they go, Rob and Noomi on their very last trip of their Tons of Tins campaign,
26:27sending off that last quarter of a ton here in Medway.
26:31And the total tons of tins topped their target
26:35and tomorrow we'll find out just how many tins it took to weigh in and make a difference.
26:40Abbey Hook for KMTV in Chatham.
26:45Congratulations to our sister station, I'll see you again tomorrow, bye bye.
27:05Subs by www.zeoranger.co.uk