Catch up with all your latest news across the county with Abby Hook.
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00:00Hello, good evening and welcome to Kentonite live on KMTV. I'm Abbey Hook. Here are your
00:28top stories on Tuesday the 14th of January. Fearing for their lives, Colombian family
00:34of narcotics officer seeking safety in Kent worry they could be sent home.
00:40We received the answer from the Home Office on the 2nd of January this year and they refused
00:45our claim so the next step is the appeal.
00:49It's not adding up. Medway MP says London wages are pricing out maths teachers.
00:56London pays teachers a premium, it's called the London weighting and so therefore they
01:01are hoovering up academics and teachers to teach in London schools.
01:07And sawed out of the stone, we meet the archaeologists studying the 1,500 year old blade in their
01:13Sittingbourne lab.
01:14Items as far afield as Sri Lanka and Africa came to Kent. They weren't going to London,
01:20they were coming to Kent because Kent was such an important, vibrant, well-connected
01:24little kingdom at that time.
01:36Good evening. A Colombian family are seeking asylum in Kent after receiving death threats
01:41from drug cartels in their home country.
01:44Luisa Rodriguez and her three daughters are now staying in Ashford after her husband who
01:48is a narcotics officer refused to join a gang.
01:52The family then received threats against their lives. Now, Luisa's had her latest application
01:57rejected by the Home Office to stay here in the UK.
02:01Finn McDermott went to meet her.
02:03Well we're here at an undisclosed location at the hotel where Luisa is staying, all to
02:08meet her and find out more about her experiences.
02:11Hi Luisa, thank you so much for having us, lovely to meet you.
02:18We sat down to talk about her difficult situation, having to move her whole life and her three
02:23daughters more than 5,000 miles across the globe.
02:27Thank you for joining me Luisa. Could I first start by asking you what the situation was
02:30like back in your home country of Colombia?
02:33Yeah, the thing is my husband is a police officer and he works in an area in Colombia
02:39and in this area some groups operate with narcotraffic, stealing drugs, kidnapping and
02:46things like that and for his work he received some threats and this is the reason that we are here.
02:53Now she's been here in Kent since 2023 and has been applying for asylum this entire time.
02:58The process starts with the first interview and after that we wait for almost one year
03:04for the second interview. We received the answer from the Home Office on the 2nd of
03:09January this year and they refused our claim so the next step is the appeal.
03:16She says people fail to understand the impact that the asylum process and the reality of
03:21leaving your home has.
03:23What do you miss about Colombia?
03:26My life, my family, my food, my work. I don't have the opportunity to work as a nurse.
03:33Despite missing her home, she's determined to make the most of a life in England, securing
03:38a concrete future for her family.
03:40This is my vision board. This is our last picture together as a family and I took the
03:46picture and I put it on the big van. This is my goal to one day stay together here.
03:53My Colombian flags, some degrees for me and my children.
03:58You mentioned that there were some mental health problems that you and the family were
04:01having. Are you comfortable talking about that?
04:03Yeah. The thing is in my country I never have any mental health problems and my daughter
04:08never have any problems like that. But here with all of this process is really difficult.
04:15I am being diagnosed with PTS, post-traumatic stress and something like that. And I am under
04:23antidepressants.
04:24For Luisa and her family, this is reality. Moving from Colombia all the way down here
04:29to Kent can be a huge change, especially as the asylum claims can take a long time to
04:34process. So for now, all they can do is wait and hope for the best.
04:39This music is like a different vision of everything. It just gives me hope and calm. This music
04:49changed my life.
04:51Well, Finn joins me in the studio now. Finn, of course, a very difficult situation for
05:05Luisa and her family and her husband to be in as well. What are they waiting on now here
05:11in the UK?
05:12Well, ultimately, it's just their rejected asylum claim. They are now trying to appeal.
05:18So the Home Office will review their case again. She says her solicitor is working on
05:23it but these things do take time. Like I mentioned, she's been in Ashford since 2023 and it was
05:28only recently that she heard about this rejected appeal. That first attempt to gain asylum
05:34was turned away by Home Office officials. They said the family wouldn't be at significant
05:40risk if they did return to Colombia. But since her husband, Eduardo, isn't investigating
05:46the cartel, Luisa disagrees. She says their reach is widespread and US officials back
05:53this up. They say the gang is one of the largest cocaine trafficking gangs in the world. She
05:59says when they lived back in Colombia, it was very difficult for the family. They had
06:02threats of murder. The children were chased on motorbikes and they even had gunshots fired
06:06at their house. So it's definitely got to be scary for her and the family, staying in
06:10a hotel 5,000 miles away from home in an unfamiliar country. But according to Luisa, it's the
06:16family's safety that really comes first. Of course, and that'll certainly be something
06:19we're keeping up to date with as well. And of course, Gerry, the Kento Online reporter
06:23who's been working away at this as well behind the scenes, more on his article on Kento Online
06:28as well. Thank you very much for that. Eurostar may soon have competition here in the county
06:34as the Virgin Group looks to set to make its own bid to run services through the Channel
06:38Tunnel. According to The Telegraph, Richard Branston plans to get trains operating from
06:43the UK to Europe by 2029. The bid comes after Eurostar withdrew its services from Ashford
06:48and Ebbsley almost five years ago. Although Virgin has remained quiet over the claims,
06:53it's reported the company wants to sign a contract for the trains as early as this quarter.
06:59The only swimming pool in deal is set to be closed for two years under refurbishment plans.
07:04Tides in Park Avenue will be closed from April after a major £20 million upgrade was approved
07:10by councillors. The plans will see a new toddler splash zone, bigger gym and new six-lane
07:14pool to be installed in the popular leisure location. Dover District councillors' Labour
07:19administration have hailed the refurbishment as brilliant, but opposition councillors say
07:23it will leave local clubs in turmoil. And more news from the coast. A seaside slump
07:32in housing prices has hit five Kent towns as thousands of pounds have been wiped off
07:37property prices in the area. East Kent towns like Broadstairs and Hound Bay have seen some
07:41of the biggest hits in value over the last year. But what's causing this coastal crash?
07:46Oliver Leader to Saks has been crunching the numbers to find out why.
07:56What comes to mind when you think of the Kent coast? Sun? Sand? Or falling house prices?
08:05Across Kent's seaside communities, property value has taken a major hit according to Zoopla.
08:12With Broadstairs, Hound Bay and Westgate-on-Sea being just a handful of the towns most affected.
08:20Some areas have seen their average prices slashed by around £20,000. But with major
08:28increases in market value in places like Dover the previous year, is this something to worry about?
08:36I think it's neither here or there. I think house prices constantly always fluctuate ever so
08:43slightly. There is never a right and wrong time to buy. Interest rates are always changing.
08:49And I think depending on the reasons for move and people's motivation to move,
08:54there's always buyers out there and there's always sellers out there. I don't think that
08:58people should take it negatively at all. And this is normal. This is what we would expect
09:04in the housing market. One of the reasons for the decline is less people coming down from London
09:10after the pandemic as they return back to the offices as opposed to finding somewhere idyllic
09:17to work from home. Some of the biggest drops are in Thanet, Kent's second home hotspot,
09:25which has around 2,000 such properties. 89% of houses here are worth less than they were a year
09:35ago, with more than £15,000 being knocked off prices in the area on average. I think everything's
09:46expensive now, right? And that's the problem. And people don't want to move,
09:50but they'd rather stay at home and renovate or expand, you know, extend their homes.
09:54So it's a bit of a shame because Rochester is lovely to come to. It's a great seaside town,
09:59but you know, it is expensive. It's quite an affluent area down here and obviously it
10:04drags a lot of tourists down. But we're right on the border. So there is literally a £40,000
10:09difference between our house and that house across the road. So yeah, so it just shows you
10:15the value of the houses over here, but I didn't realise that they'd dropped.
10:18I just think there's a lot of houses down here, but people don't want them as much. They're not
10:24moving down here as much. So the price is going down. There's not as much demand for them.
10:30The pandemic housing boom may have washed away here in Kent, but with stamp duty changes and
10:37second home tax rises set for April, it's too early to say whether this will force prospective
10:45buyers to draw a line in the sand in 2025. Oliver Leader of the Saks for KMTV in Broadstairs.
10:56Oliver joins me now. Oliver, of course, some people in your report there explaining why they
11:01think these house prices have come down and why there's been that cut. But you've been looking
11:05into that sort of broader why and some of the other reasons. Well, it's quite complicated
11:09that because we don't really necessarily know why. Obviously, there is that pandemic boom,
11:15everyone moving out from London, the down from Londoners that are known here in Kent,
11:19coming down to find somewhere to work during the pandemic. That's sort of subsiding now.
11:24But it's also concerns around council tax, particularly after a Labour budget that's
11:29now going to see 100% put on premiums on second homes. That's coming in in April.
11:35Then we'll be turning down some of the market as well. And Oliver, very quickly,
11:39anywhere buck the trend. Well, Folkestone is quite lucky. They actually see an average £3,500
11:46increase on their housing prices. So if you're in Folkestone, at least you're going to have
11:50a bit of good news from this. Folkestone's the place to be. See you after this very short break.
15:05Hello and welcome back to Kent Tonight live on KMTV. Now, the first stage of a multi-million
15:19pound logistics park in Sittingbourne is nearing completion. Panatone Park, located in Kemsley,
15:24first began construction after the land was acquired at the end of 2023, with the hopes
15:29of bringing 1,000 jobs to Kent. The site will use the latest in sustainability measures,
15:34like roof-mounted solar panels and electric vehicle charging points,
15:38with a hefty price tag of £170 million. Phase one is due to be completed at the end of March.
15:44The next stage is subject to a planning application currently under review by Swale Council.
15:53Now, Medway MP says higher London wages are stopping teachers from staying here in Kent,
15:58and it's impacting the number of professionals in each subject. Tris Osborne also welcomes the
16:03government's introduction of VAT on private schools to try and raise money for others,
16:08but says it won't be enough to tackle issues of teacher retention. Our reporter Tara Meriwalla
16:13investigates. If you're looking for a job, how high up on your list is teaching? It's a pressing
16:19question for schools as the industry loses thousands of teachers a year and is struggling
16:23to plug the gaps. Kent Teaching Solutions links teachers looking for jobs with prospective
16:27schools. Over the last four years, the demand has gone up and it's evidence that there is more
16:34demand for teachers than there used to be. It's always going to be the core subjects, English,
16:39maths and science, but there will always be a demand for maths. If we find a maths teacher,
16:44they'll get a job straight away. Pay, workload and work-life balance come up again and again.
16:50Maynaz Bormann is an English teacher at Cornwallis Academy who also coordinates
16:53training for teachers early on in their careers. The workload is a lot. There's no getting away
16:58from it. You know, when you're a teacher, there is a lot to do. Planning, marking, assessing,
17:03giving feedback, and that's just the teaching. You know, our job isn't just about teaching our
17:08subjects, it's also we're form tutors. Some of us have got additional responsibilities and yes,
17:13it is, it can be a very pressured environment. To investigate, I asked every school in Kent and
17:18Medway how many maths teacher positions they have and who currently fills them. Of the schools that
17:23replied in full, half had not been able to fill all their positions with a full-time specialist
17:28maths teacher. Over 90% of maths teacher positions across the schools altogether are filled by
17:33specialist full-time staff. But to fill the gaps, lessons are taught by supply teachers,
17:37trainee teachers, and most commonly, other subject teachers taking on maths lessons.
17:41During his campaign, Keir Starmer made it one of his key pledges to tackle subject teacher shortages
17:46at schools, including maths and science. People working in education tell me that schools have
17:52always struggled with recruitment and retention of teachers, but that the problem has been growing
17:56at a worrying rate over the last five years. So is the government doing enough to tackle it?
18:01The government has introduced VAT on private schools. We are committed to increasing the
18:05amount of permanent staff in schools. Labour MP for Chatham and Aylesford,
18:09Tristan Osborne, highlights another challenge specifically for Kent.
18:13We're next to London, and London pays teachers a premium. It's called the London weighting,
18:19and so therefore they are hoovering up academics and teachers to teach in London schools,
18:26and so does there need to be a conversation specifically around schools close to London?
18:31He accepted that on its own, the VAT increase on private schools would not wholly improve
18:35the situation, but he stressed that there would be additional funding sources for schools,
18:39including the direct schools grant and funding for SEN.
18:43It's those in the classroom who will have to wait and see. Tara Mawawala for KMTV.
18:49Next tonight, an animal park near Ashford has announced the death of one of its animals at
18:54the age of 15. Tairi, the male leopard, moved to the Big Cat Sanctuary from Paris in March of 2008
19:00after it was the only surviving cub from a litter of three. Along with announcing his passing
19:05recently, his owners described him as a striking presence at the sanctuary, and he'll be deeply
19:10missed. Despite the sad revelation today, there was some good news recently for the park at the
19:15beginning of this year, as two lionesses were rescued and rehomed. In fact, our reporter Bartholomew
19:21Hall went down to the sanctuary to find out more about the lionesses earlier this year.
19:25You can find that story and many more like it by logging on to our website,
19:29kmtv.co.uk. But for now, let's take a look back at those beautiful lionesses.
19:35What do you think retirement in the Kent countryside looks like for a lion? Well,
19:39it's something like this. It might not be what you imagine your golden years to look like,
19:44but for half-sisters Zuri and Izulu, they've embarked on the 60-mile journey from Hertfordshire
19:49Zoo to the Big Cat Sanctuary in Smardon, where their usual days of posing and putting on a smile
19:55for zoo crowds has been replaced by a life of tranquillity and enrichment. The sanctuary,
20:01which is home to around 40 big cats, isn't open to the public in the same way as a zoo.
20:06Guests are only given private tours designed to minimise the day-to-day impact on their habitats.
20:12It's going to be a lot quieter because we're not open to the general public.
20:16They're still going to be used for education and fundraising and just being wowed at. It's all very
20:21new for them. It's a complete change of environment. I've seen new faces that are looking after them
20:25now. So they're sticking together like glue, finding reassurance from each other and just
20:30taking it all in. Hopefully at some point they'll get to work out that when we bring our guests
20:35around on their tours, those guests usually bring nice things like chicken drumsticks. So
20:39I'm sure they'll be engaged with our experiences pretty soon.
20:43The hope is to eventually integrate them with their male African lion neighbour, Kasanga.
20:47He's a really gentle, laid-back male, similar age. He has lived with females before. So we're
20:54just going to see how they interact next to each other with a dividing fence line and then in time
21:00when we see positive behaviours, look to mix them as a little mini pride for companionship.
21:04The park says that despite them staying close to one another in the first few days for comfort,
21:09they're already showing signs of making themselves at home,
21:11climbing onto their platforms and taking some time to enjoy the limited winter sun.
21:17This year the Big Cats Hanctery is celebrating its 25th year. Project lead Cam Whitnell's family
21:22have been rehoming and protecting cat species for generations, all starting with his grandfather.
21:27He says it feels as though the cats at times have even become part of the family.
21:32It's always exciting to welcome new cats, especially Zuri and Azulu. Obviously I've
21:36grown up with them at the zoo, so there's no better place like the Big Cat Sanctuary for them
21:41to see out their final days. And they're settling in well. It's going to take a little bit of time
21:45for them to adjust and get used to their surroundings, but when they do they'll flourish.
21:50The pair's retirement comes after one of the animal park's biggest projects to date,
21:54bringing four lions from war-torn Ukraine to live out their lives in a new home here in Kent,
21:59with a specially made enclosure hoping to be opened later this year.
22:03They say in retirement you never get a day off and that couldn't be more true for the
22:07pair that have moved in here this week. They've been given a brand new enclosure,
22:10a brand new home to enjoy and explore. For the rest of what we could say is a new set
22:15of nine lives each. Bartholomew Hall for KMTV.
22:20Well let's see if there's any more sunshine coming those two's way. Here's the forecast.
22:24Tonight there will be mist across much of the county with the temperature sitting the lowest
22:33in Ashford at six degrees slightly warmer in Dartford and Medway with an average of seven
22:38overall. The mist will continue tomorrow morning with temperatures staying at an average of seven
22:42across most parts of Kent. Into the afternoon the mist will begin to move to the coast
22:46leaving the rest of the county with cloudier skies and warmer temperatures. Highs of 10.
22:51And here's your outlook for Kent. Much of the same up until the weekend.
22:54Cloudy skies, highs of seven on Thursday, lows of three on Saturday.
23:06Now the second oldest skull in Britain, an extinct elephant skeleton and a bronze age
23:12boat. These are all things dug up by archaeologists in Kent but the latest find will certainly be
23:17making the history books. A 1500 year old sword from the Anglo-Saxon period. Bridget Tetteth went
23:24down to the Heritage Centre in Sittingbourne to meet the archaeologists studying the blade.
23:29Meet the scientist from Sittingbourne who's been given the important task of preserving a 1500
23:37year old Anglo-Saxon sword which was discovered down the road in East Kent.
23:43Scalpel blade is my most trusty like for 40 years I've been wielding the scalpels. I also use
23:53thorns and what is this porcupine quill because it's softer. Dana Goodburn-Brown is a conservation
24:01expert who's taken over one of the local shops in the town centre and set up a high-tech lab.
24:08Now she's teamed up with local archaeologist that's Dr Andrew Richardson. But this sword
24:14is exceptional because it's first it's still got its hilt fittings and there's a silver,
24:20it's got this ring on the pommel which we think is significant. Well Andrew says the discovery
24:25should be a real source of local pride. At this time Kent was the destination and items as far
24:34as Sri Lanka and Africa came to Kent. They weren't going to London they were coming to Kent because
24:40Kent was such an important vibrant well-connected little kingdom at that time so it's a time we
24:46should all look back on fondly. Now at the moment it's being kept here at the Heritage Centre which
24:52is in the shopping centre in the heart of Sittingbourne but inside the centre is where
24:57you'll find a kind of CSI lab and I'm going to go and meet the archaeologists and scientists
25:02who are trying to find out a bit more about this artifact's hidden history. And using her
25:09specialist microscope Dana can magnify the details on the sword by more than 10 times to reveal
25:17hidden clues. Like a sword in a burial is a sword and and all the things that were buried with that
25:22person so it's an amazing time capsule. And while the sword's final resting place will be at Folkestone
25:29Museum for now it's staying in Sittingbourne and will be the main feature of a festival next month.
25:37So we're having a festival on Sittingbourne High Street February 22nd and we'll have it displayed
25:43for that for the Swale with Sail Sittingbourne High Street Festival. So there'll be people
25:47dressed up in Anglo-Saxon attire, doing weaving, talking about medicine in the past, we're
25:55celebrating the town's history. You can find all the details on the local CSI Sittingbourne
26:02Facebook page. Brigitte Teter out and about for KMTV. What an extraordinary find you never know
26:10what you're going to find here in Kent but just before we go this evening the votes are in. The
26:14results of the Kent and Medway Food and Drink Awards 2025 are here showcasing the finest pubs
26:19across the county. Here are a few of your favourites that have been voted for. Found near Seven Oaks
26:24the Buck's Head promises a dog-friendly family atmosphere with a wide selection of roasts and
26:28ales. Herne Bay's Hampton Inn by the coast, a bit of peace by the seafront there and the Sawyer's
26:34Inn is in Wye, a micro-pub highlighting local breweries and distilleries from right across
26:39the county. And the Queen's Head in King's North has already made an appearance in last year's
26:43awards and they're back. Those awards coming up later this year but that's all from me, bye-bye.
26:54you